HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY - 191. INTRODUCTION. Cheops, Cephrenes, and the mighty Sphynx, Obelisk of Cleopatra, and ruins of Xochicalco, stand forth as monuments upon which are engraven the mutations of time, the inevitable destroyer of all visible nature, and products of art: into whose Lethean gulf ancient Ilium, Nineveh, Thebes, and all the architecture of distant ages have been plunged in eternal slumber. Nay, the very stars shall cease to shine, the sun eclipsed in gloom, and all nature swallowed up in oblivion. Nothing is immortal, save the soul, which shall outlive the warfare of clashing elements and destruction of worlds. The flight of a single day is perceptibly impressed upon surrounding nature. The faded flower, the withered tree, both speak of something gone. Indeed, the flinty pyramids that so long have opposed the blasts of the desert sands ; the tower that for centuries has withstood the furies of old ocean's winds and waves, finally must yield to the universal destroyer—time—and, crumbling, moulder to earth, and " doting with age, forget their founder's name." Our lives are but an awakening, transition, sleep, and forgetting. Yet notwithstanding these numerous evidences of the general devastations of time, the soothing voice of resurrection whispers all is not lost; for "See dying vegetables, life sustain; See life dissolving, vegetate again; All forms that perish, other forms supply; By turns we catch the vital breath and die. Like bubbles on the sea of water borne, They rise, they break, and to that sea return." We are, therefore, to believe that throughout the economy of nature, by conservation and correlation, all things are preserved, 192 – HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. and what we call death is but transition ; for the book of nature plainly teaches the perpetuity of all created things. As the one grows old and dies, straightway in quick succession springs up the new, nourished by the moldering remains of its ancestor. We, ourselves, may pass away, but ere the eating canker begins its work, closely follows youth again, our second selves. All things new spring from and are nourished by things that have passed away. Not one beauty of nature takes its flight, but in untold centuries hence, by transition leaves behind the freshness of its distant genesis. We should, therefore, preserve and keep fresh, like flowers in water, the transitory fruits of the past, and bind them upon the same stock with the buds of the present. Through reminiscence we love to dwell upon pleasing objects of the past, and calling them up we seem to gaze upon them one by one as they in panorama pass before us ; meditate upon them, and in imagination, live over again the happy days that are forever gone. Our old and fond associates are once more mingling with us; we enjoy again the life we have left behind; but break the spell, the bubble bursts, and all melts into the past. So in our dreams, the untrammeled intelligence revels amidst the materialized spirits of departed friends. We breathe again the balmy air of youth, and through the endless chain of recollection, link to link, as wave succeeding wave, we hold enchanting communion with the past, and imbibe intoxicating draughts from the sparkling fountain of youth, until we are in fancy transported to the happy realms of the morning of life; and truly has it been said that the mind can make substances, and people planets of its own with beings brighter than have been, and give a breath to forms which can outlive all flesh. Decaying organisms are by process of petrefaction metamorphosed into everlasting forms, bearing exact identity with their prototypes, through whose interpretation we are enabled to unlock the profoundest mysteries of geognosy. If nature, therefore, has bequeathed to us the key to her created forms, so likewise should we receive, preserve, and keep fresh forever the history of those who suffered so long, endured so much, in order to secure for them-selves a resting place, and bequeath to us the beautiful homes we now enjoy, undisturbed by any of the dangers that surrounded our forefathers. Let us, therefore, see to it that from the green pages of memory INTRODUCTION - 193 they do not pass into tradition, and still fading, through lapse of time sink forever beneath the wave of oblivion. The labor and embarrassments attendant upon, and research, and patience necessary to the resurrection of moldy facts and ethereal traditions which have so long slumbered in the matrix of obscurity, is little realized save by those who undertake to write a history based upon facts and traditions, whose genesis springs from the aboriginal tribes that roamed at large throughout the winding labyrinths of their own primival forests, beneath whose sylvan shades the panting deer lay down in peace; amidst whose branches the winged choristers built their homes, and chirped their matin songs, caroling with angelic sweet and trembling voices, gently warbling with the murmuring brook and rustling leaves below. The forest patriarchs had not looked down frowning upon the white man's cabin. They stood sentinel above the fragile wigwam of the painted savage, nestled alone within their sequestered shades; within whose folds the forest maiden gave modest ear to the love song of the dusky warrior, as he displayed the gory insignia of his prowess which adorned his girdle, and sang the deeds of war and the chase, and with equal ardor woos the maid, or scalps the captive, and burns the victim at the stake. ORIGINAL POSSESSORS. While it would transcend our province to trace beyond prehistoric data the original owners of the territory now comprehended within the limits of Fayette County, yet we deem it essential to a perfect elucidation of its complete history that we utilize all the facts within our grasp, and trace them until the line fades out in myth. Therefore, so nearly as can with clearness be ascertained from chaotic masses of documents and traditions, we infer that the first inhabitants belonged to the Algonquin family, the most populous no doubt in the United States; whose language was comparatively uniform throughout all the tribes and subdivisions, very complex, yet capable of lofty flights of oratory, beautiful rhetorical figures, and ill-adapted to light and trifling speech. Inasmuch as there is a great deal of conflicting testimony in regard to the specific tribes comprehended in this great family, we shall, in this connection, state that the territory now called Fayette County, was originally 194 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. in the possession of the Twigtwees, called by the French Miamis, leaving its full discussion to another part of the work. Cursorily we may say, that at the time they were visited by Christopher Gist, the English agent for the Ohio Land Company, in 1751, they were superior in numbers to the Huron Iroquois, with whom they were at deadly enmity. Their country extended on the west as far as the watershed between the Wabash and Illinois. On the north were the Pottawatomies, who were slowly encroaching upon the Miamis, who in turn were gradually extending their western limits into Ohio, and absorbing the territory claimed by the Huron Iroquois; and according to the best of authority, they were the undisputed claimants of Ohio as far as the Scioto. It appears that the Piankeshaws, or Peanzichias-Miamis, a sub-division of the great Twigtwee confederacy, owned or occupied the southern part of Ohio, including the present territory of Fayette County. The Wyandots, long prior to the advent of the English and French, had resided in the territory now embraced in Ohio. In the beginning of the present century they numbered 2,300 persons. In 1841–2 they ceded their lands to the United States commissioner, Col. John Johnston, and removed beyond the Missouri. In about 1750 the Shawnees came from Florida, under Blackhoof, and as tenants at will of the Wyandots took possession, of the valleys of the Maumee, Scioto, Mad and Miami rivers. From the fact that the ownership and occupancy of the soil resided first in the Twigtwees, and subsequently in the Wyandots and Shawnees, it is difficult to ascertain the exact date or dates at which the Indian title became totally extinct (a full discussion of which will be given in the body of the work). Thus we have endeavored, in so far as possible, to disentangle from the hetrogeneous mass of uncertainty, the original owners, the extinction of the original title, and the final vesting of the same in such a shape as to lay it open for individual purchase and settlement. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY - 195. This county, occupying a portion of the Virginia Military Reservation, reaches back in its political history into early colonial times, before the organization of the general government of the United States, and when all the territory northwest of the River Ohio, extending west to the Mississippi, was claimed by Virginia. In the years 1774 and 1775, before the Revolutionary War began, the thirteen colonies then existing, so far as their relations to one another were concerned, were separate, independent communities, having, to a considerable extent, different political organizations and different municipal laws; but their various population spoke, almost universally, the English language, and, as descendants from a common English stock, had a common interest and a common sympathy. In the year 1773, on the 7th day of July, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, then in England, wrote an official letter to the Massachusetts Assembly, strongly urging a general assembly of the representatives of the people of all the colonies, that they might make such a declaration and assertion of their rights as would be recognized by the king and parliament of Great Britain. Pursuant to this advice a congress, called the First Continental Congress, assembled at Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia, on the 5th day of September, 1774, and remained in session until the 26th day of October, following. A second Continental Congress met on the 10th day of May, 1775. This congress, styled also the revolutionary government, on the 4th day of July, 1776, published to the world the Declaration of Independence, and on the 15th day of November, 1777, agreed to articles of confederation and perpetual union between the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 196 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. Article I. recited that "The style of this confederacy shall be The United States of America;" and Article II. that "Each state retains its sovereignty, 'freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled." These articles of confederation, thirteen in number, which defined the powers and privileges of congress, and the rights of the several states, after their adoption by each state, constituted the supreme law until the adoption of the constitution in 1788. It was under this confederacy that the great discussions arose concerning the disposition of the public lands. VIRGINIA. The territory of Virginia, granted by the charters of King James I., was very extensive. The first charter authorized a company to plant a colony in America, anywhere between 34̊ and 41̊ north latitude, embracing about 100 miles of coast line, and extending back from the coast 100 miles, embracing also the islands opposite to the coast, and within 100 miles of it. The second charter granted to the Virginia Company a much larger territory, extending from Old Point Comfort (a point of land extending into Chesapeake Bay, a little to the north of the mouth of James River), 200 miles north and 200 miles south, along the coast, and thence with a breadth of 400 miles, to the west and northwest, through the continent to the Pacific Ocean. The third charter added to this immense territory all the islands in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, within 300 leagues of either coast. By the treaty of peace between France and Great Britain, in 1763, the Mississippi River was made the western boundary of the British provinces. Thus restricted, the territory of Virginia included all that territory now occupied by Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, and all the land northwest of the River Ohio. On the 29th day of June, 1776, just five clays before the Declaration of Independence by the United States in congress assembled, Virginia adopted her constitution or form of government, in Article XXI. of which she ceded the territories contained within the charters creating the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, to those respective colonies, relinquishing all her rights to the same, except the right to the navigation of certain VIRGINIA - 197 rivers, and all improvements that had been or might be made along their shores. But this article affirms that "the western and northern extent of Virginia shall in other respects stand as fixed by the charter of King James I., in the year 1609, and by the published treaty of peace between the court of Great Britain and France, in the year 1763, unless, by act of legislature, one or more territories shall be laid off, and governments established west of the Allegheny Mountains." The charter of King James I., referred to in this article, was the second charter, so that now, on the sea coast, Virginia was restricted to her present limits, but her western boundaries were unchanged. She claimed Kentucky, and all the northwestern territory. Concerning this northwestern territory there were conflicting claims. New York claimed a portion of it. Massachusetts also asserted a separate claim, and Connecticut, by her grant from the council of Plymouth, in 1630, was to extend westward from the Atlantic Ocean to "the South Sea," or Pacific Ocean. This would take a large portion of the territory included under the Virginia charter. These conflicting claims were never adjusted between the states, but were finally settled, as will soon appear, by cession to the United States in congress assembled. In 1779 Virginia opened an office for the sale of her western lands. This attracted the attention of the other states, several of which regarded the vacant region in the west as a common fund for the future payment of the expenses of the war for independence, in which the colonies had been engaged. This claim in behalf of the United States was asserted on the ground that the western lands had been the property of the crown. By the treaty of 1763, France had ceded to Great Britain all her possessions in North America, east of the Mississippi, and naturally these lands would fall, on the declaration of independence, to the opponent of the crown, that is, to the United States in congress assembled, and not to individual states. It was contended, therefore, that it was manifestly unjust that a vast tract of unoccupied country, acquired by the common efforts and the common expenses of the whole union, should be appropriated for the exclusive benefit of particular states, while others would be left to bear the unmitigated burdens. of debt, contracted in securing that independence by which this. immense acquisition was wrested from Great Britain. These separate claims by the several states were opposed by those states that 198 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. made no pretentious to claims, and they served, in a great measure, for a time, to prevent the union under the articles of confederation. On the 25th day of June, 1778, nearly one year before the opening of the Virginia land office, New Jersey made objection to the confederation, on the ground that the public lands now claimed by Virginia and other states, under ancient charters, should belong to the United States in common, that each separate state might derive a proportionate benefit therefrom. Maryland instructed her delegates in congress not to sign the articles of confederation, unless an article or articles were added thereto, looking to a cession of the public lands. The council of the State of Delaware, on the 23d day of January, 1779, before passing a law instructing their delegates in congress to sign the articles of confederation, resolved, that the state was justly entitled to a right in common with the other members of the union to that extensive tract of country westward of the frontier of the United States, which was acquired by the blood and treasure of all, and that it ought to be a common estate, to be granted out on terms beneficial to the United States. Such were the vigorous protests against the union under the articles of confederation, while Virginia was left a vast empire within the confederacy, a power, as many supposed, dangerous to the liberties of the smaller states; and when Virginia opened her land office for the sale of her western lands, the excitement became more intense. Congress, in opposition to the pretensions of all the states claiming lands, as the common head of the United States, maintained its title to the western lands upon the solid ground that a vacant territory, wrested from the common enemy by the united arms, and at the joint expense of all the states, ought of right to belong to congress, in trust for the common use and benefit of the whole union; hence she earnestly recommended to Virginia, and to all the states claiming vacant lands, to adopt no measures that would obstruct the final cession of such lauds to congress. New York was the first to listen to the appeals of the complaining states and to congress. On the 29th of February, 1780, she authorized her delegates in congress to restrict her western border by such lines as they should deem expedient, and on the 20th day of December, 1783, Virginia passed an act authorizing her delegates in congress to convey to the United States in congress assembled, "all the right of this commonwealth to the territory VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY - 199 northwest of the River Ohio." In this act of cession she made the following reservation : VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY. "That a quantity not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, promised by this state, shall be allowed and granted to Gen. George Rodgers Clark, and to the officers and soldiers of his regiment to be laid off in such place on the northwest side of the Ohio as a majority of the officers shall choose, and to be afterwards divided among the said officers and soldiers in due proportion according to the laws of Virginia. That in case the quantity of good lands, on the south side of the Ohio, upon the waters of the Cumberland River, and between the Green River and the Tennessee, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops, upon continental establishment, should prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the deficiency should be made up to said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of the River Ohio, in such, proportions as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia." The land embraced in this reservation, between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, constitutes the Virginia Military District in Ohio. The district comprehends the entire counties of Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland, Fayette, Madison and Union; and a portion of the counties of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Logan, Champaign, Clarke, Greene, Warren and Hamilton. Although this cession and reservation was made in 1783, its definite boundary was not determined until a decision of the Supreme Court was made in reference to it some time in 1824. The Scioto was the eastern line, and Virginia claimed the right to run the western line of the tract direct from the source of the Scioto to the mouth of the Little Miami. Such a line would run considerably west of some parts of the Little Miami. The source of the Scioto is in the western part of Auglaize County, and a straight line drawn from this point to the mouth of the Little Miami, would have run entirely west of Greene County, and would have included in the Military District, a portion of Auglaize, Shelby, Miami and Montgomery counties. The Indian line established by the treaty of Greenville, between 200 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. the United States and certain Indian tribes, being a part of the boundary of this military district, it is quite important that it be described here. It begins at the mouth of the Cuyahoga and runs south, up that river through the portage between it and the Tuscarawas, down the Tuscarawas to the northern line of Tuscarawas County at its middle point; thence west, bearing a little south, forming the northwestern line of this county to Holmes; passing through Holmes County, it forms the eastern part of the northern boundary of Knox. It then passes through the northwestern part of Knox, through the middle part of Morrow, the southern part of Marion, through Logan, forming the northern line of Lake and Harrison townships, through Shelby County, forming the northern boundary of Salem Township. From a point in the western part of Shelby County the line bears a little to the north of west., and extends through the southern part of Mercer County to Fort Recovery, in the western part of the county; thence it extends in a straight line south, bearing west through the southeastern part of Indiana, to the Ohio River, at a point in Indiana opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. In May 1800, congress passed a law for the sale of lands in the western territory which were not included in the Virginia Military District, and in the execution of this law the surveyor general caused a line to be run from the source of the Little Miami toward what he supposed to be the mouth of the Scioto, which is denominated Ludlow's line, and surveyed the lands west of that line into sections as prescribed in the act of congress. In 1804, congress passed a law concerning the boundary of the Virginia Military District which enacted that Ludlow's line should be considered the western boundary line of the reserved territory north of the source of the Little Miami, provided the State of Virginia should within two years recognize it as the boundary of this territory. Virginia did not accept the proposition, and the rights of the parties remained as if nothing had been done. Again, in 1812, congress authorized the president to appoint three commissioners to meet three other commissioners, to be appointed by the State of Virginia, who were to agree upon the line of military reserve, and to cause the same to be surveyed. Should the commissioners from Virginia fail to meet them, they were to proceed alone, and make their report to the president. In the meantime, and until the line should be established by consent, Ludlow's line VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY - 201 should be considered the western boundary. The commissioners of the United States were met by those of Virginia, at Xenia, on the 26th clay of October, 1812, and proceeded to ascertain the sources of the two rivers and to run the line. They employed a Mr. Charles Roberts to survey and mark a line from the source of one river to that of the other. This line is called Roberts' line, and is drawn from the source of the Little Miami to the source of the Scioto. The Virginia commissioners refused to accede to this, and claimed, as has been stated before, that the line should be drawn from the source of the Scioto to the mouth of the Little Miami. On the 11th day of April, 1818, congress passed an act, declaring that from the Little Miami to the Indian boundary line, established by the Greenville treaty, Ludlow's line should be considered as the western boundary of the military reserve. This, however, was the act of only one party to the contract, and did not necessarily determine the boundary. But the subsequent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, made in 1824, based upon the language in the act of cession defining the phrase, "good lands to be laid off between the Rivers Scioto and Little Miami," to mean the whole country from their sources to their mouths, bounded on either side by said rivers. It would be clear from this decision that the most direct line from the source of one to the source of the other would complete the boundary. This decision of the Supreme Court practically settled the question, and the Ludlow line to the Indian boundary, and the Roberts line from the Indian boundary, together with a portion of the Indian line itself, became the established boundary line of the Virginia Military District between the sources of the Scioto and Little Miami rivers. The Ludlow line begins at the source of the Little Miami River, in the northeast corner of Madison Township, Clarke County, a little more than three miles east by north from South Charleston, at a point on the Columbus and Xenia Railroad, about a half a mile southwest of the point where the road crosses the county line, and extends north by west through Champaign County, passing about five miles east of Urbana. In Logan County, it runs through the eastern part of Bellefontaine, and strikes the Indian boundary line in the northeast corner of Harrison Township, about three and a half miles north by west from Bellefontaine. From this terminus of the Ludlow line, the Indian boundary line extends west by south along the northern border of Harrison Township, about four miles, to the Roberts line. 202 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. This Roberts line begins about one and a half miles east of the northwest corner of Harrison Township, and extends north by west, through the middle of Lewiston Reservoir, to a point in a swampy or marshy region, about a 'mile and three-fourths south by east from the center of 'Wayne Township, in the southeastern part. of Auglaize County. Here time line makes very nearly a right angle, and extends in a direction east by north about two miles and a half to the eastern limit of Goshen Township, where it terminates in the Scioto River. The original Roberts line must have begun at, or very near, the beginning of the Ludlow line, but its bearing was so far to the west that it ran a little to the west of the Scioto's source. The Ludlow line, on the other hand, did not bear enough to the west. It ran a little to the east of the source. It was proper, therefore, that a part of both lines, in the absence of a third survey, should have been made the real boundary. EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE OHIO VALLEY. The spirit of adventure with which nature has endowed the human species, nowhere manifests itself so conspicuously as in those men of iron muscle, resolute will and indomitable energy, who left forever the abode of peace and plenty, and encountered all the dangers and endured the privations incident to the opening of new homes in the solitudes of the untrodden wilderness. A strange infatuation seems to impel man to seek new fields of adventure, and the greater the danger the stronger the impulse seems to be to meet and conquer it. This, in conjunction with seductive hope, though so often realizing the words of Pope, "that man. never is but always to be blessed," conduces very materially to the advancement of civilization, and when we take into consideration the cosmopolitan nature of man, we need not wonder that no part of the world, how wild and uninviting soever, remains inviolate. It was this, coupled with cupidity, that led the cruel Pizarro to the subjugation of the Incas of Peru, Cortez to the bloody struggles with the Aztecs, the conquest of Mexico and the extinction of the Montezumas. The beautiful scenery, fertility of soil and many other advantages with which nature had unsparingly endowed this charming locality, early attracted the eye of the speculator; in addition to which the country had been previously traversed by the soldiers in VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY - 203 the early Indian campaigns, who, observing the luxuriant growth of vegetation and many natural advantages here presented, related fabulous accounts of the picturesque features of the Indian possessions. All kinds of fish abounded in the streams, along whose banks many, fur bearing animals made their homes, while the forests teemed with deer, and the gobble of the wild turkey blending inharmoniously with the drum of the pheasant. and the shrill whistle of the partridge might be heard in the woods from morning till night. Here the hunter and trapper found a paradise. Here he built his cabin and set his traps, and fished in the streams, and hunted in the forests. Here he roasted his venison, broiled his fish and baked his Johnny-cake. For all his pelts and furs, he found a ready market at the English trading house on the Great Miami, and after its destruction in 1752, at Laramie's Store on the creek of the same name, which was the emporium of trade throughout the surrounding country until its destruction in 1782, by General G. R. Clarke. From the records of history it appears that in the settlement of almost all countries the order seems to be : First, the soldier; second, the hunter and trapper, the squatter, surveyor, and finally the permanent settler. The marks of edged tools on the trees in the Ohio Valley, give evidence that this region, calculating from the subsequent growth of rings, was visited by white men as early as 1660, nine years prior to the supposed discovery of the Ohio by LaSalle. Tradition also informs us that in the year 1742, one John Howard sailed clown the Ohio in a canoe made of a buffalo skin, and was captured on the Mississippi by the French. The French, however, as early as 1749, controlled the trade of this country and sought to establish their title by planting plates of metal at the mouth of every principal stream emptying into the Ohio; one of which was found at the mouth of the Muskingum, bearing date August 16, 1749, a particular account of which, by DeWitt Clinton, may be found in Am. Ant. Soc., 535. But this puerile attempt utterly failed ; and in the same year the English built a trading house on the Great Miami at the mouth of Laramie's Creek, called Pickawillany. The French, jealous of English intrusion, erected a line of fortifications along the Ohio and towards the lakes, and in 1752 demanded of the Twigtwees the surrender of the trading post mentioned above, which being refused, they, in conjunction with the Ottawas and 204 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. Chippewas, captured and destroyed it, killed fourteen Indians and carried the English to Canada. and even burned some at the stake. These traders were supposed to have been from Pennsylvania, from the fact that in Dr. Franklin's history of the same he mentions that this State sent the Twigtwees a gift of condolence for those slain in defense of Pickawillany. Although this battle was participated in by two nationalities, no more serious results flowed from it than a series of diplomatic maneuverings with a view to securing the permanent possession of the debatable lands. EARLY SURVEYING. As a matter of special interest, we shall give a. brief description of the manner of obtaining, locating, and surveying the territory which we now occupy. The military warrant upon which the entries were made, were issued by Virginia as bounties to her officers and soldiers of the continental line, as well as to General George R. Clarke and his army, and which entitled the holder to the number of acres named therein. These were filed with the principal surveyor, who was paid for receiving them. The first step towards obtaining land by warrant is by entry, or the appropriation of a specified quantity of land by the owner of the warrant. The next step is the survey, which designates the land by metes and bounds. Surveys were returned to the chief surveyor, with a plat of the land and boundary lines, signed by the deputy surveyor, who executed it, as well as by the chainmen and markers, which was recorded, and together with the sealed certificate of the surveyor and the warrant, were delivered to the owner, who could then obtain a patent from the President of the United States. The plan of Massie in securing himself against surprises from savages during his labors, is described by Colonel McDonald thus : Three assistant surveyors, with himself making the fourth, were generally engaged at the same time in making surveys. To each surveyor was detailed six men, which made a mess of seven. Every man had his prescribed duty to perform. Their plan of operations was somewhat thus: In front went the hunter, who kept in advance of the surveyor two or three hundred yards, looking for game, and prepared to give notice should any danger from Indians EARLY SURVEYING - 205 threaten. Then followed, after the surveyor, the two chainmen, marker, and pack-horse men with the baggage, who always kept near each other, prepared for defence in case of an attack. Lastly, two or three hundred yards in the rear came a man called the spy, whose duty it was to keep on the back track, and look out lest the party in advance might be pursued or attacked by surprise. Each man, the surveyor included, carried his rifle, blanket, and such other articles as were necessary on such an occasion. On the pack-horse was carried the cooking utensils and provisions that could be conveniently taken. Nothing like bread was thought of. Some salt was taken, to be used sparingly. For subsistence they depended solely on the game which the woods afforded, procured by their own rifles. Thus was the larger number of the surveys made in the Virginia district, and thus was the territory of Fayette surveyed. EARLY SURVEYORS. In the winter and spring of 1787, Major John O'Bannon and Arthur Fox, two enterprising surveyors of Kentucky, explored the Virginia reservation with a view to making entries so soon as the law would permit. They traversed along the Ohio, Scioto and Miami rivers, as well as many of their tributaries. August 1, 1787, Col. R. C. Anderson, chief surveyor, opened a land office, and shortly after large portions of the bottom lands of the Ohio, Scioto and Little Miami were entered. These entries were in violation of the deed of cession by which it was provided that the deficiencies of lands southwest of the Ohio should be ascertained and stated to congress. This prohibition was removed in 1790, and entries became valid. This region was now greatly coveted, yet many difficulties were in the way—Indian wars, high price of lands, and exorbitant prices required by surveyors. The pioneer surveyor in this district was Nathaniel Massie, then twenty-seven years old. He had been in Colonel Anderson's office, and was familiar with the details of the business. He had also been in the West for six years. In 1790 he entered into an agreement with certain parties for the settlement of Manchester. Col. R. C. Anderson, the principal surveyor of the .Virginia military lands, had control of the land warrants placed in his hands for entry by his companions in arms. A large number of these he gave 206 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. to Massie to survey and enter upon such terms as he could arrange with holders. The dangers to be encountered and the desire to locate the best lands enhanced the value of his services, and he therefore was enabled to retain one-third or one-half of the lands located, for his fees. In 1793 he made an expedition to the Scioto, an enterprise beset with dangers appalling to any other save the intrepid man who determined to face them. Employing about thirty men, and choosing John Beasley, Nathaniel Beasley and Peter Lee as assistant surveyors, and Duncan McArthur as chainman, he, in the month of October, procured canoes, set out on the perilous undertaking, and proceeded up the Ohio to the mouth of the Scioto, up that river to the mouth of Paint Creek, where they began operations; and surveys were made along the Scioto as far as Westfall, on the main and north branches of Paint Creek, and Ross and Pickaway were explored and iaitia1ly surveyed. In 1793–4 he resumed his work, and explored Paint and Clear creeks to their sources. It seems that no surveys were made at this time, the sole object being to obtain a correct knowledge of the geography and topography of the country. Having thus made himself acquainted with the country, in the winter of 1794–5 he organized a strong body to prosecute the surveying enterprise on an extensive scale. The same assistants were again employed, and fully armed and equipped to contend with the Indians if need be, the party set out from Manchester, taking the route of Logan's trace, halting at a spot on Todd's fork of the Little Miami, called the "Deserted Camp," where they began surveying, moving along the Miami to Oldtown, in Greene County, from which they surveyed along Massie's and Caesar's creeks nearly to the present line of Fayette. It is said that (luring this expedition, which was in the winter, the party were without bread for thirty days. A pint of flour was each day given to the mess to thicken the broth in which meat had been boiled. The snow fell to the depth of eight or ten inches. When no immediate danger threatened, these men assembled around the camp fire at night. When night approached, four fires—one for each mess—were made for cooking, around which, till sleeping time arrived, the company passed the hours in social glee, singing songs and telling stories. When danger was not imminent or apparent, they were as merry a set of men as ever assembled. Resting time arriving, Massie always gave the signal and the whole party would then leave their FIRST SURVEYS - 207 comfortable fires, carrying their blankets, firearms and baggage, and walk in perfect silence two or three hundred yards from the old camp, serape away the snow and huddle down for the night. Each mess formed one bed, spreading on the ground one-half of the blankets, reserving the other half for covering, which were fastened together by skewers to prevent them from slipping oft Thus prepared, the whole party, with their rifles in their arms and their pouches for pillows, crouched down, spoon fashion, with three heads one way and four the other, their feet extending to about the middle of their bodies, one nearly solid mass, so that when one turned all turned, or the close range would be broken and the cold let in. In this way they lay till broad daylight, no noise nor scarce a whisper being uttered during the night. When it was perfectly light, Massie would call up two of the men in whom he had the most confidence, and send them on a reconnoitering circuit around the fires, lest an ambuscade might have been formed by the Indians to destroy the party as they returned to them. Thus were made the original, surveys, thus were the dangers met and overcome, thus was the country wrested from the hand of nature and the initial steps taken toward the perfect development of the present. FIRST SURVEY IN FAYETTE COUNTY. The first portion of land entered within the territory of what is now Fayette County, was a part of survey Nos. 243 and 772 in one tract, lying partly in Clinton, extending a triangle into Fayette, southwest of No. 6,623, in the southwestern part of Concord. The next is a part of No. 428, extending into the extreme southeastern part of the county, and the first survey lying wholly within the county is No. 463, in the northern and eastern part of what is now Madison Township, surveyed for Thomas Overton by John O'Bannon, June 30, 1796; John Hamilton and Joshua Dodson, chain carriers, and Edward Mosby, marker. This tract contained 1,3331 acres, and was a part of military warrant No. 44. It was located northwest of the Ohio on Deer Creek, a branch of the Scioto, "Beginning at three white oaks and an elm, southwest corner to James Currie's survey (471) running east 320 poles, crossing Deer Creek at 148 poles to a hickory and two black oaks, southeast corner to Currie, thence south 8, west 597 poles, crossing the creek at 174 poles to a stake, thence north 16, east 615 to the beginning." 208 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. NUMBERING OF SURVEYS. In examining a map of the Virginia Military District, the irregularity of the surveys will be observed, while on the west side of the Little Miami they are regular. All the public lands outside the military district were surveyed regularly, according to act of congress passed May 18, 1796. By this act a surveyor general was appointed, whose duty it was, by himself and through deputies, to survey the unreserved and un-patented public lands, by running north and south lines according to the true meridian, and east and west, crossing the former at. right angles, so as to form townships each six miles square, and sections each one mile square. On the other hand, lands within the military district were not surveyed pursuant to any order of government at any particular time, nor iii accordance with any definite plan. The land was entered by persons holding land warrants, issued by the State of Virginia to her soldiers in the continental army, and in the army of General George Rodgers Clarke. In the majority of cases the original owners of these warrants did not themselves enter the lands, but other parties purchasing them, in many instances one person purchasing a number of them, located the aggregate amount in one or more tracts in whatever part of the territory he chose, provided it had not been previously entered. It was necessary only that it should be surveyed by a surveyor regularly and legally authorized to perform this work. These surveys were numbered in the order in which the tracts of land surveyed were entered, the survey taking its number from the entry. It frequently occurs that a survey having a higher number was made at a much earlier date than that having a lower number; but in every case the tract having the lower number was entered first. Thus, survey No. 463 was surveyed June 30, 1796, while survey No. 932 was surveyed March 18, 1794, nearly two years prior to No. 463. By examining a map of this district, it will be observed, also, that some surveys have several
numbers. Thus: John Nichols, Nos. 6281 and 6332, in Concord; Nos. 7267, 7657, and 7890, for FIRST SETTLEMENT UPON THE VIRGINIA RESERVATION - 209 Conversely, we also observe in many cases, the same number of entry surveyed into two tracts. Thus, entry No. 669, of 1,000 acres, was surveyed into two tracts, one of 600, for Daniel Clark, and the other of 400 acres, for James Dougherty, found in the southern part of Wayne Township. These were surveyed by Nathaniel Massie, both on the same day, March 13, 1795 ; returned to the land office, examined and recorded, the former July 3, the latter July 4, 1795. In looking over the old records of these surveys, two dates will be noticed; for instance, in No. 463, June 30, 1796, July 8, 1796. The survey when made was dated, then returned to the land office, examined, and recorded at the time of. the second date. FIRST SETTLEMENT UPON THE VIRGINIA RESERVATION. In the winter of 1790, Nathaniel Massie, in order to be in the center of his surveying operations, determined to make a settlement within the reservation. Accordingly, he offered each of the first twenty-five families in Kentucky, one in and one out lot, and one hundred acres of land, provided they would settle in a town he intended laying off. To this proposition more than thirty families acceded. After some consultation, the bottom on the Ohio, opposite the lower of the Three Islands, was chosen, the station fixed and laid off into lots, which is now known as Manchester, in Adams County, about twelve miles above Maysville, Kentucky. The only neighboring settlements at this time were Columbia, below the month of the Little Miami, eight miles from Cincinnati, and the French settlement of Gallipolis, near the mouth of the Great Kanawha. In the spring of 1795 an abortive attempt to locate a town in this valley, was made by Nathaniel Massie. In March, 1796, another party, under the same leader—some going by way of the Ohio, and up the Scioto in boats, while others went by land—met at what is since known as Dutch Station, at the mouth of Paint Creek, and, and on the first of April they began to erect cabins and plant their crops. In the meantime, Massie had selected a location for the town on a large tract of land owned by himself, and containing two hundred and eighty-seven in and one hundred and sixty-nine out lots. After the boundaries of the lots, streets, and alleys were defined by blazing the trees, the embryo city was named Chillicothe. 210 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. CAPTURE OF ANDREW ELLISON. One beautiful spring morning a thrilling incident occurred in the little station of Manchester, which threw the settlement into consternation; and as the parties concerned belonged to and passed through this region of country, and likely from the route taken through this county, we insert it here : One morning Ellison went out from the fort to throw some logs together in his little clearing, which he had been burning. When he had about finished, and the heaps began to blaze, he observed, while passing from one to the other, three men approaching him. Supposing them to be some of his neighbors he paid no attention to them, although, said he, "they were dark-skinned fellows, I thought they were the Wades, who were dark skinned, going out early to hunt." He continued his work until one of them seized him by the arms and said in broken English, "How do; how do, broder ?" He immediately whirled, and on facing them to his horror found himself in the clutches of three stalwart Indians. Resistance was both useless and dangerous. He therefore quietly submitted to his fate. They hurridly moved off with him in the direction of Paint Creek. In the meantime his breakfast was ready at his cabin, and his wife sent one of the children to summons him. The little fellow searched for his father, but came back without finding him. Supposing he had gone out to kill a deer, no immediate alarm was caused by his absence. Dinner time arrived, and his continued absence caused uneasiness to his now anxious wife. His rifle was found hanging in its accustomed place. The alarm increasing, a search was instituted, and the tracks of four men, one of whom wore shoes, was found, leading away from the station, and the awful truth burst upon the poor wife and mother that her husband was a prisoner iii the hands of the savages. It was nearly night when this discovery was made, and the party returned to the station. Early the next morning Massie and his party started in pursuit, which, owing to the scarcity of vegetation, and the precaution of the wily savages to keep on high, hard lands, where their feet would leave little or no impression, was slow and laborious. But Massie and his men were as unerring as well-trained blood-hounds, and followed the trail to Paint Creek, when finding the Indians gaining on them so rapidly that further LIFE IN THE WOODS - 211 pursuit was useless, they returned to the station. The Indians took their prisoner directly to Upper Sandusky—evidently passing through the territory of this county—where he was compelled to run the gauntlet, and being large and clumsy he received a severe flogging as he passed through the lines. After this he was taken to Lower Sandusky, where he ran the gauntlet again ; then to Detroit, where he was generously ransomed by a British officer, who sent him to Montreal, whence he came home during the summer of the same year. LIFE IN THE WOODS. The following is from John S. Williams, in the American Pioneer: "Immigrants poured in from different parts, cabins were put up in every direction, and women, children, and goods, tumbled into them. The tide of immigration flowed like water through a breach in a mill-dam. Everything was bustle and confusion, and all at work that could work. In the midst of all this the mumps, and perhaps one or two other diseases, prevailed, and gave us a seasoning. Our cabin had been raised, covered, part of the cracks chinked, and part of the floor laid, when we moved in on Christmas day. There had not been a stick cut, except in building the cabin. We had intended an inside chimney, for we thought the chimney ought to be in the house. We had a log put across the whole width of the cabin for a mantel; but when the floor was in we found it so low as not to answer, and removed it. Here was a great change for my mother and sister, as well as the rest, but particularly my mother. She was raised in the most delicate manner, in and near London, and lived most of her time in affluence, and always comfortable. She was now in the wilderness, surrounded by wild beasts, in a cabin with half a floor, no door, no ceiling overhead, not even a tolerable sign for a fire-place, the light of clay and the chilling winds of night passing between every two logs in the building; the cabin so high from the ground that a bear, wolf; panther, or any other animal less in size than a cow, could enter without even a squeeze. Such was our situation on Thursday and Thursday night, December 25, 1800, and which was bettered but by very slow degrees. We got the rest of the floor laid in a very few days; the chinking of the cracks went on slowly, but the daubing 212 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. could not proceed till weather more suitable, which happened in a few days; doorways were sawed out, and steps made of the logs, and the back of the chimney was raised up to the mantel, but the funnel of sticks and clay was delayed until spring. Our family consisted of my mother, a sister of twenty-two, my brother, near twenty-one and very weakly, and myself, in my eleventh year. Two years afterward black Jenny followed us, in company with my half-brother Richard and his family. She lived two years with us in Ohio, and died in the winter of 1803-4. In building our cabin, it was set to front the north and south, my brother using my father's pocket compass on the occasion. We had no idea of living in a house that did not stand square with the earth itself. This argued our ignorance of the comforts and conveniences of a pioneer life. The position of the house, end to the hill, necessarily elevated the lower end, and the determination of having a north and south door added much to the airiness of the domicil, particularly after the green ash puncheons shrunk so as to have cracks in the floor and doors from one to two inches wide. At both the doors we had high, unsteady, and sometimes icy step made by piling up the logs cut out of the wall. We had, as the reader will see, a window (if it could be called a window, when, perhaps, it was the largest spot in the top, bottom, or side of the cabin at which the wind could not enter). It was made by sawing out a log, placing sticks across, and then, by pasting an old news-paper over the hole; and applying some hog's lard, we had a kind of glazing which shed a most beautiful and mellow light across the cabin when the sun shone on it. All other light entered at the doors, cracks, and chimney. Our cabin was 24x18. The west end was occupied by two beds, the center of each side by a door, and here our symmetry had to stop; for on the opposite side of the window, made of clapboards, supported on pins driven into the logs, were our shelves. Upon these shelves my sister displayed, in ample order, a host of pewter plates, basins, dishes, and spoons, scoured and bright. It was none of your new-fangled pewter, made of lead, but the best London pewter, on which you could hold your meat so as to cut it without slipping, and without dulling your knife. But, alas! the days of pewter plates and sharp dinner knives have passed, never to return. "To return to our internal arrangements. A ladder of five rounds occupied the corner near the window. By this, when we got a 214 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. above the eave bearers, which form the gable ends, and upon which the ribs rest. The weight-poles are those small logs laid on the roof. The knees are pieces of heart timber, placed above the butting-poles successively, to prevent the weight-poles from rolling off. "The evenings of the first winter did not pass off as pleasantly as evenings afterward. We had raised no tobacco to stem and twist, no corn to shell, no turnips to scrape; we had no tow to spill into rope yarn, nor straw to plait for hats, and we had come so late we could get but few walnuts to crack. We had, however, the Bible, George Fox's Journal, Berkeley's Apology, and a number of books, all better than much of the fashionable reading of today, from which, after perusing, the reader finds he has gained nothing, while his understanding has been made the dupe of the writer's fancy that while reading he had given himself up to be led in mazes of fictitious imaginations, and losing his taste for solid reading, as frothy luxuries destroy the appetite for wholesome food. To our stock of books were soon afterward added a borrowed copy of the Pilgrim's Progress, which we read twice through without stopping. The first winter our living was truly scanty and hard; but even this winter had its felicities. We had part of a barrel of flour which we had brought from Fredericktown.. Besides this, we had part of a jar of hog's lard brought from old Carolina ; not the tasteless stuff which now goes by that name, but pure leaf lard, taken from hogs raised on pine roots and fattened on sweet potatoes, and into which, while rendering, were immersed the boughs of the fragrant bay tree, which imparted to the lard a rich flavor. Of that flour, shortened with this lard, my sister, every Sunday morning, and at no other time, made short biscuit for breakfast; not those greasy, gum-elastic biscuit we mostly meet with now, rolled out with a pin, or cut out with a cutter, or those that are, perhaps, speckled with or puffed up with refined lye called salaratus, but made out, one by one, in her fair hands, placed in neat juxtaposition in a skillet or spider, pricked with a fork to prevent blistering and baked before an open fire—not half baked and half stewed in a cooking stove. " In the ordering of a good Providence the winter was open, but windy. While the wind was of great use in driving the smoke and ashes out of our cabin, it shook terribly the timber standing almost over us. We had never seen a dangerous looking tree near a dwelling, but here we were surrounded by the tall giants of the LIFE IN THE WOODS - 215 forest, waving their boughs and uniting their brows over us, as if in defiance of our disturbing their repose and usurping their long and uncontended pre-emption rights. The beech on the left often shook his bushy head over us as if in absolute disapprobation of our settling there, threatening to crush us if we did not pack up and start. The walnut over the spring branch stood high and straight; no one could tell which way it inclined, but all concluded that if it had a preference, it was in favor of quartering on our cabin. We got assistance to cut it down. The axeman doubted his ability to control its direction, by reason that he must necessarily cut it almost off before it would fall. He thought by felling the tree in the direction of the reader, along near the chimney, and thus favor the little lean it seemed to have, would be the means of saving the cabin. He was successful. Part of the stump still stands. These, and all other dangerous trees, were got down without other damage than many frights and frequent desertions of the premises by the family while the trees were being cut. The ash beyond the house crossed the scorf and fell upon the cabin, but without damage. "The monotony of the time for several of the first years was broken and enlivened by the howl of wild beasts. The wolves howling around us seemed to mourn their inability to drive us from their long and undisputed domain. The bears, panthers and deer seemingly got miffed at our approach, or the partiality of the hunters, and but seldom troubled us. One bag of meal would make a whole family rejoicingly happy and thankful then, when a loaded East Indiaman will fail to do it now, and is passed off as a common business transaction without ever once thinking of the Giver, so independent have we become in the short space of forty years ! Having got out of the wilderness in less time than the children of Israel, we seem to be even more forgetful and unthankful than they. When spring was fully come, and our little patch of corn, three acres, put in among the beech roots, which at every step contended with the shovel-plow for the right of soil, and held it, too, we enlarged our stock of conveniences. As soon as bark would run (peel off) we could make ropes and bark boxes. These we stood in great need of, as such things as bureaus, stands, wardrobes or even barrels, were not to be had. The manner of making rope of linn bark, was to cut the bark into strips of convenient length, and water-rot it in the same manner as rotting flax or hemp. 216 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. When this was done the inside bark would peel off and split up so fine as to make a considerably rough and good-for-but-little kind of a rope. Of this, however, we were very glad, and let no ship owner with his grass ropes laugh at us. We made two kinds of boxes for furniture. One kind was of hickory bark with the outside shaved off. This we would take off all around the tree, the size of which would determine the calibre of our box. Into one end we would place a flat piece or puncheon, cut round to fit in the bark, which stood on end the same as when on the tree. There was little need of hooping, as the strength of the bark would keep that all right enough. Its shrinkage would make the top unsightly in a parlor now-a-days, but then they were considered quite an addition to the furniture. A much finer article was of slippery elm bark, shaved smooth, and with the inside out, bent round and sewed together where the ends of the hoop or main bark lapped over. The length of the bark was around the box, and inside out. A bottom was made of a piece of the same bark, dried flat, and a lid like that of a common band-box, made in the same way. This was the finest furniture in the ladies' dressing-room, and then, as now, with the finest. furniture, the lapped or sewed side was turned to the wall, and the prettiest part to the spectator. They were usually made oval, and while the bark was green were easily ornamented with drawings of birds, trees, etc., agreeable to the taste and skill of the fair manufacturer. As we belonged to the Society of Friends, it may be fairly presumed that our band-boxes were not thus ornamented. " We settled on beech land, which took much labor to clear. We could do no better than to clear out the smaller stuff, and burn the brush, etc., around the beeches, which, in spite of the girdling and burning which we could do to them, would leaf out the first year, and often a little the second. The land, however, was very rich, and would bring better corn than might be expected. We had to tend it with the hoe; that. is, to chop down the nettles, the water-weed, and the touch-me-not. Grass, coreless, lambs-quarter, and Spanish needles, were reserved to pester the better prepared farmer. " We cleared a small turnip-patch, which we got in about the 10th of August. We sowed in timothy seed, which took well, and the next year we had a little hay besides. The tops and blades were also carefully saved for our horse, cow, and two sheep. The turnips were, sweet and good; and in the fall we took care to LIFE IN THE WOODS - 217 gather walnuts and hickory--nuts, which were abundant. These, with the turnips, which we scraped, supplied the place of fruit. I have always been partial to scraped turnips, and could now beat any three dandies scraping them. Johnny-cake, also, when we had meal to make it of, helped to make up our evening's repast. The Sunday morning biscuit had all evaporated, but. the loss was partialy supplied by the nuts and turnips. Our regular supper was mush and milk, and by the time we had shelled our corn, stemmed tobacco, and plaited straw to make hats, etc., the mush and milk had seemingly decamped from the neighborhood of our ribs. To relieve this difficulty, my brother and I would bake a thin Johnny-cake, part of which we would eat, and leave the rest. till morning. At daylight we would eat the balance as we walked from the house to work. " The methods of eating mush and milk were various. Some would sit around the pot, and every one take therefrom for himself. Some would set a table, and each have his tin cup of milk, and with a pewter spoon take just as much mush from the dish or pot, if it were on the table, as he thought would fill his mouth or throat, then lowering it into the milk would take some to wash it down. This method kept the milk cool, and by frequent. repetitions the pioneer would contract a faculty of correctly estimating the proper amount of each. Others would mix mush and milk together. "To get grinding done was often a great "difficulty, by reason of the scarcity of mills, the freezes in winter, and drouths in summer. We bad often to manufacture meal (when we had corn) in any way we could get the corn to pieces. We soaked and pounded it; we shaved it; we planed it; and, at the proper season, we grated it. When one of' our neighbors got a hand-mill, it was thought quite an acquisition to the neighborhood. In after years, when in time of freezing or drouth we could get grinding by waiting for our turn no more than one day and a night at a horse-mill, we thought ourselves happy. To save meal, we often made pumpkin bread, in which, when meal was scarce, the pumpkin would so predominate as to render it next to impossible to tell our bread from that article, either by taste, looks, or the amount of nutriment it contained. Salt was five dollars per bushel, and we used none in our corn bread, which we soon liked as well without it. Often has the sweat run into my mouth, which tasted as fresh and flat as distilled 218 - HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. water. What meat we had at first was fresh, and but little of that, for had we been hunters we had no time to practice it. " We had no candles, and' cared but little about them, except for summer use. In Carolina we had the real fat light wood—not merely pine knots, but the fat, straight pine. This, from the brilliancy of our parlor, of winter evenings, might be supposed to put, not only candles, lamps, camphene, Greenough's chemical oil, but even gas itself, to blush. In the West we had not this, but my business was to ramble in the woods every morning for seasoned sticks, or the bark of the shelly hickory, for light. 'Tis true that our light was not as good as even candles, but we got along without fretting, for we depended more upon the goodness of our eyes than we did upon the brilliancy of the light." |