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     Rodney Downing was born in Waterville, Me., Nov. 8th, 1802, and came with his father, Samuel Downing, to Ohio.  He married Maria Black in 1825.  They had two sons, Samuel, who died young, and John B. Downing, familiarly known as "Major" Downing.  Mr. Downing and his wife became members of the Disciples or Christian Church in 1829, under the ministry of the Rev. James G. Mitchell.  He lived in Rutland and kept a country store and dealt largely in produce, built flatboats and with a cargo of grain, fruit or hay sent them to trade on the coast of the Mississippi river in the South.
     Mr. Rodney Downing built a steamboat, the Gen. Harrison, at the Stedman farm on Leading creek, in 1835, intended for the Cincinnati and New Orleans trade.  He was one of the leading spirits in nearly every useful enterprise.  He was clerk of Meigs county Court of Common Pleas for three terms.  He removed to Middleport in 1847.  Mrs. Maria Downing died October 22nd, 1870, in her sixty-fourth year.  In April, 1873, Mr. Downing married for his second wife Lorinda Downing, of Harding, Lake county, Ohio.  He died in Middleport, December 16th, 1886, aged eighty-four years.
     Franklin Downing, third son of Samuel Downing, married Nancy Black.  They were members of the Christian Church in Rutland and led consistent lives, unostentatious, industrious, highly esteemed in the community.
     Hollis Downing was born in Maine June 16th, 1807.  He married Phebe Smith of Middleport, with whom he lived eighteen years, when she died.  He married Jane Reed for his second wife, after which they moved to Ripley, Ohio, in 1850.  He married again Ellen Ross, his third wife.  Hollis Downing died December 29th, 1889, in Ripley, Ohio, aged eighty-two years six months.
     Columbia Downing was born in Maine August 23, 1809, and came with his father to Scipio township.  He married Mary Gibson in 1829.  Mr. Downing held many public offices, such as mayor of Middleport, magistrate, county commissioner and member of the Legislature.  His first wife died, and he married Jane Smith in 1840.  Columbia Downing died in Middleport, Ohio, July 25th, 1889, aged nearly eighty years.,  Many friends mourned at his death.
     Harrison Downing, the youngest son of Samuel Downing, married Jane Graham, of Rutland.  They moved to the West many years ago, and Mr. Downing died in 1892.
     Hannah Downing, the only daughter and youngest child, was married Mr. Thompson and settled in Athens county, abut afterwards moved to Pontiac, Ill., where she died February 2nd, 1894, seventy-eight years of age.  She was the last of the old Downing family.

     AARON THOMPSON was born at Racine, Ohio, in 1815.  He had spent most of his life in Meigs county, but moved to Kenova, W. Va., where he lived ten years and where he died October 23rd, 1893.  He was one of the first members of the Meigs County Pioneer Society.  He was a communicant of the Christian Church, respected by all who knew him.  He was married twice and had a numerous family.  Mrs. Thompson, second, died at Kenova, W. Va., August, 1893.
     PLENEY WHEELER was born in Canada in 1815.  She was married to William B. Pennington in New Albany, Ind., December 31st, 1835, and moved to Middleport, Ohio, in 1847.  She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and sustained a character of piety and good works.  She died in Middleport May 29th, 1892.
     ALEXANDER VON SCHRITZ came to Salem township in 1816, where he brought up a large family.  Joseph Von Schritz was his son, born in Salem township, and married Elizabeth Sloan.  They moved to Omega, Pike county, Ohio, in 1849.
     The Von Schritz family were mostly daughters, married, and are scattered in the country.  The father, Alexander Van Schritz, was a soldier in the War of 1812.
     JOSEPH TOWNSEND came from the northern part of Ohio to the mouth of Leading creek in 1812.  He was a tanner by trade and made morocco leather.  His children were: Maria, born March 28th, 1806, and was married to Joseph Hoyt, one of five brothers who settled in Orange township in 1813; Margaret Townsend; Sally Townsend was married to Barriman Bailey in 1825, and lived in Rutland; John Townsend; Albert Townsend, and Charles Township, a son of Albert, a blind man, well known in Rutland, Ohio.
     JOHN McCLANAHAN and his wife, who was a Cargill and lineal descendant of Rev. Donald Cargill, who was executed in 1684 at the cross in Edinburgh because of his religious principles, came from Palmer, Mass., in 1816 and settled in Chester, Meigs county.  They had two children, Guy McClanahan who resided in Sterling Bottom for a number of years, then removed to the great West.  His sister was married to Lyman Stedman, a son of Levi Stedman, of Chester.  They had three children, Lyman Stedman and Lucy, who was the first wife of J. J. White, of Portland, Ohio.  Mr. Stedman died in 1828, and his widow, Samary Stedman, was married to David de Ford in 1832, who died in 1836, leaving one child.  The third hundred was Isaac Sherman, in 1839.  They had four children.  Mr. Sherman died in 1852, and the family emigrated to Kansas, finally to east Washington, where Samary McClenathan Sherman died at the age of ninety-three years.  A life that began within sound of the Atlantic ocean and ended on the shores of the Pacific in 1898.

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     STEPHEN SMITH was a native of New Jersey, but at an early age came to Fayette county, Pa., and later, in 1823, to Meigs county.  Stephen Smith and his wife Mary had a family of fourteen children; Sally, Leighty, Annonijah, Firman, William, Josiah, John, Elizabeth, Mrs. Branch; Robert, Joseph V., James and Isaac.  Two sons died in infancy.
     Stephen Smith died in 1841.
     Joseph V. Smith was born in Fayette county, Pa., January 24th, 1816, and came with his parents to Meigs county in 18213.  He obtained his education in the schools of his native state and in Meigs county after coming here.  He was a plasterer by trade, which he followed until 1854, when he was elected sheriff of Meigs county and served two terms.  In 1863 he was appointed deputy provost marshal of the Fifth district of Ohio, and at the same time he held the office of United States marshal under President Lincoln.  He served as deputy provost from April 1st, 1863, to April 1st, 1865, and as deputy United States marshal until 1864.  During the incumbency of these offices he had many exciting experiences and narrow escapes.  As provost marshal he arrested ninety-seven deserters from the United States army.
     Mr. Smith married Rachel Hinckley, daughter of Abraham Hinckley, who died in 1848, leaving two daughters, Marrietta and Prussia.
     Mr. Joseph V. Smith married for his second wife a daughter of Ira Foster, on January 1st, 1870.  He died January 14th, 1894, aged seventy-seven years, eleven months and twenty days.  His daughter, Marietta, Mrs. Simms, died years since.  Prussia, the second daughter, married Stephen Schilling and died in a few years.
    JESSE PAGE came from Maine and located in Scipio township in 1816.  He had a wife and three children when he came to Ohio.  The children were: Edith Page, Mrs. Robinson;

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Lydia, Mrs. Amos Stevens; Elizabeth, married a Mr. Page.  The sons were Samuel, Sargent, Reuben and John Page.
     Jesse Page died in 1834.

     WILLIAM STEVENS was born in 1767 at Cape Ann, Mass.  He came to Rutland, Ohio, in 1818, and settled on a farm near Langsville.  His children were: William, Jr., Jesse W. and Rev. Amos Stevens, Sally, Mrs. Jared Gaston; Lois, Mrs. Cowdey; Betsy, Mrs. Danforth; Eunice, Mrs. Davis; Mrs. Loran Hove was Harriet S.  Rev. Amos Stevens married Lydia Page.  Their children: Jesse W. Stevens, A. J. W. Stevens, Arion Lovejoy Stevens, Theresa, Mrs. Dyke; Sarah Stevens, Mrs. Dudley.  Rev. Amos Stevens' second wife was Miss Anna Aleshire.  Mr. William Stevens died in 1843, aged seventy-nine years.
     JOHN BING was born in Botecourt county, Va., November 1st, 1799, and with his parents came to Gallia county, Ohio, in 1805.  He came to Rutland in 1829, when he married a daughter of John Entsminger.  They lived in Rutland until 1869, when they moved to Masonville, Iowa.  One son, Ernest Bing, was in the Civil War.
     ROBERT BRADFORD was born March 28th, 1796, in the stockade near Belpre, Washington county, Ohio.  He was said to be a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford of Massachusetts.  In 1822 he married Mary L. Arnold, who was born July 26th, 1798, in Rensalear county, N.Y.  They came to Meigs county in 1828.  Mr. Bradford sold goods in Rutland three years, and then became interested in the manufacture of salt.  Subsequently retired to a farm in Salisbury township.  They had a family of sons and daughters.  William Wallace Bradford died July 29th, 1894, aged ninety-six years.  They were good citizens and enjoyed the respect of the community.

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JOSHUA GARDNER.

     A synopsis of an article from the pen of Albert G. Gardner in which the principal statement was related to him by his father, Joshua Gardner:  "Many of the early settlers were of Puritan stock, and thoroughly imbued with the love of liberty, united to dauntless courage and daring to aid or rescue from oppression any helpless fellow being.  But to the story.
     One morning in the early part of summer of the year 1825 a party of neighbors were at the blacksmith shop of Joseph Giles near New Lima, among whom was Joshua Gardner, the father of Albert, who lived near.  A horseman was seen approaching from the direction of Scipio, and as he came fully in view it was seen that a negro woman sat on the horse with the stranger.  It was evident that she was not a willing passenger on that train, so they were promptly halted.  Mr. Gardner demanded of the man his authority for taking the woman.  He had none.  He said that "she acknowledged herself to be a slave of the Wagners in Virginia," opposite Kerr's run in Ohio.  She had made her escape from bondage and was on her way to Canada to join her husband, who had made the race for freedom some time before.  Thereupon Mr. Gardner told them that he was a peace officer, a town constable, and it was his duty to prevent kidnapping as well as other crimes.  Turning to the woman, he asked her "if she wanted to go with this man."  She almost sobbed out, "No, sir."  Mr. Gardner told her to "get down and go where you please," and as an officer of the law he would protect her.  She slipped down from the horse and started to retrace the road she came.  The man started for Virginia to inform the Wagners and to put them on her track.  some of the party from the shop soon overtook the woman and guided her to the house of one Crandle, a poor man, but noble citizen, who lived in an "out of the way" place, where she could be provided for until the search and excitement should die away.  The colored woman was hidden in an old brush fence by a shelving rock and fed and well taken care of by Mrs. Crandle and family.  The Wagners were soon in the neighborhood, scouring the country and offering rewards.  On one occasion a very poor man from the east side of the township came loitering around the premises of Crandle in search of deer or turkey and discovered the hiding place of the woman.  Tempted by the reward offered, he started to inform the slave owners, but, as little souls are apt to be ignorant, stopped at Stephen Ralps' and told him of his plan and visions of future wealth.  As soon as he left, Ralph shouldered his rifle, and, marching through the woods, gave the alarm.  Next morning the fire had destroyed the old brush fence and effaced all traces of its recent occupant. The Wagners concluded the old hunter was a willful fraud.  However, the woman was removed to the farm of Benjamin Bellows and secreted until he had communicated with parties in Canada and ascertained the whereabouts of the woman's husband.  Mr. Bellows prepared a wagon with a false bottom, or double box, into the bottom of which he put the woman and on the top a lot of weavers' reeds and started for Canada to sell reeds.  Mr. Bellows reported that he traveled one day with one of the Wagners and another party who were hunting this very woman, and that Mr. Wagner got off from his horse and helped Bellows' wagon down a steep, rocky hill to keep it from turning over, little suspecting that the object of his search was so near him.
     Foiled in all other points, the Wagners determined to try the law to obtain the value of their woman chattel from Joshua Gardner.  Suit was brought in Court of Common Pleas at Chester and came to trial by jury, which resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs.  An appeal was taken, and the Supreme Court held that the admissions and sayings of the woman could not be admitted to prove her identity; if she was a competent witness she must be produced in court; but if she was a slave she could not be a competent witness.  So the case failed.

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     After the trial, Judge Pease, of the Supreme Court, was heard to say "that an action of trover for the recovery of stock might do in Virginia, but it would not do in Ohio unless the stock had more than two legs."  M. Bosworth.
     The next step was to kidnap Gardner and deal with him according to the rules of chivalry.  It was reported that twelve men were seen on horseback in disguise for that purpose, but they were anticipated by a force abundantly able to resist them.  There was no attack made.  The expenses of this suit and trouble consequent consumed all of Mr. Gardner's property.  He made an overland trip to California and obtained money sufficient to buy a comfortable home in Rutland, Ohio, where he enjoyed the respect and confidence of his neighbors.
     Mr. Joshua Gardner was born in Connecticut, January5th, 1793, and died in Rutland March 1st, 1869, aged seventy-six years.  Mrs. Gardner was Nancy, the daughter of James E. Caldwell, who came with his family from Vermont in 1817.
     Albert Gallatin Gardner was born in Rutland March 15th, 1820.  He contributed the foregoing narrative of Joshua Gardner.  He married Lucy Bellows November 27th, 1849, and had a family of six children.
     Albert G. Gardner died in Rutland, Ohio, January 13th, 1891, aged seventy years, ten months and twenty-eight days.

     From the "Leader," by Mr. Charles Matthews, Washington D. C., February, 1908:
     "Daniel and TIMOTHY SMITH, were their brother-in-law, Bradbury Robinson came from Vermont in 1805.  With their families, household goods, wagons and stock, they floated down the Ohio river, stopping at Belpre, Big Hocking and Leading creek.  The party, after looking at land and visiting the settlements, concluded to separate.  Timothy Smith and family were landed at Silver run, while Daniel Smith and their brother-in-law, having purchased their brother's share in the boat, floated down the river to Cincinnati.  Timothy Smith was born in 1770, and married Polly Conner, who was born in 1772.  They had seven children, as follows:  Charlotta Smith, born May 24th, 1797, and married Elias Jones in October, 1814; she died October 4th, 1871.  John Adams Smith, born February 22nd, 1800, and married Deborah Paine, November 22nd, 1822; he died January 10th, 1840.  Elizabeth Smith, born January 9th, 1802, and married JOHN S. GILES, June 7th, 1818; she died November 8th, 1842.  Sarah Smith, born July 10th, 1804, and married Obadiah Ralph, September 19th, 1822; she died February 3rd, 1875.  Anselin Smith, born in 1806, and died in 1816.  Timothy Smith, Jr., born 1810, and died at the age of nine months.  Mary Smith, born December 19th, 1812, and married Moses R. Matthews, April 10th, 1831; she died December 24th, 1893. 
     Timothy Smith erected one of the first grist mills in the county.  It was a tread mill, run by horse power, located on the bank of Silver Run.  He also mined the first coal, shipping to Cincinnati on a raft.  John Adams Smith, above mentioned, was the man arrested by Virginia officials and confined in Point Pleasant jail for running off slaves, and was rescued by his Ohio friends in 1824,  described in the paper by John S. Giles, Jr., so ably for the Pioneer Society and published in the "Telegraph" in 1875.
     "In 1823 Hamilton Kerr, living at the mouth of Leading creek, employed Adam Smith to act as guide for eight colored men who were on their way to Canada, a not infrequent occurrence for colored persons made free by their masters to pass through the country on their way to Canada.  So Mr. Smith escorted the colored men to Columbus as hired by Mr. Kerr, with no thought of wrong doing.  The fact was that Kerr had given aid to colored people, bond or free, to go north.  Slave owners on the Kanawha and on the Ohio river above Point Pleasant had organized for protection and sent out detectives on both sides of the river.  They concluded that Smith was guilty of aiding escaped slaves.  In October, 1824, four

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     WILLIAM CHURCH was a native of Maine, was married twice.  His first wife died, leaving two children - Samuel and Rhoda.  Mr. Church married for his second wife a sister of the first wife, and a family of six sons and two daughters were born to them.  He moved from Maine in 1816, with a family of seven sons and one daughter, and came to Rutland, O., in 1817.  He was a millwright, and lived in Rutland until his death in 1821.  The children were:  Samuel, a millwright, a fine mechanic, who lived and died in Pomeroy, O.  Clement Church was a mechanic and a farmer.  He lived and died in Rutland, leaving several children.  William Church lived and died in Rutland.  Joseph Church had a paralytic stoke when quite a young man, but lived to marry and rear a large family of children.  He settled in Salisbury township.  John Church went to Minnesota, owned a farm and brought up a family.  He died in Minnesota.  Olive Church moved to Marion county, O., and had a good farm, and died there at the age of ninety years, leaving a number of descendants.  Alfred Church moved to Illinois, where he owned a mill and carried on that business until his death.  Charles Church lived in Pomeroy, and was killed by the explosion of a boiler in the Pomeroy rolling mill in 1866.
     Sarah Church was married to Curtis Larkin, who died in 1898, leaving a widow and one son, George B. Larkin, with whom she has a home, and lives in the enjoyment of good health, in her ninety-first year.  1908.  G. B. L.
     Clement Church married Hannah Buxton, who was born in England November 2, 1808, and came to Ohio in 1817, and became the wife of Clement Church in November, 1829.  They had six children, three sons and three daughters - Royal Church and James Church, and Mrs. Maria Shepherd and Mrs. Eliza Thompson.  Mrs. Hannah Church died in August, 1896, aged 87 years, 9 months, 6 days.
     Mrs. Elizabeth Church, widow of William Church, Sr., was married to John Hoyt, and died in July, 1859; was buried at Hoyt Town, Meigs county, Ohio.
     There are many families of the name of Hoyt in Olive township and Orange, but no record of names or dates have been furnished for Mr. Larkin's manuscript, and the same fact is evident in the lack of family history of the name of Stout in and about Chester township.  Their names are always associated with the reputation of citizens of the best influence and character.

RANDALL STIVERS.

     Randall Stivers was born in New Jersey and was the son of Daniel Stivers, a Revolutionary soldier.  Mr. Stivers married Phebe Ball, a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Samuel Ball, a Revolutionary soldier.  They came with four children to Graham's Station (now Racine), in 1816, having come from Olean, N. Y., on a raft of pine lumber.
     He was a brickmaker by trade, and found employment in that business at Graham Station, remained there for two years.  Hearing of the discovery of coal, easily accessible, and near the Ohio river bank at Kerr's run, he removed to that place, where they lived three years.  In those first five years in Ohio they experienced the privations and hardships as fully as generally fall to the lot of early emigrants.  In a sparsely settled neighborhood, with barely sufficient means for support as the common lot of the people, they built a school house and hired teachers.  In 1819, the new county of Meigs was organized,  and about 1821 the county seat was located at Chester, to which place Mr. Stivers removed his family in 1822.  He was elected Justice of the Peace in Chester, and held the office for several years.  He served four years as Sheriff, and was twice elected to the State Legislature.  He was a promoter and patron of the schools, and always interested in churches and works of benevolence.  He was fearless in expressing his sentiments, and society and public affairs felt the influence of his opinions.  Mr. Randall Stivers and his wife reared a large family, all of whom were prominent in business, or in political and educational lines.  There were six sons and four daughters.
     Washington Stivers was married twice.  Julia Stanley was his first wife, and Caroline Fisher the second.  He was a merchant, and sold goods in Pomeroy for a number of years.  Afterwards he moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., where he died in ripe old age.
     Aaron Stivers was married twice; the first wife was Miss Kerr; the second, Miss Cole.  Mr. AARON STIVERS was one of the best known men of Meigs county, serving as Auditor and Deputy Auditor for many years.  He made and published a large wall map of the county, suitable for school-houses, a work of thoroughly correct presentation.
     He was one of the most active members of the Meigs County Pioneer Association, and served as its Recording Secretary for seven years.  He removed to Alton, Iowa, where he died November 29th, 1893, aged 77 years.
     Katherine Stivers was married to Theodore Montague, a lawyer who lived in Chester until the county seat was taken to Pomeroy, when they removed to Middleport, and continued as useful members of society for many years.  In later life they made their home in Chattanooga, and there they both died.
     Serena Stivers became the wife of Mr. Allen, of Middleport and died in middle life, leaving a husband and interesting family.
     George Stivers married in Meigs county, but moved west.  He was a soldier in the Civil war, and died soon afterward.
     William Stivers went from Chester to Indiana, married there, and had a family.  He was engaged in business, and was elected to the legislature, serving with credit to himself and constituents.  He died in Indiana.
     Charles Stivers settled in Kentucky, where he married.
     Randall Stivers was the youngest son, and accompanied his father, Randall Stivers, Sr., to California on the overland route in 1849, and died in California.
     Urania Stivers was born in Chester, December 25th, 1827, and received her education in the Academy at Chester, and later in a prosperous seminary in Ashland, Kentucky.  In her early teens she became a teacher in the public schools in Meigs county.  She taught many years in the Pomeroy schools, a highly respected and successful teacher.
     Caroline Stivers, the younger sister, acquired her education in the same schools with her sister Urania, and was also a popular school teacher, yet she was employed in the office of the Auditor, with her brother Aaron Stivers for several consecutive years.  These sisters left Meigs county in 1884, and finally located in Des Moines, Iowa.  Their influence for right principles and useful lives was evident through all the yeas as teachers in Pomeroy, Ohio, as well as in less active years in Des Moines, Iowa.
     Randall Stivers, Sr., and his wife, Phebe B. Stivers, both died in Pomeroy, and are buried side by side in the beautiful Beech Grove Cemetery.
     Pioneer travel on the Ohio river, for neighborly intercourse, or traffic, seems to have been done in canoes, while flatboats were in use for the transportation of families, produce and goods down the stream; but when it was necessary to carry on trade up and down the river, keel-boats were employed, until steamboat navigation superseded their mode as merchant carriers.  The first steamboat that ever passed down the Ohio river is said to have been the New Orleans, built at Pittsburg by Mr. Roosevelt, and which left that port in October, 1811, and reached Natchez, Miss., in January, 1812.  Earthquakes occurred during the trip down.  Few charts of the river were in existence, and the falls at Letart were provided with a pilot appointed by Congress, or rather authorizing the courts of Gallia county to appoint a pilot for Letart falls to pilot boats over the falls in the Ohio river, such pilot to give bonds for the proper discharge of this duty.  Thomas Sayer was appointed in 1804 as such pilot.

     ADAM HARPOLD was born October 9, 1790, and came to Letart, O., in 1812, where he married Dorothy Roush in August, 1812.  They settled on a farm, and Mr. Harpold conducted a 

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store, the first one for dry goods and groceries in Letart township.  After the county of Meigs was organized and Courts of Common Pleas were held in the meeting-house in Salisbury township - in July term of 1819, among the jurors impaneled is the name of Adam Harpold.  He was prominent in township offices and a patron of education, strictly honest in business transactions, and maintained the respect and confidence of the community.  Mrs. Harpold was a woman of strong character, of wonderful physical power and vitality.  They had a family of sixteen children, and all save one child, who was drowned at seven years of age - seven sons and eight daughters - grew up and married, each making a new home of thrift and industry.  The sons were mostly farmers and have been identified with the material prosperity of Meigs county for more than sixty years.  Henry Harpold, Spencer Harpold, Peter Harpold, Philip Harpold, William Harpold, George B. Harpold, John Harpold.  The daughters: Mrs. Pickens, widow, later Mrs. Wolf; Mrs. William Hester,  widow, Mrs. Jacob Baker; Mrs. Michael Bentz, nee Polly Harpold; Mrs. Eben Sayer, Mrs. Augustus Justice, Mrs. Hezekiah Quillen, Mrs. Bradford Roush, Mrs. Barbara Ann McDade.
     The greater number of the Harpold sons and daughters had large families, so that the descendants in the third and fourth generations were notably numerous.
     Mr. Adam Harpold died October, 1869, and his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Harpold, died in December, 1865, having lived in their Letart home for more than fifty years.
     "At a meeting of the associate judges of the county of Gallia, held at Gallipolis the tenth day of May, 1803, for the purpose of dividing the county of Gallia into townships and to apportion to each township a proper number of justices of the peace, and for other purposes; present, Robert Safford and George W. Putnam.

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     "The said county was divided into three townships, named and bounded as follows:  Letart township, beginning at the mouth of Shade river; thence down the Ohio river to Kerr's run; thence north to the county line; thence east with the said line to the place of beginning; and that one justice of the peace is the proper number to be elected in said township, and that the election be held at the house of HENRY ROUSH." From Gallia county records.
     From the foregoing we find that Henry Roush, Sr., lived in Letart township in 1803, but at what date he came to Ohio we are not informed.
     Henry Roush, Sr., owned land in Letart, Ohio, opposite Letart Falls, and brought up a large family.
     His son, Henry Roush, Jr., entered land in 1808, or purchased of the Ohio Land Company's Purchase, thirty-seven acres, as shown by the Gallia county records.  He married Anna Sayre, of Mill Creek, Va., and settled on their farm in Letart, where they had a family of ten daughters and two sons.  Sally Roush was married to Thomas Coleman, of Muses Bottom, W. Va.  Betsy was the wife of Samuel Roberts, later married Henry Wolf, of Racine.  Lydia was married twice - to Charles McClain - widow - Mr. Wagner.  Anna was the wife of Mark Sayre; lived and died in Great Bend, Ohio.  Hannah was married to Mr. Coleman; a widow - married - Mr. Jackson.  Dorothy was the wife of Silas Jones, a prominent member of the Pioneer Association.  Phebe was married to Elijah Runner, a son of an early settler of that name.  Katharine was the wife of Morris Greenlee.  Almena  was married to Jacob Brinker, of West Virginia.  Mahala was the wife of a Mr. Quillen.
     Edward Roush married Julia Sparr; moved to Illinois and died.  David Roush married Maria Hayman; moved to Grand Rapids; is dead.
     Mr. Henry Roush, Jr. died at an advanced age, and his wife, Mrs. Anna Roush, attained the remarkable age of 105 years at

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her disease.  They were worthy people, and their children were all esteemed members of society.
     Mrs. Dorothy Harpold was a daughter of Henry Roush, Sr.
     Paper by Mr. CHARLES MATTHEWS, of Washington, D. C., as published in the Leader, March 12th, 1908:
     "Among the earliest settlers of Meigs county was GEORGE WASHINGTON PUTNAM, a son of Colonel Israel Putnam and grandson of General Israel Putnam.  George W. Putnam was born in Pomfret, Conn., July 27th, 1777.  After the Indian war he came to Ohio with his father and his family, driving one of the teams, along with the late Phineas Matthews, of Cheshire, who also drove one of Colonel Putnam's teams.   George W. Putnam was married March, 31st, 1799, to Lucinda Oliver, daughter of Colonel Alexander Oliver, of Washington county, and settled on lands then in Washington county, now located mostly in Gallia county, but the fraction of land on which he built his house is now located in Meigs county, on what is known as the Jacob Coghenour farm, between the turnpike and the river and from the Carl coal railway down the river to where the township line strikes the river.  He also owned two 100-acre lots, Nos. 392 and 395, immediately west, now in Cheshire township.  His dwelling stood on the lower part of the fraction of land now in Meigs county, where he lived and died before Meigs county was formed.
     Their children were Sarah, Lucretia, George W., Jr., Isabel and Clarinda.  Sarah married Henry Sisson, February 16th, 1818.  He was killed by the falling of a tree January 10th, 1827.  George W. Putnam was the first county judge of Gallia county.  He died in May, 1815, of what was known as the "cold plague."  Whatever that may have been, it was certainly contagious, for the reason that Mrs. Mary (Russell) Matthews first wife of Phineas Matthews, who volunteered to help attend their old friend during his illness and until his death, was then herself taken with the same disease and died in a short time.  Another version of his death is that he was

helping Phineas Matthews shear his sheep, became overheated, drank too much cold water and was taken with the "cold plague" and died at the Matthews farm house.  Mrs. Matthews nursed him, took the same disease and died within a week (June 4th, 1815), leaving an infant son, a few days less than two months old.
     Mr. Putnam was buried on his farm, and several of his family were afterwards buried beside him.  His unmarked grave is located immediately below the Carl coal railway, about half way from the turnpike to the river.  Formerly there was a tombstone at his grave, but about four years ago some of his relatives bought a lot in the Gravel Hill Cemetery, Cheshire township, and moved the tombstone to that cemetery, but did not remove the remains of Mr. Putnam or his family.  The graves can yet be located by Mr. Coughenour or W. P. Cohen or his mother.  The son has repeatedly told me that he "would be willing to undertake to remove his remains to Gravel Hill Cemetery."  Copied by E. L. B.

     Tumuli or mounds were seen in various localities, always bearing evidence of man's work in their construction; always conical in shape and usually situated on the top of hills, as favorable to watch tower use.  The curiosity of many settlers, ignorant and otherwise, despoiled these peculiar mounds by digging them down to find what might be entombed within.  Human skeletons, pottery, mica and stone axes, copper rings, were exhumed in most places.  There were in Lebanon township several mounds, one of the Bicknell farm that had a well-defined fortification in the shape of a horseshoe surrounding the mound at a regular distance from the base.  This mound was never opened, but, being in a field of level land, was plowed over, and very much of the  hill shape was leveled.  A larger mound on the James Hall farm was opened, and human bones, trinkets of copper, mica and curious stone arrows, pipes and stone axes were disclosed.  In Rutland

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township was a large mound on the hill near the center of Section No. 7.  It was twelve feet high, and the bones of a very large man were found there.  A small one on white clay bottom was on the Stevens farm; also one on the southeast quarter of Section No. 8.  A large mound on fraction No. 13 was known as the one on which Samuel Denny stood and made an oration July 4th, 1806.
     According to the measurements and calculations by a civil engineer, Henry Grayum, in 1873, the principal coal seam in Meigs and Gallia county ahs a dip to the east of about twenty-seven feet and to the south five feet to the mile.  The greatest elevation in the measurements taken was at Braley's salt well, 840 feet, and its least at Antiquity, 377 feet, a difference of 463 feet in the direction of tidewater at Norfolk, Va.

     SAMUEL DENNY was a prominent actor in nearly all the public transactions on Leading creek, and by many persons his name was supposed to be Dana, but the reading of his letters and business accounts show that he subscribed his name as Samuel Denny.

     LIVINGSTON SMITH was the son of Noah Smith and his wife and was born in Vermont in 1796, his father, Noah Smith, having died in Carlisle, Pa., while moving with his family to Ohio.  Livingston grew up to manhood, married Eliza Case and settled on a farm in Rutland township and reared a family.  Mr. Smith was a good citizen, intelligent and esteemed by the community, and lived and died in Rutland township.  Virgil C. Smith was the son of Livingston Smith and was born November 28th, 1833, and married Mary Plummer in 1857, who died in 1875.  He was married the second time, to Agnes C. Torrence, in 1876.  He was a farmer and also a minister of the Christian Church.  He lived in Rutland and was identified with every enterprise for the moral elevation of the dependent

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and neglected.  He was the recording secretary of the Pioneer Society of Meigs county at the time of his death, in March, 1885, a man loved by his friends and respected by his neighbors.  He left a widow and seven children.

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