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p. 163 -
MRS
NOAH SMITH, the mother of Livingston Smith, came
from Vermont to Leading Creek, Ohio, with three daughters,
besides the son, heretofore mentioned. They were:
Theres, who was married to Eliezer Barker, who was
drowned in Leading creek in June, 1813. She afterwards was
Mrs. Laundress Grant. Jenny Smith married a Mr.
Maples. Nancy Smith became the wife of
Captail
Jesse Hubbell.
WILLIAM
JOHNSON was born in Ireland and married Sally
Harmon. They emigrated to the United States and came
to Shade river in Chester township in 1800. There
they made a home, in which they raised a large family.
This was a religious family, and all lived to honor their pious
parentage. Abram Johnson was a local preacher, and
Thomas Johnson moved west. Mary was
the wife of John Miles. Adaline, Mrs. Henry
Ellis. Sarah, Mrs. John Wolf. William Johnson
and his wife died in 1836 and 1848.
JOHN ENTSMINTER
was born in Virginia in September, 1757,
and when but a youth of seventeen years was an active
participant in the battle at Point Pleasant under the immediate
command of Colonel Charles Lewis. He was a soldier
in the Revolutionary War under General Francis Marion and
subsequently under General Morgan. He fought at the
battle of Cowpens. Many incidents of soldier life were
related by him in later years to his children. Mr.
Entsminger was captured by the British at one time, but
released on condition that he would go home and fight no more.
A comrade, whose name was Vansant, and he started home,
but on the way they came across several Tories who were building
a house and who twitted them about having been captured.
They went on a
P. 164 -
little farther, when Mr. Entsminger said
to his comrade, "I wish we had thrashed them," and, going on a
little farther, he said "Let's go back and thrash them."
So they turned back and whipped the Tory men, took them
prisoners and marched with them to the Continental army and
again took up arms and served until the close of the war for
independence. John Entsminger married Jane
Reese, Feb. 16th, 1787. She was born on July 26th,
1759. They moved with their family from Botetourt county,
Va., to Ohio, in the fall of 1797. They traveled overland,
bringing their stock and household goods with them. They
would travel all days and camp at night. Sometimes
stopping a day to cook and bake, when necessary. They
milked their cows, and after using what milk they wanted put the
rest of it in the churn, set the churn in the wagon, and the
butter was ready to take out when they stopped at night.
They crossed the Ohio river about five miles above where
Gallipolis now stands, known then as French Town. At that
time, leaving out the primitive town, there was but one house
besides theirs in a radius of ten miles on the Ohio side of the
river. They ground corn on hand mills and went to Logan
for flour. Later they could buy flour from the canoe men
who poled their crafts up stream. Salted bear meat and
fresh game supplied their tables. Although fifty-five
years of age, Mr. Entsminger volunteered and served a
term under General Tupper in 1812 in the Northeast.
His eldest son, David Entsminger, was a soldier in the
War of 1812. Mr. John Entsminger and his wife had a
family of two sons and four daughters. David, John
Lewis. The daughters were: Mrs. Luther Shepherd,
Mrs. John Bing, Mrs. Daniel Grayum and Mrs. David Grayum,
who was left a widow with two daughters and two sons.
Henry Grayum served as major in the Civil War; William
Grayum was a captain in the Fourth West Virginia from the
first to the close of the war in 1865. Mr. Entsminger
felt crowded when the settlers moved into that neighborhood, so
he went farther into the wilderness
Stone House Built by Luther Donaldson, a Revolutionary Soldier,
the Home of his old age.
Pg. 165 -
and located near where Langsville is now and lived there with his son, John Lewis
Entsminger, until the close of his eventful life, on October
10th, 1830, fifty-six years to a day from the celebrated battle
of Point Pleasant, aged seventy-eight years. He was buried
in the Miles Cemetery. Mrs. Jane Entsminger died
May 19th, 1830, in the seventy-first years of her age, and is
buried in the Miles Cemetery at Rutland, Ohio.
GEORGE WOLFE, farther of
John, Jacob, Peter and Henry Wolfe, came from the
Shenandoah valley of Virginia to the rich bottom lands on the
Ohio river adjoining the present village of Racine, about 1807
and 1808, date uncertain. He felled the great trees and
toiled hard to clear land for cultivation, and in 1812 his sons,
John Wolfe and Jacob Wolfe, with a four-horse
covered wagon, came over the Alleghany mountains to inherit the
home founded by the father, George Wolfe. There
were two younger brothers, Peter and Henry Wolfe.
John Wolfe and Jacob Wolfe built each of them a
two-story brick house on the river front of their respective
farms and reared large families. They tilled the land,
planted fruit trees and lived to see a numerous posterity grow
up around their homes, a quiet honest industrious people.
The Wolfe bottoms have been owned and cultivated by the
descendants of George Wolfe for at least one hundred
years. In recent years the families have been distributed
over other sections of the country.
The
FIRST REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCH in Rutland was
organized on Nov. 27th, 1817, by members signing the covenant,
seven men and three women. Benjamin Richardson,
clerk, and Thomas Everton, deacon. The church was
further organized on Oct. 31st, 1818, by the following persons
signing the covenant: Thomas Everton, Asahel Skinner,
Anson Gaston, Benjamin, Richardson, Robert Simpson, Relief
Everton,
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Betsy Richardson, Elizabeth Holt, Thomas Gaston, Jared
Gaston, Ebenezer Everton, Laundress Grant, William Stevens,
Joseph Richardson, Sally Stevens, Bethiah Simpson.
The first preachers were Aaron Holt, Peter
Aleshire, Horace Persons and Thomas Gaston.
Afterwards other ministers preached at different times -
James Hovey, Amos Stevens and James McAboy. The
brick schoolhouse was used for religious worship by several
denominations - the Free Will Baptists, Presbyterians,
Methodists, Regular Baptists and Universalists. The
Presbyterians built a church on the lot by the Plummer homestead
in 1820, it being the first church erected in Rutland township.
The Regular Baptists built their church in 1838.
Benjamin Richardson gave the lot and did a large share
toward building the house. The first Disciples, or
Christian church, in Rutland was built on a lot give by
Rev.
Elisha Rathburn.
RUTLAND CEMETERY was surveyed
and laid out in lots in 1824 by Samuel Halliday.
The place had been used as a burying ground for a long time, but
the interments had been made without regularity, so that it was
difficult to make the proper arrangement of the premises when
surveyed by Mr. Halliday. The lots were made 8 by
33 feet in size. Later, in 1872, the township of Rutland
bought of George McQuigg the cemetery ground, which,
including the "old graveyard," contains three and three-quarters
acres of land. The size of the new lots, 10 by 24 feet,
which are staked and numbered.
The first burial in what is now Rutland township, from
the settlement in 1805, was that of a girl nine years of age and
who was buried on the Higley farm, a spot afterwards
abandoned, but a family burying place was made on the Higley
grounds in subsequent years. Many persons were buried on
the Phelps farm. Some of the pioneers were interred
on their own land, The first grave made in the Miles'
Cemetery was for a little child, but no date is known.
Dr. Clark, from New England, came to Ohio in quest of
health, and died soon after
Pg. 167 -
his arrival and was the second
person buried there, but his grave was unmarked and the precise
location is lost, as is many another one.
JOHN HAYMAN AND FAMILY came from Somerset
county, Md., about 1810. They came first to Letart Falls,
in Virginia, but soon removed to Letart, Ohio. Their
eldest son was Spencer Marshall Hayman, who married
Jerusha Chapman, a daughter of Ezra Chapman, an old
settler in Letart township. Spencer M. Hayman was a
surveyor and after the organization of Meigs county, was elected
as surveyor for the county, and served the public in that office
for many consecutive terms. He was also justice of the
peace and the first postmaster at Apple Grove, so named because
of Mr. Hayman's large orchard of fine fruit. They
brought up a large family - three sons and five daughters.
The sons were: Ezra Hayman, who married Sally Wright,
of Mill Creek,, W. Va., who lived and died in Letart township.
Henry Hayman was married twice. His first
wife was Minerva Marvin, a daughter of Calvin Marvin;
the second wife was a Miss Harding. Henry Hayman
lived in Mercer's Bottom, where he died. Harrison
Hayman married Agnes Williamson, a daughter of
Wilkinson D. Williamson, of Lebanon township, Meigs county,
Ohio. They settled in Warth's Bottom, W. Va. Both
are dead. The daughters: Sinai Hayman was the wife
of Hillman Parr. Betsy Hayman was married to
William McKay, of Warth's Bottom. Minerva was
Mrs. Ephraim I. Sayre, of Letart township.
Martha Ann Hayman was married to Elson Paden,
and their home was just below Letart Falls, in Ohio. They
were noted for true Christian lives in benevolence.
Angeline Hayman was the wife of Mr. Paden;
both died early.
Josiah Hayman was the second son of John
Hayman and was in the family that moved from Maryland.
He married Nancy Ford, a daughter of Mrs. Esther Ford,
a widow, who
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came from Maryland at the time of the senior
Hayman's emigration to Ohio. Josiah Hayman
lived in Letart township, where they brought up a large family.
Mr. Hayman was a local preacher, belonging to the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and a fine singer, noted for leading
large congregations on camp grounds. They had a family of
sons - Wesley, Henry, Calvin, Lewis, William and
Charles; daughters - Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Regina and
Adaline Esther. Wesley Hayman married Thirza
Maria Cross, became insane, never recovered. Henry
Hayman married Margaret Wagner and lived in Letart.
He was a man highly esteemed by a large circle of friends and
acquaintances. He was elected sheriff one or two terms.
Always identified with the affairs of his church as steward,
class leader and Sunday school superintendent. They reared
a family of worthy citizens. Calvin and Lewis Hayman
died in young manhood.
William Hayman, son of Josiah Hayman and
his wife, was married to Mary Jane Donally, a daughter of
Andrew B. Donally, many years clerk of the Court of
Common Pleas, Meigs county. He made their home at Letart
Falls, W. Va. Was a merchant. Esther Hayman
became the wife of Lewis Pilchard; lived at Letart Falls.
Elizabeth married John Richie, but died soon
afterwards. Regina was the wife of Townsend
Smart; lived in Racine and died there, leaving a family of
five children - Arthur, Frank, William, Earl and one
daughter.
Adaline Hayman was the wife of Philip Jones,
of West Virginia.
Hezekiah Hayman was a nephew
of John Hayman, Sr., and moved with his family from
Maryland in company with his uncle to Ohio in about 1810.
One son, Robert Hayman, lives in Middleport, Ohio.
Stephen Hayman married Letitia Caldwell, and their
children were: John N. Hayman, one of the commissioners
of Meigs county for several terms; Stephen
Pg. 169 -
Hayman, of
Grand Island, Neb., and Maria, the widow of David
Roush, who died at Grand Island, Neb.
JOHN WAGNER
was born May 12th, 1792, and came to Letart, Ohio, from
Lancaster, Pa., after the War of 1812. He was a soldier in
that war. He married Elizabeth Himeleich in 1818
and settled in Letart, Ohio. They had three children -
George H. Wagner, Alfred N. and Margaret, who
became the wife of Henry Hayman, son of Josiah Hayman.
Mrs. Elizabeth Wagner died in October 1821. Mr.
Wagner married a second wife, a widow, Mrs. Lydia McClain,
and they had two children. Mr. John Wagner died in
March, 1882, and Mrs. Lydia Wagner died at ninety years
of age.
GEORGE BURNS came from
Philadelphia to Letart, Ohio, at an early day. Had charge
of a floating mill at Letart Falls and kept a store, said to be
the first at Letart, Ohio. There was a family of three
daughters and one son, George Burns, Jr. The
eldest daughter was Mrs. Alfred Beauchamp, of Elizabeth,
W. Va. Caroline became the wife of Thomas
Alexander, of Letart, and spent her long life in their home
in Letart, where they brought up a family of eleven children.
They were influential and highly respected people. They
died at the advanced ages of eighty-four and ninety years.
Regina Burns was married to John Caldwell and made
a home in Letart, where they brought up a family. She died
many years ago.
OBADIAH WALKER
and
Casandra Walker, neé Halsey,
lived in Chester township in 1805 and spent their long lives in
the same locality. They were good citizens and brought up
a large family of sons and daughters.
Jesse Walker, the eldest child, was born in
1806. He was twice married. Miss P. M. Richardson
was the first wife, but dying, left two children. He then
married Margaret Mauck, of Cheshire, Gallia county, where
they made their home '
Pg. 170 -
until death. They had two children.
Jesse Walker died at the ripe age of eighty-five years, a
kind, upright man, a member of the Free Will Baptist Church from
his youth. Milton Walker married Harriet Newell
and lived in Chester several years, and then went to Illinois.
They were Methodists, earnest Christians. Selden
Walker, Vincent Walker and Obadiah Walker were
youngest sons. Vincent married Sevilla Weldon and
moved to Iowa and died there. Obadiah married
Emily Weldon; lived and died in Chester township.
Bethia Walker was the wife of Baza Wells, in Chester.
She had two children, but buried them and her husband also.
She was married afterwards to Benjamin Brown, of Athens,
Ohio. All are dead.
Melissa Walker married and was left a widow in
Iowa. Emeline Walker was the wife of William
Church, in Rutland, Ohio, where he died, and she sent to
Iowa. Samaria Walker was married to James Decker,
of Lebanon township. They had two or three children.
Mr. Decker and Mrs. Decker died in Lebanon
township. Caroline Walker was married to Abner
Hissim, of Tanner's Run, Ohio, but later they removed to
Iowa.
In the
Gallia county records of deeds made for lands coming within the
boundary of Meigs county when organized is the name of Thomas
Halsey purchaser, 1792. The family of Halsey
have continued in Chester and Orange townships, with their
descendants.
DR. FENN
ROBINSON was the most noted doctor within the boundaries
included in Meigs county in the pioneer days. He had an
extensive practice, and he was equal to any emergency. His
saddle pockets were receptacles for all medicines needed, with
compartments for surgical instruments. He could pull a
tooth or cut off a man's leg, if necessity required, lance an
abscess or an arm, spread a fly blister plaster or set a
dislocated
Pg. 171 -
joint. He rode through the woods, following
road or trail, through creeks, at high or low tide, in rain or
snow, at night or in the day - he found the way. His
patients believed in him and had faith in his skill. His
travels were in a radius of more than thirty miles from his home
at Chester, and he was the family doctor for two or more
generations. No trained nurse with sick folks then, nor
pharmacist to fill prescriptions. He reared a large and
highly respectable family. Dr. Robinson never ran
for Congress nor sued a poor man for his bill. His honors
rested on a noble life.
JOHN HALL
and his wife, Sarah Hall, nee Hahurst, came from
Pennsylvania and settled on a tract of land in Letart township
above the mouth of Old Town creek, known as Ohio river bottom
land, in the year 1811. Mrs. Hall was reared by
Quaker parents. They were industrious and thrifty and
cleared for cultivation their large farm. They had a large
family of sons and daughters.
James Hall, the eldest son, married Leah Ford,
and they lived in Lebanon township and brought up a family.
Their children were: William Henry Hall, Wesley, Thomas,
Isaac Lewis, Spencer Marshall and a son Benjamin, who
died in childhood. Two daughters were: Sarah, who
was married to Hamilton Parr and lived in Brown County,
Ohio. Ann Maria Hall died in young womanhood.
James Hall was elected justice of the peace and served
one or two terms. He was postmaster for Great Bend, Ohio,
several years. He died in 1885 or 1886. Mrs. Hall
lived to the great age of eighty-seven years, a most excellent
woman. They both died in Great Bend, Ohio. Job
Hall married Betsy Smith, daughter of Solomon
Smith. She died early, leaving two children.
Job Hall was killed on his boat on the Yazoo river,
supposedly for money.
Ela Hall married Polly Lasley.
John Hall married Silvina Buffington. Aaron Hall
married Nancy Crall. The daughters
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were:
Nancy Hall, the wife of Isaac Lauck, and moved to
Missouri. Rachel was married to Ezra Lauck,
and they went west. Matilda Hall was married twice
- first to Mr. Shafer and afterwards to John Lee.
She lived and died in Lebanon township. Mary Hall
was Mrs. Owen Darby; they went west. Delilah
was married to a Mr. Lornes and died in Great Bend.
Sarah Ann was married three times. The first
husband, George Cummings, who died. Mr. Ezekiel
Custer, Sr., was the second husband, and John Warner,
third.
Mr. John Hall, Sr., died in middle age, but left
a will that was the puzzle for lawyers for two generations.
Mrs. Sarah was the puzzle for lawyers for two
generations. Mrs. Sarah Hall died the early
seventies, living and dying on their homestead farm.
The
SAYRES are a numerous people,
residing in Letart, Ohio, and Letart, W. Va. David
Sayre entered land in Letart township in 1803. There
are several branches of the name, descendants in four and five
generations, living in Meigs county. Daniel Sayre,
father of Moses E. Sayre and great-grandfather to the
Hon. Edgar Ervin, were first settlers in Letart township.
As a people the Sayres were religious, good, prosperous
citizens. Mr. Ervin is a member of the Ohio
Legislature, native of Meigs, and has reflected credit on his
family and won popularity for his own public services in the
Ohio Legislature for the years of 1907 and 1908.
At the
pioneer meeting in August, 1890,
Mr. PHINEAS ROBINSON made a
speech, in which he said that "in early times silver was the
coin most in use by the common people, and that it was often cut
into four or five parts to make change," in fact that the writer
of this article well remembers. Mr. Robinson also
gave a history of the Keg Company of Chester, which was
undoubtedly correct as he stated it, but not as published from
report in the Telegraph. Therefore this reviewer wishes to
state the case as he understands it.
Pg. 173 -
About
1825 or 1826, not sure as to date, a company was formed, it was
said, of Nathan Newsom, a tanner, who lived in Chester;
Moses Green, of Orange township, said to be a horse
jockey, who had married into a very respectable family;
Nicholas Lake, who also had a very respectable woman for a
wife, and John Nolan, a batchelor, who lived about
Chester at that time, not a bad man naturally, but so
constituted that he could be made a cat's paw when needed.
The Keg Company made and sold counterfeit money, silver dollars,
that could not be told from the genuine, and they would exchange
two dollars for one good one. So one man, having two or
three hundred dollars, agreed to buy of the spurious coin, and,
repairing to a secret room, his money was counted out on a
table, when the lights were suddenly put out and all the money
swept off from the table. The man lost his money. He
went before the grand jury, and the four men were indicted.
They could not arrest Newsom and Green, they
fleeing to parts unknown. An officer tried to arrest
Nolan, who stabbed the officer and was sent to the
penitentiary for it. As soon as he had served his time he
left for New Orleans, where it was said that he became a wealthy
and respectable citizen.
Lake had stolen a horse in Athens county and was sent
to the penitentiary for that act. While in prison he, with
others, was taken under guard outside to work. Lake
attempted to run away, the guard shot and wounded him so that he
died.
In 1818
DR. DAVID GARDNER,
and his brother Charles came to Chester, Ohio. They
bought out Mr. Levi Stedman's store and filled it with
goods purchased in the Eastern cities. Charles Gardner
went back to Long Island, New York, but Dr. Gardner
remained in Chester many years and died there; also Mrs.
Gardner, and both are buried in the Chester Cemetery.
Their daughter was married to Mr. Maples, an Episcopal
clergyman, who was rector of Grace Church in Pomeroy, Ohio, and
influential in the erection of the neat Gothic church in that
place.
Pg. 174 -
After a long and successful pastorate, winning high
regard for his character, he unfortunately became insane and
died in the Athens Hospital for the Insane.
EDWARD WELDON
was married to Mary Faris in Dublin, Ireland, and
emigrated to the United States. The precise date is not on
record, but they located for a few years in Washington county,
Pa., where Mr. Edward Weldon died; also two sons, each
one named Edward. The widow, Mrs. Weldon,
moved first to the Lewis farm, above Point Pleasant, Va.,
and stayed one year, when she removed with her family to
Chester, Ohio. The children were: Frank Weldon, who
was lost, fate unknown. James Weldon married
Lettie Stout. William Weldon married Elinor Pullins;
lived and died in Chester, Ohio. John Weldon
married Mary daughter of Dr. Fuller Elliott;
settled in Letart township, later Sutton, and had a family of
sons and daughters. Richard Weldon, married
Sally, daughter of Levi Stedman, of Chester.
They had two daughters - Emily, Mrs. Obadiah Walker, and
Caroline, who was married to Mr. Heaton.
Richard Weldon and his wife died young. Martha
Weldon became Mrs. Samuel McKinley; lived in
Kentucky. Catherine, was married to John Van
Kirk, in Chester township. Margaret became the
wife of Augustus Watkins.
Mary Weldon was the first wife of Andrew
Donnelly, clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Meigs
county during a long period of years. Mrs. Donnelly
died young, leaving two children, Charles Donnelly and
Margaret.
Francis Weldon, son of James Weldon, married
Rachel Cozad; parents of Mrs. Lucinda Williamson,
widow of Captain James Williamson now of California.
A
remarkable meteoric shower was displayed in November of the year
1831. It was called "the stars falling," and created great
alarm in some localities. Some people averred that the
judgment day had come, while others opened their Bibles to read
of "stars falling and men's hearts failing," while in many homes
in sparsely settled places the inhabitants slept soundly
Pg. 175 -
and
knew nothing of the wonderful sight in the heavens reported by
witnesses.
REV. ISAAC
REYNOLDS lived in Letart village and mingled with the
frightened ones, allaying their fears. He said "the
meteors fell thickly at one time, and that
strange, fantastic shapes were assumed by many of those lurid
bodies in their descent to the earth." The history of
meteoric showers or the aerolites had not been taught in the
schools. This event was generally concluded to foretell
some great calamity to befall the world.
Another natural phenomena was considered as an omen of
calamity- the aurora borealis, or northern light. The
beauty of the sky was not so impressive as the smothered belief
that some disaster was impending, as of war or pestilence.
A comet with a luminous following gave certain warning
to a class of credulous folks that the end of this world was
near, and a few believers in the Miller Prophecy resided
in Lebanon township. time has gone on with great
regularity; spring and summer, autumn and winter, have banished
such fears.
A flood in the Ohio river in 1832
was a real and disastrous event. The inhabitants were
living in houses on the river bank, and farmers especially had
no buildings on the bluff or second bank to shelter themselves.
In Lebanon several families sought shelter in a two story log
house, but the water continued rising so that at nightfall they
were removed in flatboats to the hillside, making beds on the
ground in the open field, although snow was falling in
scattering flakes. One man made a pen on is flatboat for
his four fat hogs and for his chickens, with corn for feeding
them. Stock and horses were taken to the hills before the
water had wholly covered the bottom lands. Houses, barns,
haystacks, as well as uprooted trees, went hurrying by on the
swollen river.
Of the cholera in Chester in the
year 1834 an account of the scourge was published in the Meigs
County
Pg. 176 -
Telegraph of January 20th, 1893, and copied from that
paper into this manuscript the same year by S. C. Larkin.
"Fifty-nine years ago since Meigs county had that awful
experience with cholera. Chester was then the county seat
and the chief village in the county, with a population of 200
souls. Of those who lived in Chester in 1834 but three
persons remain as residents of the old village with clear
remembrance of that event Mrs. Dolly A. Knight, Mr. Harold
Wells and E. Sardine Weldon, then a child of six
years. Reports were in circulation of the ravages of
Asiatic cholera in maritime cities, New York and New Orleans,
and of its deadly prevalence in foreign countries. Mrs.
Dolly Knight and her husband, Benjamin Knight, moved
from the Ohio river, where Pomeroy was located later, to
Chester, where Mr. Knight took charge of a flour mill.
they were congratulated by their friends for getting off from
the river and going to the interior, where they would be
comparatively safe from the contagion. Human foresight was
a failure. In Chester they took a house situated on the
lot where the postoffice stands at present. On the west
end of the lot was a small brick schoolhouse, used also for
religious or church assemblies. The first case of cholera
was Dr. James S. Hibbard, who had been called to Syracuse
to prescribe for a man who was sick, a steamboat man just
returned from a trip on the river. Dr. Hibbard
pronounced the case cholera and prescribed accordingly. On
his way back to Chester he was attacked with the malady and,
getting off from his horse, took a dose of calomel, lay down by
the roadside and fell asleep in the woods. As soon as he
was able to remount his horse he proceeded homeward. He
finally recovered. This occurred in July. Soon
afterwards a son of Jasper Branch, about fourteen years
of age, came to his work in the mill from his dinner, was taken
violently ill and was assisted to an upper room, but grew
rapidly worse, and before nightfall he was dead. That
night a sister, older than he, took sick and died before
morning. Two deaths in Mr.
Pg. 177 -
Branch's family was a
shock to the community. Two or three weeks elapsed, and
then a show came to Tupper's Plains, which Lewis Nye, a
youth, attended and remained over night. He was stricken
with the cholera next morning and died in a few hours.
Next in order of time was the family of John Ware, a
saddler. He had a large family, but the father, mother and
four children fell victims to the cholera. First the
daughter Polly, a young woman, returned from church in
the evening, apparently well, but that night she died. The
next day two of her brothers were snatched away, and the
second day the father and mother joined the dead children.
Relatives of the Ware family came up from Gallipolis to
help care for them, and took the survivors home, one boy dying
on the way. Five children remained, who lived, married and
settled in Meigs County, Gallia and Mason, W. Va.
William Ware never married; lived in his sister's home and
died there at Miller McGlothlin's, near Ravenswood, W.
Va.
CHARLES DOANE,
a tanner, was suddenly attached after a talk with Dr.
Carpenter in a light vein, "that after the people all died,
he and the doctor would open a hotel." After parting, in
fifteen minutes the message was sent to the doctor of his
sickness, and in one hour Charles Doane was dead.
WILLIAM TORRENCE,
was stricken by the epidemic, but rallied for a time, then
relapsed and died after an illness of fourteen days.
Mr. Harold Wells nursed William Torrence fourteen
nights in succession without taking off his clothes to go to
bed. Later, Myron Wells, Baza Wells, their mother
and a sister were each prostrated with the disease, while
Harold, the brother and son, attended them, and they all
recovered.
A son
MARCUS BOSWORTH,
about ten years of age, went to bed as usual, but later called
his mother, "so very sick," and, although medicine was
administered at once, by 10 o'clock the child was dead. A
Mr. Horton, aged about forty-five years, was one of the
fatal victims. Harold Wells, Otis Hardy and Van
Weldon were busy all the time ministering to the sick
Pg. 178 -
and
burying the dead. Mr. Weldon was a cabinet maker
and made the coffins for those who died. This history of
the cholera in 1834 in Chester we believe correct and authentic.
S. C. L.
An incident occurred in 1833 in Lebanon township, below
Sandy, when the cholera was epidemic in New Orleans and many
cities, that a steamboat landed on the Ohio side of the river
near a small graveyard on the bank and sent a messenger to a
house not far away for permission to bury a man, then dead on
the boat. The request was denied with rudeness, so
frightened was the householder at the approach of cholera.
The man was buried by the roadside. No case of the disease
appeared in the neighborhood until the next summer, when the man
who refused the stranger a grave was stricken with cholera and
died, the only death from cholera ever known in the place.
The second visitation of cholera
at Middleport, in 1839, resulted in the deaths of four persons
in the Baily family - Mr. David Baily and his wife, his
daughter and son-in-law; also Mrs. Hudson, a sister of
Mr. Bailey. Oren Jones was their nurse.
He was a young man and claimed that by his strong will he was
able to resist the contagion. There were a few cases of
cholera in Pomeroy in 1849, but we are not in possession of
details. In the first seasons of the epidemic there were
fatalities of some persons about Letart. Balser Roush
and family, living above Racine, in Letart township, were
victims; several of them died. Dr. J. B. Ackley
gave medical attention and secured assistance for care of such
as needed.
JOB STORY, of
Bedford township, was one of the early settlers of that township
and a pioneer abolitionist, who ever dared to vote his
sentiments even in old Bedford. He died March 18th, 1883,
aged ninety-one years.
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