History of Athens County, Ohio : and, incidentally, of the Ohio Land Company and the first settlement of the state at Marietta, with personal and biographical sketches of the early settlers, narratives of pioneer adventures, etc.

Front matter

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GENEALOGY COLLECTION

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Preface

THIS unpretending book is a record of but narrow interest and of purely local events. Its preparation was undertaken at the instance and request of some of the old citizens of Athens county — a county which, one of the earliest organized in Ohio, contains, perhaps, a greater number of surviving pioneers than any other in the state except Washington. The desire, on the part of these pioneers, to see preserved in a somewhat connected form the annals of the first settlement of the county and of their own labors and struggles in founding society here, is not an unnatural one. " Near is thy forgetfulness of ail things," said Marcus Aurelius, in one of his aphorisms, " and near the forgetfulness of thee by all." With something of this feeling, it is, perhaps, that the old always dwell with such keen pleasure on the events and associations of their early life. Conscious of approaching change and of waning strength, they love

to linger on the honorable achievements and labors of that

(iii)

iv Preface.

period when the eye was bright, the brain active, and the step elastic. There is, also, a feeling among men that the record of a well-spent and useful life, even if humble, deserves to be remembered. They derive a pardonable pleasure from the thought that posterity will not wholly ignore nor forget them.

It is in recognition of this feeling that these pages have been written. To preserve some account of the lives and labors of the early settlers, who bore so honorable a part in convertin-? a wilderness into a great commonwealth, and to rescue from total oblivion some matters that seem worthy of being narrated, is the modest object of this sketch concerning the history of Athens county.

In endeavoring to accomplish faithfully what was undertaken it has been found that the work, notwithstanding its narrow scope, involved considerable labor and difficulties. Much of the information touching the first settlement of the countv has passed out of reach and is lost forever. Nearly three-quarters of a century have elapsed since the first band of pioneers came into Athens and Ames townships, and that generation has disappeared. If this work had been undertaken by some one fifteen or twenty years since, a vastly greater amount of oral and traditional history could have been gained from the then surviving pioneers. But they have passed away, and it is from

Preface. v

their sons and successors that many of the facts herein have been obtained. It is evident that much of the material so acquired would be more or less vague, confused, and difficult to arrange. The writer has, however, labored diligently to overcome these obstacles, and hopes that he has been mainly successful. He is well aware that there will be found errors both of omission and of commission in the book, but it is impossible, in a work of this sort, to eliminate all such. The writer is very conscious, too, of the literary deficiencies of the book. It has been prepared hurriedly, amid the constant pressure of other duties, and the marks of haste are apparent ; could he have had more time, he would have improved and greatly condensed it. Such as it is, however, if it shall afford any gratification to the good people of the county, where he was born and passed the early portion of his life, the writer will feel pleased and well rewarded. Doubtless it will be discovered that some prominent early settlers, or leading men among recent citizens, have not been mentioned at all, while comparativelv too great prom-nence will be thought to have been given to others; but the best has been done that could be, under the circumstances, and it is hoped such inequalities and defects will be overlooked.

In seeking requisite facts and information, the writer has met with valuable assistance from so many quarters, that it is entirely vl Preface.

impossible to name here the numerous persons to whom he is thus indebted, however agreeable it would be to his own feelings to do so. He is forced, therefore, to adopt the unsatisfactory mode of thus thanking them, one and all, indiscriminately, for their marked and constant courtesy.

HISTORY

Athens County, Ohio

CHAPTER I. Indian Occupation of Ohio

EIGHTY years ago the territory included within the limits of the present State of Ohio was an almost unbroken wilderness. The beautiful river that forms its southern boundary had, indeed, been threaded bv a few eager explorers ; but the white man had not vet established himself upon its banks. So too Lake Erie, on the north, had long before been furrowed by the adventurous cratt ot civilized men; but on all its borders there -was not a hamlet nor a house. Over the whole region, now so thicklv populated, brooded the silence of savage life. The rivers were ploughed only by the swift canoe of the Indian, the forests echoed no sound ot productive industrv, and the virgin earth

Indian Occupation of Ohio.

waited for the race that was to develop its riches and its beauty.

To-day, in wealth and population Ohio ranks third among the states of the Union. Large cities, flourishing towns, peaceful hamlets, and smiling farms enliven and beautify the scene. Huge steamers, laden with passengers and with wealth, ply upon the rivers and lakes which, less than three generations ago, were silent and desolate. Railroads traverse the state in all directions ; busy manufactories give employment to thousands ; institutions of learning and charity abound, and, in all respects, the state ranks as a prosperous and powerful commonwealth.

History does not elsewhere record such an extraordinary case of rapid development, and the political philosopher finds abundant food for thought in tracing, from their first beginning, the causes that have contributed to so great a growth. We propose, in these pages, to chronicle some of the events and to sketch some of the individuals connected with the settlement and development of one small portion of this great state, viz : Atheyis County.

Before entering, however, upon matters purelv local, let us take a general view of the countrv and its inhabitants prior to its first settlement by the whites, and thus enable ourselves more clearlv to appreciate the wildness of the region to which the early settlers came.

History of Athens County, Ohio.

TIT^HATEVER curious Speculations may be indulged as to the origin of the Indian races that once inhabited the northwestern territory, it is certain that we have no clear knowledge of them farther back than the middle of the seventeenth century. Beyond that, they disappear in the mists of the pre-historic period, and, even long after that, much that is written concerning them rests on vague tradition. Whether they were sprung from some of the oriental tribes, or what their origin and whence their travels, are questions that will probably never be answered; thev belong to the class of ethnological mysteries which will, in all times, furnish themes for the ingrenious researches of learned men, but which will never be solved. It is not proposed to enter into this broad and interesting topic, but merely to glance at the condition of the country and the character of the aboriginal inhabitants of Ohio before its first settlement, by the whites.

In 1650, Ohio was an unbroken forest, occupied principally by a tribe of Indians called the Eries, who had their villages and hunting grounds near the shores of the lake of that name, and whose wanderings were chiefly confined to the present northern portions ot the state. The JVyandots (or Hiirons) held the peninsula between Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, and their hunting excursions extended as far south

Indian Occupation of Ohio.

as the regions about the mouths of the Maumee and Sandusky, while a tribe called the Andastes possessed the valleys of the Allegheny and the upper Ohio.

During the latter half of the seventeenth century, frequent and terrible incursions were made among these tribes of the west by the more warlike and powerful Iroquois^ from New 'York. These Iroquois^ so called by the French, were the noted Five Nations, viz: the Mohcrjjks^ Oneidas, Onondagas^ Cayugas, and Senecas^ and they formed the strongest confederation known in Indian history. Tradition relates with what relentless fury and unwearying tenacity the hostile Iroquois warred upon the western tribes until finally the latter were wiped out — either massacred, driven away, or merged into other tribes.

Thus, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Ohio was almost unclaimed and uninhabited by human beings save as it was used as a hunting ground by the Iroquois, or crossed and recrossed by them in their long war expeditions. But they were not able to maintain complete supremacy over so vast a region, and between 1700 and 1750 Ohio again became occupied bv different tribes of savages, which, the active warfare of the Iroquois having measurably ceased, took possession of the whole region as weeds take possession of a neglected field. They probably sprung from the surviving members of the tribes that had been overcome and dispersed by the Iroquois, and a mere enumeration of them will answer our present purpose. Thev were.

History of Athens County, Ohio.

I. The IVyandots, who were descended, doubtless, from the undestroyed remnant of the once powerful tribe of that name, which, half a century before, had been driven off" by the Iroquois. Freed from the vindictive pursuit of their ancient enemies, this tribe returned to their old hunting grounds, and by the middle of the eighteenth century their right was undisputed to the northern part of the state.

14- The Delaivares^ whose principal settlements were on the Muskingum river, where they flourished and became a powerful tribe, asserting a possession over nearly one-half of the state.

3. The Shawanese (written also Shawanoese and Shaiunees)^ who are supposed to have come trom the distant south — perhaps from the country bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. They occupied the Scioto and Miami country, and for a long distance east^vard, including the present county of Athens and adjacent region, though the Wyandots and Delawares were also frequently found in this section on hunting or war expeditions. The Shawanese had tour tribes, or subdivisions, two of which were the Piqua and the Chillicothe tribes; hence the names of those towns. Powerful and warlike, they were amono; the most efficient allies of the French during the seven years war, and subsequently took an active part against the Americans during the revolution and the Indian war which followed. Their hostility was terminated by the treaty at Greenville in 1795, hy which they ceded nearly the whole of their territory, A portion of them, however, again made war against the United States, having, with Tecumseh, joined the British standard during the war of 1812.

4. The Ottawas (or as they were called by the earlv white settlers, the Tawas)^ who dwelt in the valleys of the Sandusky and Maumee rivers, and who, together with the JVyandots^ occupied portions of northern Ohio.

The foregoing enumeration conv^eys an idea, sufficiently accurate for our purpose, of the Indian tribes that inhabited Ohio during the middle and latter part of the eighteenth century, and up to the time of the first white settlement, under the auspices of the "Ohio Company." These tribes were roving and active, and in the power to make war bv no means contemptible. The long and bloody struggle which they made to keep possession of the country, sufficiently attests their tenacity of purpose and their capacity for concerted action.

There Is reason to believe that in some former age, though how remote can onlv be conjectured, what is now Athens county was a favorite resort of the Indians. Indeed, remarkable traces of their existence are

History of Athens County^ Ohio.

still to be found here. In Athens and Dover townships, on the level plateau called "the Plains," are several of those Indian mounds which, found in various parts of the Mississippi valley, have so long interested American archaeologists. A still more interesting Indian relic in the same township, is the remains of an ancient earthwork or fortification. ""' Considerably more than an acre is included by an embankment which, though it has been ploughed over for a third of a century, is still very marked with its rude bastions, ramparts, and curtains. It is probable that on this spot, some hundreds of years since, a battle was fought between warring tribes of savages tor the possession of the inviting plains of Dover and the lower valley of the Hockhocking. Numerous skeletons have been found in these mounds, together with Indian hatchets and other weapons of stone.

Such, then, were the occupants of Ohio in the middle of the eighteenth century, and such, at least, approximately, were the limits of their homes and haunts. During the half century that followed, while the white men were building up a civil society in the East, and events were slowly drifting toward the collision and war which resulted in American independence, the possessory rights of these savages were but little disturbed in Ohio. Here they roamed, and hunted, and made

On the farm now owned bv David Zenner.

Indian Occupation of Ohio.

love or war at rheir pleasure, little conscious of their approaching troubles and doom. It is no part of the purpose of this narrative to treat in detail of the history of this period, of the intrigues and wars of the French and English for the possession of this Western country, and of the fitful and treacherous alliances of the Indians now with one side and now with the other. Our aim is merely to call attention to the character of the Indian tribes that occupied the country by way of showing in some degree the dangers and the obstacles with which the pioneers had to deal; this being cursorily accomplished, we pass to events more nearly connected with our subject.

DiAUtnove's War.

Probably but few of the present inhabitants of Athens county are aware that a fort was established within its limits, and an army marched across its borders, led by an English earl, before the Revolutionary war. The building of Fo7-t Gozver at the mouth of the Hockhocking river, in what is now Troy township, and the march of Lord Dunmore's army across the county, thirty years before its erection as a county, forms an interestlno; passage in our remote history before the earliest settlement by the whites.

"Dunmore's war" was the designation applied to a series of bloodv hostilities between the whites and Indians during the year 1774. It was the culmination

History of Athens County^ Ohio.

of the bitter warfare that had been waged with varying success between the frontier population of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the Delawares, Iroquois^ JVyandotSy and other tribes of Indians. One of the most noted of the many massacres of that period was that of Logan's family by the whites, and, in retaliation, the swift vengeance of the Mingo chief upon the white settlements on the Monongahela, where, in the language of his celebrated speech, he "fully glutted his vengeance."

In August, 1774, Lord Dunmore, then royal Governor of Virginia, determined to raise a large force and carry the war into the enemy's country. The plan of the campaign was simple. Three regiments were to be raised west of the Blue Ridge, to be commanded by General Andrew Lewis, while t\vo other regiments from the interior were to be commanded by Dunmore himself The forces were to form a junction at the mouth of the Great Kanawha and proceed under the command of Lord Dunmore to attack the Indian towns in Ohio.

The force under Lewis, amounting to eleven hundred men, rendezvoused at Camp Union, now Lewisburg, Greenbriar county, West Virginia, whence they marched early in September, and reached Point Pleasant on the 6th of October. Three davs later, Lewis received dispatches from Dunmore informing him that he had changed his plan of operations; that he (DunlO Indian Occupation of Ohio.

more) would march across the country against the Shawanese towns on the Scioto, situated within the present limits of Pickaway county, and Lewis was ordered to cross the Ohio river at once and join Dunmore before those towns.

This movement was to have been made on the loth of October. On that day, however, before the march had begun, two men of Lewis's command were fired upon while hunting a mile or so from camp. One was killed and the other came rushing into camp with the alarm chat Indians were at hand. General Lewis had barely time to make some hasty dispositions when there began one of the most desperate Indian battles recorded in border warfare — the battle of Point Pleasant. The Indians were in great force, infuriated by past wrongs and by the hope of wiping out their enemy by this day's fight, and were led on by their ablest and most daring chiefs. Pre-eminent among the savage leaders were Logan and " Cornplanter" (or "Cornstalk"), whose voices rang above the din, and whose tremendous feats performed in this day's action have passed into history. The contest lasted all day and was not yet decided. Toward evening General Lewis ordered a body of men to gain the enemy's flank, on seeing which movement about to be successtullv executed the Indians drew off" and effected a safe retreat. The force on both sides in this battle was nearly equal — about i,ioo. The whites lost half their officers and

52 men killed. The loss of the Indians, killed and wounded, was estimated at 11,^^^' Soon after the battle Lewis crossed the river and pursued the Indians with great vigor, but did not again come in conflict with them.

Meanwhile, Lord Dunmore, in whose movements we are more interested; had, with about twelve hundred men, crossed the mountains at Potomac Gap, reviewed his force at Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg), and descended the Ohio river as far as the mouth of the Hockhocking, within the present limits of Athens county. Here he landed, formed a camp, and built a fortification which he called Fort Gower. It was from here that he sent word to General Lewis of the change in his plan of campaign, and he remained here until after the battle of Point Pleasant. Abraham Thomas, formerly of Miami county, Ohio, who was in Dunmore's armv, has stated in a letter published many years ago in the Troy Times, that by laying his ear close to the surface of the river on the day of the battle, he could distinctlv hear the roar of the musketry more than twenty-five miles distant.

Leaving a sufficient force at Fort Gower to protect the stores and secure it as a base. Lord Dunmore marched up the Hockhocking toward the Indian country. There is a tradition that his little armv

*Amer. Archives, vol. i. p. loil encamped a night successively at Federal creek, and at Sunday creek, in Athens county.

He marched across the present limits of the county and up the Hockhocking as far as where Logan now stands ; and from there westward to a point seven miles from Circleville, where a grand parley was held with the Indians. It was at this council, !">y the way, that the famous speech of the Mingo chief was made, beginning " I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat," etc. After the execution of a treaty with the Indians (for we do not propose to detail the movements of General Lewis or the operations of the campaign, except as they had some connection with what is now^ Athens county). Lord Dunmore returned to Fort Gower by nearly the same route he had pursued in his advance, viz: across the country and down the valley of the Hockhocking to its mouth. It is probable that his army was disbanded at this point, and returned in small parties to their homes.

Charles Whittlesey, in Fugitive Essays^ says:

" In 1 83 1 a steamboat was detained a tew hours near the house of Mr. Curtis, on the Ohio, a short distance above the mouth of the Hockhocking, and General Clark, of Missouri, came ashore. He inquired respecting the remains of a fort or encampment at the mouth of the Hockhocking river. He was told that there was evidence of a clcarino; of several acres in extent, and that pieces of guns and muskets had been found on that spot; and also that a collection of several hundred bullets had been discovered on the bank of the Ilockhocking, about twenty-five miles up the river. General Clark then stated that the ground had been occupied as a camp by Lord Dunmore who came down the Kanawha with three hundred men in the spring of 1775, with the expectation of treating with the Indians here. The chiefs not making their appearance, the march was continued up the river twenty-five or thirty miles, where an express from Virginia overtook the party. That eveninor a council was held and lasted till very late at night. In the morning the troops were disbanded, and immediately requested to enlist in the British service for a stated period. The contents of the dispatches, received the previous evening, had not transpired when this proposition was made. A major of militia, named McCarty, made an harangue to the men against enlisting, which seems to have been done in an eloquent and effectual manner. He referred to the condition of the public mind in the colonies, and the probability of a revolution which must soon arrive. He represented the suspicious circumstances of the express, which was still a secret to the troops, and that appearances justified the conclusion that they were required to enlist in a service against their own countrymen, their own kindred, their own homes.

** The consequence was that but i^w of the men re-enlisted, and the majority, choosing the orator as leader, made the best of their way to Wheeling. The news brought out bv the courier proved to be an account of the opening combat of the Revolution, at Lexington, Mass., April 20, 1775.

"General Clark stated that himself (or his brother) was in the expedition."

Of this account, Mr. Whittlesey says it was related to him "by Walter Curtis, Esq., of Belpre, Washington county, Ohio, and transmitted h"y mc in substance to the secretary of the Ohio Historical Society. Mr. Curtis received it from General Clark, an eminent citizen of Missouri, a brother of General George Rogers Clark, of Kentucky." Mr. Whittlesey admits that, ''though it comes very well authenticated, it seems to contradict other well-known facts." We are decidedly of opinion that General Clark's statement was erroneous in respect of the time, nature, and object of Lord Dunmore's expedition up the Hockhocking, and that he never made but one expedition to that region, which was the one we have already described. In the first place, there is not a scrap nor particle of history extant to show that Dunmore made any western expedition in the "spring ot 1775. Secondlv, we know that he -Luas there in the summer and autumn of 1774, that Fort Gower was built at that time, and, probably, the buried bullets, etc., were deposited at the same time. Thirdly, hostilities with the mother country had begun in the spring (April) of 1775; Lord Dunmore was one of the most active and determined royalists in the colonies, and it is not likely that he was spending his time chasing after the Indians when his master's empire in America was crumblino; to pieces. Finallv, we know that Dunmore was at Williamsburg, Virginia, on the 3d day of May,

1775, for on that day he issued a proclamation to "the disaffected persons of the Colony," calling on them to return to their allegiance.'" There is evidence that he was there in April of the same year ; and in June, 1775, a letter written from Baltimore says: "A gentleman who last night came here from Williamsburg, which he left on Friday last, June 9th, brings an account of Lord Dunmore having the day before gone on board a man-of-war at York, with his lady and family, for safety. ""j' These considerations we think, render it quite clear that Lord Dunmore did not make an expedition to the Hockhocking country in the spring of 1775, ^'^^ doubtless the one made in the summer of 1774 was the only one he ever made to this region.

As a matter of historical curiositv we give the following:

" Proceedings of a Meeting of Officers under Earl Dunmore.

"At a meeting of the officers under the command of his Excellency, the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore, con\ened at Fort Gower, situated at the junction of the Ohio and Hockhocking rivers, Ni- ember 5, 1774, for the purpose of considering the grievances of British America, an officer present addressed the meeting in the following words :

*' 'Gentlemen: Having now concluded the campaign, bv the assistance of Providence, with honor and advantage to the colony

and ourselves, it only remains that we should give our country the strongest assurance that we arc ready, at all times, to the utmost of our power, to maintain and defend her just rights and privileges. We have lived about three months in thc woods, without anv intelligence from Boston or from the delegates at Philadelphia. It is possible, from the groundless reports of designing men, that our countrymen may be jealous of the use such a body would make of the arms in their hands at this critical juncture. That we are a respectable body is cercain. when it is considered that we can live weeks without bread or salt ; that we can sleep in the open air without any covering but the canopy of heaven, and that our men can march and shoot with any in the known world. Blessed with these talents, let us solemnly engage with one another, and our country in particular, that we will use them to no purpose but the honor and advantage of America in general, and of Virginia in particular. It behooves us then, for the satisfaction of our country, that we should give them our real sentimmts, by way of resolves, at this verv alarming crisis.'

'* Whereupon the meeting made choice of a committee to draw up and prepare resolves for their consideration, who immediately withdrew ; and after some time spent therein, reported that they had agreed to and prepared the following resolves, which were read, maturely considered, and unanimously adopted by the meeting:

" Resolved^ That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third, whilst his Majestv delights to reign over a brave and free people ; that we will, at the expense of life and everything dear and valuable, exert ourselves in support of the honor of his Crown and the dignity of the British Empire. But as the love of liberty, and attachment to the real interests and just rights of America, outweigh every other consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power within us for the defense of American liberty, and for the support of her just rights and privileges ; not in any precipitate, riotous, or tumultuous manner, but when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen.

^^ Resolved, That we entertain the greatest respect for his Excellency the Right Honorable Lord Dunmore, who commanded the expedition agauist the Shawanese ; and who, we are confident, underwent the great fatigue of this singular campaign from no other motive than the true interest of this country. "Sio-ned, bv order and in behalf of the whole corps,

Benjamin' Ashby, Clerk."*

On his return to Virginia, Lord Dunmore received the conoratulations of various towns, and the thanks of the Assembly, on the successful issue of his expedition and his execution of a treaty with the Indians. He at once ardently espoused the cause of the King, was one of his most influential and obstinate adherents in the colonies, and spent the remainder of his briet stay in this country in the vain eiFort to resist the consummation of x^merican independence. But the doom o. the cause which Lord Dunmore thus earnestly espoused was as cleariv written in the book of tate as was that of the savage race, against whose towns he had marched up the banks of the Hockhocking. f

* Araer. Archives, vol. I, p. 96Z.

"J H::khcckirg is a Doliware (^Indian i name, and meant, in their language, Bittle river. In the spring of 1765, Ge^^rge Croghan, i.

i^ Indian Occupation of Ohio.

sub-commissioner of the British government, embarked at Pittsburg,

with some friendly Indians, intending to visit the WaLash and Jlli-

nois country, and conclude a treaty with the Indians. Five days

from Pittsburg, he notes in his journal that "we passed the moath cf

Hochocen, or Bottle River^ This translation of the word Hochocen

or Hockhockiiig, is also given by Pleckewelder and Johnson, and is

undoubtedly correct. The Shawanese called the river U'eathak-

agh-qua, which meant, in their dialect, the same as Plockhocking ;

and one of the other tribes called it by a name signifying Bow river.

All of tlicsc names had reference to the winding, crooked course of

the stream. The origin of the name Hockhocking— Bottle river— is

thus explained by a writer in an old number of the American Pioneer,

who says: "About six or seven miles northwest of Lancaster, there

IS a fall in the Hockhocking of about twenty feet; above the falls,

for a short distance, the stream is vtrj narrow and straight, forming

a neck, while at the falls it suddenly widens on each side, and swells

into the appearance of the body of a bottle. The whole, when