Winchester Township (part 2 of 30)

Jabez had nine children, among whom was a son, Nathaniel, bom March 4, 1758, and married to Lucretia Scott in 1781. They had six children, of whom the subject of our sketch. Dyer Burgess, was bom December 27, 1784, at Springfield, Vermont, to which place his parents had removed in 178 1. So that our hero had a long line of fine old Puritan ancestors, with Scripture names, and all of whom lived godly lives, and died full of years, in the hope of the gospel.

Dyer Burgess completed a scientific course at Dartmouth College, to which he afterwards added a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and medicine. He became interested in religion, and was ordained a minister at Cloveraook, Vermont.

At the age of sixteen years, he began to preach as a Methodist minister, but finding his views more in accordance with Congregationalism he joined that church and studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Wines. He came to Ohio in 1816, and was received in the Miami Presbytery from the Nortem Association of Vermont, September 2, 1817. At Piqua, he organized a Presbyterian Church in the latter part of 1816. In the following year, it united with Ti:oy to secure Mr. Burgess' services as a missionary. Presbytery met in Springfield the first Tuesday in September, 121 7, and the two churches, Piqua and Troy, wanted the Rev. Dyer Burgess to preach for them, which he agreed to do for six months, at a salary of one hundred dollars. At the end of the six months, the two churches gave him a call as a regular pastor. In his old age, the last journey he took was to attend, at Kqua, the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the church there. From there he went to the Presbyterian Church at West Union, Ohio. While in charge of the church at West Union, during a period of nine years, from 1820 to 1829, he resided across the street from the church in a frame house, directly east of that occupied by J. M. Wells, Esq., and while there, he did his own cooking, except the baking of his bread, which was done by the ladies of his congregation and brought to his house.

In Adams County he was brought into contact with the Rev. Wm. Williamson, with Rev. James Gillilan and Rev. John Rankin; with Mr. Carothers and Mr. Dickey, and with Col. John Means. These gentlemen were bom and educated in South Carolina, and most of them had been slaveholders, but having conscientious scruples as to the wrong of slavery^ they left their native state and came to Ohio.

In 1823, he organized the Auxiliary Bible Society of Adams County. Rev. Wm. Williamson was its first president, and Mr. Burgess was its corresponding secretary. The society is still in existence.

He was a very earnest man, and not only was he a strong opponent of human slavery, but he was a very g^eat advocate of total abstinence from intoxicating liquors, and opposed to secret societies. He was also opposed to the use of tobacco in any form.

He thought and felt so intensely that his expressions in public speaking and in preaching had a wonderful effect on his hearers. He was a man of much more than ordinary intellect and was an excellent preacher.

He first preached for seven years in West Union, Ohio, but it seems that his doctrine was too radical for the people there, and he ceased to be their pastor, and was succeeded by the Rev. John P. VanJyke, after which he preached in Manchester, Ohio.

One of Mr. Burgess' elders was Gen. Joseph Darlinton, the Clerk of the Courts, of Adams County. Darlinton when a young man in Virginia had owned slaves. He had one, Dick, who was a refractory and ugly fellow. He sold him and kept the mone}'. Mr. Burgess got to hear of this, and said at one time, in a sermon that in his congregation was one who had the price of blood in his chest. It wa5^ supposed that Mr. Burgess* strictures bore hard on General Darlinton, who was not a pronounced anti-slavery man. Some one asked Mr. Burgess how General Darlinton stood his anti-slavery doctrine. "Oh," said Mr. Burgess, "he stands it like an ox.''

About this time the Rev. Burgess formed an attachment for Miss Elizabeth Means, the daughter of Col. John Means. His suit was discouraged by the brothers and the family, as they thought she ought to do better than to marry a poor minister. The matter never came to a proposal, but on the twenty-seventh day of April, 1827, Miss Means married Dr. William M. Voris. This event was entirely unexpected to Mr. Burgess, and struck him like a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky. At a solemn ccMnmunion service season the Sunday following, he preached from the text : "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," and he preached with such pathos and depth of feeling that his hearers could not but believe that his idol had been shattered when Miss Means married Dr. Voris.

On March 19, 1831, he married Miss Isabella Ellison, the daughter of Andrew Ellison. She was a maiden lady of about his own age, and be married her in Cincinnati, where she was making her home with her brother-in-law, Adam McCormick.

The Rev. Burgess was very much opposed to secret societies. On June 5, 1 83 1, he began the publication of a semi-monthly periodical at Cincinnati, Ohio, entitled, "Infidelity Unmasked."

There were twenty- four numbers of it; the last number appeared April 22, 1832. Mr. Burgess was the editor. It does not appear that he wrote any editorials of any consequence, but the periodical is made up chiefly of extracts from other periodicals of like character and from lectures and addresses against Masonry and slavery. The burden of the periodical is against Masonry, with an occasional article against slavery. In his prospectus, the editor states that he does not expect much patronage, that his object is that his work might appear in the Day of Judgment, and bear witness that he has not shunned the whole counsel of God, and that under the influence of the Spirit, he has undertaken to lift up the standard when the enemy comes in as a flood. He also stated in the prospectus, that, firmly believing that Masonry and slavery are identified, and that slavery is practical heresy of a damning character, he has, after deliberately counting the cost, dared to undertake the difficult and responsible duties of editor of a periodical paper, the leading object of which is .to clear the sanctuary of both of these abominations. He proceeds to say that he does not charge that all persons are infidels ; but he does say, and will undertake to prove, if God permits him to succeed with the work, that Masonry is infidelity, organized and masked. He further declared that the paper would consist principally of extracts from other works which have been published in Europe and America, in which the principles of Masonry have been fully discovered and exposed.

Short communications on the subject of Masonry and slavery were thankfully invited, and would be inserted. The price of the periodical was $1.00 in advance. $1.25 in six months, and $1.50 at the end of the year. The bound volume consists of 384 pages.

At the close of the work on April 21, 1832, the editor states: "I have now finished what I have steadily resolved on for more than twenty years. I have published my sentiments against the worst institution that ever subsisted ; and I hope God will smile upon my poor labors, and make them a blessing to my acquaintances, and graciously accept of me, for Christ's sake.

"1 have written but little for the paper, because I have always found abundantly more material ready prepared, in a style much superior to what I could produce myself. I have published but a small part indeed, of what I intend on the subject of slavery ; and shall, if encouraged, continue to issue my paper in West Union, Adams County, Ohio, and to that place, I invite my correspondents to make their future communications."

It appears from the periodical, that in April, 183 1, the Editor secured the Chillicothe Presbytery to declare that it was unlawful and inexpe'dient to have its members connected with the Masonic fraternity. By his like influence, in October, 183 1, the Synod of Connecticut declared that a connection with Masonry was inconsistent with Christianity.

Pioneer Character Sketches 617

On page 266, of his "Infidelity Unmasked," Mr. Burgess has a letter of nearly two pages, addressed to Oliver M. Spencer, a prominent Methodist minister of Cincinnati, Ohio, on Masonry. It seems that Mr. Burgess had attended a Masonic funeral at Cincinnati, at which Mr. Spencer was present as a Mason, and Mr. Spencer's appearance raised the choler of Mr. Burgess.

On page 26, Jime 26, 1831, he states that the Presb)rtery of Chillicothe has made Masonry a term of communion, and that one person had argued to him that Jesus Christ was a Mason. He says that Christ declared openly in th-e Court of Pontus Pilot (so printed in the newspaper), "In secret have I said nothing."

On Jime i, 1830, Mr. Burgess delivered an address at the court house at West Union, Ohio, on the subject "Solomon's Temple Haunted, or Free Masonry, the Man of Sin in the Temple of God." His lecture was delivered at an anti-Masonic meeting. He took the ground that Masonry was (i) treason against the Government, (2) treason against God. He stated in his address that Washington in his youth took three degrees in Masonry, and then in his farewell address, raised his voice against all secret societies, and went to the Invisible World. He said that on the strength of Washington's Masonry, thousands have been tumbled into the imaginary grave of Hiram Abiff, for the sake of stooping to folly, like Washington. He states that Masonry was first instituted June 24, 1717, and that the Masons filled almost every office in the Republic. He spoke of the* Masonic celebration of St. John's Day, as a "Gobbler's Strut."

It seems, from this periodical, that on thfe twenty-eighth of September, T831, William Wirt, of Maryland, and Amos EllmaJcer, of Pennsylvania, were nominated as anti-Masonic candidates for President and Vice President of the United States.

This Rev. Jones was expelled from King Hiram's Lodge in Waitsfield, Vermont, on September 24, 1828, for unworthy and unmasonic conduct. On October 8, 1828, his church at Cabot, Vermont, had a meeting and highly approved of his conduct in leaving the Masons, and in their judgment, stated that the oaths and obligations of Masonry were no more binding on its members than the oath of Herod to slay John the Baptist, or that of the forty Jews who banded together to kill Paul. This Rev. Jones furnished no less than ten different papers for Mr. Burgess' periodical.

Rev. Burgess fought Masonr}'^ as a greater evil than slavery. He has been dead twenty-two years, and he survived slavery by ten years, but Masonry still exists in a renewed vigor. The Rev. Burgess was mistaken as to Masonry.

He wasted a great deal of superfluous energy on Masonry which had better have been doubled up on slavery and tobacco. On the subject of Masonry, Mr. Burgess was a fanatic; but upon alcoholism, the use of tobacco and slavery, he was simply a thinker years ahead of his time.

His favorite text against secret societies was the language of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the eighteenth chapter and twentieth verse of St. John's Gospel in His answer to the High Priest : "I spake openly to the

1 he Manchester Presbyterian Church took a Mason into full mem- "bership. Mr. Burgess remarked to Mrs. A. B. Ellison, that after that, he would never again visit Manchester Church, or commune with it - and he never did.

To illustrate how strongly Mr. Burgess thought and felt on the subject of secret societies - when Abraham Lincoln was first a candidate for President, Mr. Burgess wished to support him, but would not do so until he had written to Mrs. Lincoln and received an answer to the effect that Mr. Lincoln did not belong to any secret society. Then he supported Mr. Lincoln's candidacy most heartily.

Directly after his marriage to Miss Ellison, which entirely revolutionized his finances, as she was wealthy an<i willing to spend her money for their joint enjoyment, he returned to West Union, and there built the property now occupied and known as the Palace Hotel, and immediately took possession of it. From that lime on, until the death of his wife, the Rev. Burgess had no particular charge, but preached when and where he pleased. He and his wife lived in great state in their then elegant home - as, when completed, it was the finest house in the county. They kept two pews in the Presbyterian Church at West Union, and these they had filled every Sunday. They entertained a great many visitors - usually had their house full of visitors, and especially Mrs. Burgess' relations. These she invited from far and wide and entertained them for a long period of time.

While living in this property, Mr. Burgess took it upon him to study Greek, which he had never studied before; and while engaged in that study, he was so intent upon it, as he was upon everything else which he undertook, that he invited every minister far and near to make him a visit; and when the visitor arrived at Dr. Burgess' residence, he found that he was expected to read Greek with him and to instruct him in that language.

At one time, when he was preaching in West Union, Rosanna, a colored nurse of Mrs. Ann Wilson's, had one of Mrs. Wilson's children there, as it was customary in those days to take the babies to church. This particular baby began to cry very loudly. Mr. Burgess paused in the midst of his sermon, and said in a commanding voice, "Rosanna, take that child out !" and out it went.

As before stated, he was a frequent visitor in the family of Col. John Means, and there he met, at one time, Maj. Barry, a young gentleman from Mississippi, who was a neph^ of Col. Means, and who was making a protracted visit at his uncle's. Maj. Barry's father was an extensive slaveholder, and Mr. Burgess took pains to impress his views upon Maj. Barry, claiming that he was a mild Abolitionist. Maj. Barry was so impressed with Mr. Burgess' arguments, that he was almost willing to adopt the Abolitionist views himself.

Col. Means lived about three miles back of Manchester, and one Sunday, he and his family with Maj. Barry rode to Manchester to attend the Presbyterian Church there, and hear the Rev. Burgess preach. During his sermon, he remarked that a slaveholder was worse than a horse thief. This statement aroused Maj. Barry's ire, as his father, a most estimable man, was a slaveholder, and he arose and left the church.

Pioneer Character Sketches 519

When he was about half-way out, Mr. Burgess thought he would emphasize the statement, and he said that a slaveholder was worse than ten thousand horse theives!

Maj. Barry wrote him a note the next day, and told him that if that was his mild Abolitionism he wanted none of it, and that he would be gratified to see him in purgatory.

The Rev. Burgess took his note, and called upon Mrs. Dr. Willson, Sr., and expressed himself horrified that one human being could wish another in torment, and said to Mrs. Wilson, "He might as well have wished me in hell." Maj. Barry afterwards told Dr. Wilson that he could see Burgess' throat cut from ear to ear and feel gratified at the sight.

Mr. Burgess was a most companionable man, and had a wonderful fund of humor. He had a happy faculty of clothing his thoughts in appropriate language, and his acrimonious denunciations were confined to his lectures and sermons.

When he was about to marry Miss Ellison, Aunt Ann Wilson, at whose house he was very intimate, rallied him about it, and wondered that he had not selected a younger and more handsome lady. Mr. Burgess replied that he loved youth and beauty as well as ever.

His wife died in their home, now the Palace Hotel, in West Union, November 3, 1839. She disposed of her property by last will and testament drawn by Hon. George Collings, father of Judge Henry Collings, of Manchester, Ohio. The will made no provision for Mr. Burgess except to give him two rooms in her house for life, but she had already g^ven him a number of claims which she deemed a suitable provision for him.

In 1830, it was the custom everywhere in Adams County for the farmers to furnish whiskey for their harvest hands, and to distribute it freely among them. In that year, Mr. Burgess made a temperance address at Fenton's schoolhouse, on Gift Ridge, and his speech on that occasion was so powerful that it induced all the farmers on Gift Ridge to abstain from having whiskey in the fields during harvest, and since then it has never been used in harvest in that locality.

On one occasion when Mr. Burgess was going from Manchester to Cincinnati on a steamboat, "The Huntress," accompanied by his wife, a number of Kentuckians were traveling on the boat, and the Rev. Burgess took occasion to air his views on Masonry and slavery.

The Kentuckians, who were both Masons and slaveholders, proposed to hang him right there on the boat, and went so far as to secure a rope for the purpose and suspended it from the pilot house. Charles Stevenson^ from Manchester, and John Sparks, of West Union, were on the boat, and the former was a Mason. Both of these and the Hon. John Rowan, of Louisville, interceded with the angry Kentuckians, and the captain of the boat saw that it would ruin his boat if a man were to be hung on it. The Kentuckians asked the price of his boat and wanted to pay it for the privilege of hanging Mr. Burgess. His wife went on her knees and begged for his life. But Mr. Burgess himself asked for no quarter or mercy, and would not apologize a whit, or stop his denunciations. Had he lived in Joshua's time, he would have preferred a position upon

The story is that the Kentuckians were the ones most to blame in the matter, but in truth the ones on the boat, who insisted most strenuously on the hanging of Burgess on that occasion were natives of Connecticut and of Ohio. Hon. John Rowan, himself a slaveholder, told Mr. Burgess on the "Huntress," that if he went below Cincinnati, it would be impossible for him to protect him. This incident occurred late in the thirties in this county. The friends of Mr. Burgess had him get off the boat at Ripley and give up his trip to Cincinnati.

His home in West Union, during the lifetime of his first wife, was called "Anti-Slavery Palace." The Abolitionists from far and wide visited him, and were always made welcome. The Rev. Stephen Riggs, Rev. Caskey and Mr. Longley were often at his hcttne and studied with him.

In 1840, he left Adams County, and went to Washington County. He made his home there, and for a long time preached to the churches in Warren, Belpre and Watertown. In his sermons he always came out strong in his denunciatory parts. He was clear and pointed in his statements, and at times waxed eloquent. One thing is certain, no one could go to sleep under his preaching.

On August 31, 1842, Mr. Burgess was married to Mrs. Elizabeth W. Voris, widow of Dr. William M. Voris, and the daughter of Col. John Means, and who was Mr. Burgess' first love. They were married at the home of her brother, Hugh Means, the former residence of her father in Adams County, Ohio. She was bom in South Carolina in 1799 and came to Ohio in 18 19 when her father came to this State to free his slaves. She was a noble Christian woman and liyed a long life of sincere piety and good deeds. One of her daughters by her first marriage was the wife of the Hon. Wm. P. Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio. Mrs. Burgess died February 28, 1889, in her ninetieth year, having lived with Mr. Burgess thirty years, and survived him nearly seventeten years.

In person, he was tall, over six feet high, straight as an Indian, with a haughty courage. He was slightly inclined to corpulency. He had a large head, a high forehead, with heavy arched brows, and a square face, with a great deal of determination expressed in it.

At the age of eighty-three, in 1868, he had a severe attack of what he considered typhus fever. He was sick twelve weeks, and delirous most of the time. He regarded his recovery as wonderful, and writing to a friend, he said: "I seem a wonder to myself. Under Providence, I ascribe my recovery to Mrs. Burgess. It is astonishing that she did not break down, but is still busy with domestic affairs. South Carolinians who could free their slaves and do their own work are most efficient laborers.'*

This last sentence refers to her father. Col. John Means, bringing his family and twenty-four slaves frcttn South Carolina, in 1819, when Mrs. Burgess was twenty years old.

He says that the Abolition movement originated in Ohio, and that the two Mr. Dickeys of Tennessee, and himself, were the first projectors of the scheme, which at last succeeded. He also states that Rev. James GilHland, Rev. Robert G. Wilson, and Rev. Samuel Carothers, were their earliest coadjutors. That they commenced operating in about 1817; that in 1818, he introduced a paper into the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia, which passed that body, and came near destroying him. He wrote to his cousin that those v/ho would not speak to him then, would now willingly pass as having been friendly to the measure.

In 1857, he addressed an open letter to the Free Presbyterian, when it was proposed that they should return to the old church. He said: "It is proposed that we return to Egypt. Some of us, at least, have no hankering after garlic. We pledged ourselves, in the name of Christ, not only not to sustain human slavery, but also not to sustain secret conspiracies; either the curse-bound Danites of the Mormons or any other conspiracy so bound. We pledged ourselves, also, not to sustain at the Lord's table, self-destroyers ; whether the instrument of destruction was the pistol, alcohol or that specific poison, filthy tobacco. Shall we violate that pledge "

Until the age of eighty-three, his faculties retained their vigor. In 1867, he attended the semi-centennial of the church at Piqua, Ohio, and there he contracted a severe sickness, which affected his mental faculties, but did not affect his general health.

His memory of passing and recent events was gone on his recovery, but he could repeat whole chapters of the Bible, and page after page of favorite old authors. He could give a rational and clear exposition of almost any scriptural passage. His power m prayer was unaffected to the last. Thus while in the last five years of his life, his communications with earth were cut off; his connection with Heaven was clear to the last. He died in 1872 at the age of eighty-eight.

- Why have we brought forward anew the memory of this man of God? Because in his time and in his place, he was the First Apostle of Personal and Social Purity. Because when the use of whisky and tobacco were almost universal, he had the courage to preach against them and depict their evils. Because when the national conscience was debauched and demoralized by that great curse of slavery, he had the discernment to see the evil of it, and to be the first to denounce it. Because he was a man of enlightened conscience, and had the courage to preach according to its dictates. Because he lived as he preached, and exemplified his ideas in a long and useful life. Such men should not be forgotten. The record of their good lives should be graven in living characters on the memory of each generation following them, and so long as the record is remembered, our people will seek the right, and try to follow it as Dyer Burgess did in his eighty-four years.

was bom near Winchester, Virginia, September 11, 1794. He learned the shoemaker's trade as a youth at Winchester, and while residing there was in the War of 1812. In 1815, he and Murtaugh Kehoe, also a young shoemaker, came to the West from Winchester, Virginia. They floated down the Ohio River and landed at Portsmouth, Ohio. Kehoe was favorably impressed with the place and resolved to remain and did so. Burwell thought two of the same trade should not locate in the same town, and he went on to Limestone, now Maysville. There he heard of West Unions then a new town, only eleven years old, and he went there and set up in the business of shoemaking. He lived there five years when he was married to Sarah Fenton, daughter of Samuel Fenton, of Gift Ridge, one of Adams County's pioneers. They were married April 19, 1820. She was born September 22, 1802. The minister who performed the ceremony was Rev. Greenbury Jones, one of the pioneer Methodist preachers. On this occasion, Rev. Jones alluded to them as children, owing to their youthful appearance.

Nicholas Burwell and his wife went to housekeeping in West Union and lived there all their lives. Their oldest child was Elizabeth, bom May 5, 1 82 1, and married Joseph West Lafferty, May 24, 1838. Their oldest son, Samuel, was bom November 20, 1822. He is the veteran editor of the Scion and was married to Margaret Mitchell, March 30, 1848. William Burwell, the second son, was bom October 20, 1826. He married a Miss Murphy of Buena Vista and is now deceased ; Martha Ann, bom January 16, 1830, married Ellis Bottleman, April 12, 1854; Edward was born January 26, 1834; Michael Henry was born February 26, 1839, ^^^ is now deceased. Mary, the youngest daughter, married Smiley Lockwood, May 23, i860. She is now a widow residing at Winchester.

Nicholas Burwell conducted a shoe shop in West Union all his life. He was contemporary with Judge Byrd and knew him well. The Judge took a fancy to Mr. Burwell's cow at one time and gave him $50 for her, an extravagant price at that time. Nicholas Burwell was one of the pillars in the Methodist Church at West Union. He always attended all its services week days and Sundays and never missed one. He was particularly punctual at the Wednesday evening prayer meetings. The other pillars in the church whom the writer remembers, were Abraham Hollingsworth, Adam McGovney, William R. Rape and William Allen. They were always present as well as Burwell. The latter always felt well assured of his eternal salvation. At many of the meetings, he would get very happy. He was enthusiastic in his devotion to the church. With him, it was always first. Everything else was secondary. He was a thin, spare man, wore a silk hat and went along the street with his head slightly bowed as if in a deep study. He was cordial with and genial to every one. His likes and dislikes were very strong, a trait inherited by all of his descendants. He was often given to hyperbole in common conversation, another family trait, but he was honest and an honorable man, a good citizen and a good Christian. He feared the Lord but nothing else. He was active and energetic, very fond of physical exercise. Within a few months prior to his death, he walked from Manchester to West Union. In his old age, he was as good a walker as any boy. He entered into rest in all the triumph of his faith, July i, 1879. His wife followed him, January 14, 1885. They rest side by side in the old cemetery at West Union, waiting the sound of Gabriel's trumpet.

was a citizen of the world. His father was a Frenchman, his mother a native of Holland, and he was born in Liverpool, England, in 1760. He received a good education in England in a military school. When he came of age, he was in Amsterdam, Holland, and received his coming of age papers from the estates of Holland and West Friesland. When he undertook to start to the United States, it was from Paris, France, and he had a letter of recommendation from John Jay. He came over with a Mr. Francis Bowiers, of Ostend, a merchant who was bringing over goods. His letters of introduction were to Mr. Josiali Watson, of Alexandria, Va. He had been studying about the United States and had become filled with the extreme Republican notions of that time. In theory of government, he was a rabid republican; in his own personal relations, he was an aristocrat, though he was hardly conscious of the fact. Mr. Jay, in his letter, described him as a young man worthy of trust. He came alone, without any members of his family. He landed at Alexandria, Va., in May, 1783. That was then an important seaport. He engaged in business there as a clerk at first, and afterwards as a merchant, and remained there until the spring of 1791, a period of eight years. Of his life in Alexandria, we have no account, but he formed. a number of valuable and important acquaintances in that time, among whom were Col. Alexander Parker and Gen. George Washington.

In October, 1791, Gen. Knox, then Secretary of War, sent him to the Northwest Territory on public business. What his functions were does now clearly appear, but it was of a confidential character.

On April 18, 1792. when he was in the Northwest Territory, President George Washington sent him a commission as Deputy Quartermaster on the General Staff of Wayne's Legion. This commission is in the hands of John Belli Gregory, his grandson, at Fontana, Kentucky. It is on parchment, illustrated, and bears the original signature of President Washington and Secretary of War, Henry Knox. The commission does not state his rank, but it was that of Major, hence his title. He went by way of Pittsburg, then called Fort Pitt and down the Ohio River to Fort Washington. Gen. Knox gave him a letter dated September 30, 1791, directed to the Deputy Quartermaster at Fort Pitt, stating that he was to have transportation down the Ohio River as he was on public business of great importance. He went direct to Fort Washington, where it appears he was stationed until the time of Wayne's expedition against the Indians. There is preserved a list of the Quartermaster's stores he had on hand at Fort Washington, November i, 1783. Mr. Gregory also has in his possession a letter addressed to Major John Belli from Gen. Anthony Wayne, in answer to one of May 30, preceding. He tells the Major that he is glad he has been successful in purchasing cattle ; that 300 per month will be required independent of accident ; that he must forward those on hand by first escort. That he has three weeks' supply for the Legion, nor can be think of advancing with less than 600 or Six) cattle, which would not be more than ten weeks' supply, should they all arrive safe. He stated that the wagons would set out from Fort Jefferson the next morning for Fort Washington under a good escort, commanded by Major Hughes, and they were not to be delayed at Fort Washington more than fortyeight hours, to be loaded with tents, intrenching tools and axes. Also he was to send such hospital or ordinance stores as he had been provided with, together with all the hunting shirts, or shirts and tools that were in his possession. Also, that his own private stores were to be forwarded under a select guard, which he will request Major Hughes to furnish from his department.

He was directed to use as many private teams as could be obtained which, with the use of the water transport, when a favorable rise may happen in the Miami, would enable him to forward the grain to Fort Hamilton, which the Quartermaster General had required. He was not to lose a moment in mounting the dragoons and furnishing all the necessary accoutrements. He was also to be furnished with $2,000 in specie, and $8,000 in good bank bills to be replaced by his department. He was told that every arrangement would be made by his department for a forward move by the first of July. He wished the Major every success in his purchases and supplies of every nature in the line of his department and signed himself, "I am sir, your most ob'dt humble serv't., Ant'y Wayne."

As soon as the expedition was successful, Major Belli, went east and settled his accounts with the department. He returned with some $5,000 and bought 1,000 acres of land at the mouth of Turkey Creek and placed a man named Wright upon it, who cleared up a part of it, built a log house and planted an orchard. This was the first settlement in Scioto County, though the historian, James Keyes, disputes it, and says the first settlement was near Sciotoville, by the Bousers and Burts.

He laid out the town of Alexandria, at the mouth of the Scioto River, and gave it its name for Alexandria, Virginia, where he had first landed in this country, and had spent eight years. He spent considerable time in and about Alexandria as the agent of Col. Wm. Parker, for whom he located much land in Scioto County. In September, 1797, he was appointed Recorder of. Adams County and held the office until October. 1803. He was a Justice of the Peace for Adams County, appointed by the Judges of the General Court, April 28, 1801, and his commission is in existence.

It seems he spent a great part of his time in Kentucky. He evidently did not and could .not attend personally to the duties of the office of Recorder of Adams County.

On the twenty-first of March, 1800, he concluded some ver}' important business in Kentucky, for on that date, he was married to Miss Cynthia Harrison, a cousin of Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison. Her father, Samuel Harrison, was a very prominent man in Kentucky, and a large slaveholder. He owned the site of the town of Cynthiana, Ky., and laid it out. He named it for his twin daughters, Cynthia and Anna, bom just before the town was platted. On his marriage, Major John Belli moved to his land at the mouth of Turkey Creek. He named his home, "Belvidere,** and he kept a carriage and horses and traveled in style. In every county of the territory, there was a Colonel of the Militia and a Major. Nathaniel Massie was the Colonel of the Adams County Militia and John Belli, the Major.

On August 29, 1804, he was commissioned by Edward Tiffin, Governor of Ohio, Major of the Second Battalion, 2nd Regiment, ist Brigade, 2nd Division, Ohio Militia.

During the time that the town of Washington was flourishing as the county seat of Adams County, Major Belli was there much of the time. When he was absent, I do not know who attended to the duties of his office as Recorder, but have an idea it was General Darlinton, who was always ready to do anything to accommodate his neighbors.

Pioneer Character Sketches 626

Major Belli had five children, four daughters and a son. His daughter Eliza was bom December 3, 1809. She married Moses Gregory, October 20, 1826. Her son, John Belli Gregory, who was a citizen of Scioto County for many years, at one time, member of the Board of Public Works in this State, and afterwards its Engineer, resides at Fontana, Ky., and has kindly loaned the editor of this work the papers of Major Belli. His son, Hiram D. Gregory, is a lawyer at Covington, Ky.

Major Belli, after 1803, devoted his whole time to the improvement of his land on Turkey Creek, though he was a land owner in many places. He at one time owned a large tract near New Hope in Brown County. In 1806, he built him a large two-story frame house on his land at the mouth of Turkey Creek, but did not live to enjoy it. In October, 1809, he was taken with one of those fevers against which it seems the pioneers could not contend, and he died and was buried on the river bank near his home. His widow continued to reside there until 1838, when her home, built by the Major in 1806, was accidentally destroyed by fire. She removed to Illinois where she died in 1848. In 1865, the Major's gjave was washed by the river and Mr. Gregory had his remains exhumed, and reinterred in the cemetery at Friendship. A picture of the Major is in the possession of Mr. Gregory. It represents him with powdered wig and a continental coat, faced with red.

Major Belli was a gentleman of the old school. He never changed his dress from the style during the Revolunon. While he lived among backwoodsmen, he always had his wig and queue, wore a cocked hat, coat with facings, waist coat, knee breeches, stockings and shoe buckles. His queue was carefully braided and tied with a ribbon, and this was his style of dress at all times.

While he believed himself to be a Republican, as the term was understood in his time, he had pride enough for all the aristocrats in the neighborhood. He was a disbeliever in slavery and it is thought his location in the Northwest Territory and his maintainance of his residence here, was on account of his repugnance to that peculiar institution. His wife's slaves were brought to Ohio and freed, and this through his influence.

John Boyle, father of our subject, was bom on the banks of the river Boyne. in Ireland, a Roman Catholic. His wife, Sarah Wilson, was reared a Presbyterian. Her father was a linen merchant, a wealthy man for his time. He never forgave his daughter for her marriage, but she adhered to her religion and converted her husband to it.

Our subject was born on the banks of the river Boyne in 1787, and emigrated to this country with his father, mother, brothers and sisters when he was eight years of age. The family located first at Shippensburg, Pa., and afterwards moved to Greensburg, in the same state, where the father died. John Boyle reared a family of nine children. Daniel had a common school education and was apprenticed to the tin and coppersmith trade in Pittsburg. His master's name was Hampshire. At the close of his apprenticeship, in 1817, he married Margaret Cox, then residing in Pittsburg, but a native of Carlisle, Pa. Daniel Boyle worked at his trade in Pittsburg and in New York and Philadelphia. He walked from Pittsburg to Philadelphia no less than seven times. In 1819 he came down the Ohio River from Pittsburg in a flatboat with his wife and household goods. Mr. Boyle left the boat at Manchester and came to West Union when the town was fifteen years old. He opened out the tinning business and carried it on there with the exception of a short time until near his death.

He bought a part of lot 67 on the corner of Main and Cherry Streets where he resided until his death. In 1829, he rented his premises and removed to Cincinnati where he and John Sparks kept an iron store. David Sinton was a clerk for them at a small salary. This venture was not profitable, and he returned to West Union after one year, where he continued his tinning business until 1872. When a young man, he made general trading trips to the South as was common at that time. While on one of these trips, he was an eye witness to the New Madrid earthquake in 181 1.

He was a Justice of the Peace of Tiffin Township from January 10, 1835, until 1838, and one term was sufficient for him. He possessed the strictest integrity. He was frugal and unostentatious in his manner. He always tried to do his duty by his neighbors, and in the several cholera scourges he and his family remained in the village and did all in their power to minister to the sick and dying and to aid the families of the victims. There were born to him and his wife nine children, three sons and six daughters. Of these, Sarah, the eldest, daughter, resides in the old homestead. She bears the burden of years with grace and honor. She possesses that stering character of her father, hers by birthright, and is respected and honored by all who know her.

Daniel Boyle had excellent tastes. He was fond of music, being a player on the flute and clarionet. He was also a great reader and particularly of historical subjects. He took the Cincinnati Gazette frcxn its first issue until his death. In politics, he was a Whig and a Republican. In his religious attachments, he was a member of the United Brethren Church. His faith was strong and he was devotedly attached to his religious principles. He departed this life in the peace of God, May 29^ 1874. His aged wife followed him August 26^ 1876. He was a just man, who loved to render to every one his just dues. He left a memory of which his family can be proud and which posterity would do well to hold in lasting remembrance.

was born in Westover, Charles City County, Virginia, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, 1770, at one o'clock in the morning, so reads the record in the old Westover Bible. He was the second son and the seventh child of the third Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, Charles City County. His mother, Mary Willing, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the tenth of September, 1740, and was the daughter of Charles Willing, and his wife, Ann Shippen, of that city. His father was a Colonel under General Washington in the early part of the Revolution, but died when his son was but seven years of age. Thus left in his mother's care, she sent him at an early age to her brother-in-law, Thomas Powell. Mr. Powell, who married Mrs. Byrd's sister, was a member of the Society of Friends, and from whom Judge Byrd imbibed many of his views in regard to slavery, temperance, physical, moral and religious culture, for which views he was noted in his day. Thus we have the Friends' ideas grafted on the old cavalier, fox hunting and rollicking, Virginia stock. One of the reasons his pious mother gave for putting her son under this influence to be educated -was on account of the skepticism and infidelity that had crept into the old college of William and Mary, at Williamsburg, Virginia, where all the preceding Byrds who had not been educated in England, had attended college.

Judge Byrd received his entire academic and legal education in the city of Philadelphia, and was a finished scholar and a gentleman of rare polish and elegance. He pursued his law studies in Philadelphia with Gouvemeur Morris. He knew intimately, through his mother's family, the Hon. Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. Directly after his admission to the bar in 1794, he went to Westover to spend the stunmer. There his brother-in-law, Benj. Harrison, wrote him that Robert Morris wanted an agent to go to Kentucky and take charge of his lands there and bring them into the market ; and to any one who would do so, he would give him a salary of one thousand dollars a year, and he urged young Byrd to take the appointment and go to Kentucky at once. He did so and Robert Morris gave him a power of attorney, the original of which is in the hands of the Judge's descendants. He went to Lexington, Kentucky, and there met the family of Col. David Meade of Chaumiere, who had removed from the estate of Maycox, Prince George County, Virginia, opposite Westover and whose family were intimate friends of the Byrds. Col. Meade had four young daughters, and it was very natural that young Byrd should fall in love with one of them, which he proceeded very promptly to do, and on the sixth day of April, 1797, which was Easter Sunday, and which Judge Byrd, in his quaint way, called the "Day of his Resurrection," he was married to Sarah Waters Meade, the second daughter of Col. David Meade. Her eldest sister married General Nathaniel Massie, the founder of Manchester. After his marriage, he returned to Philadelphia and remained there until he was appointed by President Adams, Secretary of the Northwest Territory, which appointment was made in January, 1799. He held this munificent office at a salary of $400 a year, until he succeeded General Arthur St. Clair as Territorial Governor, and retained that position until 1802, when the State was organized and Governor Tiffin took charge on March 4, 1803. His commission as Secretary of the Territory in which he was sworn in as Secretary by Arthur St. Clair is in the possession of his family. On the third of March, 1803, he was appointed by President Jeflferson, United States Judge for Ohio and held that position until his death on the eleventh day of August, 1828. During the time he was Secretary of the Northwest Territory and Federal Judge, up to June, 1807, his residence was on Fifth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, which was then known as Byrd Street. The Presbyterian Church now. stands on what was part of his home. Judge Burnet, Nicholas Longworth and George Hunt were among his many friends. The father of the late Vice President Hendricks kept a school in his vicinity. On June 8, 1807, he bought from his brother-in-law. Gen. Nathaniel Massie, a tract of six hundred acres in Monroe Township, Adams County, Ohio, being known as Buckeye Station and Hurricane Hill. He took up his residence there at once, at a point on the ridge overlooking the Ohio River, a romantic spot where there is a fine view of the Ohio both up and down stream, and under which the river almost directly flows. He held this property until August 15, 1817, when he conveyed it to John Ellison, Jr. In 181 1, Nathaniel Massie, of Hillsboro, Ohio, lately deceased, then a boy of six years, in company with his father and mother, visited his uncle Judge Byrd at Buckeye Station. Mrs. Byrd, nee Sarah Meade, died February 21, 1815, and was buried at the Station. Judge Byrd removed to Chillicothe and lived there one year. He went to West Union in 1816 and resided there until March 16, 1823, when he removed to Sinking Spring, in Highland County, where he had bought a large tract of land and built a brick house. He resided there until his death.

While residing in West Union, on March 8, 1818, he was married to Hannah Miles, a widow with four children. He believed the water of the "Sinking Spring" in Highland County, to possess remarkable medicinal properties, conducive to health and longevity, and so persuaded was he of this, that he bought the property having the spring thereon and built a fine brick mansion there, which is standing to-day. It seems that notwithstanding he had been reared in the elegant home in Westover and moved in the highest circles at Philadelphia, he had a strong taste for the primitive and quiet life he found at Buckeye Station at West Union and in the wild country of Highland County. He was very strict in the observance of Sabbath and would tiot, on that day, ride to church on horseback. He had a very strong liking for the principles and teachings of the Shakers, as appears by his will.

Unlike the typical Virginian, he was a total abstainer from all kinds of liquor, in an age when whiskey was pure and temperance societies unknown. He was very temperate in his eating, and guarded the digestion of his children in a manner unknown to the mothers and fathers of this day. He kept small silver scales by his plate, upon which he weighed every article of food which tliey ate, allowing a certain quantity of fat, sugar, and phosphates, with each portion. He had peculiar ideas as to the preservation of life to longevity, and yet, died suddenly at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight, when he had never been seriously sick in his life. He was engaged in the trial of a mail robbery case when he took his final sickness. His associate, Judge Todd, of Kentucky, took sick at the same time and they both died within an hour of each other. The cause of the death of these two judges is a mystery to this day. The children of his first marriage were all bom between 1798 and 1810, and were Mary Powell, Kidder Meade. William Silonwee and Evalyn Harrison. His daughter Evalyn married her cousin and raised a family. She has two daughters now living at Nicholasville, Mrs. Anna Letcher and Miss Jane Woodson. The children of his second marriage were Jane and Samuel Otway, both deceased. Samuel Otway died at the age of forty-five, and left a son, William O. Byrd, who died a few years since at the age of forty-one.

While a resident of West Union, Judge Byrd lived in the property opposite where Mrs. Sarah W. Bradford lives, and afterward in the Judge Mason property on Mulberry street, where Mr. Riley Mehaffey now lives.

Judge Byrd kept a diary from 1812 to 1827. He writes nothing about his doings in the courts, the lawyers he met, or the judges with whom he sat, but a gjeat deal about his diet. It appears that he was a dyspeptic, and suffered with a disordered stomach, and that his private thoughts were largely about his diet and the better preservation of his health. He was constantly making experiments in dieting on himself and his children. He notes Judge Todd's opinion as to medicines. Had he lived in our day, he would have been called a crank. At one time, he thought river water was the best and had three barrels of it hauled to his house for his use. At another time, he thought McClure's we'll in West Union was the proper water to use. At another time, he thought the water at Yellow Springs was the best, and when he became convinced that the Sinking Spring water was the best, he bought property there and made it his home. He refers to Judge John W. Campbell in his diary on the subject of grape culture only. He refers to the Rev. Dyer Burgess on Free Masonry. He speaks of his horses which he named Dolly, Paddy and Paul. The latter was named after a blacksmith who shod them all, and who was probably an ancestor of the Pauls of Bloom Furnace. At one time, when he was riding to Chillicothe, Dolly shied at a black hog along the roadside. He then had black hogs painted on his barn door where she could shy at them at her pleasure. He, at another time, became of the opinion that ammonia was healthful, and he had a seat fixed in his barn and spent a great deal of time there where he could inhale the fumes of it from the stable.

The Judge w^s very fond of sauer kraut and made frequent mention of it. Another vanity of his was boiled pullet. He had a horror of bile on the stomach, of jaundice and of epilepsy, and frequently writes of these, though it does not appear that he was ever afflicted with the latter. Occasionally, he wrote about the Erie Canal and of canals projected in Ohio, and frequently gave figures and statistics.

In November, 1826, he gave an item of seventeen dollars, travelling expenses from Philadelphia to Maysville, Kentucky; five dollars for tavern bills irom Pittsburg to Maysville, and eight days allowed for the trip. At times he contemplated joining the Shakers and would sit down and write in his journal his reasons pro and con. One of his reasons, con, was the weakly state of his health, which would or might render it injurious to him to take such a diet as they use, and to rise hours before day as they used to do and sit by their stoves. Evidently the Judge liked good things to eat and to lie abed of mornings. Another reason, con, was that if he joined the Shakers, Hannah could get a divorce from him under the laws of Kentucky, and could marry again and probably would, and that would be sinful in her. Evidently he did not consider the sin of leaving Hannah and his family. His son, Samuel, said that his whole idea of the Shakers arose from a disordered stomach, which was no doubt true. Here is a tribute to his wife: "Mrs. Byrd. this morning after sunrise and before ten o'clock in the morning, April 23, 1827, after dressing and washing herself, got breakfast, consisting of excellent coffee, with hot bread and butter, milked three cows, disposing of the milk in the usual way : washed up the breakfast things ; made three pies ; dressed and washed the little boy (Samuel) ; made up other bread, working it over a great deal, setting it away to rise a first and second time; and churned our butter; all these nine several things after she was dressed and had washed her face and hands, between sunrise end ten o'clock in the morn- ing, and without any help from Catherine or any one else." We pause to inquire where the Judge was and what he was doing all the time he was msiking these observations. We very much suspect he was in bed.

August 22, 1822, he writes that he has put $1,400 in the hands of William Russell, to trade in, to be invested in merchandise, the profits of which he was to account for on fair and just principles and the money was to remain in his hands for four years. He writes that Mr. Russell had purchased $4,000 worth of merchandise and expected it on in one week's time. The same day he wrote that Mr. Sparks stated that in two months last past, he had sold $3,000 worth of goods. On February 26, 1822, he wrote that he had bought 39J4 pounds of beet sugar at 2'jy2, cents per pound.

On December 19, 1822, he made an estimate that a single man may dress decently for thirty-three dollars per annum, including washing, mending, shoes, handkerchiefs and a hat, and for thirty-seven dollars, he may, if he lives in a rented room, with another, get his whole living in addition, his rented room, his washing, his bedding, and his bread and water, included, full total, seventy dollars. What a thing for our young men to look back to, that the young man of 1827 could live for seventy dollars a year. On February 26, 1823, he was living on venison at two cents a pound. Mutton, at the same time, was four and a half cents a pound. It was then fifteen days' passage to Maysville from New Orleans, and that it cost fifteen dollars to go from Maysville to Pittsburg. On June 10, 1822, he devotes two full pages to General Darlinton's, Mr. William Russell's, and Judge Campbell's culture of grapes. In June, 1822, he writes that it takes Paul, the smith, an hour to make nails and fit a pair of shoes and put them on, the shoes being made previously. He devoted a great deal of space in his journals to his children. His objection to a frame house, he wrote, was that it was an ice house in winter and an oven in summer, which has a tendency to produce derangement of the bowels. The Judge had the house at Buckeye Station in view when he wrote that. He gives a great deal of good advice to his children, but it is so much like what has been stated that we leave it out.

I have endeavored from the light afforded me, which is meager, to form an estimate of the character of Charles Willing Byrd, first United States Judge in Ohio. There are some strange contradictions in it. Had his father lived, there is no doubt he would have been reared a typical Virginian of the first families, But his father dying at the age of fortynine, when he was but seven years of age, and his mother being a PhilAdelphian and having brothers and sisters living there, he was sent to Philadelphia and placed under the care and mstruction of a Quaker who it seems had sufficient influence to mould his character. It was there he received his ideas against the use of liquors and against human slavery. His ideas of Republican simplicity were partly his own and partly from Mr. Jefferson, his personal friend and friend of his father and mother. I have not been able to secure any of his writings except his will, and some of his journals.

That he was a gentleman in the fullest, highest and the purest sense of the term, there can be no doubt. A tinge of sadness was no doubt cast upon his life by the death of his father, and the extraordinary and almost inconsolable grief of his mother, which he was compelled to witness. His habits of prudent economy can be attributed to the fact that his father's estate was largely impaired by debts made by a course of liberal and reckless living incident to his day.

He had been a witness to the curse of slavery in Virginia, of its wastefulness and destruction of fine estates and that embittered him against the institution. Then his instruction in Philadelphia was that the institution was a positive sin. His mother was compelled to live in a less expensive house in order to extinguish the debts of his father and that intended to impress upon him the importance of economy and simplicity in Uving.

When he went to Kentucky, a young man of twenty-seven years, it was natural that he should visit the friend and neighbor of his father, on James River, Virginia, Col. David Meade, then living at Chaumiei^e Du Prairie, nine miles from Lexington. It was quite natural that he should be well received there and that he should fall in love with and marry the daughter of Col. Meade, whose social standing and his own were equal.

It was natural that he should receive the appointment of Secretary of the Northwest Territory from President John Adams. From one of the best families of Virginia and protege of Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, that followed.

It was natural that he should receive the appointment of United States Judge from JeflFerson, for the latter knew him as a scion of one of the most prominent families of Virginia, and in sympathy with his Republican notions of simplicity, which he had imported from France and which were much in vogue in those days.

There is, however, one feature of his character I cannot understand. He had been residing in Cincinnati on Fifth Street from 1798 till 1807. His eldest child was but nine years of age and he had five younger. He bought a tract of 700 acres of land in the then wilderness of Adams County and moved there, where he resided till 1815, or about that time. Why he should want to take his wife and young children into this wilderness, when he had a life position, which required him to discharge his duties in the large cities, seems strange.

Judge Campbell, one of his successors, when appointed, resided in Adams County but moved to Columbus where he was required to hold court. On the other hand. Judge Byrd, after having occupied his office for four years, removed to the country and continued to reside there for the remaining twenty-one years for which he held the office of Judge. At Buckeye Station, he could see all the steamboats or craft which passed up and down the river and could take boats to Cincinnati or points up the river. Being a Virginian he loved the country, as the English, their ancestors do, and have always done. At that day, few, if any, Virginian gentlemen would live in cities or towns, who could live in the country.

Why he removed to West Union in 1815, we cannot conjecture, unless on account of the death of his wife, he desired to see more of society. He resided in Chillicothe for one year, but did not seem to like that place and returned to West Union. In traveling from his home to hold his courts, he went from West Union through Dunbarton, Locust Grove and Bainbridge to Chillicothe. Sinking Springs was on his route, and hav- ing tasted the water there, he became satisfied there were some wonderful qualities in it, though it was not considered peculiar before, nor has anyone since Judge Byrd's time regarded it as anything extraordinary. He, however, had the water brought to him at West Union for some time and finally purchased the property on which the spring is located, built a home there, which was an extraordinary one for his day, and resided there until his death.

The home is still standing and till lately was occupied by his grandson, William Otway Byrd. The neigborhood of Sinking Springs was, in 1825, much more remote from haunts of men than Buckeye Station, and why Judge Byrd, who had been reared in the most elegant society, and in his youth and young manhood had moved in the best circles of Virginia and in the city of Philadelphia, then the metropolis of the United States, who had moved in the best society in Cincinnati, should want to seclude hmself and family in the wilds of Highland County, seems unaccountable.

His childish and youthful ideas of religion were derived from two sources, that of his father and mother who were attached to the Episcopal Church, and from his uncle, Mr. Powell, of Philadelphia, who was a Quaker.

It seemed the Quaker ideas predominated with him, and at the time he wrote his will he appeared to think the Shakers had the true id^as of religion.

None of his decisions have been reported. McLean's Reports do not begin until 1829, the year after his death, and no reports on his circuit were published during this time.

He sat in the celebrated case of Jackson vs. Clark, ist Peters, page 666, when it was tried in Columbus, Ohio, in July, 1826, and the decision of the Circuit Court was affirmed in the Supreme Court.

The generation which knew Judge Byrd personally and that which followed him has passed away and thus the avenues to a knowledge of his character are closed. Had any of his decisions been reported, or had we any of his writings, or were there extant any of the books he had written, we could judge of him, but as it is, our judgment of him is very meagre and narrow. Tradition tells us that he was learned in the law and had the training of a complete and thorough education. He was evidently a good judge, or we should have heard to the contrary. He must have had a large capacity for business, or Robert Morris would never have entrusted him with an important mission on his own private business in Kentucky. President John Adams had a good opinion of him and his abilities or he would not have appointed him Secretary of the Northwest Territory. President Thomas Jefferson must have had a good opinion of him or he would not have made him United States Judge.

was bom September 25, 1800, in Harrison County, Kentucky. He was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Harper) Compton. His parents emigrated from Virginia in 1790. His mother's (Elizabeth Harper) father was the original proprietor of Harper's Ferry in Jefferson County, Virginia. Samuel Compton settled in Adams County where Dunkinsville now stands in about 1806. When old enough to be apprenticed, he was indentured to William Roff, of West Union, to learn the saddler's trade and served out his indenture. At the end of his apprenticeship, he traveled about and worked at different places, including Newport, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, which then had a population of only 20,000 people. When in Cincinnati, he worked on Main Street when there was only one building on it, on the west side of the street between Fourth and Fifth Streets, the old Presbyterian Church.

He married Harriet Donalson at Manchester in 1826 and settled in that town. He engaged in the saddler's business there in all its branches and carried it on there until 1844. He was a rapid an J expert workman in his business. Owing to the sparsely settled condition of the country, he sometimes made more work than he sold, and then he would travel about and dispose of it by barter, trading with the merchants and taking their goods in exchange for his work, as much of the business of that time was transacted in that way, owing to the scarcity of money.

In 1844 he bought a farm near Winchester and removed to it and remained there until 1857 when he removed to the vicinity of Hillsboro. He resided in Highland County until i860 when he removed to a small farm in Harveysburg, Warren County, Ohio. He had seven children, all of whom lived to maturity. His oldest son was named Israel Donalson, after his wife's father. He entered the service of his country on the fourteenth of August, 1862, in the 79th O. V. I. as First Lieutenant of Co. H, at the age of 33. He died at Gallatin, Tennessee, December 31. 1862.

Samuel W. lives at Fayette, Fulton County, Ohio. He enlisted at the age of 28, on the nineteenth of April, 1861, in Co. F, 2d O. V. I., for three months' service, and was mustered out June 19, 1861. On the same day, he enlisted for three years in Co. F, 12th O. V. I., and served until the first day of July, 1864.

A son, Joseph \Villiam, now a clerk in the Postoffice Department in Washington, D. C, enlisted in Co. F, 12th O. V. I., for three months' service, on June 19, 1861, at the age of twenty-one. He was mustered out July II, 1864.

The youngest son, John Donalson Compton, who is Deputy United States Marshal at Covington, Kentucky, living at Dayton, Kentucky, enlisted in Co. F, I2th O. V. I., January 28, 1861, for three years and was transferred to Co. H, 23rd O. V. I., July i. 1864. In July, 1864, the I2th O. V. I. was consolidated with the 23rd O. V. I. and the new organization called the 23rd O. V. I. He was discharged from this service August 8, 1865. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Compton's four sons all served in the army in the Civil War.

In 1866, he sold his farm in Warren County and removed to Stout's P. O. in Adams County, and engaged in the grocery business. He was postmaster and resided there until his death in 1882, at the age of eightytwo. He is buried at Manchester, Ohio. His widow survived him until i8g3, when she died at the age of eighty.

He always tok an active interest in politics, but never sought or held any pubHc office with the single exception of school trustee. He felt a great interest in education, desiring to provide the advantages which were denied him in his childhood. He had no school education but was able to keep his accounts and correspondence very creditably. He was first a Whig and afterward a Republican when the latter party was formed. He was very loyal during the war and had no toleration for those who were not. He was anxious that all his sons should serve their country and while he could not go in the service himself, he did all he could to promote the comfort of those in the field and to aid and encourage them in their services. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and lived up to all that implies. He^' was a man of strict integrity, hcmorable in all his dealings and in his intercourse with his fellow men. He had the respect and good will of the entire community in which he resided. He was a useful citizen and his life's work is best exemplified in his sons and daughters, who are all honorable and useful members in the community.

The earliest ancestor of which we have any account was Duncan Campbell, of Argyleshire, Scotland. He married Mary McCoy in 1612, and removed to Londonerry in Ireland the same year. He had a son, John Campbell, who married in 1655, Grace Hay, daughter of Patrick Hay, Esq., of Londonderry. They had three sons, one of whom was Robert, born in 1665, and who, with his sons, John, Hugh and Charles Campbell, emigrated to Virginia in 1696, and settled in that part of Orange County afterward incorporated in Augusta. The son, Charles Campbell, was born in 1704, and died in 1778. In 1739, he was married to Mary Trotter. He had seven sons and three daughters. He was the historian of Virginia. His son, William, born in 1754, and died in 1822, was a soldier of the Revolution, and as such had a distinguished record as a General at King's Mountain and elsewhere. He married Elizabeth Willson, of Rockbridge County, Virginia, a member of the distinguished Willson family. They had eleven children. Their son, Charles, was born December 28, 1779, and died September 26, 1871. He was married September 20, 1803, to Elizabeth Tweed, in Adams County. He had five sons. The third was John Campbell, of Ironton, bom January 14, 1808, in Adams County, Ohio.

The Willson family intermarried with the Campbell family, who also have a distinguished record. Colonel John Willson, bom in 1702, and died in 1773, settled near Fairfield, then Augusta County, Virginia, and was a Burgess of that county for twenty-seven years. He once held his court where Pittsburgh now stands. His wife, Martha, died in 1755, and both are buried in the Glebe burying ground in Augusta County, Virginia. His brother, Thomas, had a daughter, Rebekah, born in 1728, and died in 1820, who married James Willson, born in 1715 and died in 1809. This James Willson, with his brother, Moses, was found when a very young boy in an open boat in the Atlantic Ocean. They were accompanied by their mother and a maid. The mother died at the moment of rescue and the maid a few moments after. The captain of the rescuing ship brought the boys to this country where they grew up, married and spent their lives.

Johx Campbell Pioneer Character Sketches 636

James Willson had a large family of sons and daughters. His daughter, Elizabeth, bom in 1758 and died February 27, 1832, married William Campbell, the Revolutionary General. Her brother, Moses, was the father of Dr. William B. Willson, of Adams County, who has a sketch in this work, and also of James S. Willson, the father of Dr. William Finley Willson, who also has a sketch herein. Judge John W. Campbell, United States District Judge, who has a sketch herein was a son of the Revolutionary General, William Campbell, who removed from Virginia to Kentucky in 1790 and from Kentucky to Adams County, Ohio, in 1798. Our subject was a resident of Adams County from his birth until 1857, when that portion of Adams County where he resided was placed in Brown County. He was reared on his father's farm and received what education he could obtain at home. He clerked for his uncle, Wiliam Humphreys, who had married his father's sister, Elizabeth, at Ripley, in 1828. After learnmg enough of the business, as he thought, he induced his uncle to go in partnership with him and they started a store at Russellville, Ohio. Here John was" popular with every one and would have succeeded, but the place and business was too slow for him. He had $600 saved up and he sold out the business and put his capital in the steamboat, "Banner," of which he became clerk. The boat was in the Cincinnati and Pittsburg trade. After his second trip on the steamboat, he made up his mind that was not his vocation. While coming down the river on this trip he met Robert Hamilton, the pioneer master of the Hanging Rock iron region and made inquiries for any opening in the iron business. Mr. Hamilton invited him to get off at Hanging Rock. He left the boat and accepted a clerkship at Pine Grove Furnace. This was in 1832. Mr. Campbell was anxious to stand well in the estimation of Mr. Hamilton. Shortly before his steamboat venture, he had met in Ripley, a young lady named Elizabeth Clarke, niece of Mr. Hamilton's wife. He fell in love with her. She made her home with her aunt, Mrs. Hamilton, who was a daughter of John Ellison and a sister of William Ellison, of Manchester. Naturally, Mr. Campbell would accept an invitation to go to Pine Grove Furnace. He was ambitious to succeed as a business man and he believed he could do so under Mr. Hamilton's teaching. He wanted to marry his niece who stood to Mr. Hamilton as a daughter. He succeeded in both purposes. The next year, 1833, he took an interest with Mr. Hamilton in building the Hanging Rock Forge at Hanging Rock. The same year he and Andrew Ellison built Lawrence Furnace for the firm of J. Riggs & Co. This year was formed the celebrated partnership of Campbell, Ellison & Company, of which he was a partner and which continued in existence until 1865. In 1834, he and Robert Hamilton built Mt. Vernon Furnace and he moved there and became its manager. The furnace was the property of Campbell, Ellison & Company for thirty years, and largely the source of the fortunes made by the members of that firm. It was at this furnace Mr. Campbell made the change of placing the boilers and hot blast over the tunnel head, thus utilizing the waste gases, a method after generally adopted by all the charcoal furnaces of that region and in the IJnited States.

On March 16, 1837, he was married at Pine Grove Furnace to Miss Elizabeth Caldwell Clarke, already mentioned, and they began housekeeping at Mt. Vernon Furnace.

In 1837, he had an interest at Vesuvius Furnace, and he induced the other owners to test the hot blast principle. This was the first hot blast put up in this country and though it met with srong opposition through expectation of bad results, the experiment proved satisfactory in producing an increased quantity />f iron for foundry use. Mr. Camptfell was always among the first to project any useful enterprise. He was largely concerned in the first geological survey of the State, and by reason of his study of local geology he purchased lands extensively in the Hanging Rock region with a view to future development of their mineral resources.

In 1846, he and Mr.. John Peters built Greenup Furnace in Kentucky, and in 1846, Olive Furnace, Ohio, to which was added Buckhorn. In 1847, he built Gallia Furnace, and in 1848, he and others built Keystone Furnace. In 1849, while residing at Hanging Rock, he evolved the project of establishing the town of 1 ronton. The Ohio Iron and Coal Company, composed of twenty-four persons, was formed. Twenty of the organizers were iron masters. He became the president of the company and was its soul, so far as a corporation is capable of having a soul. The company purchased forty acres of land, three miles above Hanging Rock, and undertook to form a model town and succeeded as near as anyone has ever succeeded. Mr. Campbell gave the town its name, "Ironton." He was one of the projectors of the Iron Railroad which was designed to make the furnace, north and east of I ronton, tributary to the town. In 1850, Mr. Campbell moved to the city of Ironton which thereafter was his home during his lifetime. The same year he purchased La Grange Furnace. The same year was built in Ironton the foundry of the firm of Campbell, Ellison & Co. In 1851, Mr. Campbell became one of the founders of the Iron Bank of Ironton, afterwards changed to the First National Bank. In 1852, he was one of the organizers of the Ironton Rolling Mill, afterward the New York and Ohio Iron and Steel Works. The same year he took half the stock in the Olive Furnace and Machine Shops. The same year he purchased the celebrated Hecla Cold Blast Furnace. In 1853, he became one of the largest stockholders in the Kentucky Iron, Coal and Manufacturing Company, which founded the town of Ashland, Kentucky.

In 1854, he, D. T. Woodrow and others, built Howard Furnace. The same year he built a large establishment to manufacture an iron beam plow, and also built Madison Furnace. This year he took stock in the Star Nail Mill, one of the largest in the country and now known as the Belfont Iron Works. In 1855, he, with V. B. Horton, of Pomeroy, organized a company and built a telegraph line from Pomeroy to Cincinnati. In 1866 he organized the Union Iron Company, owners of Washington and Monroe Furnaces, and was its president for many years. From his majority he had been opposed to the institution of slavery, and was an Abolitionist. His opinions on the subject of slavery were no doubt largely formed by his associations with Rev. John Rankin and men of his views, but as he grew older, his views against the institution intensified. His home was one of the stations on the Underground Railroad, and there the poor, black fugitive was sure of a friendly meeting and all needed assistance.

Pioneer Character Sketches 687

Mr. Campbell acted with the Whig party, and after its death, with the Republican party. He was a delegate to the State Republican Convention in 1855. He never sought or held any public office until 1862, when, in recognition of his great and valuable services to the Republican party and to his country, President LinccJn appointed him the first Internal Revenue Collector for the Eleventh Collection District of Ohio, and he served in the office with great fidelity and honor until October i, 1866, when he was succeeded by Gen. B. F. Coates.

In 1872, Mr. Campbell reached the height of his fortune. He was then worth over a million of dollars. Up t3 that time he had invested in and promoted almost every enterprise projected inside the circle of his acquaintance. He had not done this recklessly or extravagantly, but from natural disposition to promote prosperity.

In 1873, the Cooke panic overtook the country and from that time until 1883, there was a steady contraction in every enterprise with which Mr. Campbell was connected. In 1880, it v/as largely through the influence and work of John Campbell that the Scioto Valley Railroad was completed to Ironton and eastward.

In 1883, the Union Iron Company failed. For years Mr. Campbell had sustained it, and for some time had been endorsing for it personally, hoping to sustain its waning fortunes, but its failure was too much for him and he was compelled to make an assignment in his old age, but he w^nt down with that grand and noble courage, which in his youth and middle life had caused him to go into every business venture. No one who knew Mr. Campbell ever thought any less of him on account of his failure, bu^ he had the sympathy and good will of every man who had known him in a business way. His changed financial condition never affected the esteem in which he had been held or lessened, in any way, the great influence he held in the community. He survived until August 30. 1891, but owing to the condition of business affairs and his advanced age, was never able to retrieve his lost fortunes.

In the case of Mr. Campbell, it is most difficult to make a just and true character estimate which will truly display the man. He had so many excellent qualities that there is danger that all may not be mentioned. He had a wonderful faculty of looking forward and determining in advance what business enterprises would succeed The writer does not know a proper term by which to desigiiate this feature of his character. He could and would predict the success of a proposed business venture when all others were incredulous. He lived to see his business judgment verified. He never hesitated to act on his judgment of the future, and personally, he was never mistaken or wrong. He had a wonderful influence over his fellow men. He could bring them to his views and induce them to carry them out. He was never haughty or proud. He was approachable to all. - He took a personal interest in all men of his acquaintance who tried to* do anything for themselves. He was always the friend of the unfortunate. The colored people all loved him. In the slavery days no fugitive ever called on him in vain. He was sure of aid, relief and comfort in Mr. Campbell. His judgment was incisive. He examined a matter carefully and made up his mind, and when once made up, he was immovable. He possessed a most equable temper. He never got impatient or angry. Under the most trying circumstances, he was calm and gentle. He was, in his time, by far, the most conspicuous figure in the Hanging Rock iron region. He was identified with every public enterprise in Ironton from the foundation of the town. Many of the important industries in Ironton owe their success to his excellent judgment. No one went to him to enlist him in a worthy public enterprise who did not succeed. No meritorious appeal for aid was ever made to him and refused by him. He was always ready to aid any deserving man or association of men, either in business or charity. The universal sorrow expressed on the occasion of his death and funeral show how he stood among his fellow citizens. There was a public meeting called to prepare resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the community. The bar of the county met and passed resolutions, though he was never a member of that body. The city council also met and made public record of its sentiments. He had the confidence, the respect, the esteem and love of the entire community. The attendance at his funeral of itself demonstrated the regard in which he was held. No greater funeral was ever held in Ironton. The city police were mounted, the city and county officials and the bar attended as bodies. All the church bells were tolled and all business suspended. It was well that the whole city mourned, because to John Campbell, more than to anyone else, was it indebted for its existence and its prosperity. In the space allotted in this book, justice cannot be done to the career of Mr. Campbell. We have given and can give but a partial view of his career and ciiaracter. His wife survived him. They had five children, three daughters and two sons, who grew to maturity. His eldest daughter was Mrs. Henry S. Neal, who died before her father. His second daughter is Mrs. William Means, of Yellow Springs, Ohio. His daughters Emma and Clara are both now deceased. His son, Albert, resides at Washington, D. C, and his son, Charles, at Hecla Furnace. His wife died November 19, 1893.

was one of the pioneers of Adams County who came to the Northwest Territory in 1794. He was born in January, 1764, and died on his magnificent farm on Ohio Brush Creek, where he is buried, April 17, 1835. His wife was' Elizabeth Prather, born December 9, 1768, and who died August 4, 1835. She bore him twelve children: James, John, Thomas, Daniel, Joseph, Richard, Isaac, Sarah, Elizabeth, Katharine, Luther and Harriet. The latter was born September 17, 1815, and married Andrew Ellison, a son of James Ellison, a native of Ireland.

Col. Collier selected the site of his future home on Ohio Brush Creek while with Nathaniel Massieand others survey ing in that region. The lands, five hundred acres, were purchased from Gen. William Lytle, who held military warrants of Jonathan Tinsley, John Shaver and George Shaver. Virginia Line, Continental Establishment. The site of the homestead is on an elevated terrace some forty acres in extent formed in the geological past by a drift of conglomerate in Ohio Brush Creek. The general level of this terrace is about twenty-five feet above the bottom lands along the creek, and from it a fine view of the valley presents itself for miles up and down the stream. At the base of this drift several fine springs of most excellent water w^lls forth. The one across the public road opposite the Collier residence aflforded the water supply 'for the old still-house owned by Col. Collier. There was a fine young poplar sapling near it which young Tom Collier climbed and bent over while the Colonel and his wife were temporarily absent from home. On his return Thomas received a "grubbing" for the supposed destruction of the young poplar. That sapling is now a most beautiful and stately tree.

Col. Collier was prominently identified with public affairs of Adams County in his time. He was commissioned Colonel of the Third Regiment, First Brigade, Second Division, of Militia by Governor Samuel Huntington, December 29, 1809. He served in the War of 1812 and was in the engagement at Sandusky. On May 2, 1814, Acting Governor Thomas Looker, endorsed Colonel Collier's resignation as follows: "The resignation of this commission accepted on account of long service, advanced age and bodily infirmities."

Among Col. Collier's old tax receipts in possession of one of his grandchildren, is one dated September 8, 1801, for one hundred and seventy-five cents, his land tax for that year. Subscribed by John Lodwick, Collector for Adams County. In 181 1, the tax on the same land was nine dollars as shown by the receipt of Thomas Massie, Collector.

Rev. James Caskey was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia. March 8, 1807. His father, James Caskey, was born in County Derry, Ireland, February 21, 1773. He married, in Ireland, Peggy Anderson, born February 21, 1770, emigrated to this country and located in Rockbridge County, Virginia, about 1787. He re-immigrated to Ohio and located at Cherry Fork in 181 1, where he spent the remainder of his life. Our subject attended Miami University and graduated there in 1831. He studied theology part of the time at the Associate Reformed Theological Seminary at Oxford, Ohio, and afterwards at the seminary of the same church at Alleghany. April 30, 1835, he was licensed to preach by the First Presbytery of Ohio and was ordained and installed as pastor of the West Union and Russellville churches the same year. During his residence in West Union, he was quite intimate with the Rev. Dyer Burgess, and held the same views as did the latter in regard to slavery. He resigned the church at West Union in 1838 and moved to Ripley, in Brown County. He resigned the church at Russellville in 1851. He was the pastor of the Ujiited Presbyterian Church in Ripley, Ohio, frcmi 1838 until his death, February 9, 1854. He was married May 21, 1839, to Isabel Wallas, a daughter of Judge Wallas, of Urbana, (Dhio, and left two children, Mrs. Margaret C. Roberts, of 100 Huntington Ave., Boston, Mass., and James D. Caskey, of No. 2715 Twenty-second St., Minneapolis, Minn.

He was a very fine preacher, preparing his sermons with care. For years he was Clerk of the Presbytery, and his records were always prepared and recorded in a very neat style. He was a pleasant speaker. His style of sermonizing was attractive ; his language was comprehensive and his reasoning always logical. As a man, he was exemplary and he commanded the respect of all who knew him. He was but forty-seven years of age when he died and his career of usefulnesis was cut short by the "Last Enemy." His ashes repose in the old cemetery at Ripley.

was born in Harford County, Maryland, in 1788, the son of Ephriani Cole and his wife, Ada Mitchell. In 1793, his parents moved to Mason County, Kentucky, and in 1794 they joined Massie's colony at Manchester, and in 1795 his father located just south of West Union and built a home near Cole's Spring. The house is gone and the spring has been forgotten, but both were on the slope of the hill to the east of the Collings graveyard, looking down into the valley of Beasley's Fork. Here Leonard Cole grew to manhood. He was one of the early schoolteachers in West Union and instituted the reprehensible custom of flogging every boy in school if any mischief was done by a single one. He w^as a firm believer in King Solomon's rule as to the use of the rod and applied it to both boys and girls. As to the custom of flogging all the boys when any mischief was done, that was kept up by the successors of Mr. Cole, and the writer suffered from that custom with the other boys of his time. Mr. Cole always thought a boy never got a lick amiss, and if he did not deserve it at the time he received it, he would very soon afterward and he might as well have it in advance. Aside from his whipping proclivities, Mr. Cole was a very good teacher. He was a follower and disciple of Gen. Jackson. He was a Justice of the Peace of Tiffin Township from 1829 to 1832. He was a candidate for Auditor in 1825 and received 478 votes. Ralph McClure received 130 and Joseph Riggs 715,- and was elected. In 1827, he was again a candidate for Auditor, and received 303 votes to 876 for Joseph Riggs. He persevered in seeking the Auditor's office, and when Joseph Riggs resigned in 1831, he was appointed and served five months, October 3, 1831, to March 6, 1832. He was elected and served from March 6, 1832. to March 4, 1844, twelve years.

Mr. Cole was first married to a Miss McDonald, by whom he was the father of a large family of children. When first married, he was emphatically an ungodly man. He was opposed to his wife attending church, and she went secretly. Mr. Cole was at this time a fighting and drinking man. At one time he was indicted for seven assaults and batteries, all charged in one week. He got so dreadful that his wife could not live with him and left him. He did tlien what all prodigals did. shipped on a flatboat to New Orleans. He came back by steamboat and when the latter was a short distance below Memphis, in the night, it ran into a snag and sunk immediately. Cole swam to a snag. In the darkness, he feared he would not be discovered and would be left there to die. He vowed to the Lord that if rescued, he would devote the remainder of his life to His service. Soon after he was rescued, Mr. Cole went home, hunted tip his wife, and was reconciled to her. He joined the Methodist Church and lived a member of it the remainder of his life. He maintained family worship, but would interrupt ir to drive the pigs out of the yard, to drive the dog out of the kitchen, to serve a neighbor with milk, or for any other necessary work, and many tales are told of this peculiarity of his. When James Moore was courting Caroline Killen, he did it at the house of Leonard Cole, as he was forbidden at William Killen's home. On one occasion, when Caroline Killen and James Moore were at Mr. Cole's, they were present during family worship in the evening. Mr. Cole prayed for those who were going to bed and for those who were going to sit up - Caroline Killen and James Moore.

Pioneer Character Sketches 641

Mr. Cole acquired the confidence of the entire community after he joined the Methodist Church, and lived the life of a model citizen. His first wife died in 1838, and in 1839, he married her niece of the same name. There were no children of this marriage. In 1850, he removed to Brookville. Kentucky, where he died in 1857, and where he is buried. Mr. Cole was an intensely earnest man in all he did. When he was a drinking and fighting young man, he went into it with all the force of his nature. When he reformed, his devotion to the church and to good citizenship was as earnest as human eflfort could make it. He left many descendants, but none of them are known to the writer.

Ephriam Cole, a man of good English descent, married, in 1773, Sophia Mitchell, of Maryland. It is said of them that as boy and girl, they lived on adjoining plantations, on the Susquehanna River, near the Chesapeake Bay.

When the accounts of the adventurous conduct of Daniel Boone, in Kentucky, inspired the husband to follow that intrepid hero, the brave young wife was ready to leave a refined home, where her mother, although the proud descendant of the English Kents, had taught her daughters those homely virtues, which fitted the women of those times for the perils and hardships of pioneer life. It is needless to follow this resolute couple through the pathless forests, inhabited by red men, whose savage nature had been justly roused by the white men, v/lio came to steal their lands and drive them from their homes.