INTRODUCTION
In 1876 a revival of interest in local history was manifest throughout the United States. The
Centennial of the Nation—the Exposition at Philadelphia, exhibiting trophies of the
Revolutionary period, while much attention was bestowed upon Colonial relics, and regard for
Colonial ancestry. The older class of people had been retired from public observation, especially
in the Western States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. The first settlers—the earlier
emigrants—had braved the Indians, the wild beasts, the privations of a new country, had toiled to
open up the primeval forests for cultivation, and broken in health, dispirited often by adversity,
they had grown old before their "three-score-years and ten;” and the generation following them
had been unwittingly pushing them aside. They were in the way of modern progress, and they
had retreated to the back rooms of their children's mansions. But in 1876 it was seen that the
country could not celebrate her Centenary without bringing into honorable recognition the fathers
and mothers, the soldiers and statesmen, whose achievements had wrought such evident
prosperity for the country—such high rank among the Nations. So it came about that old records,
old furniture, old tales of early days, old people tottering on their canes, were subjects of especial
attention.
The Revolutionary soldier, old and gray, was escorted to a seat on the platform where jubilant
oratory proclaimed his deeds of heroism. It was at this time that Stillman C. Larkin, Aaron
Stivers, H. B. Smith and a few others, awakened to the fact that Meigs county had a past worthy
of record, and in looking around discovered that the founders, the early emigrants, were gone !
Not a representative left of the days of St. Clair, of men who came into this part of the county be-
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4 - PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY
fore Ohio was admitted into the Union. They became impressed with a sense of duty toward
those forefathers, and to retrieve as far as possible the neglect of previous years, they organized
the Meigs County Pioneer Association—H. B. Smith, President ; Aaron Stivers, Secretary ; later
Stillman C. Larkin, President. Mr. Larkin as a son of a pioneer, Abel Larkin, who had been active
in the organization and development of the civil and moral interests of the new country, began
collecting and placing in manuscript, everything available of the acts and actors of all legislative
affairs in the new country. First, the sparsely settled lands were incorporated in Washington
county, and Marietta people were wise enough to keep a running account with Time, but Gallia
county was taken out from Washington, and until 1819 all civil records were kept in Gallipolis,
when Meigs county was taken out from Gallia county.
Mr. Larkin began at the beginning, and wrote the Declaration of Independence, declared in 1776,
which made the Centennial of 1876 possible—he wrote out the Ordinance of 1787, that
proclaimed freedom of the whole Northwest Territory of the Ohio river, from involuntary
servitude of man for man. The first emigrants to Ohio—Washington, Gallia and Meigs, opened
up the wilderness for cultivation, or the present generation would not have broad acres in
meadows, or hillsides in wheat, or blooming fruit-laden orchards. These first settlers built their
cabins and schoolhouses, had teachers for their children ; they organized townships, elected
township officers and kept records of local affairs.
For these men and these records Mr. Larkin had respect. It was no easy matter to collect and
place in order the history of the first ten years of the settlements included later in the boundaries
of Meigs county ; for from 1798 to 1808, is an almost forgotten page, but the men who wrought
for the good of coming generations—wrought wisely, intelligently, with broad views, and
persistent effort to establish homes,
PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY - 5
roads, schools and churches, to assist in framing wholesome laws, and enforcing them for the
protection and well-being of a growing community, men like George W. Putnam, Fuller Elliott,
Levi Stedman, Brewster Higley, Peter Grow, Hamilton Kerr, John Miles, William Parker, Abel
Larkin and others, whose deeds and names belong to the annals of those year3 from 1792 to
1808. That makes true pioneer history. From 1808 to 1818 the influx of emigrants increased
rapidly. People seeking lands to found homes for their families, mechanics of all kinds,
carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners and shoemakers, served for public utility and improvement.
In 1819 Meigs county was set off from Gallia county, and assumed importance. A court house
and jail were built in Chester, the county seat. Courts of Common Pleas were held judges were
appointed, county officers were elected—auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff and clerk of the
courts. Township officers were chosen—esquires and constables, clerk, treasurer, assessor,
trustees, school directors and supervisors. The discomforts of pioneer life had ceased. The people
enjoyed comfortable homes, with growing families. From 1820 to 1830, there was an inflow of
newcomers, representing all pursuits, civil and educational, lawyers, doctors, preachers and
teachers. Farms changed owners, and new customs were introduced. The fertile Letart bottoms
sent flatboats laden with produce annually on trips to the South, New Orleans being the final
mart. The traders returning by keelboat or steamboat brought sugar and molasses, rice and coffee
for the merchants and communities.
Nial Nye, Sr., & Sons were established at the mouth of Kerr's run, before the county of Meigs
was organized, and kept a store of general merchandise, ran a sawmill, and had a boat landing, "a
port of entry" for goods consigned to Levi Stedman and others at Chester and the interior of the
county. A postoffice was located here and the place was called Nyesville. From 1820 to 1830,
while a growing prosperity was
6 - PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY
seen throughout the county, no capitalist with means and energy had arrived to develop the
natural resources of Meigs county. From 1830 to 1840 marked the beginning of commercial
prosperity. Mr. V. B. Horton, with a wide- personal influence, brought capital to operate on the
development of the coal in the hills of Salisbury. He started the transportation of coal by means
of a steamboat, the Condor, towing immense fleets laden with coal down the Ohio river, and
farther down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, from whence ships conveyed it to Boston,
and grates in Boston parlors glowed with Pomeroy coal. This enterprise opened up boat
building—ship builders from Maine and Nova Scotia came to work and direct the labor in the
Horton boat yard. It gave employment to river men to manage the tow-boat Condor, and the
barges. English and Welch men of experience and judgment took charge of the mines, and
miners from England, Wales and Germany went into the coal tunnels of Meigs county and with
pick and hand-car brought to light the wealth of the hills. A rolling mill was set in operation, a
foundry, machine shop, and Haven & Stackpole erected a three-story steam flouring mill.
Pomeroy was laid out, lots sold, the town incorporated, and elegant residences were placed on the
spurs of the hills at Naylor's run and Sugar run, while under the cliffs the Brothers Howe, Dr.
Estes and the lawyer, U. G. Howe, Charles Pomeroy and Horace Horton built no less fine homes.
Mr. Samuel Grant's sawmill had full orders, furnishing lumber as fast as possible. In this decade
of stirring material prosperity, the little postoffice town of Graham's Station received an impetus.
Mr. Lucius Cross came from Marietta in 1822 to lands of his own, and started a tannery, built flat
boats to send hay to the South, opened a store of general merchandise, erected a mill on
Bowman's run for making flour, and sawing lumber, giving employment to hundreds of men in
these different enterprises. The name of Graham Station was changed to Racine. The
PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY - 7
town of Sheffield sprang into existence in these times, broad acres just above the mouth of
Leading creek were laid out in lots, the town incorporated and a cotton mill built by Mr. Philip
Jones, a novel project for a non-cotton producing territory. The Grant brothers put into the
business of steam a flouring mill that prospered for more than forty years. The one great event in
Meigs county was the removal of the county seat from Chester and establishing the seat of justice
in Pomeroy.
The aim and intent of Mr. Larkin's book is to preserve a record of pioneer times, that later
generations may have proper respect and pride in their forefathers. He was the prime mover in
organizing the "Meigs County Pioneer Association," and devoted time, thought and research in
order to place correct statements concerning those early days in his book.
We ask the "Pioneer Association of Meigs County" for a liberal patronage of the book, and of
thinking men and women, who will find much to interest them in reading the work, and
especially the favor of descendants of early settlers in Meigs county, who are scattered in other
states and territories.
EMELINE LARKIN BICKNELL,
Reviser of the MSS. of S. C. Larkin.
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