- Sketch of Colonel Barker's Life

COLONEL JOSEPH BARKER was born in New Market, New Hampshire, Sept. 9, 1765.  He was educated at Exeter Academy and afterward learned the trade of a carpenter.
     In 1789 he married Elizabeth Dana, daughter of Capt. William Dana, of Amherst, new Hampshire, and with his father-in-law came to the new settlement on the Muskingum.  Their mode of conveyance as far as Simrell's Fery was an ox team; at the ferry they were joined by Isaac Barker from Rhode Island and Thomas Stanley of Connecticut.  the three friends built a boat and in it floated down to Marietta.  Throughout the time of the Indian war, Colonel Barker remained at Marietta serving in the militia and working at his trade.
     In 1715 he moved up the Muskingum, about seven miles from Marietta.  The next winter his cabin, work-shop, store house and tools were destroyed by fire, also nearly all the provisions laid up for the year.  In that day the less represented the destruction of many thousand dollars in capital if we measure it by its importance to the owner.  Mr. Barker returned to Marietta and resumed work at his trade; building a house for Paul Fearing, for William Skinner, for Rev. Daniel Story and the  Blennerhassett mansion.  He returned to his farm on the Muskingum and began to build vessels.  In 1806 he built 15 boats for the famous Burr expedition.
     He was commissioned by Governor St. Clair as justice of the peace in 1799.  He also passed through the different grades, by promotion, in the militia until he became colonel of a regiment.  In 1830 he was elected associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas, an office which he continued to hold until declining health forced him to resign in 1842.  He died in September, 1843, aged 78 years.
     Colonel Barker left a son, Joseph, who was for many years an enterprising citizen of Newport township.
     Before his death Colonel Barker left in the care of Dr. S. P. Hildreth a volume of manuscripts describing men and scenes of the early

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day in and around Marietta.  From the manuscripts we have made selections which make up the remainder of this chapter: -

- The Early Courts

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- Store Supplies

     There were but few merchants, and those with limited capital; no one came here with property who could do better with it somewhere else; the price of calico was from $1 to $1.75; coffee 50 cents; tea -- young Hyson - $2; salt, from $4 to $5 a bushel; nails, 25 cents; sugar, we made ourselves - sugar trees were plenty, but metal to boil in was scarce and dear, so that many settlers labored under the want of kettles who otherwise might have gone far toward supporting their families.  When General Putnam was in New York, and obtained the grant for the "donation" lands, Lady Washington sent out a keg of loaf made from maple sugar to be distributed among the ladies of the officers of the Revolutionary Army residing in the Ohio Company's Purchase; the demand for kettles for making sugar induced traders to fetch them on, and although very dear, 10 and 12 cents per lb., still it was an advantage to procure them at that rate.

- Ship-building

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- The French Emigrants

- Indians Dissatisfied

     I was not in when the Indians were in for a treaty in 1788, and where they remained till the treaty was signed, the 9th of January, 1789.  I arrived in Marietta, November 1, 1789 I was informed (by the concurrent testimony of all the inhabitants) that the Indians came in dissatisfied and uncheerful to the

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- Scarcity of Food

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- Why the Indians did not Keep the Treaty of Harmar

     I am not enough acquainted with the relative transaction of the parties of that time to be able to make up anything like a correct opinion; but think it probable the reason may be found in the circumstances that the Western Indians were continually committing depredations on the south side of the Ohio River until the commencement of hostilities; that the Miamis and Wabash Indians utterly refused to come into the treaty, which was the cause of considerable difficulty between them and the Wyandots and Delawares, with a majority of

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- Building of the Block-houses

     Early in the summer, Capt. Jonathan Devol was employed in furnishing timber for the corner block-houses; he erected two saw-pits on the bank of the Muskingum, near the upper end of the present corn-field where a good spring comes out under the bank.  Two sets of sawyers were employed.  They furnished hewed poplar logs, which were whip-sawed into four inch planks, of which the block-houses were constructed.  He built a house for himself of the same material, on the south side of the Campus Martius, which received his family in the summer of 1789.  I presume "the Garrison" was begun in 1788, and finished in the summer of 1789, as it was apparently completed - that is, that part which was built by the Ohio Company - when I arrived, in November, 1789.  Governor St. Clair and his family arrived in January, 1790, and occupied the Southwest Block-house which was called the "'Governor's Block-house," which was finished with good, smooth, poplar floors, doors, casings, &c., and a brick chimney, with three fire-laces below, and three above.
     In August, 1790, I was employed by General Putnam with two hands, Owen and Flagg, to line the pickets between the houses, with four-inch ash stuff, pinned on to the pickets so high as to cover a an, perforated with embrasures convenient for a musket.  Likewise the plank of the block-houses had been sawed in a proper direction for embrasures which had not been cut out; they were cut out and filled with plugs, which could be taken out and put in as occasion required.  I moved into the Campus Martius the 1st of December, 1790, after which some further repairs were made.

- Big Bottom Massacre

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- Wolf Creek Mills

- Provisions for Defense

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- Indian Alarm

- The Garrison at "The Point"

     In the spring of 1792, a party of United States troops were stationed at "the Point." commanded by Lieutenant Tillinghast from Rhode Island, who erected the block-house, which, after the war, was occupied by the county as a court house and jail; it was built

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- Indian Troubles

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- First Enlistment of Men for the Indian War

     On General Harmar's being ordered to Cincinnati, about the 1Ist of September, 1790, the Secretary of War-—General Knox—directed Colonel Sproat to take charge of the public property left at Fort Harmar.  He en listed for one month into the United States service one sergeant, one corporal, and 12 privates to guard and preserve the public property in and about Fort Harmar: in order to induce these men to enlist, the Ohio Company advanced their wages, in addition to the pay of a United States soldier, to $8 per month, paid out of Greene & Meigs’ store, and when the men were discharged, they gave Colonel Sproat a power to draw their wages from the Paymaster-General, which was sent on by Charles Greene and brought out in goods.  This furnished a remittance to the merchant, and a footing to his store bill.  Half of this guard was stationed at Fort Harmar, and the other at the Campus Martins.  This was the first enlistment of men for the

[PICTURE of DEVOL'S DAM IN THE MUSKINGUM RIVER]

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Indian war.  About two months after, a full company was enlisted—officers and men— with three surgeons, and mates: these were distributed between the Campus Martius. “the Point."  Belpre, and Waterford.  The officers and surgeon's mates drew the same pay and rations from the United States as those of the same grade in their service, and the men the same as United States soldiers. made up by the Ohio Company to $8 per month.  Mr. Fearing was appointed commissary and supplied rations on a commutation to those who chose.  These enlistments were renewed every three months the first year.  To introduce a routine in the officers and men, after the first year, the Ohio Company stopped their addition to the pay of the soldiers, and they only received pay as United States troops and, al though the pay and rations of the soldiers was not more than $5 per month, yet there was a competition among the citizens for the berth, the means of getting money in any other way being extremely difficult.  The officers and surgeons mates continued to receive pay.  The spies—six in number—Henderson and Shenn at Marietta, McGoffe and ——at Waterford, Oakes and Delano at Belpre, and some occasional changes, received $1 and rations per day; these different sums constituted by far the greatest part of the circulating medium until the fall of 1792, when there was a demand for all the corn that could be spared to supply the commissary's department at Fort Washington, Cincinnati, preparatory to Wayne's march against the Indians, at 40 cents per bushel, delivered on the bank.  In the fall of 1793, large quantities, for the amount of settlement, were ex ported to Cincinnati. As the people worked in large parties and kept a sentinel and had escape an attack, they felt themselves tolerably secure from surprise, and almost every man had more or less of a cornfield for which he could get any kind of goods on credit or money by waiting till the return of the delivery of the corn.

- Cultivation of Land Encouraged

     The proprietors of land near the garrisons encouraged every person to clear, wholly or partially, and cultivate as much land as they had means to accomplish; in this way everyone found means of obtaining the few things absolutely necessary, and by 1793 the travel up and down the river, added to the immigration into the settlement, furnished a ready market and demand for all the surplus produce that could be spared from home consumption.  In the spring of 1793, Col. Alexander Oliver purchased four or five acres of land on the bank of the river at Belpre; he planted the 17th day of June, and in November I saw to the measure of 75 bushels of corn from the acre delivered into a boat belonging to Charles Reed to take to Cincinnati.

- Belpre

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- Upper and Lower Settlements

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proceeded to take it to pieces for the nails; as he was at work at the water's edge, two Indians and a negro shot him from the top of the bank; one with a large-bored musket; scalped him and took his clothes and tools.  They were not detected until he was found, and he related all the circumstances at Wayne's treaty.
     Early in the year 1794, a party of about 20 Indians and made a large bark canoe about 15 miles down the Ohio; in which they crossed over to the Virginia side, sunk their canoe under water beneath some willows, and set out to hunt some prey between the river and Clarksburg.  Taking the Little Kanawha in their route, they found a family by the name of Armstrong, living on the bank of the river, at the head of Blennerhassett's Island, about a male below the Little Kanawha.  The house stood immediately on the bank and a little garden, inclosed with a brush fence, on the other side; the Indians got on the fence and pressed down - the fence - to imitate cattle breaking over.  Armstrong got up, unbound the door, and went out; when within a rod of the fence, he saw the Indians jumping over; he hastened in and barred the door, but the Indians were close upon him; the door not being sufficiently strong, they beat it down with their tomahawks; the man and his wife crept into the loft, burst a hole through the roof of the cabin, and jumped out; the man made his escape; the woman broke her leg in striking the ground and was despatched with an ax; a boy about 10 years old, in the house, was taken prisoner; the rest - four or five girls and boys - were tomahawked and scalped.  One boy by the name of Hugh, whose brains were running over his face, was still creeping and moaning about the house - perfectly insensible, and who died that night.  Two sons - nearly men - were in a small floating mill anchored in the Ohio, and escaped without injury.

- Reminiscences of Prominent Persons of the Early Settlements

BENJAMIN IVES GILMAN
WINTHROP SARGENT
CAPT. JOSIAH MONROE
CAPT. WILLIAM MILLS
CAPT. WILLIAM KNOWLES
MAJ. COGGSWELL OLNEY and MAJ. ASA COBURN
MAJ. EZRA PUTNAM
CAPT. ENOCH SHEPARD
DUDLEY WOODBRIDGE, ESQ.
WILLIAM SKINNER, ESQ.
CHARLES GREENE

Belpre

     Let us now leave the city, with all its good and all its necessary evil, and its root of all evil, and its professions where the Judge tries all - the Lawyer pleads for all - the Sheriff hangs all - the Doctor cures all - the Merchant cheats all - the Mechanic works for all - and the Soldier fights for all - and go into the neighborhood where the farmers pay for all.

 MAJ. NATHAN GOODALE
CAPT. JONATHAN STONE
CAPT. JONATHAN DEVOL
CAPT. WILLIAM DANA
COL. EBENEZER BATTELLE
CAPT. NATHAN CUSHING
CAPT. ROLAND BRADFORD
CAPT. OLIVER RICE
CAPT. JONATHAN HASKELL
LIEUT. GEORGE INGERSOLL

     The following were prominent citizens of Belpre and of the county all in the month of March, 1790: -

COL. ISRAEL PUTNAM
MAJ. A. W. PUTNAM
GRIFFIN GREENE, ESQ.
DANIEL LORING
ISAAC PIERCE, ESQ.
COL.. ALEXANDER OLIVER
CAPT. BENJAMIN MILES
WILLIAM BROWNING
DEAN TYLER
WILLIAM GRAY
GILBERT DEVOL, ESQ.
BENJAMIN SHAW
BENJAMIN DANA

     Several other persons - Captain Davis for instance, father to a large family now scattered over the State.  A Mr. Barlow, brother to Joel Barlow, the poet and land agent, who died in France; this man was probably 60; he got a lot - now a part of the William Dana farm - built a cabin, cleared a field, and raised a crop; he lived by himself, refused to go into garrison, contending the Indians would never kill him while he had his Bible.  But the Indians came in the spring of 1791, early in the morning, and seeing a little hut, which they took to be solitary, they began to whoop and hallo; the old man, taking advantage of this warning, after losing faith in his Bible, fled to the river undiscovered, and crept out on a leaning sycamore over the water.  As the water was rising fast, it drove him into the top, and as he was out of hearing of the garrison, he had to stay until sometime next day before he got relief.  A party from the garrison, knowing that the Indians were in, went down to see if Mr. Barlow's Bible had been a protection; they found the Indians had been at the house, the Bible torn to pieces, his bed emptied and the bed clothes and other clothing taken away, with all other things of value; his pots and kettle broken and strewed about; they heard some one hallooing at the river and found him on the tree.  He immediately left for Vermont, where he was alive a few years ago, aged between 90 and 100.
 

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