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 Sandy by Wednesday evening.
On Thursday morning the other two would leave Limestone
for the mouth of
Sandy. Thus they
would meet or pass each
other about opposite the mouth of Scioto river;
and by
this constant vigilance the two sets of spies would pass the mouth of
Scioto,
in going and returning, four times in each week.
This incessant vigilance would be continued
until late in November, or the first of December, when hostilities
generally
ceased in the later years of the Indian wars.
Sometimes the spies would go up and down the Ohio in
canoes. In such
cases one of them would push the canoe,
and the other go on foot through the woods, keeping
about a mile in advance of the canoe, the footman keeping a sharp
lookout for
ambuscade or other Indian sign.
Adventure
of McARTHUR and DAVIS.—Upon
one of these tours, when DAVIS and McARTHUR
were together, going up the river with their canoe, they lay at night a
short
distance below the mouth of Scioto.
Early the next morning they crossed the Ohio in their
canoe, landed and
went across the bottom to the foot of the hill, where they knew of a
fine deerlick. This lick
is situated about two miles below Portsmouth, and near Judge John
COLLINS’
house. The morning
was very calm and a
light fog hung over the bottom. When
DAVIS and McARTHUR had
arrived near the lick, McARTHUR
halted and DAVIS proceeded, stooping low among the
thick brush and weeds to conceal himself.
He moved on with the noiseless tread of the cat until he
got near the
lick, when he straightened up to look if any deer were in it. At that instant he heard
the sharp crack from
an Indian’s rifle and the singing whistle
of a bullet pass
his ear. As the
morning was calm and
foggy the smoke from the Indian’s rifle settled around his head, so
that the
Indian could not see whether his shot had taken effect or not. DAVIS immediately raised
his rifle to his
face, and as the Indian stepped out of the smoke to see the effect of
his shot,
Davis, before the Indian had time to dodge out of the way, fired, and
dropped
him in his tracks. DAVIS
immediately
fell to loading his rifle, not thinking it safe or prudent to run up to
an
Indian with an empty gun. About
the time
DAVIS had his gun loaded, McARTHUR
came running to
him. Knowing that
the shots he had heard
were in too quick succession to be fired by the same gun, he made his
best
speed to the aid of his companion.
Just
as McARTHUR had stopped
at the place where DAVIS
stood, they heard a heavy rush going through the brush, when in an
instant
several Indians made their appearance in the open ground around the
lick. DAVIS and McARTHUR
were standing in thick brush and high weeds, and being unperceived by
the
Indians, crept off as silently as they could and put off at their best
speed
for their canoe, crossed the Ohio and were out of danger. All the time that DAVIS
was loading his gun
the Indian he had shot did not move hand or foot; consequently he ever
after
believed he killed the Indian.
Attack
on the
Packet Boat.—During
the summer of
1794, as the packet boat was on her way up, near the mouth of the
Scioto, a
party of Indians fired into the boat as it was passing near the shore,
and one
man, John STOUT, was killed, and two brothers by the name of COLVIN
were
severely wounded. The
boat was hurried
by the remainder of the crew into the stream, and then returned to
Maysville. The four
“spies” were at
Maysville, drawing their pay and ammunition, when the packet boat
returned. Notwithstanding
the recent and
bloody defeat sustained in the packet boat, a fresh crew was
immediately procured,
and the four spies were directed by Col. Henry LEE (who had the
superintendence
and direction of them), to guard the boat as far as the mouth of Big
Sandy
river. As the spies
were on their way up
the river with the packet boat, they found concealed and sunk in the
mouth of a
small creek, a short distance below the mouth of the Scioto, a bark
canoe,
large enough to carry seven or eight men.
In this canoe a party of Indians had crossed the Ohio and
were prowling
about somewhere in the country. Samuel
McDOWELL was sent back
to give notice to the inhabitants,
while the other three spies remained with the packet boat till they saw
it safe
post the mouth of Big Sandy river.
McARTHUR’s
Adventure.—At this place the spies
parted from the boat and commenced their return for Maysville. On their way up they had
taken a light
canoe. Two of them
Page 560
pushed the canoe, while the others
advanced on foot to
reconnoiter. On
their return the spies floated
down the Ohio in their canoe, till they came nearly opposite the mouth
of the
Scioto river, where they
landed and Duncan McARTHUR
[afterwards Governor of Ohio] went out into the
hills in pursuit of game. TREACLE
and
BEASLEY went about a mile lower down the river and landed their canoe,
intending also to hunt till McARTHUR
should come up
with them. McARTHUR
went to a deer lick, with the situation of which he was well
acquainted, made a
blind, behind which he concealed himself and waited for game. He lay about an hour when
he discovered two
Indians coming to the lick. The
Indians
were so near him before he saw them that it was impossible for him to
retreat
without being discovered. As
the boldest
course appeared to him to be the safest, he determined to permit them
to come
as near to him as they would, shoot one of them and try his strength
with the
other. Imagine his
situation. Two
Indians armed with rifles, tomahawks and
scalping-knives, approaching in these circumstances, must have caused
his heart
to beat pit-a-pat. He
permitted the
Indians, who were walking towards him in a stooping posture, to
approach
undisturbed. When
they came near the
lick, they halted in an open piece of ground and straightened up to
look into
the lick for game. This
halt enabled McARTHUR
to take deliberate aim from a rest, at only
fourteen steps distance; he fired, and an Indian fell.
McARTHUR
remained
still a moment, thinking it possible that the other Indian would take
to
flight. In this he
was mistaken; the
Indian did not even dodge out of his track when his companion sunk
lifeless by
his side.
As the Indian’s gun was charged, McARTHUR
concluded it would be rather a fearful job to rush upon him, he
therefore
determined upon a retreat. He
broke from
his place of concealment and ran with all his speed; he had run but a
few steps
when he found himself tangled in a top of a fallen tree; this caused a
momentary halt. At
that instant the
Indian fired and the ball whistled sharply by him.
As the Indian’s gun as well as his own, was
now empty, he thought of turning round and giving him a fight upon
equal
terms. At this
instant several other
Indians came in sight, rushing with savage screams through the brush. He fled with his utmost
speed, the Indians
pursuing and firing at him as he ran; one of their balls entered the
bottom of
his powder-horn and shivered the side of it next his body into pieces. The splinters of his
shattered powder-horn
were propelled with such force by the ball that his side was
considerably injured
and the blood flowed freely. The
ball in
passing through the horn had given him such a jar that he thought for
some time
it had passed through his side; but this did not slacken his pace. The Indians pursued him
some distance. McARTHUR, though
not very fleet, was capable of enduring great fatigue, and now he had
an
occasion which demanded the best exertion of his strength. He gained upon his
pursuers, and by the time
he had crossed two or three ridges he found himself
free from pursuit, and turned his course to the river.
When he came to the bank of the
Ohio, he discovered
BEASLEY and TREACLE in the canoe, paddling up stream, in order to keep
her
hovering over the same spot and to be more conspicuous should McARTHUR make his escape from
the Indians. They
had heard the firing and the yelling in
pursuit and had no doubt about the cause, and had concluded it
possible, from
the length of time and the direction of the noise that McARTHUR
might have effected his
escape. Nathaniel
BEASLEY and Thomas TREACLE were not
the kind of men to fly at the approach of danger and forsake a comrade. McARTHUR
saw the
canoe and made a signal to them to come ashore.
They did so, and McARTHUR
was soon in the
canoe, in the middle of the stream and out of danger.
Thus ended this day’s adventures
of the spies and their packet boat and this was the last
attack made by
the Indians upon a boat in the Ohio river.
Prior to the settlement at Marietta, an
attempt at settlement was made at Portsmouth, the history of which is
annexed
from an article in the American Pioneer, by George CORWIN, of
Portsmouth.
In April, 1785, four families from the
Redstone settlement in Pennsylvania, descended the Ohio to the mouth of
the
Scioto and there moored their boat under the high bank where Portsmouth
now
stands. They
commenced clearing the
ground to plant seeds for a crop to support their families, hoping that
the red
men of the forest would suffer them to remain and improve the soil. They seemed to hope that
white men would no
longer provoke the Indians to savage warfare.
Soon after they landed, the four
men, heads of the
families, started up the Scioto to see the paradise of the West, of
which they
had heard from the mouths of white men who had traversed it during
their
captivity among the natives. Leaving
the
little colony, now consisting of four women and their children, to the
protection of an over-ruling Providence, they traversed beautiful
bottoms of
the Scioto as far up as the prairies above and opposite to where
Piketon now
stands. One of
them, Peter PATRICK by
name, pleased
Page 561
with the country, cut the initials
of his name on a
beech near the river, which being found in after times, gave the name
of Pee Pee to the creek
that flows through the prairie of the same
name; and from that creek was derived the name of Pee Pee
township in Pike county.
Encamping near the site of Piketon,
they were
surprised by a party of Indians, who killed two of them as they lay by
their
fires. The other
two escaped over the
hills to the Ohio river,
which they struck at the
mouth of the Little Scioto, just as some white men going down the river
in a
pirogue were passing. They
were going to
Port Vincennes, on the Wabash. The
tale
of woe which was told by these men, with entreaties to be taken on
board, was
at first insufficient for their relief.
It was not uncommon for Indians to compel white prisoners
to act in a
similar manner to entice boats to the shore for murderous and marauding
purposes. After
keeping them some time
running down the shore, until they believed that if there were an
ambuscade of
Indians on shore they were out of its reach, they took them on board
and
brought them to the little settlement, the lamentations at which cannot
be
described nor its feeling conceived, when their peace was broken and
their
hopes blasted by the intelligence of the disaster reaching them. My informant was one who
came down in the
pirogue.
There was, however, no time to be
lost; their safety
depended on instant flight—and gathering up all their movables, they
put off to
Limestone, now Maysville, as a place of greater safety, where the men
in the
pirogue left them, and as my informant said, never heard of them more.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
Thos. M’DONALD built the first cabin in the county,
but we are ignorant of its site or the date of its erection (Col. John
M’DONALD, his brother, is our authority for this assertion). Early in the settlement of
the country the
village of Alexandria was founded at the mouth of the Scioto, on the
west bank,
opposite Portsmouth, which, at the formation of the county, was made
“the
temporary seat of justice and courts ordered to be held at the house of
John
COLLINS.” Being
situated upon low ground
liable to inundations, its population dwindled away so that the
locality ceased
to exist as a town.
The historian of Scioto county, the
late Mr. Samuel
KEYES, to whom its people are much indebted for his praiseworthy
efforts to
preserve its pioneer history, stated that Samuel MARSHALL, Sr., the
father-in-law of Thomas McDONALD,
built the first
cabin at a point about two miles above the site of Portsmouth, in
February,
1796. He was
followed in March, by John
LINDSAY. Mr.
MARSHALL and John LINDSAY
had moved up from Manchester and were probably the first permanent
settlers in
the county. Mr.
KEYES also stated that
MARSHALL put in the first crop of corn; that the first person married
was a
daughter of his and that the first child born in the county was another
daughter.
The distinction of having built the
first cabin is
also claimed for John BELLI, he having bought land at the mouth of
Turkey creek
in 1795, but did not remove there until a later date.
Hezekiah MERRITT is another claimant for the
honors of first settlement. He
while on
his way stopped during the summer of 1796, at a point near Lucasville,
where he
built a temporary cabin and raised a crop of corn.
However, the question of a few months
priority of settlement is not a matter of vital importance.
In 1795 Major Isaac BONSER, who had
been sent out by
parties in Pennsylvania, staked out land preparatory to settlement at
the mouth
of the Little Scioto river. In August of the
succeeding year, he returned
with five families and descending the Ohio river
in
flatboats they took possession of this land.
These five families were those of Isaac BONSER, Uriah
BARBER, John BEATTY, William WARD and Ephraim ADAMS.
Among other early settlers in the
county were John
COLLINS, David GHARKY, Joseph FEURT, the HITCHCOCK family, James MUNN,
John W.
and Abraham MILLAR, Philip SALADAY, Martin FUNK, Thomas GILRUTH, Dr.
Thomas
WALLER, William LAWSON, Philip NOEL, Henry UTT, Wm. MONTGOMERY, James
COCHRANE,
Captain William LUCAS and his sons William and Joseph LUCAS, John
LUCAS, Robert
LUCAS (afterward Governor of Ohio), Stephen CARY, Samuel G. and William
JONES.
The original proprietor of
Alexandria was Col. Thomas
PARKER, who served in the Revolutionary war and located the land at the
mouth
of the Scioto. In
1799 his brother
Alexander PARKER laid off the town; Elias LANGHAM was the surveyor. This was the first town in
the county and
until Portsmouth was laid out bid fair to become the principal town of
the
county.
Portsmouth was laid out in 1803, by
Henry MASSIE, and
named for Portsmouth, Va., the former home of Mr. MASSIE. Owing to its higher
elevation and freedom
from floods, it soon outstripped Alexandria, was made the county seat
and its
rival city was subsequently abandoned.
The first permanent settler on the
site of Portsmouth
was Emanuel TRAXLER, in the year 1796.
He built on the extreme west of the high ground, near what
is now Scioto
street.
Vincent
BRODBECK occupied the place in
Page 562
1880.
The first
child born in Portsmouth was the daughter of Uriah
BARBER, named Polly, and born in 1804.
A frame court house was erected and
completed in 1817
on land donated by Henry MASSIE. It
was
on Market street,
between Front and Second
streets. December
29, 1814, the town of
Portsmouth was incorporated.
Portsmouth
in 1846.—Portsmouth,
the
county-seat, is situated on the Ohio river just above the mouth of the
Scioto,
at the termination of the Ohio canal, ninety miles south of Columbus,
and 110
above Cincinnati by the river. It
is a
town of considerable business, and does a heavy trade with the iron
works;
three steamboats are continually plying between here and the iron
region in the
upper part of this and in Lawrence county,
and two run
regularly between here and Cincinnati.
In the town is a well-conducted free school, which has
nine teachers and
320 pupils. It is
supported mainly by
property bequeathed for this purpose, yielding about $2,000 per annum. Portsmouth contains 1
Presbyterian, 1
Episcopal, 1 Methodist and 1 Catholic church, 2 printing-offices, 1
rolling, 1
merchant and 1 oil mill, 1 carding machine, 1 forge, 2 foundries, 17
mercantile
stores, and a population estimated at 2,500.
A company of Eastern capitalists are constructing in the
old channel of
the Scioto, opposite Portsmouth, a commodious basin, with dry docks
attached
for the building and repairing of steamboats.
It is said that a mile and a half below the old mouth of
the Scioto,
about the year 1740, stood a French fort or trading-station.—Old Edition.
PORTSMOUTH, county-seat of Scioto, is
ninety-five miles south of Columbus, on the Ohio river. The town is entered by the
O. & N. W. and
S. V. Railroads, and is within easy access of the C. & O. or N.
N. & M.
V. Railroad.
County officers, 1888: Auditor, Filmore MUSSER; Clerk, John H.
SIMMONS; Commissioners, John
KAPS, Milton W. BROWN, Frank RICKEY; Coroner, Charles C. FULTON;
Infirmary
Directors, Ross COURTNEY, Charles HACQUARD, Samuel J. WILLIAMS; Probate
Judge,
James M. DAWSON; Prosecuting Attorney, Theodore K. FUNK; Recorder,
Benjamin F.
HARWOOD; Sheriff, Thomas T. YEAGER; Surveyor, Joseph W. SMITH;
Treasurer, Mark
B. WELLS. City
officers, 1888: John A.
TURLEY, Mayor; John W. LEWIS, Marshal; Volney
R. ROW,
Solicitor; R. A. BRYAN, Civil Engineer; William BENNETT, Commissioner;
Henry
POTTER, Wharfmaster;
Chas. KINNEY, Treasurer; J. W.
OVERTURF, Collector; S. G. McCOLLOCH,
Clerk. Newspapers: Blade, Republican, J. E. VALJEAN, editor
and publisher; Correspondent,
German Independent, Carl
HUBER, editor and publisher; Leader,
Labor, J. B. CARTER, editor; Times,
Democratic, James W. NEWMAN, editor and publisher; Tribune,
Republican, J. F. STRAYER, editor; Press,
Republican, Enterprise Publishing Company, publishers, N. W.
EVANS, president. Churches:
2 Protestant
Episcopal, 1 German Evangelical, 3 Presbyterian, 4 Methodist Episcopal,
1 United
Brethren, 1 Church of Christ, 2 Catholic, 1 Jewish, 1 African Methodist
Episcopal. Banks:
Citizens’ Savings, D.
N. MURRAY, president, J. W. OVERTURF, cashier; Farmers’ National,
George DAVIS,
president, John M. WALL, cashier; First National, Robert BAKER,
president, A.
T. JOHNSON, cashier; Portsmouth National, John G. PEEBLES, president,
W. C.
SILCOX, cashier.
Manufactures
and Employees.—G. D.
WAITE,
furniture, 34 hands; Henry PRESCOTT, wheelbarrows, 14; CUPPETT
& WEBB,
sawed lumber, 10; REITZ & Co., sawed and cut stone, 15;
Portsmouth Brewery,
8; BURGESS Steel and Iron Works, 180; YORK Manufacturing Co., road
scrapers, 8;
Portsmouth Foundry and Machine Shops, boilers, engines, etc., 50; John
DICE,
carriages and buggies, 10; Portsmouth Steam Bakery, 3; PADAN Brothers
&
Co., ladies’ and children’s shoes, 187; NICHOLS Furniture Co., 85;
Portsmouth
Veneer Mills, 10; DREW, SELBY & Co., ladies’ and children’s
shoes, 223;
Enoch J. SALT & Co., blankets, flannels, etc., 49; LEHMAN
RHODES & Co.,
doors, sash, etc., 13; Wm. H. KEHRER, seamless hosiery, 11; Excelsior
Shoe Co.,
13; Portsmouth Fire-Brick Co., 87; JOHNSON Hub and Spoke Works, 64;
Ohio Stove
Co., 70; Portsmouth Wagon Stock Co., 49; H.
Page 563
Top
Picture
Drawn by
Henry Howe in 1846.
PORTSMOUTH.
Bottom
Picture
THE LANDING
AT PORTSMOUTH.
Page 564
LEET & Co., flooring, siding, etc., 10;
T. M. PATTERSON, book-binding, etc., 20; Portsmouth Steam Laundry, laundrying, 10; C. C. Bode
& Son, cut and sawed stone, 6;
S. V. R. R. Shops, railroad repairs, 85; O. & N. W. R. R.
Shops, railroad
repairs, 25.—State Report, 1888.
Population, 1880,
11,321. School
census, 1888, 4,161.
E. S. COX, school superintendent.
Capital invested in industrial establishments, $1,020,800. Value
of annual product,
$2,046,700.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.
Census, 1890,
12,394.
The beautiful plain at the confluence of the
Scioto and Ohio at Portsmouth,
forms the site of a
singular and interesting series of ancient works.
They are in three divisions or groups.
Extending along the Ohio river
for eight miles, and
are connected by parallel lines of embankments, two of which divisions
are on
the Kentucky side. These
are described
in the great work of SQUIER and DAVIS, published by the Smithsonian
Institution. The
following items upon
the quarries of this region are from Dr. ORTON’s
“Geological Report:”
The PORTSMOUTH QUARRIES have been worked
since the first settlement of the Ohio valley.
All the ravines that reach the Ohio valley below
Portsmouth for twenty
miles disclose a large amount of excellent building-stone. At the quarry of Messrs.
REITZ & Co. the
stone occurs in layers from six to twenty-four inches in thickness. For flagging the stone is
unequalled in the
Ohio valley, as it wears evenly, always gives foothold, and is in every
way
satisfactory. It is
well adapted to
sawing, and is used quite extensively for general building purposes.
The quarry of Mr. J. M. INSKEEP is located
about twelve miles below Portsmouth, on the Ohio river,
at a horizon about sixty feet above the Buena Vista stone proper. For the last three or four
years this quarry
has supplied material most extensively for the Columbus market, and a
number of
fine stone fronts have been constructed from it.
The stone varies considerably in quality and
needs to be carefully inspected.
The southwestern portion of Scioto county and the southeastern
corner of Adams county, two
adjoining districts, were once the most important localities in Ohio
for the
production of building-stone. In
the
earlier days of the State an engineer of reputation, employed upon the
construction of canals, became conversant with the then known
building-stones
of the State, and recognizing the great value and accessibility of the
ledge,
commonly known as the Buena Vista Freestone Ledge, bought a large
territory
here, and began the development of the quarries in a large way. Other horizons of good
rock were found at
various levels, but this one bed, by its color and quality, supplied
the
Cincinnati market almost exclusively.
Its reputation spread throughout the whole Ohio valley and
beyond. Large
quarries were opened on both sides of
the river, government patronage was secured, and the material for the
construction of custom-houses and other public buildings was ordered
from the
Buena Vista quarries. So
great was the
demand for this stone
that material of poor quality as
well as good was hurried into the market.
The green stone while full of quarry water was laid in
massive walls,
and the bad behavior of this material soon excluded the stone almost
entirely
from the market. It
is, however, as good
now as when it earned its high reputation, but needs careful and
conscientious
selection and suitable seasoning.
THE
FRENCH GRANT.
The “French Grant,” a tract of 24,000 acres,
is situated in the southeastern part of this county.
“It was granted by Congress in March, 1795,
to a number of French families who lost their lands at Gallipolis by
invalid
titles. It extended
from a point on the
Ohio river one and a half miles above, but opposite the mouth of Little
Sandy
creek in Kentucky, and extending eight miles in a direct line down the
river,
and from the two extremities of that line, reaching
Page 565
back at right angles sufficiently far to include
the quantity of land required, which somewhat exceeded four and a half
miles.” Twelve
hundred acres additional
were, in 1798, granted, adjoining it towards its lower end. Of this tract 4,000 acres
directly opposite
Little Sandy creek were granted to Mons.
J. G.
GERVAIS, who laid out a town upon it which he called Burrsburg,
which never had but a few inhabitants.
Thirty years since there were but eight or ten families
residing on the
French Grant.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE FRENCH SETTLERS.
Among the few Frenchmen that
settled on the Grant were
A. C. VINCENT, Claudius CADOT, Petre
CHABOT, Francois
VALODIN, Jean BERTRAND, Guillaume DUDUIT, Petre
RUISHOND, Mons.
GINAT,
Doctor DUFLIGNY. The
sufferings and
hardships of these Frenchmen, so poorly adapted for pioneer life, were
very
great. (See Gallia
County.) They
were a worthy,
simple-hearted people, and those who remained on the Grant eventually
became
thrifty and useful citizens.
It was in the spring of 1797 that
the families of
DUDUIT, BERTRAM, GERVAIS, LACROIX and DUTIEL located on their lots in
the
Grant. They were
followed by others,
but, as previously stated, only a comparatively small number removed
from
Gallipolis to Scioto county. In the very valuable
series of biographical
sketches of Scioto county pioneers, by Mr. Samuel KEYES, are many
interesting
items illustrative of the characteristics and life of these Frenchmen. We give the following:
Liberal
Dealing Profitable.—M. DUTIEL, in
selling grain, used a half-bushel measure a little larger than the law
required. Some of
his neighbors called
his attention to the fact that he was giving more grain than was
necessary,
when he replied, “Well, I know it; but I would rather give too much
than too
little.” This
becoming known, DUTIEL
always sold out his surplus grain before his neighbors could sell a
bushel.
Easily
Scared.—Mons. DUDUIT, unlike most of his
fellow-countrymen, took
naturally to the woods, and soon became an expert hunter and woodsman. Before his removal to the
Grant, he had been
employed by Col. SPROAT to scour the woods between Marietta and the
Scioto, in
company with Major Robt.
SAFFORD.
It was their duty to notify the settlements
of the approach of hostile Indians.
On
one occasion DUDUIT was out hunting with several of his countrymen,
when he
fired at and killed a deer; whereupon his companions, supposing they
had been
fired upon by Indians, fled to the settlement, and reported that the
Indians
had killed DUDUIT and were coming to raid the village.
DUDUIT hung up his deer and hastened back to
the village, which he found in an
uproar and the
settlers panic-stricken; but he soon quieted their fears, and induced
some of
them to assist him in bringing in the deer he had killed.
The
Laziest
Man in the World.—Petre
RUISHOND was called the “laziest man in the world.”
How he ever came to have energy enough to
cross the ocean and work his way out to Ohio was a mystery to all who
knew
him. He spent a
large portion of his
time gazing at the stars and predicting future events, particularly
changes in
the weather. On one
occasion a general
meeting of the neighborhood was called for a certain date, to put up a
bridge. “Big Pete,” as
he was called, predicted rain on that date. Sure enough, it did rain. No almanac-maker could
have found occupation
on the French Grant after that.
RUISHOND was large, awkward and
raw-boned. He never
married, although often in
love. He would go
to see the fair object
of his affections, but was too bashful to speak his love. He would sit and look at
her all day without
courage to say a word. He
cleared only
enough of his 217 acres of land to raise a few vegetables, just
sufficient to
support life. For
weeks he would live on
beans, which he boiled in large quantities to save building a fire too
often. Occasionally
he would trap a few
turkeys, and then revel for a brief time in a change of diet. Finally his cabin burned
down. He was too
lazy to rebuild, but made a
contract with one of his neighbors to keep him for the balance of his
life in
exchange for his 217 acres of land.
He
died about 1823.
A
French Pettifogger.—Mons. GINAT
had a medium education, and was quite useful to the French in the
Grant,
through his tact as a pettifogger.
His
mind seems to have been well adapted to this business, for he is said
to have
had a particular liking for disputation.
He would always waive previous impressions and take the
opposition on
any question, simply for the sake of showing his talent and confusing
his
opponent. The
French often had
misunderstandings with the Yankees, and, as most of them spoke poor
English, it
was difficult for them always to obtain justice.
M. GINAT had given much attention to law and
spoke English fluently; he was therefore well prepared to advocate the
causes
of the French. He
must have been expert
in this craft, for men much dreaded him as an opponent.
A
Peculiar
Method of Cleaning Wheat.—“Petre
CHABOT had a peculiar method of separating wheat from
the chaff not practised much, because few could do it.
He had what was called a fan.
It was made of light boards, with a hoop
around three sides about six inches wide.
The front was left open, with handles at the sides. He would put in about a
peck of wheat and
chaff altogether, and would then take it up by the handles in
Page 566
front of him, and throw it up in such a
manner that the
wheat would fall back in the fan and at the same time blow the chaff
out. By throwing it
up in this way a few minutes
the chaff would all be blown out and the wheat remain in the fan. I have seen negroes in
Old Virginia clean hominy in a tray in that way that had been pounded
with a
hominy block. On
account of Mons.
CHABOT’s
ability to clean wheat, he was employed by all his neighbors for the
purpose of
threshing and cleaning wheat.”
A
Penurious
Doctor.—Doctor
DUFLIGNY left the
reputation of extreme penuriousness.
While keeping bachelor’s hall, two Frenchmen, VINCENT and
MAGUET, called
on the doctor just before dinner-time.
“Well,
Doctor,” they said, “we are very hungry and tired, and will have to
trouble you
for a little dinner.” Doctor,
looking up
sadly, sighing and rubbing his eyes, said, “Friends, I am very sorry it
is so,
but I have been very poorly for some days; have no appetite and have
not cooked
anything, nor have I prepared anything to cook.”
The two, making themselves very free, opened
the cupboard and continued, “Well, Doctor, as you are sick, we can cook
a
little for ourselves.” Doctor—“I
don’t
like to put you to so much trouble; besides I have nothing fit for you.” The two exclaimed, “Oh! no
trouble! Why here are eggs, meat, flour, etc.
Oh! we can
get a good dinner of this.” One
made a fire, the other made up some
bread, and broke in plenty of eggs.
At
this the doctor exclaimed, “Oh! gentlemen,
you can’t
eat that.” The
reply was, “Never mind,
Doctor; don’t worry yourself.” They
prepared a good dinner, put it on the table, and were about to partake,
when
the doctor remarked, “Well, gentlemen, your victuals smell so well, my
appetite
seems to come to me. I
think a little of
your dinner cannot hurt me and may help me.”
Whereupon he drew up his chair, and eat a very hearty
dinner with his
importunate guests.
A
Suicide.—M.
ANTOINME, a jeweler, who had brought his stock in
trade to Gallipolis, finding there was no demand for his goods in the
backwoods
of Ohio, concluded to take them down the river to New Orleans. It was in the autumn of
1791 that he procured
a large pirogue and had it manned by two hired men.
Besides a vast amount of watches and jewelry,
he took with him a supply of firearms for defensive purposes. The party fared well until
within a short
distance of the mouth of the Big Sandy, when a party of Indians
appeared on the
river bank.
ANTOINME seized a musket and
prepared to fire on the
Indians, when his cowardly hirelings became panic-stricken and
threatened him
with instant death if he dared fire at them and thus provoke their
anger. ANTOINME in
despair over the prospect of
losing all his possessions,
placed the musket to his
head and blew out his brains. At
the
report of the gun the Indians turned to flee, but the hired men called
them
back, saying the man had only shot himself.
The Indians boarded the pirogue, threw ANTOINME’S body
overboard after
rifling it, and took possession of such ammunition, provisions, arms,
clothing
and jewelry as suited their fancy.
Much
jewelry, tools, watches, etc., of which they could see no value, were
thrown
overboard and it is said that for many years afterwards watch crystals,
etc.,
were found near this place. The
Indians
gave the cowardly hirelings two blankets and a loaf of bread each and
sent them
to the fort at Cincinnati.
A
Scholarly
Pioneer.—Antoine
Claude VINCENT
settled on the grant as a farmer.
He had
been educated in France for a Roman Catholic priest, but his liberal
opinions
prevented his ordination, and he became a silversmith, and came to
Gallipolis
in the service of M. ANTOINME, whose tragic death we have related.
VINCENT settled in Gallipolis,
afterward taught school
in Marietta. It was
while teaching
school at the latter place and boarding at a hotel, that Louis PHILIPPE
with
two relatives, traveling incognito visited the same hotel. There were many French
then in Marietta and
being favorably disposed to the Royalists’, Louis PHILIPPE made himself
known
to them. The Duke
of Orleans (Louis
PHILIPPE) and his relatives were on their way to New Orleans, and
sought some
one to accompany them. Louis
himself was
very dejected and gloomy and sat with his “chapeau” far over his eyes,
his face
downcast and supported by his hands.
He
rarely spoke, but his relatives had the free use of their tongues. They were much pleased
with Mons. VINCENT and
greatly desired him to share their
fortune and accompany them to the city of New Orleans; and as the two
relatives
seemed about to fail in their object, the future sovereign of France
broke his
gloomy silence and with honest tears streaming from his eyes said,
“Yes, come
along with us, VINCENT, come; we are now wretched outcasts, alone,
friendless,
homeless, moneyless, wandering through this wilderness infested with
wild
beasts and worse savages, far from our dear native land. We need you now, and yet
can repay you
nothing, but the time will come when we can and will; law and order
will soon
be restored; we will wait that occasion and then peaceably return and
be
restored to our possessions and rights.
Then we can and will repay you; we will have offices to
fill and titles
to confer. They
will be yours, only come
with us now in our distress.” Louis
and
his companions, however, could not prevail on M. VINCENT to accompany
them.
A
Copperhead.—Some time after this
VINCENT was living alone in a house in the wilderness.
He had occasion to get up one night, when he
felt something, which he thought was a wire strike his foot repeatedly. He was soon convinced,
however, that it was a
snake and he started for the village to seek a physician. Before he could reach the
village his feet
were so swollen, that he was obliged to crawl the last quarter of a
mile. The physician
pronounced the bite that of a
cop-
Page 567
perhead, and for three weeks VINCENT lay
at the point of
death, during which time he suffered excruciating agony, in his
paroxysms
literally gnawing to pieces the blanket which was his covering.
Lost in
a
Snow Storm.—On
another occasion VINCENT was overtaken in the night by a severe
snow-storm,
lost his way, was overcome by the cold and fell to the ground
unconscious. Recovering
consciousness in a short time he
discovered that the storm had passed over and near by stood a house. He endeavored to rise, but
his feet were
frozen and he found he could only move by dragging himself along, using
his
elbows. After much
painful effort he
reached the house, and his cries soon brought assistance. For six weeks it was a
question if he would
survive his terrible experience, but, by the external use of lime
water, his
flesh was healed, although not with the loss of most of the first
joints of his
hands and feet.
Notwithstanding his sore
experiences Mons.
VINCENT lived a long and useful life, during which he
became wealthy, reared a large family and held the high respect of all
who knew
him. He was a man
of liberal education,
read VOLTAIRE and ROUSSEAU, and while in his Western home, was a
student of history,
philosophy, mathematics, ethics and music.
He was a find musician, being a great lover of the flute
and violin,
both of which he played well until he lost part of his fingers by
freezing. He died
August 22, 1846, in
his 74th year.
HISTORICAL AND
DESCRIPTIVE MISCELLANIES.
“The Pioneer Sketches,” by Mr. JAMES KEYES,
is a little work of peculiar value, because a labor solely of love and
knowledge. It gives
pictures of original
characters, whom he knew, and things long since past of which he was
for the
time being a part. His
father was of an
old Massachusetts family, who married a lady of Virginia, in which
State
(Albemarle county) he
was born in the first year of
this century. In
1810, when he was a lad
of nine years, the family came to Scioto county,
and
here he lived his life. He
was educated
at the Ohio University, at one time taught school, made several trips
on
flatboats to New Orleans, and well knew Mike FINK, “the last of the
boatmen,”
and his gang; was a great reader, very social, and knew more of the
people of
the county than any other man. He
died
June, 1883, at the advanced age of 81 years.
MAJOR ISAAC BONSER, in the spring of 1795,
came on foot with his rifle and other equipment to the mouth of the
Little
Scioto, where he marked out land for settlement.
He then started to return to Pennsylvania for
the parties by whom he had been sent out when he fell in with a
surveying party
under Mr. MARTIN, who had just completed the survey of the French Grant. They were returning to
Marietta in a
canoe. BONSER found
them in rather a bad
predicament. They
had exhausted their
stock of provisions, their powder had become damp and unserviceable,
and they
were in danger of suffering for want of something to eat. Mr. BONSER proposed to
them that he was going
up into Pennsylvania and had rather a heavy load to carry, if they
would take
his baggage in their canoe, he would travel on shore with nothing but
his rifle
to carry, would kill as much meat as they all could eat, and camp
together
every night. This
proposition was received
with much satisfaction. BONSER
being
relieved of his heavy load walked on the bank with great alacrity, and
occasionally brought down a deer or a turkey, or perhaps a bear,
buffalo or
elk, which were plenty at that time; they would take the game aboard
the canoe
and so traveling was made easy and expeditions for both parties. The first night after they
had eaten their
supper of fresh venison, Mr. BONSER asked them to let him see the
condition of
their powder. The
powder was contained
in a horn and too damp to ignite readily.
He took a forked stick and stuck it into the ground a
suitable distance
from the fire, hung the powder horn up and took out the stopper so as
to let
the steam pass out, and let it remain in this position until morning. The heat from the fire
dried out the powder
so that it was fit for use if needed.
In this manner they meandered
the river to Marietta, where they separated—Mr. MARTIN to report to
Gen.
PUTNAM, Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, and Mr. BONSER to
cross the
mountains of Pennsylvania and report to those who had sent him out.
Major BONSER returned to the mouth of the
Scioto river the following year, and
Page 568
after Ohio had been admitted to the Union,
contracted in partnership with Uriah
BARBER and another
to build a State road from Portsmouth to Gallipolis.
It lay nearly all the way through a dense
forest. They had to
cut the stumps so
low that a wagon could pass over them, and to clear every thing out so
as to
make a good road. They
surveyed and measured
the distance and marked every mile tree.
This was called a State road in contradistinction to other
roads. The location
has been changed very little
since.
A
PIONEER FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
“In 1808, the people of the
surrounding county celebrated
the Fourth of July on the farm of Major BONSER.
Great preparations were made, and the people came from far
and near—West
Union, Gallipolis and all the intermediate country were represented. They bored out a log and
banded it with iron
to serve as a cannon.
But it soon burst. Robert
LUCAS
read the Declaration of Independence, and made a speech. It is said to have been
the first celebration
of the kind every held in the valley and formed an epoch in the annals
of the
Scioto country.”
A
STRANGE SUPERSTITION.
The family of Philip SALLADAY came
from Switzerland,
bought and settled on a lot in the French Grant soon after the opening
of the
country for settlement. Hereditary
consumption developed itself in the family sometime after their
location in Scioto
county.
The
head of the family and the oldest son had died of it and others began
to
manifest symptons, when
an attempt was made to arrest
the progress of the disease by a process which has been practised in
numerous
instances, but without success. They
resolved to disinter one of the victims, take his entrails and burn
them in a
fire prepared for the purpose, in the presence of the surviving members
of the
family. This was
accordingly done in the
winter of 1816-17, in the presence of a large concourse of spectators
who lived
in the surrounding neighborhood, and by Major Amos WHEELER, of
Wheelersburg. Samuel
SALLADAY was the
one they disintered and
offered up as a sacrifice, to
stop if possible the further spread of the disease.
But like other superstitious notions with
regard to curing diseases it proved of no avail.
The other members of the family continued to
die off until the last one was gone except George.
A NOVEL
FOOT RACE.
Thomas GILRUTH had a son James, the
most athletic
young man in all that section of country.
Running, jumping, hopping, wrestling and even fighting
when necessary,
he generally came off the winner.
He was
bragging about his running one day in the presence of his father and
said he
could outrun any man about there.
The
old man listened for some time and at last said, “Jimmie, I can outrun
you.”
“Oh no, father.
You are too old for that.”
“Well,” said the old man. “I’ll tell you what I’ll
do. We’ll both
strip off everything but our
shirts, and take each of us a good switch, and you may start first and
I will
follow you. If you
can keep out of my
reach, it is well. If
not, I’ll whip you
all the way through. Then
coming back, I
will take the lead and you may whip me as much as you like.”
“Agreed,” said Jimmie, “we’ll try
that race.”
They were to run a hundred yards
and James started
ahead. The old man
kept so close to his
heels that he gave him a severe flogging before they got through. Then it came the old man’s
turn to take the
lead. He started
off, but Jimmie never
got near enough to give him one stroke with his switch.
The young man came out crestfallen, and never
wanted to hear of a footrace after that.
HABITS
OF KEEL-BOATMEN.
Claudius CADOT just after the war
of 1812, went on the
river to follow keel-boating to raise
money to buy land. At
that time
keel-boating was about the only occupation at which money could be
earned, and
the wages were very low even there.
CADOT hired himself to the celebrated Mike FINK, at fifty
cents per
day. The boats
belonged to John FINCH,
one of a company that ran keel-boats from Pittsburg to different points
in the
West. CADOT soon
learned the art of
keel-boating. It
was the usual practice
of boatmen at that time to get on a spree at each town, but CADOT did
not
choose to spend his money in that way, and soon saved a considerable
sum. He asked Capt.
FINK to put this money in his
trunk for safe-keeping. FINK
consented
to do this, but insisted that CADOT should carry the key as he had the
most
money. FINK was a
noted character in his
day (see Belmont county),
he placed great confidence
in CADOT and at the end of his first year’s service paid him at the
rate of 62½
cents per day, although the bargain only called for 50 cents per day.
HOW KEEL-BOATS WERE MANNED.
The hull of a keel-boat was much
like that of a modern
canal boat, but lighter and generally smaller.
The larger keel boats were manned by about twenty hands. It was the custom to make
a trip from
Pittsburg to New Orleans each year.
They
went down “under oars” and with a half dozen or so pairs worked by
stout men
they made good speed.
Page 569
They took down flour, pork, beef,
beans, etc., and
brought up cotton, hemp, tobacco, etc., to Pittsburg.
Many of these boats were manned by Canadians who
seemed much to fancy their mode of life.
As the boats went up they were pushed by poles on the
shore side, while
oars were worked on the outside. The
average progress up stream was twelve miles per day—they lay up at
night—but
often when the wind was fair they would sail fifty miles.
It was the custom with the
Canadians to sing hoosier songs and
their yell was
heard many miles. They
also, since they
were much exposed to the weather, made free use of liquors, the effect
of which
was plainly visible in their ruddy, full face.
Much boating was also done from Charleston, Va., to
Nashville and St.
Louis.
THE
DUEL OF GOVERNOR ROBERT LUCAS.
A number of horses had been stolen
by Indians, and the
settlers formed themselves into a military company to pursue the
thieves, and
if possible recover their stolen property.
Robert LUCAS was elected captain of the company. They overtook the Indians,
but not until
after traveling a long distance from the settlements and LUCAS
concluded that
it would not be safe to attack them.
Many of the company were indignant at this extreme
caution, and Major
MUNN applied the epithet of “coward” to Lucas; whereupon the latter
challenged
MUNN to fight a duel. The
challenged was
accepted, broadswords chosen as weapons and the next morning the
appointed
time.
MUNN was promptly on the ground,
but LUCAS failed to
appear, sending instead a note asking if the difficulty could not be
settled in
an amicable manner. MUNN
read the note
and smiled, saying, “Certainly, it is his quarrel, and if he is
satisfied, so
am I.”
A
REFRACTORY BRIGADIER.
Robert LUCAS came to Ohio with his
father in
1802. He was of
mature age, and well
qualified both by ability and education to take an active part in all
matters
pertaining to the organization of a new county and State. In 1803 he was the first
county surveyor of
Scioto county.
He was especially efficient in organizing the militia, and
was the first
brigadier-general in the country.
In 1810 a girl of the neighborhood
laid a child to his
charge and called upon him to pay damages.
This he declined to do, and a process was procured to take
him to
jail. When the
sheriff attempted to
serve the process he resisted and would not be taken.
Thereupon, rather than endanger his life, the
sheriff resigned, and his duties devolved upon the coroner, Maj. MUNN,
whom
LUCAS had previously challenged to fight a duel.
Maj. MUNN failed to arrest LUCAS, and he also
resigned. Then
LUCAS threatened to kill
the clerk who had issued the writ, and he resigned.
Upon this a call was made for county officers
who could and would enforce the laws and arrest him.
A young school teacher, John R. TURNER, of
Alexandria, came forward and said he would issue a writ if made clerk. Elijah GLOVER said, “Make
me sheriff, and by
G--d I’ll take Gen. LUCAS to jail, or any other man.”
They were appointed, the writ was issued, and
when GLOVER showed the writ to LUCAS, he quietly submitted and went to
jail. But Squire
BROWN, father-in-law of
LUCAS, interfered to prevent the arrest, when Nathan GLOVER, a brother
of the
sheriff, picked him up and threw him into a clump of jimson weed, and
told him
to lie there and keep quiet or he might get into trouble. He lay there and kept
quiet.
THE
SYCAMORE OF FIFTEEN HORSEMEN.
The rich land which afterward
produced such prolific
crops of corn as to give to the valley of the lower Scioto the
sobriquet of
Egypt, were rank with vegetation when the early settlers came into the
valley. The trees
were, many of them, of
enormous size, particularly the sycamores—although such species as the
poplar,
oak, cottonwood, black walnut and others, also attained large
proportions. (See Ross County, the
Chillicothe Elm.) The
most
remarkable tree, however, and probably the largest tree ever known in
Ohio, is
that mentioned in the Ohio Gazeteer, and
described in the “Cincinnati Almanac”of
1810.
On the slopes of Mount Ætna
stood, in the last century, a tree known as the “Chestnut of a Hundred
Horses,”
from the statement that
100 mounted horsemen had
rested at once beneath its branches.
Therefore, this suggests that we shall call the Scioto
valley sycamore
“The
Sycamore of Fifteen Horsemen,” because that number could stand within
its trunk.
It stood on the farm of Abram MILLAR, in what is now
Valley township. It was a
forked, hollow sycamore, measuring twenty-one feet in diameter at its
base and
forty-two feet in circumference at the height of five feet. The opening of the cavity
was ten feet in
width at the bottom, was nine and one-half feet high, and had an inside
diameter of fourteen feet. The
fork was
about eight feet from the ground.
The
tree was the wonder and admiration of the surrounding neighborhood, and
parties
were often made up to visit it. In
June,
1808, a party of thirteen persons advanced on horseback into the cavity
of the
tree, and it is stated that there was ample room for two more.
William HEADLEY, of Frederick
county, Va., reported on
account of this episode, he having been one of the party, and in the
following
November Maj. William REYNOLDS, of Zanesville, inspected the tree and
caused to
be published the facts here given.
Mr. Samuel KEYES reports that this
tree stood until the
farm on which it was located was turned into a stock farm by Mr. Thomas
DUGAN. He turned
some blooded bulls into
the field where the tree was, and they got to fighting within the
cavity of the
tree with
Page 570
the result that the vanquished was
driven to the wall and
gored to death—not being able to retreat and fight another day, as in
an open
field. The
consequence of this was that
Mr. DUGAN ordered the tree cut down.
The
stump remained for several years; but some hogs having been
turned into the field,
and cholera breaking out among them, it was concluded
that so many hogs of all sizes, ages, and sexes, piled together in one
old
stump, must have caused the disease.
Therefore orders were given and the stump was removed,
thus destroying
the last vestige of what was a true “monarch of the forest.”
DANIEL J. RYAN was born in
Cincinnati, January 1,
1855. His father
was an Irish laborer in
a foundry, and died a few years after his removal to Portsmouth, while
Daniel
was a small child. Under
the careful
guidance of his mother, Daniel received a good common-school education,
graduating with credit from the high-school class of 1875.
He studied law in the office of
Hon. James W. BANNON,
and in February, 1877, was admitted to the bar.
In the same year he was elected city solicitor of
Portsmouth. In 1883
he was elected to the Legislature,
and re-elected in 1885. At
the National
Convention of Republican Clubs, held in New York, December, 1887, Mr.
RYAN was
chosen temporary chairman. In
1888 he
was elected Secretary of State, and re-elected in 1890.
Mr. RYAN’S public life has been devoted to
the best interests of the people of Ohio, regardless of party advantage. He has been a hard student
and is thoroughly
informed on every public question requiring official action. He has been a leader in
many important
reforms. At the
request of both
capitalists and laborers he published an interesting volume on strikes
and
their remedies, entitled, “Arbitration between Capital and Labor.” He is also the author of a
concise and
excellent “History of Ohio.”
BUCKHORN
COTTAGE.
(A retreat of One of the
Literati.)
In 1855, just before the war, under the magic
of money, a curious structure arose on the hills near the lines of
Adams and
Scioto counties. It
was in a beautiful
country, some little way back of Buena Vista.
The cottage was of peeled white poplar logs,
resin-varnished and
mortar-daubed; it was therefore peculiar,
Page 571
It was seventy-four feet long by twenty-two feet
broad; in two parts, on the plan of the ordinary double cabin, with a
seventeen-foot-wide floored and roofed space between them. A stone kitchen in the
rear is out of the
view. The chimneys
were also of stone.
Vines were placed to climb over it, which they accomplished in
profusion; the
summer breezes fluttered their leaves and the autumnal frosts put on
them a
blush.
In the Buckhorn lived for a term of years its
owner and architect, Hon. William J. FLAGG, and wife—a daughter of the
late
Nicholas LONGWORTH, of Cincinnati—with occasional guests to share the
romance
of their solitude. On
writing to him as
an old friend and schoolmate, how he came to build it, and what he did
when
there, he gave this characteristic reply:
“In 1852 I bought a fifty-acre
tract of hill land near
Buena Vista, on the Ohio, through which the line runs that divides
Adams and
Scioto counties—bought it because I supposed there was valuable stone
in
it. This purchase
led, step by step, to
the acquisition of something over 9,000 acres adjacent.
I cleared off woods and planted orchards and
vineyards to the extent of more than 100 acres; opened a quarry, built
a
tramway, until my operations culminated in a log house on a hill top, a
mile
east of the county line and a half mile from the river, where, in
different
broken periods of time from ’56 till ’68, we spent about five years. It was mighty like being
out of the world,
but none the worse for that.
“In that hermitage we managed to
lodge as comfortably
as in a palace, and feed
better than at Delmonico’s. Our
society, too, was excellent. William
SHAKESPEARE was a frequent visitor; Francis of Verulam
was another; he was a nobleman, you know—a
baron—so were
others; Viscount MONTESQUIEU, for instance, and Sir Charles GRANDISON. To prove how agreeable
these made themselves,
I will mention that the two packs of cards I provided myself with to
pass away
the time, were never cut or shuffled but for two games in the whole
five years.
“Buckhorn, as we called the place,
after the form of
the hill and its branching spurs, was indeed an ideal retreat. I have never found a
climate equal to
it. But even souls
at rest in Buddha’s
DEVEGHAN, after a certain stay there, feel a desire to live again, and
so did we, and we
returned to earth. Two
years later the cabin went up in
flames. I am glad
it did. No
insurance.”
THACKERAY, when he was travelling
in our country, lecturing upon the Georges, in his sing-song sort of
way, one
day took his huge body up into the Mercantile Library, in Cincinnati,
and said
to the librarian, Mr. STEPHENSON: “Nowadays, everybody is an author;
everybody
writes books.” Mr.
FLAGG is not an
exception. He is a
literary gentleman
and author of varied books, as “A Good Investment,” “Three Seasons in
European
Vineyards” “Wall Street and the Woods,” etc.
This last is a novel description of the wild hill country
in the regions
back of Buckhorn, while the characters are mainly drawn from the very
primitive
inhabitants who dwell there—made so because of the inaccessibility of
their
homes, little or no intercourse being had with the outer world, not
even in the
way of books and newspapers; while, from the slender area of land for
tillage,
and the want of other industrial occupation, there is abundant leisure
for
meditation and the practice of a wisdom and morality peculiarly their
own.
SCIOTOVILLE is four miles above Portsmouth,
on the Ohio river, at
the mouth of the Little Scioto
river, and on the C. W. & B., S. V. and O. & N. W.
Railroads.
Manufactures
and Employees.—Scioto
Fire-brick Co., fire-brick, 33 hands; Scioto Lumber Co., doors, sash,
etc., 15;
J. P. KIMBALL, flooring and siding, 8; Scioto Star Fire-brick Co.,
fire-brick,
61; Big Sandy Lumber Co., lumber, 12.—State
Report, 1888.
Population, about
1,200.
Capital invested in industrial establishments, $50,000. Value
of annual product,
$100,000.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1888.
LUCASVILLE is on the Scioto river
and S. V. Railroad, ten miles north of
Portsmouth. It has
one Methodist church,
one newspaper.—the Transcript—Independent,
C. A. HOOVER, editor and publisher.
Population, about 350.
BUENA VISTA is on the Ohio river,
eighteen miles below Portsmouth. Population, 1880, 324.
School census, 1888, 150.
GALENA P. O. Rarden, is eighteen miles
northwest of Portsmouth, on the O. & N. W. Railroad. School
census, 1888, 183.
WHEELERSBURG is on the Ohio river
and S. V. Railroad, nine miles above Portsmouth.
School census, 1888, 231;
G. W. FRY, superintendent.