HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 225 busily occupied in bringing into market and disposing of his lands, and in managing his rapidly accumulating property. But his services began to be needed in affairs of state, and through him Governor St. Clair transacted the most of his business with the settlements above the Little Miami. By him, also, acting under a commission as colonel, the militia of that part of the Northwest Territory was first organized. In the year of 1800 General Massie was married to a daughter of Col. David Meade, of Kentucky, formerly of Virginia. In 1802 he was a very efficient member of the Constitutional Convention which met in Chillicothe in November of that year. He was also elected as a member of the Senate in the first General Assembly that met under the state constitution, and was chosen to act as speaker, which office he filled with much dignity and to the entire satisfaction of the body over which he presided. Under the constitution a new organization of the state military forces was made, and Massie was elected "the first major general of the second division of the militia of Ohio." General Massie was at that time one of the largest land owners in the state, and being now the head of a family, he began to think of selecting a place for a residence. Around the falls of Paint Creek he had a large body of land consisting of several thousand acres. Its fine water privileges and the excellent character and situation of the land for stock raising induced him to choose this locality for a home, and here (in the present Township of Paxton) he built a large and comfortable mansion. This part of Ohio was at that time much visited by the citizens of Virginia, who owned large quantities of land in the Military District, and General Massie's residence was their place of resort, where they always met with a hearty welcome and were hospitably entertained. His hospitality is described as almost bordering on extravagance, especially when shown to any of his old companions. The finest entertainment which his elegant home afforded was freely extended to those who had followed him in times of danger. His amiable wife, although reared in polished and fashionable life, took great pleasure in rendering his awkward backwoods companions easy and at home. One of those companions, John McDonald, from whose narrative this sketch is mainly compiled, says: "I well remember it was in Mrs. Massie's room I first saw tea handed around for supper, which I then thought foolish business, and still remain of that opinion." This our author evidently means as a confession of the rude simplicity of his own taste, and not as an impeachment of that of his fair entertainer. In the year 1807 General Massie and Col. Return J. Meigs were opposing candidates for the office of governor of Ohio. Vol. I-15 226 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY Colonel Meigs received a small majority; but the election was contested by Massie on the ground that Colonel Meigs, having lost his citizenship in the state by protracted absence, had not since become a citizen according to the requirements of the constitution, and was therefore ineligible to the office. The General Assembly, before which the case was tried, after hearing the evidence, gave the following decision : " That Colonel Meigs was ineligible to the office, and that General Massie was duly elected governor of the State of Ohio." But Massie was too magnanimous to accept the office to which he had not been called by a majority of the popular vote ; and, after the decision in his favor had been rendered, he immediately resigned. Subsequently he represented Ross County in the State Legislature for several terms. In the year 1810 he resigned the office of major general in the Ohio militia. During the last war with Great Britain, in the spring of 1813 the news of the great danger to which General Harrison and his little army were exposed by being besieged in Fort Meigs by the British and Indians, roused the general from his retreat at the Falls of Paint Creek, and by his own personal efforts he raised a force of about 500 men who, having made him their leader by acclamation, and being mounted each on his own horse and furnished with arms and equipments from the public arms at Franklinton, dashed forward to the relief of the imperiled army. But before they reached the fort the enemy, hearing doubtless of the popular uprising, and fearing destruction by an attack in the rear and a simultaneous sortie from the fort, raised the siege of their own accord, and hastily retreated into Canada. Being informed of the fact by an express from General Harrison, Massie and his volunteers returned to Chillicothe, where they disbanded and each returned to his home. This was General Massie's last act in public life. He had erected a large furnace for the manufacture of iron, near his residence at the Falls of Paint Creek ; he had just commenced the business with every prospect of success and was arranging for the gradual closing up of his widely extended transactions in land"; his life had hitherto been one of toil, and largely passed in the midst of dangers and privations. But he had been highly blessed in his domestic relations, and he was preparing to spend the evening of his days in a quiet and happy retirement. Of a natural robust and vigorous constitution, which his earlier toils and struggles had only served to strengthen, he found himself, nearly fifty, in the enjoyment of perfect health and with the flattering prospect that he would live to a good old age. But Providence had ordered otherwise. In the fall of 1813 he was suddenly attacked by a disease which baffled the skill of HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 227 his physicians, and which terminated his life on November 3d, in the fiftieth year of his age. Mrs. Massie died in the year 1833, and was buried by the side of her husband, on their own grounds, at the Falls of Paint Creek. But on the 6th of June, 1870, the remains of both were removed and reinterred, with Masonic honors, in the beautiful cemetery overlooking the city of Chillicothe, with which the name of Massie is more intimately associated than with any other. REV. J. B. FINLEY The Rev. J. B. Finley, who came with his father to Chillicothe in the year 1796, in his very interesting and instructive autobiography, writes of "the richness of the country, the beauty of its birds and flowers, the softness of the climate, the fragrance of the atmosphere, redolent as Eden." He then goes on to describe the sufferings through the prevalence of bilious fevers, the symptoms of which often resembled those of yellow .fever. "Often there was not one member of the family able to help the others; and instances occurred in which the dead lay unburied for days because no one could report. The extensive prevalence of sickness, however, did not deter immigration. A desire to possess the rich lands overcame all fear of sickness, and the living tide rolled on, heedless of death." "In the fall of 1796," he says, "my father set all his slaves free. He had been for years convinced that it was wrong to hold his fellow-men in bondage. Preparations being made for their removal from their Kentucky home to Ohio, about the 1st of December twelve of the emancipated negroes were mounted on pack horses and started for Ohio. My father placed me in charge of the company, though I was but sixteen years of age. We were accompanied with parts of three families, with a great drove of hogs, cows and sheep. We carried with us clothes, bedclothes, provisions and cooking utensils. "After we crossed the Ohio river it became intensely cold, and it was with difficulty some of the colored people were kept from freezing. Some days we were under the necessity of lying by, it was so intensely cold. After sixteen days of toil and hardship we reached our place of destination on the banks of the Scioto below Chillicothe. Here we built our winter camps, making them as warm as we could. Our bread was made of pounded hominy and corn-meal, and we lived on this, together with what we could find in the woods. Fortunately for us, game was plenty, and we caught opossums by the score. The colored people lived well on this food, and were as sleek and black as ravens. In the 228 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY spring my father and the rest of the family moved out, and as soon as we could erect a cabin all hands went to work to put in a crop of corn. "It was necessary to fence in the prairie, and every one had to enclose with a fence as much ground as he had planted. The work of fencing fell to my lot. Myself and another lad built a camp, in which we lodged at night and cooked our provisions. We frequently killed turkeys and wild ducks, with which we supplied our larder, and with our johnny-cake, baked on a board before the fire, we had a good supply for a vigorous appetite. After our corn was gathered and laid by, the immigrants came pouring into the country. From that time to the beginning of March I traveled over the Trace from Chillicothe to Manchester sixteen times. On one of these visits my brother John accompanied me, father having sent us by that route to Kentucky for seed-wheat. The wheat which we brought back was, I believe, the first sown in the Scioto valley." DOCTOR AND GOVERNOR EDWARD TIFFIN Dr. Edward Tiffin and Thomas Worthington, of Berkeley County, being moved by Abolition principles, liberated their slaves and removed into the territory. For the purpose of making preparations for their removal in the spring, Mr. Worthington, in 1797, visited Chillicothe and purchased several of the in and outlots of the town, and on one of the former he erected a two-story frame dwelling, which was the first frame house erected in Chillicothe. On his return to Virginia, having purchased a part of the farm (which afterward became the noted Adena estate) and another at the north fork of Paint, he contracted with Joseph Yates, a millwright, and George Haines, a blacksmith, to come out with him in the following winter or spring and erect for him a grist and a saw mill on his north fork tract. Edward Tiffin, the first governor of Ohio, was born in Carlisle, England, June 19, 1766. He received a good English education and began the study of medicine, which he continued on his emigration—at eighteen years of age—to Berkeley County, Virginia. In 1789 he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. In the same year he married Mary, sister of Thomas Worthington, at Charleston, West Virginia. In 1790 Doctor Tiffin united with the Methodist Church, was ordained deacon by Bishop Asbury, and all throughout his subsequent career continued to preach with much fervor and power. In 1796 he manumitted his slaves, and, accompanied by his brother-in-law and Robert Lucas (all three subsequently became HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 229 governors of Ohio) removed to Chillicothe. Doctor Tiffin was of a genial temperament, of high professional and general culture, and above all, of high moral purpose and character. It is small wonder that such a man became immensely popular. General Washington, in a letter to Governor St. Clair, speaks of "Dr. Tiffin's fairness of character in private and public life, together with knowledge of law, resulting from close application for a considerable time." In 1799 he was chosen to the Territorial Legislature and unanimously elected speaker, which position he held until Ohio became a state. In 1802 he was chosen president of the first Constitutional Convention, and his superior ability and acquirements so impressed his fellow-delegates that at its conclusion the convention made him its candidate for governor, to which office he was elected in January, 1803, without opposition. Two years later he was re-elected, again without opposition, and the office was tendered him a third time, but declined. The new State of Ohio was fortunate in having as its first chief executive a man of such extraordinary and versatile talents and acquirements. The formative condition of affairs gave opportunity for the display of Governor Tiffin's genius, and his able administration was noted for the suppression of the Burr-Blennerhasset expedition. In his message of January 22, 1807, President Jefferson highly compliments Governor Tiffin for his prompt and efficient action in this affair. At the close of his second term Governor Tiffin was elected to the United States Senate, and performed valuable services for Ohio by securing appropriations for the improvements of the Ohio River, the mail service, and the survey of public lands. In 1809 the death of his much beloved wife was a serious blow to Senator Tiffin ; he resigned his seat in the Senate, and determined to retire from public life, but in the following year he was elected 230 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY to the State Legislature and was made speaker of the House, serving for several terms. He married a second wife, Miss Mary Porter, of Delaware. Like his first wife, she was a woman of much beauty of person and character. Upon Madison's election to the presidency he appointed Senator Tiffin to organize the Land Office. When Washington was burned by the British, in 1814, Doctor Tiffin was so prompt and expeditious in removing the records of his office to a place of safety that his was the only department whose books and papers were unharmed. Wishing to return to Ohio, with the consent of the President and Senate, he exchanged offices with Josiah Meigs, surveyor general of the West. He held that office until within a few months of his death, when he was removed by President Jackson. Doctor Tiffin died August 9, 1829; his widow survived him until 1837; three of their daughters were living in 1889. Their only son, who had studied his father's profession, was killed in a railroad accident while returning home from Paris, where he had been attending medical lectures. GOVERNOR WORTHINGTON AND ADENA Thomas Worthington, one of the earliest and most distinguished pioneers of Ohio, was born in Jefferson County, Virginia, about the year 1769, and settled in Ross County in 1798. He brought from Virginia a large number of slaves, whom he emancipated, and some of their descendants yet remain in Chillicothe. A man of ardent temperament, of energy of mind and correct habits of life, he soon became distinguished both in business and in political stations. He was a member of the Convention of 1803, to form a state constitution, in which he was both able and active. Soon after that he became a senator in Congress from the new state, and was a participant in the most important measures connected with the administrations of Jefferson and Madison. At the close of his career in Congress he was elected governor of the state, in which capacity he was the friend and aid of all the liberal and wise measures of policy which were the foundation of the great prosperity of Ohio. After his retirement from the gubernatorial chair he was appointed a member of the first board of canal commissioners, in which capacity he served until his death in 1827. A large landholder, engaged in various and extensive business, and for thirty years in public stations, no man in Ohio did more to form its character and promote its prosperity. "Adena," the home of Governor and Senator Thomas Worthington, stands on the level hilltop, one-half mile west of Chillicothe. In 1796 young Worthington visited the new settlement of HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 231 Chillicothe and arranged the land-grant business on which he came. He returned to Berkeley County, Virginia, and there married the beautiful Eleanor Van Sweringen, bringing her to Chillicothe in the early part of 1798. With them came Worthington's brother-in-law, Edward Tiffin, and the party was accompanied by a large number of slaves whom Worthington and Tiffin had freed. They also brought pier glasses, carpets, china, silver and furniture, for the adornment of their new home. At first Worthington and his young wife lived in a log house, while Adena was being built. The house plans were drawn by the elder Latrobe, the architect of the National Capitol. Worthington brought expert workmen from Philadelphia to do the work. The timber and stone used in the construction were taken from his estate by his freed slaves. The house is planned on the lines of an Italian villa, and, carrying out the Italian idea, a terraced garden was constructed at one side of the house. In the garden were formal flower beds, among them the moss roses and the painted honeysuckle sent to Mrs. Worthington by Aaron Burr, who had visited Adena in the hope of enlisting Worthington in his scheme for an empire in the Southwest, and, finding the master of the house absent, was so charmed with his hostess and her garden that he sent her these plants as souvenirs of his visit. A winding driveway led up to the front of the house. By the wrought-iron fence, which closed in the terrace between the wings, ran a hedge of roses, and a rose-bordered walk led up to the porch and the front door. Along that walk went many a distinguished man in the days when Chillicothe was the foremost town in the Northwest. Henry Clay and his wife; J. C. Breckinridge, taking to his Kentucky home his young bride ; Daniel Webster ; Lewis Cass ; General Macomb, the victor of Plattsburg, who capitulated to a daughter of the house ; Senator Rufus King, of New York ; President Monroe ; the brilliant Tom Marshall, and a host of others, all were guests beneath that roof. Royalty, also, visited there in the person of Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenbach, who wrote of it as follows: "The Governor's house is surrounded with Lombardy poplars ; it is constructed in the style of an Italian villa of free stone, with stone steps on the exterior, is two stories high, and has two wings, having a court in front of the center building containing honeysuckle and roses. On one side of the house is a terraced flower garden. Behind the house are large clover fields, and to the right the farm buildings. Governor Worthington occupies himself with the raising of cattle—particularly sheep. I took breakfast with the worthy Governor and his family, and found here, as at the home of Governor Morrow, that the father of the family observes the laudable custom of making prayer before sitting down." Tecumseh, the famous Indian chief, was a 232 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY guest here, when he was summoned to Chillicothe by Governor Tiffin to -reassure the people of the peaceful intentions of the Indians, intentions which were not carried out. Adena, begun in 1798, was completed in 1805. None of the family now live there. It is the property of George H. Smith of Chillicothe. DUNCAN MCARTHUR AND FRUIT HILL Duncan McArthur was born in Dutchess County, New York, in 1772. He was, as his name indicates, of Scotch parentage, his only heritage being those qualities of character which make up our ideal of a true Scot ; viz. : habits of self-reliance, honesty and persevering industry. His early school advantages sufficed only to give him the rudiments upon which he subsequently improved, by a necessity of that habit of thoroughness which characterized him in all departments of his active career. While yet a child, his parents emigrated from a country little advanced beyond a frontier settlement, to the wilderness of Western Pennsylvania. There he enlisted, in his eighteenth year, in the army of Harmar, for a campaign against the Indians north of the Ohio River. Passing through this perilous and disastrous campaign, he again enlisted in 1792, and, at the battle of Captina, behaved with so much bravery that he at once took rank as a leader among frontiersmen. Early in this action, the gallant captain, William Enoch, was killed, and McArthur, then only twenty years of age and the youngest man in the company, was called upon to take command. He displayed so much coolness and military skill in the disposition HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 233 of his slender force, and so many of the qualities of the heroic commander in his management of the retreat, when it became inevitable (placing the wounded in advance and defending them against the attacks of the wily foe, which outnumbered this retreating band two to one), that he called forth the most hearty applause of his companions. Afer a term of enlistment had expired, McArthur was some time employed in the salt works at Maysville, Kentucky ; but that this engagement was brief is shown by the fact that, in 1793, he was associated with Gen. Nathaniel Massie in an attempt to make surveys in the Scioto Valley. A surveying expedition, at that time was also a military expedition against the Indians, for only by thorough equipment for defense and constant vigilance on the part of those thus engaged, was it possible to explore or survey any portion of the territory now forming the State of Ohio. He was employed during the summer of this year, with several others of like sagacity, coolness and bravery, to patrol the Kentucky side of the Ohio, and give the alarm to the scattered settlers, when the bands of the murderous foe were known to cross the river. In this manner, doubtless, he often averted from some pioneer cabins the tragic scenes which desolated many others. In the autumn he again joined Massie, and, having devoted some time to the study of surveying, he assumed that place in the general's corps due to his indomitable energy, and became assistant surveyor; a place which he held for several years. After the Treaty of Greenville, in 1795, the Scioto Valley became the scene of their operations, and, in the summer of 1796, Captain McArthur assisted General Massie in laying out the city of Chillicothe. The first colony, principally from Kentucky, had arrived in the spring of this year, and engaged at once in planting corn and building cabins. Just north of the town thus started in the forest, Duncan McArthur purchased and improved a large tract of land which became very valuable, and which is still in the possession of his descendants. His facilities for selecting desirable lands enabled him to make investments which were very profitable, and, with increasing wealth and influence, he was soon recognized as one of the leaders in the planting of the prospective state, who deserved well at the hands of an increasingly prosperous community. In 1805, he was elected to the Legislature ; and it is not a matter to excite surprise that his standing in that body was altogether honorable to himself and satisfactory to his friends. In the military organization of the state, he took a deep interest, and was an acknowledged authority. As a soldier of recognized reputation he was, on the resignation of General Massie, in 1808, elected by the Legislature to the rank of major general of the state militia. 234 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY At the breaking out of the War of 1812, he was commissioned colonel of Ohio Volunteers, and accompanied General Hull to Detroit; becoming second in command in this unfortunate expedition. When Hull surrendered (which McDonald asserts would not have happened, had not Colonel McArthur and Cass been absent on an expedition to relieve Captain Brush), McArthur became a prisoner of war and returned to Ohio, greatly exasperated by what he considered the incompetency of his commanding officer. Such was the alacrity he had displayed in coming forward to the defense of the country, and such the energy with which he had discharged the duties devolving upon him, that no taint of the odium of the failure attached to him. This was shown in a most emphatic manner by his election in the autumn following to a seat in Congress by an overwhelming majority. In March following he was commissioned by Congress a brigadier general in the army ; and, having been exchanged as a prisoner of war, he resigned his seat in that body to serve his country in the field. About this time the British forces were preparing to invest Forts Meigs and Stephenson, and the entire northern frontier was in danger ; General Harrison, then in command of the forces in the Northwest, sent an express requesting General McArthur to bring forward, with all possible dispatch, all the forces he could muster. He was then in Chillicothe negotiating some money matters for the purchase of army supplies; and, not having resigned the office of major general of Ohio militia, ordered the second division of militia to march, en masse ; and, going forward to the scene of action, the militia followed in thousands. So heartily, indeed, was the call responded to, that nearly 8,000 troops, mostly from the Scioto Valley, soon covered the Sandusky plains; and, under the command of Governor Meigs, was formed, at Upper Sandusky, the grand camp of the Ohio militia. General McArthur was assigned the command of Fort Meigs. The withdrawal of the enemy's forces from Fort Meigs, the attack on Fort Stephenson and its heroic defense, and Perry's victory on Lake Erie, followed in rapid succession, less than two months intervening between the raising of the siege and the crowning naval victory. The theater of the war was now transferred from the soil of Ohio. General McArthur, with most of the regular troops, was charged with the defense of Detroit and the northwestern frontier, it being the opinion of the inhabitants that more than 1,000 warriors still lurked in the woods, between the rivers Rouge and Huron, of Lake St. Clair. In a few months, however, after the battle of the Thames, the enemy had retired from the western end of Lake Erie, and the Indians were suing for peace, so that most of the regular troops under McArthur were ordered by the secretary of war to the HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 235 Niagara frontier. The main force left was kept at Detroit and Malden, while garrisons were maintained in a number of smaller forts. Amid the dull monotony of inspecting these posts, the active mind of McArthur found more congenial employment in maturing the details of an expedition into the enemy's country, with the view of giving material aid to the operations of the army on the Niagara frontier. Submitting his proposed raid to the inspection of his old commander, Harrison, and securing his hearty approval, he proceeded to carry it into execution. The real object of the expedition which was to destroy valuable mills at the head of Lake Ontario, upon which the enemy depended largely for supplies, was masked under an apparent intention to attack the Indian Town of Saguia. The mounted troops engaged in this expedition consisted of 600 volunteers from Kentucky and Ohio, fifty United States rangers, and seventy Indians, left Detroit on the 22d of October, 1814. The following brief extract from General McArthur's official report of the expedition, a paper which does him great credit, is all for which we can find space: "In this excursion, the resources of the enemy have been essentially impaired ; and the destruction of the valuable mills in the vicinity of Grand river, employed in the support of the army in the peninsula, together with the consumption of the forage and provisions necessary for the troops, has added to the barrier already interposed by an extensive and swamp frontier, against any attempts which may be made this winter in the direction of Detroit." In concert with the war department, the winter of 1814-15 was spent in efforts to prepare a large force to be in readiness to take the field as early in the spring as military movements should be practicable. A portion of the contemplated campaign was an invasion of Canada by General McArthur, with a force of 7,000 men from Ohio and Kentucky. But, happily peace intervened—a peace to which, no doubt, the magnitude of these preparations had contributed. In the fall of 1815, General McArthur, then one of the most popular men in the Scioto Valley, was again elected to the Legislature. He was also one of the commissioners appointed by the war department in 1816, to negotiate treaties with the Indians, and acted in that capacity for three consecutive, years; meeting the Indians in council, first at Springwell, near Detroit, in 1816, at Fort Meigs in 1817, and at St. Mary's in 1818. In 1817 he was not only re-elected to the Legislature, but was chosen speaker of that body. In 1819, however, being again a candidate on the issue of the right of the United States Bank to establish branches wherever it chose, he was defeated. In 1821, he was again elected to the Legislature ; and in 1822, a second time 236 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY chosen to a seat in Congress, in which body he was not only a firm supporter of what was then known as the American system, but was noted here, as elsewhere, for his energy, persevering industry, sound judgment, and systematic business habits, which rendered him a very efficient and useful member. He would sometimes make short, pertinent remarks on the business of the House, but never was ambitious to indulge in flourishes of eloquence, which too often consume the time without enlightening the understanding of the legislators. Mr. McArthur declined a re-election, being determined to devote himself to the management and settlement of his own extensive business. He was then a man of large wealth, and his business in iron furnaces, mills, and real estate was very extensive. In 1830 he was elected governor of Ohio, an honor to which his longextended, active and faithful service fully entitled him. The two years of his administration passed tranquilly in the ordinary routine of business, and then, weary of public life, he retired to his beautiful farm and home called "Fruit Hill," in the vicinity of Chillicothe, where he died in 1840. One of the historic homes of the Scioto Valley is "Fruit Hill," the home of General and Governor Duncan McArthur, and, in later years, of Senator and Governor William Allen, two men whose achievements added luster to the state and to the old town wherein they made their home. The first piece of real estate which young McArthur owned was a tract of land of 150 acres, lying on the hills just west of Chillicothe. On this land he built a log house, to which he brought his bride. Prospering in worldly affairs, he built the stately old residence now standing, and which is known as "Fruit Hill," the name which McArthur gave his estate. The old house stands as strong today as it did when it was first erected, about 1804 or 1805. Its stone walls are nearly three feet thick, and twice have withstood the ravages of fire. The stone of which the walls are built was quarried on the McArthur estate, and the wood which forms its solid beams and polished floors was cut from the forest on McArthur's land. The glass, brass work and other furnishings of the sort all came from the East, being brought across the Alleghenies by pack train, and along the rivers in keel boats. During McArthur's life the old house was the scene of wide and gracious hospitality, many of the distinguished men of the state and nation being his guests. After his death the home was still true to its traditions, his distinguished son-in-law, William Allen, making his home there. Many a statesman made a pilgrimage to consult and to do honor to the "Sage of Fruit Hill." Closely associated with the stately old home is the name of Allen G. Thurman, nephew of Senator Allen. Today Fruit Hill is occupied by HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 237 Mrs. Effie McArthur Allen, granddaughter of General McArthur, and daughter of Senator Allen, and her family. COL. JOHN MCDONALD Col. John McDonald was of Scotch descent, and his nature was of that sturdy, active, and daring kind which one naturally associates with the Highlanders. His grandfather, Thomas McDonald, was born and raised near Lock Shin, his occupation being that of a herdsman. William, his third son, was the father of John. He was reared in his native Highlands, and came to America in the year 1772, settling in Pennsylvania. In that state, and soon after his arrival, William McDonald married Effie 'McDonald, who was of the same clan and distantly related. Thus, it is shown that John McDonald's ancestors were, on both sides, Scottish Highlanders. In the old family Bible he describes his father as having been "a very active, but little man, of a violent and hasty temper, impetuous in all his pursuits, but in his friendships kind and as true as the needle to the pole." He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and about 1780 crossed the mountains with his family and settled at a place called Mingo Bottom, three miles below the present site of Steubenville, where he remained until 1798, at which time he moved to Washington, Kentucky. He remained there a number of years, and then settled in Ohio. William McDonald died on the 6th of September, 1823, and his wife survived him but four days. They were buried side by side on Fruit Hill. The husband was in his seventy-eighth year and the wife in her sixty-eighth. John McDonald was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1775, and reared upon the border amid all of the dangers of the long-continued period of Indian warfare, which did not close until after he had reached his majority. When his father was living upon the site of Steubenville, the Ohio River was the extreme western frontier, and in the first year of his residence in Kentucky the whites and redskins were constantly engaged in hostilities. In "the dark and bloody ground," the boys and young men were incited to follow the example of the old and skilled woodsmen, and personal bravery, cool daring, bodily strength and agility, were regarded as the best qualifications a man could possess. These were the essential elements in the character of the pioneers of Kentucky, and indispensable qualities for men exposed, as they were, to the wiles of a savage enemy. Simon Kenton was a resident of the same settlement in which the McDonald family lived, and as his example was more especially emulated by the young men, it is probable that young McDonald received the great part 238 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY of his education in woodcraft from that prince of the pioneers and leader in Indian warfare. It is known that McDonald's first excursion in quest of the Indians was made with Kenton. One Josiah Wood, and another man, who went out with a party of hunters on the waters of Bracken, were killed by Indians and, the report reaching Washington about midnight, Simon Kenton made immediate preparations for striking an avenging blow. The trail of the murderous Indians was found, and pursuit made, but they succeeded in escaping, crossed the Ohio and were never after seen. Young McDonald, on being refused by his father permission to go with this party, stole a rifle from the cabin and overtook the hunters at a distance from the settlement. The ardor of the youthful warrior was somewhat cooled by the horrible appearance of the mutilated bodies of the two victims, which the party discovered at sunrise ; but he was not daunted, and would have been glad of an opportunity to have met the perpetrators of the outrage. After this affair McDonald was constantly engaged in hunting, scouting, and surveying—the last the most dangerous occupation of all. In the spring of 1792, McDonald joined Gen. Nathaniel Massie's settlement (Massie's Station, now Manchester) on the Ohio River, and was engaged in many dangerous expeditions. Through the whole of the closing decade of the last century, his life was one of extreme hardship with constant peril. He was a boatman, a hunter, a ranger, and a surveyor. In 1794, he and his brother, Thomas, joined General Wayne's army as rangers, or spies. The company of rangers consisted of seventy-two men, who were under the command of Capt. Ephraim Kibby. It was their duty to traverse the Indian country, in every direction, in advance of the main army. The company was divided into small detachments, each of which, after a scouting expedition through the woods, reported to the commander. McDonald was a man of the most unquestionable bravery, and had a combination of qualities which made him a very valuable member of this corps, as well as of the large surveying parties which, under the leadership of Nathaniel Massie, Lucas Sullivant, and others, traversed the whole of the Virginia Military District and located thousands of acres of land, while the Indians were still roaming through its forests and living in permanent villages upon the banks of Paint Creek and the Scioto. Contrary to the commonly received idea of the people of a younger generation, who have read or heard of Colonel McDonald, but have never seen him, he was a man of short stature. He was broad in build, heavily muscled, and his appearance was indicative of great physical power and ability to resist fatigue. He was agile and active and his personal appearance was suggestive of a certain HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 239 physical alertness, which is supposed to have been a common characteristic of men of his class and time. McDonald married on the 5th of February, 1799, Catharine Cutright, and in 1802 settled on Poplar Ridge, Ross County, where he continued to reside until his death. The offspring of this union were seven daughters and one son, viz. : Effie, Maria, Henrietta, Nancy, Mary, John Cutright, Margaret and Elizabeth, all of whom obtained respectable positions in society and worthily preserved the honorable name they inherited. In his after life, McDonald was accorded that recognition to which his valuable work and strong, true character entitled him. He was elected several times as justice of the peace, and served as a militia officer, being captain, major, lieutenant colonel and colonel. Distinction was in waiting for him, and another period of activity and danger. When the War of 1812 broke out, he enlisted as a volunteer in the First Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, and received the appointment of paymaster general. On the receipt of this appointment, he went to Dayton, the place of general rendezvous for the Northwestern army, and soon after his arrival there, was appointed quartermaster of the regiment, continuing to discharge the duties of both offices until the surrender of the army by General Hull. He was made a prisoner at the surrender of Detroit. In 1813 he was appointed a captain in the regular army. In 1814 he was in command of a regiment at Detroit, and he remained in the service until peace was made in 1815 and the army disbanded. Returning to civil life, Colonel McDonald was elected, in 1817, a member of the State Senate, in which body he served two terms, giving his county a most creditable representation. His later years were spent in the quiet enjoyment of home life and the prosecution of his farm work. After 1834 he spent much time in writing reminiscences of the first settlement along the Ohio and its tributaries, and biographies of some of the prominent pioneers, with the details of whose lives he was familiar. These sketches were principally published in the Western Christian Advocate, and four of the more important biographies, those of Duncan McArthur, Nathaniel Massie and Capt. William Wells, were published in book form—the little volume, commonly known as "McDonald's Sketches." Colonel McDonald's character was an admirable one in all respects, and his works in public and private were a fair exhibition of the inner man. His early years were spent in the midst of excitement, toil and conflict, and when there was no longer a necessity for his serving the interest of his country by force of arms he assisted in the councils of the state. The later years of his life were occupied in the promotion of public good, and almost 240 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY every work of material and moral improvement and every benevolent enterprise found in him an unselfish friend and warm supporter. He died September 11, 1853, after a long and lingering sickness, having survived his wife a little over three years. FELIX RENICK AND EARLY STOCK. RAISING The stock business of the West had its origin and rise in Ross County and the Scioto Valley, and the first imported stock seen in the Northwest Territory was brought at an early date to Chillicothe. The following facts in regard to it are from a correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette : " Cattle raising was an industry of great importance in Ohio prior to 1850. The remoteness of the settlements from markets in the early days of the century made the price of grain so low that the most profitable disposition that could be made of it was to feed it to cattle. So, on the rich bottom lands of the Scioto, the business of raising cattle for the Eastern markets commenced nearly eighty-five years ago. "In the early days cattle were not sheltered, but were kept in open lots of eight or ten acres each, and fed twice a day with unhusked corn and the fodder. The waste was picked up by hogs. This practice, introduced in Ross county, is still in vogue throughout much of the West. The method of securing corn after maturity by cutting off the stalks near the ground and stacking them in shocks in the field where it was grown, also originated with the raisers of cattle in the Scioto valley. " The first English cattle that came to Ohio or to the West were from Patton's herd, and were driven from Kentucky to Chillicothe. In 1840 the first herd of cattle ever taken to an Eastern. market was driven over the mountains to Baltimore by George Renick, of Ross county. The business thus commenced soon grew to large proportions. The old Ohio drovers who visited New York stayed as a rule at the Bull's Head Tavern, which was kept by Daniel Drew and stands in the site of the Bowery Theatre." The man who gave standing and system to the raising of stock was Felix Renick. He was in many ways a remarkable man, and he filled a great many positions of usefulness and responsibility. The family is of German origin. Felix Renick was born in 1771, and first came to Ross County in 1798. He was a fluent and instructive writer, a man fond of books, and was president of the Logan Historical Association, and one of the first associate judges of Ross County ; and to his other accomplishments added a knowledge of surveying. The first stock sale in Ohio was held October 26, 1835, at Felix Renick's farm. In 1834 Mr. Renick, after much labor, organized HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 241 the Ohio Company for the purpose of bringing thoroughbred cattle from England. The stock of the company proved to be excellent property. In company with two others, he went to England in 1834 and purchased a number of thoroughbred cattle. His home at High Rock farm, in Liberty Township, at an early day, was the scene of many a festivity. Dinner parties, dances ana fox hunts were of frequent occurrence. His favorite authors were Shakespeare and Addison, from whom he quoted not infrequently. He was killed in 1848 by a falling timber, and his death was widely and heartily lamented. Mr. Renick was slender, of medium height, low-voiced, gentle in manner, but with great energy and determined will. BARRING OUT SLAVERY FROM OHIO It is of decided interest to note the part taken by the founders of Chillicothe, and other legislators who met in the town when it was both the territorial and the state capital, on the policy of excluding slavery from the commonwealth which was destined to be formed. The Ordinance of 1787 barred the institution from all the domain northwest of the Ohio only so long as the latter remained a territory ; by its provisions, any states which should be carved out of the territory were to decide the question for themselves. In the First General Assembly of the territory, there was introduced, on November 18th, a memorial from Thomas Posey, in behalf of himself and several officers and soldiers of the late Continental line of the State of Virginia, praying "That an act might be passed, authorizing persons holding slaves, under the laws of the states in which they acquire that species of property and removing into this territory, to bring their slaves with them." This memorial was laid on the table until November 22d, when it was referred to a committee composed of Messrs. Langham, Smith and Fearing. This committee, in its report, artfully endeavored to so gloss the matter as to introduce slavery, practically if not theoretically, by reporting a "bill to admit persons held to labor or service into this Territory" with this proviso, "That no person shall be held to labor or service for a longer time than until he or she shall arrive at the age of thirty-five years." On December 2d it was moved to amend this bill by making the section above quoted, read: "No species of slavery shall be admitted into this Territory under any colour or qualification whatever ; nor shall any contract made without this Territory, with any black or mulatto person, be binding on such black or mulatto person herein." This was intro- Vol. I-16 242 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY duced by Mr. Langham. The House, however, considered that this was no more than had been done by Congress, and was, therefore, nugatory, besides prohibiting any free black or mulatto from making contracts, and so rejected it, and afterward rejected the whole bill and let Thomas Posey's memorial relapse into obscurity. When the question of the formation of the new state came up, and there was talk of candidates for the first constitutional convention, the matter of slavery was, really, the most important point on which the people desired an expression of opinion. It was held, that, under the Sixth Article of the Ordinance of 1787, the convention would not have absolute power to introduce slavery into Ohio, but would have a concurrent right to do so, and that, once such an act was sanctioned by the representatives of the other states in Congress assembled that the people would be bound to accept it. The people were not backward in expressing their views on this question. In the issue of the Gazette for Saturday, July 17, 1802, over the names of a committee representing a mass-meeting of citizens appears a long article stating what is required of the proposed convention. On the subject of slavery that article says : "We do not want a constitution to deprive any of the sons of liberty of their natural rights, to constitute them slaves and entitle their fellow-citizens to live on the fruit of their labor, without reward or compensation. But we want a constitution that will set the natural rights of the meanest African and the most abject beggar, upon an equal footing with those citizens of the greatest wealth and equipage." This expression is so advanced, in comparison with the general sentiment of the times, as to seem revolutionary ; and it is certainly a statement with more of abolition and equal rights in it than anything proposed even by New England. In the Gazette of August 28, 1802, there appeared, in large type, on the first page, a circular letter to all candidates for the constitutional convention calling on them for categorical answers to certain definite questions therein asked. One of the questions was "Whether they are, or are not, in favor of slavery being admitted into the country ?" From this date on, up to the time for the election of delegates, the candidates were busy answering the queries propounded; and the answers of the various candidates, in their own words, over their signatures, as they appeared in this paper, furnish a history of the rejection of slavery by the new State of Ohio. The delegates elected to represent Ross County in the constitutional convention called to meet at Chillicothe on the first of November, 1802, were Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington, Nathaniel Massie, Michael Baldwin and James Grubb. They had previously defined their stand on slavery. HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 243 TIFFIN AND BALDWIN ON SLAVERY On August 23d, Edward Tiffin, who had freed sixteen slaves before coming to Chillicothe, gave his view of the matter as follows : "The introduction of slavery, was it practicable, I should view as the greatest national curse we could entail upon our country." Michael Baldwin, on August 24th, says : "The fourth question is respecting the introduction of slavery. There can be nothing more repugnant to the feelings of a man, not hardened in iniquity, than the idea of depriving his fellow of his liberty, and placing him by force and violence in an abject state of slavery and misery." He then goes on, at some length, to relate his views as to what would be the consequences of the admission of slavery, and asks anyone who doubts his sentiments to refer to his record as prosecuting attorney for Ross County, where it was shown that he had been instrumental in securing the freedom of several slaves. WORTHINGTON 'S VIEWS Thomas Worthington, who, like Tiffin, had freed his slaves before removing from Virginia, and who afterward stood up in the United States Senate in behalf of the negro, says: "I was decidedly opposed to slavery long before I removed to the Territory. The prohibition of slavery in the Territory was one cause of my removal to it. I have uniformly adhered to the same opinion and now believe if slavery be admitted into the country it will be entailing one among the greatest curses on succeeding generations." GENERAL MASSIE 'S LETTER On September 18th, General Massie had written to the Gazette as follows: "Fellow-Citizens—It was my intention to have communicated to you my sentiments on the important question, to which you will soon be called upon to deliver your suffrages, for members to represent you in the approaching convention, as soon as I had learnt that it was the wish of a great number of you that those that had been held up to public view as candidates should make known their opinions ; but having been called from home about that time, and since engaged in my private business, has hitherto prevented me. I am well persuaded that it will promote the happiness and prosperity of that part of the Territory contemplated for the eastern state, to embrace a state government as soon as possible, and upon the conditions of the act of congress, passed at their last session on that subject. I believe I am warranted in this opinion from the best investigation I am able to make. We only give up a 244 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY questionable and limited right, for a permanent and valuable property—a property judiciously managed, will produce a revenue, annually, for a considerable amount. I believe the introduction of slavery would ultimately prove injurious to our country ; although it might at present, and for some time hence, contribute to improve it, yet it would operate as a temporary convenience for a permanent evil. I am clearly of the opinion that it ought not to be admitted in any shape whatever. I am in the hopes that our convention will determine to form a constitution, and when formed it will be republican. "Such, fellow-citizens, are my ideas, compressed in as narrow a compass as the nature of the subject will admit of. Respecting the present administration of the general government, I have the highest confidence in their exertions, so far as the constitution has invested them with the power, that they will endeavor to promote the public welfare. I am, fellow-citizens, "Your very humble servant, NATH. MASSIE. " GRUBB 'S OPINION James Grubb says, on September 6th : "As to the introduction of slavery, I must confess that I am not yet so great a Federalist or Aristocrat as to wish its admission. Such a pernicious scheme ought to be guarded against in a particular manner, as I conceive it bad policy and the principle cannot be advocated by any person of humane or republican sentiments." OHIO THE FIRST FREE-SOIL STATE On the 29th of November, 1802, the state constitution was ratified and signed by the members of the convention ; and " There shall be no slavery in this state" has come down to this day. Thus the evident intent of the framers of the Ordinance of 1787 was promulgated in the state constitution. The Ohio Idea set the pace for the other states northwest of the Ohio River and became the Northern Idea. Ross County should be proud of the great men of Chillicothe who thus stood for freedom and equality. NOTED CENTERS OF GOVERNMENT In 1800 the seat of government of the Northwest Territory was removed by law of Congress from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. The sessions of the Territorial Legislature in that year (in 1801) were held in a small two-story hewed log house, which stood on the corner HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 245 of Second and Walnut streets, and was erected in 1793 by Bazil Abrams. That structure has already been noted and more extended reference will be made to it in this chapter, as it was really the seat, or the scene, of many notable events. In 1800 the old state house was commenced and finished the next year, for the accommodation of the Legislature and courts. The convention that framed the constitution of Ohio was held in it, the session commencing on the first Monday in November, 1802. In April, 1803, the first State Legislature met in the house, and held their sessions until 1810. The sessions of 1810-11 and 1811-12 were held at Zanesville, and from there removed back to Chillicothe and held in this house until 1816, when Columbus became the permanent capital of the state. ABRAMS' BIG HOUSE There is a dispute as to whether the constitutional convention and the first State Legislature assembled in the old state house (stone courthouse), or in what was so long known as Abrams' Big House. The latter was a large two-story, hewed-log house, built about 1798 by Reuben Abrams, one of the Finley colonists from Kentucky, and which stood on the corner of Second and Walnut streets. It is said that the upper floor of the building was at first occupied as a saloon and gambling room, operated by Bazil Abrams, the first professional gambler in the Scioto Valley. He ran a big game until 1801, when he met his waterloo in one last, great game. Night and day he played, losing, always losing. He lost his money, he staked his rings and watch; he lost his horse and all his belongings; and, finally, in a last desperate attempt to retrieve his for- tunes, he staked his house—and lost. With cold, unmoved face, quiet of mien, he descended the steps; going to a friend he borrowed a horse and rode away into the wilderness, never to be seen or heard of again. SAVAGE SURGICAL TREATMENT In 1798 there was such a local Indian scare that nearly all the women and children in Chillicothe were confined in Abrams' Big House for safe keeping. It appears that Thomas Thompson, proprietor of a saloon, had a quarrel with an intoxicated Indian on the street. The savage (red) was on horseback and Thompson struck him with a handspike, felling him to the ground and badly fracturing his skull. He was immediately taken to Camp Bull, about a mile north of the town, where the Indians were quartered under the command of a Cherokee chief called Captain Johnny. 246 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY Doctors Tiffin and McAdow were sent for, and upon examination, found trepanning was necessary. Taking out their instruments, they at once set about the operation. The Indians who were watching the work of the doctors, soon became very angry, and with an expressive Ugh ! said, "One white man kill Indian, two come to scalp him." Captain Johnny tried to explain what was being done, and to quiet them, but it was contrary to their experience and observation that scalping tended to save life, and they continued to reiterate : "One white man kill Indian, and two come to scalp him," and each repetition increased their excitement. The old chief, finding they were getting beyond his control, went to the doctors and advised them to leave, telling them that he could not prevent their murder, if there should be an outbreak. The doctors did not stay upon ceremony, but gathering up their instruments, they took the Indian trail for town, and no doubt felt much more comfortable when they were beyond the reach of the scalping knives of the savages. The Indian died during the night, and so terribly enraged were the rest of the band, that they demanded that Thompson should be delivered up to them, and threatened the destruction of every man, woman and child in Chillicothe, if their demand was not complied with. Some of the citizens advised his surrender ; but the majority, though they must have looked upon him as a murderer, could not bring themselves to consent to the barbarities of an Indian execution. WHITES GATHER AT ABRAMS' "Abrams' big house," being the largest in the town, was used as a place of safety for the women and children the rest of the night, and the streets were patrolled by armed men, in constant expectation of an attack. The Indians were more numerous than the whites, and who can say that the tragedy of Wyoming might not have been re-enacted, had not their rage been restrained. Negotiations with the Indians resulted: finally, in pacifying them. Presents were made to the friends of the murdered Indian, and a promise given them to punish Thompson according to the laws of the United States. Thompson was arrested, and after being held in confinement for a time, was allowed to escape. When this was known, the Indians, according to their custom, felt called upon to avenge the murder, and a brother of the Indian who had been killed, known as Jack Hot, and another relative, killed two young men on Jonathan's Creek, and escaped to Canada. This information was given by the Indians to the Rev. James B. Finley, who was a missionary among them. HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 247 RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY CENTER The first Methodist ministers that ever officiated in Chillicothe, the Rev. Edward Tiffin and Rev. E. Harr, preached in Abrams' Big House. The first courts, after the erection of Ross County, in 1798, were held in this same building, so that it stood for law and order, as well as a shady resort. In 1812, the United States troops were quartered in this historical structure, and from that time it went by the name of the Chillicothe Barracks. The recruiting officers stationed at the bar-. racks during the war were Colonel Tod, Jack Langham, first lieutenant, and William Shogg, second lieutenant. The officers boarded at Baysey 's and Phillips' taverns. During the same time British prisoners of war were quartered at Camp Bull, and the British officers boarded at the taverns above named. Having thus set forth the claims of this building to rank among the most interesting of the olden time, it is necessary only to say that it stood until about the year 1845, when it was taken down, and the hewed logs, of which it was built, appropriated to other uses. It is said that it was in Bazil's saloon and gambling room that that brilliant, learned and dissipated lawyer, Michael Baldwin, one of the delegates to the constitutional convention, wrote the original draft of the first state constitution, using the top of a whiskey barrel as a desk. In one of the lower rooms the mother of Allen G. Thurman taught school, and among her scholars were her son and her younger brother, William Allen, afterward governor. In 1850 the Athenaeum was erected upon the site of Abrams' Big House. NEW HOPE CHURCH ORGANIZED In 1797 appeared in the two-year-old town of Chillicothe a weary, travel-stained rider, who introduced himself as Rev. William Speer, a Presbyterian minister from Chambersburgh, Pennsylvania, in search of a parish in the wilderness of the Northwest Territory. The few families of his faith induced him to remain, and in the summer of that year he organized a society which, on October 3d, was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Transylvania, and known as New Hope Church. It is known positively that John McCoy, the merchant, and Gen. Samuel Finley, late officer in the Revolutionary war, were enrolled as members. An unfinished log cabin then stood near what is the corner of Water and Bridge streets, which was secured by the little band representing New Hope Church. No floor had been laid, and there was no money available to build either flooring or seats. But the 248 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY records read that "such was their desire to enjoy the services of the sanctuary that they made seats' of the sleepers." It was not until April 10, 1798, that Mr. Speer was regularly installed as pastor of the church. In 1799 the Presbytery of Transylvania was divided. The new Presbytery, Washington, was thus designated from the Kentucky town and the great Ohio County, and embraced a part of Kentucky and a large portion of what now constitutes Ohio and Indiana. Samuel Finley is recorded as the representative of the Chillicothe church. New Hope Society struggled hard to keep afloat during the first few years of its life. Through Mr. Speer's earnestness, eloquence and faithfulness, and the energy and loyalty of its members, an organization was maintained, but the building of a church, despite their utmost efforts, seemed beyond them. Amid such straits Samuel Finley, James Ferguson, Thomas Stockton, William Patton and Hugh Cochran, trustees of the congregation, presented the following petition to the Territorial Legislature which convened at Chillicothe November 23, 1801: "To His Excellency, the Governor and the Council and the House of Representatives of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio: "The petition of sundries inhabitants of the Town of Chillicothey and its vicinity in the Territory aforesaid, showith : that your petitioners impress 'd with a sence of the importance of Religion to the extension of Social Happiness and the advancement of Good Order—and of the propriety of worshipping the great God in a decent and orderly manner, have tried their utmost exertions to raise by Voluntary Contribution a sum of money sufficient to erect a house of Public Worship—and find it impracticable owing to materials. Your Petitioners therefore beg leave to resort to the Legislature—Asking their permission to make a Lottery on such terms as will produce the sum of Three Thousand Dollars—To be laid out under the direction of Trustees in the building of a Presbyterian Church." Whether or not this plan was carried into execution is not shown in the records. It must be remembered that lotteries were not regarded in the same light in those days that they are now. They were then thought to be perfectly proper and legitimate ways to raise money, and the best people of the country took part in them. At this same session of the Legislature Joseph Campbell asked permission to start a lottery in order to get money to erect a mill; a steam mill was built in Cincinnati with money so raised ; the commissioners of Ross County were authorized by the Legisla- HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 249 ture to establish a lottery to raise $12,000 for the purpose of repairing the banks of the Scioto here, and to establish a ferry ; and lottery tickets were sold in all the banks. On the 13th of April, 1802, a Presbyterian Church was organized in Union Township, and shared with Chillicothe in the labors of Mr. Speer. But he continued in this joint pastorate only about six months—resigning the charges of both churches October 9, 1802, and returning to Pennsylvania, where lie became pastor of the united congregations of Greensburg and Unity, in which relation he continued until near the close of his life, April 26, 1829. Mr. Speer was an earnest and eloquent preacher, and a diligent and faithful pastor. He entered upon his ministerial labors in Chillicothe when there was no church organization, and but very few members. After a ministry of four and one-half years, he retired from the field, leaving two well established and prosperous churches, able to sustain all the means of grace without foreign aid. Surely this is a record with which any ordinary ambition might well be satisfied. For about three years after Mr. Speers' resignation, the church seems to have depended on occasional supplies sent by the presbytery, and on transient ministers. But, in the fall of 1805, a call was extended to the Rev.. Robert G. Wilson, of South Carolina, who had visited the place a month or two previous, having come like his predecessor, all the way from Philadelphia on horseback. The call was accepted, and Mr. Wilson entered upon his duties ; although the presbytery, for more than a year, refused to install him as pastor, on account of the church's indebtedness to Mr. Speer, their former minister. But finally a settlement was effected, and Mr. Wilson became pastor of the two churches, giving two-thirds of his services to Chillicothe and one-third to Union. For some time the Chillicothe congregation worshiped in the old state house, the use of which was generously offered to them. There is no record as to the time when the first meeting house was erected ; but it must have been commenced not long after Mr. Wilson's acceptance. In the then existing circumstances of the congregation, the building of a church was a work demanding great courage and self-denial. After commencing the building, they found themselves unable to finish it, and were in danger of losing all they had invested. In this emergency John Carlisle came forward, and at his own expense finished the building and handed it over to the congregation free from debt. There is a tradition that the building was not occupied until 1809. In 1811, in the records of the board of trustees, mention is made of the assessment of rent on the pews. The building stood on the corner of East Second Street and the canal, the present