Before Pickaway county was organized, Green township took in all the Indian towns on Sippo and Congo creeks.  Major John Boggs' land was all in Ross county until Pickaway was organized.  He was an early pioneer to the valley, having emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1796.  His father, Captain John Boggs, served during the Revolution, and at the close of the war he moved and settled at the mouth of Boggs run, opposite Boggs Island, below Wheeling, on the Ohio river.  He raised his family here until 1798, when he sold his land and descended the Ohio to Portsmouth.  He then ascended the Scioto in a keel-boat to the station near Chillicothe.  From there he traveled on foot to look after land.  After traversing the valleys of the Scioto, he selected his land at the foot of the Pickaway plains, now known as the Crouse and Renick farms, and erected his cabin near the elm tree, noted as the spot where Logan delivered his celebrated speech in 1774.  John Boggs, Jr., went back to Wheeling and married, and returned to his new home, where he cleared the land given him by his father.  In 1803 he shipped the first flat-boat of flour to New Orleans.  When the war broke out in 1812 he went as captain, but was soon promoted and served during the war as major.  He lost his first wife, and married, for his second, the widow of Captain James Taylor, of Zanesville, Ohio, and died soon after his return to his old home.  He was the last of the first pioneers on the plains, and was the lather of nine children—William, Martha, Lemuel, John, Nancy, Moses, Lydia, James, and Sidney.  James is the present owner of the farm, and has erected a circular board fence around the Logan tree.  The

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farm is dotted with ancient mounds.  One, on the north bank of Congo creek, measures one thousand feet around and is thirty feet high.  On the land entered by Captain Boggs, in 1796, were the Indian towns called Squaw Town, Cornstalk Town, and Black Mount, all on Sippo creek.
     James Boggs, son of Major Boggs, was killed by the Indians while on a hunting excursion with several young men on the Stillwater.  William Boggs, brother to the Major, was taken prisoner by the Indians in 1793, and kept as such until Wayne's treaty with them at Fort Greenville in 1795, when he was released and sent home.  On his arrival there he was dressed in Indian costume, and his father did not know him at first sight.  He left, but returned next day and made himself known, and, like the Prodigal Son, was kindly received by his father, who exclaimed, "This, my son, who was lost, now is found; was dead, but now is alive."
     John Boggs was an Indian spy, and well known by them; they often waylaid him in order to get his scalp, and disliked him because he was a brave, fearless scout and forest ranger.  They often made William run the gauntlet, and on one occasion he had to run seventy five yards and jump into a hut, in the door of which they had placed a large squaw to keep him out; but he, knowing what he had to do, started, and was pushed very hard, the squaw standing in the door.  He struck her with his head, and knocked her clear across the cabin and almost killed her, the Indians laughing themselves almost to death at her expense and calling him a brave man.
     The following names of early pioneers were handed in by Rebecca Wolf, daughter of Captain Wolf, who was eleven years old when her father settled on Congo creek in 1796; James Burns was in Hull's surrender.  Mark Clark, John Shark, David and Samuel Demery, George Fry, Thomas Single, and William and Matthew Ferguson were all farmers, and served creek, and was a man of enterprise and a useful citizen.  John Clernson, the first postmaster, died aged ninety years.

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Dr. Edward Ostrander was the first physician.  Hugh Little was in the Revolution in 1776.  John Liebery, Daniel Godman, J. Entricher, John Saxe, Thomas McGrody, William Dresback, John Eyestone, Benjamin Mark, J. Hedge, Elias Moore, Benjamin Steel, Samuel Evans, Dr. Shannon, W. S. French, J. Pepper, O. Justice, Abram Jones, John Gray, George Smith, M. Morgan, M. Price, Samuel Forkins, William McCoy, James Rogers, J. Bardles, were all early pioneers.  M. Ferguson was the first distiller, and Henry Neil the first merchant.  Hugh Forseman, James Torbett, William Beston, John and Joseph Creston, Samuel Knox, David Hare, John and James McMurphy, William Snodgrass, J. Young, Jacob and John Sailor, Caleb, James H., and J. Bush, George, James, and M. Ricke, George Frybark, Thomas Duncan, John McDonald (Indian trader), Isaac, Richard, and James Morris, Henry Hueston, Thomas Emerson, Thomas Barr, David Thomas, Abram Claypole, Isaac Brink, Jacob Leeding, E. Reed, D. Stark, John Snider, B. Midshere, L. Steely, James Burns, Eli Maschell, John Grimes, A. Jones, and Thomas Lingeral were in the war of 1812.  H. May, A. Pontious, N. Wilson; M. Slipes, the first mail carrier; William Hamilton; C. Dennison, the first tavern keeper; Samuel Hill, John Dresback, M. Gruger, M. Godrich, Jacob Wagner, John Young, Henry Bell.  The above-named first pioneers were brave and hardy men, a majority of whom were farmers.  But few are now living.  Perhaps Rebecca is the last of the pioneers of 1796.
     Captain George Wolf emigrated with his father's family to the Pickaway plains in 1796.  Captain Philip Wolf was an Indian spy daring the Revolutionary war.  After arriving at the plains they entered their land on Congo creek, on the tract on which Colonel Lewis camped in 1774.  George Wolf went out as captain of a mounted rifle company, and marched to Upper Sandusky. After the close of the war he returned home and cultivated his farm till 1859, when he died.  His second wife is still living.  Captain Philip Wolf was the father of nine children—Mary, George, John, Elizabeth, Joseph, Rebecca,

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Catherine, James, and John.  Rebeeca Wolf is the only one of the family now living.  She lives on the old farm, and never was married.  Franklin Wolf, son of George, is living on the part of the old farm where Colonel Lewis camped.  Captain Wolf's children by his first wife were Mahala, born in 1804; Elitha, born in 1808; John, born in 1810; George, born in 1812; Harrison, born in 1813; Emerson, born in 1815; Franklin, by his second wife, in 1835.  Mrs. Captain George Wolf is now living in Kingston; she is seventy-three years old, but enjoys good health and good company.
     On the farm of the late Captain Philip Wolf, near the waters of Congo creek, is the place where the Indians got their lead.  The mine has not been found, but large pieces of lead have been picked up.  In 1860 Henry Wrench found a piece weighing over a pound, nine-tenths of which were pure lead.  The mine is supposed to be within the limits of Colonel Lewis' encampment on the waters of the Congo, which flows through a fertile valley and empties into the Scioto.  In this valley is supposed to exist one of the richest veins of lead in the State.  A celebrated chief among the Delawares proposed to discover the mine to Philip Wolf for a given sum, but he declined the offer.  Along Congo creek was the Indian trail.  Starting at Old Town, it went in a southeast direction to Grandier Squaw Town.  It left Black Mount and Cornstalk Town to the north.  Both these towns were situated at the foot of the plains.  The Indian trail, after passing through Camp Lewis, went on to Mount Logan, and from there to Fort Gower on the Ohio.
     On the land of William Snodgrass was the Indian graveyard.  It is a mound one hundred and fifty feet in circumference and fifteen feet high.  It was dug into by John Young in 1830, and skeletons exhumed.  The mound is half a mile south of Colonel Lewis' camp, and close by the ancient Indian trail leading from Old Town to Fort Gower.
     Captain Slover was taken prisoner at Crawford's defeat, and was condemned to be burned at the stake; but through a kind Providence, he was released and made his escape.  He

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was confined in a death-house at Grandier Squaw Town, with two Indians to guard him.  He loosened his bonds while the sentinels slept, got out of his cell, stole an Indian pony, and made his escape to Wheeling.  He told the people of Wheeling that it was the best pony he ever rode; he never parted with it.  Colonel Lewis expected to give the Indians battle at their towns on the waters of the Sippo and Congo, but the second conflict was prevented, Governor Dunmore overtaking Colonel Lewis in person, and turning him back when the Colonel was in sight of these towns.
     Captain William McMeahen, a Revolutionary veteran of Virginia, had two horses stolen by the Indians.  He got on their trail and followed them to Squaw Town, where he saw his horses.  The Indians were out on a circle hunt, but he met a squaw that could talk broken English, who told him where the horses were, but advised him not to take them, as the Indians would kill him.  She concealed him in her cabin and fed him until the Indians returned home.  She then made a way for his escape.  When he arrived at Wheeling his wife had gone home to her father, believing that he had been killed by the Indians.  He told the people that he had never seen so fine a country; that the scenery and the richness of the soil surpassed all description, and that he was impressed with the belief that some of his posterity would, at no distant day, become occupants of those fertile plains and beautiful and wide-spread valleys on the Scioto, and his impressions were verified.  The widow of Major Boggs was his daughter.

END OF GREEN TOWNSHIP -