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CHAPTER VIII.
OLD SETTLERS AND PIONEER LIFE
Pg. 169
Immigration into the
Northwest Territory received its initial impetus after the
settlement of Marietta in 1788, but the troubles with the
Indians deterred all save the most venturesome and daring
from coming northward. It was only after Wayne's
defeat of Little Turtle at Fallen Timbers in 1794 and the
treaty of Greenville in the year following that the stream
of immigration into Ohio became steady and ever increasing.
Before the settlement of Marietta the only white men who
dared to cross the Ohio from Kentucky and try conclusions
with the original owners of the soil were such hunters and
explorers as Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone and
their kind.
The hunter and trapper was different from the later
settlers of Ohio. He led a rough, solitary and
hazardous existence. He was a picturesque man in his
coon-skin cap and blue linsey blouse, with a yellow fringe
of deer skin. His breeches and leggings were of
buckskin and he was shod with the footwear of the Indian,
the moccasin. He was a rover, for he never intended
locating on the soil permanently. His long rifle and
precious ammunition furnished him with food and furs, the
latter his source of income. He sought the wilderness
because he loved it and when the vanguard of civilization
approached too near him, he plunged more deeply into the
woods because conventions were vexatious to him. In
the main, these hunters contributed little to the future of
Ohio, but sometimes a few would cease their roving and
settle down to the development of the state. Several
became valued members of early surveying parties and finally
well-known and valuable citizens of the commonwealth.
On the heels of the hunter came the first settlers,
and, although the life of the latter was less fraught with
danger, the early settler had always to keep on the alert to
protect his life and property. In the early
settlements the first house built was a blockhouse, around
which the cabins were grouped, as was the case where Owen
Davis built his mill on Beaver creek as shall later
be seen. The howling of the wolves and the scream of
the panther could ever be heard at nightfall, and the
buffalo had scarcely yet become a memory. Women and
children and even men were not safe beyond the edge of the
clearing in the forest around their cabins, but the long
rifle was hung over the door of every pioneer home, within
easyPage 170 -
reach of the settler. At night this effective guardian
of the early settler stood by his bed and while he was at
work in his "deadening" or was wending his way at the head
of the family toward the pioneer church, the rifle was his
constant companion.
The most potent weapon of the early settler of Green
county was not the rifle, because the danger from the
redskin had passed when this section was first settled.
The depredations of the Indian had become a memory,
furnishing material for thrilling tales around the fireside
during the long winter evenings. This county was
overgrown with dense timber which made the growing of the
crops a task. Armed only with his ax and firebrand the
early settler issued into the forest which surrounded his
lowly cabin and cleared a place whereon he could produce
sufficient sustenance for his family. And with his
trusty ax he built his church, his school house and his
mill, and before the sound of his steady strokes the bear,
the savage, the wolf and the panther fled, never to return.
THE COUNTY'S FIRST
SETTLERS.
The first
settlers of Greene county were from Kentucky, Scotchmen ...
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Page 172 -
COMING OF THE FIRST
WHITE MEN.
Page 172 -
Soon after
John Wilson and his sons and Jacob Mills arrived
here, they purchased land, the aggregate amount being one
thousand acres, which lay at what later became the junction
of Montgomery, Greene and Warren counties. Amos and
George Wilson purchased a quarter section each,
adjoining their father in Greene county, while their
brother's holding was found later to lie in Montgomery
county. Jacob Mills, who was allowed the
surplus in his survey, became the owner of two hundred acres
in Warren county. Immediately the little band of
pioneers erected a small cabin, Apr. 7, 1796, on the land of
John Wilson for the temporary accommodation of all,
while they cleared a small tract in each of their holdings
on which they planted a few vegetables and a little grain.
This cabin, it is believed, was the first one erected by a
white man within what is now Green county.
DIFFICULT JOURNEY INTO
THE WILDERNESS.
Page 173 -
OWEN DAVIS, THE FIRST
MILLER.
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AS PUGNACIOUS AS HE WAS
ACCOMMODATING.
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A LATER OWNER OF THE
MILL.
Page 176 -
JAMES GALLOWAY, SR.
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Page 178 -
OTHER PIONEERS.
Page 179 -
REMINISCENCES OF
FREDERICK BONNER, JR.
Page 180 -
SAMUEL PETERSON, A REAL
PIONEER.
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in 1872, he removed to Xenia, where he spent the rest of his
life in well-earned retirement.
PIONEER PRICES.
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THE CABIN OF THE PIONEER.
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THE PIONEER'S FOOD.
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the batter was packed in cabbage leaves, the product then
being called ash cake.
It was several years after the first settlement of the
county before wheat was introduced; then some families had
wheat bread once a week, usually in the form of biscuits,
but most of the wheat was sold.
MEAT OBTAINED FOR THE
SHOOTING.
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CLOTHING OF THE PIONEER.
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AMUSEMENTS OF THE
PIONEERS.
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WROUGHT BETTER THAN THEY
KNEW
Thus the early
settlers of Green county lived their lives which were ever
full of dreary toil, but withal replete with their pursuit
of the wholesome pleasures which added sufficient color to
their simple lives. They were not worried by the
fluctuations of the market, nor were the good wives
perplexed by the radical changes in the style of their
garments. Their lives when compared to the hustle and
bustle of today seem drab, but they were working with a
definite and wonderful objective in view, the making of the
wilderness a habitable place in which their children could
live in peace and plenty. However, it can be
truthfully said that few of those sturdy old pioneers worked
with this as a conscious objective. They wrought well
- perhaps better than they knew. The heritage of
prosperity and plenty which they left the present generation
should be preserved and defended by the present citizens of
the county and handed down to posterity as unsullied as it
was bequeathed to them.
- END OF CHAPTER VIII - |
