2023 Mary Harris Prizes Essays Winners
Christine Sycks: Colonel William Simmons (1ST PLACE WINNER)
According to several historical authors, the land we now know as Ohio was a virtually untouched wilderness, full of ancient trees, wild game, and few, if any, human residents until after the 1730s. Knepper writes that Ohio lands were mostly left to the wild, with no permanent human settlements, until after 1730, when Indian tribes started looking for new places to hunt for food. The Delaware, or Lenni Lenape, were driven from Pennsylvania by both whites and Indians and settled near the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers (2). This untouched wilderness was what greeted the Ohio Company’s first arrivals, according to McCullough’s account, and was what they found as they settled near the mouth of the Muskingum River. The rivers were teeming with large fish and the woods were filled with wild turkeys, deer, otter, elk, buffalo, beaver, wolves, bear, and multitudes of squirrels. “But the measureless forest, the gigantic trees of every kind – hickory, beech, sycamore, tulip, ash, buckeye, oaks six feet in diameter that reached fifty feet before breaking out in branches – were the dominating reality” (45).
Into this new world, with its ancient wildernesses to the west and new colonies to the east, a baby was born whose choices in adulthood would thread their way through the new country’s history. One William Simmons, was born in 1757 in Newburg, New York. His English parents had come to the colonies in 1750 (Duling 33). Fischer relates that Simmons joined the Continental Army in 1775 at the age of 18 (84-52). What is to follow is a timeline of events and how this man’s life would not only be inextricably woven with the country’s early history, but would also make contributions to the Coshocton County area in the Ohio Territory where he would eventually make his home.
1776
NEW JERSEY: Simmons, who had already risen to the rank of Colonel, crossed the Delaware River with George Washington and commanded a brigade at the battle of Trenton. He and his fellow soldiers, under Washington’s command, surprised the enemy and helped to secure a victory (Duling 33).
“On the night of Christmas, December 25, 1776, Washington implemented an audacious plan that would improve the fortunes of the American forces. The general daringly led his men across the icy Delaware River and on a ten-mile march into Trenton, New Jersey, where they surprised a garrison of 1,500 Hessians. The American dominated the fight and prevailed again in Princeton a week later. In these battles, Washington demonstrated his ingenuity and resilience as a leader, won the loyalty of his soldiers, and revived the Continental Army” (Trenton Battle Facts).
Royster relates that Washington and his small force captured the Hessians during the battle, and, following the engagement at Princeton and the British leaving their New Jersey posts, the enlisted men extended their service time to pursue more victories and fight for the new country (118).
NEW YORK: Smith documents that the first time land was promised as payment to those serving during the Revolutionary War was in 1776. Land was to be given in varying numbers of acres depending upon the soldier’s rank. Under this first promise, Simmons would have been entitled to 500 acres as a colonel (Introduction viii).
“War Department procedure called first for the issuance of a certificate of military service to the veteran. These certificates were assignable, and many veterans sold them to speculators. Upon presentation of the certificates, properly assigned by the endorsement, the War Department then issued bounty-land warrants in the names of assignees, rather in the names of the veterans” (Smith Introduction x).
1785
NEW YORK: A new land law, the Land Ordinance of 1785, set up rules for the purchase of the western frontier, and established range, township, and section grids in the surveys that are still being used today (Butler 363).
“A ‘township’ theoretically contained 36 square miles, each a ‘section’. A square mile ‘section’ contains 640 acres, thus half and quarter sections contained 320 and 160 acres, respectively” (Butler 373).
The Ordinance also required a one-mile section in each township to be reserved for a public schools, the first federal aid to education. Section 16 of each township was chosen to be so dedicated as it was near the center of the township when the sections were numbered. It is interesting that this prioritizing of educating the children of this infant country predates the Constitution (Knepper 9).
1787
OHIO, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, ILLINOIS, AND WISCONSIN: The Northwest Ordinance had been created, and this new law set rules for what would eventually become five different states. The Confederation of the United States needed money and the organization, surveying and selling of Indian land was going to be one source. “The Indian nations of the west all disputed United States ownership of any of this land” (Butler 364).
NEW YORK: As part of what was to become the nation’s first presidential cabinet, George Washington selected Alexander Hamilton for secretary of the treasury and Henry Knox for secretary of war. Both Hamilton and Knox had served Washington in the Continental Army (Chervinsky 5).
1789
OHIO: According to McCullough, surveyor John Mathews and his party, including a number of soldiers, ventured into the wilderness to perform their duties in laying out the grid of the unsettled portion of Ohio. Mathews had been warned multiple times of hostilities toward surveyors and the threat of violence. The Indians knew these surveys were being done to allow more whites to come into the land. The Mathews party was attacked by what was thought to be a group of Shawnees and nine were killed. Mathews and three others fled to safety (75-76).
NEW YORK: Colonel William Simmons was one of five men chosen by Alexander Hamilton to help run the first U.S. Treasury Department. At one point, Simmons had extracted a promise from Hamilton that he would help Simmons continue to improve himself professionally and financially. Later, when Hamilton was bound to keep his promise to allow Simmons to advance to better paying jobs, he grudgingly wrote Washington “I have therefore had occasion to mention to you the merits of Mr. Simmons, the writer of the enclosed letter…He is well qualified…Inasmuch that I believe it will be very difficult to find one who has better pretentions” (Cullison 84-58). In addition to this glowing but reluctant reference, Simmons was described by others as quiet, gentlemanly, and an ardent Whig in politics (Hill 514).
1795
OHIO: After Major General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated the Native Americans at Fallen Timbers in 1794, the Treaty of Greenville was signed in 1795. The line that this treaty set restricted Ohio Indians to the north and west of the lands open to settlers (Knepper 6).
PENNSYLVANIA: Simmons was appointed for his first of two terms as the Department of War accountant by President Washington, and subsequently reappointed for a third term by President Adams (Duling 33).
1796
PENNSYLVANIA: In the Federal Land Series, Smith writes that Congress passed an act that required the U.S. Military District (USMD) lands be distributed in 4000 acre quarter- townships. In order for anyone to be able to file for a patent with the Treasury Department, the hopeful landowner would have to first secure bounty-land warrants that totalled 4000 acres.
Instead of the agents filing for a patent and then issuing the deed to the enlisted man to whom it originally belonged, as was the assumed intent of the Act, entrepreneurs and land speculators kept the acreage for themselves (Smith Introduction x). Simmons was apparently one of these speculators, in the end receiving and retaining more than his original promise of the number of acres due to a colonel. Knepper writes that, once the patent was filed, the owners of the 4000 acre tracts could retain or subdivide them in whatever allocation they deemed appropriate:
“One wonders why the original survey conformed so poorly to the actual size of veterans’ warrants. One explanation, it would seem, must center around Congress’ desire for speed in reconciling the veteran pay issue, and the practical problems of subdividing the land on a finer grid” (40).
Butler records that the USMD included more than 2.5 million acres and all of Coshocton County was part of it (374-375).
“About 1,000,000 acres were claimed by land warrants, most purchased by a few land jobbers from veterans. The unclaimed land was put up for sale in March 1803 as ‘Congress’ land at the land offices in Chillicothe and Zanesville” (Butler 375).
Butler also believes the USMD was a hindrance to the early settlement of Coshocton County because of the large minimum tract size requirements. These tracts took up 33 of a possible 88 quarter-townships (391-392). Of the little more than a million acres claimed by land warrant, nearly 570 thousand acres were patented to just 22 people, many of whom never spent any time on nor even visited their land (Knepper 41). Simmons, even though he seemingly fell into the land speculator or jobber category, was not one who completely ignored his patent.
1799
WASHINGTON: William Simmons had collected 32 land warrants for USMD lands at 100 acres each, plus one each of a 150, 200, and 450 acre warrants. With these separate tracts totalling 4000 acres, Simmons had collected enough bounty-land warrants to register with the Treasury Department for his land patent in Coshocton. The actual location size per the tract citation was 4237.2 acres. Not only had he collected enough for his own patent, he had also collected enough bounty-land warrants as an agent for one Edward D. Turner to register a patent for 4000 acres in another location (Smith 10-11). The ranks and acreages compiling Simmons’ patent were from enlisted men (100 acres), an ensign (150 acres), a lieutenant (200 acres), and a lieutenant colonel (450 acres) (Introduction viii).
1800
OHIO: Patenting of land in exchange for bounty-land began and the eastern half of the southern half of what is now Coshocton County’s Jefferson Township was formerly acquired by Colonel Simmons (Hill 513).
PENNSYLVANIA: The deed that was signed and later recorded in the Coshocton County Deed Records reads in part:
“John Adams President of the United States of America to all whosoever these presents shall come, greetings. Know ye that in pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the first day of June one thousand seven hundred and ninety six entitled as acts regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services and for the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the heathen and of the several acts supplementary hereto passed on the second day of March seventeen hundred ninety nine and on the eleventh day of February and first day of March eighteen hundred there is granted unto William Simmons a certain tract of land estimated to contain four thousand two hundred thirty seven and two tenths acres being the fourth quarter of the sixth township in the eighth range of the tract appropriated for satisfying warrants for military services surveyed and located in pursuance of the acts above recited. To have and to hold the said described tract of land with the appurtenances thereof unto the said William Simmons his heirs and assigns forever subject to the conditions restricting and provisions contained in the recited acts. In witness thereof the said John Adams President of the United States of America has caused the seal of the said United States to be hereunto affixed and signed with his hand at the City of Philadelphia the third day of April in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred” (63).
With this document, Colonel William Simmons became the legal owner of the more than 4000 acres that were to eventually be his retirement estate after he stepped away from his long career in public service.
1810
OHIO: Coshocton was established in 1810 and organized in 1811. The name “is an anglicized version of the Indian village ‘Goschachgunk’ or ‘Goschaching’, meaning ‘Black Bear Town’ or ‘where there is a river crossing’” (Knepper 75).
1819
OHIO: Hill related that Colonel William Simmons settled on his granted land, called “Simmons Section” around 1819. His family had brought a carriage with them, a rarity in the area, and they also brought several enslaved persons. The home farm was situated north of the Walhonding River (514). Besides the typical items brought along during a move westward to establish a household in the Ohio frontier, he and his family brought along “enough solid silver service to set a table for twenty people (Duling 33).” One-tenth of his land was immediately given to Zachus Biggs for the United Brethren Church (Cullison 84-59). This was apparently to fulfil the requirements to spread the Gospel as was included in his deed language.
1823
OHIO: Simmons built and founded an operating sawmill in Warsaw in 1823 and sold it a year later. “One of the old landmarks and vitally necessary institutions to early settlers of Warsaw and vicinity was the old grist and sawmill.” (Strome 7). He also started the area’s first post office, called Simmons Mills where he served as the only postmaster during its existence.
For sport, Simmons had built the first race track in the area in one of his pastures (Cullison 84- 59).
1825
OHIO: Colonel William Simmons died at around the age of 68 in 1825, just five or six years after moving onto his Coshocton County estate in Jefferson Township. He was buried on his land under a marble slab with pedestals, but the monument later disappeared (Duling 33). His grave remained unmarked until 1934, when the Daughters of American Revolution erected a marker, incorrectly designating him a private since no one at that time knew his proper rank (Fischer 84-52). According to Hill, Jefferson Township in Coshocton County was organized in 1826, the year following his death (513).
1831
OHIO: Even after his death, Colonel Simmons’ legacy contributed to the area. One of his sons, Charles W. Simmons, a West Point graduate, owned a Caldersburg hotel and ended up representing the county in the legislature in 1831 (Hill 514). As part of the state’s legislative body, the younger Simmons was instrumental in getting a ‘graded road’ that ran from Caldersburg (now Roscoe) to Mt. Vernon by way of Simmons Run, where he lived – the precursor to U.S. Highway 36 (Cullison 84-59)
1839
OHIO: In the 1839 Coshocton County Tax Duplicate, the earliest record on site at Coshocton’s Courthouse Annex, one of Colonel Simmons’ sons, William H., still owned more than 1000 acres of the original patent filed by his father (125).
1856
OHIO: Even more than twenty-five years after his arrival to the area, Coshocton County history was affected because of Simmons’ choice to utilize his land patent estate. An addition was made to a hotel on the corner of Main and Fifth Streets in Coshocton. “Aunt Letty Thomas” owned the “Railroad Eating House” that was located inside this addition. In 1819, when she was sixteen years old, Ms. Thomas was one of the several enslaved persons who were brought into the county by Colonel Simmons from Washington City. (Hill 430).
1973
OHIO: A group of seventh grade students at Warsaw formed a club called “Simmons Soldiers”. Under the leadership of their history teacher, they researched the life and service of Colonel Simmons. Their ultimate purpose was to discover and learn the history of this Revolutionary War Colonel and to raise funds for a roadside memorial. They succeeded in both goals and the memorial was erected in 1974 (Fischer 84-52).
2023
OHIO: So, should you find yourself travelling through the western part of modern day Coshocton County and are stopped at the intersection of Main and Bridge Streets in the Village of Warsaw, glance over to the northeast corner. There you will find Ohio Historical Marker 2-16 and be reminded of Colonel Simmons’ remarkable contributions to our country’s history during its infancy. You can now also bring to mind his enterprises and legacy that helped build Jefferson Township and Coshocton County during their earliest years.
Cullison eloquently summarized Colonel William Simmons’ life when she wrote in her article:
“He [Simmons] served the federal government for 40 years under the first four presidents, in all three United States capitols, and under two forms of government, before retiring to Ohio…While he lived, he gave 45 years to the birth and toddling infancy of a now powerful nation. In retirement he helped settle the Ohio wilderness, bringing in culture, education and refinement. In death, he left a legacy matched only by those who rise to the challenge of ever-rising frontiers” (84-58 – 84-59).
Then, as you go on your way to your intended destination from the marker’s site, ponder the long path filled with public service that brought Colonel William Simmons to Coshocton County and what contributions he has made to area. Then, marvel at what legacy your life’s choices may leave behind for future generations and what tremendous contributions you may facilitate. If you are unsure that you can make a difference, remember that a wise man once wrote, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (The Bible, Prov. 16:9).
Works Cited
The Bible. New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Butler, Scott E. Frontier History of Coshocton County, Carlisle Printing, 2020.
Chervinsky, Lindsay M. The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, Cambridge, MA, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
Coshocton County Deed Records, Vol. A. 1800, p. 63.
Coshocton County Tax Duplicate, 1839, p. 125.
Cullison, Jo. “Early Settler – Colonel William Simmons.” Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, pp. 84-58 – 84-59.
Duling, H. L. “Early Settlers of Jefferson Township.” 1934. Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, pp. 29-33.
Fischer, Franklin J. “Cemeteries and Burial Plats in Warsaw Community.” Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, pp. 84-52.
Hill, Norman Newell, Jr. History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Newark, OH, A. A. Graham & Co, 1881.
Knepper, George W. The Official Ohio Lands Book, The Auditor of State, 2002. McCullough, David. The Pioneers, New York, NY, Simon & Schuster, 2019.
Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783, 1980, The University of North Carolina Press, 1986.
Shaw, L. C. “Col. William Simmons.” 1934. Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, p. 33.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Federal Land Series: a Calendar of Archival Materials on the Land Patents Issued by the United States Government, with Subject, Tract, and Name Indexes, Vol. 2, American Library Association, 1973.
Strome, Russell. “The Strome Grist and Saw Mill.” 1934. Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, p. 7.
Trenton Battle Facts and Summary. American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/ revolutionary-war/battles/trenton. Accessed 29 October 2023.
Into this new world, with its ancient wildernesses to the west and new colonies to the east, a baby was born whose choices in adulthood would thread their way through the new country’s history. One William Simmons, was born in 1757 in Newburg, New York. His English parents had come to the colonies in 1750 (Duling 33). Fischer relates that Simmons joined the Continental Army in 1775 at the age of 18 (84-52). What is to follow is a timeline of events and how this man’s life would not only be inextricably woven with the country’s early history, but would also make contributions to the Coshocton County area in the Ohio Territory where he would eventually make his home.
1776
NEW JERSEY: Simmons, who had already risen to the rank of Colonel, crossed the Delaware River with George Washington and commanded a brigade at the battle of Trenton. He and his fellow soldiers, under Washington’s command, surprised the enemy and helped to secure a victory (Duling 33).
“On the night of Christmas, December 25, 1776, Washington implemented an audacious plan that would improve the fortunes of the American forces. The general daringly led his men across the icy Delaware River and on a ten-mile march into Trenton, New Jersey, where they surprised a garrison of 1,500 Hessians. The American dominated the fight and prevailed again in Princeton a week later. In these battles, Washington demonstrated his ingenuity and resilience as a leader, won the loyalty of his soldiers, and revived the Continental Army” (Trenton Battle Facts).
Royster relates that Washington and his small force captured the Hessians during the battle, and, following the engagement at Princeton and the British leaving their New Jersey posts, the enlisted men extended their service time to pursue more victories and fight for the new country (118).
NEW YORK: Smith documents that the first time land was promised as payment to those serving during the Revolutionary War was in 1776. Land was to be given in varying numbers of acres depending upon the soldier’s rank. Under this first promise, Simmons would have been entitled to 500 acres as a colonel (Introduction viii).
“War Department procedure called first for the issuance of a certificate of military service to the veteran. These certificates were assignable, and many veterans sold them to speculators. Upon presentation of the certificates, properly assigned by the endorsement, the War Department then issued bounty-land warrants in the names of assignees, rather in the names of the veterans” (Smith Introduction x).
1785
NEW YORK: A new land law, the Land Ordinance of 1785, set up rules for the purchase of the western frontier, and established range, township, and section grids in the surveys that are still being used today (Butler 363).
“A ‘township’ theoretically contained 36 square miles, each a ‘section’. A square mile ‘section’ contains 640 acres, thus half and quarter sections contained 320 and 160 acres, respectively” (Butler 373).
The Ordinance also required a one-mile section in each township to be reserved for a public schools, the first federal aid to education. Section 16 of each township was chosen to be so dedicated as it was near the center of the township when the sections were numbered. It is interesting that this prioritizing of educating the children of this infant country predates the Constitution (Knepper 9).
1787
OHIO, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, ILLINOIS, AND WISCONSIN: The Northwest Ordinance had been created, and this new law set rules for what would eventually become five different states. The Confederation of the United States needed money and the organization, surveying and selling of Indian land was going to be one source. “The Indian nations of the west all disputed United States ownership of any of this land” (Butler 364).
NEW YORK: As part of what was to become the nation’s first presidential cabinet, George Washington selected Alexander Hamilton for secretary of the treasury and Henry Knox for secretary of war. Both Hamilton and Knox had served Washington in the Continental Army (Chervinsky 5).
1789
OHIO: According to McCullough, surveyor John Mathews and his party, including a number of soldiers, ventured into the wilderness to perform their duties in laying out the grid of the unsettled portion of Ohio. Mathews had been warned multiple times of hostilities toward surveyors and the threat of violence. The Indians knew these surveys were being done to allow more whites to come into the land. The Mathews party was attacked by what was thought to be a group of Shawnees and nine were killed. Mathews and three others fled to safety (75-76).
NEW YORK: Colonel William Simmons was one of five men chosen by Alexander Hamilton to help run the first U.S. Treasury Department. At one point, Simmons had extracted a promise from Hamilton that he would help Simmons continue to improve himself professionally and financially. Later, when Hamilton was bound to keep his promise to allow Simmons to advance to better paying jobs, he grudgingly wrote Washington “I have therefore had occasion to mention to you the merits of Mr. Simmons, the writer of the enclosed letter…He is well qualified…Inasmuch that I believe it will be very difficult to find one who has better pretentions” (Cullison 84-58). In addition to this glowing but reluctant reference, Simmons was described by others as quiet, gentlemanly, and an ardent Whig in politics (Hill 514).
1795
OHIO: After Major General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated the Native Americans at Fallen Timbers in 1794, the Treaty of Greenville was signed in 1795. The line that this treaty set restricted Ohio Indians to the north and west of the lands open to settlers (Knepper 6).
PENNSYLVANIA: Simmons was appointed for his first of two terms as the Department of War accountant by President Washington, and subsequently reappointed for a third term by President Adams (Duling 33).
1796
PENNSYLVANIA: In the Federal Land Series, Smith writes that Congress passed an act that required the U.S. Military District (USMD) lands be distributed in 4000 acre quarter- townships. In order for anyone to be able to file for a patent with the Treasury Department, the hopeful landowner would have to first secure bounty-land warrants that totalled 4000 acres.
Instead of the agents filing for a patent and then issuing the deed to the enlisted man to whom it originally belonged, as was the assumed intent of the Act, entrepreneurs and land speculators kept the acreage for themselves (Smith Introduction x). Simmons was apparently one of these speculators, in the end receiving and retaining more than his original promise of the number of acres due to a colonel. Knepper writes that, once the patent was filed, the owners of the 4000 acre tracts could retain or subdivide them in whatever allocation they deemed appropriate:
“One wonders why the original survey conformed so poorly to the actual size of veterans’ warrants. One explanation, it would seem, must center around Congress’ desire for speed in reconciling the veteran pay issue, and the practical problems of subdividing the land on a finer grid” (40).
Butler records that the USMD included more than 2.5 million acres and all of Coshocton County was part of it (374-375).
“About 1,000,000 acres were claimed by land warrants, most purchased by a few land jobbers from veterans. The unclaimed land was put up for sale in March 1803 as ‘Congress’ land at the land offices in Chillicothe and Zanesville” (Butler 375).
Butler also believes the USMD was a hindrance to the early settlement of Coshocton County because of the large minimum tract size requirements. These tracts took up 33 of a possible 88 quarter-townships (391-392). Of the little more than a million acres claimed by land warrant, nearly 570 thousand acres were patented to just 22 people, many of whom never spent any time on nor even visited their land (Knepper 41). Simmons, even though he seemingly fell into the land speculator or jobber category, was not one who completely ignored his patent.
1799
WASHINGTON: William Simmons had collected 32 land warrants for USMD lands at 100 acres each, plus one each of a 150, 200, and 450 acre warrants. With these separate tracts totalling 4000 acres, Simmons had collected enough bounty-land warrants to register with the Treasury Department for his land patent in Coshocton. The actual location size per the tract citation was 4237.2 acres. Not only had he collected enough for his own patent, he had also collected enough bounty-land warrants as an agent for one Edward D. Turner to register a patent for 4000 acres in another location (Smith 10-11). The ranks and acreages compiling Simmons’ patent were from enlisted men (100 acres), an ensign (150 acres), a lieutenant (200 acres), and a lieutenant colonel (450 acres) (Introduction viii).
1800
OHIO: Patenting of land in exchange for bounty-land began and the eastern half of the southern half of what is now Coshocton County’s Jefferson Township was formerly acquired by Colonel Simmons (Hill 513).
PENNSYLVANIA: The deed that was signed and later recorded in the Coshocton County Deed Records reads in part:
“John Adams President of the United States of America to all whosoever these presents shall come, greetings. Know ye that in pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the first day of June one thousand seven hundred and ninety six entitled as acts regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services and for the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the heathen and of the several acts supplementary hereto passed on the second day of March seventeen hundred ninety nine and on the eleventh day of February and first day of March eighteen hundred there is granted unto William Simmons a certain tract of land estimated to contain four thousand two hundred thirty seven and two tenths acres being the fourth quarter of the sixth township in the eighth range of the tract appropriated for satisfying warrants for military services surveyed and located in pursuance of the acts above recited. To have and to hold the said described tract of land with the appurtenances thereof unto the said William Simmons his heirs and assigns forever subject to the conditions restricting and provisions contained in the recited acts. In witness thereof the said John Adams President of the United States of America has caused the seal of the said United States to be hereunto affixed and signed with his hand at the City of Philadelphia the third day of April in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred” (63).
With this document, Colonel William Simmons became the legal owner of the more than 4000 acres that were to eventually be his retirement estate after he stepped away from his long career in public service.
1810
OHIO: Coshocton was established in 1810 and organized in 1811. The name “is an anglicized version of the Indian village ‘Goschachgunk’ or ‘Goschaching’, meaning ‘Black Bear Town’ or ‘where there is a river crossing’” (Knepper 75).
1819
OHIO: Hill related that Colonel William Simmons settled on his granted land, called “Simmons Section” around 1819. His family had brought a carriage with them, a rarity in the area, and they also brought several enslaved persons. The home farm was situated north of the Walhonding River (514). Besides the typical items brought along during a move westward to establish a household in the Ohio frontier, he and his family brought along “enough solid silver service to set a table for twenty people (Duling 33).” One-tenth of his land was immediately given to Zachus Biggs for the United Brethren Church (Cullison 84-59). This was apparently to fulfil the requirements to spread the Gospel as was included in his deed language.
1823
OHIO: Simmons built and founded an operating sawmill in Warsaw in 1823 and sold it a year later. “One of the old landmarks and vitally necessary institutions to early settlers of Warsaw and vicinity was the old grist and sawmill.” (Strome 7). He also started the area’s first post office, called Simmons Mills where he served as the only postmaster during its existence.
For sport, Simmons had built the first race track in the area in one of his pastures (Cullison 84- 59).
1825
OHIO: Colonel William Simmons died at around the age of 68 in 1825, just five or six years after moving onto his Coshocton County estate in Jefferson Township. He was buried on his land under a marble slab with pedestals, but the monument later disappeared (Duling 33). His grave remained unmarked until 1934, when the Daughters of American Revolution erected a marker, incorrectly designating him a private since no one at that time knew his proper rank (Fischer 84-52). According to Hill, Jefferson Township in Coshocton County was organized in 1826, the year following his death (513).
1831
OHIO: Even after his death, Colonel Simmons’ legacy contributed to the area. One of his sons, Charles W. Simmons, a West Point graduate, owned a Caldersburg hotel and ended up representing the county in the legislature in 1831 (Hill 514). As part of the state’s legislative body, the younger Simmons was instrumental in getting a ‘graded road’ that ran from Caldersburg (now Roscoe) to Mt. Vernon by way of Simmons Run, where he lived – the precursor to U.S. Highway 36 (Cullison 84-59)
1839
OHIO: In the 1839 Coshocton County Tax Duplicate, the earliest record on site at Coshocton’s Courthouse Annex, one of Colonel Simmons’ sons, William H., still owned more than 1000 acres of the original patent filed by his father (125).
1856
OHIO: Even more than twenty-five years after his arrival to the area, Coshocton County history was affected because of Simmons’ choice to utilize his land patent estate. An addition was made to a hotel on the corner of Main and Fifth Streets in Coshocton. “Aunt Letty Thomas” owned the “Railroad Eating House” that was located inside this addition. In 1819, when she was sixteen years old, Ms. Thomas was one of the several enslaved persons who were brought into the county by Colonel Simmons from Washington City. (Hill 430).
1973
OHIO: A group of seventh grade students at Warsaw formed a club called “Simmons Soldiers”. Under the leadership of their history teacher, they researched the life and service of Colonel Simmons. Their ultimate purpose was to discover and learn the history of this Revolutionary War Colonel and to raise funds for a roadside memorial. They succeeded in both goals and the memorial was erected in 1974 (Fischer 84-52).
2023
OHIO: So, should you find yourself travelling through the western part of modern day Coshocton County and are stopped at the intersection of Main and Bridge Streets in the Village of Warsaw, glance over to the northeast corner. There you will find Ohio Historical Marker 2-16 and be reminded of Colonel Simmons’ remarkable contributions to our country’s history during its infancy. You can now also bring to mind his enterprises and legacy that helped build Jefferson Township and Coshocton County during their earliest years.
Cullison eloquently summarized Colonel William Simmons’ life when she wrote in her article:
“He [Simmons] served the federal government for 40 years under the first four presidents, in all three United States capitols, and under two forms of government, before retiring to Ohio…While he lived, he gave 45 years to the birth and toddling infancy of a now powerful nation. In retirement he helped settle the Ohio wilderness, bringing in culture, education and refinement. In death, he left a legacy matched only by those who rise to the challenge of ever-rising frontiers” (84-58 – 84-59).
Then, as you go on your way to your intended destination from the marker’s site, ponder the long path filled with public service that brought Colonel William Simmons to Coshocton County and what contributions he has made to area. Then, marvel at what legacy your life’s choices may leave behind for future generations and what tremendous contributions you may facilitate. If you are unsure that you can make a difference, remember that a wise man once wrote, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (The Bible, Prov. 16:9).
Works Cited
The Bible. New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Butler, Scott E. Frontier History of Coshocton County, Carlisle Printing, 2020.
Chervinsky, Lindsay M. The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, Cambridge, MA, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020.
Coshocton County Deed Records, Vol. A. 1800, p. 63.
Coshocton County Tax Duplicate, 1839, p. 125.
Cullison, Jo. “Early Settler – Colonel William Simmons.” Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, pp. 84-58 – 84-59.
Duling, H. L. “Early Settlers of Jefferson Township.” 1934. Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, pp. 29-33.
Fischer, Franklin J. “Cemeteries and Burial Plats in Warsaw Community.” Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, pp. 84-52.
Hill, Norman Newell, Jr. History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Newark, OH, A. A. Graham & Co, 1881.
Knepper, George W. The Official Ohio Lands Book, The Auditor of State, 2002. McCullough, David. The Pioneers, New York, NY, Simon & Schuster, 2019.
Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783, 1980, The University of North Carolina Press, 1986.
Shaw, L. C. “Col. William Simmons.” 1934. Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, p. 33.
Smith, Clifford Neal. Federal Land Series: a Calendar of Archival Materials on the Land Patents Issued by the United States Government, with Subject, Tract, and Name Indexes, Vol. 2, American Library Association, 1973.
Strome, Russell. “The Strome Grist and Saw Mill.” 1934. Historical Collections II Warsaw and the Walhonding Valley, Warsaw Sesquicentennial 1834-1984, edited by William H. Bucklew, Warsaw Business Association, 1984, p. 7.
Trenton Battle Facts and Summary. American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/ revolutionary-war/battles/trenton. Accessed 29 October 2023.
Tom Edwards: William Green 1870 - 1952 Coshocton, OH (2nd Place Winner)
The Ohio Historical Society makes use of bronze plaques throughout the state highlighting the accomplishments of distinguished residents in a county. This plaque outside the Coshocton County Courthouse is about William Green.
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) maintains Memorial Highway signs honoring residents too. ODOT signs are erected and maintained as part of a legislative process. Ohio Representative Republican Joy Padgett introduced House Bill 287 in 1999 to start that process of naming part of State Route 16 the William Green Memorial Highway.
Representative Padgett received some resistance from the Republican controlled House and Senate because William Green was a staunch pro Union Democrat. She convinced the legislators that William Green had a lifetime of accomplishments by reaching across the aisle and working with Republicans. Bill 287 passed both houses and Republican Governor Bob Taft signed into law the William Green Memorial Highway Act.
The tallest government building in Ohio’s Capital, Columbus, is named The William Green Building, AKA the Workers Compensation Building.
The tallest government building in Ohio’s Capital, Columbus, is named The William Green Building, AKA the Workers Compensation Building.
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In the atrium is a bust and short biography of William Green.
I learned that William Green was a Baptist of Welsh Heritage. I, too, am of Welsh heritage and some of my family were Baptist. So began my quest to find out why the Greens, like the Edwards, left Wales.
Many Europeans immigrated to America after studying the book “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville. Tocqueville was an emissary from France who traveled and wrote a book about this new form of government. His book was one of the factors in leading the European migration to America in the 1800s.
Tocqueville also wrote that the common man enjoyed a level of dignity not enjoyed in Europe. The ownership of land by not abiding by Primogeniture when passing on, and earned wealth were other reasons for people to come to America.
Tocqueville said about religion: “There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America”.
There was a lack of religious freedom in Wales in the 1800s. The Church of England required everyone to pay a tithe to the Anglican Church even if you were non-conformist. Welsh farmers that were non-conformist (Baptist and Methodist and others) could only rent the farmland, rather than own land; they could not hold an elective office; and their children could not enroll in elite English Colleges in Cambridge or Oxford. For wills, grants, and estates, you had to show proof of birth and marriage certificates in the Anglican Church.
Non-conformists learned of great opportunities in letters about America from relatives that processed through Ellis Island, New York. They read that the many skills Welch possessed were in demand in the American: iron foundries, coal mines, basket weaving, masonry work on canals, blacksmith and tailor, they all could earn enough to buy their own land.
One such letter of a Welsh immigrant writing to the folks back home was the man named John Johns who lived in Perry Township in Ohio in a Welsh community. He wrote back to his brother that in Ohio the water is clean and soft to drink and better for quenching the thirst than beer.
In 1832 Thomas Palmer of Pomeroy, Ohio wrote to a friend back in Wales about being a farmhand. He sat at the same table eating the same food as the owners and he would soon earn enough money to buy cows and to have his own farm.
In 1831 John Davis wrote to his family in Wales that weavers can earn enough to buy a farm. The Welsh were known for making baskets because the Wales climate was optimal for growing willow wood. Welsh (ware) Cyntell farm baskets were used all over Europe for carrying feed, potatoes, and fruit. Dresden, Ohio in the late 1800s was home of the Dresden Basket Company making baskets for the area pottery industry. Closed during the Great Depression, one former employee, John Longaberger and wife bought the assets to form The Ohio Ware Basket Company. His grandson Dave was instrumental in the decorative baskets and the direct sales basket parties (Longaberger Basket Company). The Ohio Ware Basket Company also produced a tobacco marketing basket that farmers used to display the tied hands of light and dark burley tobacco leaves for presentation to the traveling buyers from American Tobacco (Duke) or Phillip Morris. The tobacco baskets were used in the four Ohio Counties that had tobacco allotments as we had in Kentucky where our family tobacco farm was located.
The United States government put tariffs on imported goods to make immigration to America even more attractive. The tariffs were instituted by Secretary of the Treasury, Samuel Meredith, a Quaker whose family came to America from Wales to escape religious persecution. These tariffs brought revenue to the government that the Whiskey Tax of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton never achieved. Tariffs on imported pottery caused many Welsh potters to immigrate to East Liverpool, Ohio and work in one of the twenty-four Potteries in the 1800s.
Samuel Jones’ parents immigrated from Wales. At age eighteen he found his way into the new oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He worked in the oil fields, designed a mechanical invention for which he obtained a patent for in 1894 for a new variety of pumping rod for deep well oil drilling called a sucker rod. He worked with another fellow to establish Ohio Oil which later became Standard Oil; the other fellow was John D. Rockefeller of English descent and a devout Baptist.
The years 1817 to 1821 saw a large migration of laborers from Wales, Ireland, and Germany to build the Erie Canal in New York. Many of the Welsh were masons by trade and they worked on the locks that raised and lowered the water level. They also came and worked on the Ohio Erie Canal locks in Coshocton.
Religion freedom brought immigrants to the Original Colonies and Welshmen were involved in our founding as a nation. Francis Lewis was born in Wales in 1713 and was a signator of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were of Welsh heritage and they were instrumental in incorporating into the Constitution the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise”.
When the Anthracite coal was being developed in Pennsylvania many Welshmen came over to work those mines. After the mines were up and running the Welshmen moved further west and Polish and Eastern European laborers were brought in because they worked for less.
Lori Porter a Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio professor researched and wrote a book titled “The Immigrant Cocoon in Cambridge Ohio Coal Fields”. She writes of a Welsh community in Pleasant City, Ohio in 1888. One such coal mine operator, William Davis was Welsh and a Baptist.
In Scranton, Pennsylvania late 1800s the Welsh oversaw the new anthracite coal mines. It was noted by a Judge in Lackawanna County “no race ever comes to America that gets into the American spirit more quickly than a Welshman”.
Bob Evans, the sausage merchant who established a chain of “down on the farm” restaurants in Mid-America that bears his name, can trace his Welsh heritage to 1839 and Gallipolis, Ohio. The nearby Rio Grande University has a Welsh Heritage Department focused on Welsh in southern Ohio.
In 1794 a radical Welsh Baptist minister John Rhymes immigrated to the Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania and established a Welsh town he named Beula. He preached the principles of the French Revolution, against slavery, and in favor of government reform. In 1801, some members of that town resettled in Patty Run, Ohio. They established a Welsh settlement there of Baptist and Quakers.
Prior to 1825 most Baptist preachers in Coshocton County rode a circuit and preached in various dwellings and in schoolhouses. The first Baptist Church built in Coshocton County was in White Eyes Township on November 5, 1825. Looking at the various Baptist Churches that followed (Keene, Chestnut Hill, Canal Lewisville, Monroe Township, Jefferson Township, Perry Township, Adams Township, Pleasant Hill, and Clark) the surnames of the preachers indicated most were English or Welsh.
In 1876 with a population of 23,000 Coshocton County had 45 drugstores, saloons, and taverns. Drug stores in that era sold what we now consider illicit drugs (Coca-Cola was started by a pharmacist in Atlanta using cocaine). Frontier Ohio had a culture that rightly fed the Temperance movement. In Coshocton County, the Methodist and Baptist preachers formed a Bible Society to tame the frontier culture.
In 1879, Coshocton City Baptist Church was founded; their current building on Chestnut St. was built in 1915. Their stained-glass window with the words
“come on to me all ye that labor” Mathew 11:28 was installed and dedicated in 1957 in memory of Welshman Hugh Green’s son William Green, which we will discuss in this essay. Make note of the word “Labor”.
I learned that William Green was a Baptist of Welsh Heritage. I, too, am of Welsh heritage and some of my family were Baptist. So began my quest to find out why the Greens, like the Edwards, left Wales.
Many Europeans immigrated to America after studying the book “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville. Tocqueville was an emissary from France who traveled and wrote a book about this new form of government. His book was one of the factors in leading the European migration to America in the 1800s.
Tocqueville also wrote that the common man enjoyed a level of dignity not enjoyed in Europe. The ownership of land by not abiding by Primogeniture when passing on, and earned wealth were other reasons for people to come to America.
Tocqueville said about religion: “There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America”.
There was a lack of religious freedom in Wales in the 1800s. The Church of England required everyone to pay a tithe to the Anglican Church even if you were non-conformist. Welsh farmers that were non-conformist (Baptist and Methodist and others) could only rent the farmland, rather than own land; they could not hold an elective office; and their children could not enroll in elite English Colleges in Cambridge or Oxford. For wills, grants, and estates, you had to show proof of birth and marriage certificates in the Anglican Church.
Non-conformists learned of great opportunities in letters about America from relatives that processed through Ellis Island, New York. They read that the many skills Welch possessed were in demand in the American: iron foundries, coal mines, basket weaving, masonry work on canals, blacksmith and tailor, they all could earn enough to buy their own land.
One such letter of a Welsh immigrant writing to the folks back home was the man named John Johns who lived in Perry Township in Ohio in a Welsh community. He wrote back to his brother that in Ohio the water is clean and soft to drink and better for quenching the thirst than beer.
In 1832 Thomas Palmer of Pomeroy, Ohio wrote to a friend back in Wales about being a farmhand. He sat at the same table eating the same food as the owners and he would soon earn enough money to buy cows and to have his own farm.
In 1831 John Davis wrote to his family in Wales that weavers can earn enough to buy a farm. The Welsh were known for making baskets because the Wales climate was optimal for growing willow wood. Welsh (ware) Cyntell farm baskets were used all over Europe for carrying feed, potatoes, and fruit. Dresden, Ohio in the late 1800s was home of the Dresden Basket Company making baskets for the area pottery industry. Closed during the Great Depression, one former employee, John Longaberger and wife bought the assets to form The Ohio Ware Basket Company. His grandson Dave was instrumental in the decorative baskets and the direct sales basket parties (Longaberger Basket Company). The Ohio Ware Basket Company also produced a tobacco marketing basket that farmers used to display the tied hands of light and dark burley tobacco leaves for presentation to the traveling buyers from American Tobacco (Duke) or Phillip Morris. The tobacco baskets were used in the four Ohio Counties that had tobacco allotments as we had in Kentucky where our family tobacco farm was located.
The United States government put tariffs on imported goods to make immigration to America even more attractive. The tariffs were instituted by Secretary of the Treasury, Samuel Meredith, a Quaker whose family came to America from Wales to escape religious persecution. These tariffs brought revenue to the government that the Whiskey Tax of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton never achieved. Tariffs on imported pottery caused many Welsh potters to immigrate to East Liverpool, Ohio and work in one of the twenty-four Potteries in the 1800s.
Samuel Jones’ parents immigrated from Wales. At age eighteen he found his way into the new oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He worked in the oil fields, designed a mechanical invention for which he obtained a patent for in 1894 for a new variety of pumping rod for deep well oil drilling called a sucker rod. He worked with another fellow to establish Ohio Oil which later became Standard Oil; the other fellow was John D. Rockefeller of English descent and a devout Baptist.
The years 1817 to 1821 saw a large migration of laborers from Wales, Ireland, and Germany to build the Erie Canal in New York. Many of the Welsh were masons by trade and they worked on the locks that raised and lowered the water level. They also came and worked on the Ohio Erie Canal locks in Coshocton.
Religion freedom brought immigrants to the Original Colonies and Welshmen were involved in our founding as a nation. Francis Lewis was born in Wales in 1713 and was a signator of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were of Welsh heritage and they were instrumental in incorporating into the Constitution the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise”.
When the Anthracite coal was being developed in Pennsylvania many Welshmen came over to work those mines. After the mines were up and running the Welshmen moved further west and Polish and Eastern European laborers were brought in because they worked for less.
Lori Porter a Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio professor researched and wrote a book titled “The Immigrant Cocoon in Cambridge Ohio Coal Fields”. She writes of a Welsh community in Pleasant City, Ohio in 1888. One such coal mine operator, William Davis was Welsh and a Baptist.
In Scranton, Pennsylvania late 1800s the Welsh oversaw the new anthracite coal mines. It was noted by a Judge in Lackawanna County “no race ever comes to America that gets into the American spirit more quickly than a Welshman”.
Bob Evans, the sausage merchant who established a chain of “down on the farm” restaurants in Mid-America that bears his name, can trace his Welsh heritage to 1839 and Gallipolis, Ohio. The nearby Rio Grande University has a Welsh Heritage Department focused on Welsh in southern Ohio.
In 1794 a radical Welsh Baptist minister John Rhymes immigrated to the Allegheny mountains in Pennsylvania and established a Welsh town he named Beula. He preached the principles of the French Revolution, against slavery, and in favor of government reform. In 1801, some members of that town resettled in Patty Run, Ohio. They established a Welsh settlement there of Baptist and Quakers.
Prior to 1825 most Baptist preachers in Coshocton County rode a circuit and preached in various dwellings and in schoolhouses. The first Baptist Church built in Coshocton County was in White Eyes Township on November 5, 1825. Looking at the various Baptist Churches that followed (Keene, Chestnut Hill, Canal Lewisville, Monroe Township, Jefferson Township, Perry Township, Adams Township, Pleasant Hill, and Clark) the surnames of the preachers indicated most were English or Welsh.
In 1876 with a population of 23,000 Coshocton County had 45 drugstores, saloons, and taverns. Drug stores in that era sold what we now consider illicit drugs (Coca-Cola was started by a pharmacist in Atlanta using cocaine). Frontier Ohio had a culture that rightly fed the Temperance movement. In Coshocton County, the Methodist and Baptist preachers formed a Bible Society to tame the frontier culture.
In 1879, Coshocton City Baptist Church was founded; their current building on Chestnut St. was built in 1915. Their stained-glass window with the words
“come on to me all ye that labor” Mathew 11:28 was installed and dedicated in 1957 in memory of Welshman Hugh Green’s son William Green, which we will discuss in this essay. Make note of the word “Labor”.
Many Welsh coal miners had in their dreams to earn enough money mining coal and buy land and farm. Hugh and Jane Green arrived at New York’s Ellis Island in April 1869. Hugh was of English descent working in a Welsh coal mine and his wife was Welsh. They came directly to The Coshocton Coal Company to mine coal. They became naturalized citizens in 1876. In the 1880 census, they both listed Wales as their birth country. Hugh was illiterate and a devout Baptist. His dreams were to make enough money in the coal mines to escape the coal company stores and housing and buy a small farm and a house.
The Welsh coal miners were more involved in safety and unionism than other immigrants like the eastern Europeans. The 1872 report about coal mining to Ohio Governor Hayes; John Horton, a coal mining inspector testified that the mines in Coshocton and Muskingum County lacked adequate ventilation and they needed more inspections. He also noted that boys under 12 were working in a Coshocton Coal Company Mine.
Some of the bigger coal companies even had recruiters at Ellis Island to bring illiterate immigrants to coal fields of Kentucky and West Virginia hoping they would not have the language skills or the inclination to join a union.
Hugh’s son William, born in 1870, was a breaker boy at 16 years of age when he dropped out of school. A breaker boy separates by hand, the impurities from coal. William was frugal as a young man, while other kids spent money on glass marbles, William used oak acorns to play the game of marbles. His family was deeply religious and attended the Coshocton First Baptist Church. William developed his oratorical skills at church social debates. The Church was everything in their family, social, moral, their guiding light.
William’s debate skills honed at church helped him start a coal miners’ union at Morgan Run Coal Company to right some for the shenanigans and unsafe practices the coal company was forcing on the miners. William’s Uncle Joseph started mining coal at age 12 in Wales, immigrated to Coshocton and died in an accident in Coshocton October 23, 1907. There was no retirement back then, and Joe at age 65 had poor eyesight. This led to not seeing a charge had a lit fuse. Joe went to check, the fuse was lit and reached the charge causing the explosion. He was crushed under rock and mine ceiling debris. The Coshocton Coal Miners Memorial at the Court House has 53 other names of Coshocton miners killed in mine accidents.
The Welsh coal miners were more involved in safety and unionism than other immigrants like the eastern Europeans. The 1872 report about coal mining to Ohio Governor Hayes; John Horton, a coal mining inspector testified that the mines in Coshocton and Muskingum County lacked adequate ventilation and they needed more inspections. He also noted that boys under 12 were working in a Coshocton Coal Company Mine.
Some of the bigger coal companies even had recruiters at Ellis Island to bring illiterate immigrants to coal fields of Kentucky and West Virginia hoping they would not have the language skills or the inclination to join a union.
Hugh’s son William, born in 1870, was a breaker boy at 16 years of age when he dropped out of school. A breaker boy separates by hand, the impurities from coal. William was frugal as a young man, while other kids spent money on glass marbles, William used oak acorns to play the game of marbles. His family was deeply religious and attended the Coshocton First Baptist Church. William developed his oratorical skills at church social debates. The Church was everything in their family, social, moral, their guiding light.
William’s debate skills honed at church helped him start a coal miners’ union at Morgan Run Coal Company to right some for the shenanigans and unsafe practices the coal company was forcing on the miners. William’s Uncle Joseph started mining coal at age 12 in Wales, immigrated to Coshocton and died in an accident in Coshocton October 23, 1907. There was no retirement back then, and Joe at age 65 had poor eyesight. This led to not seeing a charge had a lit fuse. Joe went to check, the fuse was lit and reached the charge causing the explosion. He was crushed under rock and mine ceiling debris. The Coshocton Coal Miners Memorial at the Court House has 53 other names of Coshocton miners killed in mine accidents.
Miners felt their only recourse to get a living wage and safer working conditions was the formation of a union with the ability to strike. However, William knew that men on strike were capable of unrestrained violence. William said that miners’ tempers had to be controlled. He said, “use our heads rather than using our fist”. William was elected to several leadership positions in the United Mine Workers. Using his rules of order and yielding a gavel, miner’s meetings became orderly and businesslike.
In 1910 citizens in Coshocton and adjacent counties asked William to run for the State of Ohio Senate. He won and after just two years was selected to be the Senate President Pro Tem. William Green, a Democrat worked with the Buckeye Foundry owner Samuel Prescott Bush a Republican, (grandfather and great grandfather of the Bush Presidents) to formulate a Worker’s Compensation law; one of the first in the country. William was instrumental in the passage of the Ohio Mine Run Law that eliminated the no pay for coal that went through the screens (small pieces). The small coal was sold on the open market, but the miners did not receive anything. The coal operators lobbied to defeat the bill, but Senator Green convinced his fellow Republican Majority legislators of the fairness of the bill for both the miners and the coal companies.
William Green left politics to retuned to the Coal Miners Union as he saw the need for cooperation between labor and capital based on biblical perceptions. In fact, the first threatened strike in Coshocton, William Green rallied to gather support from businesses, the Elks, the Moose, Masonic Lodge, Rotary Club and various Churches to understand the miner’s position. The strike was averted, and the miners did receive more job security and stable wages. He convinced the Coshocton Coal Co. the agreement could reduce wasteful competition and strikes if they worked and talked to the union. William also arranged to have a union representative act as a check – weight man that was used to determine how much a miner earned in coal tonnage. This practice was fair to miners and freed management from illegitimate complaints.
One episode William Green had with a federal judge in West Virginia during a coal strike showed his debating skills and his religious beliefs. The judge would not allow the union to provide food to the striking workers. William Green convinced the Judge, using biblical passages that it was a sin to starve women and children.
William would stand up against a strike if he felt the union was wrong. In 1914 Akron Rubber Workers Union held a strike. William described the union members’ actions “as immoral and destructive”. William sided with the employers, who eventually came to an agreement.
After World War I (William was one of the American representatives to the Peace Treaty) there was a communist scare and unions were accused as being socialist and communist sympathizers. William wrote in his 1939 book, “Labor and Democracy: A Plan of Action to Safeguard the American Way,” that “To the workers of America in whose hands rest the future of Democracy”. William wanted all Unions to have members with a seat at the table (company board of directors) and share in the company’s fortunes and accomplishments. Eventually William became president in 1924 of the AFL (American Federation of Labor).
In 1932 William Green and Republican U.S. Senator George Norris of Nebraska sponsored legislation to outlaw “yellow dog” contracts that required a worker to pledge not to join a labor union.
In 1934, William Green and Republican Mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia and various congressmen began working together on the legislation that became the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
In 1946 President Truman, although a friend of labor, intervened in a railroad strike. Truman said he would draft the striking railroad workers into the US Army and have the Federal Government seize the coal mines. Although William Green disagreed, he respected the authority of the President. The President is elected by the majority of the citizens and William said “if a policy is adopted by a majority, objectionable as it may be to me, it is our duty as loyal union men to subordinate our individual sentiments and submit to the majority will”.
William Green was always against unions endorsing political parties and political candidates. The style of George Meany head of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) was confrontational. George endorsed Adlai Stevenson the Democratic Candidate over corporate endorsed Republican and 5 Star General Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower in the 1952 Presidential election. When Ike won, William Green made note: that is why unions should not be endorsing candidates. So began the decline of union influence in National politics.
Of the many awards and accolades bestowed upon William Green, one stands out to me. Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio arguably one of the best Liberal Arts Schools in America (and associated with the Anglican Church) in 1948 awarded an Honorary Degree in Law, to William, the high school drop-out and non-conformist Baptist.
William died on November 20, 1952 and is buried in Coshocton South Lawn Cemetery. The Coshocton Tribune newspaper special edition covered the funeral of Billy as he was aways known at home. Those who attended were people he had worked with in the WWI Paris treaty, Congressmen, Senators, Labor Leaders, and rank and file union members. President Roosevelt who struggled with the effects of polio often traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia for treatment. William went there many times and with the unions financial support helped establish The March of Dimes. Some Polio victims who were helped by The March of Dimes made it to the cemetery.
Looking back, we can see the legacy of a man of Welsh Heritage, a Baptist and a Rotarian had on the fabric of Coshocton and of America. Being of Welsh Heritage and a Rotarian, I knew that the Edwards fled Wales because of religious persecution too and started tobacco farming, first in Virginia then Tennessee and eventually to Kentucky.
I suggest current Labor Unions Leaders, Big Three Auto Executives and elected politicians read William Green’s Book, “Labor and Democracy: A Plan of Action to Safeguard the American Way”. In the book you see William’s look at life, “You have to accept people for what they are and work with them from where they’re coming from”.
Sources:
1830 Welsh Migration to USA, everyculture.com/welsh-american
Ancestry.com with the assistance of [email protected]
A Welsh Story, Joyce Varney
Bob Evans.com
British Buckeyes, The English, Scots and Welsh in Ohio 1700-1900, William Van Vugt
Coal Men and Coal Towns 1873-1923, Charles Kenneth Sullivan
Coal Mining in Coshocton County, Sam Bennett Jr.
The Coshocton Tribune Newspaper, November 23,1952
Erie Canal, encyclopdia.com
Francis Lewis, U.S.history.org/delegationsignatures
History of Coshocton County 1985, Cohocton County Genealogical Society
Historical Collections of Coshocton County, Library of Congress, Religious Institutions, pg. 193
History of the Edwards Family 1600 Century forward, James Edwards 1934, Edwards Family Bible
International Basketry, Christoph Will
Labor and Democracy: A Plan of Action to safeguard the American Way, Author Green, William 1939
Mining Commission-Ohio 1872, Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes page 119
National Library of Wales, [email protected]
Ohio History Connection, Welsh Ohioans
Quakers and Baptist Targets of Persecution, bbc.co.uk/wales/history/religion
The Welsh in America, Letters from Immigrants Edited by Alan Conway
The Wheeling Family, a celebration of Immigrants and their Neighborhoods, Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling, WV
The Founding of the AFL, Patricia Simons, page 43
Quakers and Baptist Targets of Persecution, bbc.co.uk/wales/history/religion
The Immigrant Cocoon in Cambridge, Ohio Coal Fields, Author Porter, Lori Muskingum College, New Concord Press
Welsh Baptist, The Baptist Encyclopedia, William Cathcart, page 1225
William Green, A Pictorial Biography, Max Danish, page 178
William Green, Biography of a Labor Leader, Craig, Phelan, page 20
Welsh Americans, Ronald Lewis, pg. 331
Welsh to Cleveland, Case Western Reserve Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Welsh in Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal, everyculture.com/welsh-american
Welsh Baptist, Dictionary of National Biography Vol 48, London
Welsh Story, Joyce Varney
In 1910 citizens in Coshocton and adjacent counties asked William to run for the State of Ohio Senate. He won and after just two years was selected to be the Senate President Pro Tem. William Green, a Democrat worked with the Buckeye Foundry owner Samuel Prescott Bush a Republican, (grandfather and great grandfather of the Bush Presidents) to formulate a Worker’s Compensation law; one of the first in the country. William was instrumental in the passage of the Ohio Mine Run Law that eliminated the no pay for coal that went through the screens (small pieces). The small coal was sold on the open market, but the miners did not receive anything. The coal operators lobbied to defeat the bill, but Senator Green convinced his fellow Republican Majority legislators of the fairness of the bill for both the miners and the coal companies.
William Green left politics to retuned to the Coal Miners Union as he saw the need for cooperation between labor and capital based on biblical perceptions. In fact, the first threatened strike in Coshocton, William Green rallied to gather support from businesses, the Elks, the Moose, Masonic Lodge, Rotary Club and various Churches to understand the miner’s position. The strike was averted, and the miners did receive more job security and stable wages. He convinced the Coshocton Coal Co. the agreement could reduce wasteful competition and strikes if they worked and talked to the union. William also arranged to have a union representative act as a check – weight man that was used to determine how much a miner earned in coal tonnage. This practice was fair to miners and freed management from illegitimate complaints.
One episode William Green had with a federal judge in West Virginia during a coal strike showed his debating skills and his religious beliefs. The judge would not allow the union to provide food to the striking workers. William Green convinced the Judge, using biblical passages that it was a sin to starve women and children.
William would stand up against a strike if he felt the union was wrong. In 1914 Akron Rubber Workers Union held a strike. William described the union members’ actions “as immoral and destructive”. William sided with the employers, who eventually came to an agreement.
After World War I (William was one of the American representatives to the Peace Treaty) there was a communist scare and unions were accused as being socialist and communist sympathizers. William wrote in his 1939 book, “Labor and Democracy: A Plan of Action to Safeguard the American Way,” that “To the workers of America in whose hands rest the future of Democracy”. William wanted all Unions to have members with a seat at the table (company board of directors) and share in the company’s fortunes and accomplishments. Eventually William became president in 1924 of the AFL (American Federation of Labor).
In 1932 William Green and Republican U.S. Senator George Norris of Nebraska sponsored legislation to outlaw “yellow dog” contracts that required a worker to pledge not to join a labor union.
In 1934, William Green and Republican Mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia and various congressmen began working together on the legislation that became the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
In 1946 President Truman, although a friend of labor, intervened in a railroad strike. Truman said he would draft the striking railroad workers into the US Army and have the Federal Government seize the coal mines. Although William Green disagreed, he respected the authority of the President. The President is elected by the majority of the citizens and William said “if a policy is adopted by a majority, objectionable as it may be to me, it is our duty as loyal union men to subordinate our individual sentiments and submit to the majority will”.
William Green was always against unions endorsing political parties and political candidates. The style of George Meany head of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) was confrontational. George endorsed Adlai Stevenson the Democratic Candidate over corporate endorsed Republican and 5 Star General Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower in the 1952 Presidential election. When Ike won, William Green made note: that is why unions should not be endorsing candidates. So began the decline of union influence in National politics.
Of the many awards and accolades bestowed upon William Green, one stands out to me. Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio arguably one of the best Liberal Arts Schools in America (and associated with the Anglican Church) in 1948 awarded an Honorary Degree in Law, to William, the high school drop-out and non-conformist Baptist.
William died on November 20, 1952 and is buried in Coshocton South Lawn Cemetery. The Coshocton Tribune newspaper special edition covered the funeral of Billy as he was aways known at home. Those who attended were people he had worked with in the WWI Paris treaty, Congressmen, Senators, Labor Leaders, and rank and file union members. President Roosevelt who struggled with the effects of polio often traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia for treatment. William went there many times and with the unions financial support helped establish The March of Dimes. Some Polio victims who were helped by The March of Dimes made it to the cemetery.
Looking back, we can see the legacy of a man of Welsh Heritage, a Baptist and a Rotarian had on the fabric of Coshocton and of America. Being of Welsh Heritage and a Rotarian, I knew that the Edwards fled Wales because of religious persecution too and started tobacco farming, first in Virginia then Tennessee and eventually to Kentucky.
I suggest current Labor Unions Leaders, Big Three Auto Executives and elected politicians read William Green’s Book, “Labor and Democracy: A Plan of Action to Safeguard the American Way”. In the book you see William’s look at life, “You have to accept people for what they are and work with them from where they’re coming from”.
Sources:
1830 Welsh Migration to USA, everyculture.com/welsh-american
Ancestry.com with the assistance of [email protected]
A Welsh Story, Joyce Varney
Bob Evans.com
British Buckeyes, The English, Scots and Welsh in Ohio 1700-1900, William Van Vugt
Coal Men and Coal Towns 1873-1923, Charles Kenneth Sullivan
Coal Mining in Coshocton County, Sam Bennett Jr.
The Coshocton Tribune Newspaper, November 23,1952
Erie Canal, encyclopdia.com
Francis Lewis, U.S.history.org/delegationsignatures
History of Coshocton County 1985, Cohocton County Genealogical Society
Historical Collections of Coshocton County, Library of Congress, Religious Institutions, pg. 193
History of the Edwards Family 1600 Century forward, James Edwards 1934, Edwards Family Bible
International Basketry, Christoph Will
Labor and Democracy: A Plan of Action to safeguard the American Way, Author Green, William 1939
Mining Commission-Ohio 1872, Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes page 119
National Library of Wales, [email protected]
Ohio History Connection, Welsh Ohioans
Quakers and Baptist Targets of Persecution, bbc.co.uk/wales/history/religion
The Welsh in America, Letters from Immigrants Edited by Alan Conway
The Wheeling Family, a celebration of Immigrants and their Neighborhoods, Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling, WV
The Founding of the AFL, Patricia Simons, page 43
Quakers and Baptist Targets of Persecution, bbc.co.uk/wales/history/religion
The Immigrant Cocoon in Cambridge, Ohio Coal Fields, Author Porter, Lori Muskingum College, New Concord Press
Welsh Baptist, The Baptist Encyclopedia, William Cathcart, page 1225
William Green, A Pictorial Biography, Max Danish, page 178
William Green, Biography of a Labor Leader, Craig, Phelan, page 20
Welsh Americans, Ronald Lewis, pg. 331
Welsh to Cleveland, Case Western Reserve Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Welsh in Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal, everyculture.com/welsh-american
Welsh Baptist, Dictionary of National Biography Vol 48, London
Welsh Story, Joyce Varney
Jennifer Wilkes: Captured By Indians - The True Story (2nd Place Winner)
When I was 9 years old, I wrote a book called ‘Captured by Indians’. It was illustrated with crayon pictures and told the story of a frontier family and a young girl, Me, being captured by Indians and taken to an Indian Village. It was a story of romance and the love of horses as the girl marries the handsome Indian brave in exchange for a horse as she lives happily ever after. It was a silly story, what did I know about Indians?
As a girl, I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, home of the extinct Eriez Indian tribe, Fort Presque Isle and the bones and Block House of ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne. I only remember learning about the Black Feet Indians in 3rd Grade and having my sister in the YMCA - ‘Indian Guides & Princesses Club’. In this club, Dads and daughters wore feathered headdresses, took Tribal names and held Powwows. This club was inspired by an Ojibwe YMCA Director in the 1920’s, but was later deemed ‘Offensive, a caricature of the culture, mocking Indian religion’ and was phased out in the 1980’s. (Keilman)
I’ll never forget my first encounter with an Indian. I was 8 years old and hanging out with a girl I didn’t know on the playground, waiting for the bell to ring. This girl turned to me and asked if I liked ‘Indians.’
I blurted out, “I don’t like bad Indians.” She abruptly turned away from me, saying angrily, “Then you don’t like me!” I’m not sure why this encounter has stayed with me all these years, but it certainly made an impression on me, exposed my ignorance and gave me a drive to learn the truth.
Besides movies and T.V. shows of the 70’s, this is what I knew of Indian culture when I wrote my
‘Captured by Indians’ story. It was a fantasy story, wasn’t it? How much of my story could be true, and what details had I left out? It’s taken me a lifetime to answer these questions; come with me as I find out the true story.
My education started when I first attended Hocking College and was enrolled in an Ohio History class. The required reading was “The Frontiersman” by Allen Eckert; I had never heard of it, but being an avid fan of Historical Fiction, I figured I could slog through it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it read like an exciting fiction book, but it was better than fiction, this was REAL! In this book, not only did I learn about the fight over Ohio or ‘the middle ground’ by the French, British and then the Americans, I learned about some of the Indian captures during this period:
The first person I read about was ‘Caesar’ who was a former slave that was captured while traveling down the Ohio river with his master. He was adopted into the Shawnee tribe. He was well respected, even though he was a black man, and acted as an interpreter when the tribe had dealings with the whites. (Eckert P. 195)
Another story told of three brothers that were captured: Simon, George and James Girty, while living in Western Pennsylvania. Their father was tortured and killed. At the age of 15 Simon was adopted by the Seneca and his younger brothers by the Shawnee. Simon Girty eventually would become an important Indian Interpreter between the whites and the Indians. It was said he knew 11 Languages which included 9 Indian dialects. Later, the Americans would call him a ‘deserter and renegade’. (Eckert P.103)
Famous Frontiersman, Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were captured. They both had to run numerous
‘gauntlets’ as they were made to travel to each Indian village:
“The double-line(gauntlet) consisted of men, woman and even children, all armed with switches and clubs up to 6’ in length. The line snaked away for about a fourth of a mile with easily 400 people. They were stripped naked and if they fell, which happened repeatedly, they had to run it again.” Both Frontiersman were well revered and ended up being adopted into the tribe. They didn’t remain adopted for long as they both ended up escaping back into the white world. (Eckert P. 296)
So, this is what I had learned about Indian capture at this point in my life. My education would be more complete as I discovered books by West Virginia, Author Alan Fitzpatrick. Alan took a new approach to history. Instead of relying on ‘White man’ history he traveled to modern Indian tribes for stories of capture and assimilation that had been passed down from generation to generation, kept alive for all these years. His discussion with modern Indians also shed light on what they were thinking and feeling during this time period of the encroachment of the white man. For example, the capture and burning of Colonel William Crawford:
“The blood of the Moravians called for revenge….and that of Crawford’s (death) was as cruel as any Indian cruelty can devise: He was pounded, pierced, cut with knives and burned, all of which occupied three hours, and finally lay down insensible on a bed of coals and died.” (Hill P. 59)
Why did this horrible cruelty happen? You can see from Mr. Fitzpatrick book the reason:
“After the massacre of the Moravian Mission or ‘the praying Indians’ these innocent deaths needed to be avenged and Colonel William Crawford was the one that had been captured. The death of their kinsman needed to be avenged not just for the sake of revenge, but so their loved one’s soul could make it to the afterlife.” (Fitzpatrick)
After such cruelty to some, you might ask why the Indians captured whites and adopted them. The tribal Mothers mandated warriors bring captives back to villages for adoption, ransom and trade. In contrast, colonial militiamen took no captives but rather killed native men, women and children as a means of ‘ethnic cleansing’ the land they wished to possess. (Fitzpatrick)
In contrast, hundreds of white captives were taken to native villages deep in Ohio country and never returned to colonial society. Consequently, people believed they were dead, when in fact, now we know they were not. There was a psychological assimilation; adoptees developed kinship and ties that led to fulfilling lives in Native society, which was the reason why they did not leave when they had an opportunity to do so. Then, even if they did try to return to their homes, they were ostracized, making it very difficult to fit back into white society. (Stanley)
But there was a war going on. Whites wanted to take down the Indians and have these captives returned back to their families:
“Along the frontier in 1763 a war was being waged. The Indians were fighting for their homes and their hunting grounds; and for these they fought with fury and with the zeal of fanatics. Colonel Bouquet, an officer of the English army was called to relieve the garrison at Fort Pitt. Colonel Bouquet was bold and brave and knew well the character of the Indians. After securing Fort Pitt, he shaped his plan to subdue the Indians.” (Hill P. 50)
With a force of 3,000 experienced men, Bouquet bulled the Indians into accepting his terms for peace. The chiefs were told that they could not restrain their young men and that they were responsible for their acts of war. Faced with this show of force, the Indians agreed to deliver up white prisoners within twelve days. The army proceeded down the Tuscarawas, to the junction with white woman river (now the Walhonding) north of present-day Coshocton and there received the whites that had been captives.(Hill) Here is a quote from a Ohio History book that was written in 1881 describing the scene:
“Many were the touching scenes enacted during this time. Brothers and sisters separated in youth met, lovers rushed to each other’s arms; children found their parents…. Yet, there were many distressing scenes. Some that had been captured in their infancy, would not leave their savage friends, and when force was used fled away. One mother looked in vain for her child. One, clad in savage attire, was brought before her. This could not be her daughter, she was grown. ‘Can you not remember a mark? Sing a song you sang over her cradle, she may remember’, suggested Colonel Bouquet. One is sung by the mother. As the song of childhood floats out among the trees the maiden stops and listens, then approaches. Yes, she remembers. Mother and daughter are held in a close embrace, and the stern
Bouquet wipes away a tear at the scene.” (Hill P.50)
Reading a Thesis Paper that was written by a young PHD student I found this information concerning the assimilation of the whites into Indian society:
“The experience of young captives who were adopted by Indians families show that these whites were treated the same as natural born Indians, and that they accepted and enjoyed the way of life of their captures. The most important factor in being assimilated was the age of the individual and if they were captured below the age of puberty. Many captives, having lost the use of their native language have even forgotten their own name. They had become proficient in the skills required for survival in the wilderness, and except for the color of their skin, they could scarcely be distinguished from their captures.” (Heard) He goes on to explain:
“Assimilation for captives was the result of Indian ‘unity of thought’ and actions and a kind of social cohesion which deeply appealed to them and which they didn’t find with the whites. But rejection of an opportunity to return is not a total indicator of assimilation, for it may have resulted form shame rather than a desire to continue to live with the Indians.” (Heard)
The story of Joshua Fry is a prime example of how capture by Indians could affect your entire life during this period. Joshua’s father, Moses Fry, was a licensed Pennsylvanian Trader which meant that he sold rum, pots & pans, kettles, guns, power, lead and bolts of cloth the Natives used to improve their lives. In 1744, while making a trading trip down the Ohio, his father was killed by Indians and Moses Jr., his younger brother was captured. Joshua would make it back to Pennsylvania and he continued to work preparing the trader pack trains for their trip to the Ohio country, just as he had done with his father Moses.
While working at the Trading Post he met his employer’s wife, Mary McKee, not native by birth she was
known as a ‘White Indian’. (Fitzpatrick)
“(Mary)…wore a blanket skirt of a Native woman, with a calico trade shirt above and woolen leggings
below….she wore elk hide moccasins and her hair was always in a single braid. Around her neck she wore an assortment of beads and a small medicine bag. Mary appeared and acted very much like an Indian woman except that she had pale skin and blue-grey eyes.” (Fitzpatrick P. 23)
She told Joshua about the customs of the Shawnee and how men were trained in boyhood to hunt and the ways of warfare. Women held great power in the village; they own all the property and give children their clan name. Clan Mothers chose the village chief and decided when men can go to war or not. (Fitpatrick)
Joshua would eventually marry and have children, but his life would become unhinged when his wife, Rachel and two children Nathaniel and Maggie were captured, and their farmstead burned down. In his grief, Joshua gave up farming and became a scout for the English. Later, he would accompany Colonial Bouquet in 1762 on his trip into the Ohio Interior where the return of Captives occurred. (Fitzpatrick)
Amid the wails of parting loved ones, Joshua was reunited with his sister Naomi whose husband had been killed and her children captured never to be seen again. She told Joshua:
“My home is now with the Wyandot people and with my husband and our child. I’m loved and cared for and will not return to White society. White people are the real savages without a soul. My farmer husband defended what was not his to take in the first place. “(Fitzpatrick p.119)
When Joshua disclosed that he planned to marry an Indian maiden that he loved. He sister told him:
“Don’t take her to the White man’s world, they will never accept her, never. White people hate
Indians.” (Fitzpatrick p.119)
This same fateful day, Joshua was to meet with his son Nathaniel now called ‘White Heron’. His son lashed out at him saying he didn’t know who he was and vehemently spat that he was not his father. Joshua never saw his son again.
Another captive that he knew was Enos, his best friend’s son now about 12 years old. After being brought back to Fort Pitt, Enos wasn’t accepted back by his father, so Joshua took him in where he assisted with his trading business. It was useful and even lifesaving to have someone like Enos who appeared Native and could translate for Joshua. They both ended up taking Indian wives who would safely stay with their tribal village on the Scioto River. (Fitzpatrick)
One time Joshua met up with the famous Frontierman, Simon Girty, and discussed Indians and the adoption of captives. Girty explained,
“Any man who’s been captured at a young age and spent more than a year and learned the language is white skin only. The language they use at the young’in’s age is what molds them forever from that point. They treated me right Joshua. They’re being invaded by white people, our people, and what Whites want is their land. No one on the frontier see their point of view, from their side of things. I hear spiteful, hateful words from supposedly God-fearing Bible thumping civilized white folks.” (Fitzpatrick P. 166)
While passing through Reverend Zeisburger’s Schoenbrun Mission one day, Joshua was reunited with his wife, Rachel who had been captured so long ago. She explained how she was adopted by the Shawnee and married a ‘good man’ who she loves the same way she once loved Joshua. Rachel and her now husband were Monrovian Indians-or also known as-‘Praying Indians’ that would be massacred. Later he would find out that sixty-six men and woman would have their skulls unmercifully smashed in with mallets, one at a time. The perpetrators being uncaring whites whose only thought was that a ‘good Indian is a dead Indian.’(Fitzpatrick)
Ironically, from a raid into Kentucky Joshua and his Native wife would adopt a white child that had been captured. His partner, Enos, a white captive, raised by Mingo would also adopt a white child captive of his own.
One day, while helping to supplying the Army with horses and supplies, Enos and Joshua spotted two Shawnee women being dragged by the enemy into the woods. They rushed to save them, one had already been raped and brutely beat:
“The other woman Joshua realized was a white woman as he wiped the blood and dirt from her face. Joshua asked her if she knew her White name. In broken English and Shawnee, she told him she was too young to remember but someone told her that her name was Maggie. Joshua’s daughter. Once, a long time ago, this young woman had been his own flesh and blood, his little girl, Maggie.” (Fitzpatrick P. 228)
Later in his life, Joshua would be reunited with his long-lost brother, Moses Jr. who had been captured so long ago. He had been adopted by the Wyandots and lived in the same village as his sister, Naomi. (Fitzpatrick)
It’s a sad tale how Joshua Fry was impacted by the capture of his loved ones to the Indians. Through this century we have only heard the side of the White man but as you can see from these stories many of these persons that were captured would not have had life any other way than living it with the natives.
It is the Native people, not white researchers and historians who know what occurred when white captives were brought back to their villages and were adopted, during that period of terrible war in the ‘middle ground’ of America. But they kept this knowledge alive through the tribal customs and oral history that have been passed down to this day.
There were no captive records, so those whites that were captured were written off and forgotten and assumed dead. Native people know what happened to captives because of their tribal oral history.
People were caught in the vortex of a terrible racial war, and the result of that was that lives were changed forever by it and that is the True story of being Captured by Indians.
Chief Blue Jacket’s DNA all Indian, tests indicate Report he was captured white boy is debunked Friday, April 14, 2006
References:
Keilman, John ‘Indian Guide, Indian Princess must drop theme or leave the YMCA ’ 9/19/2015 https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/la-grange/ct-ymca-indian-princess-met-20150918-story.html Eckert, Allen The Frontiersman Little, Brown & Company Boston MA 1967
Fitzpatrick, Allen Captives and Kin - in the Ohio Country Fort Henry Publications Wheeling, WV 2020 Davis, Bill ‘Blue Jacket Story is a Myth…. according to DNA’ 2006 https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/swearingen/3321/
Stanely, Cathryn ‘Author Alan Fitzpatrick to tell story of ‘forgotten’ Zane brother’ October 15, 2021
https://www.belmontcountyheritagemuseum.org/post/author-alan-fitzpatrick-to-tell-story-of- forgotten-zane-brother
Heard, Joseph Norman ‘THE ASSIMILATION OF CAPTIVES ON THE AMERICAN FRONTIER’ University of Texas Dissertation December 1977
https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4156&context=gradschool_disstheses
As a girl, I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, home of the extinct Eriez Indian tribe, Fort Presque Isle and the bones and Block House of ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne. I only remember learning about the Black Feet Indians in 3rd Grade and having my sister in the YMCA - ‘Indian Guides & Princesses Club’. In this club, Dads and daughters wore feathered headdresses, took Tribal names and held Powwows. This club was inspired by an Ojibwe YMCA Director in the 1920’s, but was later deemed ‘Offensive, a caricature of the culture, mocking Indian religion’ and was phased out in the 1980’s. (Keilman)
I’ll never forget my first encounter with an Indian. I was 8 years old and hanging out with a girl I didn’t know on the playground, waiting for the bell to ring. This girl turned to me and asked if I liked ‘Indians.’
I blurted out, “I don’t like bad Indians.” She abruptly turned away from me, saying angrily, “Then you don’t like me!” I’m not sure why this encounter has stayed with me all these years, but it certainly made an impression on me, exposed my ignorance and gave me a drive to learn the truth.
Besides movies and T.V. shows of the 70’s, this is what I knew of Indian culture when I wrote my
‘Captured by Indians’ story. It was a fantasy story, wasn’t it? How much of my story could be true, and what details had I left out? It’s taken me a lifetime to answer these questions; come with me as I find out the true story.
My education started when I first attended Hocking College and was enrolled in an Ohio History class. The required reading was “The Frontiersman” by Allen Eckert; I had never heard of it, but being an avid fan of Historical Fiction, I figured I could slog through it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it read like an exciting fiction book, but it was better than fiction, this was REAL! In this book, not only did I learn about the fight over Ohio or ‘the middle ground’ by the French, British and then the Americans, I learned about some of the Indian captures during this period:
The first person I read about was ‘Caesar’ who was a former slave that was captured while traveling down the Ohio river with his master. He was adopted into the Shawnee tribe. He was well respected, even though he was a black man, and acted as an interpreter when the tribe had dealings with the whites. (Eckert P. 195)
Another story told of three brothers that were captured: Simon, George and James Girty, while living in Western Pennsylvania. Their father was tortured and killed. At the age of 15 Simon was adopted by the Seneca and his younger brothers by the Shawnee. Simon Girty eventually would become an important Indian Interpreter between the whites and the Indians. It was said he knew 11 Languages which included 9 Indian dialects. Later, the Americans would call him a ‘deserter and renegade’. (Eckert P.103)
Famous Frontiersman, Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were captured. They both had to run numerous
‘gauntlets’ as they were made to travel to each Indian village:
“The double-line(gauntlet) consisted of men, woman and even children, all armed with switches and clubs up to 6’ in length. The line snaked away for about a fourth of a mile with easily 400 people. They were stripped naked and if they fell, which happened repeatedly, they had to run it again.” Both Frontiersman were well revered and ended up being adopted into the tribe. They didn’t remain adopted for long as they both ended up escaping back into the white world. (Eckert P. 296)
So, this is what I had learned about Indian capture at this point in my life. My education would be more complete as I discovered books by West Virginia, Author Alan Fitzpatrick. Alan took a new approach to history. Instead of relying on ‘White man’ history he traveled to modern Indian tribes for stories of capture and assimilation that had been passed down from generation to generation, kept alive for all these years. His discussion with modern Indians also shed light on what they were thinking and feeling during this time period of the encroachment of the white man. For example, the capture and burning of Colonel William Crawford:
“The blood of the Moravians called for revenge….and that of Crawford’s (death) was as cruel as any Indian cruelty can devise: He was pounded, pierced, cut with knives and burned, all of which occupied three hours, and finally lay down insensible on a bed of coals and died.” (Hill P. 59)
Why did this horrible cruelty happen? You can see from Mr. Fitzpatrick book the reason:
“After the massacre of the Moravian Mission or ‘the praying Indians’ these innocent deaths needed to be avenged and Colonel William Crawford was the one that had been captured. The death of their kinsman needed to be avenged not just for the sake of revenge, but so their loved one’s soul could make it to the afterlife.” (Fitzpatrick)
After such cruelty to some, you might ask why the Indians captured whites and adopted them. The tribal Mothers mandated warriors bring captives back to villages for adoption, ransom and trade. In contrast, colonial militiamen took no captives but rather killed native men, women and children as a means of ‘ethnic cleansing’ the land they wished to possess. (Fitzpatrick)
In contrast, hundreds of white captives were taken to native villages deep in Ohio country and never returned to colonial society. Consequently, people believed they were dead, when in fact, now we know they were not. There was a psychological assimilation; adoptees developed kinship and ties that led to fulfilling lives in Native society, which was the reason why they did not leave when they had an opportunity to do so. Then, even if they did try to return to their homes, they were ostracized, making it very difficult to fit back into white society. (Stanley)
But there was a war going on. Whites wanted to take down the Indians and have these captives returned back to their families:
“Along the frontier in 1763 a war was being waged. The Indians were fighting for their homes and their hunting grounds; and for these they fought with fury and with the zeal of fanatics. Colonel Bouquet, an officer of the English army was called to relieve the garrison at Fort Pitt. Colonel Bouquet was bold and brave and knew well the character of the Indians. After securing Fort Pitt, he shaped his plan to subdue the Indians.” (Hill P. 50)
With a force of 3,000 experienced men, Bouquet bulled the Indians into accepting his terms for peace. The chiefs were told that they could not restrain their young men and that they were responsible for their acts of war. Faced with this show of force, the Indians agreed to deliver up white prisoners within twelve days. The army proceeded down the Tuscarawas, to the junction with white woman river (now the Walhonding) north of present-day Coshocton and there received the whites that had been captives.(Hill) Here is a quote from a Ohio History book that was written in 1881 describing the scene:
“Many were the touching scenes enacted during this time. Brothers and sisters separated in youth met, lovers rushed to each other’s arms; children found their parents…. Yet, there were many distressing scenes. Some that had been captured in their infancy, would not leave their savage friends, and when force was used fled away. One mother looked in vain for her child. One, clad in savage attire, was brought before her. This could not be her daughter, she was grown. ‘Can you not remember a mark? Sing a song you sang over her cradle, she may remember’, suggested Colonel Bouquet. One is sung by the mother. As the song of childhood floats out among the trees the maiden stops and listens, then approaches. Yes, she remembers. Mother and daughter are held in a close embrace, and the stern
Bouquet wipes away a tear at the scene.” (Hill P.50)
Reading a Thesis Paper that was written by a young PHD student I found this information concerning the assimilation of the whites into Indian society:
“The experience of young captives who were adopted by Indians families show that these whites were treated the same as natural born Indians, and that they accepted and enjoyed the way of life of their captures. The most important factor in being assimilated was the age of the individual and if they were captured below the age of puberty. Many captives, having lost the use of their native language have even forgotten their own name. They had become proficient in the skills required for survival in the wilderness, and except for the color of their skin, they could scarcely be distinguished from their captures.” (Heard) He goes on to explain:
“Assimilation for captives was the result of Indian ‘unity of thought’ and actions and a kind of social cohesion which deeply appealed to them and which they didn’t find with the whites. But rejection of an opportunity to return is not a total indicator of assimilation, for it may have resulted form shame rather than a desire to continue to live with the Indians.” (Heard)
The story of Joshua Fry is a prime example of how capture by Indians could affect your entire life during this period. Joshua’s father, Moses Fry, was a licensed Pennsylvanian Trader which meant that he sold rum, pots & pans, kettles, guns, power, lead and bolts of cloth the Natives used to improve their lives. In 1744, while making a trading trip down the Ohio, his father was killed by Indians and Moses Jr., his younger brother was captured. Joshua would make it back to Pennsylvania and he continued to work preparing the trader pack trains for their trip to the Ohio country, just as he had done with his father Moses.
While working at the Trading Post he met his employer’s wife, Mary McKee, not native by birth she was
known as a ‘White Indian’. (Fitzpatrick)
“(Mary)…wore a blanket skirt of a Native woman, with a calico trade shirt above and woolen leggings
below….she wore elk hide moccasins and her hair was always in a single braid. Around her neck she wore an assortment of beads and a small medicine bag. Mary appeared and acted very much like an Indian woman except that she had pale skin and blue-grey eyes.” (Fitzpatrick P. 23)
She told Joshua about the customs of the Shawnee and how men were trained in boyhood to hunt and the ways of warfare. Women held great power in the village; they own all the property and give children their clan name. Clan Mothers chose the village chief and decided when men can go to war or not. (Fitpatrick)
Joshua would eventually marry and have children, but his life would become unhinged when his wife, Rachel and two children Nathaniel and Maggie were captured, and their farmstead burned down. In his grief, Joshua gave up farming and became a scout for the English. Later, he would accompany Colonial Bouquet in 1762 on his trip into the Ohio Interior where the return of Captives occurred. (Fitzpatrick)
Amid the wails of parting loved ones, Joshua was reunited with his sister Naomi whose husband had been killed and her children captured never to be seen again. She told Joshua:
“My home is now with the Wyandot people and with my husband and our child. I’m loved and cared for and will not return to White society. White people are the real savages without a soul. My farmer husband defended what was not his to take in the first place. “(Fitzpatrick p.119)
When Joshua disclosed that he planned to marry an Indian maiden that he loved. He sister told him:
“Don’t take her to the White man’s world, they will never accept her, never. White people hate
Indians.” (Fitzpatrick p.119)
This same fateful day, Joshua was to meet with his son Nathaniel now called ‘White Heron’. His son lashed out at him saying he didn’t know who he was and vehemently spat that he was not his father. Joshua never saw his son again.
Another captive that he knew was Enos, his best friend’s son now about 12 years old. After being brought back to Fort Pitt, Enos wasn’t accepted back by his father, so Joshua took him in where he assisted with his trading business. It was useful and even lifesaving to have someone like Enos who appeared Native and could translate for Joshua. They both ended up taking Indian wives who would safely stay with their tribal village on the Scioto River. (Fitzpatrick)
One time Joshua met up with the famous Frontierman, Simon Girty, and discussed Indians and the adoption of captives. Girty explained,
“Any man who’s been captured at a young age and spent more than a year and learned the language is white skin only. The language they use at the young’in’s age is what molds them forever from that point. They treated me right Joshua. They’re being invaded by white people, our people, and what Whites want is their land. No one on the frontier see their point of view, from their side of things. I hear spiteful, hateful words from supposedly God-fearing Bible thumping civilized white folks.” (Fitzpatrick P. 166)
While passing through Reverend Zeisburger’s Schoenbrun Mission one day, Joshua was reunited with his wife, Rachel who had been captured so long ago. She explained how she was adopted by the Shawnee and married a ‘good man’ who she loves the same way she once loved Joshua. Rachel and her now husband were Monrovian Indians-or also known as-‘Praying Indians’ that would be massacred. Later he would find out that sixty-six men and woman would have their skulls unmercifully smashed in with mallets, one at a time. The perpetrators being uncaring whites whose only thought was that a ‘good Indian is a dead Indian.’(Fitzpatrick)
Ironically, from a raid into Kentucky Joshua and his Native wife would adopt a white child that had been captured. His partner, Enos, a white captive, raised by Mingo would also adopt a white child captive of his own.
One day, while helping to supplying the Army with horses and supplies, Enos and Joshua spotted two Shawnee women being dragged by the enemy into the woods. They rushed to save them, one had already been raped and brutely beat:
“The other woman Joshua realized was a white woman as he wiped the blood and dirt from her face. Joshua asked her if she knew her White name. In broken English and Shawnee, she told him she was too young to remember but someone told her that her name was Maggie. Joshua’s daughter. Once, a long time ago, this young woman had been his own flesh and blood, his little girl, Maggie.” (Fitzpatrick P. 228)
Later in his life, Joshua would be reunited with his long-lost brother, Moses Jr. who had been captured so long ago. He had been adopted by the Wyandots and lived in the same village as his sister, Naomi. (Fitzpatrick)
It’s a sad tale how Joshua Fry was impacted by the capture of his loved ones to the Indians. Through this century we have only heard the side of the White man but as you can see from these stories many of these persons that were captured would not have had life any other way than living it with the natives.
It is the Native people, not white researchers and historians who know what occurred when white captives were brought back to their villages and were adopted, during that period of terrible war in the ‘middle ground’ of America. But they kept this knowledge alive through the tribal customs and oral history that have been passed down to this day.
There were no captive records, so those whites that were captured were written off and forgotten and assumed dead. Native people know what happened to captives because of their tribal oral history.
People were caught in the vortex of a terrible racial war, and the result of that was that lives were changed forever by it and that is the True story of being Captured by Indians.
Chief Blue Jacket’s DNA all Indian, tests indicate Report he was captured white boy is debunked Friday, April 14, 2006
References:
Keilman, John ‘Indian Guide, Indian Princess must drop theme or leave the YMCA ’ 9/19/2015 https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/la-grange/ct-ymca-indian-princess-met-20150918-story.html Eckert, Allen The Frontiersman Little, Brown & Company Boston MA 1967
Fitzpatrick, Allen Captives and Kin - in the Ohio Country Fort Henry Publications Wheeling, WV 2020 Davis, Bill ‘Blue Jacket Story is a Myth…. according to DNA’ 2006 https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/swearingen/3321/
Stanely, Cathryn ‘Author Alan Fitzpatrick to tell story of ‘forgotten’ Zane brother’ October 15, 2021
https://www.belmontcountyheritagemuseum.org/post/author-alan-fitzpatrick-to-tell-story-of- forgotten-zane-brother
Heard, Joseph Norman ‘THE ASSIMILATION OF CAPTIVES ON THE AMERICAN FRONTIER’ University of Texas Dissertation December 1977
https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4156&context=gradschool_disstheses
Bianca Robenson: Opportunities and Life Lessons (2nd Place Winner)
Coshocton County, we all know it and I hope we all love it. Nestled in the heart of it all, it will forever hold a spot within my heart. The county was officially organized on April 1, 1811. The word is derived from the Delaware word Goschachgunk, meaning Black Bear Town. There were at least six Indian towns located in present day Coshocton, the majority of these being Delaware. Where the two branches of the Muskingum River meet in Coshocton is known as “The Forks of the Muskingum”. Located there, the Turtle tribe of the Delawares had their village called Goschachgunk, our town's namesake. In 1781 this village was destroyed during Brodhead’s expedition where 16 captives were massacred and then Coshocton and Lichtenau were burnt to the ground.
The first settler arrived in Coshocton in 1764. Colonel Charles Williams was born in Washington County, Maryland. He married Susannah Carpenter and the two lived in a cabin on the river, where Coshocton is today. In 1801, his brother-in-laws arrived and together they raised a crop of corn. In April of 1802, Ebenezer Buckingham and John Matthews laid out Tuscarawa, which is what we know as Coshocton. Between 1840 and 1880, the town's population grew from 625 to 3,044. In 1824, a two story courthouse was built at a cost of $1,984. The present Coshocton County Courthouse was built over the span of two years, 1873 to 1875, costing $65,597.
Just as the population grew in the 1800s, the same is true for the 1900s. Between 1880 and 1910, the population rose from 26,642 to 30,121. As the population increased, my family as I know it began. In 1928 my maternal great grandfather was born in Conesville, eight years after that my paternal great grandfather was born. They both married and began their own respective families within the lines of Coshocton County. James Bice married Carol Royer, together they had five children. Of these children my paternal grandmother was born and subsequently my father, in 1980. Of the seven children Harvey Guilliams and Irene Matis had, my maternal grandfather was born.
From all of this we end up with my parents, the individuals that I owe everything to. In August of 1979, my mother, Megan was born. She graduated from Coshocton High School in 1998, worked at Buehler’s for a period of time, and currently works at Peoples Bank. One short year later, almost to the date, Merritt became the first son of Suzanne Bice and Leonard Roberson. My father attended Ridgewood High School and worked for Clow for several years and now is part of the Laborers Union, but the majority of his time these days is spent outdoors.
From there, we reach 2002. February 17, 2002 at 5:06 p.m. to be exact. This is where I come into play in relation to Coshocton County history. I was born at Coshocton Regional Medical Center to Merritt and Megan. Naturally, I do not have any personal memories of the first few years of my life, I only know of the stories that have been told to me by family members but this is where my life began. I think that part of growing up in a small town in Ohio is the constant longing to leave the town and never look back. All throughout my childhood I was told that I had to see life outside of Coshocton at some point in my life and that my parents wanted me to go to college. Now that I have reached that point, I look back and wish I had cherished my time there a little bit more.
I attended the recently closed Conesville Elementary from kindergarten through sixth grade. There are very few things I remember from these years but the building holds a special place in my heart. I remember my mornings spent with my grandmother before she would take me to school and spending most of my evenings at Miss Jennifer's Dance Studio. At the time I wasn’t aware of how crucial these years were in me becoming who I am today. After elementary school, I transitioned into River View Junior High, these two years were just as crucial to my development as the ones I had spent at Conesville. I was a cheerleader with some of my best friends, and played trumpet in the concert and jazz bands. As I moved into high school I was an active student. Having the opportunity to be involved in cheerleading, band, swimming, soccer, and 4-H opened my eyes to different opportunities and exposed me to a wide variety of people. My father was involved in 4-H when he was in school, it felt natural for me to be involved with it. I loved every second of my seven years being an active 4-H member. Various poultry projects, goats, and that one feeder calf that I may have gotten mad at on more than one occasion. Merritt Roberson truly did a lot for my siblings and I to have superior poultry projects year after year and we will all forever be grateful for that experience.
I graduated high school in the year 2020 which as we all know, was a less than ideal year. Being a class officer my senior year, I was fortunate enough to be heavily involved in the decisions regarding our graduation but I still remember feeling heartbroken alongside my fellow classmates as we traversed into our adult lives together while still feeling like there was a chapter that wasn’t quite finished. I had only applied to three colleges, I was incredibly unsure about what exactly I wanted to go to school for. Asking an 18 year old what they want to do everyday for the rest of their life is an incredibly big decision and I didn’t feel ready for that. In November of 2019 my mother and I visited the University of Findlay after I had been accepted there earlier that fall. We both fell in love with the campus and as I type this, I am sitting on campus halfway through the first semester of my senior year and everyday I still feel grateful that I made this decision. I went through several majors until I landed where I am. A major in History, with minors in Political Science and Museum Studies, with so much hope to “do cool stuff in a museum one day” as my mother would put it.
Just like nearly every high school senior, I wanted nothing more than to get out of Coshocton County and stop feeling like I was trapped there. But you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. I strongly believe that it is so important for people to get out of their hometown and meet people who were raised differently, but I also think there is nothing wrong with going back home. Over the last three and a half years at Findlay, I have had so many nights where there was nothing I wanted more than to simply be in Coshocton County. I became the woman that I am today and have gained my best qualities simply because of where I was raised and the individuals that raised me. There is nothing in the world that I would trade for this town and every opportunity and life lesson it has granted me.
References
Butler, S. E. (2020). Frontier History of Coshocton. Carlisle Printing.
Howe, H. (1908). Coshocton County. In Historical collections of ohio: In Two volumes: An encyclopedia of the state: History both general and local, geography with descriptions of its counties, cities and villages, its agricultural, manufacturing, mining and business development, sketches of eminent and interesting characters, etc., with notes of a tour over it in 1886 (pp. 466–482). essay, The State of Ohio.
LLC., D. D. S. (n.d.). The History of the Coshocton County Courthouse. Coshocton County Common Pleas Court - History of the courthouse. http://www.commonpleas.coshoctoncounty.us/history.php
The first settler arrived in Coshocton in 1764. Colonel Charles Williams was born in Washington County, Maryland. He married Susannah Carpenter and the two lived in a cabin on the river, where Coshocton is today. In 1801, his brother-in-laws arrived and together they raised a crop of corn. In April of 1802, Ebenezer Buckingham and John Matthews laid out Tuscarawa, which is what we know as Coshocton. Between 1840 and 1880, the town's population grew from 625 to 3,044. In 1824, a two story courthouse was built at a cost of $1,984. The present Coshocton County Courthouse was built over the span of two years, 1873 to 1875, costing $65,597.
Just as the population grew in the 1800s, the same is true for the 1900s. Between 1880 and 1910, the population rose from 26,642 to 30,121. As the population increased, my family as I know it began. In 1928 my maternal great grandfather was born in Conesville, eight years after that my paternal great grandfather was born. They both married and began their own respective families within the lines of Coshocton County. James Bice married Carol Royer, together they had five children. Of these children my paternal grandmother was born and subsequently my father, in 1980. Of the seven children Harvey Guilliams and Irene Matis had, my maternal grandfather was born.
From all of this we end up with my parents, the individuals that I owe everything to. In August of 1979, my mother, Megan was born. She graduated from Coshocton High School in 1998, worked at Buehler’s for a period of time, and currently works at Peoples Bank. One short year later, almost to the date, Merritt became the first son of Suzanne Bice and Leonard Roberson. My father attended Ridgewood High School and worked for Clow for several years and now is part of the Laborers Union, but the majority of his time these days is spent outdoors.
From there, we reach 2002. February 17, 2002 at 5:06 p.m. to be exact. This is where I come into play in relation to Coshocton County history. I was born at Coshocton Regional Medical Center to Merritt and Megan. Naturally, I do not have any personal memories of the first few years of my life, I only know of the stories that have been told to me by family members but this is where my life began. I think that part of growing up in a small town in Ohio is the constant longing to leave the town and never look back. All throughout my childhood I was told that I had to see life outside of Coshocton at some point in my life and that my parents wanted me to go to college. Now that I have reached that point, I look back and wish I had cherished my time there a little bit more.
I attended the recently closed Conesville Elementary from kindergarten through sixth grade. There are very few things I remember from these years but the building holds a special place in my heart. I remember my mornings spent with my grandmother before she would take me to school and spending most of my evenings at Miss Jennifer's Dance Studio. At the time I wasn’t aware of how crucial these years were in me becoming who I am today. After elementary school, I transitioned into River View Junior High, these two years were just as crucial to my development as the ones I had spent at Conesville. I was a cheerleader with some of my best friends, and played trumpet in the concert and jazz bands. As I moved into high school I was an active student. Having the opportunity to be involved in cheerleading, band, swimming, soccer, and 4-H opened my eyes to different opportunities and exposed me to a wide variety of people. My father was involved in 4-H when he was in school, it felt natural for me to be involved with it. I loved every second of my seven years being an active 4-H member. Various poultry projects, goats, and that one feeder calf that I may have gotten mad at on more than one occasion. Merritt Roberson truly did a lot for my siblings and I to have superior poultry projects year after year and we will all forever be grateful for that experience.
I graduated high school in the year 2020 which as we all know, was a less than ideal year. Being a class officer my senior year, I was fortunate enough to be heavily involved in the decisions regarding our graduation but I still remember feeling heartbroken alongside my fellow classmates as we traversed into our adult lives together while still feeling like there was a chapter that wasn’t quite finished. I had only applied to three colleges, I was incredibly unsure about what exactly I wanted to go to school for. Asking an 18 year old what they want to do everyday for the rest of their life is an incredibly big decision and I didn’t feel ready for that. In November of 2019 my mother and I visited the University of Findlay after I had been accepted there earlier that fall. We both fell in love with the campus and as I type this, I am sitting on campus halfway through the first semester of my senior year and everyday I still feel grateful that I made this decision. I went through several majors until I landed where I am. A major in History, with minors in Political Science and Museum Studies, with so much hope to “do cool stuff in a museum one day” as my mother would put it.
Just like nearly every high school senior, I wanted nothing more than to get out of Coshocton County and stop feeling like I was trapped there. But you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. I strongly believe that it is so important for people to get out of their hometown and meet people who were raised differently, but I also think there is nothing wrong with going back home. Over the last three and a half years at Findlay, I have had so many nights where there was nothing I wanted more than to simply be in Coshocton County. I became the woman that I am today and have gained my best qualities simply because of where I was raised and the individuals that raised me. There is nothing in the world that I would trade for this town and every opportunity and life lesson it has granted me.
References
Butler, S. E. (2020). Frontier History of Coshocton. Carlisle Printing.
Howe, H. (1908). Coshocton County. In Historical collections of ohio: In Two volumes: An encyclopedia of the state: History both general and local, geography with descriptions of its counties, cities and villages, its agricultural, manufacturing, mining and business development, sketches of eminent and interesting characters, etc., with notes of a tour over it in 1886 (pp. 466–482). essay, The State of Ohio.
LLC., D. D. S. (n.d.). The History of the Coshocton County Courthouse. Coshocton County Common Pleas Court - History of the courthouse. http://www.commonpleas.coshoctoncounty.us/history.php
Susan Nolan: 500 Acres (Honorable Mention Winner)
Like most amateur genealogists every few years I circle back through the brick walls in my family tree hoping to find that one clue that might unlock more of my family history.
Recently going through papers I inherited from my parents when they moved to assisted living I found a copy of my great-grandfather, William Edward Craig’s obituary. My dad never knew this grandfather who died when dad’s mom, my Grandma Florence, was just a little girl. Finding this one old newspaper clipping led me on a journey through Coshocton County court records, Jefferson County, Ohio, court records, and even into Washington County, Pennsylvania, chasing the land purchases of my fourth-great grandfather, John Craig.
According to the Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of Holmes and Wayne Ohio page 674 which I found online at Family Search, my fourth great-grandfather, John Craig was born in Ireland and immigrated to America where he settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, after serving in the War of the Revolution. He married Mary Patterson, also from Ireland, but living in Washington County, Pennsylvania. In 1817 John bought 500 acres of land in Coshocton County and settled here in 1818.
This biography goes on to say that John’s son, William, married Margaret Davidson of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and moved with his father to Coshocton County in 1818. His house was used by teamsters between Coshocton and Wooster. He was one of the six original members of the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church and father to twelve children. William started poor in life, but became well-to-do.
John Craig is also mentioned in the History of Coshocton County: It’s Past and Present by N.N. Hill, Jr. on page 478. Like the Holmes County biography, this history states that John Craig was born in Ireland and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, but adds he was sixteen at the time he emigrated. John lived in Jefferson County, Ohio, prior to moving to Coshocton County, and had a daughter Mary who married John Dougal and moved to Richland County, Ohio. John was the first justice of the peace in Mechanics Township serving from 1819-1822.
Over the years family genealogists have confirmed that much of the information in these biographies is correct. Family records handed down through my grandmother have verified that John did marry Mary Patterson and some of Mary’s family also settled in the Coshocton-Holmes county area. We also know that John and Mary’s daughter, Mary, did marry John Dougal and settle in Richland County. We have not proven that John was in the War of the Revolution or that he emigrated from Ireland. Perhaps both are true, but searches for him in Revolutionary War records turn up so many John Craigs that it is impossible to single him out. Immigration records have also been inconclusive. The Commemorative Biographical record was published in 1889. Hill’s History of Coshocton County was published in 1881. John Craig died in 1824 and his son, William, in 1853, so any information in these biographies would have come from John’s grandchildren. It is possible they unintentionally misrepresented information in their retelling to these biographers.
Family members knew that the Craigs at one point had a lot of farmland in Clark Township, but no one ever verified the actual purchase. Did John Craig really purchase 500 acres of land here in 1817? This seems like an expensive purchase for an Irish immigrant. The Craig land was located in the northeast corner of Clark Township. The history of Clark Township in the History of Coshocton County, states that “the northeast quarter of the township, or the first military section, a body of 4,000 acres was granted from President John Adams to Jonathan Burrell of New York City by patent March 29,1800. It was located for him by John Mathews, who received in compensation 284 acres from the northeast corner of the quarter. In 1807 Mr. Burrell disposed of the remainder of the section to Philip Itskin of Baltimore Maryland, who sold it in parcels to various persons.” (History of Coshocton County, Ohio, 477).
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States government operating under the Articles of Confederation. It established a standardized process for surveying land west of the Appalachian Mountains so it could be sold to settlers. This process was called the Public Land Survey System. In 1796, Congress created the United States Military District which included land in Coshocton County. Veterans were granted sections of land by warrant from the U.S. government in payment for their service during the Revolutionary War. Many veterans never visited the land and sold it off (Knepper, The Official Ohio Lands Book, 9). It appears Jonathan Burrall did just that.
In the Muskingum County Deed records v. B-C 1805-1812 a deed from 1807 confirms Burrall sold his land to Philip Itzkin. Information on Jonathan Burrall is limited, but it appears he was a deputy paymaster of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. There are letters between Burrall and George Washington during the war now preserved in the National Archives. His position as deputy paymaster general likely explains why Burrall was granted such a large tract of land in Coshocton County (“To George Washington from Jonathan Burrall, August 1789,”).
More interesting, however, is the story of the surveyor, John Mathews. Mathews was born in Massachusetts in 1765 and left home as a teenager to serve in the Revolutionary War under his uncle, Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Putnam. Putnam introduced John to Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States. John began working with Hutchins and his crew of surveyors in the wilderness of Ohio mapping out the Seven Ranges, the first section of land surveyed in Ohio. John’s journal which details his work is now housed in the Marietta College Library (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones). John continued working as a surveyor for his uncle who was a partner in the Ohio Company.
In 1796 Congress passed an act defining the boundary of the Military Reserve, a tract of land encompassing 2,500,000 acres, to provide land grants to Revolutionary War veterans. The Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, sent Surveyor Rufus Putnam to oversee the work. The Military tract was divided into five districts (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Loc. 5250-5256). Working for his uncle, John Mathews was assigned the survey of the North Middle District and began his work on August 1, 1797. His district included what are now Tiverton, Monroe, Clark, Newcastle, Jefferson, Bethlehem, Perry, Bedford and Jackson Townships of Coshocton County (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Figure 7-1). In 1802, Mathews joined fellow surveyors Ebenezer Buckingham and Gibson Rook to lay out the town of Coshocton (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Loc. 1512).
Coshocton County Deed Records Volumes 1 and 2 from 1811-1820 show that on 24 December 1814 Adam Snyder purchased 500 acres of land in Range 7, Quarter 7, Section 1 in Coshocton County from the estate of Philip Itzkin for $580. Itzkin had relocated to Ohio after his purchase from Jonathan Burrall and had many other land purchases in Tuscarawas County where he lived at the time of his death. Deed records show that on 24 June 1817 William Craig of Jefferson County, Ohio, purchased these same 500 acres for $1000 from Adam Snider. Coshocton County Deed Records v. 3-4 for 1820-1828 show that on the sixteenth day of January 1818, William Craig sold 100 acres of his land to his father, John Craig of Jefferson County, Ohio, for $200. These land records prove that my Craig ancestors purchased 500 acres of land in Coshocton County in 1817 and settled on the land shortly afterwards.
Both the Coshocton and Holmes county history books attributed the land purchase to John Craig, but it appears father and son worked together on land purchases. William was thirty-two when he purchased the land in Coshocton County and John was fifty-five. Where did these Craigs get the money for this purchase? Where did they live in Jefferson County? Ohio
County Marriages 1774-1993, show William Crague’s marriage to Margaret Davidson on 25 July 1805 and Mary Crague’s marriage to John Dougal on 3 April 1806, both in Jefferson County, Ohio (Ancestry.com., Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records). These records tell us that John Craig and his family were living in Ohio from 1805-1817 before purchasing land in Coshocton County and that in legal documents they sometimes spelled their name Crague.
Searching this alternate spelling of Craig helped me to locate a land purchase by John Crague on 18 Feb 1806 at the Steubenville Land Office. A copy of this land patent is available online at the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management. This land patent shows that John Crague of Washington County, Pennsylvania, purchased Range 3, Township 9, Section 32 in Jefferson County, Ohio. The actual document states “Know Ye, that John Craigue of Washington County Pennsylvania has made full payment” and “unto the said John Crague.” The document was signed by President Thomas Jefferson. This section of land was located in the Seven Ranges. His lot was likely 640 acres and cost him at least one dollar an acre which was the minimum price set (Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search.”).
This unique connection with John Craig twice purchasing land that John Mathews was part of surveying intrigued me. John Mathews wrote in his diary about the days of steady rains, dense swamps, thick underbrush, and forests of virgin timber making his progress very slow. He mentioned panthers and wolves screaming at night making sleep difficult. Even worse were the reports of Indians scalping settlers and burning women at the stake (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Loc. 797). His diary entries made me appreciate the strength and spirit of John and Mary Craig and their family to have ventured into early Ohio at such a dangerous time, and realize just how courageous these early surveyors were trekking into lands where they were not wanted.
In April 1806, just two months after his 640 acre purchase, Jefferson County Deed Records v. A-B 1795-1809 show that John Crague with his wife, Mary, sold four parcels of land in Section 32, Township 9, Range 3 to four different men. Each parcel was 115 acres and sold for $345.18 Over the years John sold other smaller parcels of land. On 17 April 1813, John Crague sold his son-in-law, John Dougal, 80 acres of land for $800 and the same day, sold his son William Crague, 90 acres of land for $900. During their time in Jefferson County, seven of William and Margaret’s twelve children were born including my second great-grandfather, John Craig on 13 July 1807. On the 12 day of April 1817, just two months before purchasing land in Coshocton County, John Crague and wife, and William Crague and wife sold their Jefferson County acreage to John Vohris, for $1782.56.
My success in finding John Craig’s land purchases in Jefferson and Coshocton County encouraged me to keep looking. Washington County, Pennsylvania, Deed Records in volumes 9, 14, 15, and 16 show several purchases and sales. On 25 September 1788, John Crague bought sixty-five acres of land in Nottingham, Washington County, Pennsylvania for 66 pounds, and another sixty-eight acre parcel in Mingo Creek in 1791 for 95 pounds. In August of 1793, he sold the original sixty-five acres for his purchase price. In 1798, he sold thirteen of his sixty-eight acres in Mingo Creek for 68 pounds. In May 1800 he bought an additional 234 acres of land on Mingo Creek. In August 1801 it appears he sold most of his acreage for $1040.
John Craig died on 18 March 1824 at approximately sixty-two years of age. Mary followed him four years later. They are buried on private land on the edge of Clark. Ten years ago with permission from the landowner, dad and I walked through woods and found their still legible stones leaning up against a tree. Margaret and William died in 1852 and 1853, respectively. They are both buried in the Clark Cemetery on land that William donated in 1846. William had seven sons. Only four outlived him. Over the years his sons sold off pieces of their land shares. My second-great grandfather, John Craig, died in 1894 owning just 60 acres. This was left to his three daughters, and his son, my great-grandfather, William Edward Craig.
William Edward Craig died when my grandma was just a toddler. He was forty-five when Grandma was born. He was a farmer in Clark Township and developed pneumonia just after Christmas. He had been transporting lumber by wagon in an ice storm. He died on January 4, 1917, leaving behind his wife, Nora Yenna Craig, his daughter Mabel who was fifteen, his only son Noble, fourteen, daughter Hazel eleven, and my grandma, Florence, who was not quite two. The service for Edward was held in the Clark Presbyterian Church, and he was buried in the Clark Cemetery on the land his grandfather had donated.
After Edward’s death, my great-grandma Nora struggled to make ends meet. A March 27, 1918, Sheriff’s Sale of Real Estate article appearing in the Coshocton Tribune advertised that Nora had filed in probate court to sell the land to help provide for her family. Nora and her children rented their house after their land was sold. As teenagers, Mabel went to work as a servant and Noble started at the lumber yard. Nora took in boarders and many county school teachers rented rooms from her. Perhaps due to their influence, Hazel graduated from Clark High School and went on to Kent State University to earn a teaching degree. My grandma, Florence, graduated from Clark High School and married during the Depression in 1933. Their land sale in 1918 marked the end of one hundred years of Craig land ownership in Clark Township, Coshocton County, Ohio.
These land purchases and sales raised more questions. If John and Mary sold most of their Washington County, Pennsylvania lands in 1801, where did they live until their land purchase in Jefferson County in 1806? Where did they get their money to make these land purchases? Is the spelling of their name as Crague significant? There were several settlements of Craigs in America prior to the American Revolution. A simple Google search finds them in New Jersey, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania as early as 1730. They were Scottish Protestant covenanters who left Scotland for Ireland to avoid persecution. Was John Craig actually born in America? Is he one of the many John Craigs shown in Pennsylvania records who fought in the American Revolution?
While my research seems to have raised more questions than answers, it did give me a deeper understanding of the early land settlement of Coshocton County, Ohio. Surveyors, like John Mathews, who battled rough terrain, weather, and Indian attacks to complete their jobs were an integral part of our history. The deed records of Coshocton, Muskingum, Jefferson, and Washington counties, so carefully preserved and documented, host a wealth of information that I am just beginning to investigate. I am proud that my Craig ancestors were prominent early settlers who made their way west as farmers buying and selling land, and that they decided to finally settle for good on 500 acres in Coshocton County.
Bibliography
Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Bureau of Land Management. “Land Patent Search.” Database and images. General Land Office Records. http://glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch : 2023.
Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Company, 1889. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/224910/?offset=&return=1#page=1& view=picture&o=info&n=0&q=
History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, 1740-1881. Newark, Ohio: J.N.N. Hill Jr., 1881.
Knepper, Dr. George W. The Official Ohio Lands Book. Columbus, Ohio: The Auditor of State, 2002.
Ohio. Coshocton County. Deed Book 1-2 1811-1820: 30, 217. Coshocton County Probate Court, Coshocton, Ohio.
Ohio. Coshocton County. Deed Records v. 3-4 for 1820-1828: 7. Coshocton County Probate Court, Coshocton, Ohio.
Ohio. Jefferson County. Deed records, v. A-B, 1795-1809. A510, 511, 520. Jefferson County Courthouse Steubenville. FHL microfilm, 52 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Ohio. Jefferson County. Deed records, v. C-D, 1809-1814. D270, 277. Jefferson County Courthouse Steubenville. FHL microfilm, 52 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Ohio. Muskingum County. Deed Records Volume B-C 1805-1812. Muskingum County Courthouse Zanesville. FHL microfilm, 65 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania. Washington County. Deeds v. 9, I1 1790-1794. 113, 872. Washington County Courthouse Washington. FHL microfilm, 114 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania. Washington County. Deeds v. 14, 1O 1798. 458. Washington County Courthouse Washington. FHL microfilm, 114 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania. Washington County. Deeds v. 15-16, 1P-1Q 1798-1802. 7, 469. Washington County Courthouse Washington. FHL microfilm, 114 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
“Public Member Trees,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 October 2023), “HIDDEN” family tree by HIDDEN, profile for John Craig (1762-1824, d.
Coshocton County, Ohio) undocumented data updated October 2023.
“Sheriff’s Sale of Real Estate” Coshocton Tribune. March 27, 1918.
“To George Washington from Jonathan Burrall, August 1789,” Founders Online, National
Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-03-02-0336. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 15 June 1789–5 September 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989, pp. 574–578.]
Williams, James L. 2015. Blazes, Posts, & Stones A History of Ohio’s Original Land Subdivisions. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press.
Recently going through papers I inherited from my parents when they moved to assisted living I found a copy of my great-grandfather, William Edward Craig’s obituary. My dad never knew this grandfather who died when dad’s mom, my Grandma Florence, was just a little girl. Finding this one old newspaper clipping led me on a journey through Coshocton County court records, Jefferson County, Ohio, court records, and even into Washington County, Pennsylvania, chasing the land purchases of my fourth-great grandfather, John Craig.
According to the Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of Holmes and Wayne Ohio page 674 which I found online at Family Search, my fourth great-grandfather, John Craig was born in Ireland and immigrated to America where he settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, after serving in the War of the Revolution. He married Mary Patterson, also from Ireland, but living in Washington County, Pennsylvania. In 1817 John bought 500 acres of land in Coshocton County and settled here in 1818.
This biography goes on to say that John’s son, William, married Margaret Davidson of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and moved with his father to Coshocton County in 1818. His house was used by teamsters between Coshocton and Wooster. He was one of the six original members of the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church and father to twelve children. William started poor in life, but became well-to-do.
John Craig is also mentioned in the History of Coshocton County: It’s Past and Present by N.N. Hill, Jr. on page 478. Like the Holmes County biography, this history states that John Craig was born in Ireland and settled in Washington County, Pennsylvania, but adds he was sixteen at the time he emigrated. John lived in Jefferson County, Ohio, prior to moving to Coshocton County, and had a daughter Mary who married John Dougal and moved to Richland County, Ohio. John was the first justice of the peace in Mechanics Township serving from 1819-1822.
Over the years family genealogists have confirmed that much of the information in these biographies is correct. Family records handed down through my grandmother have verified that John did marry Mary Patterson and some of Mary’s family also settled in the Coshocton-Holmes county area. We also know that John and Mary’s daughter, Mary, did marry John Dougal and settle in Richland County. We have not proven that John was in the War of the Revolution or that he emigrated from Ireland. Perhaps both are true, but searches for him in Revolutionary War records turn up so many John Craigs that it is impossible to single him out. Immigration records have also been inconclusive. The Commemorative Biographical record was published in 1889. Hill’s History of Coshocton County was published in 1881. John Craig died in 1824 and his son, William, in 1853, so any information in these biographies would have come from John’s grandchildren. It is possible they unintentionally misrepresented information in their retelling to these biographers.
Family members knew that the Craigs at one point had a lot of farmland in Clark Township, but no one ever verified the actual purchase. Did John Craig really purchase 500 acres of land here in 1817? This seems like an expensive purchase for an Irish immigrant. The Craig land was located in the northeast corner of Clark Township. The history of Clark Township in the History of Coshocton County, states that “the northeast quarter of the township, or the first military section, a body of 4,000 acres was granted from President John Adams to Jonathan Burrell of New York City by patent March 29,1800. It was located for him by John Mathews, who received in compensation 284 acres from the northeast corner of the quarter. In 1807 Mr. Burrell disposed of the remainder of the section to Philip Itskin of Baltimore Maryland, who sold it in parcels to various persons.” (History of Coshocton County, Ohio, 477).
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States government operating under the Articles of Confederation. It established a standardized process for surveying land west of the Appalachian Mountains so it could be sold to settlers. This process was called the Public Land Survey System. In 1796, Congress created the United States Military District which included land in Coshocton County. Veterans were granted sections of land by warrant from the U.S. government in payment for their service during the Revolutionary War. Many veterans never visited the land and sold it off (Knepper, The Official Ohio Lands Book, 9). It appears Jonathan Burrall did just that.
In the Muskingum County Deed records v. B-C 1805-1812 a deed from 1807 confirms Burrall sold his land to Philip Itzkin. Information on Jonathan Burrall is limited, but it appears he was a deputy paymaster of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. There are letters between Burrall and George Washington during the war now preserved in the National Archives. His position as deputy paymaster general likely explains why Burrall was granted such a large tract of land in Coshocton County (“To George Washington from Jonathan Burrall, August 1789,”).
More interesting, however, is the story of the surveyor, John Mathews. Mathews was born in Massachusetts in 1765 and left home as a teenager to serve in the Revolutionary War under his uncle, Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Putnam. Putnam introduced John to Thomas Hutchins, Geographer of the United States. John began working with Hutchins and his crew of surveyors in the wilderness of Ohio mapping out the Seven Ranges, the first section of land surveyed in Ohio. John’s journal which details his work is now housed in the Marietta College Library (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones). John continued working as a surveyor for his uncle who was a partner in the Ohio Company.
In 1796 Congress passed an act defining the boundary of the Military Reserve, a tract of land encompassing 2,500,000 acres, to provide land grants to Revolutionary War veterans. The Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott, sent Surveyor Rufus Putnam to oversee the work. The Military tract was divided into five districts (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Loc. 5250-5256). Working for his uncle, John Mathews was assigned the survey of the North Middle District and began his work on August 1, 1797. His district included what are now Tiverton, Monroe, Clark, Newcastle, Jefferson, Bethlehem, Perry, Bedford and Jackson Townships of Coshocton County (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Figure 7-1). In 1802, Mathews joined fellow surveyors Ebenezer Buckingham and Gibson Rook to lay out the town of Coshocton (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Loc. 1512).
Coshocton County Deed Records Volumes 1 and 2 from 1811-1820 show that on 24 December 1814 Adam Snyder purchased 500 acres of land in Range 7, Quarter 7, Section 1 in Coshocton County from the estate of Philip Itzkin for $580. Itzkin had relocated to Ohio after his purchase from Jonathan Burrall and had many other land purchases in Tuscarawas County where he lived at the time of his death. Deed records show that on 24 June 1817 William Craig of Jefferson County, Ohio, purchased these same 500 acres for $1000 from Adam Snider. Coshocton County Deed Records v. 3-4 for 1820-1828 show that on the sixteenth day of January 1818, William Craig sold 100 acres of his land to his father, John Craig of Jefferson County, Ohio, for $200. These land records prove that my Craig ancestors purchased 500 acres of land in Coshocton County in 1817 and settled on the land shortly afterwards.
Both the Coshocton and Holmes county history books attributed the land purchase to John Craig, but it appears father and son worked together on land purchases. William was thirty-two when he purchased the land in Coshocton County and John was fifty-five. Where did these Craigs get the money for this purchase? Where did they live in Jefferson County? Ohio
County Marriages 1774-1993, show William Crague’s marriage to Margaret Davidson on 25 July 1805 and Mary Crague’s marriage to John Dougal on 3 April 1806, both in Jefferson County, Ohio (Ancestry.com., Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records). These records tell us that John Craig and his family were living in Ohio from 1805-1817 before purchasing land in Coshocton County and that in legal documents they sometimes spelled their name Crague.
Searching this alternate spelling of Craig helped me to locate a land purchase by John Crague on 18 Feb 1806 at the Steubenville Land Office. A copy of this land patent is available online at the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management. This land patent shows that John Crague of Washington County, Pennsylvania, purchased Range 3, Township 9, Section 32 in Jefferson County, Ohio. The actual document states “Know Ye, that John Craigue of Washington County Pennsylvania has made full payment” and “unto the said John Crague.” The document was signed by President Thomas Jefferson. This section of land was located in the Seven Ranges. His lot was likely 640 acres and cost him at least one dollar an acre which was the minimum price set (Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search.”).
This unique connection with John Craig twice purchasing land that John Mathews was part of surveying intrigued me. John Mathews wrote in his diary about the days of steady rains, dense swamps, thick underbrush, and forests of virgin timber making his progress very slow. He mentioned panthers and wolves screaming at night making sleep difficult. Even worse were the reports of Indians scalping settlers and burning women at the stake (Williams, Blazes, Posts, & Stones, Loc. 797). His diary entries made me appreciate the strength and spirit of John and Mary Craig and their family to have ventured into early Ohio at such a dangerous time, and realize just how courageous these early surveyors were trekking into lands where they were not wanted.
In April 1806, just two months after his 640 acre purchase, Jefferson County Deed Records v. A-B 1795-1809 show that John Crague with his wife, Mary, sold four parcels of land in Section 32, Township 9, Range 3 to four different men. Each parcel was 115 acres and sold for $345.18 Over the years John sold other smaller parcels of land. On 17 April 1813, John Crague sold his son-in-law, John Dougal, 80 acres of land for $800 and the same day, sold his son William Crague, 90 acres of land for $900. During their time in Jefferson County, seven of William and Margaret’s twelve children were born including my second great-grandfather, John Craig on 13 July 1807. On the 12 day of April 1817, just two months before purchasing land in Coshocton County, John Crague and wife, and William Crague and wife sold their Jefferson County acreage to John Vohris, for $1782.56.
My success in finding John Craig’s land purchases in Jefferson and Coshocton County encouraged me to keep looking. Washington County, Pennsylvania, Deed Records in volumes 9, 14, 15, and 16 show several purchases and sales. On 25 September 1788, John Crague bought sixty-five acres of land in Nottingham, Washington County, Pennsylvania for 66 pounds, and another sixty-eight acre parcel in Mingo Creek in 1791 for 95 pounds. In August of 1793, he sold the original sixty-five acres for his purchase price. In 1798, he sold thirteen of his sixty-eight acres in Mingo Creek for 68 pounds. In May 1800 he bought an additional 234 acres of land on Mingo Creek. In August 1801 it appears he sold most of his acreage for $1040.
John Craig died on 18 March 1824 at approximately sixty-two years of age. Mary followed him four years later. They are buried on private land on the edge of Clark. Ten years ago with permission from the landowner, dad and I walked through woods and found their still legible stones leaning up against a tree. Margaret and William died in 1852 and 1853, respectively. They are both buried in the Clark Cemetery on land that William donated in 1846. William had seven sons. Only four outlived him. Over the years his sons sold off pieces of their land shares. My second-great grandfather, John Craig, died in 1894 owning just 60 acres. This was left to his three daughters, and his son, my great-grandfather, William Edward Craig.
William Edward Craig died when my grandma was just a toddler. He was forty-five when Grandma was born. He was a farmer in Clark Township and developed pneumonia just after Christmas. He had been transporting lumber by wagon in an ice storm. He died on January 4, 1917, leaving behind his wife, Nora Yenna Craig, his daughter Mabel who was fifteen, his only son Noble, fourteen, daughter Hazel eleven, and my grandma, Florence, who was not quite two. The service for Edward was held in the Clark Presbyterian Church, and he was buried in the Clark Cemetery on the land his grandfather had donated.
After Edward’s death, my great-grandma Nora struggled to make ends meet. A March 27, 1918, Sheriff’s Sale of Real Estate article appearing in the Coshocton Tribune advertised that Nora had filed in probate court to sell the land to help provide for her family. Nora and her children rented their house after their land was sold. As teenagers, Mabel went to work as a servant and Noble started at the lumber yard. Nora took in boarders and many county school teachers rented rooms from her. Perhaps due to their influence, Hazel graduated from Clark High School and went on to Kent State University to earn a teaching degree. My grandma, Florence, graduated from Clark High School and married during the Depression in 1933. Their land sale in 1918 marked the end of one hundred years of Craig land ownership in Clark Township, Coshocton County, Ohio.
These land purchases and sales raised more questions. If John and Mary sold most of their Washington County, Pennsylvania lands in 1801, where did they live until their land purchase in Jefferson County in 1806? Where did they get their money to make these land purchases? Is the spelling of their name as Crague significant? There were several settlements of Craigs in America prior to the American Revolution. A simple Google search finds them in New Jersey, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania as early as 1730. They were Scottish Protestant covenanters who left Scotland for Ireland to avoid persecution. Was John Craig actually born in America? Is he one of the many John Craigs shown in Pennsylvania records who fought in the American Revolution?
While my research seems to have raised more questions than answers, it did give me a deeper understanding of the early land settlement of Coshocton County, Ohio. Surveyors, like John Mathews, who battled rough terrain, weather, and Indian attacks to complete their jobs were an integral part of our history. The deed records of Coshocton, Muskingum, Jefferson, and Washington counties, so carefully preserved and documented, host a wealth of information that I am just beginning to investigate. I am proud that my Craig ancestors were prominent early settlers who made their way west as farmers buying and selling land, and that they decided to finally settle for good on 500 acres in Coshocton County.
Bibliography
Ancestry.com. Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Bureau of Land Management. “Land Patent Search.” Database and images. General Land Office Records. http://glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch : 2023.
Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settled families. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Company, 1889. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/224910/?offset=&return=1#page=1& view=picture&o=info&n=0&q=
History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, 1740-1881. Newark, Ohio: J.N.N. Hill Jr., 1881.
Knepper, Dr. George W. The Official Ohio Lands Book. Columbus, Ohio: The Auditor of State, 2002.
Ohio. Coshocton County. Deed Book 1-2 1811-1820: 30, 217. Coshocton County Probate Court, Coshocton, Ohio.
Ohio. Coshocton County. Deed Records v. 3-4 for 1820-1828: 7. Coshocton County Probate Court, Coshocton, Ohio.
Ohio. Jefferson County. Deed records, v. A-B, 1795-1809. A510, 511, 520. Jefferson County Courthouse Steubenville. FHL microfilm, 52 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Ohio. Jefferson County. Deed records, v. C-D, 1809-1814. D270, 277. Jefferson County Courthouse Steubenville. FHL microfilm, 52 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Ohio. Muskingum County. Deed Records Volume B-C 1805-1812. Muskingum County Courthouse Zanesville. FHL microfilm, 65 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania. Washington County. Deeds v. 9, I1 1790-1794. 113, 872. Washington County Courthouse Washington. FHL microfilm, 114 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania. Washington County. Deeds v. 14, 1O 1798. 458. Washington County Courthouse Washington. FHL microfilm, 114 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
Pennsylvania. Washington County. Deeds v. 15-16, 1P-1Q 1798-1802. 7, 469. Washington County Courthouse Washington. FHL microfilm, 114 rolls. Family History Center, Salt Lake City.
“Public Member Trees,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 October 2023), “HIDDEN” family tree by HIDDEN, profile for John Craig (1762-1824, d.
Coshocton County, Ohio) undocumented data updated October 2023.
“Sheriff’s Sale of Real Estate” Coshocton Tribune. March 27, 1918.
“To George Washington from Jonathan Burrall, August 1789,” Founders Online, National
Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-03-02-0336. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 3, 15 June 1789–5 September 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989, pp. 574–578.]
Williams, James L. 2015. Blazes, Posts, & Stones A History of Ohio’s Original Land Subdivisions. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press.
Dana M. Kittner: Forests of Grandeur (Honorable Mention Winner)
Folklore or fable, the idea that Ohio lands had been so densely populated with trees that a “squirrel could jump from Cincinnati to Dayton without touching the ground” was a common tale I heard after moving to Ohio over 25 years ago. Recently, I found myself repeating the tale to my history class, trying to help them imagine the pristine, dense oak forests the European settlers and British soldiers encountered entering the “Ohio Frontier”. Further inquiry by the students caused me to consider if the tale was true. Although the quote is specific to the south and western sides of Ohio, writer Scott Russell Sanders recalls “accounts of early settlers along the Ohio river who marveled at the enormous size of the trees, particularly the Sycamore trees, some of which, after hollowing out the bottom, (a natural occurrence), could become a temporary house for a family”, (Sanders, 1993, p. 27 ).
As a young, impressionable girl, I read a fictional account of a boy who lived in a tree, which fascinated me and stirred my imagination. In Scoutmastercg.com, author Clarke Green gives a detailed review of Jean Criaghead George’s book, My Side of the Mountain. He recounts twelve-year-old boy, Sam Gribley, who leaves home to live on his grandfathers’ land in the Catskills Mountains and seeks shelter within a hollowed Hemlock. The massive hollow tree measured six-feet in diameter, (Green, 2011). Having never seen a tree this enormous, it seemed beyond belief, but I was entranced with the idea of Sam living inside a living, (although dying), tree.
I also had recollections of my mother’s stories of virgin White Pines that had stood behind her father’s barn in Budson, Wisconsin during her early childhood in the mid-1940’s. Her father, Ardan Schatzke, refused to sell the timber, even after repeated requests from potential buyers. He knew they were irreplaceable, and as a steward of the land, he wished to insure their continued existence. In time, a family dispute over ownership of the farm caused the property to be sold. Shortly thereafter, the trees were cut down, the last of their kind in that region of Wisconsin.
Imagining Ohio’s landscape of yesteryear is decidedly different from today’s; many forests have been cleared and sold for timber. Cities, towns and other settlements also caused the clearing of trees. Ohio’s forests of the 1700’s consisted of a variety of forests as well as trees. When settlers first arrived in Marietta in 1788, Ohio’s thick forests covered “about 95 percent of the state’s approximately 24 million acres”, (Building Ohio State, 2023). When the Wisconsin Glacier retreated, it leveled surfaces and left deposits of soil and rocks within most of the eastern and central portions of Ohio, which created a more even terrain. Along the west and Erie lakeshore there were “deciduous broadleaf forests of elm and ash”; throughout the eastern half of the state there were “beech and maple through much of the state’s center”, and throughout the mid-upper eastern portion and lower eastern portion of the state, forests were “heavily populated with and oak, hickory, and chestnut in the south and south east”, (Building Ohio State, 2023).
Other records of the thick forests can be found when reading accounts of Colonel Bouquet’s conquest within the Ohio Wilderness. He engaged with not only potentially hostile natives, but numerous trees that covered the terrain he needed to travel as he came to Coshocton in 1764. Colonel Bouquet had been commissioned to raise an army of men and head west into Ohio country to retrieve over “300 white captives from Indians' ' through negotiations. He was also to obtain a “treaty that forced peace between the English settlers and a number of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio tribes' ', (Smith, et.al., Building Ohio State, 2017). Raising an expedition was difficult; the Pennsylvania Assembly was apathetic to the cause. In addition, the town of Carlisle had become a home of refugees who fled the havoc on the frontier, spreading much worry and contention of the uprisings of Native Americans. The sentiments of the people caused a challenge for Bouquet when he sought to recruit men to drive and manage packhorses. Bouquet did manage to assemble “transportation and supplies consisting of: thirty-two wagons, 300 pack horses, and additional livestock, 60,000 pounds of flour, powder, packhorsemen and wagon drivers necessary to support his relief effort”, (Hannun, pg.84, C-1).
Traveling to Coshocton was slower “because he was moving overland, over undulating terrain without the benefit of any roads…(he) used his volunteer infantry as scouts. His axmen, clearing three parallel trails, proceeded the regular infantry. The regulars marched forward on all three cleared trails flanked by a Pennsylvania battalion and detachment of light horse”, (Waddell, 1983). This “cutting away of the forest that covered the hills” allowed Bouquet’s army to move through the forests collectively in formation, (Williams, Western Pennsylvania History, p.64-68). Bouquet was successful in his military campaign, and in maneuvering over Ohio’s interior. His planning and staging for each step contributed to his success in securing all the prisoners.
Although there are old-growth forests, such as the Johnson Woods State Nature Preserve located in Marshallville, Ohio, none can match the observations of new settlers or Bouquet and his men. There is, however, a program which seeks to find and record the biggest trees in Ohio today. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, ONDR, cites numerous varieties of trees which exceed typical width and height through the “Big Tree Program”. The website records confirmed reports of trees with huge dimensions, and stores the data in a public database, but does not include pictures, (OhioDNR.gov, 2023). Currently, there are fifteen trees listed specifically to the National Champion Trees in Ohio, meaning, they are the biggest in the country in their species, (OhioDNR.gov, 2023). Searching for these big trees has become a hobby for some.
In the May, 2023 edition of Ohio Cooperative Living, Craig Spanger writes of a Big Tree hunter, Marc DeWerth, who has taken his love of big trees and has become an amateur researcher. Hearing of potential giants in Ohio, he locates them, not only to add the data to his personal collection, but to provide content for his hobby and Facebook page, Big Trees Ohio. DeWerth has been searching since 2015, and reports that he has found a Sycamore that “could house a family of four”. He shared there are 243 species of trees within Ohio and he shares all his data with the Ohio Department of Forestry, (Spranger, p.26-27). Spectrum ran a human-interest story on DeWerth on June 29, 2022. Reporter Sophia Constnatine shared Ohio has 15 national champions listed in the Department of Forestry. In addition, she reports that DeWerth has several favorite trees, attributed to Moses Cleveland and his arrival to that region of Ohio in 1790’s. The Early Settler’s Association of Cuyahoga County provides markers for trees of significant age and importance. DeWerth encourages people to get involved, to volunteer, and to appreciate these special trees, (Constintine, 2022).
Closer to home, the Coshocton Soil and Water Conservation District, (C.S.W.C.D.), also has a program for locating and recording big trees within Coshocton county. Every year, C.S.W.C.D. sponsors the “Biggest Tree Contest”. According to The Beacon, “the contest is open to all species of trees growing on privately owned property in Coshocton County. Property line trees and trees growing on federal, state, or local government owned land are not eligible. Any person can enter any tree that is physically located in Coshocton County whether or not the tree is growing on the nominator’s property,” (Beacon, 2022). Although there are no listings for native Ohio Big Tree Champions on the ODNR list, there is presently listed a Coshocton Ohio Non-Native Big Tree Champion, the Sawara False-Cypress, (OhioDNR.gov, 2021). With the growing interest in hunting giant trees, it is just a matter of time a native wonder is found by a tree hunting enthusiast in Coshocton.
Imagining squirrels jumping from branch to branch, never having to touch the ground; or walking through terrain so thick there is virtually no undergrowth exists are hard to imagine. Picturing a Hemlock tree, or in Ohio, a Sycamore tree, large enough that when hollowed out, could house a family of six is a stretch. Yet, tall tales and folklore speak of an untold grandeur which had existed for centuries before man even walked in Ohio. The trees of Ohio: Hickory, Red Hawthorn, Catalpa, White Cedar, Magnolia, River Birch, Red Oak, Pin Oak, Black Cherry, Maple, the Sycamore, and others, have all left a legacy of greatness and should not be forgotten among the tales of time. These mighty giants belong on the same pages of history as Colonel Bouquet and his men, reigning as champions of old.
Bibliography
“Bouquet’s Expedition against the Indians, 1764.” University of Michigan William L. Clements Library - University of Michigan Finding Aids, findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-wcl-M-938bou. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
Constantine, Sophia. “Exploring Ohio: Big Tree Hunting.” Spectrumnews1.com, Spectrum, 22 June 2022, spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/human-interest/2022/06/28/exploring-ohio--big-tree-hunting#. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“2: History of Ohio’s Forests.” Building Ohio State, library.osu.edu/buildingohiost/actual-exhibition-page/case-ii/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
Green, Clarke, et al. “My Side of the Mountain.” Scoutmastercg.Com, 27 July 2015, scoutmastercg.com/my-side-of-the-mountain/#:~:text=’%20I%20am%20on%20my%20mountain,old%20as%20the%20mountain%20itself.).
Hannun, Patrick. “WO 34/040/118 - accounts from Henry Bouquet.” Warfare in North America, c. 1756-1815, https://doi.org/10.1163/37612_wna_wo_wo_34_40_118.
Entries Being Taken for Big Tree COntest. 7 July 2022, www.coshoctonbeacontoday.com/entries-being-taken-for-big-tree-contest/). Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
“How to Measure Big Trees.” Ohiodnr.gov, 2021, ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/land-
land-water/issues-for-landowners/how-to-measure-big-trees.
Sanders, Scott R. Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World. Beacon Press, 1994.
Spranger, Craig. “Ohio Cooperative Living – May 2023 - Frontier by Ohio Cooperative Living - Issuu.” Issuu.com, The Frontier Power Company, 21 Apr. 2023, issuu.com/ohiocooperativeliving/docs/ohio_cooperative_living_may_2023_-_frontier. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Waddell, Louis. “New Light on Bouquet’s Ohio Expedition: Nine Days of Thomas Hutchins’ Journal, October 3-October 11, 1764.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, July 1983, pp. 271–279.
Western Pennsylvania History: 1918-2020.
As a young, impressionable girl, I read a fictional account of a boy who lived in a tree, which fascinated me and stirred my imagination. In Scoutmastercg.com, author Clarke Green gives a detailed review of Jean Criaghead George’s book, My Side of the Mountain. He recounts twelve-year-old boy, Sam Gribley, who leaves home to live on his grandfathers’ land in the Catskills Mountains and seeks shelter within a hollowed Hemlock. The massive hollow tree measured six-feet in diameter, (Green, 2011). Having never seen a tree this enormous, it seemed beyond belief, but I was entranced with the idea of Sam living inside a living, (although dying), tree.
I also had recollections of my mother’s stories of virgin White Pines that had stood behind her father’s barn in Budson, Wisconsin during her early childhood in the mid-1940’s. Her father, Ardan Schatzke, refused to sell the timber, even after repeated requests from potential buyers. He knew they were irreplaceable, and as a steward of the land, he wished to insure their continued existence. In time, a family dispute over ownership of the farm caused the property to be sold. Shortly thereafter, the trees were cut down, the last of their kind in that region of Wisconsin.
Imagining Ohio’s landscape of yesteryear is decidedly different from today’s; many forests have been cleared and sold for timber. Cities, towns and other settlements also caused the clearing of trees. Ohio’s forests of the 1700’s consisted of a variety of forests as well as trees. When settlers first arrived in Marietta in 1788, Ohio’s thick forests covered “about 95 percent of the state’s approximately 24 million acres”, (Building Ohio State, 2023). When the Wisconsin Glacier retreated, it leveled surfaces and left deposits of soil and rocks within most of the eastern and central portions of Ohio, which created a more even terrain. Along the west and Erie lakeshore there were “deciduous broadleaf forests of elm and ash”; throughout the eastern half of the state there were “beech and maple through much of the state’s center”, and throughout the mid-upper eastern portion and lower eastern portion of the state, forests were “heavily populated with and oak, hickory, and chestnut in the south and south east”, (Building Ohio State, 2023).
Other records of the thick forests can be found when reading accounts of Colonel Bouquet’s conquest within the Ohio Wilderness. He engaged with not only potentially hostile natives, but numerous trees that covered the terrain he needed to travel as he came to Coshocton in 1764. Colonel Bouquet had been commissioned to raise an army of men and head west into Ohio country to retrieve over “300 white captives from Indians' ' through negotiations. He was also to obtain a “treaty that forced peace between the English settlers and a number of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio tribes' ', (Smith, et.al., Building Ohio State, 2017). Raising an expedition was difficult; the Pennsylvania Assembly was apathetic to the cause. In addition, the town of Carlisle had become a home of refugees who fled the havoc on the frontier, spreading much worry and contention of the uprisings of Native Americans. The sentiments of the people caused a challenge for Bouquet when he sought to recruit men to drive and manage packhorses. Bouquet did manage to assemble “transportation and supplies consisting of: thirty-two wagons, 300 pack horses, and additional livestock, 60,000 pounds of flour, powder, packhorsemen and wagon drivers necessary to support his relief effort”, (Hannun, pg.84, C-1).
Traveling to Coshocton was slower “because he was moving overland, over undulating terrain without the benefit of any roads…(he) used his volunteer infantry as scouts. His axmen, clearing three parallel trails, proceeded the regular infantry. The regulars marched forward on all three cleared trails flanked by a Pennsylvania battalion and detachment of light horse”, (Waddell, 1983). This “cutting away of the forest that covered the hills” allowed Bouquet’s army to move through the forests collectively in formation, (Williams, Western Pennsylvania History, p.64-68). Bouquet was successful in his military campaign, and in maneuvering over Ohio’s interior. His planning and staging for each step contributed to his success in securing all the prisoners.
Although there are old-growth forests, such as the Johnson Woods State Nature Preserve located in Marshallville, Ohio, none can match the observations of new settlers or Bouquet and his men. There is, however, a program which seeks to find and record the biggest trees in Ohio today. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, ONDR, cites numerous varieties of trees which exceed typical width and height through the “Big Tree Program”. The website records confirmed reports of trees with huge dimensions, and stores the data in a public database, but does not include pictures, (OhioDNR.gov, 2023). Currently, there are fifteen trees listed specifically to the National Champion Trees in Ohio, meaning, they are the biggest in the country in their species, (OhioDNR.gov, 2023). Searching for these big trees has become a hobby for some.
In the May, 2023 edition of Ohio Cooperative Living, Craig Spanger writes of a Big Tree hunter, Marc DeWerth, who has taken his love of big trees and has become an amateur researcher. Hearing of potential giants in Ohio, he locates them, not only to add the data to his personal collection, but to provide content for his hobby and Facebook page, Big Trees Ohio. DeWerth has been searching since 2015, and reports that he has found a Sycamore that “could house a family of four”. He shared there are 243 species of trees within Ohio and he shares all his data with the Ohio Department of Forestry, (Spranger, p.26-27). Spectrum ran a human-interest story on DeWerth on June 29, 2022. Reporter Sophia Constnatine shared Ohio has 15 national champions listed in the Department of Forestry. In addition, she reports that DeWerth has several favorite trees, attributed to Moses Cleveland and his arrival to that region of Ohio in 1790’s. The Early Settler’s Association of Cuyahoga County provides markers for trees of significant age and importance. DeWerth encourages people to get involved, to volunteer, and to appreciate these special trees, (Constintine, 2022).
Closer to home, the Coshocton Soil and Water Conservation District, (C.S.W.C.D.), also has a program for locating and recording big trees within Coshocton county. Every year, C.S.W.C.D. sponsors the “Biggest Tree Contest”. According to The Beacon, “the contest is open to all species of trees growing on privately owned property in Coshocton County. Property line trees and trees growing on federal, state, or local government owned land are not eligible. Any person can enter any tree that is physically located in Coshocton County whether or not the tree is growing on the nominator’s property,” (Beacon, 2022). Although there are no listings for native Ohio Big Tree Champions on the ODNR list, there is presently listed a Coshocton Ohio Non-Native Big Tree Champion, the Sawara False-Cypress, (OhioDNR.gov, 2021). With the growing interest in hunting giant trees, it is just a matter of time a native wonder is found by a tree hunting enthusiast in Coshocton.
Imagining squirrels jumping from branch to branch, never having to touch the ground; or walking through terrain so thick there is virtually no undergrowth exists are hard to imagine. Picturing a Hemlock tree, or in Ohio, a Sycamore tree, large enough that when hollowed out, could house a family of six is a stretch. Yet, tall tales and folklore speak of an untold grandeur which had existed for centuries before man even walked in Ohio. The trees of Ohio: Hickory, Red Hawthorn, Catalpa, White Cedar, Magnolia, River Birch, Red Oak, Pin Oak, Black Cherry, Maple, the Sycamore, and others, have all left a legacy of greatness and should not be forgotten among the tales of time. These mighty giants belong on the same pages of history as Colonel Bouquet and his men, reigning as champions of old.
Bibliography
“Bouquet’s Expedition against the Indians, 1764.” University of Michigan William L. Clements Library - University of Michigan Finding Aids, findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-wcl-M-938bou. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
Constantine, Sophia. “Exploring Ohio: Big Tree Hunting.” Spectrumnews1.com, Spectrum, 22 June 2022, spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/human-interest/2022/06/28/exploring-ohio--big-tree-hunting#. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“2: History of Ohio’s Forests.” Building Ohio State, library.osu.edu/buildingohiost/actual-exhibition-page/case-ii/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
Green, Clarke, et al. “My Side of the Mountain.” Scoutmastercg.Com, 27 July 2015, scoutmastercg.com/my-side-of-the-mountain/#:~:text=’%20I%20am%20on%20my%20mountain,old%20as%20the%20mountain%20itself.).
Hannun, Patrick. “WO 34/040/118 - accounts from Henry Bouquet.” Warfare in North America, c. 1756-1815, https://doi.org/10.1163/37612_wna_wo_wo_34_40_118.
Entries Being Taken for Big Tree COntest. 7 July 2022, www.coshoctonbeacontoday.com/entries-being-taken-for-big-tree-contest/). Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.
“How to Measure Big Trees.” Ohiodnr.gov, 2021, ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/land-
land-water/issues-for-landowners/how-to-measure-big-trees.
Sanders, Scott R. Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World. Beacon Press, 1994.
Spranger, Craig. “Ohio Cooperative Living – May 2023 - Frontier by Ohio Cooperative Living - Issuu.” Issuu.com, The Frontier Power Company, 21 Apr. 2023, issuu.com/ohiocooperativeliving/docs/ohio_cooperative_living_may_2023_-_frontier. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Waddell, Louis. “New Light on Bouquet’s Ohio Expedition: Nine Days of Thomas Hutchins’ Journal, October 3-October 11, 1764.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, July 1983, pp. 271–279.
Western Pennsylvania History: 1918-2020.
Robbie Kehl: The Highwaymen (Honorable Mention Winner)
It may not be surprising to know that if you lived in the area which would become Coshocton in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s or anywhere else in Ohio, you were most likely to be a farmer. From after the Revolutionary War up until the late 1800’s, owning a farm or working on a farm were the two most common jobs in Ohio and the rest of the United States. Most of the time, it wasn’t even for profit either. It was done as a means to survive and, if you were lucky, you might be able to sell off some surplus. According to the 1870 census, 47% of all people over the age of 10 who were employed, worked on a farm. The next most common job was laborer. This could cover various things, but accounted for 8% of the population’s work. Nearly tied with laborer was domestic servant, not the most glamorous of jobs either. The most common skilled profession was carpenter and this came in at just barely over 2.5% of the working population. These statistics were decades after the early days of Coshocton as well, so those numbers in the Frontier days would have been much higher. It would take until the Industrial Revolution before the economy started booming and Ohio, as well as the rest of the US, got away from the agrarian society.
Something that is taken for granted in modern society is the ability to switch careers rather easily. Higher education, access to books and resources, and common skills that aren’t related to labor only; all allow for someone to be able to quickly learn and change their path of income. 200 years ago, this was not the case. If someone grew up in Coshocton in the early 1800’s and didn’t want to farm, they may be able to go clerk at a local store for 60 cents a day, but that was about their only option. Trades, such as blacksmithing or carpentry, required years of practice and apprenticeship before they could be mastered well enough to make money. Although, some trades did play off of each other. For example, an apprentice shoemaker may learn everything about his craft including the tanning of the leather for it. So, he could theoretically change his career fairly easily to tanner if he wanted. This is just a very small percentage of the population though. For the average person living in rural Ohio at the time, there was really only one or two choices for what you were going to spend your life doing.
Even if you were a laborer, tailor or a blacksmith, the hours were long and the pay was small. Pay was usually divided up on a daily rate and the measurement of a day’s work was sunrise to sunset. Most work was manually done and monotonous. Doing the same thing over and over, day in and day out. It wouldn’t be until the middle of the 19th century before some places began adopting an hourly limit to work and that was set at ten hours. For most people, currency wasn’t much of an option either. Most goods were bartered for and what little currency you might be paid from work was immediately used for goods that were needed to survive. In 1810, as Coshocton was just about to become a city, the average wages for a farm worker were between 64 cents to $1.17 a day. A butcher would make around 60 cents a day. A carpenter between $1 to $1.11 a day and a general laborer could make as little as 50 cents a day up to $1.33 a day depending on what they were doing. This left some people feeling that life was treating them unfairly and they weren’t given their proper dues. So, they decided that they were just going to take what they needed. They were going to rob from those who had what they didn’t and they became highwaymen.
Highwayman was a term that became popular in England around the mid 1600’s. There have been people robbing other people along the roads since the invention of roads, but highwaymen were a little different. They came about during a time when flintlock pistols were available and allowed them to do their work much more efficiently than the robbers with swords, axes and pitchforks of the past. They also became abundant in England at the time. The English Civil War had just ended and the country was left with a lot of English Royalists who just fought, and lost, in a war and didn’t have any skills in trades but were very good with pistols and riding horses.
These highwaymen terrorized the English countryside for years and although there were romanticized ideas about highwaymen being gentlemen and robbing from the rich to give to the poor, the reality was that they were cold hearted and many times they were killers who wanted to get wealth one way or another. For 150 years, highwaymen were so common in England that many people refused to ride alone or made wills up before they would take a long journey. England tried to combat this and all the other rampant crime with extremely strict death penalty enforcements for many offenses. It became known as the “Bloody Code”. It was an attempt of the out of touch wealthy lawmakers to punish and squash the lazy criminals that were below them. In 1688, there were 50 crimes that could get you punished with execution. By 1815, there were 215 crimes that would result in death. These crimes were anything from murder and arson, to pickpocketing the equivalent of $30 today, destroying a turnpike road, and even just being out at night with a blackened face. It was thought that these punishments would deter future criminals. It never seemed that it worked that way though.
Across the pond in the United States, highwaymen were a bit different. There was only a brief window of time when people had things worth robbing and before advancements allowed for law and order to win. Most highwaymen referred to train robbers or even criminals in general. The Western part of the US saw much more lawlessness, wealth with the gold rushes, and famous criminals. The East did have their share as well though, but they just weren’t as well known. The early 1800’s was not an easy time to live in. Homicides for the time period were lower than the 1700s but still clocking in at an average of between 12-20 homicides per 100,000 people.
In 1801, Ohio’s population was about 45,000 and it started the process for statehood, as it was assumed that it would achieve the 60,000 population that was needed to become a state by the time the process was finished. This occurred in 1803 and thus Ohio was the 17th state. 220 years ago, the entire state housed about twice the population of current day Coshocton County. This meant there were not many truly wealthy people, as the average wealth for 1800 was $1433 a year and it rose at just below 2% each year after that. The second thing that this small population meant, is that serious crimes became much more well known since the population was so low. Highway robberies started to increase around this time period and the vast emptiness of roads didn’t allow for any simple system to help eradicate them. When a highwayman struck in Ohio, it was quickly noted in the papers. Some of these crimes were vicious and cruel, but sometimes a story would appear in which the highwayman was a person of moral standing.
One of the most famous American highwaymen of all time was named Samuel Mason. Samuel was an Ohio County Militia Captain during the Revolutionary War. Much like the highwaymen in England after their war, Mason seemed to be left with skills in leadership and fighting but little in trades. He did the only things he knew how to do well, which was to fight and kill. After the war, he accompanied Colonel Daniel Brodhead and destroyed many tribal villages in Pennsylvania that were aligned with the British. Colonel Brodhead earned many merits while fighting against the British in the Revolutionary War. He did so well that he caught the eye of George Washington. Washington trusted Brodhead to clear out Native tribes that he believed needed to be dealt with. A few years after Mason and Brodhead destroyed the villages in Pennsylvania, Brodhead would lead the Coshocton Expedition and invade the Lenape lands. This action by Brodhead eradicated the Lenape’s main village, which is where Coshocton is now located. Whether Brodhead’s actions were just or not, Coshocton may only exist because of what he did.
Sometime in the 1790’s, Mason had left his work with the army and began as a full time criminal and highwayman. He began by robbing ships on the river and then moved down to the banks to a place named Cave-In-Rock. Here, he got friendly with some of the most ruthless men in America at this time. These included Micajah and Wiley Harpe who are considered the first known serial killers in America. Eventually, Mason would move down into Mississippi and commit his crimes along the roads and woods there. After each crime, he would leave a message stating “Done by Mason of the Woods.” Many times, this message was left in the victim’s blood. Mason and his gang were eventually captured in 1803 and he was found with twenty human scalps in his possession. On his transport up the Mississippi river, him and his gang overpowered the guards and escaped. His gang fled, but Mason was shot in the head in the attempt.
Coshocton wasn’t without their dealings with highwaymen either. The area which would become Coshocton was a hub for trade even before the county’s creation in 1810. A path through the middle of Ohio to trade from Pennsylvania to Indiana leads right through Coshocton for trade by road and, before the canal came about, the three rivers meeting had allowed for fantastic opportunities by boat to sprout up in the area. One route, that was popular even before Coshocton was created, was built in 1804 and went from what would be Coshocton to Oxford Township in Tuscarawas county and then to Wheeling, West Virginia. With trade, comes money and with money comes highwaymen. One of the most famous highwaymen stories in all of Ohio deals with Coshocton and Tuscarawas counties. The event took place in 1825 when the counties of both Coshocton and Tuscarawas had a population of around 7000 each.
Wealth is brought about with new technological advancements. Whether that’s with machines that do work faster and easier or innovations that allow for work to be done simpler and with less labor involved. Before cars, airplanes, and trains came about, trade was done either by road or river and you could only take as much as you could carry or pack with you. A new innovation was discovered in the early 1800’s that allowed an entire grain crop to be condensed into barrels filled with port or whisky. It could be concentrated so well that an entire township’s worth of product could fit onto one flatboat. This flatboat could be driven by a single trader down the river until they found someone willing to purchase it from them. If it were traded with white men, you could get bank notes in return. If you traded with the natives, you may get silver if you were lucky or furs if you were not. The trader had to make the trip back up after selling their goods and usually they were alone on this journey. This is the perfect target for a highwaymen attack and that’s exactly what a man by the name of John Funston believed as well. Funston was the exact archetype of who would become a highwayman. He had no real skills for any trade and he was fed up making a pittance as a clerk or working a farm. He felt he was owed something in this world and decided that he would take his by robbing a man named John Smeltzer who was trading down the river. A rumor stated that Smeltzer would be returning soon loaded with wealth.
John Funston decided to stake out a spot on the road just outside of Coshocton in Oxford Township and he waited for a rider with saddlebags filled to the brim. A few hours later, he saw just that. As the rider passed by, Funston aimed his rifle and shot him in the back. He quickly hurried to the body and looted it, only to find that the saddlebags were filled with mail and not silver or furs. Funston had shot and killed a man by the name of William Cartmell who was a post boy from Coshocton. Cartmell was well known and liked and his usual route took him from Coshocton to New Philadelphia. A few minutes after the shooting, another man showed up at Cartmell’s body. This man was named William Johnston. Johnston and Cartmell had been traveling the road together. Johnston was stopped at a spring nearby as his friend continued on. Funston asked Johnston if he accused him of murder and Johnston was still in shock at seeing his new-found friend’s dead body. He said that he didn’t accuse anyone but they needed to get help. They each went in separate directions to find authorities, but only Johnston returned.
When he arrived back at the body, it became only his word that another man was indeed there. It wasn’t enough to convince the locals though and Johnston was put under arrest and taken to the jail in New Philadelphia. People lined up around the jail and murmurs of hanging were said throughout the crowd. Johnston refused to give up his pleas of innocence though and continued to state that another man was there. Eventually, he convinced the sheriff enough to do something about it. The sheriff enacted “posse comitatus”, which may be the only time it was ever used in Ohio’s history. This act allows the sheriff to deputize as many citizens as he deems fit in a time of need. He ingeniously used this to compel every male over 21 in the county of Tuscarawas to show up in person at the jailhouse. Over 1,000 men were brought in and they were lined up in front of Johnston one by one. Johnston kept looking but the moment he saw Funston, he immediately said “You are the man!” Funston quickly stated “You are a liar.” This resulted in Johnston stating that, “Now I am certain when I hear you talk.” Johnston also stated that there was an odd scar on the man’s hand and Funston did indeed bear a similar one. It would later be found that Funston gave a $10 note to a man to repair his rifle and it was the same $10 note that was stolen off of William Cartmell’s dead body.
Funston was put on trial and after just three days, was found guilty. He was sentenced to death by hanging on December 30, 1825. Funston still refused to confess though all the way up until December 29. Finally, he admitted to wrongly killing Cartmell while thinking it was Smeltzer. Thousands showed up at the jail the next day and didn’t let the freezing cold weather deter them. A company of artillery, cavalry and infantry from all over, including Coshocton, were brought in to keep order and Funston was drove in on a wagon that included his coffin. The sheriff counted down and at the exact moment that was decided, he let the platform drop and Funston was hanged. It was the first and only execution in Tuscarawas’ history. William Cartmell was honored by having the road in which he was murdered be named Post Boy road, as well as a small town and railroad station stop. William Johnston would die shortly after being released from prison and the legend of John Funston would only grow and grow. He was never a successful highwayman, but he was the worst that early Coshocton and Tuscarawas had to deal with.
Sources:
• Fischer, C. (2010). A crime puzzle: Violent crime declines in America. Berkeley. https://news.berkeley.edu/2010/06/16/a-crime-puzzle-violent-crime-declines-in-america/
• Parker, G., Sisson, R., & Coil, W. R. (2005). Ohio and the world, 1753-2053: Essays toward a new history of Ohio. Ohio State University Press.
• Soltow, L. (1984). Wealth inequality in the United States in 1798 and 1860. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 66(3), 444. https://doi.org/10.2307/1925000
• U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: Coshocton County, Ohio. (n.d.). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/coshoctoncountyohio/PST045222
• What was the “bloody code”? • prison and penal reform in the 1800s. What was the “Bloody Code”? • Prison and Penal Reform in the 1800s • MyLearning. (n.d.). https://www.mylearning.org/stories/prison-and-penal-reform-in-the-1800s/380
• Wright, C. D. (1889). Comparative wages, prices, and cost of living: From the sixteenth annual report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for 1885. Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers.
• 1870 census: Vol. i. the statistics of the population of the United States. (n.d.-a). https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1870/population/1870a-60.pdf
• Hill, N. N., & Graham, A. A. (1993). History of Coshocton County, Ohio: Its past and present, 1740-1881. Higginson Book Co.
• Rothert, O. A. (2000). The outlaws of cave-in-rock: Historical accounts of the famous highwaymen and river pirates who operated in Pioneer Days upon the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and over the old Natchez Trace. A.B. Willhite.
• Mann, B. A. (2009). George Washington’s war on Native America. University of Nebraska Press.
• Goodall, R., & Name. (2021, January 18). The Boar. https://theboar.org/2021/01/time-travel-the-history-of-the-highwayman/
• Howe, H. (1985). History of Coshocton County, Ohio: 1811-1889. The Bookmark.
• December 14, 1975. Columbus Dispatch (published as THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH). Columbus, Ohio, Page 286
• October 23, 1938. Columbus Dispatch (published as The Columbus Sunday Dispatch). Columbus, Ohio
• August 16, 1964 (page 32 of 42). The Coshocton Tribune (1930-). Coshocton, Ohio
Something that is taken for granted in modern society is the ability to switch careers rather easily. Higher education, access to books and resources, and common skills that aren’t related to labor only; all allow for someone to be able to quickly learn and change their path of income. 200 years ago, this was not the case. If someone grew up in Coshocton in the early 1800’s and didn’t want to farm, they may be able to go clerk at a local store for 60 cents a day, but that was about their only option. Trades, such as blacksmithing or carpentry, required years of practice and apprenticeship before they could be mastered well enough to make money. Although, some trades did play off of each other. For example, an apprentice shoemaker may learn everything about his craft including the tanning of the leather for it. So, he could theoretically change his career fairly easily to tanner if he wanted. This is just a very small percentage of the population though. For the average person living in rural Ohio at the time, there was really only one or two choices for what you were going to spend your life doing.
Even if you were a laborer, tailor or a blacksmith, the hours were long and the pay was small. Pay was usually divided up on a daily rate and the measurement of a day’s work was sunrise to sunset. Most work was manually done and monotonous. Doing the same thing over and over, day in and day out. It wouldn’t be until the middle of the 19th century before some places began adopting an hourly limit to work and that was set at ten hours. For most people, currency wasn’t much of an option either. Most goods were bartered for and what little currency you might be paid from work was immediately used for goods that were needed to survive. In 1810, as Coshocton was just about to become a city, the average wages for a farm worker were between 64 cents to $1.17 a day. A butcher would make around 60 cents a day. A carpenter between $1 to $1.11 a day and a general laborer could make as little as 50 cents a day up to $1.33 a day depending on what they were doing. This left some people feeling that life was treating them unfairly and they weren’t given their proper dues. So, they decided that they were just going to take what they needed. They were going to rob from those who had what they didn’t and they became highwaymen.
Highwayman was a term that became popular in England around the mid 1600’s. There have been people robbing other people along the roads since the invention of roads, but highwaymen were a little different. They came about during a time when flintlock pistols were available and allowed them to do their work much more efficiently than the robbers with swords, axes and pitchforks of the past. They also became abundant in England at the time. The English Civil War had just ended and the country was left with a lot of English Royalists who just fought, and lost, in a war and didn’t have any skills in trades but were very good with pistols and riding horses.
These highwaymen terrorized the English countryside for years and although there were romanticized ideas about highwaymen being gentlemen and robbing from the rich to give to the poor, the reality was that they were cold hearted and many times they were killers who wanted to get wealth one way or another. For 150 years, highwaymen were so common in England that many people refused to ride alone or made wills up before they would take a long journey. England tried to combat this and all the other rampant crime with extremely strict death penalty enforcements for many offenses. It became known as the “Bloody Code”. It was an attempt of the out of touch wealthy lawmakers to punish and squash the lazy criminals that were below them. In 1688, there were 50 crimes that could get you punished with execution. By 1815, there were 215 crimes that would result in death. These crimes were anything from murder and arson, to pickpocketing the equivalent of $30 today, destroying a turnpike road, and even just being out at night with a blackened face. It was thought that these punishments would deter future criminals. It never seemed that it worked that way though.
Across the pond in the United States, highwaymen were a bit different. There was only a brief window of time when people had things worth robbing and before advancements allowed for law and order to win. Most highwaymen referred to train robbers or even criminals in general. The Western part of the US saw much more lawlessness, wealth with the gold rushes, and famous criminals. The East did have their share as well though, but they just weren’t as well known. The early 1800’s was not an easy time to live in. Homicides for the time period were lower than the 1700s but still clocking in at an average of between 12-20 homicides per 100,000 people.
In 1801, Ohio’s population was about 45,000 and it started the process for statehood, as it was assumed that it would achieve the 60,000 population that was needed to become a state by the time the process was finished. This occurred in 1803 and thus Ohio was the 17th state. 220 years ago, the entire state housed about twice the population of current day Coshocton County. This meant there were not many truly wealthy people, as the average wealth for 1800 was $1433 a year and it rose at just below 2% each year after that. The second thing that this small population meant, is that serious crimes became much more well known since the population was so low. Highway robberies started to increase around this time period and the vast emptiness of roads didn’t allow for any simple system to help eradicate them. When a highwayman struck in Ohio, it was quickly noted in the papers. Some of these crimes were vicious and cruel, but sometimes a story would appear in which the highwayman was a person of moral standing.
One of the most famous American highwaymen of all time was named Samuel Mason. Samuel was an Ohio County Militia Captain during the Revolutionary War. Much like the highwaymen in England after their war, Mason seemed to be left with skills in leadership and fighting but little in trades. He did the only things he knew how to do well, which was to fight and kill. After the war, he accompanied Colonel Daniel Brodhead and destroyed many tribal villages in Pennsylvania that were aligned with the British. Colonel Brodhead earned many merits while fighting against the British in the Revolutionary War. He did so well that he caught the eye of George Washington. Washington trusted Brodhead to clear out Native tribes that he believed needed to be dealt with. A few years after Mason and Brodhead destroyed the villages in Pennsylvania, Brodhead would lead the Coshocton Expedition and invade the Lenape lands. This action by Brodhead eradicated the Lenape’s main village, which is where Coshocton is now located. Whether Brodhead’s actions were just or not, Coshocton may only exist because of what he did.
Sometime in the 1790’s, Mason had left his work with the army and began as a full time criminal and highwayman. He began by robbing ships on the river and then moved down to the banks to a place named Cave-In-Rock. Here, he got friendly with some of the most ruthless men in America at this time. These included Micajah and Wiley Harpe who are considered the first known serial killers in America. Eventually, Mason would move down into Mississippi and commit his crimes along the roads and woods there. After each crime, he would leave a message stating “Done by Mason of the Woods.” Many times, this message was left in the victim’s blood. Mason and his gang were eventually captured in 1803 and he was found with twenty human scalps in his possession. On his transport up the Mississippi river, him and his gang overpowered the guards and escaped. His gang fled, but Mason was shot in the head in the attempt.
Coshocton wasn’t without their dealings with highwaymen either. The area which would become Coshocton was a hub for trade even before the county’s creation in 1810. A path through the middle of Ohio to trade from Pennsylvania to Indiana leads right through Coshocton for trade by road and, before the canal came about, the three rivers meeting had allowed for fantastic opportunities by boat to sprout up in the area. One route, that was popular even before Coshocton was created, was built in 1804 and went from what would be Coshocton to Oxford Township in Tuscarawas county and then to Wheeling, West Virginia. With trade, comes money and with money comes highwaymen. One of the most famous highwaymen stories in all of Ohio deals with Coshocton and Tuscarawas counties. The event took place in 1825 when the counties of both Coshocton and Tuscarawas had a population of around 7000 each.
Wealth is brought about with new technological advancements. Whether that’s with machines that do work faster and easier or innovations that allow for work to be done simpler and with less labor involved. Before cars, airplanes, and trains came about, trade was done either by road or river and you could only take as much as you could carry or pack with you. A new innovation was discovered in the early 1800’s that allowed an entire grain crop to be condensed into barrels filled with port or whisky. It could be concentrated so well that an entire township’s worth of product could fit onto one flatboat. This flatboat could be driven by a single trader down the river until they found someone willing to purchase it from them. If it were traded with white men, you could get bank notes in return. If you traded with the natives, you may get silver if you were lucky or furs if you were not. The trader had to make the trip back up after selling their goods and usually they were alone on this journey. This is the perfect target for a highwaymen attack and that’s exactly what a man by the name of John Funston believed as well. Funston was the exact archetype of who would become a highwayman. He had no real skills for any trade and he was fed up making a pittance as a clerk or working a farm. He felt he was owed something in this world and decided that he would take his by robbing a man named John Smeltzer who was trading down the river. A rumor stated that Smeltzer would be returning soon loaded with wealth.
John Funston decided to stake out a spot on the road just outside of Coshocton in Oxford Township and he waited for a rider with saddlebags filled to the brim. A few hours later, he saw just that. As the rider passed by, Funston aimed his rifle and shot him in the back. He quickly hurried to the body and looted it, only to find that the saddlebags were filled with mail and not silver or furs. Funston had shot and killed a man by the name of William Cartmell who was a post boy from Coshocton. Cartmell was well known and liked and his usual route took him from Coshocton to New Philadelphia. A few minutes after the shooting, another man showed up at Cartmell’s body. This man was named William Johnston. Johnston and Cartmell had been traveling the road together. Johnston was stopped at a spring nearby as his friend continued on. Funston asked Johnston if he accused him of murder and Johnston was still in shock at seeing his new-found friend’s dead body. He said that he didn’t accuse anyone but they needed to get help. They each went in separate directions to find authorities, but only Johnston returned.
When he arrived back at the body, it became only his word that another man was indeed there. It wasn’t enough to convince the locals though and Johnston was put under arrest and taken to the jail in New Philadelphia. People lined up around the jail and murmurs of hanging were said throughout the crowd. Johnston refused to give up his pleas of innocence though and continued to state that another man was there. Eventually, he convinced the sheriff enough to do something about it. The sheriff enacted “posse comitatus”, which may be the only time it was ever used in Ohio’s history. This act allows the sheriff to deputize as many citizens as he deems fit in a time of need. He ingeniously used this to compel every male over 21 in the county of Tuscarawas to show up in person at the jailhouse. Over 1,000 men were brought in and they were lined up in front of Johnston one by one. Johnston kept looking but the moment he saw Funston, he immediately said “You are the man!” Funston quickly stated “You are a liar.” This resulted in Johnston stating that, “Now I am certain when I hear you talk.” Johnston also stated that there was an odd scar on the man’s hand and Funston did indeed bear a similar one. It would later be found that Funston gave a $10 note to a man to repair his rifle and it was the same $10 note that was stolen off of William Cartmell’s dead body.
Funston was put on trial and after just three days, was found guilty. He was sentenced to death by hanging on December 30, 1825. Funston still refused to confess though all the way up until December 29. Finally, he admitted to wrongly killing Cartmell while thinking it was Smeltzer. Thousands showed up at the jail the next day and didn’t let the freezing cold weather deter them. A company of artillery, cavalry and infantry from all over, including Coshocton, were brought in to keep order and Funston was drove in on a wagon that included his coffin. The sheriff counted down and at the exact moment that was decided, he let the platform drop and Funston was hanged. It was the first and only execution in Tuscarawas’ history. William Cartmell was honored by having the road in which he was murdered be named Post Boy road, as well as a small town and railroad station stop. William Johnston would die shortly after being released from prison and the legend of John Funston would only grow and grow. He was never a successful highwayman, but he was the worst that early Coshocton and Tuscarawas had to deal with.
Sources:
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