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.
Townships And Census |
1840. |
1880. |
|
Townships And Census |
1840 |
1880. |
Adams, |
897 |
1,317 |
|
Franklin, |
1,144 |
1,251 |
Benton, |
|
937 |
|
Green, |
938 |
1,207 |
Bethel, |
545 |
1,165 |
|
Jackson, |
806 |
1,382 |
Centre, |
|
2,779 |
|
Lee, |
|
1,241 |
Elk, |
535 |
|
|
Malaga, |
1,443 |
1,520 |
Enoch, |
1,135 |
|
|
Ohio, |
907 |
1,905 |
Perry, |
980 |
1,214 |
|
Switzerland, |
983 |
1,226 |
Salem, |
910 |
2,377 |
|
Union, |
1,351 |
|
Seneca, |
1,349 |
1,302 |
|
Washington, |
533 |
1,815 |
Summit |
|
914 |
|
Wayne, |
684 |
1,284 |
Sunbury, |
1,358 |
1,660 |
|
|
|
|
*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 4th 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.
Woodsfield in 1846.—Woodsfield, the
county-seat, one hundred and eighteen miles easterly from Columbus, and
eighteen from the Ohio river, was founded in 1815 by Archibald WOODS,
of
Wheeling, George PAUL, Benj. RUGGLES and Levi BARBER.
It contains one Episcopal Methodist and one
Protestant Methodist church, a classical academy, one newspaper print
office,
six stores and had, in 1830, 157 inhabitants, and in 1840, 262;
estimated
population in 1847, 450. The
view was
taken in the principal street of the village, on the left of which is
seen the
court-house. At the foot of
the street,
on the left, but not shown in the view, is a natural mound, circular at
the
base and rising to the height of sixty feet.—Old
Edition.
WOODSFIELD,
county-seat of Monroe, one hundred miles east of Columbus, on the B. Z.
&
C. R. R., forty-two miles from Bellaire and seventy from Zanesville.
County
officers, 1888: Auditor, Henry R. MUHLEMAN; Clerk, Elisha
L. LYNCH; Commissioners, John RUBY, J. W. WARNER, Alexander HARMAN;
Coroner, A.
G. W. POTTS; Infirmary Directors, Jacob WOHNHAS, Geo. L. GILLESPIE,
Frederick
STOEHR; Probate Judge, Albert J. PEARSON; Prosecuting Attorney, Geo. G.
JENNINGS; Recorder, Edward J. GRAHAM; Sheriff, Louis SULSBERGER;
Surveyor, W.
S. JONES; Treasurer, Cyrus E. MILLER. City
officers, 1888: John W. DOHERTY, Mayor; George P. DOOR, Clerk;
Fritz REEF, Treasurer; Wm. LANG, Marshal. Newspapers:
Monroe Gazette,
Republican, estate of John W. DOHERTY, editors and publishers; Monroe Journal, German, Fritz REEF,
editor and publisher; Spirit of Democracy,
Democratic, Hamilton and Van LAW, editors and publishers. Churches: one Christian, one
Methodist
Episcopal, one Catholic, one Evangelical. Banks:
Monroe, S. L. MOONEY, president, W. C. MOONEY, cashier.
Manufactures and Employees.—Gazette,
newspaper, 4; Spirit of Democracy,
newspaper, 4; George
Richner & Sons,
flour, etc., 4; Helbling
& Stoehr,
doors,
sash, etc., 5.—State Report, 1887. Population
in 1880, 861. School census, 1888, 339. Census,
1890, 1,031.
John
Waterman OKEY, at one time chief-justice of the State, was born near
Woodsfield,
January 3, 1827. He was of
joint English
and Scotch-Irish stock,
and some of it very
long-lived. An inscription on
the
tombstone of his great-grandmother at Woodsfield showed that she lived
to the
advanced age of one hundred and three years.
The only institution of learning he ever attended was the
Monroe
Academy. He studied law at
Woodsfield;
became Probate Judge and Judge of Common Pleas; in 1865 removed to
Cincinnati,
when, in connection with Judge Gholson, he prepared “Gholson & Okey’s Digest of Ohio
Page 265
Top
Picture
Drawn By
Henry Howe
WOODSFIELD
IN 1846
Bottom
Picture
WOODSFIELD
IN 1886
Page 266
Reports;” and
also, with S.
A. Miller, “Okey
& Miller’s Municipal Law.” In
1877 he was elected Supreme Judge on the ticket with R. M. Bishop for
Governor;
again in 1882 on the ticket with Geo. Hoadly,
by a
majority of 16,500 over his principal competitor.
The Judge had a marvellous
memory. There was not a
single case in
the whole fifty-seven volumes of Ohio Reports with which he was not
familiar,
and scarcely a case which he could not accurately state from memory. He died in 1885.
On
this visit to Woodsfield we made the acquaintance of Hon. James R.
MORRIS, who
was the postmaster of the town. This
gentleman represented this district in Congress from 1861 to 1865. In 1877 was published an illustrated
atlas of
the Upper Ohio river
valley, for which Mr. Morris
supplied the historical facts appertaining to Monroe.
From this, mainly, the following items are
derived:
The
First Permanent
Settlement
of which there is any
well-authenticated history was made in the year 1791.
Philip WITTEN, a brother-in-law of the noted
Indian scouts and fighters, Kinsey and Vachtel
DICKENSON, in 1791 settled in Jackson township. He came there with his family from
Wheeling,
and his descendants still live on the same farm.
The next settlement in order of time was on Buckhill Bottom in 1794, and was
made by Robert McELDOWNEY
followed by Jacob VELLOM and others. Settlements
were made at and near the mouth
of Sunfish creek and Opossum creek by the VANDWARTERS, HENTHORNES,
ATKINSON and
others, about the years 1798-9. About
1802 a settlement was made on the site of Calais.
In 1798 an improvement had been made there by
Aaron DILLIE, from Dillie’s
Bottom, Belmont county. About the
same time a settlement was made by Michael CROW and others on Clear
Fork
creek. Cline’s settlement on
the Little
Muskingum was begun about the year 1805; that at and around the site of
Beallsville at about the same time, and Dye’s settlement, in Perry
township, in
1812.
Woodsfield Founded.—In
1814 the commissioners selected the site of Woodsfield, then an
unbroken
forest, for the county-seat. Tradition
says that in order to get the streets or a part of them cleared out,
Mr. Archibald
WOODS, of Wheeling, from whom the town was named, and a heavy
landholder in
this region, got a keg of brandy and invited all the men and boys
within a
circuit of five miles to come into the place on a certain Saturday,
have a
grand frolic and clear out Main street. This
was done and the first trees felled.
In
1820 Woodsfield contained 18 houses, 6 of them of hewed logs and the
remainder
cabins. In the fall of 1818
the
householders of Woodsfield were Patrick ADAMS, James CARROTHERS (whose
son George
was the first child born in the town), Joseph DRIGGS, Ezra DRIGGS, John
SNYDER,
Anson BREWSTER, Jas. PHILLIPS, Messrs. Sayers, Michael DAVIS, John
COLE, Henry
H. MOTT, Stephen LINDLEY, John KING, Henry JACKSON, Amos B. JONES,
David
PIERSON and Mrs. A. G. HUNTER.
Woodsfield
was incorporated in 1834, and in 1836 Henry JOHNSON (of the Indian
killing
fame) was elected the first Mayor. He
died at Antioch and is buried in the Woodsfield graveyard.
The
first court-house and jail combined was built of logs in 1816, at a
total cost
of $137. The wood work cost
$100, and
the stone and other work $37. The
lower
story was a jail, and the upper a court-room.
The second court-house was built of brick in 1828-29, and
burnt in
1867. It was succeeded by the
present
brick structure, which cost $40,000. The
first court for the county was held in 1815, at the house of Levin OKEY. The first resident lawyer was Seneca
S.
SALISBURY, who came to Woodsfield in 1821. In
1832 Donald ARNOLD, from Cadiz, established the first newspaper, the Woodsfield Gazette.
The members of Congress from this county have
been Joseph MORRIS, 1843-47; Wm. F. HUNTER, 1849-43; Jas. R. MORRIS,
1861-65.
First German and Swiss Settlements.—Under the leadership of Father
Jacob TISHER, in April, 1819,
ten German-Swiss families embarked on a flat boat on the river Aar at the city of Berne. They descended the Aar to the Rhine, and
thence down the Rhine to the city of Antwerp.
There they took passage on the “Eugenius,”
a
French vessel for New York. After
a
passage of 48 days they landed at Amboy, New Jersey, where they
purchased teams
and six of the families started overland for Wheeling.
The little colony now consisted of Father
TISHER, Jacob TSCHAPPAT, Daniel FANKHAUSER, Nicholas FANKHAUSER, Jacob
MARTI
and their families, and Jacob NISPELI, single.
After a tedious journey they reached Wheeling, and again
embarked on a
flat boat, their destination being the great Kanawha river.
Landing
at the mouth of Captina,
there they found two
Pennsylvania Germans—Geo. Goetz and Henry SWEPPE—who informed them
there was
plenty of Government land in Monroe county, near by, and a part of them
were
induced to remain, house room not being obtainable for all. On the 15th
of September Father
TISHER and a part of his little hand continued down the river, and
landed 16
miles below at Bare’s
landing. Jacob BARE, a
Marylander, who could speak
German, persuaded them to settle there.
Thus
this little colony in two bands began the first German-Swiss
settlements in
Monroe county, the one
party in what is now
Page 267
in Switzerland township, the other in
Ohio township. In that region
there was scarce a settler
back from the river, it being an almost unbroken forest. Immigration now fairly set in from
Germany
and Switzerland, and these fertile hills became the happy homes of an
industrious, virtuous people. Their
leader, Father Jacob TISHER, was the first missionary for the German
work of
the Methodist church,
and travelled
in this and adjoining counties. His
circuit was nearly 200 miles in extent, which he made on foot once
every four
weeks. He was very successful
in
organizing societies, and lad the foundation of a work now embraced in
many
circuits and stations. He
died at the
advanced age of 86 years.
Judge
MORRIS illustrates the narrowness and intolerance of early times often
shown by
members of different religious sects towards each, by an anecdote of a
Baptist
clergyman, who often preached in the Baptist church established in 1820
on
Opossum creek, in Centre township,
the first Baptist
church in the county. He
writes: “Rev.
Joseph SMITH, a pious, zealous and somewhat eccentric minister,
officiated at
this and all the other Baptist churches in the county for many years.
“His
eccentricities led him to be very hostile to other denominations,
especially to
Methodists. The congregations
to which
he ministered were scattered over a wide extent of territory. At one time in making his rounds the
back of
his horse became very sore, and he was told by a friend if he would get
a
wolf’s skin and put it under the saddle it would cure it. He replied: ‘I don’t know where to
get one,
unless I skin a Methodist preacher.’”
Subscription Schools.—In
early times subscription schools were common.
Judge MORRIS, in speaking of a subscription school in
Greene, opened in
1825, and taught by John MILLER, thus quotes from a correspondent: “The
terms
of subscription were $1 per scholar for a term of three months. The teacher boarded around among the
scholars; that is, he boarded in the families of the scholars for the
length of
time warranted by the number of pupils sent by the family.
“Before
the holidays the teacher was compelled to sing an article that on
Christmas or
New Year’s day he would
treat the boys to ginger cakes,
cider and apples, or they would bar him out of the school-house, or if
he got
in first they would smoke him out. If
he
still refused to sing the article, they would take him to the nearest
creek and
duck him.
“The
writer remembers being in a school-house in 1829-30, when the teacher
was
barred out; but he climbed on the roof of the school-house, covered the
chimney
and smoked the scholars out. After
thus
having worsted them he still refused to sign the article; but after
some delay,
waiting for an attack upon him, he treated them bountifully and gave
them half
a holiday, which was spent at the various games of amusement common in
those
days.”
Squatters.—The
early settlers were more numerous in the region around the mouth of the
Sunfish
than elsewhere. “Most of the
first
settlers,” says MORRIS, “were squatters, that is, a family moved into
the
county and settled on Congress land, and when the head of the family
found himself able, he
would enter the land upon which he had
squatted. It was considered a
very mean
trick in those days for a person to ‘enter out’ a squatter who was
doing his
best to raise the means to pay for the home he was making for himself
and
family; and scarcely any one would do it without consent of the
squatter, who
was frequently paid for his improvements when he found himself unable
to enter
the land.”
Indian Medicine-man.—Dr. N. E. HENTHORN,
recently deceased, in a letter to John B. NOLL, Esq., says: “In 1831 I
was
returning home from Cincinnati by land and stopped over night at
Jackson’s
tavern, in Reading, 12 miles from the city.
When the landlord ascertained where I was from, he said
that his father
and an old Indian would like to talke
with me.
I
went to their room and Mr. Jackson, Sr., said he knew my grandfather at
the old
block house at Wheeling; said that at the time BOGGS was killed at
Boggs’
island, the Indians were pursued by the whites, and that he, Jackson,
wounded
this Indian, and when about to kill him with his tomahawk, the Indian
told him
he was the medicine-man of his tribe, and if he would spare his life he
would
cure a cancer on his (Jackson’s) nose, which he did; that the Indian
had lived
with him ever since, and was with him in the war of 1812, under General
Harrison.
Indian Decoy.—“The Indian told me that
the Indian name of Sunfish creek was Buckchitawa,
and
Opossum creek was in the Indian tongue Eagle creek.
He further told me of the killing of a big
Indian at Buckchitawa,
about the time of the
settlement at Marietta.
Big Indian.—“The Indians had a white
prisoner whom they forced to decoy boats to the shore.
A small boat was descending the river
containing white people, when this prisoner was placed under the bank
to tell
those in the boat that he had escaped captivity and to come to shore
and take
him in. The Indians were
concealed, but
the big Indian stuck his head out from behind a large tree when it was
pierced
by a bullet from the gun of the steersman of the boat.
The Indians cried ‘Wetzel!’ ‘Wetzel!’
and fled. This was the last
ever seen of the
prisoner. The Indians
returned the next
day and buried the big Indian, who, he said, was twenty inches taller
than he
was, and he was a tall man.
“When
Chester BISHOP was digging many years ago a cellar for Asabel
BOOTH at Clarington, he came across a skeleton, the bones of which were
carefully removed by Dr. Richard KIRKPATRICK, and from his measurement
he
estimated the man when living would have been 8 feet and 5 inches. It is
Page 268
probable that these were the bones of the
big Indian. He further told
me there was lead on Eagle, Buckchitawa
and Captina creeks,
but the veins were thin.”
TRAVELLING NOTES.
My
original visit to Woodsfield was in March, 1846.
I came in the character of a pedestrian, with
my knapsack on my back, loaded with some 14 pounds.
A steamboat had landed me on the Ohio some 16
miles away, and I came up the hills meeting scarcely a soul or seeing
much else
than hills and trees.
Woodsfield
was then much out of the world. Indeed
the entire county was quite primitive; its people largely dwelt in
cabins. This seemed to me a
good thing, saving many
the worry of having so much to look after. “Great
possessions, great cares.”
Monroe
county was away from all
travel, except on the river
fringe. This is 29 miles long
and the
river hurries by, falling in that distance 20 feet 6½ inches, and
mostly in
ripples.
The county had a decided political
character and was
such a sore spot to the old Whigs from its stunning Democratic
majorities that
they called it “Dark Monroe.” Still, I thought I could travel over
it in
safety without a lantern.
On
my arrival at Woodsfield I had an unusually pleasant reception, and
when my
book was published the indwellers of Dark Monroe showed their love for
their
Ohio land by an unusually large patronage. The
behavior of the people was such that the jailer’s office was of
little account. His business
was so poor
that if he had depended upon fees and board money for a living he must
have
starved. Neither did the
sheriff get a
chance to hang anybody, for a capital crime had never been committed in
the
county. In such a condition
of things
the Woodsfield newspaper suffered for want of interesting home news to
chronicle, excepting after an election, when the Democratic rooster
showed his
outstretched plumage.
I
came this last time by the “Poor Man’s Railroad,” described on page 318. When I got here I inquired for three
old
acquaintances I had made in 1846, and as usual in such cases the answer
was,
“dead.” They were Henry
JOHNSON, Daniel
H. Wire and Jamie Shaw. Henry
JOHNSON,
having been born one hundred and nine years before, of course was dead. He was one of the
ever-to-be-remembered two
JOHNSON boys who killed two Indians in the old Revolutionary war. He died in 1850, at Antioch, that
is, four
years after I made his acquaintance, and was buried at Woodsfield.
Daniel
H. WIRE, who gave me the preceding historical sketch, died before the
war. When I saw him he was a
young lawyer, and at
one time prosecuting attorney for the county.
He ran for Congress on the Democratic ticket. This was in 1855, during what was
termed the
“Know-Nothing Craze.” The
Know-Nothings
carried that year many of the Ohio districts, and this among them. Wire’s personal popularity was so
great that
it saved the county; its usual majority was some 1,600, but it went
through by
about four hundred.
In
the old picture of Woodsfield is the figure of an old man leaning on a
cane
with a dog by his side. That
is Jamie SHAW
and his dog. He was not on
that spot at
the moment I drew the picture but I introduced him as a matter of humor, and in his contemplative
attitude Jamie was the oddity of
Woodsfield and I felt his
memory should be preserved for a grateful people.
I
derive the following about Jamie from conversation with Hon. W. F.
OKEY, of
Woodsfield, and Gen. Jas. O. Amos, of the Shelby County Democrat. The last, once a
boy in Woodsfield, years later, in Allen’s administration, mounted
epaulets and
became Adjutant-General of Ohio.
Jamie
was a hatter, originally from Greene county, Pa., and a soldier of the
war of
1812. He was a short, fat
man, waddled
about carrying a cane, and wherever Jamie went his dog, like Mary’s
lamb, was
sure to go. The dog was like
his master,
short and fat, and his color interesting—yellow. Whenever Jamie stopped or sat down
his dog
would drop on his haunches and look up lovingly in his face. The dog in his affection seemed the
counterpart of Dr. Holland’s BLANCO. And,
no doubt, Jamie felt towards him as the Doctor did to Blanco, when
he wrote:
My dear dumb friend, low-lying
there, A
willing vassal at my feet; Glad partner of my home and fare, My
vassal on the street. I scan the whole broad earth around, For
that one heart which, leal
and true, Bears friendship without end or
bound, And
find that friend in you. Ah, Blanco, did I worship God, As
truly as you worship me; Or follow where my Master trod With
your humility— Did I sit fondly at his feet, As
you, dear Blanco, sit at mine; And watch him with a love as sweet, My
life would grow divine. |
Page 269
Jamie was an ardent soul and greatly
enjoyed his
religion. He was a Methodist,
and oft
carried away in a frenzy of excitement to the perpetration of
ridiculous things
and greatly to the amusement of the Woodsfield youngsters. On one of these occasions, while
lying on the
floor, kicking up his heels and crying, “Glory to God,” one of the
mischievous
urchins dropped a bullet in his mouth. It
came near choking Jamie to death. A
boy named DRIGGS was arrested and brought before a Justice and fined
for
the offence; but he declared it was not him that did it—it was another
boy. It always is.
Jamie
eventually moved to Missouri, where he located some soldier’s
land-warrants
granted him for his services in our last war against the “red-coats.” He lived there a number of years;
when the
word came he was no more. But
as for his
companion, there was no record, not even his name; but we do know he
worshipped
Jamie, and the hue of his coat was the hue of those worn by the priests
of Boodha, the “sacred
yellow.”
As
for odd characters in the olden time, the country was full of them. Every community had its queer one. What was singular, no two of these
were ever
alike. The isolated lives of
the
old-time people had much to do with the development of originality. Now, through the influence of the
press, we
all daily talk the same topics, think the same thoughts and move on the
same
planes. Individuality is
measurably lost
in the on-rush of the ever-surging increasing multitudes; who,
in the daily surprise of startling events and wonder-working
discoveries,
continually lift their hands and exclaim, “What next?”
CLARINGTON
is on the Ohio river at
the mouth of the Sunfish,
about fifteen miles east of Woodsfield. Newspaper:
Independent,
Independent, W. T. POWELL, editor and publisher.
Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 German Lutheran and
1 Christian. Population,
1880, 915. School
census, 1888, 251; E. B. Thomas, school superintendent. Clarington is the most extensive
business
point on the river between Marietta and Bellaire.
It was laid out in 1822 by David PIERSON, who
named it after his daughter Clarinda.
BELLSVILLE is eight miles
northeast of Woodsfield, on the B. Z. & C. R. R. It has 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist
Episcopal,
and 1 Christian church. Population, 1880, 391. School
census, 1888, 166.
GRAYSVILLE is eight miles
southwest of Woodsfield. It
has 1
Christian, 1 Methodist and 1 Baptist church.
Population, 1880, 174. School
census, 1888, 74.
CALASIS is miles northwest of
Woodsfield. It has 1
Methodist Episcopal
church.
Population, 1880, 159. School
census, 1888, 105.
CAMERON is twelve miles east of
Woodsfield. School
census, 1888, 140.
STAFFORD is ten miles southwest of
Woodsfield. It has 1
Christian and 1
Methodist Episcopal church. School
census, 1888, 103.