50 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION judgment, and met with not a few financial misfortunes. Their mutual attachment was strong and lasting, and in death their remains were not far parted. A few years before his decease in 1816 Mr. Lindsey sold his improvements in the narrows below the Little Scioto and selected a burial place at the summit of a hill about a quarter of a mile south of the Scioto Furnace. Mr. Marshall, dying shortly afterward, chose to be buried beside his old friend and fellow-worker. MAJOR BONSER, A STAYER Isaac Bonser cultivated his land above the mouth of the Little Scioto, and built several mills there and elsewhere. He lost considerable money through the rascality of one Col. John Edwards, who obtained control of a large tract of land embracing the present site of Sciotoville, and after involving various purchasers, moved over into Kentucky and let them clear up the titles as best they could. Mr. Bonser was one of his victims, but quickly rebounded from his temporary embarrassment. When Scioto County was organized in 1803, Mr. Bonser was one of its leading men. He was particularly interested in the militia, and was elected major of one of its ten battalions. In those days two musters a year were held, on which occasions he acted as field officer. In the War of 1812 his oldest son was taken prisoner at Hull's surrender of Detroit, and he himself marched at the head of his battalion to the relief of the American troops. The Scioto contingent got as far as Sandusky, and then turned back, as the enemy had been driven off. This military record attached to Mr. Bonser the title by which he was familiarly known, Major. FIRST STATE ROAD OF THE REGION Major Bonser was a Jacksonian democrat and his party sent him to the Legislature in the fall of 1827. The last years of his life were passed in farming and in the management of his little mill. He died about 1847—by no means rich, but, to his last day, a model of industry and usefulness. One of his most substantial acts was, in partnership with Uriah Barber, the building of the State "Road from Portsmouth to Gallipolis, soon after Ohio had been admitted to the Union. It lay nearly all the way through a dense forest. They had to cut the stumps so low that a wagon could pass over them, and to clear everything out so as to make a good road. They surveyed and measured the distance and marked every mile tree ; and their thorough, honest work was in evidence for many years. ALEXANDRIA FOUNDED About three years after the first settlers commenced to locate at the mouth of the Little Scioto and on the French Grant, a new town sprung up on the Ohio River just above the mouth of the Big Scioto. Mention HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 51 has been made of the survey of the site of that place, Alexandria, in 1787. The tract, comprising 600 acres, was located by Alexander Parker for his brother, Col. Thomas Parker, of Frederick County, Virginia, and, as stated, the survey was made by a party headed by John O'Bannon, deputy surveyor. Although it is said that a part of the town site, which had been named in honor of the Virginia Alexandria, had been cleared and cultivated to corn by the Indians, it was a round dozen of years before there was any recorded sale of town lots ; according to an endorsement on the original Alexandria plat a sale of lots commenced in June, 1799, which date is accepted as the beginning of the town. Among the first inhabitants in Alexandria were Judge John Collins, William Russell, John Russell, Joseph Parrish, John Logan, William Lowry, Stephen Smith, James Munn and William Brady. Between 1801 and 1804, David Gharky, John Simpson, Elijah Grover, William Jones and Samuel G. Jones settled in the place. It was soon discovered that Alexandria was on such low ground—the highest part only fifty feet above low-water mark—that any unusual rise of either the Ohio or the Scioto was almost sure to flood it. When Scioto County was created in 1803, however, Alexandria became its seat of justice. TRAXLER SETTLES AT PORTSMOUTH In the meantime settlement had commenced about a mile above the mouth of the Big Scioto, on a high and attractive site. One Emanuel Traxler, a German, had come to that locality as early as 1796 and built the first house within the present limits of Portsmouth. He had considerable means with him, and located with the express view of laying out a town, but hesitated to go far until he could enter his land in a regular way. HENRY MASSIE FOUNDS THE TOWN But Mr. Traxler delayed too long, for the moment the land office was opened at Chillicothe in 1801, Henry Massie, a brother of Nathaniel, who laid out that town, purchased several sections of land all around Traxler's claim, and in 1803 made the first plat of Portsmouth. It is said that the name of the town was given it by Massie at the request of Capt. Josiah Shackford, who was on the ground at the time of the purchase, and that he promised, if Massie complied with his request, to help build up the town. Thus Maj. Henry Massie, the surveyor, the land speculator and keen promoter, became the founder of Portsmouth, instead of the plodding German carpenter and builder, Emanuel Traxler, who soon went northward into Jackson County, where he died. Major Massie and Captain Shackford worked for their pet town with good results for many years. 52 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION WATER-LOGGED ALEXANDRIA SINKS About two years after Scioto County was organized and Alexandria became the seat of justice, that town was well under the Ohio River, and on Christmas day of 1808, it was three feet beneath its waters. Year by year as the floods recurred, the migrations to Portsmouth increased in number and frequency until by 1816, when the new courthouse was ready for occupancy in the new county seat, Alexandria sunk out of sight, water-logged and dreary. THE ORIGIN OF JACKSON At that time another county seat was just coming into sight, in the newly-created County of Jackson. The house of William Givens, at the Scioto Salt Works, had been selected for the place of holding court until a permanent seat of justice could be selected. The foregoing state of affairs resulted in the platting of the Town of Jackson—known as the "north half "—in May, 1817. That part of the original site was surveyed by a Mr. Fletcher, of Gallia County, and in 1819 the south half was laid out by Dr. Gabriel McNeel, a prominent physician of the county at that day, as well as its first surveyor. The courthouse was built on the crest of the town site, the gradual slope of which affords excellent drainage—a marked contrast to the first county seat of Scioto. LAWRENCE COUNTY AND BURLINGTON And now the time approaches for the birth of the Hanging Rock Iron Region. Although a few settlers straggled into what is now Lawrence County previous to 1800, mainly Pennsylvania Dutch and Virginia Scotch-Irish, they were chiefly hunters and wanderers, without intention of permanent settlement. But sufficient remained to warrant a county organization in 1816, its name being adopted in honor of Capt. James Lawrence, a native of Burlington, New Jersey, and a gallant naval officer of the War of 1812. During the fall of the following year a town was laid out as the county seat, located at the southern extremity of the county and the southernmost bend of the Ohio River, also named Burlington. It was nearly opposite Catlettsburg, Kentucky. There the seat of justice remained for thirty-five years. IRONTON AND ITS FURNACE MEN In the meantime Ironton, ten miles to the northwest, had become the metropolis of the iron industries of the Hanging Rock Region, John and Thomas W. Means, John Campbell, Robert Hamilton, William Firmstone and others having established the fame of its furnaces throughout the country. To elucidate that statement we can do no better than to re- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 53 produce a newspaper article published in 1887, giving an account of the pioneer labors of John and Thomas W. Means, father and son, in the establishment of the first iron furnaces in the Region. JOHN AND THOMAS W. MEANS "In 1819," says the paper, "there went from Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Manchester, Adams County, on the Ohio side of the river, a certain man named John Means, carrying his slaves with him. He was an Abolitionist, but not being able to manumit his slaves in his native state he sold his possessions there and, with his family and negroes, emigrated to the nearest point where he could set them free. THE UNION FURNACE "In 1826 John Mans built a charcoal furnace near his home and began the manufacture of pig iron. The Union, as he named it, was the first iron furnace north of the Ohio in this district. In Ashland your correspondent met Thomas W. Means, a son of the pioneer furnace builder. This gentleman, now eighty-three years old, has a vivid recollection of those days and of the hardships which all who made iron had to endure because of free-trade tendencies and the laws. In 1837 he leased the Union Furnace of his father, and ever since he has been connected with it as lessee and owner. At first they made from three to four tons a day, and when they increased the output to thirty tons a week it was considered a wonderful performance. "Speaking of those days, Mr. Means said : 'When I leased Union Furnace, corn sold for twelve and a half cents a bushel and wheat for twenty-four to twenty-six cents. Wages for competent laborers were only ten dollars a month. I made a trip to New Orleans and saw wheat sold there for a quarter of a dollar a bushel, and corn on the cob at the same pike per barrel. " 'We used only maple sugar in those days, and paid for the commonest molasses thirty-two cents a gallon. Our woolen goods were woven on hand-looms. It took six yards of calico to make a dress, and the material cost half. a dollar a yard. There are more people in Ironton now than there were then in the county. We saw no gold and little silver coin, except in small pieces. Our circulation was chiefly bills of state banks, and those were continually breaking. From 1854 to 1861 I kept my furnace going, but sold very little iron—only enough to keep me in ready money. IRON IN CIVIL WAR TIMES " 'Charcoal iron was then worth from $10 to $14 per ton. In 1863 I had an accumulated stock of 16,000 tons. Next year it advanced to $40, which I thought a fine lift, but in 1864 it netted me $80 a ton. For eight years before the war nearly all the furnace owners were in debt, 54 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION but creditors did not distress them, for they were afraid of iron, the only asset they could get, and so they carried their customers the best way they could, hoping all round for better times. We are all right and so is the country, if the fools will quit tariff meddling.' " John Means, a son of Thomas W., became prominent in the iron business of Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. Col. John Means, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, brought his slaves to Manchester, Adams County, Ohio, in 1819 and set them free, bought land there and made that his home thereafter. There were two furnaces in Adams County, Ohio, as early as 1816-18, and Colonel Means was said to have been interested in one of them. But these furnaces were abandoned at an early date because there was no adequate supply of iron ore there to keep them going. In 1826 Col. John Means, together with his son, Thomas W., and James Rodgers and others associated with them, built the Union Furnace in Elizabeth Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, which was the first furnace on the Ohio side of the river in the Hanging Rock Iron Region. Previous to this, however, there were furnaces in Kentucky, nearly opposite Hanging Rock, viz., "Old Caroline" and " Steam" furnaces, also "Argilliti" on Little Sandy River, about ten miles south of Greenup. While Col. John Means probably furnished the money largely to build the Union Furnace, he did not move his family there, and his son, Thomas W., was his representative and the active man in the management, and "fired" the furnace the first time it was started in 1826. His oldest child, John, was born at Union and spent his whole life of over eighty years in the. Hanging Rock Iron Region. The original account book of Union Furnace is still in existence at Hanging Rock, and the first entry on this book is "Sundries Dr. to Supplies." Six men were charged with "supplies ;" five of them took whisky and one took meal. "Old Union," as it was later known, ceased to make iron in 1857, because the owners had built the " Ohio" Furnace on the same tract of land, and it was better located to use up the stock that was then left. The next furnace built in the Hanging Rock Region was the Pine Grove, in 1827, built by Robert Hamilton, from Pennsylvania. This furnace made iron every year for seventy years, and then discontinued the manufacture. During the last thirty-four years of its existence Pine Grove Furnace was owned and controlled by Thomas W. Means or his family. JOHN CAMPBELL, FATHER OF IRONTON After John Means, the next commanding iron master was John Campbell, justly called the "father and founder of Ironton." He was born near Ripley, Ohio, January 14, 1808, and in 1834 moved to Hanging Rock to become identified with the iron interests of the region. In connection with Robert Hamilton he built the Mount Vernon Furnace. FIRST HOT-BLAST FURNACE IN AMERICA It was there that Mr. Campbell made the change of placing the boilers and hot blast over the tunnel head, thus utilizing the waste gases—a pro- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 55 ceeding now generally adopted by the charcoal furnaces. In 1837, through the guarantee against any loss by Mr. Campbell and three other iron masters, Vesuvius Furnace was induced to test the hot blast principle. This, the first hot blast ever erected in America, was put up by William Firmstone and though, by those opposed to the principle, it was contended that by it the iron would be weakened and rendered unfit for casting purposes, the result proved satisfactory to all concerned in JOHN CAMPBELL, FOUNDER OF THE CITY OF IRONTON producing an increased quantity of iron of the desired quality for foundry use. In 1849 Mr. Campbell became prime mover and principal stockholder in the organization of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company and was made its president. The company purchased 400 acres of land four miles above Hanging Rock, and laid out the Town of Ironton, which Mr. Campbell named. In 1850 he moved from Hanging Rock to the new town, which became the county seat in 1852. That year he purchased the celebrated Hecla cold blast furnace. DEATHS OF FURNACE MEN, 1849-60 Robert B. Hamilton, owner of Center Furnace and a relative of Robert Hamilton, of Pine Grove, died in October, 1858, and in noticing his death the Ironton Register called attention to the unusual mortality among the furnace men of the vicinity within the preceding decade. 56 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION In January, 1849, occurred the death of Samuel Seaton, of Greenupsburg, builder and proprietor of the New Hampshire Furnace, and in the later part of the year John T. Woodrow passed away, who had been owner of the Raccoon Furnace and was then manager of the Ohio Furnace. In 1850, the mortality included Andrew Dempsey, of the Etna Furnace, Henry S. Willard of Buckhorn, George Steece of Mount Vernon, and John Patton of Pennsylvania; in 1851, Henry Blake of Hecla ; 1852, John W. Dempsey of Vesuvius ; 1854, James W. Means, brother of Thomas W., of the Lawrence, Ironton ; 1855, James Richey of Ironton, former proprietor of Centre, and various furnaces in Jackson County, and James O. Willard of Buckhorn Furnace, Ironton ; 1856, Robert Hamilton of Pine Grove Furnace, and Archibald Paull of Wheeling, one of the builders of the Bellefonte Furnace, and for many years proprietor of the Amanda ; 1857, L. D. Hollister of the Raccoon Furnace, who died at Covington, Kentucky ; and in 1858, besides Robert B. Hamilton, John E. Clark of the Lawrence Furnace, Ironton, and John Culver of Catlettsburg, a builder of the Amanda Furnace. DISSOLUTION OF THE OHIO IRON AND COAL COMPANY Within the same period of time of the twenty-four members who organized the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, which had founded Ironton in 1849, the following eleven had died : Andrew Dempsey, Henry S. Willard, George Steece, Henry Blake, Joseph W. Dempsey, Washington Irwin, James W. Means, James A. Richey, James O. Willard, John E. Clark and Robert B. Hamilton. Two had disposed of their stock (by October, 1858), Smith Ashcraft and H. C. Rodgers, which left in the company, as original members, John Campbell, William Ellison, D. T. Woodrow, John Ellison, James Rodgers, Hiram Campbell, William D. Kelly, John Culbertson, John Peters, Dr. C. Briggs and William H. Kelly. In 1859, the year after that record was made, the property of the company was sold, with the exception of the river wharf, which came into possession of the Town of Ironton. In 1860 James Rodgers, another of the old furnace men of Adams and Lawrence counties, died at his home in Hanging Rock. He had founded the Union Furnace, the first blast furnace in Lawrence County and the first in Southern Ohio, outside of Adams County. He afterward bought into the Etna Furnace, with which he was identified until within a few weeks of his death. Between 1825 and 1831 Mr. Rodgers represented Adams, Lawrence and Scioto counties in the Ohio Legislature, in 1837 was sent to the state Senate, and in 1849 commenced another longer term of service in the Lower House. He was a strong leader in public affairs as well as in the business and industrial field which gave prominence to the region he represented in the Legislature. John Campbell, the father of Ironton, and the great iron master and man of home affairs died 1891. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 57 THE FAMOUS HECLA FURNACE Previous to the Civil war the Government made a test of irons with reference to ordnance in which the cold-blast Hecla was equaled only by results obtained from two furnaces, respectively located at Toledo, Spain, and in Asia Minor. During the Civil war every ton of Hecla iron (excepting armor plates) was used at the Fort Pitt Works, Pittsburgh, for casting heavy ordnance and field guns and ran far above the Government requirement for tenacity. The celebrated gun known as the Swamp Angel of Charleston Harbor was cast from Hecla iron. There is direct authority for stating that car wheels of this iron have been in use for twenty, years. In a memorial to Congress (1862) for the establishment of a national foundry at Ironton this statement is quoted from the report of an agent of the English government, who was employed in 1855 to test various irons made in this country for use in the manufacture of ordnance to be used in the war against Russia : "While thus employed my particular duties were to make selection and mixture of metal for heavy ordnance for service in the Crimea. This employment required the making" of numerous tests on different metals to determine their tenacity, deflection and specific gravity." The cold-blast pig iron made in Lawrence County was found superior not only to the irons of a similar make in other portions of the United States, but "as compared with the best English iron the difference is about thirty per cent in favor of this metal.!' NATURAL ADVANTAGES OF THE REGION The natural advantages of the lower region of the Hanging Rock Iron District are thus explained : " The purity of the iron ores in this district is attributable in a large measure to the fact that the plane of the veins lies far enough above the general water level to drain the water that accumulates from the rainfall through the minerals and out into the streams. The dip of the strata being about thirty feet to the mile to the east of south, the inclination of all coals and ores gives a rapid fall in the direction of the dip, and renders it possible to run all material out on tram tracks by gravitation, as well as to get rid of the water without expense. The Hanging Rock ores are peculiarly adapted to the pro-. duction of an iron of great strength and durability. They are of the red hematite variety, the hill-top ores being largely used with under-- lying limestone ore." CIVIL WAR THE GREAT STIMULANT In Scioto, Jackson and Vinton counties, the iron industries' attained no such prominence as in Lawrence, especially in the immediate district around Hanging Rock and Ironton. In Jackson and Vinton counties, charcoal furnaces commenced to be established in the late '30s and the early '40s, and some of them lad attained some standing before the period 58 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION of the Civil war. In Scioto County few were in existence before the '60s; but it was the demand for ordnance and other iron manufactures occasioned by the Civil war which most stimulated the iron industries throughout the entire region. DR. WILLIAM W. MATHER A sketch of the rise of these industries would be noticeably deficient without reference to the scientific labors of two men, who first called general attention to the natural riches of the iron deposits in the Hanging Rock Region, as well as the composite value of the mineral and the geo- OFFICE AND STORE BUILDING, OHIO FURNACE IN SCIOTO COUNTY, 1886 logical and topographical conditions which assured to miners and manufacturers ease of access and facility of marketing. Dr. William W. Mather, of Jackson, and Dr. Caleb Briggs, of Ironton, opened the eyes of the country, as never before their work, to the wonderful stores of raw, material awaiting the industry and ingenuity of man to be transformed into, Products demanded by advancing civilization. It is generally con- ceded that Doctor Briggs, especially, revealed the possibilities of the Hanging Rock Iron Region, not only as an iron producer, but as a manufacturer of clay, cement and other raw materials which at first seemed to be so much underestimated. Dr. William W. Mather was a native of Connecticut and a descendant of the famous Cotton and Increase Mather. Before he was twenty he entered West Point Academy, already a proficient chemist and mineralogist, and at his graduation joined the Government service, being at first detailed to the faculty of that institution. In August, 1836, then thirty-two years of age, Doctor Mather resigned from the army to participate in the geological survey of New York, and in 1837 went to Ohio as superintendent of the first geological survey of that state. After the suspension of the' Ohio survey Doctor Mather purchased a HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 59 tract of several hundred acres north of the court house in Jackson County, on which he built a house, cleared a farm and became a citizen of Ohio. Subsequently he held professorships at Marietta College and at the Ohio University, Athens, of which he was vice president from 1850 to 1854, during which period he was also chemist and secretary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture. He died at Columbus in February, 1859. DR. CALEB BRIGGS Doctor Mather was an LL. D., while Doctor Briggs was educated for a physician, being a man of rare and broad scientific attainments, as well as practical and businesslike. He was even younger than Doctor Mather, under whose superintendence he made the first survey of the coal and iron regions of Ohio. He entered upon his work in June, 1837, exploring Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence and Scioto counties during the earlier stages of his survey. Subsequently he covered Crawford, Tuscarawas, Wood and perhaps other counties, terminating his earliest labors in 1839, after which he was employed in similar work in the western counties of Virginia. No one was therefore more thoroughly or scientifically informed regarding the natural and potential riches of the Hanging Rock Iron Region than Doctor Briggs. At the conclusion of the geological surveys in Southern Ohio and Western Virginia, he returned to his home in North Rochester, Massachusetts; but the inspiration of the West remained in his blood and in 1848 he again entered the Ohio Valley as the agent of a number of eastern capitalists who had already invested in the Hanging Rock Region. He stopped at the village by that name and met John Campbell, who induced him to remain. Soon afterward Mr. Campbell transferred his residence and business headquarters to the new town of Ironton, and Doctor Briggs also became a resident of that place. It was primarily at Doctor Briggs suggestion that Ironton, instead of Hanging Rock, was made the terminus of the Iron Railway, the pioneer transportation line of the region, and from the time of becoming a resident of the place until his death there in September, 1884, Doctor Briggs was a constant force in every enterprise which promised advancement to his adopted city and section. One of his most enduring monuments is the Briggs Library, a public institution of broad practical use and fine inspiration which was founded through his forethought and liberality. THE BEGINNINGS OF VINTON COUNTY The mineral wealth of what is now Vinton County was noted by both Professor Mather and Doctor Briggs. The report of the First Geological Survey makes particular mention of its millstone, coal and iron ore. The first named had even been discovered and quarried to a considerable extent thirty years before the time of the survey. The first settlers located at and near what is now McArthur, the county seat. Levi Kelsey is believed to have been the original pioneer and to have come about 1802. Three years afterward a Mr. Musselman, a miller, appeared, and he dig- 60 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION covered that the burrstone existed in commercial quantities and of fine grade in the northern part of the county. In 1806 he commenced to quarry it, and not a few of the earlier settlers made a good livelihood by following his example. McArthur was laid out as a town as early as 1815, and in time became quite a prosperous place, being made the seat of justice of Vinton County, which was formed in March, 1850. It is certain both the county and the county seat perpetuate the names of most worthy characters—Samuel Finley Vinton, of Gallipolis, a lawyer of deep learning, a congressman and statesman of strong and fine influence and an orator of national fame ; and Duncan McArthur, surveyor, Indian scout, a founder of Chillicothe, a leading figure in the War of 1812, member of the State Legislature and Congress and finally governor of Ohio. When Zaleski, six miles northeast of McArthur, was laid out in 1856, by the famous Polish mining company of that name, it seemed for some years as if the county seat had a dangerous rival. It was projected as a mining town, but the ores proved unremunerative. Then, in the '60s, the C. W. & B. car shops were built there, and employed two or three hundred men, and by 1874 the town numbered over eleven hundred people. But the shops burned in that year, were never rebuilt on their former extensive scale and their later removal to Chillicothe killed Zaleski. Outside of McArthur, the largest village in the county is now Hamden, which was platted in 1829, although various settlers had been locating in its vicinity for twenty years. Of recent years Vinton County has been developing her cement beds, her fire clay. deposits and her gas wells in a way which 'promises well for her future ; the prophecies of Doctors Mather and Briggs may be fully realized. Her earlier promises of productive fruit lands are also being revived. CHAPTER VI PIONEER PICTURES ACTUAL SETTLERS ON THE FRENCH GRANT—THE FIVE PIONEERS—MONS. GERVAIS AGAIN—DUDUIT, SUCCESSFUL; FRENCH FARMER—BRISK, BRIGHT; WARM LITTLE FRENCHMAN—NERVOUS ABOUT HIS . HOSPITALITY - A TRAGIC MISFORTUNE—A: C. VINCENT SPURNS A. KING-TO-BE—A VARIED LIFE—A MIND TO COOLLY MEET ADVERSITY-- THE CADOTS AND DUTIELS—SIMPLE CUTTING OF BAD DOMESTIC KNOT—STORY OF A STOW-AWAY-LAZIEST MAN ON THE GRANT—MONS. GINAT, PETTIFOGGER—A DOCTOR, OF SHARP ANGLES—FORCED HOSPITALITY—SURVIVORS OF ORIGINAL COLONISTS—SALLADAY KILLS LAST BUFFALO —UNSUCCESSFUL REMEDY FOR CONSUMPTION—MAJOR BELLI, OF THE OLD SCHOOL—THE LUCASES FOUND LUCASVILLE—GOV. ROBERT LUCAS —TURNING FROM THE PERSONAL—A PIONEER IS A TYPE—PACKING GOODS FROM THE EAST—THE LOG CABIN—SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS —COOKING —WILD. GAME—DRESS AND MANNERS— MARKET PRICES—THE SCIOTO COUNTRY STORES—RAISING BEES— BRINGING IN STOCK —HOSPITALITY—BEE HUNTING MILLING— AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS—HOG STICKING AND PACKING—MONEY AND BARTER - EDUCATION—SPELLING SCHOOL—SINGING SCHOOL—RESTING ON HIS ARMS ---THE WOMAN PIONEER. No class of the early settlers in the valley- of the. Scioto, or in the entire Ohio country, attracted more attention because of their peculiar and varied traits than the French colonists who came to Marietta and Gallipolis and the French Grant of the Scioto. Comparatively few of the colony of over four hundred who sailed from Havre in 1790 ever settled on the lands granted to ninety-two of their number in 1795 (then residents of Gallipolis). ACTUAL SETTLERS ON THE FRENCH GRANT Among these who thus became identified with the Hanging Rock Iron Region of this history were Jean Baptist Bertrand, William Duduit, John G. Gervais, Andrew Lacrouix, Francis C. Duteil, A. C. Vincent, Claudius Cadot, Petre Chabot, Francois Valodin, Petre Ruishond, John Baptist Ginat and Claudius Chartier Dufligny. With the exception of.a few men of education and rather aristocratic blood, the settlers on the French Grant were mainly people of rather primitive characters and - 61 - 62 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION brought to their new surrounding many of the strange beliefs and superstitions of their kind. To illustrate some of these varied traits of the sociable, lovable, if sometimes shiftless members of the colony which cut clear of Gallipolis, the writer turns to Keyes' `Pioneers of Scioto County," the sketches of which largely represent those of French blood. THE FIVE PIONEERS The efforts of John G. Gervais to relieve his destitute and discouraged countrymen, who were stranded at Gallipolis, has already been noted. PIONEERS OF LAWRENCE COUNTY A finely educated and polished gentleman, he secured the sympathy and support of Washington in his measure of relief, and the savior of the United States is said to have personally recommended to Congress the act by which the French Grant was made. With Deduit, Bertrand, Lacrouix and Dutiel, Mons. Gervais were the first to occupy their lots in the grant, on the 21st of March, 1797. MONS. GERVAIS AGAIN Mons. Gervais was not a laboring man ; neither was he married. It is not known just what improvements he made on the 4,000 acres which had been awarded to him, but it is known that he laid out a town opposite the mouth of the Little Sandy and named it Burrsburg. "I suppose," says Keyes, "that was out of respect to Aaron Burr, who at that time was scheming to establish a western empire, taken partly from the United States and partly from the Spanish possessions. But his scheme was a failure, and so was Burrsburg in the French Grant. When Mons. Gervais discovered that his town was a failure (there never being more than five or six cabins in it), and there was nothing for him to do-but HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 63 go to work for a living and improve his land, he became discouraged and concluded to give it up. He was a man possessed of considerable wealth in France ; had been well educated ; was refined in his manners ; had associated with the best society in Paris ; was a good dancer and fond of all kinds of fashionable amusement ; had a fine ear for music and was a gentleman in all his intercourse with society. He had passed twenty of the best years of his life trying to establish a French colony in America and now, when he had nothing left but four thousand acres of land, which was entirely unproductive without labor, he became disgusted with the whole thing, and resolved to sell out and return to France. "In the year 1810 a company from Haverhill, New Hampshire, of whom Asa Boynton was at the head, proposed to buy Mons. Gervais out. The price was agreed upon and the land transferred. The cash was paid, which amounted to a considerable sum, and Mons. Gervais bade adieu to America forever." DUDUIT, SUCCESSFUL FRENCH FARMER William (Guillaume) Duduit, one of Gervais' companions who formed the original colony of actual settlers on the grant, was of quite another stamp. Although his parents in France had been wealthy, they had cultivated a good farm about twenty miles from Paris, and the son had received a training and inherited a sturdy vitality which assured him prosperity and respect in the new country. He immediately cleared his land and during the year of his settlement raised crops of corn and vegetables. In the midst of the horrors of the French Revolution he had escaped to America with his young wife, and when he found he had been deceived as to the immediate gains to be made in the Ohio Valley he became an expert hunter and woodsman and soon was appointed one of the four spies connected with the military post of Marietta and detailed for the protection of Gallipolis against unfriendly Indians. Within a few years Duduit had a fine farm and orchard, his peach trees being very productive. He also started a small distillery for the purpose of making liquors from his own grain and fruit. Madame Duduit, who died in 1811, was educated and aristocratic, but this did not prevent her from having thirteen children and mothering them as she should. Three of the children died in their infancy. In 1817 the widower married a daughter of his old comrade, Lacrouix ; he was then in his forty-seventh year, his wife in her seventeenth. By this second union there were eight children. Mons. Duduit took an active part in the War of 1812 and added to his reputation as a scout. At the conclusion of the conflict he returned permanently to his farm, which was about a mile below Haverhill adjoining the property of Francis Valodin, and at the death of the latter in 1826 he added that property to his own estate. The buildings on the Valodin tract were much better than those he had erected ; so that after 1826, until his death ten years later, the old family homestead 64 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION as shifted to the Valodin purchase. Mons. Duduit left a goodly estate, but as he also left a remarkable number of descendants none of them received any considerable property ; which, again, was as it should be. BRISK, BRIGHT, WARM LITTLE FRENCHMAN Jean B. Bertrand, one of the five men who first settled on the French Grant in 1797, was the son of a wealthy French father who died when the son was a boy. Young Bertrand was entrusted to the care of an uncle, who appears to have cheerfully allowed his charge to get along as best he could, among the .positions which" he held in France being those of sexton of a cathedral and coachman in the employ of a family. But he picked up a fair education, including proficiency in Latin. On the other hand, although he lived in ththenited States for sixty-five years he never learned to speak English. Bertrand also took passage at Havre for the Ohio paradise from a mixed spirit of adventure and a desire to escape the terrors of the French Revolution. At Gallipolis he was employed some time as a miller before he settled upon his grant. Genat's Creek ran through the Bertrand lot, and it was the intention of the owner to build a mill thereon; but nothing came of the original idea lie cleared a few acres of his land of its forest growth, erected a cabin, and when a man well toward his fortieth year revisited Gallipolis to look for a wife—whom he probably had in mind. At least he soon returned to his forest home with Madam Bertrand snugly tucked under his, arm. When death removed her from him in January, 1827, they had become the parents of seven children. NERVOUS ABOUT HIS HOSPITALITY Mons. Bertrand was not over 414 1/2eet high, but was a concentration of industry, conscientiousness (he was a strict Catholic) and sociability, and a lively and striking illustration that usefulness and influence never depend on feet and inches of bone, flesh and blood. He seemed never fairly happy unless he could be giving some one a good time, and even upon such an occasion his satisfaction was clouded lest he had neglected some hospitality. One who attended several of the noted socials at the Bertrand place illustrates this trait : " On the first of January, 1826, there was a grand ball at the house of Mons. Bertrand, to which all the country for several miles around was invited. The ball was the grand affair for that period. The four daughters of M. Bertrand acquitted themselves in a very creditable manner in doing the honors of the occasion. "The usual course pursued at a country ball in those days was for the company to commence gathering a little before night so as to put the horses in the stable and feed them ; the men to take off their boots and overcoats and prepare for dancing; the women, likewise, to prepare for the ball room. By the time it was fairly dark dancing commenced. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 65 It was kept up without much intermission for two or three hours, when supper was announced. "Dancing had to be suspended to make room for the supper table. Houses were not large in those days, and one room had to answer for various purposes. Supper occupied an hour or two, when the table was removed, and dancing recommenced and was kept up until daylight. Then preparations were made to disperse and return home. "While the young men were saddling their horses, Mons. Bertrand was out with a bottle of his oldest and best peach brandy, and insisted on every man taking another drink before starting. The little old man was stepping around among the men and horses, talking French in a very animated manner and rapidly gesticulating, so that we began to conclude that something was wrong and to feel uneasy about it. We called John Bertrand, his son, and asked him to explain what the old man was talking about. John laughed and said there was nothing wrong ; that the old man only wanted to know if we were all satisfied ; if there was anything more he could do for us. We told John to tell Mons. Bertrand that we were all satisfied and well pleased with our entertainment. So, when we were all mounted, each man with his partner on the horse behind him took the road for our several homes." Mons. Bertrand's farm bore some of the finest and most productive apple and peach trees to be found on the French Grant, which was more famous for its fruits and brandies than for anything else. During the autumn and part of the winter he and his other thrifty countrymen busied themselves in gathering the fruit and distilling it into brandy. After each householder had reserved the family and festive supply and placed it in his iron-bound cask or casks, the remainder was taken to Greenupsburg on the Kentucky side, to Gallipolis, or even as far away as Marietta. The Bertrand orchards and vegetable gardens were noted throughout all that region, and their proprietor worked in them almost to the last. When he became old and infirm, his outdoor work was almost confined to his garden. He was also a great reader and, between his love for bodily activity and enjoyment of mental exercise, he sustained his naturally happy disposition as long as he lived. He peacefully passed away in 1855. A TRAGIC MISFORTUNE Antoine Claude Vincent was one of the ninety-two to whom were allotted the original French Grant of 1795, but he did not occupy his land until 1801. He had been educated in France for a Roman Catholic priest, but his liberal views prevented his ordination and he became a silversmith. In company with a wealthy jeweler, M. Antionme, he had fled the Reign of Terror with the original colony destined for the Scioto, the two planning to establish a business in the new country. They came on to Gallipolis and, after their disillusionment, Antionme filled a large pirogue with watches, jewelry, firearms, ammunition and other goods which he considered salable, and in the autumn of 1791 left Gallipolis Vol. I-5 66 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION for New Orleans. He and his two workmen were attacked by the Indians near the mouth of the Big Sandy, the latter refused to allow him to defend his property and themselves with the firearms with which they were provided, and in that moment of discouragement and despair Antoinme shot himself through the heart. The Indians fled, thinking they had been attacked, but returned and shared the booty with the cowardly whites, the body of the unfortunate Frenchman being thrown overboard. A. C. VINCENT SPURNS A KING-TO-BE That misfortune ruined Mons. Vincent, for the time being, as the small property which he had collected was all aboard the pirogue ; but he was plucky, raised chickens and eggs for the Gallipolis market, taught school in Marietta and otherwise conducted himself like a stout-hearted young man. At that time he was boarding at a hotel kept by Mons. Tiorrie, and it happened that Louis Philippe, then Duke of Orleans, with two relatives, stopped at that' inn, having taken refuge in America during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. The Duke was incognito and, passing down the Ohio on his way to New Orleans, called at Marietta and, with his party, stopped at the Tiorrie House. " There being many French in Marietta," says one authentic account of this noteworthy incident in the life of Vincent, "and many of them in high standing when they left France, the Duke conversing with them and finding them well disposed to the Royalists, made himself known to them. They were on their way to New .Orleans and sought someone to accompany them in their wanderings. "Louis himself was very dejected and gloomy, and sat with his chapeau far over his eyes, his face downcast and supported by his hands. He rarely spoke, but his relatives had the free use of their tongues. They were much pleased with Mons. Vincent (then a lively, unmarried man) and greatly desired him to share their fortune and accompany them to. New Orleans ; and as the two relatives seemed about to fail in their object, the future sovereign of France broke his gloomy silence with honest tears streaming from his eyes as he said : 'Yes, come along with us, Vincent; come. We are now wretched castouts, alone, friendless, homeless, moneyless, wandering through this wilderness infested with wild beasts and worse savages, Jar from our dear native land. We need you now, and yet can repay you nothing, but the time will come when we can and will. Law and order will soon be restored. We will await that occasion and be peaceably restored to our possessions and rights. Then we can and will repay you. We shall have offices to fill and titles to confer. They will be yours. Only come with us now in our distress.' " But young Vincent was not prevailed upon to go by these entreaties, for the reason that he was bound to teach school ; because New. Orleans was a very unhealthful place of residence then, and he did not know what misfortune his association with the Duke might bring upon him. HANGING. ROCK IRON REGION - 67 But in 1830, when this same Louis Philippe was seated on the throne of France, and he himself was a leading citizen .of late middle age, he often reflected upon "what might have been" had his choice of companions and surroundings been different. A VARIED LIFE But his career was in the end one of good fortune, although beset with many hardships and bad accidents. In 1799, when in his twenty-seventh year, he married Flore Berthelot, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Matthew Berthelot, a Wealthy trader who had been in America for the preceding nine years. About a month after his marriage, while still living at Marietta, he was nearly frozen to death while on a trip to Belpre, the physical result being the loss of the first joints of all his fingers and toes. As the Vincent allotment of 1795 fell on the hills and was then worthless, the owner bought the small portion of a tract in the New Grant on the river, two miles above the mouth of Pine Creek; and on this he settled, afterward buying the entire lot of 150 acres. He did not aspire to be a farmer on a large scale or to amass wealth in other ways, but was content to earn a livelihood for his wife and nine children, and educate his offspring mentally and morally. Yet, through his marriage and his wife's inheritances from both her parents, the Vincent estate eventually attained large proportions for those times. A MIND TO COOLLY MEET ADVERSITY Mons. Lecrouix has this to say of this scholarly and high-minded colonist of the French Grant : "Mons. Vincent was well raised and well drilled in the etiquette of high life or of the court, but this availed him little in these woods. His education would have fitted him for any station in life ; but, as it was, it was of little advantage to any but his own family. It was Of vast value to himself, and gave him power coolly and cheerfully to brave the petty vexations and difficulties of life. He was a great reader and his library was filled with choice books. He was not very particular what kind he read, but trusted to his own good sense to ward off injury from the false sentiments of others. He read all the works of Voltaire; especially the histories of Rousseau, etc., but he was not confined to the French; he read English nearly: as readily. Very often he sent to Portsmouth and would receive books by the box ; in a month or so he had finished them, sent them back and got a new supply. We have very few men now who read as he did, and few farmers who are so familiar as he was with history, philosophy, mathematics, ethics., music and poetry. "But how did he, a farmer, get time to do so much reading? The answer is—he simply took it. It was his regular custom to read one hour after dinner ; after he retired, his flambeau was hung at his bedside and he would read until sleep closed his eyes. He is said never 68 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION to have been seen to take a seat and fold his hands in listlessness ; either he was at some useful work, or was holding sweet converse with some great one through his writings. "In religion he was far from superstitious; indeed, I have conversed with one who charged him with skepticism; but this impression no doubt rose from- his cool, common-sense way of talking on all subjects. In the Roman Church he saw what he could never approve, but when he heard Protestants groundlessly, as he thought, accuse her, he warmly defended her When all were alarmed by the, earthquakes (winter of 1811-12) he paid unusual attention to religious duties. He believed little in the efficacy of rites, forms, fasts and ceremonies, but 'considered a blameless life the surest passport to future felicity. He was scrupulously exact in his dealings with his fellows and, far above purse or possessions, valued the sacredness of his work. After two weeks of fever he died August 22, 1846, aged 73 years, 10 months, 9 days." THE CADOTS AND DUTIELS The first Claudius Cadot, one of the original colony to settle at Gallipolis, received an allotment under the enumeration of 1795, but died before the first five pioneers located on the grant. He had married Jane Bastine in Paris, and in January, 1791, their daughter, Maria, was born, the first native child of Gallipolis ; then came Claudius Cadot, Jr., the first native male, in February, 1793, and two years later, the third of the Cadot children. The father died not long after the drawing of 1795, a victim of malaria, and left his young widow and three infants. In a new country like this women in such circumstances are pitifully helpless, and the "proprieties" and "appearances" cannot be carefully and critically considered. Thus when the Widow Cadot married young Charles Francis Dutiel, also of the original colony from France, three months after the death of Claudius Cadot, Sr., there is nothing of record to indicate that their union met with criticism. Mons. Dutiel was one of the pioneer five who entered the grant in 1797. He took possession of his lot, 32, in the spring of that year made a clearing, erected a small cabin and in the fall returned to Gallipolis for his wife and three step-children. Mons. Dutiel brought his household and family goods in a boat ; also as part of his establishment were a yoke of oxen and a cow. Upon arrival and when the boat had served its primary purpose, it was broken up and, with the raw material, he made quite a comfortable addition to his cabin. Within a few years the Dutiels had a fine farm under cultivation, with orchards, stock, and the .inevitable outfit for distilling the home fruits and grains. As the two boys grew up, they assisted their father in his labors, and themselves took a substantial place in the community, while in 1809 the daughter, Maria Louisa, married Mons. LeClercq, of Gallipolis, clerk of Gallia County for thirty years and a large property owner. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 69 Claudius Cadot, Jr., became specially prominent, and left many descendants through two marriages. In his youth he participated in the War of 1812 and was a part of Hull's captured force. At the conclusion of the war, during which he was under parole, he went on the river to follow keel-boating, working four years for one Mike Fink, who ran a line of boats from Pittsburgh to various points in the West. During that period he saved enough money to purchase a quarter section of land in Vernon Township, southeastern part of what is now Scioto County. Not long afterward, in 1819, he married Nancy Ball and in 1820 moved onto his land. His first wife died in 1835 and he married as his second, Cynthia Stoekham, whom he also survived. He was the father of eight children, several of his daughters marrying into the Boynton family. His eldest daughter became the wife of Eliphaz Hayward. The younger Claudius Cadot was the last survivor of his company which served in the War of 1812 and drew a pension under the law of 1878. He was the last of the old-time keel-boatmen to linger in the Valley of the Ohio ; was the first male child born of French parents in Gallipolis, and lived the longest of anyone in Scioto County with the exception of Samuel Marshall and Samuel Bonser. In a marked degree, he formed a connecting link between a former civilization and comparatively modern life. SIMPLE CUTTING OF BAD DOMESTIC KNOT The life of Petre Chabot, one of the ninety-two pioneer settlers of the grant lot, is mainly of interest as an exposition of unusual domestic complications, which were unexpectedly untangled, than from any special eccentricity or force of character which it exhibited. He was born and raised in France, settled in Gallipolis with the original colonists of 1790, and shortly afterward married a woman of American parentage. In 1795 he drew a lot in the northeast corner of the grant on Pine Creek, and in 1798 built a small cabin on his land. In the following year he brought his wife and household goods with him. He landed near the mouth of Gant's Creek and thence packed his goods about four or five miles through the woods on an old mare. Whether from loneliness, or shock, or exposure, it is not known—but the young wife became insane soon after locating in this forest wilderness, and as there were no asylums in the Ohio country at that time Mons. Chabot was compelled to send her to a Philadelphia institution. An acquaintance tells the sequel : "Thus Mons. Chabot was left with several small children on his hands and no one to care for them. This was a bad condition for a man to be in, especially where it might be several miles to the nearest neighbor. So Mons. Chabot was under the necessity of marrying another wife, although he had not been divorced from his first. After living several years with his second wife, his children by his first grew up to man's estate and the oldest son concluded that his mother ought to be, looked after. He accordingly made 70 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION a trip to Philadelphia to make inquiries after his mother, and found that she had regained her health and reason. She came out to Ohio to look after her rights as the wife of Peter Chabot. When she found that he had married another wife and was living comfortably and happily with her, she concluded not to break up the domestic relations of her husband's family, but told him if he would give her one-third of his property, which in law rightfully belonged to her, she would not disturb him, but let him remain with his second wife. This proposition seemed satisfactory to all parties interested, and Chabot divided his property with her, and she let him remain with his last wife." STORY OF A STOW-AWAY Francis Valodin, whose estate at his death in 1826 was purchased by William Duduit, came over from France as an impecunious stow-away. When he landed at Alexandria the captain of the ship sold him to a hotel keeper of that place, and it took him a year to repay his passage money. He then overtook the main body of the colonists at Gallipolis and was one of the ninety-two to draw a lot in the French Grant: Perhaps he was not entitled to one, as he was not a member of the original company, and had sneaked his passage ; but he was a Frenchman, was included in the allotment, and was among the first to work on his land. In 1800 Mons. Valodin married a wealthy French lady of New Madrid, Missouri, who lived but four years thereafter, and he afterward took Nancy Slater, an American, to wife. He had two children by his first, and eight by his second wife, and although he was ignorant and impulsive, he was affectionate, a good provider and a proud father. What he lacked in education, he endeavored to make up to his children, sending some of them to New Madrid for instruction and polishing. Upon one occasion his son Dupot returned home from that center of learning, where he had been attending a boarding school, attired like a Parisian fop. After looking the young man over, Valodin exploded : "Hem! Sacre Dieu! No use to send Dupot to shool any more ; got gal in de head." LAZIEST MAN ON THE GRANT Petre Ruishond was called the laziest man on the grant, if not in Ohio, and he steadfastly maintained that reputation, early established, during the quarter of a century of his residence there. He posed as ah astrologer and a weather prophet, and nothing pleased him better than to gaze at the stars for hours and then predict storms. The only occasion for a show of faint ambition on his part was when it was planned to build a dam across Lick Run, and he proposed to be one of the "helpers." Evidently Pete thought better of his inspiration, for when the neighbors appointed a certain Saturday upon which to meet and build the dam, Big Pete predicated "rain all day." As the fates would have it, his prophecy was borne out by a downpour. Ruishond was never married, but Made several attempts at court- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 71 ship. It is said that he went to see pretty Marie Cadot, who afterward married LaClercq, of Gallipolis, but the big boned, clumsy, ragged, slouchy fellow was too bashful to say anything to her. The little lady was good natured, and doubtless amused ; so would permit Pete to sit around all day and look at her. But the matter ended thus. When he was well advanced in years Pete's cabin caught afire and burned to the ground, although the owner threw a little snow upon it. As he still owned 217 acres of pretty good land, he spent the remainder of his life in renting it to various young men for his "keep," and thus barely survived until his final passing-away in 1823. After his death two men claimed his property, fought for it in the courts, and compromised by halving it. MONS. GINAT, PETTIFOGGER John Baptist Ginat, whose name is given to the creek which empties into the Ohio and which flowed through his land, was as industrious and alert as Ruishond was lazy and dull. He settled at the mouth of the creek, married an American woman and at the death of his wife, who had borne him five children, went to boating on the Ohio and boiling salt on the Kanawha. During that period he sent his daughters to Cincinnati to be educated, and they afterward taught school on the grant. Mons. Ginat had a fair education, and he was quite useful to the French through his tact as a pettifogger. He had a particular liking for disputation, would always waive previous impressions and take the opposition on any question, simply for the sake of showing his forensic talents and confusing his opponent. The French of the grant often had misunderstandings with the Yankees, and as most of them spoke poor English it was difficult for them always to obtain justice. Ginat had given much attention to law and spoke English fluently ; he was therefore well prepared to advocate the causes of his people, and obtained quite a large practice among them. As he had the misfortune to fail in the salt business into which he had sunk his capital, he passed the later years of his life in these occupations, living most of the time with Peter Baccus, an uncle by marriage. A DOCTOR OF SHARP ANGLES Doctor Dufligny, or Claudius Chartier Dufligny (as he was christened), had a euphonious name which belied his character at every angle. He was intelligent and well educated, practicing medicine two years in Philadelphia before coming to Gallipolis ; but all his waking hours seemed to be passed in dread of want, with the result that all his social instincts were pitifully shriveled, and he became an object of almost universal contempt. Three wives, and every friend he ever had, were repelled by his abject penuriousness, and he finally died in poverty, shadowed by his lifelong fear. 72 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION FORCED HOSPITALITY When Doctor Dufligny settled on his lot he built a cabin and lived alone for a time, raising chickens, selling eggs to the boatmen, and keeping several productive hives of bees. Even when he kept bachelor's hall, this dread of coming to want so overshadowed him that he could not treat his neighbors with decent hospitality. This was so unusual among the pioneers, especially those of French blood; that all resented it. Upon one occasion Vincent and another French neighbor called on the Doctor just before dinner time. "Well, Doctor," they said, "we are very hungry and tired, and will have to trouble you for a little dinner." Doctor Dufligny looked up, sadly sighing and rubbing his eyes, and replied, "Well, friends, I am very sorry it is so, but I have been very poorly some days and have had no appetite, and have not cooked anything, nor have I prepared anything to cook." The two, making themselves very free, thereupon opened the cupboard and continued : "Well, Doctor, as you are sick, we can cook us a little ourselves." Doctor : "I don't like to put you to so much trouble ; besides I have nothing fit for you." The two : " Oh, no trouble ! Why, here are eggs, meat and flour ! We can get a good dinner out of these." One made a fire and the other mixed up some bread, breaking in plenty of eggs. Doctor : " Oh, gentlemen, you can't eat that !" The two : "Never mind, Doctor. Don't weary yourself." They prepared eggs, biscuits, ham, etc., and in a word got a fair dinner; put it on the table, and prepared to partake. Doctor Dufligny at length arose himself, thinking it too expensive to have all this go to outsiders, and remarked softly : "Gentlemen, your victuals smell so ,well, my appetite seems to come to me. I think a little of your dinner cannot hurt me---perhaps it may help me." So he slipped up his chair, and, seeing that the dinner must go, accepted the situation quite cheerfully and made a hearty meal himself. On parting, he even expressed the regret that he had not better things for them, and hoped they would soon call again, when he might be better prepared to entertain them. In fact, the Doctor, when caught at one of his tricks, carried off the situation with such an air of innocence that his neighbors were hugely amused and were not loth to repeat. His eccentricities were evidently not amusing at close range, for two wives divorced him while he was a resident of the grant. He afterward moved to Portsmouth, where he bought an acre of land, raised vegetables, practiced to some extent, married a third wife whom he disgusted, and finally died alone, with the keys to his money-box gripped convulsively in his hands. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 73 SURVIVORS OF ORIGINAL COLONISTS Frank E. Hayward, of Ironton, a valued member of our advisory board, is a representative of the early French colony, although not a direct descendant of any of the original settlers. Through his efforts we have been able to obtain the names and addresses of the surviving progeny of the French Five Hundred who actually settled on the grant. Mrs. Eliza Jane Cadot Boynton, of Haverhill, Ohio, was ninety years of age on March 4, 1915, and is the only survivor of Claudius Cadot, the second. Her surviving offspring are : Mrs: Carrie Boynton Farnham, Portsmouth, Ohio ; Asa Boynton, Haverhill ; Francis Edwin Hayward, of Ironton (our associate), is the grandson of Mrs. Boynton, and the son of Mary Cadot Hayward. Living granddaughters (daughters of Ruhama Cadot Pixley) : Mrs. Carrie Pixley Jordan, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Mrs. Nellie Pixley Bingaman, Mrs. Essie Pixley Connell and Mrs. Mary Pixley Mountain, all of Ironton, Ohio. Granddaughter of Claudius Cadot, the second : Mrs. Avaline Cadot LaBaron, Portsmouth. Grandchildren of Lemuel Cadot, son of Claudius, the first : Miss Cora Cadot and Miss Effie Cadot, Portsmouth ; Mrs. Helen Cadot McCurdy, Wheelersburgh, Ohio ; Lemuel Cadot, South Webster, Ohio ; Miss Blanch Cadot, Gallipolis, Ohio; William Cadot, Maumee, Ohio ; Pearl Cadot, Chicago, Ill. Grandchildren of Petre Chabot : James A. Chabot and Dr. G. W. Chabot, Portsmouth ; William R. Chabot, Red Oak, Iowa. Dr. James Taylor, Wheelersburgh, Ohio, grandson of Antoine C. Vincent. Grandchildren of Guillaume Duduit : Merle Duduit, Alice Duduit and Mary Frances Duduit, Portsmouth ; Carrie Duduit Edgerton, Memphis, Tenn. ; Francis Edward Duduit, Jr., Portsmouth. Direct descendants of John Duduit : Alfred Spalding Duduit and Mary Duduit, San Diego, Cal. Descendants of Adaline Louise Duduit Peters : Mary Catharine Peters, Isabelle Peters Brown, Mrs. Emma Peters Davies and Mrs. Ida Peters Lewis, Ironton ; Mrs. Alice W. Ellison, Macomb, Ill. ; Mrs. Martha Peters Lawton, Los Angeles, Cal. ; Thomas Peters, Ironton ; Camaralza Spar Peters, Macomb, Ill. Descendants of Mary Catharine Duduit Peters: Mrs. Josephine Peters Cole, Ironton ; John Peters, Coalgrove, Ohio. Descendants of Mrs. Eliza Duduit Ridenhour : Tice Ridenhour and William Ridenhour, Ironton ; Charles Ridenhour, Jackson, Ohio. There are also several of the Valodins yet living. SALLADAY KILLS LAST BUFFALO Philip Salladay was one of the first settlers of Scioto County. He was a Swiss and migrated with his wife at the close of the Revolutionary war to Western Pennsylvania. About 1796 he bought the southernmost 74 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION lot in the French Grant on the Ohio River, and was among the early settlers. He cleared his land, built houses and barns, planted orchards, made meadows and raised a family of four sons and five daughters. Mr. Salladay was an expert hunter and is said to have killed the last buffalo in Southern Ohio, probably not long after he settled upon his lot. At the time buffalo and bear were getting scarce near the river Mr. Salladay, accompanied by his twelve-year-old son, George, concluded to seek the big game on the headwaters of Pine Creek, some ten miles distance. They made their camp on the bank of that stream near the upper line of what is now Vernon Township, Scioto County. They had not been there long before they sighted a buffalo within range of their rifles. The old gentleman raised his gun and fired. The buffalo did not fall but started toward them. The old gentleman, without giving George a chance to fire, snatched the gun out of his hands, fired and brought the animal down. This George Salladay, when eighteen years of age, was a member of the party which cleared the original site of Portsmouth in 1803, and was the sole exception among the immediate descendants of Philip Salladay to escape death from the ravages of consumption. UNSUCCESSFUL REMEDY FOR CONSUMPTION An attempt was made to arrest the progress of the disease by a process, which had been unsuccessfully practiced before, but which had the support of many of the simple-minded and superstitious settlers. Samuel Salladay, the eldest son, had served a campaign in the army and soon after his return home sickened and died of pulmonary trouble. Shortly afterward the father contracted the disease and passed away, and several others of the family began to manifest the dread symptoms. John Salladay was the next victim. Then the surviving members of the family resolved to resort to the strange " cure ;" to disinter one of the victims, disembowel him and burn his entrails in a fire prepared for the purpose, in the presence of the survivors. This was accordingly done in the winter of 1816-17, in the presence not only of the living members of the Salladay family but of many spectators who lived in the neighborhood. Maj. Amos Wheeler, of Wheelersburg, was employed to disembowel the sacrificial victim (Samuel Salladay) and commit his entrails to the flames. But the disease was not thereby stayed ; it continued to claim other S descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Salladay until only George survived, and, although he died of old age, it reappeared in his grandchildren. MAJOR BELLI, OF THE OLD SCHOOL Maj, John Belli, a highly educated Frenchman who came to America about the close of the Revolutionary war, and was connected with the quartermaster's department of the American army during the Wayne campaign against the Indians, invested his unpaid back salary for his