THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FRENCH GRANT
BY THAYER D. WHITE.
Among the first settlers of the upper part of Scioto County, lying on the Ohio River, was a colony
of French, numbering nearly a hundred families and adult individuals with. out families, who
immigrated from France in 1790. On arriving in this country and touching at Philadelphia and
Baltim9re, they came up the Potomac River to Alexandria and there disembarked, crossed the
mountains to the Ohio River and settled at Gallipolis. Many of these emigrants had bought land of
the agents of the Scioto Company. This company was a failure and a fraud, and failing to get the
land from the company, tried to purchase of the Ohio Company a portion of the tract they had
purchased from Congress. The Ohio Company failing to pay for all their lands, sold to the Scioto
Company such amount of land as they could pay for, at the same rate and payment they had
purchased of
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 107
Congress. The Ohio Company secured 1,500,000 acres of land, and the Scioto Company failed in
paying for any of the Ohio Company's purchase, and were considered a fraud, and the poor French
immigrants had paid their money and got no land. The action taken by the Ohio Company will be
found at the close of the first chapter of this history, including a letter from Judge Cutler. Mr. J. G.
Garvais, a man of high character and Influence, and General Rufus Putnam took great interest in
the emigrant's favor. Stephen Duponsan, of Philadelphia, was employed as an agent to secure
from Congress, which was then in session in Philadelphia, if possible, a grant of land to the
French settlers at Gallipolis.
In March, 1795, Congress granted to the French at Gallipolis 24,000 acres of land, to be located
and surveyed under the instruction of General Rufus Putnam. Absalom Martin, the surveyor,
divided the tract into ninety-two lots, which were lumbered in order. A few men were still not
supplied with land, and, in 1798, Congress granted eight lots more of 150 acres each, at the lower
end of the former grant on the Ohio River. J. G. Garvais was granted 4,000 acres out of the 24,000
which was not numbered into lots. rD. Garvais laid out a portion of his tract, which included part
of the Ohio River botutoms, into town lots and outlots, after the plan of the rural villages, and
named his town Burrsburg, in honor of Aaron Burr, who was then quite popular. As the French
were poor, Garvais proposed in a letter to Duponsan to give him a number of tickets to draw lots
in his town, or to give him 200 acres of land fronting on the Ohio River. Duponsan chose the 200
acres which Garvais located on the upper corinner of his tract, being sixty-four rods fronting on
the river and running back for quantity; made a deed and acknowledged the same beinfore Kimber
Barton, the first Justice of the Peace in the French Grant, and the deed was recorded in Book A,
page 1. In 1832 Thayer D. White purchased this 200 acres of Duponsan for $1,000 cash. The town
of Burrsburg was a failure. Garvais cleared a few acres, built a log house sixteen feet square, set
out some fruit trees, and kept bachelor's hall, having no family. It was in this cabin that he
entertained the celebrated traveler and scholar, Volney, the Professor of _History in the Normal
School of France, who visited this country in 1797, and who, on his return to France, published an
account of his visit to the Scioto settlement.
But few of the French ever settled on the " Grant," preferring to remain at Gallipolis. Some that
came to the " Grant" sold out and left, and one, a Mr. Fisho, who owned the lot now known as
Burk's Point, after making considerable improvement, left and was never heard of afterward, and
no one ever came to claim the property. The names of those who became permanent settlers on
the " Grant " and are still represented by descendants, were Vincent, Chabot, Cadot, Valodin,
Duduit, Bartvaux, Lacroix, Duthy, Faverty, Serot and Audre. Considering their want of experience
in clearing up the wilderness the settlers made good progress, and in a few years had fine farms
and fruit orchards. The only thing that would bring money was good peach and apple brandy, and
distilling fruit was reusorted to and a good article was made by them. The French immigrants
suffered much from their want of experience and a fear of the Indians, which was not without
cause. Mr. Vincent, on a hunting trip, saw a party of Intidians, and, secreting himself, lay out all
night, freezing his hands and feet, it being a very cold night, from which he suffered greatly.
William Duduit had been a coachman in Paris, was stout and active, and became very expert in
handling the canoe, and made several trips to Gallipolis and to Limestone, now Maysuville, Ky.,
and always without adventure with the Indians, as he kept constantly on the watch
108 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY.
for his dusky foe. He married a French woman after he came to Gallipolis, by whom he had four
sons and five daughters. They married, and are represented by the names of Gillin, Waugh,
Copper, Stuart, and Phineas Oaks. The sons were William, Frederick, John and Desso, who lives
in New York. They all have families. William Duduit's first wife died and he .married Zair
Lacroix, by whom he had two sons and four daughters. The sons were Edward, of the Madison
Furnace, and Andrew, who lives in Kentucky. They both have families. One of the four daughters
died unmarried; two of the others maruried John and Isaac Peters; the other married a Mr.
Ridenour. The oldest survivors of the French settlers here in the " Grant " were John Baptist
Burtraux, who died at ninetyufour years of age, and Mrs. Vincenet, who was the last survivor of
the French colony here. She was very nearly a hundred years old at her death.
About the year 1800 J. G. Garvais sold his 4,000-acre tract (except 200 acres he conveyed to
Duponsan), to Samuel Hunt, from New Hampshire, and returned to France. Hunt went to work
and made great improvements in clearing the land of the heavy growth of timber, and built a
two-story house of hewed oak timber forty feet square, with a stone chimney in the center nearly
large enough for a furnace stack. There came here with Hunt Joel Church, who married here and
settled on Gennett's Creek. When Greene Township was organized he was made Township Clerk,
and continued in that office for more than twenty years. He died at his home on Gennett's Creek
about 1857. Of Church's sons, Rowell, the oldest, is in Texas. The whereabouts of the two other
sons is not known. One daughter married Andres Haley, a Red River planter, and lives in
Louisiana; Emeline became second wife of E. H. Oaks, and the third married a Mr. Nurse.
Mr. Hunt kept several men at work besides those engaged in building his house, and undertook to
drain the big pond, which was mostly on his land. At that time, and many years afterward, about
one-third of the Ohio River bottoms was shallow ponds and Blushes which would dry out in
August and September, poisoning the atmosphere and causing ague and bilious fevers that few
unacclimated persons escaped from. Mr. Hunt died in 1806, a victim to the unhealthy condition of
the country; and his brother in New Hampshire, who would not go to a place where a brother had
been so unfortunate, sold out the Ohio property, or traded it for property in New Hampshire. Mr.
Asa Boynton, of Haverhill, N. H., after making a journey to Ohio and viewing the property,
became the purchaser in connection with Matthew White and Lawson Drury, and they moved to
Ohio with their families in 1810. White had 850 acres of the Garvais tract, which was taken oft
the lower side of the tract, and Drury a strip sixty-four rods wide in front, next to the Duponsan
lot, on the upper side of the Garvais tract, and covering the back end of the Duponsan lot; the rest
belonged to Boynton, and that part of it fronting on the river still belongs mostly to his
grandchildren. Boynton was industrious and enterprising, and of the stock needed to develop a
new country. It was difficult at that early day to get money for prod. lice, and Boynton built a
fiat-boat and took a load to New Orleans; took his return passage home on the steamboat
Congress, and was thirtyuone days getting to Louisville.
Mr. Boynton had built in 1813 the best horse mill then in the country, which enabled him to make
good flour. The only disadvantage was, the bolt had to he turned by hand. If he ground for a
customer and furnished the team,, he took one-fourth toll; if the customer furnished his team, he
took one-eighth toll. Boynton, in connection with his mill-wright, Mr. Skinner, and Mr. Thurston
built a water mill on Storm's Creek, in the hills
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 109
back of where Ironton now stands, where sawing and grinding were done. Boynton sold E. H.
Oaks seven' acres off his upper corner on the river, and next to that an acre to Madam Naylor, a
sister of Mrs. Serot, who married Dr. Andrew Lacroix in Alexandria. Shortly after the death of her
husband Mrs. Naylor, then a young woman, removed to Baltimore, and did not come to Ohio until
1823, bringing with her a daughter, Sally, who married James S. Fulsom. Mrs. Naylor kept the
first dryugoods store in Haverhill.
Mr. Asa Boynton, one of the most prominent of the early settlers, was born in Lynn, Mass., March
4, 1760, and was married to Mary Edmunds in 1782; settled in Haverhill, N. H., where he lived
until he emigrated to Ohio. His family that came with him besides his wife was four sons and five
daughters. In 1813 the oldest son, Joseph, married Betsey Wheeler, daughter of Major Wheeler,
settling where Wheelersburg now is, and who emigrated from Bethlehem, N. H. Joseph died in
1817. Charles Boynton, the second son, married Rhoda Sumner, daughter of Captain Sumner,
who emigrated from Peacham, Vt., in 1812 or 1813. They were married March, 1814. Charles
Boynton died August, 1837. Cynthia, the second daughter, was married to Benjamin Lock in
December, 1814. Lock was from Massachusetts, a carpenter by trade. Lydia, eldest daughter, was
married to James BD. Prescott November, 1815. Lydia Prescott died February, 1825. The third
daughter, Lucy, was married to George Williams, a Pittsburger, who at first principally followed
keel boating and flatboating, and then steam-boating, in the capacity of Captain. He died in 1832,
of cholera. William L. Boynton, the third son, was married to Nancy Feurt Jan. 1, 1822. Polly
Boynton was married to Thomas H. Rogers Jan. 1, 1822. Rogers followed boating in the capacity
of steamboat Captain for many years, and led a useful and industrious life. He served one term as
County Commissioner, and died July 11, 1870, leaving his third wife with one daughter, and four
sons and two daughters by his first wife living.
Jane Ann Boynton married Thomas Whittier December, 1822, who died soon after, and his
widow afterward married John Duthy, who was of the French stock. Asa Boynton, Jr., married
Julia Bartraux Dec. 25, 1828. Both were good and industrious citizens, and accumulated a
handsome property. He died July 11, 1879, and his wife about two years after.
John Boynton, the youngest of Asa Boyninton, Sr.'s, children, was born in Ohio in 1811 ; was
married to Felicity Bartraux, and died Aug. 15, 1848, Felicity, his wife, dying Feb. 7, 1852,
leaving three sons, who served in the Union army and are still living.
The family of Matthew White were but recently from England when they came to the "Grant," and
consisted of the two old people and two sons, Matthew and Edward, young men when they came.
The old people died soon after they came. Matthew married the Widow Rector, sister of Kimber
Barton, one of the earliest settlers. Two other sisters of Mr. Barton married respectively Ellis
Chandler and a Mr. Day.
Matthew White had three children, twin daughters and a son. Edward, who, like his Uncle
Edward, never married; he died young. One of the daughters married Dr. James Vanbeber, who
subsequently settled in New port, Ky.; the other married Franklin Carrol, a Frenchman, of
Gallipolis. The two girls, joint heirs, sold their land, which was composed of all that part of the
White tract that lay in the Ohio River bottom, to Alexander Lacroix. Matthew White attended the
farm. Edward, although he never learned a trade, was very ingenious, and generally employed in
pattern making at the furnaces. Both the brothers died at about fifty, and. were conspicuous for
their intense loyalty to England.
110 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY.
Lawson Drury, the other purchaser of the Garvais tract, had four sons and two daughters. The
eldest, Ann, married Alexander Beatty and died soon after. Betsey became the second wife of
Carter Haley, settled in Kentucky, and is represented by a numerous family of sons and daughters.
Lawson married Ann Smith, and in 1831 sold his farm to E. H. Oakes, moved to Illinois and
settled in Morgan County. Charles, the second son, went away with Dr. Bivins in 1819, and
settled in Missouri. George married Miss Cartney, and he and the Cartney family moved to
Indiana and settled. Harvey, the youngest, married and settled in Burlington, Lawrence County,
Ohio, and was killed by lightning while sitting in his porch a few years since. The elder Lawson
Drury was the first Postmaster in French Grant; kept the first ferry across the Ohio to Greenup;
held the office of Associate Judge and Justice of the Peace. He sold his part of the land to Phineas
Oaks, having previously sold the ferry property to William Thomas, and went to his son Charles
in Missouri, as he had been living without any of his family for years. His wife died soon after lie
came to Ohio.
At this distant day it is hard to say who were the first settlers, other than the French. Commencing
at the upper line of the French Grant, Thomas Gilruth, Vincent Furgeson, John Haley all settled
here before 1800. Lower down in the Grant, the Feurts, four brothers by the name of Bakers,
several families by name of Patton, a family of Salladays and William Montgomery at the lower
end of the Grant. Montgomery was the most useful and enterprising of that class of settlers.
Almost unaided, except by his two oldest sons, he built a dam across Pine Creek and erected a
saw and grist mill, which was the first mill on the creek. He afterward built a much better mill for
grinding grain at the other end of the dam, on the upper side of the creek, all of which are still
standing. The next mill on the creek was built by one of the Pattons, a few miles above
Montgomery's, which is still kept. Afterward Charles Kelley built a mill on the creek, near the
upper hack corner of the French Grant.
The Salladay family owned and made a good improvement on the lower lot in the Grant, and sold
the lower half to Hezekiah Smith; the upper half belonged to Matthew Curran, whose wife was a
Salladay. In the spring of 1815 he sold to Bethuel White and moved to the interior of the State.
The Salladay family were afflicted with consumption, and had a family burying ground on a ridge,
at the lower line of the old farm. Samuel Salladay had died during the fall of 1815 and was buried
there. Two or three months after they took him up and Mat Wheeler cut him open and took out his
heart, liver and lungs; they were burned up in fire prepared for the purpose, the family sitting
round while they were burning, hoping it would arrest the disease. Mrs. Curran was not present,
but she and her sister, Mrs. Bradshaw, died within a year. George Salladay was the only one that
lived to a reasonable old age. The advent. urous Samuel Hunt was the cause of bringing a good
many people here from New Hamptishire and the contiguous part of VermontD. From Vermont
came the Kimballs, Haleys, Campfield, Kellogg, Lamb, Pratt, and a quite prominent person in
Captain Sumner, with a married son, Henry, a young son named Horatio and four daughters. The
oldest, Rhoda, married Charles Boynton; Friendly married Robert Lucas, afterward Governor of
Ohio for four years; Maria married Dr. Reynolds; Margaret married Mr. Whitmore, and Horatio
married a daughter of Robert Lucas by a former wife. Sumner bought and settled on the two
French lots Nos. 8 and 9, where Joshua Oaks lives, and had built in 1814 and 1815 the large frame
house now occupied by the Oakses. He came to the county in 1813.
CHAPTER VII.
ORGANIZATION, CHANGES, TOPOGRAPHY AND PROGRESS.
A HABITATION AND A NAME.
From the first early settlement of the valley, which was mostly on the Ohio River and the valley of
the Scioto, the attractiveness of the country was so great as to cause quite a rapid settlement.
Therefore, it was but a few days over seven years from the date of the first arrival of Samuel
Marshall, Sr., and family, before the Legislature of the State made it an independent municipality
under the name of Scioto County. If the word "Scioto " has any signification in the Indian dialect
or any other it has not been found. Probably there is none. The name is musical enough, and the
beauty of the valley, its great richness, and its length, should have a name like itself, beautiful as
to the valley and river, musical and expressive as to the name, the only valley and the only name
which are unlike as to any other, and simply incomparable.
In the session of the General Assembly, in the winter of 1803, eight new counties were formed by
the Legislature, making at that time, or when it adjourned, seventeen counties in the State of Ohio.
Five of these assumed their independence May 1, 1803. These were Scioto, Greene, Montgomery,
Warren and Butler. The act to make Scioto County one of the municipal sisters of this
commonwealth was passed March 24, 1803, to take effect, however, May 1, following. The act to
establish the county of Scioto reads as follows:
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE COUNTY OF SCIOTO.
" §1. Be it enacted, etc., That all that tract of country comprehended in the- following boundaries
be, and the same is, hereby erected into a county by the name of Scioto, to-wit: Beginning on the
Ohio, one mile on a straight line below the mouth of the Lower Twin Creek; thence north to Ross
County line; thence east with said county line to the line of Washington County; thence south with
said line to the Ohio; thence with the Ohio to the place of beginning.
" §2. That all actions, suits and prosecu tions now pending in the county of Adams shall be
determined in the said court; and that all fines, forfeitures and public dues, which have incurred to
or which are due and owing to the county of Adams, shall be collected by the sheriff or collector
of said county, in the same manner as though no division had taken place.
" §3. That until a permanent seat of justice shall be fixed in the county of Scioto, by
commissioners for that purpose, Alexandria shall be the temporary seat of justice, and courts held
at the house of John Collins.
" §4. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of May next.
[Passed March 24, 1803.]"
ITS TOPOGRAPHY.
Scioto County is, with one exception, Lawrence, the most southern county in the State. It lies on
both sides of the Scioto
- 111 -
112 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY
River, at its confluence with the Ohio. It is in latitude 38 degrees 38 minutes north , and 32
degrees 56 minutes west, extending north about twenty miles, and including the table-land for
about twenty miles east and west on either side of the Scioto River. The valley proper is based on
a bed of shale, which may be seen cropping out a few miles below Portsmouth, and disappears not
far from the western line of the county, near the great western limestone' deposit. The table land is
here elevated from three to five hundred feet above the surface of the valley. It is gently
undulating, but as it approaches the Scioto it becomes very precipitous, and, in most cases,
incapable of cultivation. The tributaries of the Scioto, which arise in this region, are very rapid,
highly charged with lime, and subject to great alternations, from the most rapid and violent
torrents to the most perfect destitution of all moisture. On the east side of the valley the surface is
not so high by 200 feet. It also rises less abruptly than on the west. Still, it is unduinlating, and
affords fine grazing and arable farms. The water-courses, however, are not so numerous as they
are on the opposite side of the river. Iron, coal and saliferous rock are found in this locality, which
is bounded on the east by the burr-stone deposit. Out of the yalley proper no ponds or stagnant
waters are found, the vegetation is less luxuriant, and of a more durable and ligneous character
than that found in the alluvions immediately bounding the Scioto. Between the low bottoms and
the river hills sandy bluffs occasioninally occur, composed principally of coarse gravel and sand,
with a very thin vegetable mold, soon exhausted by cultivation, and when the soil becomes
impoverished it is not easily renewed, especially as these bluffs are too high to be benefited by the
spring floods, which annually inundate and enrich the low grounds. Upon these bluffs, elevated
from ten to forty feet above the highest floods, are found those monuments of a race long since
departed, but still exhibiting, by their works, the strongest proof of having been a populous, an
industrious and a talented people. The soil west of the Scioto is good, containing a portion of
sand, and possessing the characteristics of a calcareous deposit. Elevated from 400- to 600 feet
above the valley, it descends toward the east, exposing the limestone, Waverly sandstone, and
slaty argillaceous rock, which last underlies the valley proper. From this point the surface rises
some 300 feet, changing its character and becoming a pure clay. Although more broken by hills
and less suited to agriculture, it is rich in mineral wealth. In the whole western part of the county
are valuable deposits of the best building stone, of beautiful drab and brown, receiving a perfect
finish, and more valuable as building stone than most of the celebrated Waverly, or the
Connecticut brown stone, being more durable. It was used in the suspension bridge piers at
Cincinnati, and supplies the whole demand of that city for building and flagging. The Chicago
Custom House was also built of stone taken from the quarries of Scioto and Adams counties.
The valley of the Scioto, from two to five miles in width, possesses a soil unsurpassed in fertility
and durability by any other, being composed of the debris and washings of the uplands, with a
large mixture of decayed vegetable matter deposited by the spring floods which annually inundate
it.
The southern border of this locality, comprising the valley of the Ohio, differs but little from the
alluvions of the Scioto, since the low bottoms of the former, which are frequently inundated,
possess all the fertility and durability of the latter, while the high or second bottoms," which are
mostly argillaceous, are less productive, being destitute of that rich a renaceous deposit, which
annually renews and ameliorates those less ele-
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 113
rated. The table land of the region now under consideration is covered with all the varieties f the
oak, except the highest points, which contain groves of pine. The slopes connecting the bottoms
with the upland exhibit a general mixture of Western trees, including the locust, pawpaw, sugar
tree, etc., while the sycamore, cottonwood, black walnut, mulberry, maple and elm occupy the
lower porintions of the valley. There is not much undergrowth, except in the low valley, which
consists of a luxuriant production of annual plants, that are constantly decomposing and enriching
the soil upon which they grow. The Ohio interval produces beech, hickory and maple, with
sycamore and elm on the margin of the stream.
This timber has largely fallen before the woodman's ax. On the east side of the valuley fine
springs of soft, .wholesome and pleasant water, like that of the Ohio River, above its junction with
the Scioto, are found in abundance, free from iron or other minerals. The wells in their vicinity are
of the same character while the springs and wells west partake of the character of the country in
which they are situated, being, like the water of the Scioto, strongly impregnated with calcareous
matter. The water of none of these localities is thought to be productive of disease, except it be
some of the wells upon the alluvial region, the water of which is strongly impregnated with the
taste and smell of decayed wood, which render it so very unpleasant that it is believed, in many
cases, to be unwholesome. Half a mile east of Portsmouth are some mounds, and an elevation, of
the same sand, comprising about two acres, including the embankments. This sandy elevation has
a number of springs around its margin, some of which rise to the surface; others are found in three
or four feet excavaintion—a thing unusual on the Ohio bottoms. The writer has a spring in his
cellar from the same source (although he is located more than thirty rods from the embankment)
which rises to within four feet of the surface. It is two feet deep, and occasionally disapinpears in
very extreme dry weather, while the wells, as before stated, never sink more than six feet below
the surface, and frequently run over the top.
Mineral and medicinal springs are numerous in this locality. Those of the east side of the valley
contain salt and iron, petroleum or bituminous oil; and one deposits, for two or three rods from its
origin, a substance as white as snow, supposed to be magnesia, but more probably sulphate of
lime. The chalybeate springs hold iron in such minute divisions as to be well suited to those cases
of excitable debility which frequently occur, and are often aggravated by any of the
pharmacological forms of this tonic. These springs have been resorted to with much and decided
benefit; they are generally situated in a mountain region, high, healthy, and among the furnaces,
where novelty, exercise and amusement are not wanting. The springs of the western or limestone
region are occasionally charged with sulphur, soda, magnesia, iron, and other salts. On the waters
of Brush Creek, about four or five miles from the Scioto Valley, around the margin of an elevated
portion of glady country, a number of medicinal springs are found, containing a variety of salts,
and differing somewhat in character from each other. As these are situated in a region unsurpassed
for romantic scenery, above miasmatic influence, and possessing the finest hunting and fishing
ground in the State, they may, at no distant period, become a desirable resort for health and
amusement.
On the west side of the valley, and near the Ohio, is a locality supplied with pyrites, or sulphuret
of iron, in large masses, and in such abundance as once to have induced preparations for the
manufacture of copperas. The sheltered rocks in this vicinity are so
114 - HISTORY OF LOWER
SCIOTO VALLEY.
thickly coated with sulphate of iron as to be easily collected for domestic use.
Portsmouth, and the plain on which it is situated, is elevated about 408 feet above the Atlantic,
rising toward the north some thirty-five feet. The highest hills on the west, are nearly 900 or 1,000
feet, and those of the east about 600 or 700 above the same level. A range of high hills, arising
immediately from the southern shores of the Ohio, traverse the whole southern border of this
locality, falling from east to west about twenty feet, having an average elevation of about 400 feet
above low water in the Ohio.
WATER SUPPLY.
The county is well watered. Living streams traverse every section of the county, and probably for
stock purposes few counties are its superior in the State. The Scioto flows in a generally southerly
course through the county, mingling its waters with the Ohio at Portsmouth. The ,river divides the
county nearly in equal parts, east and west. On the east side the principal stream is the Little
Scioto and its main branches, Brushy and Rocky forks. The latter rises in Jackson County, enters
Madison Township in the northeast, runs nearly due south on the east side of that township, while
Brushy Fork rises in Scioto Township, Pike County, and flows in a southerly and southeasterly
course on the west side of the same township, 'then along its southern border and unites with
Rocky Fork, the two forming the Little Scioto, River, which in a general southwesterly course
unites its waters with the Ohio, near Sciotoville, in Porter Township. It gives a fine water supply
to Madison, Harrison and Porter townships, including numerous small tributaries which flow into
it and its branches.
Pine River and its principal branch, Hale's Creek, with also smaller streams uniting their waters
with it, passes through Bloom, Vernon, Greene and the southern portion of Porter, emptying into
the Ohio near Wheelersburg. The stream runs in all directions, entering from Lawrence County
into Bloom Township from two points, then taking a general southerly course through the east
side of Vernon Township passes into Lawrence County, and thence on the southeast side of
Greene and flows northwest to its mouth, as above stated. With numerous creeks and springs, the
above constitutes the water resources of the east side of the Scioto River. On the west the
principal streams are Brush Creek, Pond's Run, Turkey Creek, Bear Creek, a tributary of Brush
Creek, and the south branch of the latter stream. Brush Creek comes in from the northwest and
west, unites its south fork and flows in a generally easterly course through the center of the county
and empties into the Scioto River. Its principal branch on the south is Bear Creek, Pond Creek
rises in Union Township, runs northeast, east and southeast, and also flows into the Scioto River
some four miles below the mouth of Brush Creek, and with the latter stream gives a good and
liberal water supply to Brush Creek, Union and Rush townships. Washington Township has
Cary's Run, a small stream' which rises within its border, and in a southeasterly course unites its '
waters with the Ohio. Turkey Creek is a crooked stream rising in the western part of Niles
Township, and waters its northern and eastern parts, while Pond Run and Twin Creek, flowing
into the Ohio, supply the western and southern part of the township, the southwestern township of
the county. Bear Creek, a small stream, rises in the west part of Morgan Township, flows
eastwardly and empties into the Scioto River.
MINERAL RESOURCES.
As before remarked, in the topography of the county, coal and iron ore are found in abundant
quantity on the east side of the
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 115
Scioto River. On the west side, although noted for its immense quarries of freestone and other
building stone, there has never been found any iron ore or coal that amounted to anything. Several
discoveries have been now and then announced, but have proved of little value as yet.
The close proximity of coal and iron ore to the Ohio River caused these deposits of the mineral
wealth of Scioto County to receive earlier attention than in other sections where the means of
transportation were few, and those limited to wagons, mules and horses. The Ohio Canal, which
was commenced in 1825 and finished in 1832, also gave extra transportation facilities, and gave
an impetus to the county in its material prosperity which lasted for many years. Thus the iron, coal
and freestone gave wealth and employment, and the county increased quite rapidly in population.
The mining and shipment of these valuable accessories of wealth caused Scioto County to be
considered a favored locality. The stone quarries in the west did not command so much attention
as the coal and iron of the eastern section, and it was not long before the smoke of the furnaces
showed that this industry was becoming a leading one. Six furnaces were in blast as early as 1840.
They were the Junior, Scioto, Clinton, Bloom, Franklin and Ohio. The starting of these furnaces
added materially to the population of the county.
It was also found from the increased stock and agricultural productions coming to market and
being shipped by both canal and river, that the farming population had also materially increased.
There was something peculiarly gratifying in this gain. It was the fact that the rural population
increased more rapidly than the towns, or in other words that which would give solidity to the
growth of a city was a substantial country behind it. Thus it is found that the largest town in the
county, Portsmouth, had at the close of that decade, 1850, but a population of 3,867, the county in
all had a population 18,428, of which two-thirds were engaged in tilling the soil and mining. Here
was someuthing to sustain the city, saying nothing about its large and increasing manufacturing
interests, which, like the agricultural, was a producing as well as a consuming population. The
Scioto Furnace is the oldest, Bloom and Ohio following. The best business years were 1844-'45,
there being six furnaces in blast, as above named. Those were flush times in the furnace business.
There has always been a fair amount of business in this line, but 1883 and many previous years do
not represent as much in iron manufactures as those earlier, yet its general increase in manufacture
is evident.
IRON ORE DEPOSITS.
The main bed of Scioto County commences about fourteen miles above Portsmouth, near the
Ohio River, where the ore is seen cropping out on the tops and sides of the hills and was first
brought into use in 1828. The most important part of this mineral region when first discovered
extended from the mouth of the Scioto to Ice Creek, a point between Burlington and Hanging
Rock. It commences with then west bed of iron ore, resting on a fineingrain sandstone, which
underlies all this region, extending far up the Scioto to Waverly and bearing off northeasterly
through the counties of Fairfield and Licking.
These several deposits of iron ores, extending to six or more distinct beds, lie at an inclination of
about thirty feet to the mile, dipping to the east and southeast, cropping out at successive but
irregular intervals on the surface of the highest hills, a few miles back from the river, gradually
sinking deeper and finally lost at the base of the hills, and disappearing beneath the beds of
streams. Ore bed No. 1 is found at the Franklin Furnace, sixteen miles above Portsmouth, in this
(Sci-
116 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY.
oto) county. It rests on the main or fine-grain sand rock, about one hundred feet above the bed of
the Ohio River. It is a porous, silicious ore; and resembles in external appearinance the " bog ore."
A finer ore being found this is not much used; its thickness was fully two feet.
Reposing on this bed of ore is found a deposit of sandrock, sixty feet in thickness, which is nearly
white, fine grain and valuable in constructing furnace hearths as it stands heat in a remarkable
manner. Resting on this sand-rock is a vein of bituminous coal between two and three feet thick.
The* roof of the coal bed is shale, and on top of that a coarse-grain sand rock. On this lies iron
oreubed No. 2, which is also a silicious ore, but more compact and heavier than No. 1. This bed
crosses the river into Kentucky and its ore was used largely at the Darlington Furnace, in that
State, four miles west of the Franklin Furnace. The roof of this bed of ore, which is some twenty
inches thick, is a coarse grained silicious sand-rock, and grows-coarser as you reach the summit of
the hills. Resting on this is a deposit of limestone, which lies crumbled in the surface, but hard
and compact as the strata descends, and in some places, a few miles further east, is from eight to
ten feet in thickness and conglomerate.
Ore No. 3, called “block ore," is nearly continuous, is from one to three feet thick, and sometimes
being in layers, the upper layer being the thinnest. It is a rich calcareous ore, yielding fifty per
cent. of pure iron. When dug and exposed to the atmosphere it separates into thin concentric
layers, and when roasted it assumes a bright red tint in color. This deposit crowns the summit of
the hills in the vicinity of the Franklin Furnace, coming up to the surface a few miles
northwesterly, and disappears or runs out as we approach within a few miles of the Scioto River,
while s to the .east and south it is found gradually descending the base of the hills as high up the
Ohio River as Storm Creek, in Lawrence County. It is believed that this ore extends in a
northeasterly direction as far as the limits of the coal measure. No. 4 is a thin bed of " kidney are"
in concentric masses, lying from a few inches to a few feet above the block ore in a bed of
argillaceous shale. No. 5. This bed of ore comes to the surface and crowns the hills about three
miles southeast of the Franklin Furnace, and 'rests immediately on the lime-rock a few miles
further east. When it crops out, however, it reposes on a silicious rock resembling that found in
Jackson County. No. 6 is a calcareous ore and needs no addition of lime in fluxing. The bed is
about three feet in thickness and yields only about twenty to twenty-five per cent. of iron, and is
the last of the series of ore found on the Ohio side of the river.
BITUMINOUS COAL.
The coal measure which extends through the whole eastern part of Scioto County has been
thoroughly prospected. The coal has proved upon deep mining to be of a superior quality, and has
now, like iron, been mined for nearly a half century. The supply of both iron and coal is simply
inexhaustible.
BOUNDARIES OF THE COAL FIELD.
The coal basin in Ohio is bounded on the west by a continuous but irregular line runtining from
the Ohio River in Scioto County, to the Pennsylvania line near Sharon, within a line running from
that place to Ravenna, Akron, Wooster, Dover, Brownsville, Logan and Hanging Rock. The
general course is southwesterly from the northern boundary of Mahoning County to the interior of
Licking County, with the exception of two well-defined narrow spurs extending into Geauga and
Medina counties. From the southern part of Licking County it passes near the line between
Fairfield and Perry counties, with a deep indentation at the Hocking River Valley
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 117
extending to the west line of Athens County; theme westward and southwest to include the
southeast part of Hocking County, three-fourths of Vinton, nearly all of Jackson, and the eastern
part of Scioto County.
FINE-GRAINED SAND-ROCK.
In describing the iron ore deposit of Scioto County it was stated that bed No., 1 rested on a
fine-grained sandstone. This rock forms the surface of a very extensive deposit, underlying the
iron ore and the coarser sand-rock and coal. As this rock descends deeper into the earth it becomes
more argillaceous; and at the depth of 100 feet changes, or rather rests on a bed of clay slate, of a
light dove-color, decomposing when exposed to the weather. It is believed that underlying this
rock, at a depth of some 340 feet, there is a bed of coal twelve feet in thickness. A shaft was sunk
near the mouth of Munn's Creek, four miles above Portsmouth, between eight and nine feet in
diameter and 150 feet deep, in1833, but from some cause the work was stopped.
On the west side of the Scioto, near its mouth, the upper bed of this fine sandstone has been
opened quite extensively. It is a splendid building stone and has been quite largely shipped to
other points.
A CHANGE NOTED.
As will be seen by the above act, Scioto County was somewhat larger than at this time, her
territory taking in a part of the present county of Lawrence. The first change in her boundary line
was made the next year (1804), between Scioto and Gallia. The act passed making this change
was as follows:
AN ACT FOR ALTERING THE BOUNDARY LINE
BETWEEN SCIOTO AND GALLIA. COUNTIES.
“ §1. Be it enacted, etc., That so much of the county of Gallia as lies west of the
seventeenth range of townships be, and the same it, hereby annexed to the county of Scioto.
"§2. That all actions, suits and prosecutions now pending in the county of Gallia shall be
determined in the court of said county; and that all fines, forfeitures and public dues which are
owing to the county of Gallia shall be collected by the sheriff or collector of the said county, in the
same manner as if this act had never taken place.
“ §3 That this act shall be in force from and after the passage thereof. [Passed Dec. 29, 1804.]"
Scioto remained in tact for a number of years, and improved rapidly, but in 1815 a portion of her
territory was taken, and in connection with some from the county of Gallia, a new county was
established in the above last mentioned year, but did not assume its independence until 1817, and
given the name of Lawrence. The act establishing the metes and bounds of Lawrence County is
here given, showing what portion of her territory Scioto County lost.
AN ACT TO ERECT THE COUNTY OF LAWRENCE.
"§1. Be it enacted, etc., That so much of the counties of Scioto and Gallia as comes within the
following bound tries, viz.: Beginning on the Ohio River, at the southeast corner of township
number 2, in range 15; thence west to the southwest corner of said township; thence north to the
northeast corner of township 3, range 16; thence west to the northwest corner of said township;
thence north to the northeast corner of township 5, in range 17; thence west to the range line
between the seventeenth and eighteenth ranges; thence north to the northeast corner of township 4,
range 18; thence west to the northeast corner of section 5, in said township; thence south to the
northeast corner of section number 29, in said township; thence west to the northwest corner
118 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY
of section 27, in township 4, range 19; thence south to the southwest corner of section 34,, in
township 3; thence west to the northwest corner of section 3, in township 2, in said range; thence
south to the French Grant line; thence southeastwardly to the east corner of said Grant; thence
southwestwardly to the corner between fractional sections numbers 3 and 4, in township 1; thence
south to the Ohio River; thence with the meanders up the river to the place of beginning be and is
hereby erected into a separate county by the name of Lawrence, to be organized whenever the
Legislature shall hereafter think proper, but to remain attached to the said counties of Scioto and
Gallia, as already by law provided, until the said county of Lawrence shall be organized.
" §2. That commissioners be appointed agreeably to the provisions of an act entitled, An act
establishing seats of justice' to establish the seat of justice for said county of Lawrence who shall
make report of their proceedings to the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Gallia, which
court shall take such order on the same as is directed by the aforesaid act.
" §3. That there shall be paid out of the treasury of the county of Gallia the sum of $2.00 per day,
to each commissioner, while engaged in the business required by the act entitled, 'An act
establishing seats of justice.' [Passed Dec. 21, 1815]."
In 1818 the following change was made:
AN ACT TO ATTACH PART OF THE COUNTY OF
LAWRENCE TO THE COUNTY OF SCIOTO.
" Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of the county of Lawrence that lies in townships numbers 3
and 4, in the nineteenth range of said county, be, and the same is, hereinby attached to the county
of Scioto; and all justices of the peace within that part of the county of Lawrence, so to be
attached to the county of Scioto shall continue to exercise the duties of their office until their time
of office expires; and all suits or actions,whether of a civil or criminal nature, which may have
been or shall be commenced previous to the taking effect of this act, shall he prosecuted to final
judgment and execution in the county of Lawrence and the sheriff, coroner and constables of said
county shall execute all such process as shall be necessary to carry into effect such suits,
prosecutions and judgments; and the collector of taxes shall collect all such taxes as shall have
been levied and unpaid within that part of Lawrence County previous to the taking effect of this
act. This act to be in from and after the first day of March next. [Passed January 20, 1818]."
A rest of eight years and then another slight change was made by an act of the General Assembly,
which was as follows:
AN ACT TO ATTACH A PART OF LAWRENCE COUNTY
TO THE COUNTY OF SCIOTO.
" Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of Lawrence County which lies within the following bounds
be, and the same is, hereby attached and made a part of the county of Scioto, to-wit; Beginning at
the northeast corner of section number 29, in township number 4, of range number 18, running
south to the southeast corner of section number 5, in township number 3, of range number 18;
thence west to the southwest corner of section number 6, in the township and range aforesaid.
This act to take effect and be in force from and after the first day of March next. [Passed JanD. 31,
1826.]"
These were the principal territorial changes I made and are placed together for reference.
THE LOSS OF THE COUNTY RECORDS.
The records of Scioto County have been lost from its organization in 1803 to 1811 inclusive. This
is a serious loss, but seems not to have been so considered, for no
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 119
thorough search, as far as can be ascertained, has ever been made for them, and it is probably now
too late. In those nine years the county was organized, the first foundation laid for her further
superstructure, townships formed and boundaries given, and all this has been lost for all time. It
makes a sad break in the history of the county that no surmises or patchwork will overcome, and
in history theory is not a suitable substitute for an explicit array of facts. The officials who guided
the young municipality on its upward and onward course is in a measure a subject of tradition.
Perhaps among the debris found in the courtuhouse, among the thousands of books and papers,
the official roster of the county might be found, their names being incidentally connected with
some paper. Thus John Clark is found to have been Sheriff in 1808 and 1809, by incidentally
transferring a judgment upon a mortgage suit. Whether he was Sheriff more than one term and
before or after that date is not found. The time and expense required to go through these records of
the different departments would be too long for a work of this kind, with the uncertainty, even
after months of exhaustive research, of finding the information sought. The first session of the
county commissioners of Scioto County of which there is any record is Aug. 9, 1803.
Undoubtedly there was a May session, for in the August term the township of Union was referred
to, and the act establishing the county was to take effect May 1, 1803. Who the county
commissioners were is probably only to be had from the lost records, as a long search for them
has proved unavailing. There is found that the court was held at the house or tavern of John
Collins. Judge Collins put up a house that he used as a tavern and also kept a grocery store, and
was the first hotel keeper in the county, one of the first merchants, if not the first, the first
Associate Judge appointed of the three, and both County Cornmissioners Court and Common
Pleas Court were held at his house. This was in Alexandria.
The first session of the Commissioners Court in May was given to laying off the county into
townships and getting the working machinery of the court in order. Wm. Russell was the first
Clerk and Recorder in 1803, James Munn the first Coroner, and Robert Lucas the first Surveyor. It
was stated that John Russell was the first Surveyor and Wrn. Curran next, and then Robert Lucas.
The records show Lucas appointed in August, 1803, and surveyed the first road petitioned for.
There were surveyors no doubt, but !could not have been county surveyors before Lucas.
All these offices seem to have been filled at the May session of the county commissioners, and at
the August term, beyond the reception of a petition for a road, the records are silent or lost.
The first Court of Common Pleas, in 1803, was composed as follows: Presiding Judge, Wylleis
Silliman Associate Judges, John Collins, Joseph Lucas and Thomas William Swenney. The court
was held in August, and, as above stated, at the house of Judge Collins, in Alexandria. The first
road laid out was from Edward's Villa, petitioned for by Colonel John Edwards and sundry
persons, to the Salt Lick. Robert Lucas did the surveying. The petition was presented Aug. 9,
1803, but the road was not surveyed until the spring of 1804, and report made July term, 1804.
The first free negroes reported in the county were Priscilla Johnson, who, having purchased her
freedom from her master in Kentucky in 1799, was registered as a free person of color, and her
three children—Nellie, Permelia and Harriett. This was in 1801, and the same year, on July 7,
Jacob Lee was recorded as a free person of color and resident of Scioto County. Jesse Williams, of
Ken-
120 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY.
tucky, was the owner of the slave girl set free.
There was a slight change in the Court of Common Pleas in 1805. That year Judge Robert F.
Slaughter was Presiding Judge, and Samuel Reed was Associate in 'place of Thos. Wm. Swenney,
the other associates first spoken of still holding. The most important item at that early day was the
gift of Henry Massie to the county of Scioto of certain in-lots and out-lots in the town of
Portsmouth, for the express purpose of erecting county buildings—a court-house and jail. The gift
was made July 10, 1807, of thirty-one in-lots and seventeen out-lots, and in 1809 of an additional
ininlot, number 31. This last was specified for the building of a courthouse and for no other
purpose. Thomas Parker, the founder of Alexandria, the first town in Scioto County, and the first
that died, gave also liberally to that now " city of the past" for school and other purposes. In
August, 1807, he gave in-lot number 86 toward the erection of a school-house, and had previous
to that given other lots for the same purpose, and a school was taught in 1800 in a log school-house, the lot for which was donated by Mr. Parker. There was a school taught in the French
Grant in 1803 or 1804, and the first west of the Scioto River, excepting at Alexandria, was in
1809-'10. This was in what is now Rush Township, and was a subscription school, and the
scholars came to it from three and tour miles around. In the same section John Wycoff's was the
first death remembered. He died in 1803, and was buried in Rush Township, not far from where
the old log school-house was subsequently erected.
At the time of the trouble with General, afterward Governor, Robert Lucas, who defied for a time
the civil authorities of the county and refused to be arrested, the sheriff, clerk and coroner resigned
their offices, and Elijah Glover was made Sheriff; John R. Turner, Clerk, and Uriah Barber,
Coroner. The General was arrested by the new officials and civil law established.
THE TOWNSHIPS.
Little of moment transpired during the first and even the second decade of the county's existence,
unless can be called the great increase of population in 1816. That year was the best of any for an
increase of population by immigration of any single year in the first quarter of a century of its
existence.
The county, as before remarked, was divided into townships in 1810. There were ten townships in
the county, as follows: Seal, Upper, Lick, Greene, Union, Madison, Niles, Jefferson, Franklin and
Wayne. These remained as the municipal divisions of the county until Aug. 25, 1812, when
Bloom Township was organized out of portions of Madison, Greene and Lick townships. A
bounty for wolf scalps was given as early as 1812, if not before, $2 being allowed for grown
wolves and $1 for those under six months. In this conneotion it is said that a plan of the farmers
and hunters who came upon an old wolf with a litter of young ones, was to shoot the old wolf, and
if the others were too young they were kept until they passed their six months in a pen and then
killed and the $2 realized.
This may or may not be true, but as wolf scalps at that day were cash, and good as cash to pay
taxes with, a month or two keeping a few cubs by which their value was doubled is not
improbable. At a later day this premium was reduced one-half.
The county commissioners in 1812 received $1.75 per day for their services. John H. Thornton
received a deed of in-lot number 31 for digging a well in the town of Portsmouth by order of the
county commissioners —the well being a public one.
Sept. 23, 1812, a slight change was made between Jefferson and Madison townships: the persons
living on the Rocky Fork of the
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 121
Little Scioto River, within the township of Jefferson, were attached to Madison Township. This
remained in that shape until Jan. 1, 1814, when the county commissioners made the following
order:
"Ordered, That all that part of Jefferson Township included in the following bounds be attached to
Madison Township: Beginning at the northwest corner of section 30, township 4, range 20; thence
west one mile; thence north three miles; thence east one mile to the original township lint."
Changes were made, roads laid out, and assessors and collectors of the different townships
appointed, together with road supervisors and viewers. This was the principal business which
engaged the attention of the county commissioners for several years; in fact, taxation was light,
and business was not rushing. A petition for a new township to be made out of Union and Niles
came before the commissioners Aug. 1, 1814, at the regular term, and was granted. The new
township was called Washington.
Upper Township disappeared from the list of municipalities of Scioto County under the following
order, excepting that which in 1817 became a part of Lawrence County:
"Ordered, That all that part of Upper Township included in the following bounds be attached to
the township of Greene, to wit: Beginning at the upper corner of Greene, on the river; thence up
the river to the upper corner of the French Grant; thence with the upper line of the Grant to the
upper back corner; thence with the back line of the grant to the corner of Greene Township;
thence with the line of Greene to the place of beginning." Dec. 6, 1814.
The remainder of Upper and Franklin and Lick townships not taken in Bloom was given to
Lawrence County on its organization in 1815.
At the same date Porter Township was organized, and its territory taken fromW ayne
and Greene. The next move was to dispose of Seal Township, and this was done in the year 1815,
under the following order of the county commissioners:
"Ordered, That that part of Seal Township which lies west of the Scioto River be attached to
Union Township, and that part of Seal Township east of the river be attached to Jefinferson
Township." This order was made April 5, 1815.
It was this year, 1815, that General Kendall commenced the erection, at the mouth of Brush
Creek, of a flouring mill, a couple of sawmills, and finally a boat yard. He carried on business
extensively, and on completion of his mills took in a partner by the name of Head. They continued
in business until 1824, when they failed for quite a large amount. Boat-building ceased and the
mills only did custom work. The first boat the firm built was called the Scioto, but it proved of
little value. The second, called the Bellvidere, was a success. This steamboat plied many years on
the Ohio River. The first ferry started across the Scioto River at Portsmouth was by David
Gharky, in 1816. A ferry had been in operation for several years at Alexandria, but Gharky had the
first at Portsmouth. His cabinet shop was also used as a courthouse for a year or two, until the first
court-house was built in 1816. Gharky removed from Alexandria to Portsmouth in 1814, and took
a prominent position in the new town.
The walls of the court-house above spoken of were completed and accepted by the county
commissioners at their August session, 1815, John Young, contractor. The next spring the inside
carpenter work was let to John. Young for $1,350, March 4, 1816; and the lath and plastering and
whitewashing to Wm. Pearson, for $275. It was completed tha year and accepted by the
commissioners Jan. 13, 1817,at the January session.
The cost of the court-house was, ready for
122 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY.
inside work, $2,000; inside work, $1,350; lath, plastering, etc., $275; total cost, $3,- 625.
The above courthouse was built on Market street, between Front and Second, as now known, but
at that time Front was known as Water street, and Second as First street. April 27,1815, $24 was
paid to one person for twelve wolf scalps. In 1816 Wm. Kendall was appointed County Treasurer,
and his first year's salary showed the amount of $54.25 within a fraction.
David Gharky started his spinning factory in 1818. It went by horse-power. Some four years after
he sold out, and the mill was taken to Wheelersburg, and a wool carding machine started.
TOWNSHIP AND COUNTY FINANCES.
Very little change occurred in the county until 1818, when Vernon Township was formed, and
then in 1820, when Brush Creek Township was organized, making in the latter year eleven
townships, named Jefferson, Niles, Union, Madison, Greene, Wayne, Bloom, Porter, Washington,
Vernon, and Brush Creek.
For a year or two expenses exceeded by a small amount the income of the county, notwithstanding
salaries were low. The issue of county warrants without money to redeem suggested the idea of
paying interest on them at six per cent. This was continued from June, 1817, to June, 1820, when
the order allowing interest was rescinded, the county being able to meet its expenses. The building
of the court-house was the principal cause of running behind. The county, however, again ran
behind in 1821, the expenditures being $1,761.34, and the receipts $1,273.47 1/4; excess of
expenditures, $487.87 1/4. In 1822 the finances were in a better condition, and the balance sheet
stood: Receipts, $1,526.43 1/4; expenditures, $1,115. - 49 1/2; excess of receipts, $410.93 3/4.
These receipts and expenditures compared with those of 1882, seem ridiculously small, the latter
year being over $141,000.
The expenditures and receipts of 1824 showed a surplus of $65.57 3/4 cents.
The cutting down of the premium on wolf scalps to $1 for full grown, and 50 cents for cubs,
which had been done, did not appear to work well, and at the June session, 1882, the
commissioners, as their order reads, " to en. courage the killing of wolves," doubled the bounty
then being given, and offered $2 for scalps of full-grown wolves and $1 for those under six
months old. This bounty seemed to have the desired effect for the next few years. Over sixty were
killed in 1823, to June of that year; the next June, forty-seven; in 1825, forty; in 1826, forty ; in
1827, twenty-one; and in 1828, twenty-four wolves were killed in Scioto County, and the
commissioners paid for the above number of scalps brought in. This showed that a pretty good
field for wolves was right here in Scioto County. After the year 1828, they fell off in number, but
now and then a wolf was killed for several years later.
MELANGE.
The county commissioners refused to let the court-house for church, singing schools, etc., unless
the persons or society using the I same should clean it out after using it, and order it locked up,
and when let must be with the understanding that it would be cleaned. They seemed to have been
extitremely angered at the way it had been used. The jailor was allowed 25 cents a day for
boarding prisoners. This was the price for some twenty years. William Kendall made I a map of
the county in 1825, and then separate maps of the townships for the latter; he received $3 each,
and for the plats of Portsmouth, Alexandria, Lucasville, Concord (now known as Wheelersbug),
$2 each A book was purchased Dec. 3, 1823, to enter therein the boundary of each township in the
HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY - 123
county, and their changes. This was done and the entry completed March 2, 1824. Each boundary
of the several townships was then copied and delivered to the township at that time in existence.
That book cannot at this day be found among the court records of Scioto County. Very few of the
townships have their official copy, and in many cases these copies were never placed upon record
by the township clerks, but were laid away and lost. It is a serious drawback to a correct history of
a county to have the records lost and destroyed, and Scioto County in this respect has been truly
unfortunate. Brush Creek boundary line was changed between it and Union, June 5, 1822.
The part of Lawrence County which was attached to Scioto County by act of Legislature, passed
Jan. 31, 1826, was attached to Bloom Township.
The boundary between Brush Creek and Morgan Township was surveyed by William Kendall in
December, 1825.
The first forge built in the county was by Francis Valodin and Samuel B. Burt in 1826. It was in
use several years.
Clay Township was organized in 1826.
The Ohio River opposite Portsmouth was once frozen over so hard that a man crossed over on
horseback on the ice. This was Jan. 3, 1827.
If anybody wanted to donate land for new county buildings, the county commissioners notified
them that it would be accepted, and Samuel O. Tracy was ordered to receive all donations.
There were fifteen wolves returned as killed in 1829, nine in 1830, and twelve in 1831, and from
that on the wolves became gradually less until they became entirely extinct.
In 1830 lumber, if white pine, was purchased by the county at $5.50 per thousand, and shingles at
$1.50 per thousand. This was for 30,000 feet of lumber and 20,000 shingles. These prices are
slightly different from those of 1883.
LAWYERS AND PHYSICIANS, 1830.
The price of lumber perhaps at that day varied little from other business interests. The merchant
found goods as different in price and in quality and texture as the lumber dealer and the lawyers
and doctors. There were five lawyers in Portsmouth in 1830, and eight physicians. The income of
these professional gentlemen may not be uninteresting at this day. The lawyers were N. K.
Clough, with an income of $500; Samuel M. Tracy, $500; Charles O. Tracy, $300; Edward
Hamilton, $300, and William V. Peck, $300.
The physicians' incomes were: N. W. Andrews, Portsmouth, $600; Gr. S. B. Hemstead,
Portsmouth, $600; Allen Farquhar, Union Township, $500; Joseph Dewey, Porter Township,
$600; William Belknap, Greene Township, $300; Hiram Ramson, $300; Thomas Morris, $400,
and Abner Wood, $4
These professions were taxed on their incomes: $600, paid $1.00 per year tax; $400, $2.66 2/3,
and $300, $2.42 per year. The total taxation on the duplicate of 1830 was $5,248. 92.
The Scioto County Bible Society was organized in 1830.
PROGRESS.
Scioto County made fair progress up to 1830, that is, her ratio of increase of population and
increase of material wealth was equal to the average gain of the State, and therefore there was no
cause for complaint. But that which gave the greatest impetus to immigration was the Ohio Canal,
which had been commenced at Cleveland in 1825. In 1829 work was commenced at Portsmouth
and the city, as well as the county, took new life. Corn up to that time had been pur-
124 - HISTORY OF LOWER SCIOTO VALLEY.
chased at 10 cents a bushel, for there was little demand beyond home consumption. Eggs could be
purchased for 4 and 5 cents a dozen, and when they got up to 7 it was thought a large price and it
was called famine prices. The writer of this read a communication from an unfortunate person,
who claimed, in 1834, after the canal was finished, that living was getting entirely too expensive.
This person complained of eggs being 8 to 10 cents a dozen and butter from 14 to 15 cents per
pound, and said, in the good old times eggs were 4 or 5 cents a dozen and never over 6, while
butter was from 8 to 10 cents per pound and other articles he claimed in proportion had risen 50 to
100 per cent. Corn had actually got up to 20 cents. Yes, living was costing nearly double. But
under the inspiration of a more active demand, and prospects of cheaper and more rapid
transportation, Scioto County farmers felt encouraged to enlarge their field of operation and
production received a new impulse. The canal was finished in 1832, and at one time Portsmouth
was the fourth port on the line of the canal in receipt of toll.
TOWNSHIP AND CHANGES.
Harrison Township was organized March 6, 1832, being taken from part of the townships of
Porter, Greene and Madison. June 7, 1832, however, some considerable changes were made, not
in a great area, but in addining to and taking from adjoining townships. These changes will be
found in full in the history of Harrison Township. Up to 1826 thirteen townships had been
organized, and with the new township of Harrison fourteen. Their names were Bloom, Brush
Creek, Clay, Greene, Harrison, Jefferson, Madison, Morgan, Niles, Porter, Union, Vernon,
Washington and Wayne.
The opening of the canal caused an increase of business, the most important of which was the
starting of furnaces and the mining of coal and iron ore, the eastern side of the county being rich
in these minerals, if coal can be called a mineral. It took some capital to do this, and while it also
caused an increase of population, in the latter case, it was not enough to excite comment. In fact
local labor seemed to be abundant enough for the work in hand. The population in 1830 was
8,740, a gain of 3,000, lacking ten, over the population of 1820, while that of 1840 was 11,192, a
gain of 2,452 over 1830. In 1836 there were five furnaces in blast in Scioto County: Scioto,
Franklin, Junior, Bloom and Clinton.
COURT-HOUSE AND TURNPIKE.
Reference was made a .page or two back of the fact that owners of lots in Portsmouth who wanted
to donate them to the county for the purpose of building a court-house could do so, and they
would be accepted, and probably no questions asked. Mr. Henry Brush is the only person of
record who responded to this appeal. He donated lot No. 380, the site of the present court-house,
in 1833, for that purpose. The court-house stands on the lot and it was erected in 1835—'36, that
is, the front end of it, an addition in the rear having been completed in 1882. The commissioners
advertised for bids in the summer of 1835, and William Kendall was the successful bidder, at the
sum of $12,650. The contract was .signed Sept. 26, 1835. The building still stands after nearly
half a century of time, a monument of the solid, honest work of the contractor. It was a substantial
and undoubtedly was also looked upon as a fine building, but with the addition it is I not
considered a model of architecture at this day.
At the session of the General Assembly held in the -winter of 1837-'38 the Legislature passed an
act authorizing counties and towns to subscribe to the capital stock of turnpike roads. The date of
this act was March 26,
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