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BIOGRAPHIES
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)
 Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio
with Illustrations and Biographical
Sketches,
by George William Hill, M.D. -
Published by Williams Bros.
-1880 -
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JOHN
BAPTISTE JEROME was born near Montreal, Canada, of French
parents, in the year 1776 or 1777. When seventeen or
eighteen years of age he crossed the lake with some French
emigrants, and settled among the Indians at the mouth of Huron
river. He married an Indian girl, supposed to have been
the sister of a noted Indian known as George Hamilton.
After remaining on the Huron a few years, he moved to Upper
Sandusky, and resided among the Indians until the campaign of
General Anthony Wayne. In company with Captain Pipe,
of the Delawares, he was engaged in a number of battles
against the American forces, and was at the famous battle of
"Fallen Timbers." At the time of his residence in this
county, he often related anecdotes concerning that battle,
describing the amazement of the Indians at the rapidity of
violence of the movements of Wayne's army - the Indians
comparing him to a huge "black snake," and ascribing almost
supernatural powers to him. He asserted, that for a long
time, the very name of "Mad Anthony" sent a chill of
horror through the body of an Indian. They had, prior to
the appearance of General Wayne, baffled the armies of
the American generals, and committed many barbarities upon the
wounded and dead soldiers left upon the battle field; but, when
he came, like a huge anaconda, he enclosed and crushed the
warriors in such a frightful manner that they abandoned all hope
of resisting his victorious march, and were glad to stop his
ravages by making peace.
After the treaty at Greenville in 1795, Jerome,
Captain Pipe, and a number of the Delawares left
the northwest and settled at what was formerly Mohican
Johnstown, on the south side of the stream, about three quarters
of a mile from the present site of Jeromeville. The stream
was thenceforth known as the Jerome fork, which name it
doubtless received from Jerome. The precise
period of this migration can not be accurately fixed, but was
doubtless as early as 1796 or 1797. Jerome crossed
the stream and built a cabin a little southeast of the present
site of the mill, where Joseph H. Larwill found him, his
wife and daughter, while surveying, in 1806-7. Captain
Pipe built a wigwam and located south of the stream, and
about one mile from Jerome, near what is now the Hayesville
road. When the first settlers came into Killbuck, now
Mohican township, Jerome resided in the aforesaid cabin, and had
some thirty-five or forty acres of land cleared along on the
bottom, on the banks of the stream, which he cultivated in
corn.* He resided in his cabin with his wife Mary
or Munjela, who was about fifteen years old when the war
of 1812 was declared. A short time prior to the
declaration of war, Captain Pipe and all his
Delawares, except three or four friendly and harmless
families, quietly slipped away and joined their friends in the
northwest. When Captain Murray came to Jerome's
place to build the block-house, it is asserted by some of the
pioneers, that by order of General Beall, Jerome
was arrested and sent to the block-house at Wooster, where he
was confined for a short time as a precaution against furnishing
aid and comfort to the Indians who might be found prowling about
the forest; and that while he was at Wooster, Captain Murray
sent his (Jerome's), wife and daughter to Urbana, where
they subsequently died from exposure. Another statement
is, that when Captain Douglas removed the Greentown
Indians the wife and daughter of Jerome, with others,
accompanied them, Jerome voluntarily remaining to take
care of his stock, of which he was well supplied, and his cabin
and household goods; and that he was not confined at Wooster.
We accept the latter statement as being the most probable; for
there were no Indians at the arrival of General Beall to
be sent away, and we have no account of a separate expedition
from that of Douglas to convey the Indians to Urbana.
Jerome is said to have been warmly attached to
his wife and daughter, and deeply mourned his separation from
them; and often reproached the military for enforcing so cruel
an edict. He never looked upon their faces again; for,
long before the close of the war, they were both in the grave.
Prior to his being separated from his wife, Jerome was
noted for his hospitality - his wife being an excellent cook and
housekeeper, considering her opportunities, Jerome being
her only instructor as to domestic duties. During the
prevalence of the war, Jerome remained at the block-house
among the pioneers who sought protection there in 1812-'13-'14.
The loyalty of Jerome was beyond question. On
several occasions he evinced as much zeal in protecting the
neighboring cabins as his pioneer companions of the block-house.
He was a small man - vivacious and positive. Though
impulsive, and at times irritable and bitter in his resentments,
he was generous and brave, and firmly attached to his friends.
He was endowed with a good understanding, and could converse in
French and Indian, sufficiently well to be understood in
English. Before his separation from his wife and daughter
his circumstances were prosperous, being in possession of a lot
of cattle, hogs and horses - a few fields of cleared land, with
a comfortable cabin. At the close of the war, everything
went wrong with him - his property was dispersed and his affairs
began to go to ruin. He married a German woman on the
Clear fork, with whom he lived until he sold his farm. He
sold the farm, occupying the present site of Jeromeville, in the
winter of 1815, to Christian Deardorf and William
Vaughn, and purchased the farm upon which Gaudy's
mill was subsequently erected, about two miles southwest of his
old farm. He remained here some time, and sold the land to
Joseph Workman, who sold it to Constance Lake for
a mill site. Jonathan Palmer was his neighbor for
three years, and always spoke kindly of Jerome.
About the year 1817 Jerome and his German wife removed to
his old residence at the mouth of Huron river, where he died a
few years afterwards, in indigent circumstances, leaving his
wife and one child, who returned to Richland where they
remained. Jerome is believed to have been the first
white settler within the present limits of Ashland county, his
arrival antedating that of Alexander Finley and Andrew
Craig some eight or nine years.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880. - Page 127
* When the old Portage road was surveyed in 1810, Peter
Kinney, afterward Judge Kinney, was one of the party,
and found Jerome's cabin as above stated, near the foot of Main
street, in Jeromeville, on the south side. See also,
biography of Alexander Finley and letter of James
Finley. |
SOLOMON
JONACAKE. A short time before the removal of the
Greentown Indians, a good-natured, fine-looking Delaware
warrior, by the name of Solomon Jonacake, located among
the tribe, and soon became fascinated with the charming Sally
Williams. He proffered her his hand in marriage,
saying: "Me want squaw velly bad. Me like squaw. Me
want Sally for squaw." The proffer was accepted on
condition that the marriage ceremony should be after the manner
of the whites, and by a white man. Sally exacted these
conditions on the ground that she had already been twice married
to recreant young warriors, and the Indian ceremony had failed
to "stick."
Jonacake was but too happy to comply, for he
"wanted Sally velly bad." There being no minister
in that region authorized to perform the ceremony, they went to
the cabin of Peter Kinney, who was justice of the peace,
and he married them. It was a good job, for Jonacake
proved a kind and faithful husband. Abraham Williams
was very proud of the choice of Sally, and stated to
Mr. Elijah Harter, of Mifflin, that "Jonacake was a
good Indian. He no heathen Indian. He Moravian
Indian. He be kind to Sally. He velly good
Christian Indian."
When the Greentown Indians were removed, to 1812, to
Urbana, Williams, Jonacake and wife accompanied their
friends. After the war, they and many other Greentown
Indians returned annually to hunt, for ten or twelve years.
Jonacake hunted a good deal in what is now Lake township,
placing his wigwam near a good spring, where Sally
presided like an Indian queen. Many of the brooks in Lake
yet bear his name.
In 1819, he encamped in the spring and fall, on a
bottom west of the Black fork, i the vicinity of the present
residence of Daniel Hoover, some three miles northwest of
the village of Mifflin. While there, Mrs. Hoover
visited the bark wigwam of Jonacake, and spent some hours
with Sally, who could converse very well in German.
At that time Jonacake had two interesting little boys,
aged respectively about five and seven years. Mrs.
Hoover says Sally was an interesting woman, and her
children were very neatly kept. Her little boys were
handsomely clothed in dressed deer-skin, after the Indian style.
Everything exhibited an air of comfort and contentment.
During the interview, Sally complained of being
surfeited on venison, and expressed a wish for salt pork.
Mrs. Hoover agreed to exchange pound for pound.
Sally was delighted. A few mornings after the visit,
Jonacake appeared very early at the door of Mr. Hoover's
cabin with a load of fresh venison. Hoover went to
his smoke-house and selected the pork which he proposed to
exchange, and having weighed it, handed it to Jonacake.
The good-natured hunter appears much pleased with the trade.
Breakfast being then ready, Mr. Hoover politely invited
Jonacake to eat. He readily consented, and took a seat
at the table. He behaved with becoming modesty, and
handled his knife, fork, and cup with as such skill as a white
man.
Mr. Hoover says Jonacake was a tall, fine
looking Indian, and would weigh, perhaps, one hundred and sixty
or one hundred and seventy pounds. He seemed to be imbued
with the doctrines of the Moravians. Sally was a
firm believer in that faith; and
Jonacake and his family observed the Sabbath much
more faithfully than the semi-Christianized borderers who
surrounded them. Mr. Hoover regarded his Indian
Neighbor as harmless, and as possessing integrity to a
remarkable degree. He often met him in the forest hunting,
and says he was always courteous and good-humored.
Sally was, in his opinion, a remarkable woman, considering
the fact that she never had any of the advantages of civilized
life.
Mr. Knapp refers to the residence of Jonacake
in Clearcreek township at a late date. In 1824,
in the spring, Jonacake had a wigwam in the vicinity of
the present site of Savannah. While there, one Sabbath,,
Hance McMeekin and Andrew Clark visited his
wigwam, and entered into conversation with Sally.
McMeekin was a merry, fun-making sort of a pioneer, and
relished a good joke. After saluting Sally and her
little boys, he inquired as to the success of Jonacake in
hunting.
Sally - "Not very good. Last Sunday,
Jonacake saw a number of deer, while hunting his horses that
had strayed away; but being without a gun, they escaped."
McMeekin- "Without his gun! Why did he go
without it?"
Sally - "He never carries his gun on Sunday."
McMeekin - "What do you know about Sunday?
Do you know when that day comes?"
Sally - "Do you suppose I am an animal? I
am a human being and know when Sunday comes as well as the white
people."
McMeekin - "Do all the Indians know when Sunday
comes?"
Sally - "They very generally do; but, like most
of the white people, fail to keep it."
This retort satisfied McMeekin, and he ceased to
poke his fun at Sally.
McMeekin often related this adventure with great
glee, and conceded that Sally was rather spicy in her
dialogue with him.
Jonacake and other Indians, at that period,
often visited the mill of Martin Mason, where Leidigh's
now stands, to purchase corn-meal in exchange for pelts and
venison. Andrew Mason remembers him distinctly.
In the treaty of 1817, at the Maumee rapids, a
reservation, three miles square south of the Wyandots,
was allowed the remnant of Delaware from Jerometown and
Greentown. Jonacake is named as one of the joint
proprietors.
In 1829, when the Delawares were removed to
their new home, west of the Mississippi, Jonacake and his
family went along.
Jonacake died on the Delaware reservation, in
Kansas, leaving two or three sons. In the war of the
Rebellion of 1861-5, three grandsons of Jonacake served
in company M, Sixth regiment of Kansas volunteer infantry, under
Captain John W. Duff Their names were: John,
Benjamin, and Philip Jonacake. Captain Duff
says they were excellent soldiers.
Source:
History of Ashland County, Ohio with Illustrations and
Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill, M.D. - Published
by Williams Bros. 1880 - Page 129) |
JUDGE
JOHN D. JONES. Judge Jones was born in
Shippensburgh, Cumberland Co., State of Pennsylvania, June 25,
1815. He learned the trade of a tailor in Chambersburgh,
Franklin county, and, after working at his trade in different
towns of his native State of some years, came to Ohio in April,
1838, and stopped at Wooster, Wayne county, six months, and then
located in Jeromeville, now in Ashland county, and carried on
his trade, in which, being a good workman, he was always
successful. In 1842 he married Louisa, daughter of
Henry Andress, who was born in Maryland, and came to Ohio
about the year 1830, and died about seven years since.
Mr. Andress prided himself as a teamster, having a very fine
six-horse team with bells, and the best styled wagon; he was
constantly engaged in hauling the produce of the west to
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and returning loaded
with merchandise. He possessed all the pride of the
old-time teamsters, among whom he was regarded as a hero; he was
a man of excellent character, benevolent, upright and exemplary.
His widow, Mary Andress, survived him about five years.
Mr. Jones was appointed deputy sheriff under Isaac
Gates, and removed to Ashland in 1849, carrying on a
merchant tailor and clothing business until 1852, when he was
elected sheriff, and served two terms. In 1857 he was
elected probate judge, and served two terms. In 1860 he
was elected justice of the peace, and has since been three times
re-elected. In 1857 he became a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, being one of its official members, but that
which he seems most to delight in is his connection with the
Sabbath-school, of which he has been a teacher ever since he
united with the church. For more than twenty years he has
been an attorney at law, and has made probate business and
collecting a specialty. He and his family reside at
Ashland, having had five children, two of whom - Sumner
Pixley and Mary S. M. Landis - have died. Those
still living are: H. D. Jones, of the firm of Freer &
Jones; Samuel R. Jones and Anna Alsdorf.
Source: History of Ashland County, Ohio with
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, by George William Hill,
M.D. - Published by Williams Bros. 1880. - Page 380 |
NOTES:
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