Ohio Counties
|Adams
Historical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe
Vol. II
©1888
SCIOTO COUNTY
SCIOTO
COUNTY was formed May 1, 1803. The name
Scioto was originally applied by the Wyandots to the
river; they, however, called it Sci, on, to; its
signification is unknown. The surface is
generally hilly, and some of the hills are several hundred feet in height. The river bottoms are well adapted to corn,
and on a great part of the hill land small grain and grass can be
produced. Iron ore, coal, and excellent
freestone are the principal mineral productions of value. The manufacture of iron is extensively
carried on in the eastern part of the county.
The principal agricultural products are corn, wheat and oats.
Area about 640 square
miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 52,195; in
pasture, 31,961; woodland, 64,518; lying waste, 8,359; produced in wheat,
109,946 bushels; rye, 88; buckwheat, 173; oats, 104,516; barley, 3,375; corn,
619, 367; broom-corn, 16 pounds brush; meadow hay, 9,552 tons; clover hay, 445;
potatoes, 52,127 bushels; tobacco, 22,500 pounds; butter, 246,756; cheese,
2,181; sorghum, 16,506 gallons; maple syrup, 223; honey, 3,514 pounds; eggs,
221,085 dozen; grapes, 2,010 pounds; wine, 181 gallons; sweet potatoes, 1,902
bushels; apples, 18,887; peaches, 3,719; pears, 237; wool, 10,185 pounds; milch cows owned, 3,498.
Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888: Iron ore mined, 11,816 tons; fire clay,
39,290; limestone, 1,000 tons burned for fluxing; 10,070 cubic feet of
dimension stone. School
census, 1888, 12,454; teachers, 189.
Miles of railroad track, 94.
|
Township And Census |
1840. |
1880. |
Township And Census |
1840. |
1880 |
|
Bloom, |
913 |
2,211 |
Porter, |
1,014 |
2,274 |
|
Brush Creek, |
401 |
2,093 |
Rush, |
|
778 |
|
Clay, |
696 |
1,148 |
Union, |
570 |
1,168 |
|
Green, |
973 |
1,935 |
Valley, |
|
951 |
|
Harrison, |
686 |
1,325 |
Vernon, |
902 |
1,481 |
|
Jefferson, |
578 |
919 |
Washington, |
653 |
1,131 |
|
Madison |
830 |
1,852 |
Wayne Tsp and |
|
|
|
Morgan, |
265 |
1,019 |
Portsmouth City |
|
|
|
Nile, |
860 |
1,905 |
Co-extensive, |
1,853 |
11,321 |
Population of Scioto in 1820 was 5,750; 1830,
8,730; 1840, 11,194; 1860, 24,297; 1880, 33,511; of whom 25,493 were born in
Ohio; 1,569, Kentucky; 1,125, Pennsylvania; 967, Virginia; 276, New York; 153,
Indiana; 1,815, German Empire; 400, Ireland; 309, England and Wales; 256,
France; 33, British America, and 28, Scotland.
Census, 1890, 35,377.
The mouth of the Scioto river
at Portsmouth is ninety feet below Lake Erie, and 474 feet above the sea. The Scioto falls, from Columbus to Portsmouth,
302 feet, as given by Col. ELLET; distance in a direct line, about ninety
miles, or a trifle over three feet of fall to the mile. The Kentucky hills opposite rise abruptly to
the height of 633 feet above low-water mark in the river.
CÉLORON DE BIENVILLE’S EXPEDITION.
Céloron De BIENVILLE, the French explorer, in 1749,
in his expedition down the Ohio to take possession of the Ohio country for
France, landed at the mouth of the Scioto.
They remained from the 22d to the 26th of August. There had been here for years a Shawanese village, and living with them a party of English
traders. Céloron
warned them off, and although he had over 200 men, he refrained from force.
“Capt. Céloron,
knight of the military order of St. Louis, was acting under
Page 558
the orders of the Marquis de la GALLISSONNIÈRE,
Governor-in-Chief of New France, to drive back intruders and vindicate French
rights in the valley of the Ohio.” He
had under him a chaplain, eight subaltern officers, six cadets, twenty
soldiers, 180 Canadians and thirty Indians, Iroquois and Abinakis. This expedition crossed over from Canada, and
embarking on the headwaters of the Allegheny, floated into the Ohio and down it
to the mouth of the Great Miami. Thence,
making his way up that stream as far as Piqua, in what is now Miami county, he burned his canoes, crossed over on ponies to a
French fort on the site of the city of Fort Wayne, and then returned to
Montreal, where he arrived on the 10th of November.
Céloron planted six leaden plates at the mouths of various
streams, as at that of the Kanawha, Muskingum, the Great Miami, etc.,
signifying a renewal of possession of the country. This was done with ceremony. “His men were drawn up in order; Louis XV. was proclaimed lord of all that region; the arms were
stamped on a sheet of tin, nailed to a tree; a plate of lead was buried at the
foot, and the notary of the expedition drew up a formal act of the whole
proceeding.”
The plate at Marietta was found in 1798 by some boys
on the west bank of the Muskingum, and that on the Kanawha in 1846, by a boy
playing on the margin of the river.
Céloron planted no plate at the mouth of the Scioto. One of his plates, as he was on his way to
the Ohio, was stolen from him by a Seneca Indian and after his return, in the
winter of 1749-1750, fell into the hands of Gov. Geo. CLINTON; a liberal
translation of which here follows:
“In the year 1749—the reign of Louis XV., King of
France, we, Céloron, commandant of a detachment sent
by Monsieur the Marquis of GALLISONNIÈRE, Commander in Chief of New France, to
establish tranquillity in certain Indian villages of
these Cantons, have buried this plate at the confluence of the Ohio and of
TO-RA-DA-KOIN, this 29th July—near the river Ohio, otherwise
Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession, which we have taken of
the said river, and of all its tributaries and of all the land on both sides,
as far as to the sources of said rivers—inasmuch as the preceding Kings of
France have enjoyed [this possession] and have maintained it by their arms and
by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht
and Aix-la-Chapelle.
Christopher GIST in 1751 on his journey to the Indians
of Ohio, visited the Shawnese
village at the mouth of the Scioto. It
was known to all the traders as “the Lover Town” to distinguish it from Logstown on the upper Ohio, which last was 14 miles below
the site of Pittsburg. GIST describes
the Lower Town as on both sides of the Ohio, immediately below the mouth of the
Scioto. It contained about 300 men. On the Ohio side were about 100 houses and on
the Kentucky side about 40 houses. On
the Ohio side was a large council house 90 feet in length, having a light cover
of bark. In
this house the Indians held their councils.
The mouth of the Scioto was a favorite point
with the Indians from which to attack boats ascending or descending the
Ohio. We have several incidents to
relate, the first from “MARSHALL’s Kentucky,” and the
two last from “McDONALDS’s Sketches:”
Indian Decoy
Boats.—A
canoe ascending the Ohio about the last of March, 1790, was taken by the
Indians near the mouth of Scioto, and three men killed. Within a few days after, a boat coming down
was decoyed to shore by a white man who feigned distress, when fifty savages
rose from concealment, ran into the boat, killed John MAY and a young woman,
being the first persons they came to, and took the rest of the people on board
prisoners. It is probable that they
owed, according to their ideas of duty or of honor, these sacrifices to the
manes of so many of their slaughtered friends, while the caprices of fortune,
the progression of fate, or the mistaken credulity of Mr. MAY, and his
imitator, is to be seen in the essay to insure their safety by advancing to
meet these savages with outstretched hands as the expression of confidence and
the pledge of friendship. Mr. MAY had
been an early adventurer and constant visitor to Kentucky. He was no warrior; his object was the
acquisition of land—which he had pursued with equal avidity and success to a
very great extent. Insomuch, that had he
lived to secure the titles many of which have been doubtless lost by his death, he would probably have been the greatest landholder
in the country.
Soon after this event, for the Indians still continued
to infest the river, other boats were
Page 559
taken and the people killed or carried away captive.
The 2d of April they attacked three boats on the Ohio,
near the confluence of the Scioto; two being abandoned fell into the hands of
the enemy, who plundered them; the other being manned with all the people, made
its escape by hard rowing.
Such a series of aggression at length roused the
people of the interior, and Gen. SCOTT, with 230 volunteers, crossed the Ohio
at Limestone, and was joined by Gen. HARMAR with 100 regulars of the United
States; these marched for the Scioto.
The Indians had, however, abandoned their camp, and there was no general
action. On the route a small Indian
trail was crossed; thirteen men with a subaltern were detached upon it; they
came upon four Indians in camp, the whole of whom were
killed by the first fire.
The Four Spies.—This spring, 1792, four spies were employed to range from Limestone (now Maysville) to the mouth of Big Sandy river. These four were Samuel DAVIS, Duncan McARTHUR (late Governor of Ohio), Nathaniel BEASLEY (late canal commissioner and major-general of the militia), and Samuel McDOWELL. These men upon every occasion proved themselves worthy of the confidence placed in them by their countrymen. Nothing which could reasonably be expected of men but was done by them. Two and two went together. They made their tours once a week to the mouth of Big Sandy river. On Monday morning two of them would leave Limestone and reach Sa