Trans-Allegheny Pioneers. Historical sketches of the first white settlements west of the Alleghenies, etc

Front matter

J-j. Trans-Allegheny Pioneers HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE First White Settlements West of the Alleghenies 1748 AND AFTER WONDERFUL EXPERIENCES OF HARDSHIP AND HEROISM OF THOSE WHO FIRST BRAVED THE DANGERS OF THE INHOSPIT- ABLE WILDERNESS, AND THE SAVAGE TRIBES . t. THAT THEN INHABITED IT. By JOHN P. HALE Charleston, West Virginia ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1886, BY JOHN P. HALE, IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C. SYNOPSIS. Progressively advancing settlements along the entire Virginia border, from the Xew River-Kanawha and tributaries, in the southwest, to the Monongahela and tributaries in the northwest, the intervening country to the Ohio River and into Kentucky. On the above-mentioned first settled western flowing streams, occurred, in after years, the desperate and bloody conflicts of Braddock's Fields and Point Pleasant, for the possession of, and supremacy in, this fair western country.

To the New River-Kanawha, and tributaries, however, more especial attention is here given ; all sandwiched throughout with collateral facts and incidents of more or less general or local historical interest. Draper's Meadows Massacre. — Destruction of the early Greenbriar Settlements. — Tragedies of Burke's Garden and Abb's Valley. — Origin of the American Cotton Trade. — Old time Family Fall Hunt. — Remarkable Clock. — Progressive Changes within a Lifetime. — Davy Crockett and his Wise Motto. Battle of Po.int Pleasant. — Brief Outline of Events Leading to It. — The First Blood of the Revolution — A Pivotal Turning Point in American History. — Short Sketches of Some of Those Who Participated in It. — Brief Review of Lord Dunmore's Relation to It. — Its Influence as a Developing Military High School, etc.

Murder of Cornstalk. — Desperate Fight at Donnally's Fort. — Short Sketch of Daniel Boone's Life in Kanawha Valley. — Chronological Table of Events, of more or less importance or interest, that have occurred along the western border. Charleston, West Virginia. — Short Sketch of Its Early Settlement and After History. — Dublin, Virginia. — History of Its Name. — Augusta County. — Its Original Vast Extent and Its Subdivisions. Introduction. raJIONEER HISTORY does not repeat itself. Our © country — and especially our great Western trans allegheny country— has but recently passed through, and is hardly yet entirely emerged, in the far West, from a period of intensely active, exciting and eventful history, which can never be repeated. The discovery, exploration, conquest, settlement and civilization of a continent, once accomplished in this age, is done for all time; there are no more con tinents to discover; no more worlds to conquer.

Chapter I. The Ingles Family

H^HOMAS INGLES, according to family tradition, was descended from a Scotch family, was born and reared in London, lived about 1730 to 1740, in Dublin, Ireland, was a large importing wholesale merchant, was wealthy, owned his own ships and traded with foreign countries, chiefly to the East Indies. Sir Walter Scott states that in the reign of James I., there was a Sir Thomas Inglis who lived and owned baronial estates on the border of England and Scotland. He was much annoyed by the raids and border forays of those days, and, to escape them, exchanged his border estates called " Branx-Holm," with a Sir William Scott, ancestor of the late Sir Walter, and of the Dukes of Buckcleu, for his Barony of " Murdiestone,'" in Lanarkshire, to which he re moved for greater peace aud security. Branx-Holm or Brauksoine, in Tiviotdale, on the Scottish border, is still owned by the Dukes of Buckcleu.

From the close similarity and possible original identity of the names — both very rare — and now only differing from i to e in the spelling, Thomas Ingles of Dublin, may have descended from the Sir Thomas of " Branx- Holm Hall," but, if so, the present Ingles family have no record or knowledge of it. They only trace their line back to the Thomas Ingles of London, Dublin, and America. There are two families in America who spell their names Inglis. The ancestor of one of them emi grated from Selkirk, Scotland, to Montreal. Those of the other branch came from Paisley, Scotland, to New York. Descendants of the first still live in Canada, but while they spell their name Inglis, they pronounce it Ingles, and say it has always, within their knowledge, been so pronounced. The descendants ofthe Paisley family live in Philadelphia, Balti more, South Carolina, and Florida.

These two fam ilies, and the descendants of the Ingles who came from London and Dublin, and settled in Virginia, are the only families in America, so far as I know, who spell their names either Inglis or Ingles. In some revolution or political trouble, occurring during the time of his residence in Dublin, Thomas Iugles took a prominent and active part, -and hap pened not to be on the right, or, rather, on the winning side, for the winning side is not always the right side, nor the right side the winning side. On the failure of the cause he had espoused, his property was confiscated, and he was lucky to escape with his life. He, with his three sons, William, Matthew, and John — he then being a widower — came to America, and located for a time in Pennsylvania, about Cham bersburg. -lust when they came, and how long they remained there, is not now accurately known: but in 1744, Trans- A I legh em ' lioncers . 13 according to the tradition, Thomas Ingles and his eldest son, William, then a youth, made an excursion to the wilds of Southwest Virginia, penetrating the wilderness as far as New River. < >f the details of this expedition no record has been preserved.

On this trip they probably made the acquaintance of Colonel James Patton, who held a grant for 120,000 acres of land west of the Blue Ridge, and in the vallej7 of Virginia. Colonel Pat ton, who came from the North of Ireland, about 1735-36, was one of the earliest settlers in the valley, and first located near Staunton. He and his son-in law, Colonel John Buchanan, located lands on James River, and named the villages which sprang up on opposite sides of the river, Pattonsburg and Bu chanan, now in Bottetourt County, Virginia. It is also probable that the Ingleses, during the trip above mentioned, first made the acquaintance ot" the Drapers, then living at Pattonsburg, and whose after history and fates were so closely connected and interblended with their own. George Draper and his young wife, whose maiden name had been Elenor Hardin, came from County Donegal, North of Ireland, in 1729, and settled at the mouth of the Schuylkill River, within the present limits of the City of Philadelphia.

Here two chil dren were born to them, John in 1730, and Mary in 1732. Between 1740 and 1744 they, with their two chil dren, came to Virginia, and located at Colonel Pat ton's settlement (Pattonsburg), on James River. Staunton and Pattonsburg, though the valley was but so recently settled, are about the same age as Richmond and Petersburg. Settlements were begun at the two former about 1738, and at Richmond and Petersburg about 1737-38. The two latter were laid off by Surveyor Mayo, in 1737, for Colonel William Byrd, of Westover. Richmond was organized as a town in 1742 — Colonel Byrd had had plantations here as early as 1732. While the Drapers lived at Pattonsburg, George Draper started out on a game-hunting and land-seek ing expedition, westward. He never returned, and was never again heard of by his family ; it was supposed that he was killed by the Indians. There is no account preserved of how far he went, who accompanied him, nor any other details of the trip.

Chapter II. Tn

1848 Doctor Thomas Walker, Colonel James Patton, Colonel John Buchanan, Colonel James Wood, and Major Charles Campbell, accompanied by sonie hunters, of whom John Findley, who afterward, in 1767, penetrated into Kentucky, and, in 1769, accompanied Daniel Boone from North Carolina to Kentucky, was one, made an excursion through Southwest Virginia and were the first white persons from this direction to penetrate the theu unknown region of Kentucky. Dr. Walker, the leader of the expedition, discovered the pass in the mountains, and gave the name of "Cumberland" to the mountain range and gap hitherto called by the Indians " Wasioto ;" " Cumberland River " to the stream hitherto called " Shawanee," or " Pelisipi ;" and " Louisa " to the river called by them " Che-no-ee," now Kentucky River. Major Jed Hotchkiss, who, I believe, has seen the MS. diary of Doctor Walker, thiuks he did not get on to the Kentucky River, and that the stream he named Louisa was the one now called Coal River, West Virginia, which heads up in the big Flat-Top Mountain along which he traveled.

The earliest maps that lay down Coal River — Jeffer sons and others — call it Louisa. The Cumberland Mountains, Gap, and River, were named* after the Duke of Cumberland, and Louisa River for his wife, the Duchess of Cumberland. Walker's Creeks (big and little), of New River, which were explored by Dr. Walker and party on this expedition, and Walker's Mountains (big and little), parallel ranges, were named after Dr. Walker. About this time (1748), probably immediately on the return of Walker, Patton and others— if, indeed, they did not accompany the Walker expedition as far as New River — Thomas Ingles and his three sons, Mrs. Draper and her son and daughter, Adam Har mon, Henry Lenard, and James Burke " came West to grow up with the country," and made the first settlement west ofthe great Allegheny " divide," the first on the waters of New River, or Wood's River, as it was then interchangeably called, and the first on any waters flowing to the undefined, unknown, mysterious West, whither they knew not.

The name given to this locality and settlement was " Draper's Meadows." The first buildings and improvements, which were built of round logs, as all frontier buildings then were, stood upon the present sites of the " Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College," and " Soli tude," the residence of the late Colonel Robert Preston, near Blacksburg, now Montgomery County, Virginia. Even at the present day, when all Southwest Vir ginia is settled and highly improved, and is known to excessively abound in grand and beautiful land scape scenery, few, if any, scenes surpass this little "Draper's Meadows" Valley, the original, and at that day, probably, a hap-hazard settlement, as they had not sufficiently explored the country to compare localities and make choice. Its eastern limit is near the crest ofthe Allegheny, Tra us- A I leg he ny Pion eers. 17 here a very low " divide" between the waters of the Roanoke on the east and New or Woods River on the west; its western, the beautiful "Horse-Shoe Bend" of New River ; while to the north and south, in the near distance, are parallel mountain ridges.

Between is a beautiful undulating plain, with rich limestone, blue-grass soil. There are numerous bold, never failing limestone springs, and the drainage is to New River, through Toms Creek, Straubles Creek, and Walls Creek. At the date of this Draper's Meadows settlement (1748) the entire population of Virginia — which then extended from the Atlantic to the Mississippi (or, as claimed, to the Pacific), and embraced the present States of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin — was but eighty-two thousand. All but a few hundred of these were east ofthe Blue Ridge; these few hundred were settled in the Valley of Virginia, so-called, being the territory lying between the Blue Ridge and the Alle ghany Ranges. This valley it is claimed, but errone ously, as we shall hereafter see, was first discovered by Governor Spottswood and his " Knights of the Golden Horse-Shoe," in 1716, penetrating the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap, and first settled in 1732 by Joist Hite, John Lewis, Bowman, Green, Chrisman, McKay, Stephens, Duff, and others ; followed, in 1734, by Morgan, Allen, Moore, Shephard, Harper, and others, and in 1735 to 1738 by Beverly, Christian, Patton, Preston, Burden, and others.

These colonists took up lands and made settlements from Harper's Ferry to the site of Staunton and above. They were mostly Scotch-Irish families, who had stopped for a Trans-.4llegheny Pioneers. 18 time in Pennsylvania, and found their way from there into the Valley of Virginia, by way of Harper's Ferry, taking up the best lands on the waters of the Shenan doah, the James, and the Roanoke Rivers. The Ingles and Draper families, who were also Scotch-Irish, and who had also come by way of Pennsylvania, were the first to press on beyond these, then frontier settlements, scale the Allegheny, the then limit and western barrier, of civilization and discovery, and pitch their tents, as above stated, in the great outside, unknown, and mysterious wilderness beyond. The first map of this region to which I have had access, is a map of 1744, accompanying Rapin de Thoyers' History of England.

This map shows pretty fair knowledge of the coast lines, but wild guesses, based upon small information about the country beyond the mountains. The Tennessee River called Hogoheegee, empties in the Wabash or " Ou back." The head wraters of the Hogoheegee are left blank — cut square off. The Cumberland, called Peli sipi, empties into the Hogoheegee. The Ohio or " Hohio," empties into the Ouback ou the north, and the Ouback unites with the Potomac in a lake common to both, lying south of Lake Erie, and from which they flow their respective ways east and west. The Allegheny mountain is laid down with a fair degree of accuracy as to location and direction. The next map of this part of Virginia was made by Peter Fontaine, Surveyor of Halifax County, at the request of the Governor of Virginia, in 1752.

In this map the Allegheny Mountain is put down as " Mississippi or Allegheny Ridge." New River is put down as Trans- Allegheny Pioneers. 19 " New Riv., a branch of Mississippi Riv.," and all the region west of the Allegheny is left blank, and FROM P.APIN DE THOYERS' MAP OF 1744. called " a mountainous tract of land west of the Blue Ridge," Augusta County, " parts unknown." The " New River " was first discovered and named in 1654, by Colonel Abraham Wood, who dwelt at Trans-.4llegheny Pioneers. the falls of the Ap pomatox, now the site of Petersburg, Virginia. Being of an adventurous and speculative turn, he gota concession from the Governor of Vir ginia to " explore the country and open up trade with the In dians to the west." There is no record as to the particular route he took, but as the line of adventure, exploration, and dis covery, was then all east of the mountains, it is probable that he first struck the river not far from the Blue Ridge, and near the present Vir ginia and North Car olina line.

FROM PETEB FONTAINE'S MAP OF 1752. From the fact that the gap in the Blue Ridge lying between the heads of Smith's River branch of the Dan, in Patrick County, and Little River branch of New River, in Floyd County, is, to this day, called " Wood's Gap." I think it highly probable that this was his route, and that the gap was named after him ; if so, then it is almost certain that New River was first seen by Colonel Wood, probably the first white man who ever saw it, at the mouth of Little River, about a mile and a half above " Ingles' Ferry," and being to him a new river, without a name, he then and there named it after himself, "Wood's River." If this supposition is correct, as I believe it to be, then Colonel Abraham Wood and his party of hum ,ble hunters and traders, anticipated, by many years, the famous exploits of the Hon. Governor Spotts wood and his Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, in passing the then limits of western discovery, the mysterious " Blue Ridge."

As a singular example of the injustice of the Fates : Governor Spottswood was knighted, immortalized, and had his name per petuated by a A*"irginia County for what he didrCt do (first cross the Blue Ridge), while Colonel Wood, who did do it, is almost forgotten. CAPTAIN HENRY BATTE, BLUE RIDGE. Even Colonel Wood was not the only one, though the first, who preceeded Governor Spottswood in crossing the Blue Ridge. Iu 1666, twelve years after Colonel Wood, and fifty years before Governor Spottswood, Governor Sir William Berkely, says Arthur, despatched an ex ploring party across the mountains, to the west, under Captain Henry Batte, with fourteen Virginians and fourteen Indians. They also started from Appo matox. In seven days they reached the foot of the mountains. After crossing them they came to level, delightful plains, with abundant game, deer, elk, and buffalo, so gentle as not to be frightened by the approach of man.

Here they discovered a river flowing westward; having followed it for several days, they came to fields and empty cabins, lately tenanted. Captain Batte left in them some trinkets, in token of friendship. But here the Indian guides stopped and refused to go any farther, saying that there dwelt near here a tribe of Indians that made salt and sold it to other, tribes. This tribe wTas said to be numerous and pow erful, and never let any one escape who ventured into their towns. Captain Batte finding his Indians resolute in their determination not to venture farther, reluctantly abandoned the trip, and returned to the Province. Governor Berkely was so interested in the report that he determined to go and explore the country himself, but other cares and duties occupied him, and he never did. No mention is made here of Colonel Wood's trip, but Captain Batte must have known of it, as it had been but twelve years since Colonel Wood started from, and returned to, the same point.

From this meager account, it seems probable that Captain Batte followed the same route that Colonel Wood had traveled, crossed the Blue Ridge at the same point — Wood's Gap — struck New River (Wood's River), which he calls a western flowing river, at or about the same point that Wood had, and followed it downward several days before reaching the territory occupied by the salt makers which, it is highly probable, was in the Kanawha Valley, and the salt made at the old Campbell's Creek Salt Spring. There were abundant remains of ancient Indian pottery about the spring when the country was first settled by the whites. Colonel AVood when he discovered New River did not know, of course, the extent of the river nor the destination of its waters; but these names (Wood's River and New River) were intended to attach to the whole course of the stream, from its source to its mouth, wherever that might be.

By reference to modern maps, a curious topograph ical feature in regard to the rivers of this upper New River region will be observed. Within a radious of a few miles four important rivers take their rise; their head waters interlocking with each other; they, however, soon bid each other a final adieu, and flow their several ways to the four points of the compass. New River rises in* North Carolina, a sea-board State, on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain ; but, instead of going down through the sunny South to its natural home in the bosom of the Atlantic, it strikes out defiantly, nearly due north, through Vir ginia, cutting its way through the Blue Ridge, the Allegheny, and parallel ridges, and, finally, finds its way through the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Yadkin River, on which, not far from here, Squire Boone and family, including the afterward renowned pioneer, Daniel Boone, settled, in 1750, having come from Berks County, Pennsylvania, rises in Virginia ; but, instead of " pooling its issues " and joining its fortunes with its close and bold neighbor, New River, it leaves its native State and takes the back track, nearly south, through the Carolinas to the broad Atlantic, through the great Peedee. — , _,— — 0 The Roanoke River, or the Dan branch of it, rises both in Virginia and North Carolina, along the dividing line, flows nearly east until it joins the Staunton River, forming the true Roanoke, and empties into Albemarle Sound; whilst the Tennessee, or Pelisipi,as the Cherokees called it here, now called the Holston, rising similarly along and on both sides ofthe Virginia and North Carolina line, and in close interlock with the other streams named, starts out on its long w-estern journey, and, finally, mingles its waters with those of the.

Ohio and Mississippi, or Me-sa-cha-ce-pe, as the aborigines called it, meaning the Big River, or "Father of Waters," the "Rio Grande" of De Soto. The " dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina, or the part of it which runs through this nest of river heads, was run under commission from the State of Virginia, in 1749, by Colonel Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson; and continued westward to the Mississippi, in 1780, by Dr. Thomas Walker and Colonel Daniel Smythe commissioners. In 1754 Colonel Fry was the senior officer in command of the Virginia army to the Northwest, and AVashington his subordinate (or Lieu tenant-Colonel).

Chapter III

7JS so few facts and dates have been preserved in (g) relation to the Ingles-Draper frontier settlement, owing, in great measure, to the fact above stated, that but few records were written in those days, owing to disinclination and the disadvantages under which they labored, and to the additional fact that, a few years later, their houses were burned, and all books, papers, and documents of every sort were de stroyed, every collateral fact that helps to fix dates, or throws other light upon the subject becomes ot interest. Such are the following, of which there is record evidence : In April, 1749, the house of Adam Harmon, one of the party, was raided by the Indians, and his furs and skins stolen. This was the first Indian depreda tion ever committed on the whites west of the Alle gheny. The theft was reported by Henry Lenard to AVilliam Harbison, a Justice of the Peace for Augusta County.

The names of Adam Harmon and Henry Lenard will appear again farther on. In 1751 an allowance was made by the State to Colonel Patton for moving a party of Indians from Williamsburg, the then capital, to Reed Creek, in Augusta County. Reed Creek empties into New River a few miles above Ingles Ferry. In 1753 the Indians stole the skins of George Trans- Allegheny Pioneers. 26 Hoopaugh and Jacob Harmon, killed their dogs and shot their " critters." In 1758 the State sent Captain Robert Wade from " Fort Mayo," with thirty-five rangers, to this settlement to " Range for enemy Indians." They came by Goblintown,by Black AVater, Pigg River, and Smith's River, branches of the Dan, and crossed over to the head of Little River, through "Wood's Gap," and down Little River to New River. Probably just the route of Colonel Abraham AVood and Captain Henry Batte many years before.

Thence they passed down as far as Draper's Meadows and back up to Reed Island Creek. They fell in with a party of five Indians and one white man, the latter named Dunkleberry. They let the white man escape, but followed and killed the Indians. The result of the expedition was reported by Cap tain John Echols, and sworn to before Abraham Maury, a Justice of the Peace for Augusta County. CHAPTER IAT. T\ NOTHER adventurous hunter and pioneer had (g) quietly made his appearance in this Draper's Meadows camp. It was the chubby and rosy-cheeked little god of the bow and arrow. He had evidently counted on finding fair and proper game here, and he had not mistaken his reckoning. William Ingles and Alary Draper had fallen victims to his skillful archery. They had surrendered at dis cretion, and, early in 1750, they were bound by the silken cords, he being then twenty-one and she eighteen years of age.

This was the first white wed ding west of the Alleghenies. Their rose-colored hopes and anticipations of the future, and their youthful dreams of happiness, were not all to be realized, as will soon appear. Mary Draper, having no sister, had spent much of her time in her girlhood days with her only brother, in his outdoor avocations and sports. They played together, walked together, rode together. She could jump a fence or ditch as readily as he; she could stand and jump straight up nearly as high as her head ; could stand on the ground, beside her horse, and leap into the saddle unaided; could stand on the floor and jump over a chair-back, etc., etc. It will soon be seen how invaluable to her such physical training was a few years later. In the long after years she used to delight in telling over to her grand children of her feats of agility in her youthful days.

Trans- .4llegheny Pioneers. In 1754, John Draper, finding it not good to be alone, had prevailed upon Miss Bettie Robertson to join him in the search for happiness in this wild wilderness home. Notwithstanding the isolation of the Draper's Meadows settlement, and its remoteness from civilization and society, the settlers were reasonably happy, prosperous and contented. They were busy clearing out and improving their lands, adding to their herds of stock, building houses, and increasing their com forts. Others, influenced by their favorable reports, were coming in and settling near them, and they were laying, as they hoped and believed, the founda tians of a growing and prosperous community.

Chapter V

OEA7ERAL times parties of Indians, from north of the Ohio, had passed and repassed this settle ment to make raids upon the Catawbas, their enemies, living farther south ; but they had made no attack upon the white settlers, nor given them any annoy ance or cause for alarm, except the thieving raids to Harmon's and Hoopaugh's above related. The friendliest relations had existed between the whites and the redskins up to this time, but this happy condition of things was not long to last ; in deed, the Indians may already have meditated or determined upon mischief, but disguised their designs by a show of friendship until they had made full observations and matured their plans. On the 8th of July, 1755, being Sunday, and the day before Braddock's memorable defeat, near Fort Du Quesne, when all was peace, and there was no suspicion of harm or danger, a party of Shawanees, from beyond the Ohio, fell upon the Draper's Meadows settlement and killed, wounded, or cap tured every soul there present, as follows : Colonel James Patton, Mrs. George Draper, Casper Barrier and a child of John Draper, killed ; Airs.

John Draper, James Cull, wounded ; Mrs. William Ingles, Mrs. John Draper, Henry Lenard, prisoners. Mrs. John Draper, being out of doors, a short dis tance from the house, first discovered the enemy Trans-Allegheny Pioneers. approaching, aud under circumstances indicating hostile intent. She ran into the house to give the alarm and to get her sleeping infant. Taking the child in her arms she ran out on the opposite side of the house and tried to make her escape. The Indians discovered her, however, and fired on her as she ran, breaking her right arm, and causing the child to fall. She hastily picked it up again with her left hand, and continued her flight. She was soon overtaken, how ever, and made a prisoner, and the child brained against the end of one of the house logs. The other Indians, meanwhile, were devoting their attention to other members of the families and camp, with the results iu killed, wounded, aud captured, as above ■stated.

Colonel James Patton, who had large landed inter ests hereabout, was here at this time, and with him his nephew, William Preston. AVhether Colonel Patton was only temporarily here, or was then making this his home, I do not know. He had command of the Virginia militia in this region, and had just brought up a supply of powder and lead for use of the settlements, which, I believe, the Indians secured. Early on the morning of the attack, Colonel Pat ton had sent young Preston over to the house of Air. Philip Lybrook, on Sinking Creek, to get him to come over and help next day with the harvest, which was ready to be cut, and this fortunate absence -doubtless saved young Preston's life. Colonel Patton was sitting at a table writing when the attack was made, with his broadsword, which he Trans- Allegheny Pioneers. 31 always kept with him, lying on the table before him.

He was a man of large frame (he was six feet four inches in height), and herculean strength. He cut down two of the Indians with his sword, as they rushed upon him, but was, in turn, shot down him self by others out of his reach. He was a widower, sixty-three years of age, and full of health and vigor when he met his untimely death. The father-in-law of Colonel Patton was Benjamin Burden, who came over as the general agent of Lord Fairfax, and also had large grants of land himself, chiefly in (now) Rockbridge County. He was a man of great business capacity and integrity, meeting all business obligations and engagements with such scrupulous promptness and exactness, that his habits became standards of comparison for others, and his name a synonym of punctuality and reliability. To say of any one that his promise, note, or bond, was as " good as Ben.