Coshocton County, Ohio - Chapter 45, 1881

Early History Of Coshocton

.Its Site an Indian Village - Early Settlement - Colonel Charles Williams - Ebenezer Buckingham - Dr. Samuel Lee - Tradition o£ Louis Phillippe - The Cold Plague - A Lost Child - The Whoo-whoo Society - Journal ol Colonel Williams.

COSHOCTON is built upon the site of an old Indian village, which was centrally located in the region occupied by the Delaware nation, and was for a time its capital. Up the valleys of the Walhonding and Tuscarawas and down the Muskingum valley, at short intervals, were other villages, so that the selection of this place, situated in the heart of the nation, as his residence by the great chief, Netawatwees, was a happy one. It was often visited by the famous -councilors, White Eyes and Killbuck, as well as 'by the leaders of surrounding tribes, making it, without doubt, the seat of many councils where questions of state policy, involving war or peace, life or death, were debated or determined. In Thomas Hutchins' map of General Bouquet's expedition it is designated simply as " A Delaware Town." According to DeSchweinetz, its name was Goshackgunk ; according to Heokewelder, Goshochking. The dwellings were built in the cabin and not in the usual wigwam style. The village extended from the river to Third street, and- the principal street corresponded with the present Second street of Coshocton, the cabins standing close together, in two long rows on each side of it. The remains of their fire-places, which are said to have been at the north end of «ach of the cabins, could be easily discerned by the first white settlers of the place. The village was burned by General Brodhead in 1780.

The town of Coshocton was laid out in April, 1802, by John Matthews and Ebenezer Buckingliam, Jr. In their survey they were assisted by -Gibson Rook, and two town lots were given him for his services. The town was christened Tus- -carawa, but the name was changed to Coshocton by act of the legislature in 1811.

Charles Williams is generally regarded as the first settler of Coshocton. In March, 1801, he and Isaac Hoagland moved with their families from Denman's prairie, situated several miles up the

Walhonding river, to the site of the future town. They erected a temporary abode on the now vacant lot on the river bank, below the Tuscarawas bridge, where there was a fine sugar camp. This house was the first erected in Coshocton. It was built of buckeye logs; was twelve feet square, and for a few weeks occupied by Charles Williams and Isaac Hoagland, with their wives and several children. During this year Mr. Williams built a log house near the northeast corner of Water and Chestnut streets, and removed his family to it. On the 11th day of February, 1809, the house was consumed by fire, and two children, one of Mr. Williams' and one of his brother James, perished in the flames. All the household goods were also destroyed. '

In 1800, John Matthews and Ebenezer Buckingham, who were the principal surveyors of much of the land in this part of Ohio, located the Bowman section of land upon which Coshocton now stands. During the same year that the Williams house was built, Matthews and Buckingham, intending to make a permanent location, erected a log house somewhere between the river bank and the' Central House - corner Second and Main streets. It was also about this time that Dr. Increase Matthews, one of the proprietors of Putnam, Muskingum county, visited Coshocton, being invited bj' his brother to engage in building a mill on Mill creek. He found in Coshocton the two houses already mentioned; but speaks of having seen here on that occasion his own brother, John Matthews, Stephen Buckingham, Ebenezer Buckingham, jr.,, and a sister, afterwards Mrs. Pairland, keeping house for them. This intended settlement by the Buckingham's, was in the fall of 1802 abondoned, and they removed from the county. The reason of this removal was principally the prevalence of malarial diseases. For many years the place bore the name of being very unhealthy, and many who came here with a design to settle, left on that account.

Both the proprietors of the town soon abandoned it, and in some way disposed of their interest in it. John Matthews went to Zanesville, was for a time interested in a store there, but finally built Moxahala mills, on Jonathan's creek, where he died sometime after.

After Matthews and Buckingham left the place, William Scritchfield purchased and occupied the Buckingham house, as it was called. About the j'ear 1804, William Whitten, a blacksmith, and afterwards the first justice of the peace, settled here, and lived in a cabin a little back of the present residence of WilUam Burns, on Second street. About this time Calvin Bobbett also built a cabin just north of this, on lot 219. Not far from this date George McCuUough and Thomas Evans removed to the place. The former married a daughter of William Scritchfield and lived in the Buckingham house. " This was perhaps the first wedding in the county. What would we not give to be able to describe it. But the memory thereof has faded away, and there is no one to tell the story. Imagination must be left to picture it to the reader, for there has been no chronicler of the events of that memorable day." Thomas Evans was a shoe maker and carried on his craft in a cabin which stood on Second street, excepting such times as he went from house to house with his kit, " cat- whipping," as it was then called.

About the year 1808, Andrew Lybarger, a tanner, moved into the place. He lived for a time on the northeast corner of Second and Walnut streets, carrying on the tannery just across Second street. '

In 1808, Zebedee Baker, a saddler, settled in the town. Several years later he moved to Mills Creek, and years afterwards returned to Coshocton.

In 1809 or 1810, Abraham Wisecaver and James Colder settled here. Wisecaver was a hatter, and lived on or near lot 170, Second street. James Colder was a merchant, and exhibited his goods on lot 214, Second street. This was no doubt the first attempt at merchandizing in the place. Colonel Williams, however, had previously kept on hand a stock of goods, which he traded with the Indians for peltry. Adam Johnson also brought here in 1811 and exposed for sale a stock of goods, in the log house which stood on the northeast corner of Water and Chestnut streets.

In March, 1810, Captain Joseph Nefi' came to this place. He was by trade a tailor and for many years followed the business. Owing to removals because of the unhealthy climate and other causes, at the time Mr. Neff came, there were but four fanjilies of those already mentioned still living here. Much of Main street was at that time covered with hazel bushes. In June, 1811, Dr. Samuel Lee, the first resident physician, settled in Coshocton. In the spring of 1811 Wright Warner, and in the fall of the same year Aaron Church, the first two resident lawyers of the village, took up their abode here. The career of Church was of short duration and unfortunate in its termination. He was the son of a New England clergyman, and received an education at an eastern college. Upon its completion he read law, was admitted to the bar, and opened an office at Hartford, Connecticut, soon acquiring a good reputation as a lawyer. He married weU and settled into a remunerative practice. Drink was his enemy and proved his downfall. He neglected his business, quarreled with and separated from his wife and came West to begin life anew. The opening in Coshocton was promising and he settled here, soon gaining a practice which extended into the surrounding counties, but his appetite again gained ascendency over him and soon made him mentally and physically a wreck. He died of " cold plague " in the spring of 1815.

Adam Johnson came 1811, married a daughter of Colonel Williams and was associated with him in business for many years. He was the first clerk of the court and recorder, captain of a company in the war of 1812 and a prominent and influential citizen up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1829.

About 1815, the town began to settle up more rapidly. In the fall of that year, John Crowely came from Maryland; he was a carpenter by trade, was for a time ferryman for Charles Williams, and was afterwards sheriff of the county. About the same time John Darnes, also a carpenter, emigrated from Virginia, near Washington City. Richard Stafford was here at this time, coming from the South Branch of the Potomac,, Virginia. He was a wagonmaker, and served as an early justice of the peace. Albert Torry,. a blacksmith, frond the State of Maine, was also living in town at this time. He afterwards settled on Killbuck creek. James Renfrew, Sr., an early merchant, came about 1815. William and Alexander McGowan came in 1815, with their mother, from New Jersey. Their father, a Baptist minister, was killed, near Mount Pleasant, while they were on their journey hither, by the accidental upsetting of the wagon. Mrs. Mc- Oowan died in 1816. The boys were long known as the proprietors of the hotel, corner Second and Main streets. Abram Sells, a cabinetmaker, came from Marietta, in 1814. He was for some time a justice of the peace, and also coroner of the county. He died in 1869. Samuel Burns moved here from Philadelphia, in 1816. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was a hatter by trade. He purchased the tools of Abraham Wisecaver, who had previously removed to Muskingum county, and followed his calling for a number of years. For sixteen or eighteen years he was a justice of the peace in this township. He died in 1852. A few more years brought in Benjamin Eicketts, Otho and Daniel Cresap, John Forrest, Hezekiah Robinson, John McCullough, William Carhart, Garrett and Joseph Buckingham, John Smeltzer, Sanford Madden' and others, and by 1820, the population had probably reached one hundred and fifty. No statistics are at hand, but this is the estimate of several old settlers who were living here at the time.

The earliest pioneers of Coshocton deserve a more extended account, and of a few, concerning whom information is had, short sketches are herewith given.

Charles Williams, the first resident of the county seat, was among the first emigrants to cross the Ohio, and the principal personage in. the first company that made a permanent settlement within the present limits of Coshocton county. He was born near Hagerstown, Washington county, Maryland, in 1764. His pay ents were of Irish and Scotch descent, and during Ihe Revolutionary war removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania; at its close they moved a little farther west, in the vicinity of Wellsburgh, Virginia. This was then the frontier, and Williams grew to manhood here amidst the perils of border warfare. At twenty or twenty-one he left his father's house, crossed the Ohio into what is now Jefferson county, and soon after became engaged to Susannah Carpenter, one of seventeen children connected with the principal family of the settlement in wealth and influence, her father having given his name to the settlement, " Carpenter's Fort," or Carpenter's Station, as it was sometimes called. The attachment of the parties was mutual, but the stern old gentleman refused his consent, and was -inexorable. Consequently an elopement was determined upon. The good old man was decoyed from home one day, upon one pretense or another, by Samuel Morrison, who was among the first settler^ of this county, and afterward brother-in-law to Williams, and the young couple made good their escape, crossed the Ohio and were married in the usual everyday dress of early settlers. After changing his place of abode several times in different parts of Ohio, he came to Muskingum county and engaged for a while in the manufacture of salt. Not succeeding here as he desired, in the spring of 1800 he removed to Coshocton county.

There came with him his wife and two children, his brother-in-law, William Morrison, and Isaac and Henry Hoagland, with their wives and one or two children each. Their place of settlement was on Denman's prairie, several miles up the Wolhonding from Coshocton. This spot of open prairie land seems to have beeh especially inviting in the midst of the. dense forest which surrounded it. It began near the mouth of what has since been called Stone creek, and extended several miles up the river, varying in width according to the course of the stream. The margin of the river was skirted with timber. The settlers ran a fence between the prairie land and this strip of timber. They were unable, from the fewness of their number, to erect cabins immediately, and dwelt for some time in a kind of tent. The cabins, when built, stood away from the river at the foot of the hills, which bounded the prairie at the north. The following year, as already mentioned, Mr. Williams removed to Coshocton, where he remained until his death, August 2, 1840.

The life of Colonel Williams is intimately associated with the early history of Coshocton. He was a successful trapper, hunter, Indian scout and trader, and held every office, being almost all the time in some position in the county, from road supervisor and tax collector to member of the State legislature. He was famous as a tavern keeper, and in that and other capacities became very popular. Clever, genial, naturally shrewd, indomitable in purpose, not averse to the popular vices of his day, and even making a virtue of profanity, he was for forty years a controlling spirit of the county, and for twenty-five years the controlling spirit. He was a man of great natural ability, though he never learned to read or write till he came to Coshocton. 'Squire Whitten gave him what little assistance he needed in learning to read and write. He was a man, too, of many good qualities, generous, enterprising and possessed of a commanding influence over others, so much so that he was familiarly known as "King Charlie." He obtained his military title from a promotion to the office of colonel in the militia of the State.

Ebenezer Buckingham, Sr., was born at Greenfield, Connecticut, November 1, 1748. His father having been lost at sea while Ebenezer was yet a youth, he lived with his brother-in-law, Albert Sherwood, until he became of age. He was married at his native place in 1771, to Esther Bradley, daughter of Rev. Elanthan Bradley. After living at several places in New York, he determined in 1799, to move West. Two sons, Ebenezer, Jr., and Stephen, - the former of whom had gone to the settlements at Marietta, Ohio, as early as 1796, followed not long after by Stephen - returned home to Cooperstown, New York, with such glowing accounts of the beautiful and fertile country on the Muskingum river, that they all concluded to emigrate to that land flowing with milk and honey. They left Cooperstown, December 25, 1799, on two sleds drawn by one yoke of oxen each, leaving the two oldest daughters who were married, and taking ten children with them. A Mr. Spencer and wife, accompanied them with another sled across the 'mountains to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by the way of Cove Gap, where they waited six weeks for the ice on the Ohio river to break up, when the cattle were sent by land through what was then a wilderness, under the care of his son Stephen, to Middle Island, on the Muskingum above Marietta, while the balance of the family with their goods and «ffects, descended the Ohio on a flat boat, reaching

Marietta in March, 1800. They poled the boat up the Muskingum, passing Zanesville, with its two or three cabins (the cattle going up by land),, and finally settled at the mouth of Killbuck creek. It is said they were accompanied by one or two other families from Marietta, whose namesare unknown. They immediately put up their cabins, made of logs with clapboard roofs and dirt floors. The doors were hung with wooden hinges and not a nail or piece of iron was used in the construction of the cabins. Here they traded with the Delaware Indians, the older ones of whom were very expert in the use of the bow and arrow. They raised fine crops of corn and potatoes the first spring, and also in 1801 and 1802. He probably occupied for a while the house at Coshocton, built by his son, Ebenezer,. Jr , and suffering much from sickness here in the fall of 1802 he removed to the mouth of the Hockhocking on the Ohio. Here he raised a crop of corn, then settled in Carthage where he resided until his death, October 24, 1824. Hiswidow removed to Putnam, Muskingum county^ where she remained with her son, Ebenezer, till her death, several years later.

Dr. Samuel Lee settled in Coshocton as a regular practicing physician in June, 1811. He waa born and spent his boyhood on a farm near Pultney, Vermont, studied medicine at Castleton, Vermont, and, in 1809, came to Ohio In company with Rev. Timothy Harris, of Granville, Ohio. The journey was performed on horseback through the wilderness. On the route they encountered Indians and swollen streams, and camped out at night by watch-fires. The doctor stopped first, at Granville nearly two years, where he married Miss Sabra Case ; then resided a few months in Mount Vernon. He came to Coshocton in search of an^estrayed or stolen horse. The town was then a mere hamlet and wanted a physician, and he removed at once with his wife and one child. He lived during a part of the first year in a small cabin on Second street, built by Mr. Neff' for a tailor shop, but about Christmas of the same year he removed to a small cabin on the southeast corner of Main and Fourth streets, then surrounded by a thick growth of hazel bwshes. Surgery wasa more prominent element of practice then thaa at present. Fighting was common - almost universal - and bruised or broken limbs m.ust often be mended. Among the doctor's first patients were two men who had been fighting, one having his ear bitten ofi' and the other his eye gouged. Nor were his services always called into requisition in those self-reliant days. Witness the following : An individual was thrown into spasms one day at Charlie Williams' tavern, and fell writhing to the floor. The doctor's residence was some distance away, and the case seemed to demand immediate action. The inquiry, " What is good for fits? ".passed through the crowd assembled there, and the prevailing opinion seemed to be that bleeding was the proper remedy. Accordingly, an energetic, muscular man seized the prostrate patient by the hair with his left hand, raised his head from the floor, and, with his clenched fist, dealt him a powerful blow upon the nose as the most available point and nearest the supposed seat of disease. This heroic treatment was successful, and the man speedily recovered his senses.

At the time the doctor came here there was no other physician within the radius of thirty miles and a ride of this distance and even farther was of common occurrence, often necessitating an absence from home of several days. He remained a life-long citizen of Coshocton and died March 19, 1874, having completed within four months his eighty-ninth year.

Dr. Lee had undoubted adaptations for his time and place. The roughness and freedom and economy of pioneer life did not misfit him. He was very genial; could tell a good story and crack a joke with the jolliest of the men and women of that day. Although holding public office but twice - that of county treasurer in very early days, and that of State senator in 1826-27 - he was always interested in public affairs. There are abundant evidences of his friendly disposition in his readiness to go on their official bonds, and otherwise stand for his neighbors. His conscientiousness and diligence in his profession none have questioned. He had a quick-wittedness and strong common sense that often stood in lieu of profundity of attainment. He was not what might be called a scholarly man but always the friend of intelligence. His shrewdness and strict honesty in business transactions were prominent features of his character. His creditors were generally few and debtors many. The doctor at an early day owned almost the entire square bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Main and Walnut streets. He had a farm just east of town ; but his residence was for the most of his life in the brick house at the corner of Fourth and Main streets.

One- of the cherished traditions of Coshocton is that Colonel Williams once kicked out of his tavern Louis Phillippe, afterward king of France. The story runs somewhat as follows : Louis was putting up at the tavern and was not satisfied with the accommodations. An altercation ent-ued between him and the tavern-keeper, ending in his telling Williams that he was heir to the French throne, and would not, as the coming sovereign, condescend to bandy words with a backwoods plebian. Williams replied -that in this backwoods of America there were no plebians. " We are all sovereigns here," said he, " and I'll show you our power," and suiting the action to the word, he kicked Louis Phillippe out of the house, at which the " sovereigns " loitering around the tavern gave three cheers. The statement that he was once in Coshocton rests upon the fact that when George W. Silliman, attorney at law in Coshocton, visited Paris, in a reported interview with Louis Phillippe, then on the throne, the king told him that he once went to a point in the Northwest Territory, where two rivers came together, and gave such a description of the place and the landlord of the tavern, who, he said, treated him very shabbily, as to satisfy Silliman that Coshocton was the place and Williams the tavern-keeper. Colonel Williams, on being spoken to about it afterward, stated that he recollected the occurrence. It is a historical fact that Louis Phillippe came to America in 1796, and it seems to be well established that he visited the Muskingum valley, but it is equally true that he sailed from New York to England, reaching it in January, 1800, before Colonel Williams kept tavern in Coshocton.

Coshocton in its infancy was frequently visited by the Indians, upon trading or other excursions, and sometimes difficulties arose, but nothing more serious than an occasional fight. Just as the war of 1812 was breaking out, they came several times, in war paint, to Col. Williams' tavern, where they were accustomed to trade, and boasted of the depredations they were about to commit upon the whites. After the war opened, most of the able-bodied citizens of Coshocton and vicinity were drawn off in military companies and stationed at different points in the northern part of the State. A rumor was spread abroad one day that the town was to be attacked that night by a force of savages, and the people congregated at Colonel Williams' cabin for safety, but it proved a false alarm.

During the winter of 1814-15, the town was visited by what was called "the cold plague." It was a most fatal disease, of which many died, sometimes whole families. On Cantwell's run, in Eoscoe, Andrew Craig's whole family perished, and some forty or fifty persons are said to have died in Coshocton and the country around. The consternation which its ravages produced was great. The same disease reappeared in 1823, or about that time, but was less fatal in its attacks, i

The following narrative of a lost child, in Coschocton, in pioneer times, is from the pen of Rev. H. Calhoun. It well represents the " condition of things," as they existed here years ago :

It was a cloudy, September day in 1812, in the early history of Coshocton, when Malona Lee, an only child, eighteen months old, was lost. The country was then all very new; Indians were often seen, and at night hungry wolves were heard howling near the settlement. There were but few people then in the place, perhaps not over fifty all told, and these were scattered in some ten or twelve families over nearly all the present limits of the town (in 1850). Between many of the cabins and log houses, for there were only one or two frame houses, there were acres of ground covered with hazel thickets, and a narrow foot path might here and there be seen running from one cabin to another. There was a road which ran along the river bank, and another which ran out into the hills in the direction of Cadiz. Besides these two roads and the foot paths we have mentioned communicating between the dwellings in different parts of the settlement, there was another, which had been cut out for the purpose of getting wood by the inhabitants, and which extended out a mile and a half from the river east, and was lost in the dense forest beyond. The residence of Dr. S. Lee was situated about midway between this wood path and the Cadiz road, some distance from any neighbor.

The doctor had been engaged during the day in his professional business, and, having returned home late in the afternoon, went into the garden to secure some vegetables which were growing there. He had not been there long when Mrs. Lee called to him to know if he had sepn Malona. The reply was that he had not, when she returned and made further search for her. Not being alarmed, the doctor continued his work, thinking nothing more of it, for he had seen the child in the house as he passed through on his way to the garden.

After some time Mrs. Lee again returned to the garden, saying that she had searched the house and been to the neighbors', but could hear nothing of the child. By this time both were much concerned about her safety, knowing that if she were lost in the hazel thickets, in the 'midst of which they lived, it would be impossible for one so young to find her way home, and next to impossible for them to find her.

Both now set out in a new, thorough and anxious search for the lost child ; for lost in earnest, she seemed to be. Again they made seareh all over their premises, and all the child's resorts for play, and again they went through the town, callupon every one to know if they had seen the child. But it was all in vain. It was no* growing dark, and no trace of the lost one was yet found, and the dreadful thoughts of their only child lost in the wilderness around them, with all its dangers, filled the hearts of the anxious pa.rents with an almost breathless solicitude, and with distressing forbodings for her safety.

Nearly the whole settlement were soon alarmed, and without respect to age or sex, gathered at the house, every heart beating with sympathy for, the afflicted parents. It was resolved at once to commence the search of the thickets north of the house. It was a very still and cold, though cloudy and dark night. Candles and torches were soon lighted up, and every individual taking one in hand, they formed a line a few feet apart from each other, and commenced their march north through the thickets, every one carefully searching on every side until they came out to the Cadiz road. Several times they passed through and through, until they became satisfied that the child must have wandered away in a different direction.

And now the search began south of the house, down the river road running out into the hills and forests before referred to. All the hazel thickets were examined carefully in that direction. At length the impression of her little foot was found in the sand, in the road nearly south of the house from which she had innocently strayed away. A few impressions only were found and all further traces of her were lost, and again all was bewilderment and anxiety as before; for a child so young was as likely to forsake as to follow the beaten path. By this time it was far on in the night. Nothing had as yet been found to allay in the last the solicitude for the child's safety. It was a grand spectacle which those fathers of the present generation and hardy pioneers there formed. The deeply solicitous father, the distressed mother, with lights in hand, hurrying to and fro, and many anxious parents around! them feeling ahnost as though it were their own child. Scattering out on each side of the way they now conclude to search and follow the road out into the deep forest; for the traces found indicated she had gone in that direction. A few rods further on brought them again upon the tracks which the child had made ; and not far from that she had lost a little shoe which lay in the road. It was a cloth shoe of her own mother's contrivance, just such a shoe as the ingenuity of a kind mother had readily contrived amid the stern necessities of a pioneer life.

Thus they follow on, finding no more traces of the child until the road is lost in the hills and deep forest. Then the search was suspended; while some busied themselves in kindling large fires to give light and warmth, and as defense from wild animals, and others continued their examinations, believing the child to be somewhere in the vicinity.

It was now the dead of night. The fires were blazing high among the trunks and branches of the heavy forest trees, and the scene was distressing, gloomy and grand enough. But none slept - the woods were all alive with fires and the torches of those hurrying here and there, still continuing the search. In vain was the anxious mother entreated to return home to rest. Though worn down with fatigue, none moved swifter to and fro and continued the fruitless search with seemingly so little sense of fatigue as she did, so absorbed were her thoughts in her care and solicitude for the child - her only child.

Many were coming and going on all sides with lights and torches, and many anxious inquiries were made as they passed, if any trace of the child had been found. Old Squire Whitten, a hardy blacksmith and the first justice of the peace of Coshocton county, having carelessly examined a cluster of underbrush, and being dissatisfied with his search went back to look again, and lo! there was the dear object of all their search, folded in the arms of sleep lying upon the leaves, unconscious of her danger or of the many friends so near. Awakened by the noise she looked up, and discovering the Squire, she exclaimed in her joy, " Pretty Papa!" " Pretty Papa!"

A shout was raised by the overjoyed man, a genuine Indian war-whoop, to which the ears of many of the early settlers were familiar. When the friends and father and mother gathered around, the lost one was enjoying the caresses of the good man, sitting upon his knee, stroking his hardy features, and saying "Pretty Papa!" "Pretty Papa!" There was no indication that she had so much as shed a tear - probably falling asleep from over-fatigue.

A famous organization in the early annals of Coshocton was the " Whoo-whoo Society," which was organized in 1828, on the 8th day of January. For many days a heavy storm of mingled wind, rain, sleet and snow had poured down, and its effects were soon visible in the melting of the previous snow and the rapidly rising streams. The waters of the Walhonding and Tuscarawas were swollen beyond all precedent. They soon left their accustomed banks and completely flooded the low lands in. the forks. Residents on the low lands by the river began to look about for a place of refuge. Some sought a home among hospitable friends, while others packed themselves away in their cabin lofts and the second stories of their dwellings, fastening a canoe to the tipper window as a last resort. Timber, drift-wood, hay and grain, farming implements, hogs and cattle in one confused medley, went hurrying by. Apprehensions being entertained that there might be distress in some of the cabins, a skiff was manned and started up the river for the cabin of John Elder, two miles from the forks, partly from sympathy and partly for the sake of adventure. Arriving at their destination, the crew found that the family had deserted the cabin and found safety on high land. On the return, as the expedition promised nothing more romantic, the adventurers made an inroad upon the turkeys and chickens, which, chilled with the cold, sat on the limbs of the trees down almost to the water's edge; and arriving safely among their friends with the trophies, gave out that they had fallen in with a flock of " owls."

The nation's memorable day and its honored hero must not be forgotten. The materials for a sumptuous feast were at hand. Night came on, the tables were covered with the smoking viands, alias " owls," and the word was out for all, far and near, to come and partake. A night of revelry succeeded ; merrily the bowl went round, the swaggering song was encored, the welkin rang with huzzahs for the chieftain of the day - General Jackson forever - and all were too much " half seas over " to tell when the carnival ended. So auspicious a beginning was not suffered to end thus. There was organized, forthwith, what was called the "Whoo-whoo Society of Coshocton," which was to meet annually on the 8th of January, in honor of the day and its hero. It is impossible to give a full account of what was done by this strange and novel organization, nor would it be desirable if possible. The genius of the institution was a bacchanalian, reckless and extravagantly boyish hilarity. The presiding officer was known as the great " Whoo-whoo Owl," and a monstrous bird of this species always stood at the head of the table by his side. The second officer was called the "Little Screech Owl," and a, bird of this kind stood by him. No citizen of the place, and no stranger who might chance to be in town, was permitted to be absent, and was as surely intoxicated as present. Those who declined to attend were often forced along against their will.

Once assembled, at the direction of the master of ceremonies, folly and madness reigned supreme, and strange modes of amusement were contrived by minds half frenzied with the fumes of intoxication. The members arrayed themselves in grotesque costumes, representing celebrated characters or various animals, and the initiate was introduced to these severally. At one time the story of "the babes in the woods" was enacted in a most ludicrous manner. Great and over-grown men lay down in an arbor as babes in the woods, while another with huge wings, representing an angel, was let down from above them by ropes, to cover them with leaves.

The chapter is closed with a journal written by Colonel Charles Williams of his life and travels. It perhaps affords a better insight into the character of Coshocton's first settler than could he conveyed by another. A small portion is omitted and in some instances the phraseology has been modified, but the writing in the main is as it originally stood.

Captain Williams' Journal

Started from Fifteen Mile Creek, Maryland, October, 1779, crossed the. mountains barefooted and came to a place called Brush Eun, seven miles west of what is now Washington Town; there I stayed under my father's control. In the spring of 1781, the Indians captured a family and killed some of them about one mile off from our place. In the same spring my father moved to Cox's Fort. There we lived upon boiled wheat and hominy; in the fall we lived very well on' cashaws, pumpkins and milk; we had nothing but gourd cups and horn or wooden spoons. The ' Indians were killing or taking somebody almost every week. Here I soon bacame able to carry a gun.

In 1783, 1 moved with my father into the country on Cross creek, three miles from the fort. In a short time I became a hunter and killed bears and deer, and other animals. After some time, I began life for myself. The Indians killed one Yankee in my hearing; then we raised about twenty men and followed them, and overtook the Indians in Sugar creek plain at the mouth. There I killed one, I think, and we got the white man's bible and a deed for some land, and returned home safe. Then, I think in thn year 1784, I crossed the river when, I understand, there were but eight men in the State of Ohio. After some time I engaged in the ranging business. Those were very troublesome times. I lived hard but free. Then I married a girl named Susanna Carpenter. I had to steal her away, and, as we were poor, I was unable to get a marriage license for want of money; but all came right. There was a justice of the peace in Virginia, and he agreed to marry me for a buckskin, and we went over the river in Ohio and got married on a big rock in the woods ; some who were present were barefooted ; then we went home and had a fine dance.

In the next winter I lost my mare, by carrying a heavy load of meat, and then had nothing but my gun and dog I moved over the river into Ohio, I think, in the year 1787; there engaged in the ranging business; followed the Indians and hunted for a living, for several years, living happily, though the Indians were very troublesome. I lived at a place called Carpenter's Station, one mile up Short creek. We had fine times; nothing to do but dance, and eat hominy, and guard ourselves. Then, after some years, I thought I would quit this kind of life, and go to work. I went down the river to Manchester, in this State (Adams county), and thought I would work for my living. I began to raise a crop, but had not been there long until a party of men came along who were going after some prisoners who had been taken on Flat river, Kentucky, about thirty women and children. Nothing would do, but I must go with them, and I at last agreed to do so. On the second, day we fell in with a party of Indians, and attacked them, and killed perhaps three. I shot one, who happened to be a white man, raised with the savages from a child, and was going to war then, to the mouth of the Scioto, to hack boats, steal property and kill people, as they had taken many boats there. In the above attack, I lost one man ; he fell against me. His name was Joseph Jones, a fine soldier. Four of our party thought it best to run in the camp, with our knives and tomahawks, and did so, and lost Jones. It was in the night. Jones had not yet expired when I left him, but we had to run for our own safety, as we supposed there were more Indians near by. Sure enough, it was so, and we returned home. I thought I would quit fighting the Indians, but in a short time they took three horses from me. Then my ambition was raised against them, and I started out with a party of surveyors, who were going to survey the Virginia Military Land, beyond the Scioto, and lay out, without fire, sixty odd nights, with one blanket. The greater part of the time, there was snow. We would cook before night; then I'would gather brush, scrape away the snow and lay my brush or b^rk on the ground; spread my blankets upon this, and put on dry socks and moccasins. There I slept very well, about half awake, not knowing what might happen to us that night.

After being out for some time, we met an Indian in the woods, as the surveyor was running a line, and the Indian ran off, and we gathered together all our force, which was, I think, twentyone, most of them young lads ; perhaps ten or eleven with guns. In the morning, after breakfast, we started with intent to strike the camp, but missed it a little, but fell on their trail and found they were too many for us. Our company was very much alarmed on account of the young lads. Colonel Nathaniel Massie, who was with us, would not permit us to attack them. I was put before. We went about two miles, when we found the trail of about eight Indians. I told Massie that we would follow them, as they went our course ; then he took the precaution to push up for fear of what might be behind. At sundown we came to the place where the Indians were encamped for the night. We soon caught their horses, and waited patiently until dark; then myself and four others, who were to attack the camp, creeped up to within a few feet and fired upon them. Two were killed ; the rest escaped. We went fast for home through fear of those we had passed that day. We went about four miles ; there we stayed all night, cooked and ate our breakfast ; then started for home, killed two buffaloes, and reached home in safety the next day.

Then I determined to go with Anthony Wayne, and started; reached him at Cincinnati, where I was given $2 a day to go about twelve miles to take care of cattle for the use of the army. It was very dangerous, for the Indians were plenty, watching the army. After some time I got word that my wife was very sick and I returned home. I found my wife very low. In the spring we moved to a. piece of land in Ohio which I had bought, on Brush creek,* with a family with me by the name of Hoglin. He died a short time after, and I moved back to the station. When we were at the land it was very dangerous. After some time I moved up the river where I came from. Carpenter's Station, on Short creek. I then had some money and two horses. There was peace with the Indians by this time, and I thought I would repay them for the damage they had done me. Following them many miles, I reached New Comerstown; there, I and three others, fell in with thirty or forty Indians; we gave them a small keg of whisky and kept one to trade on. They got pretty high, and' soon came to take my bread. One got hold of the bag and ran, but I soon overhauled him and took it from him. Soon after they came to get more whisky, and I sold it to them for $1 a quart, one-third water ; thus I was paying them up. In two or three days I got done trading and went home in fine heart, thinking what I would do next trip. I soon started out again with several horses loaded with articles for trade and one loaded with whisky, as it would make nearly two horse loads. I came to the camp and found many Indians there eager to trade, and made good bargains for myself.

I found a white man there named Kobert Hig- -gins, and the Indians and I got an old woman willing to marry him; then the buck's foot and were handed about, and the marriage was -over. We put them to bed on a bear-skin. Then I started home; had made a good trade and brought some Indians home with me. My fath- had been wounded and taken prisoner by the Indians, and was very angry at them. It was hard work to save them from him, but I did it. I sold off my trade and lived high, played <!ards and ran horses. I spent my money as fast as I made it, but took good care of my family.

In the spring I took my brother-in-law with me ; took plenty of trade, especially whisky, as it was good trade that would sell when cash and all fikins were gone, for the best of clothing. This was full of lice, but we would wash it and sell it again to others who had skins. Then the Indians got very troublesome. They wanted to take my whisky, and I fought for it, and Carpenter left me alone. I had to work to save my property, but none was taken. In a few days I sold all out and started for home. About fifteen or twenty went with me. Then I began to understand them a little, which made trading easier for me. I traded eight years with them, and my wife, too, understood them before I was done trading.

Then, after some time in the next fall, I determined to move to the Muskingum Salt Springs, where Chandlers made salt. I started down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum, then up it to the salt works. On the way I got the ague, and had it two months, or thereabouts; landed at Duncan's Falls, where there were thirty or more Indians waiting for me. I had a barrel of whisky - great joy for them. Soon they got drunk. There were no persons with me but my wife and three My hands had gone up to the salt We had to move our bed and barrel of whisky seven times that night to keep from being robbed, as they always found us.

Daylight came at last. I had hard work to save all but did so. After some, time in the day my hands came for me. They stole off the barrel of whisky and left it out in the woods, then came back for the .family. When we had gone about two miles I took sick and they left me under a tree with a blanket over me. Up came a very hard rain but I was not able to get up. In the evening they came for me with a horse; we went about four miles, there came to my wife and children, with no shelter except a small tent. Those were hard times. There was no person to work for me and I laid sick for about two months without bread or any other food except meat. It was a very hard winter. After some time I got able to go for some provisions, and brought several horse loads. I had to fetch it about eighty miles through deep snow. There was no road, but at last I got home, and we had bread.

There were some young men who had been trading with the Indians. They came to see us and the Indians were all very dry. They sought to have a frolic and had one. I had to keep very steady. All got pretty high. Solomon McCulloch and William Morrison cut a hole in the ice, or it was cut, and poked one Indian in it. I ran and took him out. By that time they had stripped one more all but one leggin aaid breech clout. He broke away and ran to the woods where he stayed all night. The snow was deep and it was very cold. My wife and I followed but could not overtake him. In the morning he came back and wasnot frozen as we expected he would be. He had lain under a bank where there was a spring. The next night the Yankees played a trick on one of our hands ; they got a rope around his neck and swore they would draw him up the chimney, I abed heard them, spoke to them and they let him go.

My neighbors were Indians, but in a short time I had two neighbors who were white men, William McCulloch and Henry Crooks. Then I made money making salt and keeping provisions for travelers. I spent it all in cutting a road so as to keep the road by my house. I then sold out and moved to the Whitewoman. The Indians came there and robbed me of my best clothes from under my head. They stole my horse, and several others. I went with the owners of the horses and got two back again. Then they stole more horses. ' I felt very willing to follow them, took two Indians with me and started. I overhauled the one that had stolen my clothes, but he had lost them at gambling. The chief told me to take him but I thought it best to leave him. The Indians had sent the horses he had stolen to where I lived. Then the next morning I started and came to a place called Helltown,* a small Indian town. I was treated very well but there were no news of stolen property. The next morning I went on to Lower Sandusky. There I found them very much alarmed on account of two Indians that had stolen two horses, and three _ men had followed and killed, them. The white men's names were Elias Hughes, John Eatliff and John Bland.f At

Sandusky the Indians had a feast, about 300 were there. I thought my chances were bad, but good or bad I bolted up in the midst of them, told the chief what my errand was - to have the horses returned and the stealing stopped, and that then there would be no more killed. They agreed to give up all the horses, and I got eight or nine home for their owners. That put a stop to horse stealing by the Indians to this day, 1831.

I then had the ague for nine months almost every day. Then I moved to Coshocton, here I have lived thirty-two years. I thought when I came that I would try to make something to live on in my old days. I kept a tavern for about twenty-eight years, and drove hogs and cattle, and made money on all sides. Before I left the salt works the Indians robbed my wife of one keg of whisky and stole two horses when I was away from home. When I returned I followed them with two other men, and we overhauled them on White Woman river. That was in time of peace. I think I was gone five days.

About twenty-one years ago I had my house burned and two children, one of my own and one of my brother James', burned and everything but a mere trifle lost. In about one month I was doing business as good as ever, keeping tavern and droving. After a time the last war came on. I thought I must see what was going on. At Hull's surrender I was ordered out with 100 men or thereabouts, went on to Mansfield. Before I got there I had some trouble with the Indians, to get them to tell what they would do, go to the British or go to our army, and my men killed one. They came to us after a day or two ; we stayed at Mansfield. In a few days, the Indians came within a few miles and killed two old persons, man and wife, I think they were seventy or upwards, and their daughter and one other man. I and four or five more went where they were killed, found them dead and scalped. In the course of the day they were buried without coffins. In a few days, about fifteen or twenty Indians came where there was a family and some mihtary men, about one mile distant from where they had killed the others, and killed, I think, four persons. I was sick at the time. Sent twenty men after them but could not 'overhaul them. After a month, I was ordered home with my men.