RECORD OF JESSE ROWE. - He emigrated from Virginia to Ross County, Ohio, in 1803, with his family, consisting of nine children, four boys and five girls: John, Jesse, Jr., William, and James, Elizabeth, Mary, Jane, Susan, and Sarah.  Jesse Rowe, Sr., served as a private in the revolution; he lived in Ross County three years and emigrated to now Fayette County in 1807, and located on Little Wabash, now Green Township; his children accompanied him.  Soon after the organization of the county in 1810, he was elected first justice; he served four terms; he also served as trustee and the other township offices; he was a class leader and exhorter in the M. E. Church to the close of his life.  The first class meeting and church organization was held at his cabin.  He gave to the M. E. Church a liberal legacy in his will, the interest to be paid annually for its benefit.  He is truly called the father of Methodism in Fayette County.  He died in 1845, at a ripe old age, respected and regretted by relatives and friends.
     JOHN ROWE, his oldest son, settled on the land which his father gave him on the Little Wabash.  He was the father of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters; sons all living in the county but one.  He held several important offices in the township.  He was in the war of 1812 and did his duty; he died in 1863.  Jesse Rowe, Jr., settled in Green Township, living there five years, and moved to Concord Township.  He held the office of trustee and other trusts, and when war was declared he volunteered his services, after General Hull’s surrender, under General Beatal Harrison, in defense of his country.  He was the father of two sons, Levi and Sanford; Elizabeth A. and Mary.  William Rowe emigrated to Ross County, and died in Bournulle, a hotel keeper.  James Rowe moved to the South at an early day; he was a preacher.  He moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and married, and went into a select high school; he continued in the school until the death of his wife.  At the division of the church he took the side of the South, and preached up to the time of the rebellion; he then came to the North, where he remained until the close of the war; he then returned to Georgia, took sick and died.  He had two sons, Andrew and Henry B. Rowe.  Andrew was educated; he married and moved to the State of Illinois; after the close of the war he moved to Alabama, where he still lives.  Henry B. Rowe enlisted in the regular army, and was killed.  Elizabeth married and raised a large family.  Jane married, and died at 65.  Sarah married; she still lives, aged 70.  Levi Rowe is living on his farm, in Concord Township, near Stanton.  He still owns the farm given him by his father, on Sugar creek.  He married Eliza A. Davis, by whom he has Oliver W., Welsey H., Maller E., and Rosa R. Rowe.  Levi Rowe has held the office of assessor for ten years; township clerk, seven years; and school board director.  He is a large farmer and stock dealer.  Jesse Rowe’s record; children, 9; grandchildren, 56; great-grandchildren, 250; great-great-grandchildren, 107; great-great-great-grandchildren, 1.
     Names of early pioneers handed in by Levi Row, Esq.; Peter Mark, a farmer; he was in the war of 1812; George Fear, farmer, was in the war of 1812; Lenard Bush, Sr., Corneilus Acher, Peter Brown, Powell Newal, A. and C. Newman, Beryman Allen, were all tillers of the soil and good citizens.  William Thompson, first justice of the peace.  Eli West, James Evans, J. Mark, James Wright, from Ireland, farmers; Jacob and Josiah Wright were his sons.  Jacob had five sons, all dead but one, who lives in the county.  He was the father of eight girls, who married the following men: John McGahin, John W. Pumphrey, A. W. Wright, William McLean, Manly Fox, John Rowe, George Kreidier, and William Martin; they all raised large families.  A. W. Wright is a prominent farmer in the township, much respected; he has served in the office of justice, and in several other important township trusts; a man of note and influence.  William McLean, a neat and excellent farmer; a good man; he has now retired, and lives near Washington.  George Kreidier lives on his farm, in Green Township, a good neighbor.  William moved to the West and died.  J. W. Pumphrey, dead; John Rowe was a farmer, but is now dead.  John McGraffan emigrated to the West and died.  Among the first pioneers to the township was Adam Taylor; he settled on Sugar creek; he erected the first flour and saw-mill in the township on Sugar creek, also the first distillery; it was a public place of resort.  The site is now the property of Eli Rowe; a large bed of gravel is near the mill-site.  Daniel Carmaine, farmer, raised a large family, and did his share towards improving the wilderness.  James Maddox settled on Sugar creek, and raised a large, promising family; he was the father of T. H. Maddox, first blacksmith in the township.  T. H. Maddox was, in his day, a class leader  in the M. E. Church, and was a license preacher by the United Brethren; he was a Christian, and a man of true piety; he emigrated to the West.  Jonathan Mark settled on Rattlesnake Creek; he was a farmer; he raised a large and respectable family.  L. C. Coffman, James Holms, Elias Purdy, and Aaron Purley all moved West, and were working men.  Anderson Iron, farmer and surveyor, emigrated to the West.  O. H. Wright, mill-wright and first carpenter and farmer; Caleb Johnson emigrated to California, made his pile, returned and married; he was in the one hundred days’ service; he now is none of the acting trustees of the township.  Joeb. McCoy, farmer, and one of the trustees; Milton Sever, a life-long treasurer, a farmer, and a very popular man in his township.  J. N. Rowe, private in company C, 54^th regiment; was a prisoner in the famous Anderson prison, and suffered untold privations – hunger, and almost death; he is the popular clerk of the township, and a merchant in Stanton.  Eli Craig is now treasurer and postmaster of the township, merchant and farmer; has held several important township offices to entire approval.  Rev. Sam’l Allen, assessor of the township ten years, a farmer.  M. P. Sheilds, acting constable, a farmer and trader.  Robert Worthington, a large farmer and cattle dealer and shipper.  Rev. D. S. Craig, wholesale and retail merchant; several years postmaster in Stanton.  Peter Brown, a great land speculator, moved from Chillicothe and settled on the farm of Latham; here he realized a great fortune; he died in 1858; his house was the home of the M. E. preachers; he was very benevolent and liberal in his donations to colleges, churches, and institutions having for their object the welfare of our race; his death was unlooked for and very sudden.  Having gone out in the evening to feed his cattle, and not returning, search was made for him, and he was found next morning in his field, frozen stiff; supposed he died from a rush of blood to heart or head, as he was corpulent.  Isaiah Brown married and moved to the West.  Hearing of the death of his father, he moved back to settle up his large estate; he is a large stock dealer and pike contractor; he is a resident of Concord Township.  Matthew W. Mark, was a farmer, stock grazer, and pike contractor; a man of business, energetic and full of enterprise; a useful citizen in society.  Fielding Teagans, a large farmer and great horse dealer, kept fine bloods, raised a large family.  John Brinkley, John Adams, Thomas Adams, Benona Clifton, and Jesse Williams were all good farmers and citizens.  George Johnson was a farmer; he served as a justice several terms, belonged to the school board; and is at present a justice of the township.  Isaac Sollars, a farmer and trustee; much of a gentleman.  David Presinger, a large farmer; has served as trustee, and is called the richest man in the township.  Wells Jones, a farmer, was in the war of 1812.  Peter McVery, a farmer, has served as trustee.  Wm. McVery, a farmer. Francis Waddle, farmer and large grazer.  William Waddle, farmer, and class-leader in the M. E. Church.  John Bonecutter and Eli Corner, good citizen and neat farmers.  Thomas Corner, a good farmer and school director.  C. Bonecutter, a good citizen.  Clement Pavy, farmer and stock raiser.  Gideon Fuer, railroad man.  John Fuer, farmer and stock dealer.  J. C. Beatty, a neat farmer.  J. M. Beatty, a neat farmer and stock raiser, and one of the present justices; a man of note and influence in the township.  William Long, hog raiser.  S. W. Stukey, merchant; Mr. Stukey was a captain in the 90^th regiment O. V.  Dr. Matthews, a popular, skillful, and successful physician.  T. H. Mark, school teacher, clerk of the township, and a neat farmer.  M. M. Owens, Esq., justice, a good farmer and citizen.  Andrew Rowe, farmer and stock raiser.  John Rowe, a farmer and noted hunter; he takes care of his aged mother (good).  H. A. McCarty, boot and shoemaker.  Rev. T. H. Hide, pastor M. E. Church, Stanton.  John Rester, wood-worker.  John Mitchiner, carpenter.  Peter Duff, justice and wagon-worker.  Col. Wm. Craig, farmer and merchant.  T. J. Craig, peddler in notions.  Daniel Blair, farmer.  M. Hinkle, merchant and farmer retired.  Peter Snyder, a justice and carpenter.  J. Jones, farmer.  J. P. Cox, Esq., stock man.  David Rowe, farmer and hog packer.  Amos Goldsbery, farmer and stock trader; a good neighbor and citizen.
     The first meeting-house was built in Stanton.  First school house on the bank of Sugar creek.  The first school teacher was Wm. Sweet; second teacher, J. D. Moon.
     There was an Indian grave found on Eli Lyon’s farm.  Skeletons and bones have been exhumed.  James B. Rowe was the first noted hunter.  There are no earth-works in the township.
     The number of school-houses in the township, seven; number of meeting-houses, two; they belong to the M. E. Church.
     Nathaniel A. Jones moved to the West, and then moved back, not being pleased with it.  He is by occupation a farmer and stock dealer.
     John Murphy emigrated from Ireland, and is a railroad engineer.
     A Methodist Sunday School in Stanton is largely attended.  It has excellent and efficient teachers.  Rev. S. Allen and Rev. L. Morris organized the Pleasant Valley Sunday School and Church.
     Oldest person living in the township in Mrs. Wood Munce, aged 84.  Her husband was in the wars of 1776 and 1812.
     John Rosebrook was in the war of 1812; his widow, Nancy Rosebrook, is still living, in advanced age, in Stanton, in rather indigent circumstances.

BY PETER VANPELT, SR.

    VANPELT FAMILY – Tunis Vanpelt emigrated from Tennessee with his father, a resident of New York, and from Tennessee to Ohio, in 1804, and served in the revolutionary war.  He died in Adams County, prior to the war of 1812.  His children were Peter, Charles, and Eli.  Peter emigrated to Ross County in 1817, and in 1828 he moved to Fayette, Concord Township.  His family record: Charles, Andy B., Eli, Russell, William W., Sanford, Simon, Peter, Jr., Oliver.  Perry Vanpelt was killed in the last war, 54^th regiment.  Simon was in the last war, 73d regiment.  Peter Vanpelt and wife are still living.

BY LEVI ROWE.

    Peter Vanpelt, a neat farmer, has held the office of road commissioner; a useful man.  Charles Vanpelt, school teacher and merchant; a good financier; has accumulated an ample fortune; is a large stock dealer in Highland County.  O. E. R. Vanpelt emigrated to California, and made his pile by honest, hard work; he returned home and married Miss Rowe.  He now lives in Washington.  Andrew Vanpelt has moved to Green county, and engaged in farming; he married Miss Thompson.  Simon Vanpelt lives with his aged parents; he served as a musician in the 73d regiment.  Oliver Vanpelt, youngest son of Peter Vanpelt, Sr., was in the 54^th regiment; was wounded in battle, brought home, and died much lamented; he was a young man of talent and promise.  William Vanpelt emigrated to California and died.
    [The above is a brief record of a brave family, whose war record runs from 1776 to 1861.]
     George McDonald, farmer, although unlettered, is very intelligent and learned in the history of our country; his recollection of what he hears and sees is remarkable.  John Stuckey, farmer, served as Captain of Militia during the militia musters in Ohio, and was also trustee of Concord Township; a prominent man in society.  George Hidy, a farmer and honest man.  Joseph Mark, held the offices of clerk, trustee, and county commissioner; a large, neat farmer, and a man of influence.  Samuel Marks was in the war of 1812; a farmer, and was treasurer.  Michael and Banner Marks, preachers in the M. E. Church in Iowa.  Samuel Sprinkle, a large farmer and good man; he was a man of great enterprise, accumulating much property; he died at a good old age, much respected and lamented.  J. W. Williams, school teacher, justice and clerk of the township for several years; he is still living and enjoys good health; he retains all his faculties in an eminent degree; he oversees and superintends his owns affairs, and enjoys the company of his numerous friends.
     Indians occupants of Fayette in 1750, were as follows:  The Shawnees, Piquas, and Chillicothe tribes. The animal occupants were the bear, black, and yellow; buffalo, or bison; wolf, panther, black and gray fox.  Of these animals that are carnivorous and herbiferous, are the opossum, raccoon, polecat, and mink; the wood-chuck or ground-hog; rabbits are herbiferous; black, gray, stripped, and fox squirrels; red and flying squirrels; beaver, weasel, porcupine, otter, elk, deer, snakes – two kinds – rattle and black snake; two kinds water snakes, copperheads and garter; spotted snake, called cabin or house snake; lizards, three kinds.
     Tradition says that one of Daniel Boone’s hunters, in 1783, in Kentucky and the western forest of the great Northwest, was Alex. Cupper.  He and Daniel Boon were taken prisoners at the Three Islands by the Indians, and got within seven miles of Old Town, when Daniel made his escape.  Cupper was taken to Old Town, was tried by an Indian council, and condemned to be burned.  He was put in a close cabin, and watched by the two largest Indians in the camp.  The night prior to the execution, he was brought out to run the gauntlet.  A circle was formed, and he was let loose; running a short distance, he broke the circle, distanced his pursuers, and penetrated the deep forest of now Concord, and took refuge on the waters of Little Wabash, where he remained secreted until he made his escape to Three Islands on the Ohio.

BY A. W. WRIGHT.

     JOHN WRIGHT emigrated to Scioto Valley in 1798, and settled on the waters of Paint, with his father’s family, and lived with the family until 1807, when he married, and emigrated to Fayette in 1808.  Two years before the organization of the county, the whole country was one unbroken forest, inhabited only by Indians, wolves, bears, deer, and other smaller game.  The last wolf was killed in 1848, on the waters of Sugar creek, by Daniel Carmaen.  Gabriel Wright, father of John Wright, emigrated from New Jersey to Hampshire County, Virginia, at an early date, and from Virginia to Kentucky, and settled near Big Bone Lick, and remained there seven years, when he removed to the Northwest territory in 1789.  His family were Deborah Ball, by whom he had Jonathan, David, Joeb, John, Hosea, and Caleb Wright; Sarah, Anna, Rhody, and Charity.  John, the subject of this record, was in the war of 1812, under Capt. Kilgore and Gen. Wm. H. Harrison.  He first went out under a draft for forty days.  He next was in the general call, under General McArthur and Colonel Wm. Clark.  He married Miss Ann Cook, by whom he had Anthony W., Amos, Allen L., Susan, Isabel, Margaret, and Rachel; all dead but Anthony and Isabel.  John Whright held the office of trustee and several other civil offices.  Mr. Wright was by occupation a farmer, having cleared and improved his and from a dense forest; he was a man much respected and beloved by all who had the honor of his acquaintance.  The following beautiful and merited tribute, we extract from a Washington paper one week after his death, which was in 1833:

     Died at his residence, in this county, on the 7^th of April, 1833, Mr. John Wright, in the 52d year of his age.  His disease was consumption; a long, painful, lingering, and in the end, fatal, consumption.  He bore his afflictions with fortitude, and with Christian humility he heard and obeyed the summons.  He is now realizing what happens to immortality in the eternal world, whither we must shortly follow him, and, like him, engage in a new and endless course of being and existence there.  Let us be watchful; let us be ready.  The deceased was an honest man, a good neighbor, a kind husband, and an affectionate father.  He has left a wife and seven children to deplore his loss – a loss which to them can not be repaired.  Let them, however, not despair; for that good Being who has summoned the father away will be to the orphan a better father, and to the widow a kinder husband.  Let them confide in him.  Signed,
                                                                                                                                                                ACQUAINTANCE.

     His son, Anthony Wayne Wright, who is the possessor of the old forest homestead, and the author of this brief record, hands in the relic below described:  A fawn-skin purse, made by his father and used by him during the war of 1812, when he was in the black swamps defending his country.

MOTTO OF JOHN WRIGHT.

    There is nothing purer than honesty, nothing sweeter than charity, nothing warmer than love, nothing richer than wisdom, nothing more steadfast than faith.  Those united in one mind form the purest, the sweetest, the warmest, the richest, the brightest, and the most steadfast happiness.
     Mrs. John Wright was a woman of enterprise, industry and business habits.  During the war of 1812, her husband being a soldier in that campaign, she, with the help of a small boy, cultivated and gathered nine acres of corn, amounting to four hundred bushels; the boy plowed the corn, and Mrs. Wright hoed it.  She died in 1852, regretted by all.  Mrs. Wright was a kind and benevolent woman; good to the poor; she was attentive to the sick and afflicted, and an excellent nurse; the sick had confidence in her prescriptions and advice.  She was proberbial for her charities and beneficence; her latch-string was always out; at her bountiful table the hungry were fed; she was a kind companion, an affectionate mother, and an obliging neighbor and true christian.

ANTHONY WAYNE WRIGHT.

     was born March, 1812, and is in his 60^th year.  Mr. Wright married Sarah Wright February, 1833, by whom he had three children, Margaret, Jasper, and Samantha Jane.  Mrs. Wright died October 19^th, 1840.  In 1843 he married Mary Caylor, daughter of Jacob Caylor, by whom he had one son, J. A. Wright, who married Jane Deriens July 20^th, 1871.
     Jasper Wright, son of Anthony Wayne Wright, was in the late rebellion as one of the hundred day men.  HE lives on the east side of Sugar creek; he married twice, and has one child by each wife, Mary G. and Essie C.  Amos Wright, son of John Wright, is dead; he lived on the northeast bank of Sugar creek; he married Susana Rankin; their children were Emily R., Maria L., Theodore L., Alice A., William Wallace, and Cyrus R. Wright.  Allen L. Wright married Ary Turner, by whom he had four children, Huldy A., Heson, Chas. W., and John A. Wright.  Margaret married Harry Iron, and moved to Kansas; both dead; had six children, five living and one dead.  Rachael married Aaron Hyer; she is dead, leaving one daughter; lived on Sugar creek.  Isabel is living in Jay County; her husband, Abraham Medsker, is dead.  David Wright was an early emigrant; he was in the war of 1812; is dead.  Hosea Wright, farmer, was in the war of 1812; he came to his death by the falling of a tree.  Jonathan Wright was a son of Gabriel Wright, and was a noted hunter of Kentucky and the Northwest.  His hunting excursions were on the head-waters of Paint and Rattlesnake.  He killed buffaloes, elk, bears, wolves, panthers, deer, and other game in abundance.  He was the companion of Governor Heath, Witzell, Wolff, Boggs, Stoner, McKay, and other celebrated hunters.  He was a brave scout, fearless and daring; he settled on Indian creek, and died about 1805.  Caleb Wright emigrated to Fayette County in 1807.  He was a single man; when the war of 1812 was declared by Congress, he volunteered as an Indian spy, and continued in that critical and dangerous capacity, traversing the hills, plains, valleys, and swamps for one year; his living was wild meat, his hiding-places, the black swamps, his covering, the blue sky, and his raiment was the wild hunters’ costume; he was brave, fearless, and daring, penetrating the camp and secret hiding dens of the savages and the enemy.

PRESENT CITIZENS.

Jas. Beatty, Joseph Marks, David Persinger, Milton Seiner, Nathan Marks, Lewis Coffman, Isaiah Sellars. John Seiner, Eli Craig, Aaron Hire, William Bitser, William Long, Martin Rowe, John Stukey, Thomas Worthington, Thomas Connor, Samuel Allen, John T. Cox, John House, George McDonald, Matthew Owens, Samuel Marks, James Holbrook, James Homes, Elias Priddy; D. M. Craig, J. W. Craig, J. B. Cole, L. Hany, Wm. Darick, M. Craig, John Mitcheler, J. N. Rowe, Joseph Beatty, David Rowe, Levi Burnett, Amos Goldsbery, George Hidy, A. M. Wright, J. C. Connor, Eli Conner, Jacob McVey, Joseph Seiner.

STAUNTON BUSINESS DIRECTORY.

Dry goods, Craig Bros. and J. N. Rowe;
     Manufacturers of boots and shoes, James Holbrook and Wm. Bay;
     Butcher, John Mitchener;
     Church, M. P.;
     Wood Shop, R. B. Cole and John Rusler;
     Carpenters, P. R. Craig, John Mitchener, Joseph Beatty, and John Rusler;
     Grocery, Elias Priddy;
     Blacksmiths, R. B. Cole and Wm. Long;
     Compounding and practice of medicine, James Matthews and L. J. McCorkle;
     Postmaster, Eli Craig;
     School houses, three;
     Teachers, David Ellis and Mr. Norton;
     Wholesale Yankee notions, wagons, William Gray and T. J. Craig;
     Woolen and Cloth manufacturer, James Holmes;
     Undertaker, John Mitcher.

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