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INTRODUCTION
In 1876 a revival of interest in local history was manifest
throughout the United States. The Centennial of the Nation
- the Exposition at Philadelphia, exhibiting trophies of the
Revolutionary period, while much attention was bestowed upon
Colonial relics, and regard for Colonial ancestry. The
older class of people had been retired from public observation,
especially in the Western States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and
Michigan. The first settlers - the earlier emigrants - had
braved the Indians, the wild beasts, the privations of a new
country, had toiled to open up the primeval forests for
cultivation, and broken in health, dispirited often by
adversity, they had grown old before their "three-score-years
and ten,," and the generation following them had been
unwittingly pushing them aside. They were in the way of
modern progress, and they had retreated to the back rooms of
their children's mansions. But in 1876 it was seen that
the country could not celebrate her Centenary without bringing
into honorable recognition the fathers and mothers, the soldiers
and statesmen, whose achievements had wrought such evident
prosperity for the country - such high rank among the Nations.
So it came about that old records, old furniture, old tales of
early days, old people tottering on their canes, were subjects
of especial attention.
The Revolutionary soldier, old and gray, was escorted
to a seat on the platform where jubilant oratory proclaimed his
deeds of heroism. It was at this time that Stillman C.
Larkin, Aaron Stivers, H. B. Smith and a few others,
awakened to the fact that Meigs county had a past worthy of
record, and in looking around discovered that the founders, the
early emigrants, were gone! Not a representative left of
the days of St. Clair, of men who came into this part of the
county be- Pg. 4 -
fore Ohio was
admitted into the Union. They became impressed with a
sense of duty toward those forefathers, and to retrieve as far
as possible the neglect of previous years, they organized the
Meigs County Pioneer Association - H. B. Smith,
President; Aaron Stivers, Secretary; later Stillman C.
Larkin, President. Mr. Larkin as a son of a
pioneer, Abel Larkin, who had been active in the
organization and development of the civil and moral interests of
the new country, began collecting and placing in manuscript,
everything available of the acts and actors of all legislative
affairs in the new country. First, the sparsely settled
lands were incorporated in Washington county, and Marietta
people were wise enough to keep a running account with Time, but
Gallia county was taken out from Washington, and until 1819 all
civil records were kept in Gallipolis, when Meigs county was
taken out from Gallia county.
Mr. Larkin began at the beginning, and wrote the
Declaration of Independence, declared in 1776, which made the
Centennial of 1876 possible - he wrote out the Ordinance of
1787, that proclaimed freedom of the whole Northwest Territory
of the Ohio river, from involuntary servitude of man for man.
The first emigrants to Ohio - Washington, Gallia and Meigs
opened up the wilderness for cultivation, or the present
generation would not have broad acres in meadows, or hillsides
in wheat, or blooming fruit-laden orchards. These first
settlers built their cabins and schoolhouses, had teachers for
their children; they organized townships, elected township
officers and kept records of local affairs.
For these men and these records Mr. Larkin had
respect. It was no easy matter to collect and place in
order the history of the first ten years of the settlements
included later in the boundaries of Meigs county; for from 1798
to 1808, is an almost forgotten page, but the men who wrought
for the good of coming generations - wrought wisely,
intelligently, with broad views, and persistent effort to
establish homes,
Pg. 5 - roads, schools and
churches, to assist in framing wholesome laws, and enforcing
them for the protection and well-being of a growing community,
men like George W. Putnam, Fuller Elliott, John Miles, William
Parker, Abel Larkin and others whose deeds and names belong to
the annals of those years from 1792 to 1808. That makes
true pioneer history. From 1808 to 1818 the influx of
emigrants increased rapidly. People seeking lands to found
homes for their families, mechanics of all kinds, carpenters,
blacksmiths, tanners and shoemakers, served for public utility
and improvement.
In 1819 Meigs county was set off from Gallia county,
and assumed importance. A court house and jail were built
in Chester, the county seat. Courts of Common Pleas were
held judges were appointed, county officers were elected -
auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff and clerk of the courts.
Township officers were chosen - esquires and constables, clerk,
treasurer, assessor, trustees, school directors and supervisors.
The discomforts of pioneer life had ceased. The people
enjoyed comfortable homes, with growing families. From
1820 to 1830, there was an inflow of newcomers, representing all
pursuits, civil and educational, lawyers, doctors, preachers and
teachers. Farms changed owners, and new customs were
introduced. The fertile Letart bottoms sent flatboats
laden with produce annually on trips to the South, New Orleans
being the final mart. The traders returning by keelboat or
steamboat brought sugar and molasses, rice and coffee for the
merchants and communities.
Nial Nye, Sr., & Sons were established at the
mouth of Kerr's run, before the county of Meigs was
organized, and kept a store of general merchandise, ran a
sawmill, and had a boat landing, "a port of entry" for goods
consigned to Levi Stedman and others at Chester and the
interior of the county. A postoffice was located here and
the place was called Nyesville. From 1820 and 1830, while
a growing prosperity was Pg. 6 -
seen throughout the county, no capitalist with means and energy
had arrived to develop the natural resources of Meigs county.
From 1830 to 1840 marked the beginning of commercial prosperity.
Mr. V. B. Horton, with a wide personal influence, brought
capital to operate on the development of the coal in the hills
of Salisbury. He started the transportation of coal by
means of a steamboat, the Condor, towing immense fleets laden
with coal down the Ohio river, and farther down the Mississippi
to the Gulf of Mexico, from whence ships conveyed it to Boston,
and grates in Boston parlors glowed with Pomeroy coal.
This enterprise opened up boat building - ship builders form
Maine and Nova Scotia came to work and direct the labor in the
Horton boat yard. It gave employment to river men to
manage the tow-boat Condor, and the barges. English and
Welch men of experience and judgment took charge of the mines,
and miners from England, Wales and Germany went into the coal
tunnels of Meigs county and with pick and hand-car brought to
light the wealth of the hills. A rolling mill was set in
operation, a foundry, machine shop, and Haven & Stackpole
erected a three-story steam flouring mill. Pomeroy was
laid out, lots sold, the town incorporated, and elegant
residences were place on the spurs of the hills at Naylor's run
and Sugar run, while under the cliffs the Brothers Howe, Dr.
Estes and the lawyer, U. G. Howe, Charles Pomeroy
and Horace Horton built no less fine homes. Mr.
Samuel Grant's sawmill had full orders, furnishing lumber as
fast as possible. In this decade of stirring material
prosperity, the little postoffice town of Graham's Station
received an impetus. Mr. Lucius Cross came from
Marietta in 1822 to lands of his own, and started a tannery,
built flat boats to send hay to the South, opened a store of
general merchandise, erected a mill on Bowman's run for making
flour, and sawing lumber, giving employment to hundreds of men
in these different enterprises. The name of Graham
Station was changed to Racine. The
Pg. 7 - town of Sheffield sprang
into existence in these times, broad acres just above the mouth
of Leading creek were laid out in lots, the town incorporated
and a cotton mill built by Mr. Philip Jones, a novel
project for a non-cotton producing territory. The Grant
brothers put into the business of steam a flouring mill that
prospered for more than forty years. The one great event
in Meigs county was the removal of the county seat from Chester
and establishing the seat of justice in Pomeroy.
The aim and intent of Mr. Larkin's book is to
preserve a record of pioneer times, that later generations may
have proper respect and pride in their forefathers. He was
the prime mover in organizing the "Meigs County Pioneer
Association," and devoted time, thought and research in order to
place correct statements concerning those early days in his
book.
We ask the "Pioneer Association of Meigs County" for a
liberal patronage of the book, and of thinking men and women,
who will find much to interest them in residing the work, and
especially the favor of descendants of early settlers in Meigs
county, who are scattered in order states and territories.
EMELINE LARKIN BICKNELL
Reviser of the MSS of S. C. Larkin.
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