Ohio Counties
Adams
Historical
Collections of Ohio
By
Henry Howe
Vol. I
©1888
GUERNSEY
COUNTY
Page 726
GUERNSEY
COUNTY was organized in March, 1810.
The upland is hilly and of various qualities, and the soil clay or
clayey loam. There is much
excellent land in the bottom of Wills creek and its branches, which cover about
one-third of the county. Wool is a
staple product of the county, together with beef cattle, horses and swine. Its area is 460 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were
67,095; in pasture, 133,784; woodland, 48,407; lying waste, 1,134; produced in
wheat, 68,313 bushels; oats, 206,490; corn, 671,694; tobacco, 231,191 pounds;
wool, 685,262; sorghum, 32,069 gallons; sheep owned, 162,640; coal, 433,800
tons. School census, 1886, 9,690;
teachers, 180.
|
Townships And Census |
1840. |
1880. |
Townships And Census |
1840. |
1880. |
|
Adams, |
866 |
806 |
Millwood, |
1,722 |
1,984 |
|
Beaver, |
1,686 |
|
Monroe, |
1,098 |
1,080 |
|
Buffalo, |
1,025 |
|
Oxford, |
2,133 |
1,615 |
|
Cambridge, |
2,033 |
4,665 |
Richland, |
1,772 |
1,439 |
|
Center, |
976 |
1,233 |
Seneca, |
1,356 |
|
|
Jackson, |
1,155 |
1,140 |
Spencer, |
1,669 |
1,552 |
|
Jefferson, |
755 |
931 |
Valley, |
|
999 |
|
Knox, |
538 |
964 |
Washington, |
1,008 |
742 |
|
Liberty, |
835 |
1,503 |
Westland, |
1,077 |
925 |
|
Londonderry, |
1,629 |
1,320 |
Wills, |
1,887 |
1,855 |
|
Madison, |
1,569 |
1,160 |
Wheeling, |
769 |
1,284 |
Population
in 1820 was 9,292; in 1830, 18,636; 1840, 27,729; 1860, 24,474; 1880, 27,107,
of whom 23,554 were Ohio-born, 1,499 Pennsylvania, 608 Virginia, 47 New York,
and 578 from Europe.
Previous
to the first settlement of the county there was a party of whites attacked by
Indians on Wills creek, near the site of Cambridge. The particulars which follow are from
the pen of Col. John M’DONALD, author of the “Biographical
Sketches.”
In the year 1791 or ’92, the Indians having made
frequent incursions into the settlements along the Ohio river, between Wheeling
and the Mingo bottom, sometimes killing or capturing whole families, at other
times stealing all the horses belonging to a station or fort, a company
consisting of seven men rendezvoused at a place called the Beech bottom, on the
Ohio river, a few miles below where Wellsburg has been erected. This company were John WHETZEL, William
M’COLLOUGH, John HOUGH, Thomas BIGGS, Joseph HEDGES, Kinzie DICKERSON,
and a Mr. LINN. Their avowed object
was to go to the Indian towns to steal horses. This was then considered a legal,
honorable business, as we were then at open war with the Indians. It would only be retaliating upon them
in their own way. These seven men
were all trained to Indian warfare and a life in the woods from their
youth. Perhaps the western frontier
at no time could furnish seven men whose souls were better fitted, and whose
nerves and sinews were better strung to perform any enterprise which required
resolution and firmness. They
crossed the Ohio, and proceeded with cautious steps and vigilant glances on
their way through the cheerless, dark and almost impervious forest, in the Indian
country, till they came to an Indian town, near where the head waters of the
Sandusky and Muskingum rivers interlock.
Here they made a fine haul, and set off homeward with fifteen horses. They travelled rapidly, only making
short halts to let their horses graze and breathe a short time to recruit their
strength and activity. In the
evening of the second day of their rapid retreat they arrived at Wills creek,
not far from where the town of Cambridge has been erected. Here Mr. LINN was taken violently sick,
and they must stop their march or leave him alone to perish in the dark and
lonely woods. Our frontier men,
notwithstanding their rough and unpolished manners, had too much of my Uncle
Toby’s “sympathy for suffering humanity” to forsake a comrade
in distress. They halted, and
placed sentinels on their back
Page 727
trail, who remained there till late in the night,
without seeing any signs of being pursued.
The sentinels on the back trail returned to the camp. Mr. LINN still lying in excruciating
pain. All the simple remedies in
their power were administered to the sick man, without producing any effect. Being late in the night, they all lay
down to rest, except one who was placed as guard. Their camp was on the bank of a small
branch. Just before daybreak the
guard took a small bucket and dipped some water out of the stream; on carrying
it to the fire he discovered the water to be muddy. The muddy water waked his suspicion that
the enemy might be approaching them, and were walking down in the stream, as
their footsteps would be noiseless in the water. He waked his companions and communicated
his suspicion. They arose, examined
the branch a little distance, and listened attentively for some time; but
neither saw nor heard anything, and then concluded it must have been raccoons,
or some other animals, puddling in the stream. After this conclusion the company all
lay down to rest, except the sentinel, who was stationed just outside of the
light. Happily for them the fire
was burned down, and only a few coals afforded a dim light to point out where
they lay. The enemy had come
silently down the creek, as the sentinel suspected, to within ten or twelve
feet of the place where they lay, and fired several guns over the bank. Mr. LINN, the sick man, was lying with
his side towards the bank, and received nearly all the balls which were at
first fired. The Indians then, with
tremendous yells, mounted the bank with loaded rifles, war-clubs and tomahawks,
rushed upon our men, who fled barefooted and without arms. Mr. LINN, Thomas BIGGS and Joseph Hedges
were killed in and near the camp.
William M’COLLOUGH had run but a short distance when he was fired
at by the enemy. At the instant the
fire was given he jumped into a quagmire and fell; the Indians, supposing that
they killed him, ran past in pursuit of the others. He soon extricated himself out of the
mire, and so made his escape. He
fell in with John Hough, and came into Wheeling. John WHETZEL and Kinzie DICKERSON met in
their retreat, and returned together.
Those who made their escape were without arms, without clothing or
provisions. Their sufferings were
great; but this they bore with stoical indifference, as it was the fortune of
war. Whether the Indians who
defeated our heroes followed in pursuit from their towns, or were a party of
warriors who accidentally happened to fall in with them, has never been
ascertained. From the place they
had stolen the horses they had travelled two nights and almost two entire days,
without halting, except just a few minutes at a time, to let the horses
graze. From the circumstance of
their rapid retreat with the horses it was supposed that no pursuit could
possibly have overtaken them, but that fate had decreed that this party of
Indians should meet and defeat them.
As soon as the stragglers arrived at Wheeling, Capt. John
M’COLLOUGH collected a party of men, and went to Wills creek and buried
the unfortunate men who fell in and near the camp. The Indians had mangled the dead bodies
at a most barbarous rate. Thus was
closed the horse-stealing tragedy.
Of
the four who survived this tragedy none are now living to tell the story of
their suffering. They continued to
hunt and to fight as long as the war lasted. John WHETZEL and Dickerson died in the
country near Wheeling. John Hough
died a few years since, near Columbia, Hamilton county, Ohio. The brave Capt. William M’COLLOUGH
fell in 1812, in the battle of Brownstown, in the campaign with Gen. HULL.
Hon.
William M. FARRAR has given us the following interesting items concerning the
early history of the county:
The streams of this county come somewhat curiously by
their names, as Leatherwood, from a bush having a tough leathery bark used by
the pioneers for many useful purposes; Yoker, from the yoker brush that grows
along its banks; Wills creek, from Wills river, Maryland; Crooked creek, from
its winding course; Little and Big Skull Forks, from the fact that in early
times the Indians, having made one of their raids into the white settlements
east of the Ohio river, were returning with their prisoners, among whom were a
mother and infant child; being pursued they first killed the infant and left
the body to be devoured by the wolves, who left no remains but the little
skull; farther on the mother was killed and in like manner devoured by the
wolves, leaving only the skull.
These skulls were found by the pursuing whites on the banks of the
streams which thus received their respective names. Another stream is named Indian Camp from
one of their camping grounds.
The
settlement of the county was curious in that settlers from so many different
districts met here. The Virginians
and Guernseymen met at Wills creek; the Yankees from Massachusetts and Western
Pennsylvanians in the southwest; Quakers from North Carolina and Chester
county, Pa., in the southeast; the Irish in northern and western
townships. A settlement from New
Jersey extends into two townships, while there are families, descendants of the
Hessians, in the southern part of the county that came in through Virginia and
Maryland settlements. The youngest
daughter of Gen. STARK, of the Revolution, died in this county, aged
ninety-nine years.
The
man who wields the second oar in the painting of Perry’s Victory, in the
rotunda of the Ohio State House, was a Guernsey
Page 728
county man known as “Fighting Bill”
Reed. He was of Virginia and
Pennsylvania stock, who learned the blacksmith trade with William McCRACKEN, of
Cambridge.
Gen.
BROADHEAD’S trail on his Coshocton campaign in 1781 against the Indians
is distinctly marked through the county.
There were no Indian villages in this region, it being the hunting
ground of parties that hunted and fished along the principal streams.
In 1798 “Zane’s Trace” was cut through the county.