HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY. - 271

CHAPTER IV.

PIONEERS PRIOR TO 1800- JONATHAN ALDER BENJAMIN SPRINGER -
OSBORN- JAMES AND JOSHUA EWING-DAVID MITCHELL-OTHER SET-
TLERS- MICHAEL JOHNSON-WILLIAM LAPIN- JAMES AND WILL-
IAM HEWEY -DAVID MARTIN - WILLIAM ALKIRE.

REACHING back one hundred years, where certain records of history "fade away in the twilight and charm of tradition," we 'gather up the marvelous growth of civilization in the New World. The past century is rich in the romance of American history, and progress has reigned with imperial power. Here barbarism was driven bach still farther into its native forests, where through all the ages it has had its securest home, and the inseparable twins. Christianity and civilization, bearing the ax of time, have cloven along its retiring footsteps, room for a better, purer and holier life, in all of which we may be able to read the inevitable decree of an overruling Providence. In order to bring us closer, if possible to the condition of things as they once existed here, and to aid in paying just tribute to those brave men who fought here, or who but little later were the avant couriers of this present peaceful and happy county, let us speak in the words of one of Ohio's poet sons

"The mighty oak, prowl monarch of the wood,

Upon these hills in stately grandeur stood.

Along these vales did ferocious panthers prowl,

And oft was pearl the fierce wolf's frightful howl;

But all these savage beasts hive passed away,

And the wilt Indians, too-where are they'

They have disappeaeed-most of these tribe, are gone,

Like the night's :lark shades before the rising dawn.

Can we forget that brave and hardy Maid

Who made their homes first in this Western land'.

Their names should be enrolled on history's page,

To be preserved by each succeeding age ;

They were the fathers of the mighty West ;

Their arduous labors heaven above has blessed

Before them fell the forest of the plain,

And peace and plenty, followed in the train.'"

JONATHAN ALDER.

About forty years ago, Jonathan Alder dictated to his son Henry the eventful story of his life, which the latter wrote out in full. It contained about one hundred pages of manuscript, and was loaned to Henry Howe, in the preparation of his history of Ohio, who made copious extracts therefrom. It is not now known whether or not Howe ever returned this manuscript, but if he did, some other man borrowed it soon after, and it has never since been seen by the family. In subsequent years. Henry Alder prepared a second manuscript from memory, also using the extracts 'printed in Howe's history. These accounts conflict in some cases, and wherever they do, we have given the preference to the original account prepared during the lifetime of Mr. Alder. We have also obtained additional facts from his descendants, and old settlers who knew him well and give them in the general story of his life.

272 - HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

Jonathan abler was born in New Jersey, about eight miles from Philadelphia, September 17, 1773. His parents were Bartholomew and Hannah Alder, and the father had been twice married. Of the first marriage one son, John, was the issue. while the second family were David, Jonathan, Mark and Paul. When our subject was about seven years of age, his parents removed to Wythe County, Ara., where his father died soon afterward. They resided near the lead mines in that county. and owned a small farm of very poor land. In March, 1782, Jonathan was sent, with his brother David, to hunt up a mare and colt that had been missing for several days. They found the animals, and, while in the act of assisting the colt to rise, it haying eaten a poisonous weed and taken sick, David discovered a band of savages in close proximity, and with the cry, " Indians," darted off, closely pursued. Jonathan was so frightened that tie made no effort to escape, and when one of the Indians, upon reaching him, held out his hand. tie took hold of it without a murmur. The hand consisted of about half a dozen Indians and a white prisoner, who had been with them for years. "At length," says Alder," "I saw them returning. leading my brother, while one was holding the handle of a spear that he had thrown at him and run into his body. As they approached, one of them stepped up and grasped him around tile body while another pulled out the spear. I observed some flesh on the end of it which looked white, which I supposed came from his entrails. I moved to him and inquired if he was hurt, and he replied that he was ; these were the last words that passed between us; at that moment the turned pale and began to sink, and I was hurried on. and shortly after, saw one of the barbarous wretches coming up with the scalp of my brother in his hand, shaking off the blood."

In the same neighborhood lived a Mr. Martin. wife and two children. The Indians shot Martin, in the timber where he was chopping, and going to his cabin, killed tile youngest babe, and took prisoners Mrs. Martin and her two-year-old child. Finding the child of Mrs. Martin burdensome. they soon killed and scalped it ; the last member of her family was now destroyed, and she screamed in agony of grief and his one of the Indians caught her by the hair, and drawling the edge of his knife across her forehead cried, "Sculp ! sculp with the hope of stilling her cries, but, indifferent to life, she continued her screams, widen they procured some switches and whipped her until she was silent. The next day, young Alder living not risen, through fatigue and want of food, at the moment the word was given, saw, as his face was to the north, the shadow of a man's arm with an uplifted tomahawk ; he turned, and there stood an Indian. ready for the fatal blow : upon this he let down his arm and commence! feeling this head : he afterward told Alder it had been his intention to have killed him, but as the turned he looked so smiling and pleasant that he could not strike, and, on feeling his head, and noticing that his hair was black, the thought struck him that if he could only get him to his tribe, he would make a good Indian. but all that saved him was the color of his hair. The band traveled rapidly across the country, and on the seventh day came to Big Sandy. where they made three bark canoes and floated down that stream to the Ohio, which they immediately crossed to the north bank, and then destroyed their canoes. About two weeks had passed away ere they reached the soil of Ohio, where the Indians felt safe from pursuit, and allowed their prisoners more liberty. Traveling

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY. - 273

at leisure through the beautiful forests and prairies, they at last came to the site of Chillicothe, Ross County, where they found an Indian camp, the squaws and larger children engaged in making salt. Thence they went to the Pickaway plains and spent some time in hunting. Here they crossed the Scioto River, and traveled in a northwest direction between Big Darby and the North Fork of Paint Creek, in the vicinity of Deer Creek. Halting near the site of London, they passed most of the summer hunting in what is now Madison County, principally on the Darby plains, where all sorts of game was abundant. They camped for a time near the present location of Plain City : thence followed the Indian trace, which started from the salt lick, near Chillicothe ; thence up the Scioto to the mouth of Big Darby ; thence up that stream to the head-waters of the Scioto, and on to Upper Sandusky. While on this trip, Jonathan made a foolish attempt to escape, by hiding in a hollow log, but it proved a failure, and he then became resigned to his fate.

The village to which Alder was taken belonged to the Mingo tribe, and was on the north side of Mad River, which, we should judge. was somewhere within or near the limits of what is now Logan County. .s he entered he was obliged to run the gauntlet formed by young children, with switches. He passed through this ordeal with little or no injury, and wag adopted into an Indian family. His Indian mother thoroughly washed him with soap and warm water with herbs in it, previous to dressing him in the Indian costume, consisting of a calico shirt, breechclout, leggins and moccasins. The family having thus converted him into an Indian, were much pleased with their new member ; but Jonathan was at first very homesick, thinking of his mother and brothers. Everything was strange about him; he was unable to speak a word of their language, their food disagreed with him, and. child-like, he used to go out daily for more than a month and sit under a large walnut tree near the village, and cry for hours at a time over his deplorable situation. His Indian father was a chief of the Mingo tribe, named Succohanos, his Indian mother was named Winecheoh, and their daughters respectively answered to the good old English names of Mary, Hannah and Sally. Succohanos awl Winecheoh were old people and had lost a son, in whose place they had adopted Jonathan. They took pity on the little fellow, and +lid their host to comfort him, telling him that lee would one day he restored to his mother and brothers. He says of them. " they could not have used their own son better. for which they shall always be held in the most grateful remembrance.'' Mrs. Martin was parted from him on the second day after reaching the Mingo towns, ,and he did not see her again for two years, when then met at the salt-works" (in Jackson County), where she told him of her woes and each sympathized with the other. Soon afterward. she was exchange l and he never saw her more. Some time after his adoption. Simon Girty male his appearance in the village and offered to buy him, take him to Canada and teach him a trade ; but the name of the English was more abhorrent to him at that time than the Indians, so he conclude to stay where he was. At the close of his second winter among the Indians, a white trader from Kentucky, with an Indian wife, made his appearance for the purpose of exchanging prisoners. Jonathan was informed of the circumstance and was delighted with the prospect of soon again seeing his mother and brothers : but his Indian boy com-

274 - HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

panions, who had become much attached to him, told him terrible stories as to his future if he went with the white trader, hoping thereby to induce him to remain with them. His Indian father always told Jonathan that these tales were false. A few days prior to they time he was to start for Virginia, Succohanos took him to the agency, which was ten miles distant. The parting from his Indian friends was very affecting, for they all loved him well and wept bitterly over his departure. The same hour of his arrival at the agency, the agent, who was a rough man, began to abuse him. Jonathan resisted, and the trader's squaw came to the boy's assistance. This brought on a big quarrel, during which Jonathan "struck out" to overtake his Indian father, in which he was successful. He was joyfully received back by Winecheoh, as well as the entire youth of the village, the latter of whom made him the butt of their friendly jokes on account of his short stay with the agent, whose treatment completely weaned him of any lingering desire to return to his early home.

His Indian sisters were all married. Mary was the wife of the Shawnee chief John Lewis ; Hannah married Isaac Zane, the half-breed, and Sally became the wife of an ordinary Indian. Jonathan went to live with the latter as a nurse, and she was very cruel to him, abusing and whipping the boy without any provocation, and treating him like a slave." After two years bad passed in this way, one of his playmates told Winecheoh, who immediately took him away from her cross daughter, telling him, over and over, how sorry she was that he had suffered so much cruelty. He subsequently went to live with Chief Lewis, who had no children. " In the fall of the year," says he, " the Indians would generally collect at our camp in the evenings to talk over their hunting expeditions, and I would sit up to listen to their stories, and frequently fell asleep just where I was sitting after they left, Mary would fix my bed, and, with Col. Lewis, carefully take me up and carry me to it. On these occasions, they would often say, supposing me to be asleep, ' Poor fellow, we have sat up too long for him. and he has fallen asleep on the cold ground,' and then how softly they would lay me down and cover me up. Oh'. never have I, nor can I, express the affection I had for these two persons."

Jonathan, with other boys, went into Mad River to bathe, and on one occasion came near drowning ; he was taken out senseless, and some time elapsed before he recovered. He says : I remember, after I got over my strangle, I became very sleepy, and thought I could draw my breath as well as ever ; being overcome with drowsiness, I laid down to sleep, which was the last I remembered. The act of drowning is nothing, but the coming to life is distressing. The boys, after they had brought me to, gave me a silver buckle, as an inducement not to tell the old folks of the occurrence, for fear they would not let me come with them again, and so the affair was kept secret."

When Alder had learned to speak the Indian language. he became more contented. He says: "I would have lived very happy if I could have had good health, but for three or four years I was subject to very severe attacks of fever and ague. Their diet went very hard with me for a long time. Their chief living was meat and hominy ; but we rarely had bread, and very little salt, which was extremely scarce and dear, as well as milk and. butter. Honey and sugar were plentiful, and used a great deal in their

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cooking, as well as on their food." He lived with Chief Lewis until thirteen years of age, when Succohanos took him home, saying, that it was time for Jonathan to be doing something for himself, that he would not have to work, but must be a brave man and a great hunter. The English gave his Indian father, annually, a keg of powder and a keg of musket-bullets, so giving the boy an old English musket, with plenty of ammunition, he said, " Now start and kill any game you see ; it makes no difference what it is, so it is game." He used to follow along the water courses, where mud turtles were plenty, and commenced his first essay upon them. He generally aimed under them as they lay basking on the rocks, and when he struck the stone, they flew sometimes several feet in the air. which afforded great sport for the youthful marksman. Success attended his efforts in killing the smaller game with which the forest abounded. but when he brought home a fine, fat turkey, he would receive high praise for his skill, the Indians telling him he would be a great hunter one of these days." His first great feat was the killing of a large buck deer, when a big feast was celebrated over the victory, none being so proud of his prowess as his good old Indian mother. He says:

Between Col. Lewis, Isaac Zane, Sally's husband, and my father, it was sometimes a tussle between whose knees I should sit and tell over my great deed of killing the deer. I really think I told it fifty times that evening." The next spring his father gave him a new rifle, and his whole business was to hunt. He soon was second to no Indian youth in the camp, finally becoming the hope and support of his Indian parents.

In 1786, Alder was living in the vicinity of the Mackacheek villages, when they were attacked and destroyed by Gen. Logan. He says that the news of the approach of the Kentuckians' was communicated to the Indians by a deserter, but as Logan arrived sooner than expected the surprise was complete. Early one morning, an Indian runner came to the village where Alder lived, and gave the information that Mackacheek had been destroyed, and the "Long-Knives" were approaching. The people of the village who were principally aged men. squaws and children, retreated for two days, until they arrived on the head-waters of the Scioto River, where they suffered much for want of food. There was not a man among them capable of hunting, and they were compelled to subsist on papaws, muscles and crawfish. In about eight days, they returned to Zane's town, and thence to Hog Creek. where they spent the winter of 1786-87. Their principal living, at that place, was "raccoons, and that with little or no salt, without a single bite of bread. hominy or sweet corn." In the spring, they moved back to their village, where nothing retrained but the ashes of their dwellings, and their corn burnt to charcoal. They staved here during the sugar season, and then removed to Blanchard's Fork, so as to be more secure from the whites. where, being obliged to clear the land, they were enabled to raise but a scanty crop of corn. They fared hard throughout the summer, but managed to sustain life by "eating a kind of wild potato, and poor raccoons that Lad been suckled down so poor that dogs would hardly eat them," and, Alder says, "for fear of losing a little. they threw them on the fire, singed the hair off, and ate skin and all." When the crop was in and cabins built, the men scattered out to hunt, coming as far south as Madison County, where game of all sorts was plentiful, and whence they supplied their winter stock to overflowing. Alder made periodical trips with the Indians to the salt

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springs, and usually came through this region of country, hunting along the Drab's, Deer Creek, Paint Creek and their tributaries. They had, he says, favorite camping places on Oak Run and Paint Creek, south of the site of London, also north of London, on the head-waters of Deer Creek, and near the junction of Spring Fork with Little Darby. Some time was usually spent in making salt, as boiling the water in small kettles, which were brought along for that purpose, proved a very slow process of manufacture. All hands worked, excepting a few good hunters who supplied the camp with food. During one of these trips, while a number of the party were hunting a bear, Alder got severely injured. He had climbed a tree to assist in driving bruin from his perch, when the tree broke off and precipitated him to the ground. His comrades thought he was killed but although he finally recovered, it was several months ere he could stir around, or regained his former strength.

In the spring of 1790, Alder went with a party of Indians into Kentucky to steal horses, " in retaliation for the destruction of our towns and property." Starting from the vicinity of the oil Mackacheek villages, they passed through what is now Logan, Union, Madison, Pickaway and Ross Counties, stopping on the Pickaway plains to hunt, and taking their leisure as Indians always do. The' reached the Ohio River, near the site of Portsmouth, made bark canoes and crossed to the Kentucky shore. Alder says : " This was the first time I had seen the Ohio River since I crossed it a prisoner." The' secured thirty-two horses, young and old, says Alder. I had a mare, one yearling colt and one two-year-old colt." The animals were made to swim the Ohio. and the Indians did likewise. Alder says " I swain it with ease, it seemed as if I hardly wet my back." The whole band returned by the same route through Ohio, arriving home in safety. In speaking of his Indian parents, he says : "They thought it was a great feat for me to swim the great Ohio River. They seemed to set a high value on the horses, not because they were valuable, but because they had a son who could venture out so far and be so successful in stealing horses, and get back with his property safe." Two years later, he trade a second trip to Kentucky for the same purpose, but the hand was discovered and narrowly escaped capture. They resolved, luring the pursuit, to murder a family whose cabin lay in their route back to the Ohio, and waited until midnight. about a mile from their intended victims. On starting for the house they were unable to find the path leading thereto, and though close to the cabin. did not discover it on account of the extreme darkness of the night, and, looking upon their failure as a manifestation. of the displeasure of the Great Spirit, gave up the cruel intention. On coming to a second cabin. however, they determined to gratify their savage desire for blood, but fortunately found the house deserted. Alder says that he felt thankful then and ever afterward, that there were no lives taken during these trips. Another excursion subsequently was made into Kentucky, but it also proved a failure, as the people were on the alert for these thieving pests.

Alder speaks of meeting John Brickell with a band of Delawares. who visited their camps on the Maumee, coming from the villages, where Columbus now stands. He also knew Jeremiah Armstrong very well who lived with the Wyandots at the same place, both being prisoners with the Indians.

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During this time Winecheoh died, aged about eighty years. and soon afterward Alder went with Succohanos to the salt springs. The old man was very feeble, and desired Jonathan to go to Upper Sandusky and get him some tobacco, but upon his return he found that Succohanos was dead and buried. He says : I was now left alone, no one to care for me. I had lost a 'Kind father and mother, and man as I was, I missed them both very much." He soon afterward began to pay his attention to an Indian widow named Barshaw, who was a sister of Big Turtle. and somewhat older than Alder he concluded to find a good hunting around for the fall, and the Darby plains was chosen. Starting from tipper Sandusky for this point, he pitched his tent near a spring, where Plain City now stands. His season proved a successful one, and selling his peltries to a trader, who was living at the Indian villages where Columbus now is. he returned to Sandusky late in the fall. During the winter he continued to pay his addresses to Barshaw. and early the following spring again carne to this portion of the territory, locating his tent on Paint Creek. South of the site of London, where he hunted deer and trapped the valuable beaver and otter with gratifying success. Throughout that summer and succeeding winter, his camp was on Big Darby, on the farm subsequently owned by Knowlton Bailey, and here he remained hunting and trapping until Indian runners brought the news of the invasion of Wayne's army. All of the Indians were ordered north to join their brethren in the coming struggle. Tie Indians told Alder it was going to be an easy victory over Wayne. and that the spoils would be rich and plenty, which inducements proved too strong a. temptation for him to remain away. He says They told me if I did not wish to fight, I need not do so. I studied over it for some time, and thought I might as well have some of the good things he had a, any one so when the army got ready to move I went along.' The Indians attacked Fort Recovery June 30, 1794, and were repulsed. A number if riderless horses belonging to the mounted force outside the fort. first attacked by the Indians. were galloping madly around, and Alder exerted himself without success, to capture One of the animals. He states that Simon Girty and the McKees father and son, were in the fight, and that Thomas McKee killed Capt. Hartshorn of the American forces. Speaking of the battle, Alder says: "In the morning when we arose, an We went out last night to take the fort by surprise and lost several of our :ten killed and wounded. There is one wounded man near the fort, who must be brought away, for it would be an eternal shame and scandal to the tribe to allow him to fall into the hands of the whites to be massacred. I wish to known who will volunteer to go and bring him away.' Big Tartle,' who knew where he lay. answered that he would go but as no one else volunteered. the old Indian pointed out several of us successively, myself among the number, saying, that we must accompany Big Turtle. Upon this we rose up without a word, and started. As soon as we came into the edge of the cleared ground, those in the fort began shooting at us. We then ran crooked from one tree to another, the bullets in the meanwhile dying about us like hail. At length, while standing behind a big tree. Big Turtle ordered us not to stop any more, but run in a straight line, as we were only giving them time to load, that those foremost in going should have the liberty of first returning. He then pointed out the wounded man, and we started in a straight line, through a shower

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of bullets. When we reached him, we were within sixty yards of the fort. We all seized him and retreated for our lives, first dodging from one side and then to the other, until out of danger. None of us were wounded but Big Turtle; a ball grazed his thigh, and a number of bullets passed through his hunting shirt that hung loose. When we picked up the wounded man, his shirt flew open, and I saw that he was shot in the belly. It was Green all around the bullet hole, and I concluded we were risking our lives for a dead man." Alder says that he did not take any active part in this fight, and when told by an Indian to shoot at the holes-in the fort replied, f do not want to shoot," and was then advised to get out of the battle if he did not want to do any fighting.

After the attack on Fort Recovery, the Indians lingered in the vicinity for several days. finally retreating to Defiance. Alder says: We remained here (Defiance) about two weeks, until we heard of the approach of Wayne, when we packed up our goods and started for the old English fort at the Maumee Rapids. Here we prepared ourselves for battle, and sent the women and children down about three miles below the fort : and as I did not wish to fight they sent me to Sandusky to inform some Wyandots there of the great battle that was about to take place. I remained at Sandusky until the battle was over. The Indians did, not wait more than three or four days, before Wayne made his appearance at the heal of a long prairie on the river, where he halted and waited for an opportunity to suit himself. Now the Indians are very curious about fighting : for when they know they are going into battle they will not eat anything just previous. They say that if a man is shot in the body when he is entirely empty there is not half as much danger of the ball passing through his bowels as when they are full. So they started the first morning without eating anything. and, moving up to the end of the prairie, ranged themselves in order of battle at the edge of the timber. There they waited all day without any fool and at night returned and partook of their suppers. The second morning they again placed themselves in the same position. and again returned at night and supped. By this time they had begun to get weak from eating only once a day, and concluded they would eat breakfast before they again started. So the next morning they began to cook and eat. Some were eating, and others who had finished had moved forward to their stations. when Wayne's army was seen approaching. As soon as they were within gunshot the Indians began firing upon them; but Wayne, making no halt, rushed on, regardless of danger. Only a small part of the Indians being on the ground, they were obliged to give back. and, finding Wayne too sarong for them, attempted to retreat. Those who were on the way heard the noise, and hurried to their assistance. So some were running from and others to the battle, which created great confusion. In the meantime, the light-horse had gone entirely round and came in upon their rear, blowing their horns and closing in upon them. The Indians now found that they were completely surrounded, and all that could made their escape, and the balance were all killed, which was no small number. Among these last. with one or two exceptions, were all the Wyandots that lived at Sandusky at the time I went to inform them of the expected battle. The main body of the Indians were back nearly two miles from the battle-ground, and Wayne had taken them by surprise and made such slaughter among them that they

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were entirely discouraged, and made the best of their way to their respective homes."

Alder remained with the Indians until after Wayne's treaty, in 1795. He was urged by them to be present on the occasion, to obtain a reservation of land which was to be given to each of the prisoners, but ignorant of its importance, he neglected going and lost the land. Peace having been restored, Alder says : I could now lie down without fear, and rise up and shake hands with both the Indian and the white man. As soon as that treaty was confirmed, I concluded my arrangements with Barshaw, and we were married in due form, according to the Indian custom. We immediately made arrangements to move to the Darby, as that was then the best hunting ground in the West. We got a brood mare for each of us, packed up our goods and started for Big Darby, or Crawfish Creek, as it was then called. We stopped a little below where Pleasant Valley now is, and there commenced life in good earnest. Our cabin was built on what is since known as the Jeremiah, Dominy farm, precisely where he built his house afterward. There was a fine spring of water but a few steps from the cabin." The Dominy farm is on the east bank of Big Darby, about one mile southeast of Plain City, and here, in the fall of 1795, was living the first white settler of Madison County. During the following winter, while Alder was out hunting, he discovered two white men who were lost in the forest, and they were the first he had seen in that region of country. Although not able to speak English, he took the strangers to his cabin, fed them and put them on the trace to Sandusky, showing them all the kindness in his power. He subsequently removed to the site of Plain City, on the west bank of the stream, and there was found by Benjamin Springer and Usual Osborn, in 1796, who settled on Big Darby, on land now owned by John Taylor, near the north line of Canaan Township. The summer after the treaty, while living on Big Darby. Lucas Sullivant made his appearance in that region surveying land, and soon became on terms of intimacy with Alder, who related to him a history of his life, and Sullivant generously gave him the piece of land on which he dwelt ; but there being some little difficulty about the title, Alder did not contest, and subsequently lost it. According to Mrs. Sarah 'Norton, an early settler yet living, who is the daughter of Daniel Taylor, deceased, Barshaw had two children when Alder took her for his wife, viz.. Sarah and John. Mrs. Norton says that she often played with them ere Alder and his wife parted. She also says that the squaw thought a Great deal of Jonathan, and was afraid that he would leave her and marry a white woman, which fears were subsequently realized. During his stay with Barshaw, she bore him two children. both of whom died in infancy, and this they believed was a manifestation of displeasure by the Great Spirit at the intermarriage of the two races. This, with other causes, finally led to a separation. Usual Osborn and Benjamin Springer taught Alder to speak English, which tongue he had quite forgotten. He learned very rapidly so that he soon was the recognized interpreter between the whites and Indians. He was now becoming civilized, and began to farm like the whites. He kept hogs, cows and horses, sold milk and butter to the Indians, horses and pork to the whites, and accumulated property. He soon was able to hire white laborers, and being dissatisfied with his squaw, a cross, peevish woman, wished to put her aside,

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get a wife from among the settlers, and live like them. Thoughts, too, of his mother and brothers began to obtrude, and the more he reflected, his desire strengthened to know if they were living and to see them once more. He made inquiries for them, but was at a loss to know how to begin, being ignorant of the name of even the State in which they were residing.

About this time he entered into a hunting partnership with John Moore, who afterward was one of the officials of Madison County for many years, and a leading merchant of London. Losing the land near Plain ho removed farther down the stream and built a cabin east of where Foster's Chapel now stands, in Jefferson Township, close to the west bank of Big Darby, on the land now owned by R. C. Stuckey. When talk one day with Moore, the latter began to question him where he was from. Alder replied that he was taken prisoner somewhere near a place called Greenbrier, and that his people lived by a lead mine, to which he frequently went to see the hands dig ore. Moore then asked him if he could recollect the names of any of his neighbors : after a little reflection he replied. "Yes. it family of Gulions that lived close by us." Upon this Moore dropped his head, as if in thought, and muttered to himself, "Gulions! Gulions!'' and then raising up replied, "My father and myself were out in that country, and we stopped at their house over one night, and if your people are living, I can find them." Mr. Moore, after this, went to Wythe County awl inquired for the family of Alder, but without success, as they had removed from their former residence. He put up advertisements in various places, stating the facts and where Alder was to he found, and then returned. Alder now abandoned all hopes of finding his family. supposing them to be dead. Some time after, he and Moore were at Franklinton, when he was informed there was a letter for him in the post office. It was from his brother Paul, stating that one of the advertisements was put up within six miles of him, and that he got it the next day. It contained the joyful news that his mother and brothers were living. Alder in making preparations to start for Virginia, agreed to separate from his Indian wife, divide the property equally, and take and leave her with her own people at Sandusky. But some difficulty occurred in satisfying her ; he gave her all the cows, fourteen in number, worth $20 each, seven Horses and much other property, reserving to himself only two horses and the swine. Besides these was a small box, about six inches long, four wide, and four deer, filled with silver amounting probably to about $200, which he intended to take to make an equal division. But to this she objected, saying the box was hers before marriage and she would not only have it, but all that it contained. Alder says : "I saw I could not get it without making a fuss, and probably having a fight, and told her that if site would promise never to trouble or come back to me, she might have it, to which she agreed." Barshaw did not keep this promise, however, but annoyed him considerably in a number of cases. "Once," he says, " she was returning from the salt works to Sandusky, and finding no one at home she stuck her butcher knife through the bottom of one of my tin cups three times, and cut to pieces a silver mounted bridle of mine that cost me $13." Ac other visits she destroyed whatever she could find in the cabin, and Mrs. Norton says that she threatened to kill his white wife if she ever found her alone. Thus she displayed her jealous and venomous character by seeking revenge on the innocent.

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Every two years, however, Alder went to see his Indian friends, but never visited his former wife.

In November, 1804, he started for Virginia, and John Moore accompanied him to his brother's house, as he was unaccustomed to travel among the whites. They arrived there, on horseback, at noon on the Sunday after New Year's, 1805. They walked up to the house and requested to have their horses fed, and, pretending they were strangers, inquired who lived there. I had concluded," says Alder, "not to make myself known for some time, and eyed my brother very close, but did not recollect his features. I had always thought that I should have recognized my mother by a mole on her face: in the corner sat an old lady who, I supposed was her, although I could not tell, for when I was taken by the Indians her head was as black as a crow and now it was almost perfectly white. Two young women were present who eyed the very close, and I heard one of them whisper to the other, he looks very much like Mark (my brother). I saw they were about to discover me, and accordingly turned my chair around to my brother and said, : You say that your name is Alder?' ' Yes,' he replied. ' my name is Paul Alder.' ' Well,' I rejoined, 'my name is Alder, too.' Now it is hardly necessary to describe our feelings at that time, but they were different from those I had when taken prisoner, and saw the Indian coming with my brother's scalp in his hand, shaking off the blood. When I told my brother that my name was Alder, he rose to shake hands with me, so overjoyed that he could scarcely utter a word, and my old mother ran, threw her arms around me, while tears rolled down her cheeks. The first words she spoke, after she grasped me in her arms, were, 'How you have grown and then she told me of a dream she had. Says she, I dreamed that you had come to see me, and that you was a little ordinary looking fellow, and I would not own you for my son ; but now I find I was mistaken, that it is entirely the reverse, and I am proud to own you for my son.' I told her I could remind her of a few circumstances that she would recollect, that took place before I was made captive. I then related various things, among which was that the negroes, on passing our house on Saturday evening, to spend Sunday with their wives, would beg pumpkins of her, and get her to roast them for them again their return on Monday morning. She recollected these circumstances, and said she had now no doubt of my being her son. We passed the balance of the day in agreeable conversation, and I related to them the history of my captivity, my fears and doubts, of my grief and misery the first year after I was taken. My brothers at this time were all married, and Mark and John had moved from there. They were sent for. and came to see me; but my half-brother John had moved so far that I never got to see him at all." He told them of David's death, pointing out the spot where he was killed; visited the old homestead, the scene of his capture, and went with his friends to the place where he spent the first night with the Indians. They related to him, that about a year afterward. David's bones were found and buried. His mother had married during his long absence, and one of the young women, whom he had first seen in the house, was his half-sister.

He says : I had intended to come back the next fall, but my mother and brother Paul got very anxious to come out with me, and so they told me they would sell their land and go with me. I agreed to this and stayed

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another year. While roving around among their friends and neighbors, all of whom were glad to see me and hear my history, I fell in company with Mary Blont, and as she was a rather handsome girl, I fell in love with her, and proposed to marry her and take her back with me. She readily consented to my proposition, and we were married in the winter of 1806. In the meantime, my half-sister had married a Mr. Henry Smith, and they came to the conclusion to come to Ohio with us. Early in the spring of 1806, we all commenced to make preparations for the long and weary journey. We bought one large wagon and harnessed six fine horses to it, and started out in the latter part of August, 1806." After a journey of eight weeks' duration, they arrived safely at the cabin previously erected by Alder and John Moore, east of the site of Foster Chapel. His intention was to buy this land, but during his absence to Virginia, Rev. Lewis Foster, a Methodist preacher, came out to look up a location, and finding this land with a house already built to which no one laid claim, he went to Chillicothe, and purchased the whole tract of 1,000 acres. Alder was living in the cabin about two months, when Mr. Foster's son notified him that his father had bought the land, and thus, through his ignorance of the white man's laws, he again lost the site of his intended home. He then went to Franklinton, and purchased, from Lucas Sullivant, the adjoining tract on the north, which is now in the southeast corner of Canaan Township, and bordering on Big Darby. With the assistance of his brother Paul, his brother-in-law Smith, and a few other friends, he soon had a good cabin erected, and was living in it inside of eight days from the time they began the work. In later years, he expressed a desire that this cabin should be preserved by his descendants as long as it would last, and it is vet standing in good repair. His brother and brother-in-law subsequently bought land on Three-Mile Run not far from his purchase, built cabins, and in a short time the little settlement was comfortably quartered. The Indians occasionally came to the neighborhood and usually camped in the vicinity of Alder's cabin, as they looked upon him as one of themselves. He was always very kind to them and did much toward keeping them on friendly terms with the whites during the exciting period of the war of 1812. They consulted him as to the course they should pursue, and through his influence and advice, either took up arms for the Americans, or remained neutral.

Throughout these reminiscences, he often speaks of the Indian character; tells of their customs, feasts, games, amusements, dances, courtship, marriage, superstitions, and other phases of Indian life well known to the average student of history. He knew Simon Girty well, and says he was no such fiend as the whites make him out to be. He defends him as to the burning of Crawford, saying that as Crawford was captured by the Delawares, and Girty belonged to the Mingoes, he had no right to interfere, and no power to save him. He takes Girty's side all through ; says that he was considered " a true and honest man among the Indians," and that the stories of his cruelties were exaggerations. He points with evident pride to Girty having saved the life of Simon Kenton, when everything was prepared to burn him at the stake, and says, " I had it from Kenton's own mouth." In speaking of Tecumseh, he says : " I was well acquainted with him. I sold him a keg of rum one day for a horse ; the horse got sick and died, and shortly afterward I told him he ought to give me another horse.

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He said he had drank the rum up and it was all gone, and he supposed I was about as well off as he was. He said the rum was of no use to either of us, and that he had suffered all the bad consequences of drinking it. He reasoned that the horse had done me as much good as the rum had done him, and perhaps more, but as it was, if I was satisfied we would quit square, and so we did." Once, when Alder was present, an Indian was boasting of the number of scalps he had taken ; Tecumseh turned upon him and called him a low, mean Indian, saving that half his scalps were those of women and children. Said- he : " I have killed forty men with my own hands in single combat, but never yet have I taken the life of a woman or child." Alder says : This great chief was a man of wonderful intellect, brave, fearless, and of pure integrity. He would do nothing but what was right, and would submit to nothing that was wrong." He further says : I was very well acquainted with the Prophet, the chief's brother. He was no warrior, but a low, cunning fellow." All through this manuscript he sides with the Indians, usually alluding to their prowess, bravery and honesty. He says : " During my stay with the Indians and until after the great victory of Gen. Wayne, we were frequently attacked or disturbed by the whites. In fact not a year passed without suffering some loss on our part by attacks of the white armies. The fall of the year was generally chosen us the time best suited to march against the Indians, for the reason, perhaps, that then we had our crop raised and preparations made for winter, and if our subsistence was destroyed we would be reduced to a greater necessity at that season of the year than at others. Very many bitter, sorrowful and hungry seasons we endured by reason of these difficulties. When all was peace, we enjoyed ourselves freely, but these terrible troubles were attended by the loss of everything the Indian holds dear on earth. Driven from place to place, our favorite hunting-ground taken from us. our crops destroyed. towns burned. women and children sent off in the dead of winter, perhaps to starve, while the warriors stood between them and their great enemy-the whites-like a mob only to be shot down. All these things engendered animosities and encouraged retaliation. But the whites were strong and powerful, the Indians were few and feeble. This state of things will account for many if not all the cruelties charged to the Indians. I was getting to be an Indian in the true sense of the word. and felt sorely on these occasions and acted as they do revengeful and hateful to the race. Ribbed of their land. their sacred graves desecrated, and the whole race driven farther and farther back into- the wild forest, from land that the whites never could have had any claim to whatever. Even the theory of purchase was but another pretext to rub. We had no choice left us but to sell and take what they chose to give or be driven off and get nothing. The price offered was always governed by what it would cost to drive us off, and if the latter cost the least it would always be resorted to." Jonathan and Mary (Blont) Alder were the parents of the following children: Paul who married Sarah Francis). Mark (died single), Lewis (married Catherine Trimble. who died and he again married a lady unknown to us), Henry (married Elizabeth Millikin and settled on the old homestead. where he resided through life; his second wife was Rebecca Timmons, who survives him; he held many of the township offices, and was County surveyor from 1841-50, 1856-58 and

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1871-73: he was also County Commissioner in 1851-54), Margaret (married a Mr. Frazell). Hannah. William Foster, Rachel, Harvey Gear hart, Eliza. Simon Sager, Ann, a Mr. Jones, Mary, John Warner, Angeline, John Betts, while Ruth died unmarried. All of this family were well known and much respected. Jonathan Alder's name appears among the first juries of Madison County, so that he early began to be a useful citizen. He became comfortably well off in this world's goods, although not rich by any means. In personal appearance, he says, when speaking of the meeting between himself and his mother: "I was a little over six feet in height, and as straight as an arrow ever was." His hair and eyebrows were as "black as a coal." his complexion dark and swarthy. his, face large and well formed, denoting strength of character and firmness of purpose: his eyes were bright and piercing, while his whole appearance, gait and actions were characteristic of the Indian. This will not be wondered at when we consider the many years he spent among the savages. Old. settlers who knew him well tell us that , Jonathan Alder was as honest as the sun," and his whole life, while living in this county, was characterized by the most rigid uprightness and straightforward dealing toward his fellow. men. In 1815, his wife's father. Adam Blont, brought his family to the settlement, and here most of them died and were buried in the Foster Graveyard. Mr. Alder's mother died in 1817, and was interred in the same ground. On the 30th of January 1848, he too, passed away, leaving to his children an example worthy of the strictest imitation. His remains rest beside those of his friends in Foster's Cemetery. His widow survived him several years, first removing to Iowa, and thence to Illinois, where, at the home of her daughter, Hannah Foster, she died, and was interred in that neighborhood.

BENJAMIN SPRINGER.

In 1796, Benjamin Springer, with his wife and two sons, Silas and. Thomas, also his son-in-law, Usual Osborn and wife, settled on Big Darby., They were natives of Pennsylvania, and built their cabin on land now owned by John Taylor, close to the north line of Canaan Township, and just within the limits of the same. Prior to their settlement in this county, they had resided a short time in Kentucky, whence they removed to the; Darby. Howe says that Springer came out in the fall of 1795, built his cabin, and, in the spring of 1796, brought his family. This is a mistake ; he did not come until the latter year, according to the reminiscences of Jonathan Alder, who says that Springer came to the Darby the year succeeding the', treaty of Greenville. or the next year alter he pitched his camp on the Dominy land. As Alder did not come until the fall of 1795, it follows that Springer did not come until 1796. Alder gives a brief history of Springer's family, and we cannot do better than to quote his narrative. After speaking of his settlement, he says : His family consisted of himself wife and three children-Silas, Thomas, and Osborn's wife. He built the first mill on Darby. It was situated about a mile below where Pleasant Valley now is. It was poorly constructed, and only ran about six months, the first high water sweeping the dam away. It was never rebuilt. Springer lived to be eighty years old, and died on Darby. The last time I saw him, he came to my house in 1825, and took dinner with me. After dinner, we walked out, and, at parting, he shook hands with me and said : `This is perhaps the

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last time we shall see each other alive.' I made light of it, but he said he was in earnest, as he did not believe he would live long. He wished to carry to my mind the idea that he had some warning that his end was approaching. It was warm weather in the early fall, and he looked quite hale and hearty, but before winter he was dead.

"I have seen Springer's two boys-Tom and Silas-without shoes at Christmas. Tom was a great hunter, and frequently went with me on such occasions. One morning we started out early and crossed Little Darby and the Spring Fork. Late in the evening, Tom killed a fine buck, and by the time it was dressed it was dark. Tom wanted to know what we would do. I told him we would have to camp out, and he seemed very well pleased at the idea. We made a fire and roasted some of our venison for supper. Tom was rather industrious, and did most of the drudgery, getting the wood and water. Late at night, we began to talk about sleeping. Tom said as he had no blanket he would have to sleep with me. I told him that two grown-up Indians never slept together ; they are like two male bears, never found in the same hole or tree, for, if they should happen to get together, they would fight. and one or the other would have to leave. ' Well,' said he, ' what am I to do ; I have no blanket.' I told him he ought to have thought of that before he started, and that he never saw an Indian go out without his gun, knife, tomahawk and blanket. 'Well,' said he. . I do not know what I shall do if you will not let me sleep with you.' I told him we would fix our beds and he could sleep in his buckskin. I had only been teasing him, as the deerskin was, after all, the warmest thing he could sleep in. I had looked out an old tree before dark, and so I went and got a lot of bark to keep us off the ground. Tom stretched himself out, wrapped in his deerskin, and was soon snoring. I woke up in the night and found it was snowing very first, but as Tom was still snoring I did not disturb him. When we awoke in the morning there was about six inches of snow on the ground. When Tom opened out his buckskin to get up, the snow fell on his face and scared him some, for he declared that he knew nothing of. the snow until he woke up. Taking all together, Tom had the better night's rest of the two. We built a fire and roasted some of our venison, and then packed the remainder and started for home. Tom never got tired telling about that hunting trip. One morning. I went out before day coon hunting. a year or so before our deer hunt. There was a heavy frost. Just after daylight, I met Silas and Tom Springer. Tom was barefooted, and I asked him if his feet were not cold. ' No,' said he, `not much.' How the fellow could stand it and go through such a frost and not freeze his feet. I never could understand. After Tom grew up to be a man, he went out West, and I saw no more of him. After Silas grew up, he married Margaret Kilgore, a very fine young woman, about 1807. She was the daughter of Thomas Kilgore. who was one of the early settlers on Big Darby. Silas settled on the farm now owned by Eugene Babb, in Jefferson Township. He adhered to the New-Light Church ; was an upright citizen, and raised a large family." We have been told by old settlers that he died on this farm. but Alder says : ' Silas Springer bought a farm on Big Darby. which he improved and lived on until the year 1825, when he sold out to George a Brown and moved West. He was of a religious turn of mind and would sometimes preach. After he went West, he joined the

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Mormons, and I then lost sight of him. Which of these accounts is they true one we are unable to say, but, doubtless, some of our readers may be , able to throw sufficient light on the subject to clear away all doubt, and establish one or the other as the true story.

USUAL OSBORN.

As already mentioned, Usual Osborn was a native of Pennsylvania, and son-in-law of Benjamin Springer, with whom he came from Kentucky to. Madison County in 1796. Alder gives the following sketch of this pioneer, which we quote verbatim. He says : " Osborn was a kind-hearted man,; although he was what was then callers `a regular old bruiser.' Yet he,` would discommode himself to accommodate his neighbors anytime. He was; remarkably strong and muscular, but not quarrelsome; yet it was by no means' safe to cross his track. He would fight at the drop of a hat, and I never` knew him to get whipped. Fist-fighting was a very common thing among] the early settlers ; especially so was it amongst those who used whisky to excess. If they had any difficulty, they would fight it out fist and skull, and! then make friends over a cup of whisky. ' Might was right ' in those old-; fashioned days. Osborn was a hard-working man, but a poor planning one, and of all poor families, whites or Indians, I have ever seen, I think leis was, the poorest. The first winter they came they had not a sign of a bed to lie on. He had a large box, sufficiently large for him and his wife to he in, and in the fall they gathered leaves and filled the box. They had twos blankets ; one of these they spread over the leaves for a sheet, and the other they used to cover with. This constituted their bed for a year or two after, they came to this country. The children had to shift for themselves. In the evening, the two oldest boys would gather a large quantity of prairie hay' or grass, take it into the house and pile it in a corner, and then the three; little fellows would crawl under it and sleep until morning ; then gather it all up and take it out and give it to the cows. This was the only bed the boys had for many, many months. Osborn's wife was one of those worthless kind of women who never do anything when it should be done, and consequently was always behind-hand. There was plenty of everything required; to make soap, yet Osborn's wife seldom ever made any, and consequently, was nearly all the time out of soap. I have frequently known her to take; honey to wash her clothes with. Osborn way a great bee-hunter and always' had plenty of that article on hand. Honey ,rakes a very good lather, but not equal to soap. On very cold days, Mrs. Osborn was in the habit of driving her cow into the house to milk her. The whole family was very, scant of clothing. Osborn himself was one of those hearty pioneer men who; would go all winter with nothing on his person but a linen pair of trousers, a linen shirt, a linen hunting shirt, a pair of moccasins or shoes, and a wool hat or coon-skin cap. In fact. I never knew him to be any better dressed for years, and not until sheep got plenty did he wear a woolen garment, and yet I never heard him complain of being cold. I spoke of his being a hardworking man, but I do not mean that he was a steady worker, for he was not but he could do more work in a given time than any two men I ever knew. He turned most of his attention to trade and traffic in a small way, and of course not very remunerative. Though not quarrelsome, no man' need spoil for a fight when Osborn was around. There was a man by the:

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name of Chard who had some grudge at Osborn. One day in the winter, when Osborn was mending his shirt, Chard came to his house, he told Osborn that there was a little difficulty between them and that he had come to settle it. 'Very good,' said Osborn, throwing down his shirt and springing to his feet.' They made a few passes at each other, when Osborn clinched Chard and threw him on the fire. A neighbor who happened to be present rescued him from his perilous situation before he was much burned. No sooner was he out of the fire and on his feet than he took to his heels and ran off as fast as possible, much to the amusement of Osborn and his neighbor. That ended the fight for that day. Not many days after, Chard made it convenient to pass Osborn's house. He met Osborn on the road with a yoke of oxen going for a load of hay. Chard was on horseback, and held in his hand a stout cudgel. Said he to Osborn, ' Now, we are by ourselves; we can settle that little matter of ours.' 'Oh,' said Osborn, - that is what you are at, are you ? ' Chard got off his horse, and while he was hitching him, Osborn stepped to one side and bent down a bush and cut it off when Chard turned toward Osborn, he saw him trimming the bush with his butcher-knife, and, conscious of the power of the man, he trembled. The butcher-knife and cudgel were in Chard's eyes as powerful as the fire, and having no desire, as he afterward expressed it, to be butchered, roasted and eaten,' he sprang to his horse, mounted and put spurs to him to make his escape before Osborn could catch him. However, Osborn pursued Chard. as fast as he could, and as the latter had to pass Osborn's house, Osborn ran in and got his gun and fired it off in the air. Osborn said he did not want to hurt the ' varmint' but only to scare him to death."

Osborn finally bought a small farm on the east bank of Little Darby, now in Monroe Township, and the property of Jonah Wood. He farmed some and wagoned considerably, supplying the community with salt. He kept two or three yoke of oxen. In the fall, he would load with cheese, butter, honey and other commodities, take it to Zanesville, sell his load, and bring back salt, glass ware and other necessaries. In this way he was a useful man and a benefit to the community. Prior to the erection of Madison County, and when its territory formed one township of Franklin County, we find that Osborn was Collector of Taxes for Darby Township. At a session of the Associate Judges of Franklin County held January 7, 1804, the following record appears Usual Osborn having given bond with approved security for the collection of the county tax in Darby Township, it is ordered that he be appointed Collector of the same." After his settlement in Monroe Township, his neighbors soon discovered that he was not a man to be trifled with. One winter, hay and feed for stock was very scarce, there having been a short crop the previous summer, and considerable stock was really in a suffering condition. George Fullington had a better supply than most of the neighbors, and sold to them till he could spare no more, when he gave out word throughout the neighborhood that no one could be supplied with hay from his stacks. Osborn owned a pair of old oxen and a cow at this time, using the former to haul loads and travel around with. His animals becoming very -poor and in an almost starving condition, he saw he must have hay or they would die. Mr. Fullington would sell no more, so Osborn hitched his oxen to his sled, drove to Fullington's hay-stack, and, with the assistance of his son, loaded on all he

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thought his animals could haul, and ordered the boy to drive home. He immediately walked to Fullington's house, called him out and directed his attention toward the stack, whence the owner saw Osborn's son driving ' with a load of hay. He told Fullington that he could not let his cattle starve while hay could be found. It is said that Osborn was not very particular when out of meat whose hog he shot, and was therefore mixed up in a great many law-suits, out of which he usually came victorious. He was known as "Gov. Osborn," on account of his aggressiveness and determination to always have his own way. If he made a promise, he would always keep it. He was married twice. His first wife carne with him to the county and here died, leaving the following children : Silas, Daniel, Thomas, Samuel and David. His second wife was the mother of Isaac, Charles and Maria. As the country began to get thickly settled and.' neighbors in every direction, the progress of civilization was disagreeable to his frontier education, so he sold out in 1835 and moved West, where he expected to find things more in harmony with his feelings.

JAMES AND JOSHUA EWING.

In 1798, these brothers emigrated from Kentucky to Darby Township and settled a short distance northwest of the site of Plain City. They bought farms lying on both sides of Big Darby. One reason for making their purchases on each side of the stream was that they might have ready access to the prairie grazing lands, and at the same time have tillable lands on the elevated bottoms along the creek. They supposed, as did many a others, that the open prairies would afford them pasturage for many years to come. In this, however, they were sadly mistaken, and James lived to see those prairies owned by many industrious farmers, inclosed with good fences, and their surroundings indicative of thrift and prosperity.

James Ewing was financially more favored than most of the pioneers. In those early days he was considered "rich," with almost unlimited means at his command. He was one of the Directors of the Franklin Bank of Franklinton, Ohio, and this connection made him useful to the community in-which he resided. The borrower of capital, by getting Mr. Ewing's recommendation as to the financial safety of the note, could always get ready cash. Indeed. it may be said of him that he was more than an ordinary bank stock director, for he issued individual notes of small denominations, which passed readily at their face value in his portion of the . county. For many years, the only post office in that region of country was kept by him for the accommodation of his neighbors, and in connection' with it he handled dry goods. groceries, notions. etc., in such quantities as would meet the pressing demands of the people. The land which he selected was the site of an old Mingo village. but the Indians deserted it in 1786, at the time of the destruction of the Mackacheek towns by Gen. Loan. When Mr. Ewing settled there, the remains of the huts were still to he seen, also an old blacksmith-shop wherein, according to Jonathan Alder. a white man named Butler did iron-work for the Indians. The savages. however, frequently revisited the vicinity, and although ostensibly . friendly, were a source of considerable annoyance to the white?, as they always looked upon the latter as intruders : but the presence of Jonathan Alder in the neighborhood prevented bloodshed or serious trouble between

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the opposing races. Upon the erection of Union County in 1820, the property of the Ewing brothers was thrown into the new county. Prior to the creation of Madison County, we find that James Ewing was paid $8.75 "for seven days' services in taking the list of taxable property and the enumeration of white males in Darby Township for the year 1803." This appears on the official record of the Associate Judges of Franklin County dated January 10, 1804. James Ewing was born in 1770, and died in 1850. In 1808, he married Elizabeth Cary, daughter of Luther and Rhoda Cary, then residing in what is now Canaan Township. Mrs. Ewing was born in 1780, and died in 1865. They were the parents of three children, viz., Thomas M., born in 1809, died at Cardington in 1876; David C., born in 1811, died in 1835; and Phoebe. born in 1813, died in infancy. The family were adherents of the Presbyterian Church, and were very much respected throughout the valley in which they resided so many years.

Joshua Ewing. died during the " sickly seasons " of 1822-23. He married Margaret Jamison, who bore him the following children-James Scott, Green, George, Eliza, Polly (who married David Chapman, the Surveyor), Margaret, Cynthia, Harriet (who married William Allen, of Plain City), and Martha. Mr. Ewing was elected Justice of the Peace at the first election held in Darby Township, after the organization of Franklin County, in 1803. Upon the erection of Madison County, he was elected a member of the Board of Commissioners, serving continuously in that capacity for the first seven years of the county's history. In 1800, Mr. Ewing brought four sheep to his farm, which were the first introduced into Madison County. one clay an Indian was passing by. and his dog discovering the sheep pursued them and killed one of the animals. This so irritated Mr. Ewing that he shot the dog at once. The Indian vowed vengeance, threatening to kill Ewing in retaliation, but through the influence of Jonathan Alder, who happened to be present, the shedding of human blood was prevented. Ewing was a brave man, and told Alder he could defend himself, but the latter knowing the treacherous character of the savages, felt that it would not be wise to let the trouble go any further : so smoothing the matter over for the time, he was finally enabled to persuade the Indian to leave the country. He had demanded pay for his dog, but Ewing positively refused to give him a cent, and being a man of determined character, remained firm in his purpose. Mr. Ewing was a Surveyor, and made many of the early surveys of Madison County, ere the terrible miasma of the Darby plains marked him as its victim, with the scores of others, who fell beneath its poisonous breath.

DAVID MITCHELL.

A short distance northwest of the Ewings settled David Mitchell in the summer of 1790. He was born in York County, Penn., in 1760; there married Martha Black, a native of the same county, and born in 1764. In 1797, the family remove to Kentucky, and two years later located on the property, now known as the Caldwell farm, in the southern part of Union County, which was cut off from 'Madison. in 1820. David and Martha Mitchell were the parents of the following children-Moses, born in 1783 : Samuel, in 1785; George. in 1787, died in infancy, and the next child, born in 1789, was also named George : David. in 1792; Margaret, in 1794 ; Martha, in 1797

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Jesse, in 1799, born after coming to Big Darby . Elizabeth, in 1803 ; Dixon, in 1806, and Aaron, in 1810. Mrs. Mitchell died in 1823, and he was married to Rebecca Nelson in 1824, who died the same year. In 1825, he married Hannah Caldwell, to whom were born two children, viz.: John C., in 1826, and Alexander R., in 1829. All of these children are dead, except John C.. who resides on the old homestead. The first election after the creation of Darby Township, which then embraced all of Madison, and a portion of Union and Clark Counties, was held at the house of David Mitchell, June 21, 1803. Upon the erection of Madison County. Mr. Mitchell was elected Associate Judge, and re-elected in 1817 ; but when Union County was created, in 1820. his home was embraced therein thus ending his second term on the Common Pleas bench of this county. Judge Mitchell was a very extensive stock dealer and for a time was one of the leading pork-packers of Columbus. He died in 1836, leaving, behind a record for intelligence, integrity and enterprise, second to few men of either counties in which he spent the last thirty-seven years of his life.

OTHER SETTLERS.

With Mr. Mitchell came his father, Samuel, who died here, also his brothers-in-law, Samuel McCollough and Samuel Kirkpatrick, with their families, locating in the same neighborhood. Mr. McCullough died in 1800, leaving two sons, Alexander and Samuel. He was buried on the farm of David Mitchell, being the first person interred in what is now the Mitchell Graveyard. His coffin was made from a tree split in two, hollowed out like a couple of troughs, then fastened together with wooden pins. It is believed that Mr. McCullough was the first white man who died in what subsequently became Madison County. Wolves were so numerous then that it was necessary to cover the grave with heavy logs, to prevent them from exhuming the remains. His widow married John Taylor, who came from Kentucky. and located a short distance south of the site of Plain City, in 1800. There they spent the balance of their days.

Samuel Kirkpatrick left two daughters, one of whom died young; the other married and removed from this locality, so that none of his descendants are living in this portion of the State. Along about the same time came Samuel, George and David Reed, also Robert Snodgrass, all of whom settled on Big Darby. These pioneers left numerous descendants who principally reside in Union County ; yet as the original settlers were citizens of Madison, prior to the erection of the former county, we feel that it is due to their memory to mention their names in connection with its history.

MICHAEL JOHNSON.

There is no doubt that Michael Johnson was living in what is now Jefferson Township some time prior to the beginning of the present century. He was a native of Ireland, born about 1750, and in early life came to the colony of Virginia, where be grew to maturity and married the daughter of German parents, who had also located there in childhood. They had born to them nine children, viz., John, Margaret, Mary, Jacob, Abraham, Henry, Sarah, Catherine and Michael, the latter dying in infancy. Feeling the necessity of finding a country where he could obtain homes for this large family, he left Virginia in 1795, on a prospecting tour to the Northwest

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Territory, where he remained about one year. He then returned to Virginia and early in 1797 began to make preparations for moving his family to this country. With his wife and eight children, he started for the Scioto Valley, and finally settled on Little Darby, about four miles northwest of the site of Jefferson. This settlement occurred during the year 1797, probably late in the fall. Here in the forest he built his cabin, and here many of his descendants yet reside. Michael Johnson possessed that stout, robust constitution so characteristic of the Irish, whom scientists declare to be the finest physically developed race on the globe. Mr. Johnson was drowned in the Little Darby in 1808. While crossing that stream with his son-in-law, Peter Paugh. in a canoe, the skiff began to sink, when Paugh suggested to Johnson, who was a good swimmer, to jump out and swim. Johnson did so, but the water being very cold, he immediately took cramps and sank to rise no more. Paugh was rescued by some friends swimming a horse to where he was clinging to the branches of a tree, and he, catching hold of the animal's tail, was brought safely to the shore. Mr. Johnson's widow survived him several years, when she, too, passed into eternity, leaving eight worthy children to mourn her loss.

John, the eldest of the family, married a distant relative of the same name, whose parents came to Jefferson Township at a much later day than Michael Johnson's family. He was not a very successful farmer, on account of his restless disposition. He first settled on the farm now owned by George W. Blair, in Jefferson Township, which he left and returned to again and again, under the squatter system then in vogue. About 1837, he removed to Michigan, settling near St. Joseph, where he and wife died. Of his children, now residents of Madison County, are John, in Jefferson Township; Euphemia Lombard, of Monroe Township, and Permelia, of Canaan Township. Margaret, the second eldest child of Michael Johnson, married William Lapin ; Mary, the third child married Peter Paugh, a native of Virginia, who settled in Madison County about 1800, subsequently locating on Spring Fork., where he and wife resided until death. His first wife dying and leaving a family of several children, he subsequently married the Widow Guy. Paugh was a warm friend of Jonathan Alder's, who speaks of him in his reminiscences. All of his descendants removed to the West many years ago. Jacob. the fourth child of Michael Johnson, was a great hunter, and spent several months with a band of Indians, taking part in their hunts and their mode of life. He finally became tired of living in this manner and returned to Madison County, where. about 1807, he married Jemima Cary, and lived alternately in Jefferson and Canaan Townships, finally locating near the site of West Jefferson. About 1832, he removed to a farm four miles northwest of that town where he subsequently died. His first wife had passed away about 1826. and he married Phoebe (Cary) Davis, widow of John Davis, who survived him several years. Of these marriages twelve children were born, six by each, only four of whom are living in Jefferson Township, viz.: Mary. widow of Henry Penny, and Lewis by the first wife; while Luther and Samuel are the children of the second wife. Abraham, the fifth child of Michael Johnson, married Susan Bradley, daughter of Jonas Bradley, of Monroe Township, and pioneers of that portion of the county. Abraham and wife first located in Monroe Township, but finally bought the farm where James Peene now resides, and there Abraham died.

298 - HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

His widow married Nehemiah Gates, and removed to Illinois. Henry, the sixth child, was a peculiar character, a noted hunter, and delighted in the chase. He never married, went to Illinois and there died about 1842. Sarah, the seventh in the family of Michael Johnson, married Henry Robey, of Canaan Township, and died childless. Catherine, the eighth and last of the family, married Abijah Cary, who lived and died in Canaan Township. Many of their posterity are still residents of that part of the county.

WILLIAM LAPIN.

In 1797, William Lapin accompanied the family of Michael Johnson to the Northwest Territory. He was a native of Virginia, and soon after coming to what is now Jefferson Township, of this county, he married Margaret, the eldest daughter of Michael Johnson. Four sons were the fruits of this union, viz.. James, Jacob, Robert and William. Mr. Lapin engaged in stock dealing, and while out on a business trip, about 1820, he died, near Chillicothe. His widow survived him until about 1842 watching over her four sons until all reached manhood, when she went to join her husband in a better land. Janes Lapin, the eldest of the children, first saw the light in 1798, and was, doubtless, the first white child born in Madison County. He grew up, and married Rebecca Johnson, who bore him eleven children. In 1852, he sold his farm, and, with his wife and eight children, removed to Illinois, where the parents died. Some of the posterity still reside there, but Mary, the third chill, and widow of Abner Johnson. is living in this county. Jacob, the second son of William Lapin, married Catherine Johnson, a sister to his brother's wife. This marriage occurred about 1823, and soon afterward they located in Franklin County ; thence removed to Illinois. Robert, the third son, married Margaret, a daughter of John Johnson, and grand-daughter of Michael Johnson. She dying, he married her sister, Mary, and, about 1850, moved West. He followed farming, was a good neighbor, but did not accumulate much property. William, the fourth and youngest son of William and Margaret Lapin, married Elizabeth Nichols. removed to Montgomery County, Ohio. about thirty years ago. and died near Dayton. All of these sons were born it is believed, in Jefferson Township, and Mary the daughter of James, and widow of Abner Johnson, is the only one who bore the name of Lapin, now a resident of Madison County.

JAMES AND WILLIAM HEWEY.

On the farm now owned by Gabriel Alkire, on the northeast bank of Deer Creek. in Pleasant Township, settled two brothers. James and William Hewey, in 1797. They came from Kentucky. but are believed to have been natives of Virginia. A short distance southeast of where they built their cabin was an Indian camping ground, also one of their old burial places. This is en the farm of Courtney Tanner, and in a field under cultivation. James Hewey was married, while William remained single, and lived with his brother. They erected their cabin, made some improvements, and here remained until death. Nothing is further known of them. During the early days of Madison County, Richard Douglass was in the habit of making " Uncle Jimmy " Hewey's cabin his stopping place while going to and fro between Chillicothe and London. " Uncle Jimmy " always had a demijohn of corn-juice on hand, and " Dick " was not averse to indulging

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in a glass, "for his stomach sake." Douglass looked after Hewey's law business, and Hewey paid him in hospitality. Judge Orris Parish was then on the bench, and "Dick " Douglass was Prosecuting Attorney of Madison County. One morning, court was kept late by the non-arrival of the prosecutor, but soon Douglass and " Uncle Jimmy " Hewey made their appearance, arm in arm. It was evident to the spectators that Hewey "had more than he could carry " conveniently. Reaching the court room, he raised his hand and shouted. The court can now proceed, Dick Douglass and Jimmy Hewey are here, by G-d." It is needless to say that this expression was long a standard quotation among the Madison County bar, and the lawyers who rode this circuit. On the same foundation that these brothers erected their cabin, now stands a residence in which are some of the same logs used by the Heweys eighty-five years ago.

DAVID MARTIN.

A little northwest of the Heweys, on the same farm, another cabin was erected by David Martin, in 179. He also came from Kentucky, but nothing is further known of him than that he once lived on this land. Neither Hewey nor Martin have left any descendants to preserve their name or record of their lives, and they are but dimly remembered by a few old settlers, who love to speak of those pioneer days which have passed away forever.

WILLIAM ALKIRE.

Prior to the Revolutionary war. four brothers-Monus, Michael, John and William Alkire-emigrated from Scotland to America, and all served in that struggle for independence. Subsequently they settled in Maryland, but finally Michael and William removed to Kentucky, one of the others in Tennessee, and the remaining one in an adjoining State. Our subject was the son of William Alkire, and in the fall of 1799 he came with three of his sons to the Northwest Territory, and purchased 1,400 acres of the Baylor Survey, 464, on Deer Creek, in what is now Pleasant Township, Madison Co., Ohio. The sons erected a cabin and began clearing the land that fall, while the father returned to Kentucky, and in the spring of 1800 brought the balance of the family to their new home. Mr. Alkire was the father of fourteen children-eight sons and six daughters-all of whom grew to maturity. The sons were Robert. Isaac, Abraham, Jacob, Monus, William, Joseph and John. Of the daughters, three married and moved to the West, one died. while Margaret and Lydia married and settled here. Mr. Alkire died about 1825. Two of the sons. Monus and Joseph, moved to the West and there diel. William. in later years, settled near Pendleton, Putnam Co.. Ohio, where he now resides. The balance of the children remained near the old homestead all their days. excepting Margaret, the widow of James; Dennison. who is living in Pickaway County. 'With the exception of 194 acres belonging to Mrs. Young. the 1,400 acres purchased by William Alkire in 1799 are still owned by his grandchildren. Many of the grandchildren and great -grandchildren of this worthy pioneer have settled in the West, while a large number are still residents of Madison County, and among its best citizens.

Our American continent, which we are wont to term our Western World, is eminently a land of rapid development and marvelous progress.

300 - HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

Our forefathers and foremothers were men and women of great toil, patience, endurance and perseverance. They began on the Atlantic coast where they founded colonies, thence they proceeded to found and people State after State in their westward course, not stopping for mountain barriers or savage opposition. As they advanced. they bad to penetrate vast forests and traverse great mountain ranges, with or without roads, and with or without teams, carrying firearms to secure game for their sustenance and to protect themselves from savage assaults. Selecting the sites for their dwellings and for their prospective towns, they wielded the echoing ax to fell the timbers of the dense woodlands, and constructed substantial but rude cabins of primitive materials. The labor and hardship and exposure they went through would to us seem unendurable, but they heeded it not. Many of them had come from sections where wealth had drawn social lines not to be passed over; and there was a servitude and a caste galling to men, who looked for better things. We need not be surprised, then, to find that a large majority of the men who for these reasons braved the wilderness were not ordinary men. The true men counted the cost and never bated jot of heart or hope," and in the struggle developed the manly character with which they were endowed by nature. Their methods, their experiences, their sufferings, their exploits, men have loved to hear them relate. But alas ! all of them have passed away, and many of them have left no record of their eventful and adventurous lives.