Greenville Township (part 4 of 11)

The history of the town of Greenville as a municipal organization here demands a brief notice, and only brief notice will here be given. At the session of the State Legislature of 1832-33, the first act to incorporate the town of Greenville was passed. Some matters in that act deserve a passing notice. The elective franchise was restricted to those who had been for six months not only voters of the county and State, but residents of the town, and eligibility to the offices of Mayor and Trustees, forming the legislative council of the town, limited to freeholders. It would probably be well if these provisions had been continued, but under the codes passed under the new constitution of the State, and which abrogated all the old charters of the cities, towns and boroughs of the State, pure and unadulterated Democracy intervened to such an extent that the public burdens were imposed and public funds expended by those who were wholly disinterested, bearing no share in the one, nor having any material interest in the other. To make a long stoiy short, it may as well be stated, that, for more than twenty years, the municipal government of the town, from year to 3~ear, has been created and controlled, in the main, b}r men who, with few exceptions, pay no taxes, and care nothing how much others have to pay. It is now a matter of so little interest as to who held office as Mayor, Council, Marshal, Clerk and Treasurer of the Town from 1833 to 1840, that the recapitulation of their names would have little to interest the reader of these pages, and hence the matter is here dismissed.

In regard to the progress of the township of Greenville outside of the clearing of the land and reducing it to cultivation, which steadily went on, it may be here related that after the erection and destruction of Terry's mill and the completion of Dean's, the next enterprise was the erection in 1824, by Samuel Kelly, of a wool-carding establishment near the site, but above where Terry's mill was destined in 1813, and within about a year afterward, a mill for grinding grain was added by the same proprietor, who, about 1828, sold out to John Swisher, who continued both concerns for some years, until the termination of a lawsuit against him by Dr. Perrine, for nuisance, for backing water over the swamps above the mouth of Mud Creek. The outcome of this lawsuit resulted in the virtual destruction of the mill in 1835-36.

In about 1826-27, David Briggs erected a grist-mill and saw-mill on the ei'eek, a mile and a half below the town, which, with little profit to the various owners who have possessed the property within the past forty years, has been in operation until this spring - 1880 - when its destruction has been determined upon under the pretext of draining the swamp above the mouth of Mud Creek. William, who, with his brothers, Samuel and Christophher, and his brothers-in-law, Hugh Lourimore and John Culbertson, emigrated to the county in 1816 and 1817 ami settled east and southeast of Greenville, at the distance of from two to five miles, built a saw-mill on the dividing branch, near its confluence with Greenville Creek, about the year 1822. This concern rotted down, and was rebuilt several times ; has been in operation, off and on. on the average, about three months of the year since its first erection. About fifteen years later, John W. Harper built another saw-mill on the same branch, about half a mile above Martin's, which was operated for a number of years, but is now among the things that were.

About the same time that Briggs was engaged in the erection of his mill, J a red Barnes put up a grist and saw mill near the west line of the township, on Greenville Creek. The mills have been remodeled and rebuilt various times, and have been owned by various parties, and are yet in existence, sometimes in running order, but nearly as much of the time lying idle for repairs. The traps which have been enumerated constituted the milling facilities of the township to the close of 1840, and during all the years before that, and much of the time since, the chief dependence of the people of the town and township for the prepared material whereof to make their bread, was on mills not merely beyond the limits of the township, but- beyond the boundaries of the county.

Notice has already been taken of the tanyard abortions of Routsong & Williamson. About 1819 or 1820, Amos 1'. Baldwin and John McGregor started a tannery on a small scale, on the lot on Water street below the railroad, now occupied by Jack Taylor. Baldwin died about 1821, and the concern, in a year or two, changed hands, and kept on changing until on the death of George Sanderson, the last owner, who operated it in is.")."), when it went out of existence altogether; it was never, so far as known, a source of airy profit to any of its owners.

In 182G, William Martin, already named, established a tannery about a quarter of a mile up the branch, above his saw-mill. From this concern, for thirty or forty years, his son Robert, and others who ran it, turned out a commodity which they said was leather, but by other people was called horn ; a side of it might be bored or cut when moist, but in the dry state defied awls and edge-tools. In 1831 or 1882, Jacob Herkimer located a tannery between Water street and the Creek, about half-way from the Broadway bridge to the mouth of Mud Creek ; he died in a year or two afterward, when it was taken charge of by his step-son, D. R. Davis, in behalf of his mother and the minor children of Herkimer, after which it changed owners several times, and is now the property of Thomas B. Waring, a recent purchaser. A year or two afterward, William W. Jordan purchased a tract of land over the creek and began what is now the Porter Tannery ; it also changed owners once or oftener before it came into the hands of the present occupants - the Messrs. Porter - and it, as well as the Herkimer }Tard, have been carried on continuously through all the intervening years.

Of the other industries of the town of Greenville prior to 1840, it is unnecessary to speak. There were carpenters and blacksmiths, shoemakers and tailors who did the work required by their customers, who usually furnished the materials to be wrought upon ; at that day there was neither foundry, machine-shop nor planing-mill either in the town or in the county. But in this connection, one other matter of note must be stated. In 1832, Samuel Scott and Edward Donelann commenced the publication of a weekly newspaper, that, having borne various titles and passed through the hands of many proprietors, is }ret, after the lapse of forty-eight years, published as the Greenville Journal.

The duty yet remains to speak of the changes and progress in other avocations and employments to the end of 1840, and, as the first item, relate the successions as well as beginnings of those upon whom devolved the duty of afford' iug food and shelter to the wayfarers, including man and beast, for a consideration.

.Moses Scott, as has already been stated, emigrated to Fort Wayne in 1824. On leaving, his stand was rented to Judge Terry, who remained in it until about the close of 1827. and was succeeded, first, by .John Armstrong, who in a short time gave way to Jack Douglass. James Craig, in 1829, purchased the property, occupied the old stand until his brick building adjoining the public square, and the nucleus of the present Wayne House, was completed, into which he removed, and continued the business until 1S33. when he rented the stand to Edward Shatter, whose death occurred in the summer of 1835, after which, his widow continued the business for some months, when she gave way to Charles llutchin. from Jaeksonburg. in Butler County, llutchin. in L837, built the Broadway House, now the Exchange Bank and Vantelburgh's grocery, into which he removed, and the house across the street was not again occupied as a tavern until after 1 S 40. Bascom ceased to keep a tavern in 1829, on the decease of his wife, and his premises were not again ever occupied for that purpose. In 1828. a house (now the residence of John Hufnagle, recently built by Dr. Perrine, was occupied by Samuel Robison as a public house, but in a few months he surrendered it to the Doctor, who had taken to himself a wife and needed it as a residence ; and here it may as well be noted that, some four or five years afterward, Mrs. Perrine died, and Perrine, after some time (how long the narrator fails to remember), ceased to be a householder, and, for the remaining years of his life, was found sometimes here, sometimes at Dayton and sometimes in New Jersey, where he had numerous relatives. At last, some two years ago, he died in the lunatic asylum near Dayton, to which, on account of mental aberration, he had for a few 3rears been consigned, beyond the age of more than fourscore years. The widow of Azor Scribner, a year or two after the desertion of her second husband, ceased to occup}' the old Scribner stand on Water street, and, for about a year (1828-29), in it was kept, by Isaac Shidler, a tavern after the maimer that the woman kept tavern in Indiana, to wit, " like h - 1." The establishment ceased "for keeps" in the autumn of 1829. In 1828, Joshua Howell, who had in that }'ear been elected Sheriff and had, some years previously, been for one term County Commissioner, removed from Fort Jefferson and opened what was called a tavern in a small frame house on Third street, that stood where is now the dwelling of George Studabaker. In 1830, he erected a frame house on the corner of Broadway and Fourth street, which was dignified with the title of " Travelers' Rest." Howell, who, in the interim after his shrievalty expired, wanted to run for Congress, and did run a sorry race for a seat in the State Legislature, in 1831 sold the " Travelers' Rest " to Nicholas Mark, who, after some years' occupancy, leased it to David Angel, who was its occupant in 1840 and for some time afterward. The further history of the "Rest" will not here be related, further than to sa}' that it was pulled down, some four years ago, to permit the erection of "Allen's Hall" and the "Greenville Bank." In 1830, Francis L. Hamilton enlarged, by the erection of a second story and additions, a frame building on Main street and the public square, opposite the newly erected tavern of Craig, and in it continuously, until after 1840, kept a public house, held in good esteem by all his boarders and the traveling public. In a few years after 1810, Hamilton took charge of a hotel in Richmond, Ind., from which, in a couple of years, he returned to his farm, some three miles north of Greenville, and from there, at a later period, to the town, where he died about two years ago, at the age of more than eighty years. The old tavern stand was removed, within the decade of 1840-50, to give place to the Waring Block. The changes in this department of business, since the close of 1840, will be noted elsewhere.

The progress of business in the mercantile line, prior to the close of 1840, must be noticed, and the changes of the parties engaged in it, as well as the locations where the business was transacted, taken into account. Beside the unremembered Frenchman and Azor Scribner, mention has already been made of David Connor, Abraham Scribner and the Hoods.

Connor, after the treaty, and near the time that Scribner and the Hoods engaged in business, as has elsewhere been stated, removed to Recover}' ; at a later period, he was on the Mississinewa, below Llewellyn's mill, where he was located at the time of the murder of the Indians, in 1824, that raised him to the chieftainship. At a later period, he went down the river below the Broad Riffle, within the limits of what is now Grant County, Ind., where his death occurred about 1818. His wife never left Greenville, but continued to reside there until her decease, in March, 1851. Scribner, as has been stated, on the death of his second wife, went to the Manmee, having sold out his stock to Heniy House, but, after a few months' absence, returned earl}' in 1823, repurchased from House, and continued in business until his death, in 1817.

The Hoods were succeeded by Alexander Delorac, and he in a few months gave way to Charles Neave, who remained but a short time, when he returned to Cincinnati, in 1S22. and for thirty years or more was a member of the firm of T. & C. Neave, extensively engaged in the iron and hardware business in that city.

AiM.iit the time that Neave Left, Nicholas Greenham, of Piqua, established what might be called a branch of his Piqua house at Greenville, which was withdrawn in April. L825.

In the fall of 1820, Loring R. Brownell, also from Piqua, came with a stock, and continued until late in 1833 or early in 1834. He sold his stock to James M. Dorsey and Henry Arnold. Tn three years, or near that, afterward. Dorsey withdrew, and Arnold alone carried on the business of the house until after 1840, and now. forty years later, is still in business as a member of the firm of II. & II. X. Arnold, tn the latter part of 1827, John McNeil engaged in business in a small way. and in about a year sold out to F. L. Hamilton, who, in a year or eighteen months, sold to \V. B. Beall, in 1880. who. in the spring of 1831, was joined by Francis Waring, who several years later became sole proprietor, and continued in business until 1876. His death occurred in 1878. Beall died about 1855 or 1856. About the same time that Beall commenced business, Allen La Mott and Josiah D. Farrar, as the firm of La Mott & Farrar, commenced and continued until after 1840. In 1834 or 1835, Milton Bailey bought a stock of goods, and in a brief period gave place to John Baird. who in short meter '-blew out of the bolt ropes " and went to Texas or Arkansas, leaving creditors to " wailing and gnashing of teeth."

About the same time that Bailey started in business, William Martin, who has before been named as proprietor of a saw-mill and tanyard, employing a relative as clerk and salesman, laid in a stock at Cincinnati, and opened out in Greenville. In a year or little more, Martin ascertained that he was " in bad shape ;" to keep things from getting worse, dismissed the clerk ; to meet pressing demands, borrowed $1,000, which amount, with what should have been the profits, he found had been sunk, and sent what remained in care of his son, William Martin, Jr., to Recovery, al >< >ut the close of 1835 or early in 1830. In the end he weathered the storm, but in after years, after the establishment was closed out, he frequently stated to friends that it would have been far more than $1,000 in his pocket if he had never " tried on " being a merchant.

In 1834, John C. Potter came from Butler County, and engaged in the mercantile business, which he continued until the death of his wife, daughter and himself from cholera, in August, 1819. A year later came his brother Hiram Potter and Samuel Davis, from Jacksonburg, in Butler County, who for a time carried on the mercantile business, as the firm of Potter & Davis. The firm dissolved in 1838 or 1839 ; Davis went to Piqua, and Potter continued business as successor of the firm until his death in June. 1845.

The trading house of Connor, afterward occupied by Greenham, was on the east corner of Water and Sycamore streets. The Hoods, Delorac and Neave on the northwest side of Water street, between Elm and Vine. The establishment of Scribner was first in a log house, out of town as then laid out, near where is now located the gas works, and subsequently on the south corner of Main and Elm, and in 1830, he again removed down Main street between Sycamoreand the public square. .McNeil. Hamilton & Beall were in the same location, which stood on the site of the Waring Block, and two or three years later Beall & Waring were at the Kipp corner, in a building which, at a later day, when tt.was the " Buckeye House." was burned down. Brownell first located between Sycamore and Elm on Main street, when' 1 >r. Lynch now resides ; at a later day at the east corner of the public square, on Broadway, to which La Mott & Farrar. who first were in the old stand of McNeil, Hamilton Oc Beall. removed, in 1833, and when he was succeeded by Dorsey & Arnold. They transferred the concern to the west corner of Broadway and Third. Bayley & Barrd were on the wesl side of Main, between the public square and Sycamore. John C. Potter first opened at the same place, and then, after erecting the Katzenberger building, which served as storeroom and dwelling, occupied it until bis decease, in 1849. Potter iSc Davis were «t first in Bascom's corner, afterward in what is yet known as the Hiram Potter House, between the public square and Walnut street.

It must here also be stated that previous to that time, in a country town like Greenville, the mercantile business was not divided up into the various branches of dry goods, groceries, iron and hardware, groceries, queensware and drugs, medicines, paints and dye stuffs. Every dealer had nearly a little of everything, and but very little of anything. The whole stock of merchandise in every department, brought to the town in a year, would not have been equal to the spring purchase at this day, in the department of dry goods alone, of Moore & Winner, H. & H. N. Arnold, or Wilson & Hart. Prior to that year, no separate and distinct concern known as an iron and hardware store, drug store, clothing store (no Jew had yet appeared in the town), boot and shoe store, or grocery, had existed in the place. But the whole truth may as well be known. There had been traps, called groceries, kept by "Dad " Warren. Ethan Powers and Josiah Shaw, where a potato or a button were sold for a fivepenny-bit, and the customer given as a gratuity a drink of " bald-faced whisky." Under the old license laws the grand jury deemed it their business to intermeddle with these institutions, and they were soon " dried up."

During all the years over which this narration reaches, the progress of the town and township of Greenville, as well as the county of Darke, although sometimes slow, has been onward.

The census of 1820 showed the population of Darke County to be 3,717, and in that enumeration was included the inhabitants of what was then Mercer County, the territory of which then embraced part of the counties of Shellby and Auglaize. The inhabitants of what now remains as Darke Count}- could not have exceeded 2,000. At the close of 1824, the town of Greenville had within it thirteen families, all told, the total number, old and young, being less than 100 souls. The census to be taken the present year, 1880, will reveal the fact that the town now contains about or quite four thousand inhabitants.

Several things in the early years withheld in town and county progress and improvement. The valleys of Bridge Creek, Mud Creek and the West Branch were then impenetrable swamps, covered by willows and inhabited by wolves.

In 1820, the sale of Government lands on a credit ceased, and early in 1825, all thus previously sold had to be paid out or forfeit to the United States. Several thousand acres were forfeited, and the certificates of several thousand more, as the laws then permitted, were relinquished to be applied in discharge of what remained due on the remaining portion. The mortality of the 3-ears 1821 and 1822, and of 1829 and 1830, contributed to prevent emigration. The furor for speculation in wild lands in 1836 and 1837 broke out, and even the banks of the Mississippi Indian Territory, as well as that which the Government owned, were staked out into city and town lots continuously from Keokuk to St. Paul. The bank crash of the latter year came when "red dog" and "mad dog," "wild cat" and every kind of paper money went down into simple rags, and the projected cities and towns from the Ohio to the Mississippi, with few exceptions, remain on paper only to this day. Many of the lands purchased as a speculation in Darke County remained unimproved and unsold for tkhly years, and some of them to this day. Nevertheless, in spite of all these drawbacks, Darke Count}* (the soil of which, fifty years ago, the more a man owned of it the worse he was off), has moved on, until now it ranks, if not the first, yet among the first in the State of Ohio.

As a sequel to what has been related of the early history of Greenville, town and township, it may not be improper to say something of some of the actors in that history who have now gone hence. It has been stated that among the arrivals after the treaty were Archibald and James Bryson, natives of Bedford County, Penn., who became settlers in Greenville Township. Archibald Bryson, on the organization of the countv, was chosen a County Commissioner, and re-elected to a second term of thai office, and served at intervals in other public duties. For a period of twelve years, from 1816 to 1828, his influence and opinions as to men and measures served more than that of any other man to direct and control public action, and it may be said that this influence was exercised honestly and judiciously. He hated demagogues, and "greased no man with the oil of fool." The ascendency which he had maintained passed over to mid was exercised by Scribner for a succeeding period of about ten years. Since that time, no other individual has been able, without the co-operation of rings and cliques - and. in the days of Bryson and Scribner, rings and cliques had not been imported - to guide and govern Darke County. Now and then, some man took it into his head to "go it alone." but such only made a mistake, and were "left out in the cold." Archibald Bryson, about 1840, emigrated to "Western Indiana, and died near Pittsburg, in Carroll County, about 1865. James Bryson, who had served several years as Justice of the Peace. Avas for some years County Commissioner, and for seven years was Associate Judge of Darke Common Pleas, continued to reside in the county until his decease, not far from the time of his brother's death.

A. Studabaker, who has been named as one of the earliest settlers in the county, was a resident of Greenville Township thirty-seven 3rears, 1815-52, until his death, and was for many years a County Commissioner. He was destitute of education, but was a man of sound judgment, good executive ability, and strictly honest. Talbot, in 1822 or 1823, went to Indiana, put himself on good behavior and short rations, and was some years later elected to the shrievalt}' of one of the river counties down the Ohio, after which nothing further is known of his history to the writer. David Irwin was County Collector of taxes in the days when the office was sold at auction. In after years, he was County Treasurer, in which office he died, about 1846, and was succeeded by his son James in the same position, in which he also died, about 1851.

David Briggs, a very worthy man, came to this county as early as 1810 ; was elected a Justice of the Peace as early as 1816, or previous ; was County Treasurer in 1819 or 1820. In 1828, by Scribner's direction, was elected County Commissioner, and, three years later, b}^ his commandment, was defeated for the same office. Mention has been made of John Craig. He was the third County Auditor, and. while holding the office, died in 1825. James Craig, his brother, a 3"ear later, married the only daughter of Robert G-ray, one of the proprietors of the town when first laid out, and raised a family of daughters, three of whom yet survive. After the discovery of the California gold fields, he went there, seeking to mend his fortunes, and three years later returned, and soon after died. His widow died a few years later. There was another James Craig, stepson of Judge Terry, and brother of Alexander, David and Seymour Craig. He was elected Sheriff of the county in 1830, and died a few months later, in 1831. Joshua Howell has been spoken of as a Commissioner and Sheriff'. Three others, John, Thomas and Jerry, were here between 1827 and 1S35. All were ambitious, and had reasonable luck. Joshua had been Justice, Commissioner and Sheriff'; John was Sheriff after Craig's death four years; Thomas was six years a Justice; and, in the fall of 1835, at the end of John's term. Jerry was anxious to be his successor. Old Billy Chapman, in his Yankee accent, declared thai " Darke County had been Howelled enough." Other people thought so. and Jerry was left. The whole race left the county soon after, and the truth may as well here be spoken, that not one of them possessed capacity to fit them for any public employment, and the further truth, borne out by the record of more than forty years, may as well be stated, that the proclivity to elect asses to office in Darke County ceased not when the llowells were gone.

The writer must here bring this chapter to a dose. In his younger days, he was intimately acquainted with a number of individuals who had been in the armies of Mannar. St. Clair and Wayne. lie was also intimately acquainted with nearly all the early 9ettlers of Darke County, in which he has himself resided for more than fifty-five years. The matters which he has related that occurred before he came upon the scene he obtained man}' years ago from the statements of those who had personal knowledge of the facts they related, and on whose truth he could rely ; and the remaining statements of events since he came to the county were nearly all within his own personal knowledge. Of all of whom he has spoken, not half-a-score remain, and of those above mere childhood who dwelt in Greenville when he came to the place, not one is left - all are gone !

In 1828, a stray printer on his rambles came into the county, named Benjamin S. Bullfinch. At that early day "teetotalism" had not made any serious inroads. Bullfinch, when under the influence of " Baldface," entered somebody's house and promiscuously appropriated a watch of the value of more than $10, as it was alleged and proved. He was arrested, indicted and tried, and as drunkenness was not then a justification of theft, was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for a year. This was the first conviction for an offense punishable by a sentence to the penitentiary in the county.

On the morning of January 21, 18-10, there was found on the premises of the Broadway House, a dead infant that had come into the world at some time of the preceding night. The mother was soon ascertained to be a young woman in the employ of the landlord. Charles Hutchins was then the Coroner, and in obedience to his warrant a jury was called, who by their finding made the charge of infanticide against the mother, and she, as soon as her condition permitted, was removed to the county jail. After several months she was brought to trial. She was defended by Judge Crane, who discharged that duty by order of the court, without fee or reward. At that day, lawyers discharged the duty of defending the indigent accused, when thereto assigned by the court, upon and for the honor of their profession ; and the practice of shysters haunting county jails in search of jobs at the cost of the county had not yet been inaugurated. On the trial, the woman was acquitted. That death had been occasioned by violence was established by the post-mortem investigation, but whether that violence was the result of purpose or accident was never known. The mother had been entirely alone in her hours of agony. No defense of insanity was set up ; that pica, as an offcome for murder, was then scarcely known in criminal procedure. Now the conduct and character of the manslayer and his ancestry, to the third and fourth generation, are sought out to establish hereditary insanity, and as scarce any one who in his pedigree but must make mention of fools as well as madmen, the defense of mental alienation is generally made out.

In 1794, a criminal in Wayne's garrison was by a military court tried, convicted and sentenced, and pursuant thereto was hanged. Since that day, the sentence to death as the penalty of a broken law has been but once pronounced by a court of justice in Darke County, and that sentence is not at this present writing executed. Whether it ever will be, is in the uncertainty of the future.

The uproar on the streets reminds the writer that this is "show day ;" there is to be exhibited a menagerie of animals and a circus. The first show in Greenville was of a similar character, though on a smaller scale, in June, 1829. But then as now, the institution was accompanied by a band of counterfeiters and thieves. On the next morning, Jim Craig had amongst his assets $22 in counterfeit money, coin and bank notes. Howell had $17. and other townsmen had lesser amounts. Two men had their pocket-books stolen, three others their pockets cut and purses taken, and there were outside thefts in the county amounting in the aggregate to $2(10 or $300. But then as now, men and their families who had neither meat nor meal, salt nor whisky in their dwellings, came to town and spent their last dime to "see the show."

Of the rise and progress of religious organizations in the town and township, the writer has not yet made mention, and, like many other matters of early years, there is obscurity and doubt. As early as 1817 or 1818, Elder Nathan Worley, from Montgomery County, a man who could not read one word in the Bible, but by his people regarded as an apostle, belonging to the body who called themselves '-"Christians," and commonly called "New Lights," who utterly abhorred any other appellation or name of denomination or sect ; and David Purviance, who had been a party in the revolt from the Presbyterian body at Cane Ridge, in Kentucky, about 1799 or 1800, and who, about 1809 or 1810, had removed with a number of like faith to the vicinity of New Paris, Preble County, the one illiterate as the fishermen of Galilee, the other like Paul or Timothy, "learned in the Scriptures from his youth," at intervals, few and far between, held religious services in the town' or vicinity. About 1818, Greenville became a point in a circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and John P. Durbin, a D. D. of after years, and a man whose praise is yet in all the churches, although he has gone hence to his reward, was the first itinerant circuit-rider. About the same time or near it, the town and township became a missionary field of the Presbyterian Church, and was visited first by Nicholas Pittenger, and subsequently by John Ross of that denomination, who held services in the town and neighborhood. From 1819 or 1820, services of the Baptist Church were held at long intervals, by Childers and Wintermole, ministers of that denomination, who yet, after the lapse of sixty years, have a quasi-organization, although no regular stated service or house of worship in the town or township.

About the year 1833, a Methodist Church was erected on the site of the present edifice ; it was a frame building, and of dimensions capable of seating an audience of one hundred to one hundred and fifty. The building was removed in after years across the street to make way for the present house. Near the same period, the Baptists took possession of the ground where the old log schoolhouse had been demolished, and erected a small frame structure to serve them as a place of worship. In 183G or 1837, the existing Episcopal Church was erected on the o-round where it yet stands ; its position has been changed and the house enlarged. Either the same year or the year previous, the Christian Church erected a brick building on Third street, between Broadway and Walnut street, which was taken down about thirty years since on an exchange of lots, the church obtaining the site of the present edifice. These four buildings were the only structures _ for ecclesiastical uses in town or township in 1840. Services of other denominations were held either in some of these buildings after their erection or in the court house. It should, however, be stated here, that at the Catholic cemetery, two miles northeast of the town, a log house yet standing was erected, and in it at distant intervals religious services were held, when a priest came to look after the lambs of that flock who had strayed into the wilderness. This old building was probably erected in 1839 or 1840.

Arcanum Introduction

THE history of Darke County is a record of military strife and civil progress. It presents, in striking contrast, the terrible cruelties of savage warfare with the happy and harmonious developments of peace. It builds the forts which sheltered armies and, later, founds cities upon their sites. It shows to us a wild waste of forest and swamp, broken by stretches of prairie, and irrigated by bridgeless streams, transformed to fields productive, pastures pleasant, homes comfortable and cities growing, populous and flourishing. It presents to view the dwellers of the wood, the Shawnee, Miami and other tribes at home. The energy of France, the power of England and the dominant persistence of Americans found here full play. It conducts from beyond the Alleghanies and beyond the ocean to find the fatherland of the race now dwelling in its townships.

The savage is seen to vanish beyond the Mississippi, the pioneer becomes the settler and commencement is made of a civilization whose manifest destiny is the highest happiness and power of a free people. Owners of the lands they till, makers of the laws they obey, themselves the projectors and builders of house and church, turnpike and drain, and all the improvements apparent to the eye of the interested observer. Persevering industry is seen to have rescued a region of swamp wherein miasma bred and floated, poisoning the atmosphere and endangering life, to become the most fertile of farms and healthful of lands.

Ohio is a noble State, and Darke County, emerging from obscurity, has advanced to prominence as one of her most productive counties. The history of Darke includes the origin of its founders, their progress in improvingits lands and the results of their unwearied industry.

Could material reward our research, and unwritten truths be rescued from oblivion, much of what would fill these chapters would prove a valuable addition to our knowledge. There is the inception of courts, the crude attempts at agriculture, schooling, manufacture and mechanism, the projectors of the turnpike and the men who originated and carved through the railroads. There is the progress of education, the mutations of the [tress, the growth of religion and the strife of opinion - noble themes, worthy of labored study. The historian is desirous yet reluctant to attempt the task. Consulting the press, he finds its columns mainly replete with pleasing tales and political tirades. The pioneers have listened to a hie addresses, but these have not been placed on file. A Wharry, an Arnold, a Hiller and a Harper have gathered fragments and done a priceless service, but the records of Darke are meager and deficient, and their combination as lessons for present entertainment and future reference and instruction is a difficult and important task.

Traveling her railroads, traveling her turnpikes, and walking the streets of towns and cities, the county shows free traces of its recent growth, and the thoughtful are anxious to learn the story. To know the acts of our ancestors, to asertain the rank of the county, to rehearse examples of heroism, and to exhibit the results of untiring and well-applied industry, are considered well worthy of patient investigation. The brief outline of State history centering within the bounds of Darke, the perilous settlements before the war, the roll of pioneers, the rapid changes wrought by labor, are themes to dwell upon. Aided by recollections of aged pioneers, annals and manuscripts, attempt is made to delineate the customs of the early day, to note the characters of primitive settlement and the influence on their health and habits of a residence in a region remote from travel and dense with the growth of centuries. There was seen here what is now going on in the Far West. The woods abounded in game, the lands were offered at low rates, and villages and towns would somewhere be laid out, and we shall see that these circumstances attract the roving trapper, the reckless speculator and the permanent settler.

Few are left to-day, in Darke, of those who rendered her citizens such incalculable service in making the county habitable. They have perished, but their work remains the basis of present and future prosperity. Pioneer life is made prominent because, from its impress, the future was determined. His legacy to posterity was an example of rare courage and ceaseless energ}'. A generation, springing from blended nations, has stamped its character upon a worthy successor. Peoples have clung to mountain side, or island home, because of life associations, but citizens of Darke are proud of the historic interest attached to her cities, the number and perfection of her pikes, and the attractions of a beautiful and diversified scenery.

Undulating plains, platted with farms and dotted by habitations, stretch away on either hand. .Many streams unite their waters, and irrigating the lands, drain the soil of surplus moisture ; groves of timber alternate with cleared fields, while town and city reveal their site by court-house tower and spire of church.

Seventy-four years ago. the first white man established within the limits of Darke County, by his rude cabin, an outpost of permanent occupation in the Indian country. Traders had been here and trappers had followed the traces years before, ' but the trails of armies had been overgrown with vegetation, and the Indians, cowed and sullen, were still at home in their rude camps along meandering streams.

Three fourths of a century have transformed a savage paradise to an abode of the highest civilization. In vain disease and danger, privation and poverty.

were leagued against the pioneers ; clearings increased in number and enlarged in area ; tradesmen and professional men gathered in the towns. Along Wayne's road they trooped and turned aside upon their entered lands. Later came the railroads, enhancing values and accelerating transportation. The perfect mechanism of the age is here in use, on farm, in town and city, and agriculture stands prominent in volume and character of its products.

Nor were education and religion ignored- - those sterling agencies which elevate and ennoble while they direct and stimulate exertion. These testimonials of the past are pledges of like recognition of eminent services in the present, and give direction to the future. It is with interest we seek to trace the history of Darke, and from the most disheartening commencement discern the growth of present proud pre-eminence among her sister counties in elements of stable and enduring prosperity.

As families with pardonable pride trace their descent from a long line of honored ancestry, so may Darke seek out her origin from the counties first formed in the Northwestern Territory. Hamilton was the second county established in the Territory, and was organized by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, on January 20, 1790, with the following boundary: Beginning on the Ohio River at the confluence of the Little Miami, and down said Ohio to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the standing stone forks or branch of said river, and thence with a line to be drawn due east to the Little Miami, and down said Little Miami River to the place of beginning. The condition of the pioneers of this county was deserving of commendation. For them to advance out into the wilderness seemed certain death, and to remain was to run the risk of starvation. Pioneers the best circumstanced found subsistence hard to get, and the poorer class were almost destitute. Game, fish, and what could be raised on small patches of ground in the settlements were the dependence for food. Having endured these privations for a time, some, the more resolute, determined to move out and occupy lands. There were several families which united to go, and for common safety block-houses were erected near their cabins. While at work by day a lookout was on the watch, and at sunset all retired within the pickets. So they labored on till improvements had been increased to a size sufficient to provide subsistence for their families. These stations became points of refuge for safety and food, and also drew upon them the attention of their foes. Perpetual vigilance, hardship and peril were the lot of the pioneer, and the block-house became the approved recourse of all settlers far up the rivers of Ohio. So scarce and dear was food at this time, that the little flour that could be afforded by families was saved away to be used only in case of sickness, or for the entertainment of friends, and game was sought as a necessity. Ross County was formed on August 20, 1798, by proclamation, as Hamilton had been, and likewise had very extensive limits. After Wayne's treaty, Col. Nathaniel Massie and others formed a company to make a settlement in the county. In August, 1796, Chillicothe was laid out by Col. Massie, and a lot given to each settler. Many of Wayne's soldiers and camp-followers settled here, and the society was much akin to what has been asserted of our Western towns of Deadwood and Leadville. Chillicothe was the point from which the valley settlements spread and advanced ; it was a place of considerable business, and in 1800 became the seat of government of the Territory. Later, the honor of being capital fell to Zanesville, and finally to Columbus. Montgomery Count}' was created from Hamilton and Ross on May 1, 1803, and the seat of justice was appointed to be at the village of Dayton, and, on January 16, four years later, Miami was formed from Montgomery, and Staunton, now a wretched hamlet near Troy, was made the count}' seat, and, finally, on January 3, 1809, Darke County was formed from Miami by act of the Legislature. It derived its name from the gallant Col. Darke, of whom honorable mention has been made in the successive campaigns of Harmar, St.

Clair and Wayne. The eastern, western and southern boundaries coincide with the original, but when formed, the county extended northward to the Indian boundary line fixed by Wayne's treaty, and therefore included a portion of the territory now belonging to Mercer County. As originally bounded, Fort Recovery stood on the northern line of the county. The original survey was made by Ludlow and his party early in the century, and the division into sections was the later work of Judge John Wharry, of G-reenville. The field-notes of the original survey give dolorous accounts of the condition of the county, which seems to have been dismal with swamps and marshes and far from attractive to the most resolute pioneer. Less than a dozen men comprised the population of Miami County from 1797 to 17,.i'.', and in 1800 a few families moved in. Then immigrants began to come in from all parts of the country. From the coon to the buckskin embraced the circulating medium. Merehandise was first obtained from Cincinnati, then Dayton, and finally a man named Peter Felix established an Indian trafficking post at Staunton. Ten years had now gone by since Wayne had retired from Greenville, and Darke County still formed part of the Indian Territory beyond the frontiers. Its hinds were traversed as yet only by the savage, the adventurous hunter, the wily trapper and by the Ludlows, Cooper, Nelson and Chambers, surveyors in Government employ, accompanied by their field hands. From June, 1799, to January. 1802, these venturing forerunners of occupation ran their lines in the face of the greatest natural obstacles with almost marvelous fidelity, and, returning, left their work to be made useful when the rising tide of settlement should flow in upon their forbidding, yet fertile tracts. Onward the settlements were sweeping as they have continued to sweep, till beating upon the far Pacific, there has come a return, and now in Kansas, Nebraska and other States there is still proceeding, under the potent intiuences of inventive genius, a continuation of that occupation which expands power, increases wealth and supplies homes for thousands.

At the close of the Greenville treat}', the county to the westward was a wilderness ; but, in addition to the Indian traces leading from the Miami to the Maumee. and threading their devious way to other savage villages, there were the broad trails cut by pioneers, trodden by horsemen and footmen, and marking the route of armies and the forays of detachments. The soldier was also the citizen and the settler, and his quick, appreciative glance took in the possibilities of the countries he had traveled. For him the woods of Darke had no charm. The conditions elsewhere were here wanting. Contrast the statement made concerning the .Miami settlement to the east with the actual condition of the lands of this county. There the country was attractive all about the settlement. Nature presented her most lovely appearance ; the rich soil, mellow as an ash-heap, excelled in the exuberance of its vegetation. Cattle were lost from excessive feeding, and care was required to preserve them from this danger. Over the bottom grew the sweet annis, the wild nettle, the rye and the pea vine, in rich abundance, where the cattle were subsisted without labor, and these, with nutritious roots, were eaten 1 ly swine with the greatest avidity. In Darke lands there were found the woods, the endless variety of vine and shrub, impassable swamps, lack of roadway, and the great difficulty of making passable roads. Nor were the forests the only or most formidable harrier to early settlement. We have seen the woods to be filled with Indians. Their principal town was at Piqua. distant but eighteen miles ; their camps were along the creeks. In the neighborhood of larger settlements they were treated roughly, and are entitled to little consideration, and it was known from hitter experience that lone families were in constant danger of -the sudden wrath of the savage. We have spoken of Tecumseh's brother, the Prophet. As the latter appealed to credulity and superstition, so did the former to a slumbering sense of the wrongs to be redressed, and by far more was the warrior to lie dreaded for the native eloquence and subtle scheming with which he gradually fanned the sparks of discontent into the flames of open warfare. It is said that he built a cabin at the point near Greenville, and by others it is denied ; it matters not, but the Shawnee brothers gathered about them dark retainers, who had no kindly impulses to the persons who might presume to pioneer the settlement of the country. Some portions of the county abounded in game, and among those timid and harmless animals were found those fierce and dangerous, as might be judged from the names of creek and locality. Still this might be regarded more as an annoyance than as a dread, and, later, premiums for scalps of wolf and panther supplied the settler with means of paying tax or buying necessaries. There existed a still more potent influence debarring occupation, and this was ill reports of health and climate. The men of that day were little afraid of labor ; they knew the Indian must give way, but they were peculiarly influenced by whatever partook of the mysterious, and Rumor's many voices soon changed the natural to the marvelous, and Darke Count}' was shunned as the haunt of a plague, designated "milk sickness." Some implicitly believe in its prevalence to this day, while others assert that it is a myth, undeserving of credence. Endeavors to find a case have always proved futile. It is heard of ''just over in the next township.'' but, going thither, report placed it further on in the next township, or perhaps in the one just left, and the phantom always places the breadth of a township between its locality and the curious investigator. But whether a myth or a reality., the report spread along the Miami and beyond ; the settlers believed it, and, what was worse, regarded it with dread. Even the Indians asserted that certain districts were infected with an air freighted with the odors of disease, and gravely told the whites, " Not live much here - too much belly sick ;" and. whatever the cause, there was sickness where they gave this word of warning. It will, thus be seen that the territory which afterward became Darke County had won an unenviable reputation, and land titles were held at lowr rates, with few bidders. These things undoubtedly delayed settlement and caused a tardy growth, while they gave in compensation a class of men possessed of pluck and energy, well qualified to leave their impress on the soil.

In the settlement of Darke County, which for eight }rears was a dependency of Miami, two classes of land occupants were recognized - the transient and the permanent. The historian called to do justice to the worthy class finds but few of their descendants resident citizens of the comity, and it is not till 1816 and later, that families came to stay and make their fortune blend with that of their future home.

Coming up the army roads, striking across the country, eligible locations caught the eye. and established the hunter at a creek-side home, while an unusual hard time in sickness and losses impelled the intended resident to move away. Thus there were conversions from one class to another, and all shared in a certain degree of restlessness while in search of a home, but a strongly marked distinction between the two divisions existed. There was seen to be here, as elsewhere, a border class of trapper and hunter affiliating with the savages, only endured by genuine settlers and hanging upon the outmost fringe of advancing occupation. It matters little who they were, these openers or beginners, who held aloof from neighbors, occupied miserable huts, raised small patches of corn, and left when the clearings became too numerous. Many poor men came into the county, put up small log cabins, cleared somewhat of ground, then, disheartened by privation, sickness and inability to make payments, gave way to others, who built with better success upon their broken fortunes. An old Darke County settler, located not far from Greenville, thus speaks of the actual pioneers as a class : "The place for the squatter is not quite among the Indians, for that is too savage, nor yet among good farmers, who are too jealous and selfish, but in the woods, partly for clearing it up and partly for hunting." The histories of townships, dealing with the first settlers, often speak of the unknown squatter, whose abandoned claims gave brief home to the settler, and whose ill-cleared vegetable patch, growing up to weeds and bush, made the spot seem yet more wild than the woods surrounding.

Travelers and land hunters characterize the squatter class as " rude and uncouth."' and express relief when leaving some worse than usual " bed and board."

Misunderstandings were decided not unfrequcntly by personal encounters, many grievances taken before those early Justices reveal the .sad lessons of poverty and intemperance, in marked contrast with later days ; such was the character of the squatter class of Darke County. We turn with pleasure to consider the class whose labor is the basis of the present enlightened society, and find expression in the language of the gifted Everett. '- What have we seen," said he, " in every newly settled region ? The hardy and enterprising youth finds society in the older settlements comparatively filled up. His portion of the old family farm is too narrow to satisfy his wants or desires ; and he goes forth with the paternal blessing, and often with little else, to take up his share of the rich heritage which the God of Nature has spread for him in this Western World. He leaves the land of his lathers, the scenes of his early days, with tender regret glistening in his eye. though hope mantles on his cheek. He does not, as he departs, shake off the dust of the venerated soil from his feet ; but, on the bank of some distant river, he forms a settlement to perpetuate the remembrance of the home of his childhood. He piously bestows the name of the spot where he was born, on the place to which he has wandered ; and while he is laboring with the difficulties, struggling with the privations, languishing, perhaps, under the diseases incident to the new settlement and the freshly opened soil, he remembers the neighborhood whence he sprung - the roof that sheltered his infancy - the spring that gushed from the rock by his father's door, where he was wont to bathe his heated forehead after the toil of his youthful sports, the village schoolhouse, the rural church, the grave of his father and of his mother. In a few }Tears, a new community has been formed, the forest has disappeared beneath the sturdy aim of the emigrant, his children have grown up, the hardy offspring of the new clime, and the rising settlement is already linked in all its partialities and associations with that from which its fathers and founders have wandered. Such, for the most part, is the manner in which the new States have been built up ; and in this way a foundation is laid by Nature herself for peace, cordiality and brotherly feeling between the ancient and recent settlement of the country.'7

In recounting the incentives to Western emigration, the ruling motive was the hope of improving the condition. The land was cheap, undoubtedly fertile, and the prospects of a rise in values certain. There were those who expected to find a " paradise in the West," and journeyed thither only to suffer from disease, want and discouragements. Some went back, telling of suffering, and dissuaded those lightly influenced ; others, with inherent manhood, resolved, since they were here, to make the best of it. and gradually won their way to affluence and comfort. Some time in the fall of 1806, or the spring of 1807, the first white man who came to the county to remain, established an Indian trading-house upon the northeast corner of Section 34, Greenville Township, which for a time embraced the greater part of the county. His stock was small, and of the kind most desired by the Indians. He did a thriving business, and exchanged for his goods, which were sold at exorbitant prices, various kinds of furs and somewhat of the cursed coin which British greed of lands had induced their emissaries to distribute among the faithless savages.

It is said that the order in trading was as follows, but whether, in this particular instance, wherein Azor Scribner was trader, the plan was customary, is unknown. If not. it should have been, and it has sonic points worthy of attention from civilized customs at stores of this late day. The Indians, bringing with them their roll of furs, walked into the cabin and found seats, while each was presented with a small piece of tobacco. Pipes were lighted, and the residue was placed in pouches. After some time passed in smoking and talking among themselves, one arose, went to the counter, and. taking up a yardstick, pointed out the article wanted and asked the price. Payment being made in skins, there was to each kind a recognized value. The muskrat was held a< a quarter, the raccoon at a third, a doc at a half and a buckskin at a dollar. Payment was made following each purchase, until all exchanges were effected. As each retired, another came forward in his turn till all had traded. No one desired to anticipate his turn, decorum was observed, and no attempt was made to " beat down," for, if not satisfied, another article was pointed out and named.

It is reported that Scribner not only sold the Indians tobacco, but rum, and they generally reserved some of their furs with which to procure liquor for a final frolic. The statement is made, and is probably true, that this pioneer trader supplied his savage customers with rifles, powder, lead, knives and hatchets, on the principle that if he did not others would, and he might as well have the profits. We cannot blame him for steep prices, when we consider the means of travel. His goods were hauled from Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, along Wayne's road bjr way of Fort Jefferson, by a yoke of oxen attached to a rough kind of sled, denominated a "mud-boat," and a trip usually occupied a period of from three to six weeks. As there was no competition, Scribner held the monopoly for several 3Tears, until the arrival of David Conner, in 1811 or 1812, when his coadjutor aspired for a portion of the trade, which at this later period partook more largely of civilized exchange.

We have said that Azor Scribner was the pioneer of Darke County, but, some six years after the treaty of Greenville, a Frenchman of unknown name established himself for a brief period upon the site of Minatown, and trafficked with the natives in exchange for his calicoes and other goods. Scribner's house was located about twenty rods from the present site of Porter's tanyard, but the date when he moved his family from Middletown, on the Miami, to Greenville is unknown, although thought to have been some time in 1808. This family consisted of his wife, Nancy Scribner, and two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, all of whom lived in the shanty which served at once as home and store. Sarah - or " Aunt Sail}' " - McKhann is prominent among the aged of to-day as the oldest living settler in Darke County.

We have to deal, in this chapter, with Darke's history and its surroundings, for the brief period of eight years. When we call upon the living and question them concerning events of this interval, from the formation to the organization of the county, we find them at a loss what to say. We turn to the bound volumes of the press, garnered in the court-house, and find few allusions to this period, so momentous as the initial of settlement, the commencement of still-continued lorogress, and we ponder the meager particulars of these eventful years.

Within the limits of a generation, marvelous changes have swept this region. Black Hoof, Logan and Tecumseh vanished before the swelling tide of westernbound humanity, and the Shawnee was driven beyond the Mississippi. Sons and grandsons are cultivating the fields of the pioneers, whose last-surviving members totter upon the verge of dissolution. Fine farms, growing cities and enlightened society are the results of pioneer enterprise, yet the shadows of oblivion are gathering. The memories of a Rush, an Arnold and of a Wharry, will soon have lost their distinctness, and their knowledge will have gone beyond recovery.

What will be known a few years hence of Samuel Boyd. Aaron Hiller and Lemuel Bush ? Of Abraham Studabaker, Briggs, Terry, Creviston, Carnahan and Devor ? What of Scott, Mclntyre, Thompson, Williams, Hayes, the ill-fated Bush, and a score of those whose labors broke the solitude and changed the features of the wilderness ? It is no puerile task to wrest from obscurity remembrances of early events, and those connected with them. The student of vital statistics stand amazed at the mortality of our older citizens during these last few years. Familiar faces are sought upon our streets and at their homes, in vain. The harvester has gathered the pioneers ; a few yet remain as the gleanings, even as some fruit clings to the branches when the time of the vintage is past. These are the veteran survivors of battles with nature's obstacles ; the aged witnesses of strange mutations. History knows of no worthier theme than that of those pioneers in a primeval forest, by whose toil the forests fell ; at whose will the heavy, dark woods gave way to fields of grain, log cabins and initial industries. Where malignant fevers and pestilential miasma crouched and hovered among the swamps, one sees the well-tilled fields, the useful drain, the lasting pike. Pioneers of .Miami, men fearless of heart and experienced in the settlements, saw with concern the rude outfits of the early settlers of Darke, as they pushed slowly on and disappeared in the heavy forests and ague-haunted swamps of that region.

People did not move by steam and car in those days, no, nor for many years later ; as late as 1839, the family of J. S. Patterson plodded their slow march for four hundred miles, their goods upon a road wagon, drawn b}^ three horses. All along the way, the inquiry was made of them : " Where are you from and where are you going ? " They had traveled a long way in Ohio before any one was found who knew that there was a Darke County in the State. The}' insisted that it must be Stark County or Clarke County that was meant. But, after they had left these counties in the rear, and had only two or three days' travel to make, there were found some unusually well-informed people, who knew where Darke County was, and they knew it mainly by its bad reputation. They said : "Don't go there for God's sake ; you'll all die with the milk sickness," and if travel and report were so adverse, at this comparatively recent period, what must it have been when, during the winter of 1807-08, Samuel C. Boyd moved in and settled on Section 14, Greenville Township ? Upon a small stream heading about two miles north of Greenville, and tributary to the Stillwater, near Beamsville, Boyd concluded to remain. He is notable as the first white man who, accompanied by a family, made a home within the limits of the county. The farm first known to occupation as the residence of this pioneer is that later owned by William Cunningham, and in 1879, by George Manix. The creek perpetuates his name as Boyd's Creek, and brief remembrances tell the following: He went to work and built a house, near where the railroad crosses the Gettysburg pike. How he got the timber in place and who came to his assistance is conjectural. Perhaps Scribner and a party of his Indian customers lent a helping hand, friends may have come with him and then returned, or, as is most probable, his wife may have rendered what aid she could, and he had the energy and ability to erect it himself.

Subsequent to this, Boyd entered a tract of land on Boyd's Bun, between the farms afterward owned by James Buchanan on the south and Barnett's on the north, lie was at work on this place clearing off a site for a house, when some one came along and reported the murder of Bush b}T Indians. At the solicitation of Abraham Studabaker, who, in 1808, had located on the east side of Greenville Creek, and had built a block-house there, through distrust of the Indians, Mr. Boyd was induced to remove to this refuge, with his family, where they remained but a short time. The ceaseless dread of violence hung like a threatening cloud over their minds, and they returned to Warren County, where they remained until the close of the war, when they once more returned to occupy and improve their land on the run. Prior to their removal, on one occasion, while Mr. Boyd was absent from home at night, the fierce barking of a dog led the family to think that Indians were prowling around, and Mrs. Boyd, in quiet, cautioning the children against noise, left the house with them and secreted herself and children in a pile of brush, and there passed the hours till morning. Mrs. Martin, then known as Dorcas Boyd, says that she remembers playing with the Wilson girls, who, as we shall learn more in detail, were killed by the Indians, and relates that a brother of the girls, pursued by savages, treed, thrust his hat. placed on the muzzle of his gun, cautiously to one side of the tree, as though peering out. drew the fire of his pursuers, and while they Stopped to reload, made good his escape.

During the war of 1812, several incidents occurred in and about Greenville, which at that early day seemed naturally to be fitted for a county seat. The greater number of Indians who remained friendly, who claimed and received protection from the United States, were located at Piqua, and placed in charge of Col. Johnston. There were the Skawnees, Delawares, Munseys, Mohicans, and portions of the Wyandots, Ottawas and Senecas. There were at one time assembled here full six thousand ; and far from being a source of danger, they were the best possible protection to the frontier while they were friendly. Johnston was beloved of them, their known friend and a man of approved courage. Several attempts were made to kill him in hopes of securing the strong body of savages for British assistance. Friendly chiefs warned him of danger. His family, save his wife, who stayed by him, and all his papers and effects of value, were removed for security, while he remained at his post. Various efforts, all foiled, were made to effect his death. Madison, then President, disdained to employ Indians in warfare, from a high sense of honor and noble principle, in striking contrast with his cruel and mercenary antagonist, and thereby suffered those reverses which befell our arms in the North. White flags with mottoes were supplied to parties of the Indians wishing to pass scouts and outposts in 'safety. The hatred to Indians in general, regardless of their feelings to the whites, was such that but for prudent action these Indians would have been driven to retaliate unprovoked injuries.

.At one time, a part}^ of whites discharged a murderous volley into the midst of a body of Indians, approaching them with the utmost confidence, bearing a flag in full view. Two Indians fell dead, a third was wounded, and the rest were taken captive, robbed of everything they possessed and taken to Greenville, where a post had been established, and to which these cowardly assassins belonged. Conscience has ever made cowards of men. and the garrison at Greenville, alarmed at the possible consequences of their cruel action, brought their prisoners to Upper Piqua, and delivered them to Col. Johnston. That officer decided to conduct them back to Greenville, and there to restore them to their property and to their people. The officer commanding the post at Piqua was asked for a guard to the. Indians, but neither himself nor any of his men dared to go. Johnston then decided to make the journe}' himself, to prevent evil effects among the Indians. Mounting his horse, he bade his wife farewell, and made the journey to Greenville in safety. The articles taken from the Indians were returned to them, a speech of conciliation and disavowal made, and then the Colonel rode home alone.

Personal Reminiscences

The Rush brothers, James, Henry and Andrew, with their brother-in-law, Hiller, and Henry Creviston came to Darke in 1810, from the Pickaway Plains, and settled near Greenville, where they remained till the spring of 1812, when the following occurrences took place :

All were steadily at work, preparing the ground for a crop of corn, and each day saw some improvement upon that preceding. Indians were camped all through the woods and passed the greater part of their time in hunting. It will be remembered that this was the spring succeeding the battle of Tippecanoe, where, as is well known, the Indians attempting to surprise the camp of Gen. Harrison were signally defeated. There was one Indian of those ranging the woods near the creek, who was lame as if wounded, and who gave himself the name of Simon Girty, but whether hostile or not, little attention was paid to him or the others. The people were attending busily to their necessary labors. Some employed the spring days of 1812 in clearing their land, some were busy tapping the sugar maples, boiling the sap and making syrup and sugar, and so were engaged about the 1st of April, when indefinite reports were circulated of Indian hostility and consequent danger to the settlers. A trader up at Fort Recovery was reported to have been killed by his partner, while some said he met his death from the Indians. The incident created no alarm, ami matters proceeded as usual till one day the Rush brothers, making a journey on horseback to Fort Recovery, passed on their way a number of camps whose occupants, manifesting a friendly feeling, lulled apprehension, and the settlers, easily quieted, went about their daily labors.

About the 28th of April, Andrew Rush started for a little mill which had been built on Greenville Creek, a few rods above where the Beamsville road to Greenville makes a crossing. He got his grist and set out to return home. On his way he stopped to make ;i call on Daniel Potter, who. with Isaac Vail, was occupying each his own end of a double log house, which stood between the present residence of Moses Potter and the creek.

These two settlers from some cause had become fearful of trouble, and had gone down the Miami for assistance to take back their families to their former homes. Mrs. Potter asked Rush if he were not afraid of the Indians, and he put his hand through his hair and replied, jokingly, " No ; I had my wife cut my hair this morning, so short that they could not get my scalp off." Sometime about 4 P. M.j he left for home, and had proceeded not half a mile when he was shot from his horse, tomahawked and his scalp taken.

Uneasiness was felt because of his not returning home, but all the next day forenoon rain fell steadily, and it was thought he might have stayed with a settler, but in the afternoon Hiller's oldest son and Bush's brother-in-law took ahorse and set out to look for him. The boys followed the track made by Rush to Greenville Creek, just above Spiece Mill, and there found the body laying on the sack of meal, mutilated as described. They went hurriedly on to Potter's, and the settler who had returned mounted the horse and set out to spread an alarm. The bo}rs crossed to the cabin of Thomas McGinnis, on Mud Creek, but he had heard the news and had departed. At the next house the inmates had also gone, and, running forward to the third cabin, they found it, too, silent, deserted and the door partly open. Hiller took a look within to see how matters were, and saw that the house had been left in haste and little, if anything, had been removed.

They then hastened to the cabin of Henry Rush, and it was abandoned. The truth was evident, that a panic had seized upon all, and they had fled for their lives.

Darkness surrounded the boys as they made their way through the woods to the cabin of James Rush, where the settlers had assembled their families, and were preparing to meet an expected attack. Just before the arrival of the boys, James Rush had set out on horseback to reconnoiter how things were.

Arriving at the house of Peter Rush, he there found the hunter, Henry Crevistou, who had passed the day in the woods, and now the three men, accompanied by the wife of Peter, went to the home of Andrew, where John S. Hiller, son of Aaron, was passing the night. The sad news was soon known to all, and the party set out for Mr. Hiller's. It was well that the Indians did not attack the family, as they were helpless. Mrs. Hiller had not walked a step for years, and there were five children here too small to travel alone. The reader cannot imagine the terror of the time - the gloomy uncertainty. About 9 P. M.. the sky cleared of clouds, the moon rose and James Push mounted his horse, took up Peter's wife behind him and went home for help to remove the women and children.

None of the men could be spared, as they expected to be attacked before daylight, but the two boys, above named, returned with two more horses and a gun. All started for the fort, as it was afterward called, at about 2 A. M., and gol in safe at daylight. The men were busy all this day putting the cabin in a state for defense, while the body of the murdered man still lay where it had fallen, and the panic was at its height.

A man named Sumption, about sixty years of age. set off alone, gun in hand, to Troy, Miami County, and reached there by daylight. Another man went to Lexington, Preble County, the same night. The next evening, a company of men reached old Fori Greenville, and late at night another company came up and went into camp on the east side of Mud Creek. In the morning, the Preble County men moved out on the road to the body of Rush and gave it burial. They then pushed for the new block-house where seven families had gathered for safety.

Part of the relief remained at Rush Port some time, and arrangements having been made, the women and children were escorted back to the older settlements for security. The Rush families returned to Pickaway County, and Hiller moved his family to Piqua. Miami County, about the middle of May.

At this time, there was but one family at what was then called old Fort Greenville, and this that of Mrs. Armstrong. Across the creek stood the cabin of Scribner and at the fort could be seen portions of the pickets set by Wayne's men, and a gibbet built by his orders was yet standing.

The experience of Abraham Studabaker, as detailed in township histoiy, was hard enough, but he did not retire from his land. He moved in 1795, from Pennsylvania to Scioto County, Ohio, thence he went to Warren, and. in 1808, came to Darke and built his first cabin on Congress land, near the present site of Gettysburg. He thought it prudent to erect a block-house on his premises and adopted toward his many Indian visitors a policy of kindness. No hungry Indian tramp went unfed from his door. Though somewhat of a tax on his resources, j^et it enabled him safely to remain upon and improve his land.

Previous to the battle of Tippecanoe, a cowardly attack was made upon a Miami Indian, coming to Greenville with his family for supplies. The particulars are fully given by J. Wharry in a previous chapter. Such was the effect of this attack upon the Indian mind, that before 10 o'clock next morning Fort Meigs, a hundred miles distant, was surrounded by 2,000 enraged savages. Brooding upon defeat, driven from their ancient homes, and incited by the English, the cause of one tribe was espoused by almost the entire number of the Northwest Indian tribes, and from that time until the victory of Harrison, and the defeat of Tecumseh and Gen. Proctor, at the Fallen Timber, in Upper Canada, the settlers on the frontier were only preserved from " the terror by night, and the dread by da}'." through the exercise of the most unremitting watchfulness. In addition to the Indian troubles, the war of 1812 increased the jeopardy to life in the scattered homes of the pioneers. It should have been enough for families to brave the loneliness and hardships of the wilderness without the constant apprehension of murderous surprise, torture, or the tomahawk and knife.

While, as we have said, a large body of Indians had assembled at Piqua, there were in the woods many who needed little urging to again dig up the hatchet. The wholesome dread of Wayne had lessened with time, and the solicitations and bribes of the English were not altogether ineffectual. The account given of murders on either side show the smoldering fires which were likely at a moment to be fanned into a blaze, and explain the singular panics which drove back the picket lines of settlement upon the heavier bodies. A new race had come to maturity, and their warm blood excited the Indians to open hostility. We know that Tecumseh remained for a time after being ordered to leave, and finally moving from his camp on Mud Creek, he led his warriors bravely, but in vain, as an ally of the British, in hopes to drive the whites from the fertile valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. This alliance was on one account a fortunate one for the pioneers of Darke County, as it removed the seat of war to distant points. No battle or other important event occurred in this county during the war, although small parties of hostiles were continually prowling about, keeping up the alarm and now and then securing a scalp.

We have spoken of Rush and Studabaker' s block-houses, and there were garrisons at Jefferson and Greenville, beside a fortified house on the banks of Stillwater, in Richland Township, on Section 34, near the cemetery. One other tragic event recalls the earlier day. the murder of the Wilson girls, in July, 1812. Two children, daughters of William Wilson, residing near Minatown. were out one day gathering wild berries between their home and the creek, when they were set upon and killed. It appeared as if their heads had been dashed against a tree, and their scalps had been taken. They were buried near where their bodies had been found, and from this period the attention of the reader is called away to measures of peace, law and permanent improvement.

Several dwellings and four block-houses were erected in Greenville, prior to the war of 1812. The houses were all on Water. Walnut and Ash streets, and the block-houses were located as follows : One on Lot No. 59, Main street ; a second on the same street ; a third on Water Street, beyond the limits of the town, near the old cemetery, and the fourth on what is now Sycamore street, in Gray's Addition, and beyond the early limits of the town.

In the year 1814, Abraham Scribner brought to the place a small stock of dry goods and groceries, and opened a store in the first-named block-house, where he enjoyed quite an extensive patronage. Upon this small lot he erected a dwelling, which still exists, and is used as a residence by Mr. Schubert. Charles Sumption was also a dealer in merchandise in the village at this time, as were probably Samuel Harmer and Linus Bascom, who were engaged in the dry-goods business in 1816.

At this early period of existence, Greenville was honored as the place of assembly for the agents of the Government, and delegations from various Indian tribes, to consummate a second treaty. This took place on the 22d of July, 1814, and Avas conducted, on the part of the United States, by Gen. William H. Harrison, who was afterward President, and Gen. Lewis Cass, then Governor of Michigan Territory, together with the friendly and faithful Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees and Senecas, who were most prominently represented by Capt. Pipe, Tarhe, Little Turtle and Black Hoof and some others. The United States Commissioners made their headquarters at the house of Abraham Scribner, at the northwest corner of Elm and Water streets. At this treaty, the Government agents and the tribes named gave peace to the Miamis, Weas, and Eel Biver Indians, and to certain of the Pottawatomies, Ottawas, and Kickapoos. All, whether allies or aliens at this treaty, bound themselves to take part with the Americans in case of a continuance of the war with Great Britain. Happily, England and the Bepublic soon concluded a peace, and the treaty was followed, in 1816, by others with the various Western and Northern tribes, thereby giving to the frontiers quiet and security once again. The speaking at the second Greenville treat}' took place in a little grove on the opposite side of the street from Scribner's, on the lot now occupied by the residence of Michael Miller, Esq. According to the testimony of an eye-witness, it was, with a single exception, the largest, most notable meeting ever held in Greenville. The Indians came dressed in all the toilet of their respective tribes - plumes, scalp-lock and paint ; all the attendants of barbaricsplendor were admirably set off by the more serviceable, if not picturesque, uniforms of the United States soldiers from Cincinnati and Fort Wayne. It was long spoken of by the early settlers, who attended from a distance of many miles, .as an occasion of rare occurrence, worth}' of commemoration in the annals of the county.

As will be noted later, the consciousness of security at last broke down one formidable barrier to settlement ; the refugee settlers returned to their old homes to repair the ravages of time and to renew their labors, while from the older counties; from Kentucky, Pennsylvania. Maryland, the Carolinas, families of emigrants by watei", wagon, on horseback and on foot, plodded their way northward from the Ohio, or westward, and quietly settled in and about the older clearings, gladly receiving the proffered assistance of the pioneers. Greenville received its share of population in due proportion. Dry goods were sold by Easton Morris and the Hoods, Robert and William, as also these necessary supplies were for purchase at the establishments of Linus Bascom and Abraham Scribner. The necessity of places of entertainment for man and beast was supplied by the opening of taverns by A /or Scribner and Moses Scott, whose bar for the refreshment of the thirst}' was an indispensable adjunct of the early day hostelry. Among citizens there were old Mr. Devor, Dr. Perrine, unmarried and commencing a practice destined to become extensive and laborious, and John Beers, whose official services were about to be required on occasion of the organization of Greenville as the county seat.

Darke Count}-, as stated, was created by act of the General Assembly January 3, 1809 ; but, on account of delay in settlement from causes shown, organization was postponed until December l4. 1816, when the actual and promised population warranted an independent government and enabled this section to act for itself.

As has frequently been the case and still continues to be the practice in the new counties of the States just settling up, there were not wanting enterprising and speculative men keenly alive to the pecuniary profits sure to result from ownership of land set apart for a county seat. A strife arose in Darke Count}', and there was sharp competition for the site of the county seat on the part of various landholders desirous of securing some profit from an advance in values. Enos Terry laid off a town plat on Herdman's farm, over the creek, and by some means had the plat established as the county seat. This act proved almost entirely unsatisfactory, and a pressure was brought to secure its repeal. This was accomplished, and Commissioners were chosen to make the required location. David Briggs was anxious to have it established near the present junction of the Gett}Tsburg and Milton pikes, but a quietus was put upon the proposition by the facetious suggestion of John Studabaker that it would require at least forty Constables to keep the frogs quiet while the Judge was delivering his charge to the grand jury. The location was finally made, as it now stands, at Greenville, by the Board of County Commissioners, in consideration of the acceptance of a proposition made by Mrs. Armstrong to donate the county the one-third of the ninet}--six lots constituting the original town plat for such public uses as might be deemed desirable in the future, whether as sites for public buildings or as land for sale outright, upon which to realize funds for county purposes ; deed of sale was made to the Commissioners of Miami County, and placed on record upon the register at Troy ; those officials then gave a deed of the property to the county of Darke.

The first meeting of the Board of County Commissioners was held in June, 1816. The Board consisted of Archibald Bryson, Abraham Studabaker and Silas Atchison. John Beers was appointed Clerk for one year and John Devor was made Tax Collector. His bond was fixed at $3,000. David Connor, heretofore referred to, was the sole signer of this, the first Treasurer's bond, and his name was considered sufficient. The first act of the new officers was to fix the rate of license for tavern-keepers and storekeepers, which was placed at $8 for the former and $10 for the latter. A tax of 30 cents a head was levied on horses and 10 cents a head on cattle. The onby roads at this time were the paths made by the Indians, the roads pursued by the armies, and such as were cut by the settlers in moving upon their claims. At this, the first session of the Commissioners, it was " ordered that a road be viewed and surveyed, leading from Greenville across the bridge at Enos Terry's, and thence by the nearest and best route in a direction toward Fort Loramie, until it strikes the county line." David Briggs, David Thompson and Moses Scott were appointed viewers, and John Beers, surveyor. They were ordered to begin their work on the 26th of June, 1817.

On the 3d day of July, the Commissioners ordered Lots 36, 62, 20, 56, 39 and 53, in the town of Greenville to be sold for the purpose of raising funds to build a jail on the public square. These lots were accordingly offered for sale on the second Monday of the following August. The price realized was $47.75 ; onehalf was paid in cash, the other was given one year's time.

For some reason, perhaps from there being little call for a place for confinement of criminals, the contract for the construction of a jail was not let until 1818, when the work was undertaken by Matthias Dean for $300 ; one-half down as an advance, and the remainder when the work was completed and accepted.

It is always of interest to peruse the first records of any association or corporation, as by them we are enabled to learn the ability and character of the men chosen to lead in civil affairs and by comparison with the acts of later years, from an estimate of the growth of improvement, increased wealth, and, in some instances, disproportionate cost. These retrospective pages are generally favorable to the pioneers since they seem to have acted with decision, economy and prudence. To this end. we copy verbatim the record of the first session of the Coui't of Common Pleas for this County :

"Darke County organized, March 1, 1817. Court of Common Pleas of Darke County, aforesaid. .March 13, 1817. Before session, to appoint a Clerk pro tern, and Recorder. Enos Terry, John Purviance and James Rush, Esquires, Associate Judges, as appears by their commissions. John Beers was appointed Clerk pro tern., to give bond '7th of 'April next. The appointment of Recorder was postponed till 7th of April next. Court adjourned until April 7, to meet at the home of Moses Scott, at Greenville. Signed, Enos Terry." These few lines, brief as they are, present the minutes, in full, of the first special 'term, and are a marked contract, in simplicity, with the verbiage of later special terms.

- Common Pleas met agreeable to adjournment. The same judges as on the 13th of March last. John Beers resigned his appointment of Clerk pro tem., and Linus Bascom was appointed Clerk pro tem., in his room. Abraham Scribner appointed Recorder. Court adjourned without day. Signed, Enos Terry." The first regular term of the Court of Common Pleas was in June, 1817. Joseph H. Crane, of Dayton, was the first Presiding Judge, with the associates above named. They all produced commissions, signed by Thomas Worthington, Governor of Ohio, and at once entered upon the performance of their duties. The records show no grand jury in attendance at this first term, for the good reason, as the minutes show, that there was " no Sheriff, Coroner or other officer qualified to serve and return process," and that there had been "no venire facias for a grand jury served and returned." These facts having been officially made known to the court, it was -- ordered that a venire facias issue, directed to Moses Scott," who was especially authorized and empowered to serve and return, commanding him to summon fifteen good and lawful men of the county, to appear forthwith, at our court house in Greenville, to serve as grand jurors; upon which writ the said Moses Scott returned that he had summoned John Loring, John Andrews, James Cloyd. Daniel Potter, Robert Douglas, Abraham Miller, Filder G. Lenham, Daniel Holley. Joseph Townsend, James Williamson, John Ryerson, David Briggs, Levi Elston, Martin Ruple and Peter Rush, who, being chosen and sworn and charged, retired to their room." Few are left who had a personal acquaintance with these men; and they, the first Darke County grand jurymen ever impaneled, have long since passed away. The latest survivor was James Cloyd, who was a resident of German Township, and died, at a ripe old age, a few years before the civil war.

We again quote from the minutes : "The court appointed Henry Bacon to act as prosecutor, on behalf of the State of Ohio, for the county of Darke, until the further order of the court thereon. The grand jury found several indictments at this term. Among others, there was one against Robert Hood, for -- selling whisky to the Indians." Another indictment was found against William R. Jones, for assault and battery, it being alleged and proved that he had flogged an eavesdropper for peeping through the cracks of the Log cabin at the grand jury, while they were holding their session. The Constable was convicted and fined $8 and costs. This may have been right, but the fellow deserved what he got, and the Constable was not wanting in the discharge of his duty. His ignorance of legal technicalities and his zeal outran his discretion, and his punishment by fine and dismissal was severe.

The various defendants toseveral indictments found were duly arraigned, and, as a matter of course, entered a plea of " not guilty." Matters were now brought to a dead halt, as a reference to the record showed " no persons returned to serve as petit jurors." Acting Sheriff Scott was, therefore, at once ordered to "summon twelve good and lawful men of said county to serve as petit jurors," upon which writ the said Moses Scott returned that he had summoned Charles Sumption, John McFarlin, James Williamson, John Break, Charles Read, Jacob Miller, William Montgomery, Robert Mclntyre, James Perry, Aaron Dean. Alexander Smith and Zachariah Hull." Of these, the first petit jury ever impaneled in Darke County, none are known to be living. The latest survivor, so far as ascertained, was John McFarlin, of the township of Jackson. At the close of this term, the following entry was placed on record : " The court allows Henry Bacon, Prosecutor for Darke County, $10, for services at this term."

On the second Monday of August, 1817, Moses Scott presented his commission from the Governor, as Sheriff, and gave a bond of $4,000. On the same day, William Montgomery presented his commission as Coroner, and gave a bond for $2,000. There were two courts a year. Each term lasted but one or two days. It took a ride over nearly the entire county to summons men enough to make up the two juries. The grand jury rarely sat more than one day. Services were paid for in county orders, which were current in exchanges, at 50 cents cash on the dollar, as there was no money in the treasury. The allowance to each grand juror was 75 cents per day ; the petit juror was paid but half a dollar, but received this on each trial, and this was paid by the winning party.

The first court had been held in the bar-room of Azor Scribner, and as was just and fair, the second was appointed for the 14th of November, 1817, in the barroom of Scott's Tavern. The first case called was an action for debt, in which Anthony Ricard appeared as defendant. The Clerk's fees were $2.50 ; those of the Sheriff were $1.17, and of the Attorney, $5 - making a total of $8.67. At this time, William, son of Moses Scott, had been elected Sheriff. The tavern, in those days, was the place for assembl}7 to exchange items of news, join in a sociable glass and partake perhaps of the plain but abundant fare offered.