AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

 

FIRST ORGANIZATION.

 

GRANGE.

 

COUNTY INFIRMARY.

 

THE WATERS AND THE FLOODS.

 

THE FLOOD OF 1883.

 

ITEMIZED.

     The first school was taught in the winter of 1798 - '99 by John Edgar, and the following winter the second was taught by Reese Thompson.  This was in Greene Township.
     The first water mill was erected in the fall of 1798 on Bonser's Run, a small stream emptying into the Little Scioto River, by Isaac Bonser.  It was a small affair, but of sufficient capacity to meet the wants of the settlers, and took the place of hand mills in the neighborhood.
     The house of John Collins, in Alexandria, was named as the first place in which to hold court.
     The first flat boat was built in the fall of 1800, by John W. and Abram Millar, and they took a trip to New Orleans.
     The last buffalo seen was killed by Philip Salladay, on the headwaters of Pine Run, in what is now Vernon Township, in 1797.
     Samuel Marshall and Hezekiah Merritt planted and raised the first crop of corn in the county in 1796.
     The first tavern kept in what is now Scioto County was by John Collins, in Alexandria, in the winter of 1796-'97.
     Stephen Cary put up the first house in Alexandria in 1796, Stephen Smith the second, the same year, followed by John Collins, Munn and others.
     The first child born in what is now Scioto County was Fannie Marshall, born in 1797, daughter of Samuel Marshall, Sr.
     The first male child born, so far as is known, was William Gilruth, in 1799.
     The first resident physician was Dr. Thompson Waller, who located in Alexandria in 1801.  He was a physician of ability and a gentleman by education and practice.
     The first brick house erected in the city of Portsmouth was by Jacob Clingman, in 1808.
     The first child was born in the city of Portsmouth was Polly, daughter of Uriah Barbers.  Her birth was in 1804.
     There has not been a hanging in Scioto County up to this date, 1883.
     The surveyor who surveyed and platted Alexandria was Elias Langham.
     The first surveyor who surveyed land in the county, now Scioto, was John O'Bannon in 1787.
     The first tanyard in the county was started by Stephen Cary, in 1801.
     The first house built within the corporate limits of Portsmouth was by Emanuel Traxler, in the fall of 1796, on the high ground on what is now Scioto street, west end.
     Emanuel Traxler was the first Justice of the Peace living in what is now Scioto County.  He came in 1796, and was appointed by Governor St. Clair, in the spring of 1798.
     The first tavern kept in the country was by Martin Funk, in 1803, on the Chillicothe road.
     The first distillery in the country was built by the Cadots in 1798, but there were others soon after.
     The first court-house was a frame building, erected and completed in 1817.  It was on Market street, between Front and Second streets.
     The first log school-house built outside of Alexandria was in what is now Porter Township, near Sciotoville; school taught in it by a Mr. Reed, from Virginia, in the winter of 1805-'06.
      John F. Smith ran the first ferry across the Scioto, from Alexandria.  This was when the mouth of the Scioto was a mile and over below its present mouth, known as the "Old Mouth." 
     The first school taught in Alexandria was by William Jones in the year 1800.
     The public Land-office opened in Chillicothe in 1801.
     The first marriage certificate of record reads "Oct. 5, 1802.  Joined together as husband and wife, Nathaniel Davisson and Betsey Kelley.  Kimber Barton, Justice of the Peace."

OIL EXCITEMENT, 1861.

 

A REMARKABLE TREE.

 

COMMON PLEAS.

 

COUNTY OFFICERS.

 

 

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