Page XIX -
OHIO TOWNSHIP
This township has the longest
river frontage of any in the county, the Ohio river margin extending
nearly eleven miles - the entire extent of its eastern and southern
boundary. The soil is fertile, and well adapted to the growth
of most all kinds of grain, which is raised to considerable extent.
There are sixteen full sections, and eleven fractional
sections of land, the latter bordering upon the Ohio river.
The hills fronting the river contain a fine stratum of coal, and is
being quite extensively mined in the vicinity of Samples Landing, on
the river. At one time considerable iron ore was manufactured,
but no attention has been given to this for many hears.
Charles Small, who owns and works one of the coal banks, has
recently discovered a valuable vein of fire clay, two miles below
the village of Bladensburg, which is soon to be developed.
The most important of its small streams is Swan creek,
which rises in the northwest part of the township, in the north part
of section five; its length is about eight miles, running some
distance east, then almost directly south, emptying into the Ohio
river. Horse creek, Sugar creek, Double creek and Big creek
are small streams within the township.
In the year 1800, George and John Waugh first
came, and settled at the mouth of Swan creek. The names of
Timothy Hobbs, E. Belomy, David Blake and Daniel Campbell,
are also given as among the early settlers. A man named
Yount built the first cabin, but the first house of any note was
built by John Sloan. The first marriage was that of
Jane, a daughter of George Waugh, to Cornelius Cannady
The first child born was Ephraim, a son of Timothy Hobbs.
An election was held at an early day in the Hobbs school
house, near the mouth of Swan creek, and Timothy Hobbs and
John Swindler were the first elected justices of the peace.
In 1803 Thomas Hannan erected a grist mill
on Swan creek, built of logs, and containing one run of stones.
The first school was taught by a man named
Richardson, in what was known as the Hobbs school house,
near the mouth of Swan creek. The building was erected in
1802, of found logs, and they used slab benches for seats.
They now have eight well appointed school buildings in the township,
and each school has a good attendance.
The first postoffices established in the township were
Swan Creek, Alexander Campbell, postmaster, and South
Newcastle, kept by George House. The present offices
are Bush's Mill and Swan Creek.
At Hobbs school house, before mentioned, in an
early day, Elder John Lee, of the Baptist church, held
services. The first church organization was the Methodist
Episcopal, which was established in 1831, Rev. Webster, a
circuit minister, officiating. Among the first members were
Mrs. Henry Hannan, James Guthrie, Mrs. George Campbell, J. King
and wife, E. King and wife, and Mrs. Henry Campbell.
THOMAS HANNAN AND "THE HANNAN TRACE."
Thomas Hannan
(grandfather of Dr. William F. Hannan now living in Ohio
township, at the mouth of Swan creek), was born in Shenandoah
county, West Virginia, about the year 1759. With a part of
young men from that section he came to the mouth of the Kanawha
river and joined the forces under General Lewis, engaging in
the battle with the Indians at Point Pleasant in 1774. He
remained in the fort at the latter point for a time, experiencing a
number of encounters with the Indians, and entered the service of
the United States, as a volunteer, in the revolutionary war, when
about seventeen years of age. Being a skillful boatman, he
entered what was known as the "row-galley" service - doing duty by
water of about the same nature as was assigned to couriers or
messengers by land- carrying dispatches and message, and engaged in
secret service. He was stationed most of the time during the
war at Hampton Rods, and other points in Virginia, and his position
was a responsible and dangerous one.
Soon after the close of the war he married, and a few
years afterward returned to the Ohio river, accompanied by his
family, and lived in the fort at Point Pleasant for a number of
years. While here he rendered valuable service against the
Indians, and soon became celebrated as a scout and hunter. He
became a companion and warm friend of Daniel Boone, and they,
in company with Robert Safford, James Burford, Andrew Friend,
Vanbibber and others hunted game and trapped on Raccoon creek
and other streams, and became the terror to the Indians of the
vicinity. The scenes of their early adventures extend over
southeastern Ohio, West Virginia, and Kanawha Valley, and for miles
along the Ohio river and its confluent streams. Hannan's
oldest son (a mere lad at that time), accompanied them on many of
their expeditions, and his courage and good judgment so impressed
Boone that he prevailed upon the father to allow young
Hannan to accompany him to Kentucky, where he remained for two
or three years, during which time he became his constant companion,
and was with him in his celebrated scouting expeditions throughout
Southern Ohio, and up to Lake Erie, an account of which is given in
histories of the State.
His family, becoming tired of life in the fort, in the
spring of 1786 he came to the head of Green Bottoms, on the West
Virginia side of the Ohio, nearly opposite the mouth of Swan creek,
where he erected a strong log cabin, and planted a field of corn.
While building the cabin and planting his corn his family continued
to life at the fort, whither he frequently went in his canoe and
remained over night. He had two white men and two negroes in
his employ - two to keep guard against the surprise from the Indians
while the others labored, planting the corn with the mattock and
grub hoe. In the fall of that year, when the corn was
sufficiently ripened to admit of grinding, by use of the tin grater
(an old fashioned contrivance made of tin, perforated with holes,
over which the corn on the cob was rubbed into meal - the only
available "grist mill" at that time), Mr. Hannan went to
gather it, moving his family into the house, which was then ready
for them.
Their house was well protected against Indian attacks,
and they met with little trouble from that source, probably for the
reason that Mr. Hannan's skill as an Indian fighter and
marksman was well known to them. At this time he was the only
settler on that side of the Ohio, from Point Pleasant to the present
town of Greenupsburgh, Kentucky - Daniel Boone being his
nearest neighbor in that direction. His freedom from any
disastrous attacks from the Indians encouraged others to venture out
from the forts and make the same attempt, as life there had become
terribly tedious to them. Thus, a number of families, in the
spring and fall of 1787, settled along the river, as far as
Greenupsburgh, Kentucky, but they suffered greatly at the hands of
the Indians, and many families were annihilated by them. This
checked the settlement of the country somewhat, but i 1798 the
emigrants from the east came and settled in such great numbers that
roads and ferries soon became a necessity.
In answer to this demand Thomas Hannan who, from
his thorough knowledge of the country, was a man best fitted for the
duty, in the summer of 1800 proceeded to the block-house on the
Kanawha river, near the mouth of Coal river, and marked out what was
afterward known as the "Hannan Trace" through the wilderness to
Chillicothe, Ohio. The trace was made by blazing or marking
the trees with the deep cut of an ax, and, starting at the mouth of
Coal river, on the Kanawha, it went to the head of Green Bottoms, on
the Ohio. By crossing the country in this manner, instead of
proceeding down the Kanawha, several miles travel was saved.
Taking up the trace at a point just below the mouth of Swan creek,
opposite the point at which he stuck the Ohio, he continued it, via
Jackson, Jackson county, to Chillicothe. After completing the
labor of making the trace, Mr. Hannan established a
ferry across the Ohio at the mouth of Swan creek - the first one
located between Greenupsburgh, Kentucky, and many miles above Point
Pleasant. It was started in 1802, and he continued to run it
until about 1832, when he turned it over to his son Henry,
who had located upon Swan creek in 1819. For many years this
trace, and the ferry, was a part of the traveled route
from Eastern Virginia to the interior of Ohio, and the ferry
business became very lively. This continued until the turnpike
was built down the Kanawha to Point Pleasant, when the route was
changed via the latter place and Gallipolis, to Jackson.
Much of the trace is now a well traveled road, but
where it went over some of the steep hills, especially near the Ohio
river, the route was changed to avoid them. Along some of the
high ridges, where the timber still remains undisturbed, can be seen
the marks of the ax in the trees, cut eighty-two years since.
The ferry was discontinued many years ago.
See Page XX -
Clay Twp. -
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