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Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. II

©1888

 

MONROE COUNTY

Page 260

 

MONROE COUNTY was named from James Monroe, President of the United States from 1817 to 1825; was formed January 29, 1813, from Belmont, Washington and Guernsey. The south and east are very hilly and rough, the north and west moderately hilly. Some of the western portion and the valleys are fertile. Area about 470 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 80,516; in pasture, 102,206; woodland, 65,598; lying waste, 8,494; produced in wheat, 193,913 bushels; rye, 2,755; buckwheat, 983; oats, 193,581; barley, 70; corn, 464,334; broom-corn, 6,559 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 30,420 tons; clover hay, 854; potatoes, 90,726 bushels; tobacco, 922,447 lbs.; butter, 527,055; cheese, 691,439; sorghum, 18,685 gallons; maple sugar, 3,662 lbs.; honey, 5,628; eggs, 667,898 dozen; grapes 20,250 lbs.; wine, 2,361 gallons; sweet potatoes, 232 bushels; apples, 8,647; peaches, 1,990; pears, 958; wool, 277,837 lbs.; milch cows owned, 8,994. School census, 1888, 9,178; teachers, 229. Miles of railroad track, 31.

 

 

*This table is actually on two pages in the original document. Placed on one page for ease of reading.

Page 261

 

Population of Monroe in 1820 was 4,645; 1830, 8,770; 1840, 18,544; 1860, 25,741; 1880, 26,496, of whom 22,461 were born in Ohio; 804, Pennsylvania; 318, Virginia; 49, New York; 33, Indiana; 9, Kentucky; 1224, German Empire; 80, Ireland; 48, France; 38, England and Wales; 8, Scotland, and 6, British America. Census, 1890, 25,175.

 

The principal portion of the population originated from Western Pennsylvania, with some Western Virginians and a few New Englanders; one township was settled by Swiss, among whom were some highly educated men.

 

The valleys of the streams are narrow and are bounded by lofty and rough hills. In many of the little ravines putting into the valleys the scenery is in all the wildness of untamed nature. In places they are precipitous and scarcely accessible to the footsteps of man, and often for many hundred yards the rocks bounding these gorges hang over some thirty or forty feet, forming natural grottos of sufficient capacity to shelter many hundreds of persons, and enhancing the gloomy, forbidding character of the scenery.

 

The annexed historical sketch of the county was written in 1846 by Daniel H. WIRE, Esq., of Woodsfield:

 

The first settlement in the county was near the mouth of Sunfish about the year 1799. This settlement consisted of a few families whose chief end was to locate on the best hunting ground. A few years after three other small settlements were made. The first was near where the town of Beallsville now stands; the second on the Clear fork of Little Muskingum, consisting of Martin CROW, Fred. CROW and two or three other families; and the third was on the east fork of Duck creek, where some three or four families of the name of Archer settled. Not long after this the settlements began to spread, and the pioneers were forced to see the bear and the wolf leave, and make way for at least more friendly neighbors, though perhaps less welcome. The approach of new-comers was always looked upon with suspicion, as this was the signal for the game to leave. A neighbor at the distance of ten miles was considered near enough for all social purposes. The first object of a new-comer after selecting a location and putting the “hoppers” on the horse (if he had any) was to cut some poles or logs and build a cabin of suitable dimensions for the size of his family; for, as yet, rank and condition had not disturbed the simple order of society.

 

The windows of the cabin were made by sawing out about three feet of one of the logs, and putting in a few upright pieces; and in the place of glass, they took paper and oiled it with bear’s oil, or hog’s fat, and pasted it on the upright pieces. This would give considerable light and resist the rain tolerably well. After the cabin was completed the next thing in order was to clear out a piece of ground for a corn patch. They plowed their ground generally with a shovel plow, as this was most convenient among the roots. Their harness consisted mostly of leather-wood bark, except the collar, which was made of husks of corn platted and sewed together. They ground their corn in a handmill or pounded it in a mortar, or hominy-block, as it was called, which was made by burning a hole into the end of a block of wood. They pounded the corn in these mortars with a pestle, which they made by driving an iron wedge into a stick of suitable size. After the corn was sufficiently pounded, they sieved it, and took the finer portion for meal to make bread and mush of, and the coarser they boiled for hominy. Their meat was bear, venison and wild turkey, as it was very difficult to raise hogs or sheep on account of the wolves and bears; and hence pork and woolen clothes were very scarce.

 

The mischievous depredations of the wolves rendered their scalps a matter of some importance. They were worth from four to six dollars apiece. This made wolf-hunting rather a lucrative business, and, of course, called into action the best inventive talent in the country; consequently, many expedients and inventions were adopted, one of which I will give.

 

The hunter took the ovary of a slut—at a particular time—and rubbed it on the soles of his shoes, then circling through the forest where the wolves were most plenty, the male wolves would follow his track; as they approached he would secrete himself in a suitable place, and as soon as the wolf came in reach of the rifle, he received its contents. This plan was positively practiced, and was one of the most effectual modes of hunting

 

Page 262

 

the wolf. A Mr. TERREL, formerly of this place, was hunting wolves in this way not far from where Woodsfield stands. He found himself closely pursued by a number of wolves, and soon discovered from their angry manner that they intended to attack him. He got up into the top of a leaning tree and shot four of them before they would leave him. This is the only instance of the wolves attacking any person in this section of country. Hunters, the better to elude, especially the ever-watchful eye of the deer and turkey, had their hunting-shirts colored to suit the season. In the fall of the year they wore the color most resembling the fallen leaves; in the winter they used a brown, as near as possible the color of the bark of trees. If there was snow on the ground, they frequently drew a white shirt over their other clothes. In the summer they colored their clothes green.

 

In addition to what has already been said, it may not be improper to give a few things in relation to the social intercourse of the early settlers.

 

And first I would remark, on good authority, that a more generous, warm-hearted and benevolent people seldom have existed in any country. Although they are unwilling to see the game driven off by the rapid influx of emigrants, still the stranger, when he arrived among the hardy pioneers, found among them a cordiality, and a generous friendship, that is not found among those who compose, what is erroneously called, the better class of society, or the higher circle. There was no distinction in society, no aristocratic lines drawn between the upper and lower classes. Their social amusements proceeded from matters of necessity. A log-rolling or the raising of a log-cabin was generally accompanied with a quilting, or something of the sort, and this brought together a whole neighborhood of both sexes, and after the labors of the day were ended, they spent the larger portion of the night in dancing and other amusements. If they had no fiddler (which was not very uncommon), some one of the party would supply the deficiency by singing. A wedding frequently called together all the young folks for fifteen or twenty miles around. These occasions were truly convivial; the parties assembled on the wedding day at the house of the bride, and after the nuptials were celebrated they enjoyed all manner of rural hilarity, and most generally dancing formed a part, unless the old folks had religious scruples as to its propriety. About 10 o’clock the bride was allowed to retire by her attendants; and if the groom could steal off from his attendants and retire also, without their knowledge, they became the objects of sport for all the company, and were not a little quizzed. The next day the party repaired to the house of the groom to enjoy the infair. When arrived within a mile or two of the house, a part of the company would run for the bottle, and whoever had the fleetest horse succeeded in getting the bottle, which was always ready at the house of the groom. The successful racer carried back the liquor and met the rest of the company and treated them, always taking good care to treat the bride and groom first; he then became the hero of that occasion, at least.

 

There are but few incidents relative to the Indian war which took place in this county, worthy of notice. When Martin WHETZEL was a prisoner among the Indians they brought him about twenty miles (as he supposed) up Sunfish creek. This would be some place near Woodsfield. WHETZEL says they stopped under a large ledge of rocks, and left a guard with him and went off; and after having been gone about an hour they returned with a large quantity of lead, and moulded a great number of bullets. They fused the lead in a large wooden ladle, which they had hid in the rocks. They put the metal in the ladle, and by burning live coals on it, succeeded in fusing it. After WHETZEL escaped from the Indians and returned home, he visited the place in search of the lead, but could never find it. In fact, he was not certain that he had found the right rock.

 

At the battle of Captain John BAKER was killed. He had borrowed Jack BEAN’S gun, which the Indians had taken. This gun was recaptured on the waters of Wills; creek, about sixteen or eighteen miles west of Woodsfield, and still remains in the possession of some of the friends of the notorious BEAN and the lamented BAKER, in this county, as a memorial of those brave Indian fighters. Henry JOHNSON, who had the fight with the Indians when a boy, is now living in the county.

 

In the latter part of the last century the celebrated French traveller Volney travelled through Virginia, and crossed the Ohio into this county from Sistersville. He was under the guidance of two Virginia bear hunters through the wilderness. The weather was very cold and severe. In crossing the dry ridge, on the Virginia side, the learned infidel became weak with cold and fatigue. He was in the midst of an almost boundless wilderness, deep snows were under his feet, and both rain and snow falling upon his head. He frequently insisted on giving over the enterprise and drying where he was; but his comrades, more accustomed to backwoods fare, urged him on, until he at length gave out, exclaiming, “Oh, wretched and foolish man that I am, to leave my comfortable home and fireside, and come to this unfrequented place, where the lion and tiger refuse to dwell, and the rain hurries off! Go on my friends! Better that one man should perish than three.” They then stopped, struck a fire, built a camp of bark and limbs, shot a buck, broiled the ham, which, with the salt, bread and other necessaries they had, made a very good supper, and everything being soon comfortable and cheery, the learned Frenchman was dilating largely and eloquently upon the ingenuity of man.

 

HEROIC ADVENTURE OF THE JOHNSON BOYS.

 

The account which follows of the heroism of two pioneer boys was given by one of them, Henry JOHNSON, to a Woodsfield paper about 1835 or 1840. Both he and his brother John settled in Monroe. John married into the OKEY family and Henry married Patty RUSSELL. He was the first Mayor of Woodsfield. I saw him at Woodsfield in 1846. He was then nearly seventy years of age, a fine specimen of the fast vanishing race of Indian hunters; tall, erect, with the bearing of a genuine backwoodsman:

 

I was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., on the 4^th day of February, 1777. When I was about eight years old, my father having a large family to provide for, sold his farm with the expectation of acquiring larger possessions farther West. Thus he was stimulated to encounter the perils of a pioneer life. He crossed the Ohio river and bought some improvements on what was called Beach Bottom flats, two and a half miles from the river, and three or four miles above the mouth of the Short creek. Soon after he came there the Indians became troublesome. They stole horses and various other things and killed a number of persons in our neighborhood.

 

When I was between eleven and twelve years old, I think it was the fall of 1788. I was taken prisoner with my brother John, who was about eighteen months older than I. The circumstances are as follows: On Saturday evening we were out with an older brother, and came home late in the evening; one of us had lost a hat and John and I went back the next day to look for it. We found the hat, and sat down on a log and were cracking nuts. After a short time we saw two men coming down from the direction of the house; from their dress we took them to be two of our neighbors, James Perdue and J. RUSSELL. We paid but little attention to them till they came quite near us. To escape by flight was now impossible had we been disposed to try it. We sat still until they came up to us. One of them said, “How do, broder?” My brother then asked them if they were Indians and they answered in the affirmative, and said we must go with them.

 

One of them had a blue buckskin, which he gave my brother to carry, and without further ceremony we took up the line of march for the wilderness, not knowing whether we should ever return to the cheerful home we had left; and not having much love for our commanding officers, of course, we obeyed martial orders rather tardily. One of the Indians walked about ten steps before and the other about the same distance behind us. After travelling some distance we halted in a deep hollow and sat down. They took out their knives and whet them, and talked some time in the Indian tongue, which we could not understand. I told my brother that I thought they were going to kill us, and I believe he thought so too, for he began to talk to them, and told them that his father was cross to him and made him work hard, and that he did not like hard work, that he would rather be a hunter and live in the woods. This seemed to please them, for they put up their knives and talked more lively and pleasantly to us. We returned the same familiarity and many questions passed between us; all parties were very inquisitive. They asked my brother which way home was and he told them the contrary way every time they would ask him, although he knew the way very well; this would make them laugh; they thought we were lost and that we knew no better.

 

They conducted us over Short creek hills in search of horses, but found none; so we continued on foot. Night came on and we halted in a low hollow, about three miles from Carpenter’s fort and about four from the place where they first took us. Our route being somewhat circuitous and full of zigzags we made headway but slowly. As night began to close in around us I became fretful; my brother encouraged me by whispering to me that we would kill the Indians that night. After they had selected the place of encampment one of them scouted around the camp, while the other struck fire, which was done by stopping the touch-hole of the gun and flashing powder in the pan. After the Indian got the fire kindled he reprimed the gun and went to an old stump to get some dry tinder wood for fire; and while he was thus employed my brother John took the gun, cocked it, and was about to shoot the Indian; but I was alarmed, fearing that the other might be close by and be able to overpower us; so I remonstrated against his shooting and took hold of the gun and prevented the shot. I, at the same time, begged him to wait till night and I would help him to kill them both. The Indian that had taken the scout came back about dark.

 

We took our suppers, talked some time and went to bed on the naked ground to try

 

Page 264

 

to rest, and study out the best mode of attack. They put us between them that they might be the better able to guard us. After a while one of the Indians, supposing we were asleep, got up and stretched himself down on the other side of the fire and soon began to snore. John, who had been watching every motion, found they were sound asleep and whispered to me to get up. We got up as carefully as possible. John took the gun which the Indian struck fire with, cocked it and placed it in the direction of the head of one of the Indians; he then took a tomahawk and drew it over the head of the other; I pulled the trigger and he struck at the same instant; the blow falling too far back on the neck only stunned the Indian; he attempted to spring to his feet, uttering most hideous yells. Although my brother repeated the blows, with some effect, the conflict became terrible and somewhat doubtful. The Indian, however, was forced to yield to the blows he received upon his head, and in a short time, he lay quiet and still at our feet.

 

After we were satisfied that they were both dead, and fearing there were others close by, we hurried off and took nothing with us but the gun I shot with. We took our course towards the river, and in about three-quarters of a mile we found a path which led to Carpenter’s fort. My brother here hung up his hat that we might know on our return where to turn off to find our camp. We got to the fort a little before daybreak. We related our adventure, and a small party went back with my brother and found the Indian that had been tomahawked; the other had crawled away a short distance with the gun. A skeleton and a gun were found some time after near the place where we had encamped.