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The Original Forest of Rutland.
Pg 99

REMARKS.

     The pea vine, though small, is said to have been excellent good for buffalo and deer, and was freely devoured by the horses, cattle and sheep of the early settlers.  It grew plentifully in the Rutland woods, and was much depended on as good for stock in warm weather.  The wild tea is a small bush that grows on the hills.  The first settlers gathered it when in bloom in June, dried it, and used it instead of tea from China, and considered it a good substitute.  The wild cherry was a noble specimen of the forest trees, while it did not grow as large as some others, the popular or oak, yet it has always been highly prized for the fine texture of its grain and bright color of its wood.  It was much sought after by cabinet makers.
     A few cucumber trees grew on Section 28, but have disappeared.  S. C. L.
     Times of the Dogwood being in full bloom as record of early or late seasons:

     This record of the Dogwood blossoming is because it blooms with more uniformity than any other tree, showing late or early spring, and the foregoing table has been carefully kept, year by year.    S. C. L.
     The name Rutland was given to the township through the influence of five of its citizens who came from Rutland, Vermont, and Rutland, Massachusetts.  Their names were, viz.: John Miles, Luke Brine, Abel Larkin, Brewster Higley and Shubael Nobles.  The village of Rutland was laid out in 1828, by Barzillai H. Miles and Abijah Hubbell, Jr. and the survey was made by Samuel Halliday, and the acknowledgment of the deeds for the streets before Abel Larkin, Associate Judge, Aug. 20th, 1828.  The original lots consisted of one-fourth of an acre in Section Nov. 14, and fractions of Nos. 1 and 7.  Other lots have been added from Section No. 8 and No. 7.

Pg. 103

SAMUEL HALLIDAY.

     Mr. Samuel Halliday came from Scotland, fresh with educational honors from the University of Edinburgh, and en route to a professorship in the Ohio University at Athens, had by the difficulties of travel in a new country been impeded in his progress, and by one of those strange events in life was stranded in the little country place of Rutland, where he found his life work.  He was soon engaged in teaching, and established a reputation for success in giving instruction to his pupils.  Judge Ephraim Cutler sent his two sons, Manasseh and William P., to attend the "Halliday School," boarding them with the Larkins.  Gen. Holcomb sent his son Anselm to be taught in the Scotchman's College at Rutland.  Mr. Halliday married Miss Eliza Parker, a daughter of William Parker, in intelligent pioneer, thus locating himself as a citizen, he entered into the plans for increasing the public utilities.  He surveyed and laid out the village of Rutland, and surveyed and laid out the lots in the Miles graveyard.  He was influential in the erection of the two-story brick school house.  When the county seat of Meigs county was located in Chester, William Weldon was the first Auditor, and after one year Mr. Samuel Halliday was elected Auditor, and served the county in that office for twenty-four successive years.  He moved to Pomeroy when it was made the seat of justice, but afterwards Mr. Halliday moved to Southern Illinois, where Mrs. Eliza Halliday died.  His sons were engaged in business in Cairo, having accumulated considerable wealth, and Mr. Halliday spent a few years with them.
     He returned to Ohio, bought a farm in Gallia county, married a widow lady, Mrs. Barkley, and passed his last days in comfortable, honorable retirement.  "The memory of the just is blessed."
     The brick school-house, referred to above, was used for all kinds of public assemblies, religious or political, as well as lectures on temperance or abolition.  There was not a meeting house in the township, so this house was a preaching place for all denominations, when the services would not interfere with the school.
     A payment of five dollars was made by the township trustees for the privilege of holding elections in this school building.
     Spelling schools and singing schools met in this "town hall" and young people enjoyed the social opportunity.
     There was a debating club, of considerable importance in helping young men to try their skill in oratory, or sharpen their wits by controversy.  They had rules that secured to them an exclusive selection of membership.
     Many intellectual contests were held there by the young men engaged in debating.  The growth of minds, and the friendship of hearts, nursed in that building, will continue while life shall last with those thus associated.

Pgs.  104 - 107

THE WIND STORM OF 1826.

     The severest wind-storm ever known in Rutland from its first settlement, came on Sunday afternoon, October 29th, 1826.  The school-house just mentioned suffered greatly.  The upper story was swept off entirely, and the roof only was ever replaced.  The strong current of this wind was not more than a quarter mile in width, showing greater strength in some places than in others in its course, which was a little south of east.  It came from Salem township, but did little damage until reaching the brick house of Felix Benedict, the upper part of which was blown down.  In the village of Rutland, a frame house, the residence of Mr. Beebe, was blown all to pieces, but fortunately the family had gone out of the house, and so escaped with their lives.  Passing over a hill a half mile east, which was covered with heavy timber, it completely felled the standing trees.  Then pitching over another hill into the valley of Hysell run, it removed all the timber except a few saplings that were not twisted off.  At the base of the hill stood a log cabin, the home of Royal Hysell.  There were nine persons inside when the storm began, Mr. Royal Hysell and family, and Mr. James McGuire, Sr.  The house was leveled to a log or two at the bottom, but no one was hurt.  Passing over Thomas Fork, near the residence of Charles Russell, the wind felled all the heavy timber on the hillside, and then passed on to the Ohio river, where the Whitlock's lived, and across the river into Virginia, and report came of its destructive path many miles into the country.
     The first school in the first school-house in Salisbury township was taught by Samuel Denny, from Massachusetts, who also helped build the school-house.  The school consisted of nine scholars, viz.:  James Smith, John Smith, Sarah Kerr and Christena Niswonger, these four from near the mouth of Leading creek, and five children from Judge Higley's family.  This term of school was in the winter of 1802-1802.  Miss Electa Higley, afterwards Mrs. Benjamin Williams, was the woman to teach in that school-house.  Mr. Denny taught one year in a house that belonged to Widow Case.
     Mr. Denny delivered the first oration at the celebration of the 4th of July, in 1806.  He stood on a mound not far from the Case house.
     Mr. Denny left Ohio in 1810 and returned to Massachusetts, where he married and died there.
     Miss Fanny Smith taught school there, in 1811.  She was married afterwards to Mr. Asa Maples.  Probably the next school in the order of time was taught by James G. Green, a preacher, from Kentucky in 1809.
     Miss Uretta Benedict had a school in a blacksmith's shop, built by Mr. Rufus Wells, but who had moved to Wilkesville.  This was in 1811.  The teacher was afterwards the wife of Cornelius Merrill.  In 1812, Elisha Rathburn taught a school in a house belonging to Samuel Danforth that stood near the present dwelling of John F. Stevens.  In 1812, a school-house was built on land now owned by Mr. George V. Lasher, and stood a few rods west of the old blacksmith shop.  Miss Polly Wyatt, a lady from Athens, taught school in this neighborhood in 1812.
     In 1816, a school-house was erected on land one hundred feet north of the southeast corner of Section No. 8, now owned by S. C. Larkin.
     This house was built of logs, hewed or dressed on the inside as far up as the joists, with a stone chimney built on the outside, while the cracks between the logs were chinked with small pieces of wood or stone and daubed on the outside with mud.  The windows for light were made by cutting out one-half of the upper side of the log at the proper height, and one-half of the log next above, on the under side, so as to match.  Instead of glass, paper was fastened on, and then greased so as to admit the light.  This was done on two sides of the house, and benches were made for the children to sit on, and boards laid on pins driven into the logs below the windows were for writing tables.  The floor was made of boards, and loose boards were laid on joists overhead.  The roof was made according to the common log-cabin style, by having eave-bearers and buttling poles to hold the long shingles in proper place.  Nails were scarce and few were used in building.
     The first teacher in this house was David Lindsey, who taught in the winter of 1816 and 1817.  He then settled on the east branch of Thomas Fork, near the Rutland and Chester road.  His successor as a teacher was Selah Barrett, who came from Vermont, bringing a young wife with him.  They moved into the school-house and taught the winter school.  His habit was to rise early, cut wood, make a fire, eat breakfast, and then move the household goods into the loft each morning before school hours.  This was in November, 1817, and the winter 1818.
     Brewster Higley, Jr., and his sister, Susan Higley, were teachers at some time in this log school-house.  Mr. Samuel Halliday taught many terms in a house on the school lot, and continued to teach in different neighborhoods until the brick school house was built, where he taught until his election as Auditor of Meigs county, which office he held for twenty-four years, having been elected in 1825.
     "First school-house was a small log cabin, built about 1809 on the ground now occupied by the lower graveyard in Middleport.  The first teacher in that house was Jared Gaston, in 1810.  The second teacher was Sally Higley, afterwards the wife of Daniel C. McNaughton, and the next term of school was taught by John Gilliland, who continued to teach about one year.  The second school-house was built of hewed logs a short distance above Leading creek, on the Ministerial Section, and was designed for a meeting house, as well as a school-house.  It was in this house that the first Courts of Common Pleas were held for the county of Meigs in the year 1819."  Recollections, John C. Hysell, Esq., who lived with his father where the Rutland road came out to the river at the mouth of Bone Hollow, their home for eight or nine years, while he was a boy of sixteen years.

     JOEL LOWTHER was born in Loudon county, Virginia, Aug. 4th, 1741.  He was a Revolutionary soldier and drew a pension.  He made his home at the house of John Stevens in Rutland, and died there Nov. 7th, 1853.  After his death, the Military Record was examined by Jesse Hubbell, then acting Justice of the Peace, who found that record made him one year older than his own account, which made him 112 years, 3 months and 3 days old, at the time of his death.

GRANT AND KNIGHT FAMILIES

     December 1st, 1817, the families of John Grant, Sr., and wife, Sarah Boltwood Grant; their sons, Samuel Grant, wife and children; John Knight and wife nee Agnes Grant, landed at Siler run, Salisbury township, having had a long and tedious journey from Maine, which was made, first in wagons as far as Wellsburg on the upper Ohio, where a flatboat was constructed in which they floated down the river to Silver run, their destination.  With them came a lad, John Pierce, whose home had been with the senior Grant for several years.  Landress Grant, a bachelor brother, came also.
     John Grant, Sr., died in June, 1820, and Mrs. Sarah Grant died in March, 1824.  They are buried in the "Miles Cemetery," side by side.
     Samuel Grant married in Maine, Hannah Davis, and they landed with a family of eight children, Viz.:
     Oliver Grant married Mary Jones, daughter of Philip Jones, of Middleport, and moved to Iowa.
     There was an invalid son of Samuel Grant, who lived to mature years, but died many years ago.
     Royal C. Grant, the inventor and machinist of Middleport, O., married Lovina Fuller, who died many years ago.
     William Grant married Esther Hobart and settled in Middleport, O.  He was associated with his brothers, John and Samuel Grant, Jr., in the steam flouring mill, one of the finest mills ever built in Meigs county.
     Ebenezer Tuttle Grant married Sarah Jones, daughter of Philip Jones, of Middleport.  They moved to Minnesota.
     Lydia Grant was married to Phineas Robinson of Chester, died many years ago, leaving two children, a son William Fenn Robinson, and the daughter Elizabeth was married to George Grow, a grandson of Judge Grow.
     John Grant married Mary Roup, both died many years ago.
     Eliza Grant was the wife of William Wright, of Kentucky.
     Cyrus Grant married Charlotte Hebard, of Athens county.  He was known as Col. Grant, for many years, identified with the business interests of Pomeroy.  Samuel Grant, Sr., and all of his family are dead.
     Mr. WILLIAM GRANT HOBART came from Spencer, Tioga county, N. Y., in 1818, to Leading creek.  Mrs. Hobart, nee Hugg, with two children were with him.  They had five children, were with him.  They had five children born in Meigs county.  The older children were Isaac Hobart and Phebe, married to Mr. Hanlin, of Middleport, O.  Esther Hobart became the wife of William Grant and reared a family of marked intellectual force.  California, a daughter, was for years a noted teacher in the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and passed away in 1906, deeply mourned.  Electa Grant spent some years teaching in the "New Church" Academy in Philadelphia.  Julia was the wife of James Boggess, a prominent citizen of Meigs, and has been County Treasurer.  William Grant, Jr., was a farmer in Great Bend, Kansas, a successful man.  Lucy Grant, the youngest child, is a teacher of kindergarten schools.
     There were two children of Samuel Grant and wife born after they came to Ohio, viz.:  William Grant, who married Esther Hobart, and lived in Middleport.  He and brother, John Grant, were enterprising and successful millers for many years in Middleport.  They operated the roller process for making flour, about the first of any mill in Meigs county.  Mr. William Grant was one of a company who went overland to California in 1849.
     Samuel Grant, Jr., was an invalid, and died unmarried.
     Belinda, the daughter, died when quite young.
     Mr. Samuel Grant, Sr., operated mills in different parts of Meigs county.  At the Higley Mills on Landing Creek soon after his arrival; later, he took charge of the Stedman mill on Shade river, and built, or rebuilt, the mill at Chester.  He bought land and settled on his farm below Middleport, and spent the remainder of his life in the vicinity of Pomeroy and Middleport, alternately with his sons.  He died in 1866 at the great age of 93 years.  He wife, Mrs. Grant, lived a few years after her husband, dying "well up in their nineties," of age.
     John Grant, brother of Samuel Grant, was born on April 11th, 1789, in the State of Maine.  He married Mahetible Mahew, and they had two children when arriving at Silver run, Meigs county.
     Thompson Grant married Cynthia McNaughton.
     Frank Grant, when a small by, was drowned in Leading creek.
     Andrew, another child, was choked to death by a grain of corn falling into this throat or windpipe.
     Mary Grant was married to Elias Hutton, and moved to Delphos, Kansas.
     John, Jr., married Lucinda Lellan, residing in Ottumwa, Iowa.
     Sarah, first; Simpson, second; Steward Grant, living at Greeley, Iowa.
     Lydia Grant, unmarried, living with her father at Greeley, Iowa.
     Henry C., married Clarissa Merrill, located at Ironton, Ohio.
     In 1852, John Grant, Sr., moved to Greeley, Iowa, being upwards of ninety-three years old.  Mrs. John Grant died in 1864.  While John Grant, Sr., lived in Rutland, O., he enjoyed the respect and confidence of all classes of the people.  He was Justice of the Peace in 1826, the Township Treasurer for many years.
     He died at his daughter's, Mrs. Hutton,  of Delphos, Kansas, Dec. 16th, 1889, aged 100 years, 8 months and 5 days.
     This long-lived family, as the records indicate, were of Scotch descent, and known as far back as Peter Grant, who, it is supposed emigrated in colonial days and settled in Maine.
     John Knight and his wife Agnes, nee Grant, came from Maine in the "Grant Company", in 1817.  Their children were, viz.: Daniel, who died at the age of 18 years.
     Benjamin Knight married Dolly Newell, settled in Chester, Meigs county.  Calvin Knight married Jane Barton, first wife died.  He then married Euretta Stowe.  Sarah B. Knight was married to Samuel Torrence.  Samuel Knight married Elizabeth Mitchell, a preacher of the Christian denomination, and moved to Kansas.
     Louisa, the wife of Francis Chase, lived in Rutland.  Both are dead.
     Lydia Knight was married to John Whiteside, of Long Bottom.
     Agnes Knight became Mrs. Alvin Rife, of Chester, long since dead.
     Rhoda Knight was never married, but cared for both of her parents in their old age and to their death with filial devotion.  She died in 1906.
     Eunice Knight was Mrs. Osborn; moved to Davenport, Iowa, and died.
     Olive Knight, unmarried, dead many years.
     Almira, wife of Oscar Newell, of Chester, left a widow, but since dead.
     Mr. John Knight moved his family six times, always in Meigs county.  He opened the first coal bank on Naylor's run, Pomeroy, O.  He died in Chester in 1875, in his 93d year.  Mrs. Knight preceding him a year, and died aged 87 years.  Pioneer sketch, by G. W. Chase, Dec. 1st, 1882.
     At the meeting of the Meigs County Pioneer Association in August, 1882, a very interesting paper was presented by Mr. Silas Jones of personal recollection of incidents related by John Warth, Esq., of events and experiences of himself and his brother, GEORGE WARTH, in the early days of Indian troubles, while his father's family were living in the stockade, and where his brother, Robert Warth, was shot, killed and scalped by Indians.  This paper by Mr. Silas Jones is reproduced in this history.  The fact that the WARTH BROTHERS carried the first United States mail between Marietta and Gallipolis, brought out the letter of Col. David Barber, of Harmar, who was present at the reading by the secretary, Mr. George McQuigg.  Before the reading of the letter, Mrs. E. L. Bicknell placed an "In Memoriam" in the secretary's hands which he read as preparatory to the correspondence with Col. Barber.
     " I come today to speak of the dead, of funerals without hearse, and burials in graves hollowed out by kindly neighbors, and mourned sincerely by loving hearts.  The pioneers who died were laid in plots of ground not held by any special tenure, often private burial places convenient of access to the families bereaved.  In the subsequent changes of ownership of land; in the wide scattering of relatives; these places have been neglected, and graves of our ancestors have too often been lost.  Allow me to call attention to a "burying ground," of my late father N. Bicknell, and the portion now owned by me.  It is in all respects a pioneer graveyard.  There have been no interments in it for forty years.  Here are the graves of Mrs. Abigail Lindley, who drove the first carriage from Athens to Great Bend; Mr. Haviland Chase, from Otsego, N. Y., whose tombstone is marked with the compass and square; Mr. Isaac Laveaux Roberts, also with compass and square.  He was grandfather of the well-known Capt. William Roberts, steamboatman, of Letart, O.  Mr. Smith and wife, and Mrs. Smith, second, wife of John Smith, mother of Mr. Thomas Smith, and great grandmother of Prof. Thomas S. Carr, of Syracuse, O.  Mr. Duncan, a Scotchman, and his wife, who came from Scotland, with the famous Nahum Ward colony.  Mrs. McDaniel, of the same Scotch company, Mr. George Warth, wife and daughter.  Two children of Charles and Lydia McClain, nee Roush, little ones - "Mary Jane and Isabel."  Mr. Artemus Johnson and his little daughter Margaret, and others.
     Mrs. Lindley was a sister of President Lindley, first President of the Ohio University at Athens, O.  I well remember his visit to his sister's grave, stopping over night at my father's house.  Mr. George Warth was the real pioneer.  His grave is known, but has never been marked by a stone.  In regard to him I wrote to Col. David Barber, of Harmar, and received an interesting letter, which shall be read presently.
     Before this letter is read, I beg to state my object in presenting these names before you.  It is my wish to secure the ground where these dead are lying by a deed, in some form claiming the oversight and guardianship of the membership of the Meigs County Pioneer Society.  It contains nearly one-fourth of an acre, on the bank of the Ohio river, a southeast corner lot, that might be made, with small expense, a place fair to look upon.  I ask for this old pioneer, this Indian scout, George Warth, a stone for his grave.  What more?  The ground is grown up with brush and briars, and without a fence.  In order to deed the land a survey will be necessary, and some expense will be incurred to clear it out, and enclose it with a fence.  Two men are lying there with a compass and square on their headstones.
     These beautiful lines,

"My flesh shall slumber in the ground,
Till the last trumpet's joyful sound,
Then burst death's chain in sweet surprise,
And in my Savior's image rise,"

are the Christian watchwords on the tombstone of Mrs. Lindley.  Shall the plow of any future proprietor lengthen furrows over these graves?  Will you help secure God's acre from unhallowed uses?
     Col. Barber's letter was then read, he being present,

"Harmar, April 27th, 1881

Mrs. E. L. Bicknell:
     Your favor of the 18th inst. was duly received.  In rely thereto I copy from Hildreth's Pioneer History.  He gives the names of families in and near Fort Harmar in the time of the Indian hostilities.  Among them, George Warth and wife and two daughters and five sons.  Catharine Warth, a daughter of Mr. George Warth, Sr., was married to Joseph Fletcher, a young man from New England, and settled in Gallia county.  He was a surveyor of the county, and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.  He died in 1844.
     Pickett Marvin, a young man from the Eastern States, married Polly Warath, a sister of Catharine Fletcher.  They settled in Gallia county, where Mr. Marvin  served several years as Magistrate.
     The sisters, Ruth and Sally Fleehart, who were married to George and John Warth, brothers, were noted for their skill with the rifle.  It was said that Sally Fleehart could bring down a hawk upon the wing, or a squirrel from a tree top as readily as her husband, John Warth.  These women had been brought up on the frontier and possessed all the intrepidity and courage of women of that class.  This ends the record in Col. Barber's letter.  In regard to Mr. George Warth, he was one of a party who accompanied Governor Return J. Meigs on his perilous journey down the Ohio river.  He was less favored by fortune than brother John; nevertheless, services to his country should be appreciated.  Silas Jones.
     At the pioneer meeting in 1883, a committee was appointed to procure a suitable monument to be placed at the grave of George Warth.

 Rutland, Ohio, August 14th, 1884

     The committee appointed to erect a monument to mark the resting place of George Warth beg leave to report.  The amount contributed by members at the last meeting:

SILAS JONES,
Chairman of Committee.

     Thus are remembered the services of an Indian spy and scout, who carried the U. S. mail from Marietta to Gallipolis in a canoe, defended by his unerring rifle, and propelled by a pole in his strong hands.     S. C. L.
     This pioneer graveyard was surveyed and deeded to Lebanon township by Mrs. Emetine L. Bicknell, and the deed was recorded in the Recorder's office at the Court House in Pomeroy, O., in 1883.  She also paid to the wife of Uriah Sayre, for her labor, and her boys, money for the cleaning of brush and briars of this same pioneer graveyard in the fall of 1882.
   

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