EARLY SETTLEMENTS
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The following story is
reproduced from a book titled, the "Combined History and Atlas of Monroe
County, Ohio." The material for this book was taken from two nineteenth
century books: (1) 'History of Monroe County Ohio,' a product of the H.H. Hardesty
& Co., publishers, Chicago and Toledo, 1882 and (2) 'Caldwell's Atlas of
Monroe County, Ohio,' a product of Atlas Publishing Company, Mount Vernon,
Ohio, 1898. The "Combined History and Atlas of Monroe County, Ohio"
was reprinted and is available from the Monroe County Historical Society.
It is of interest to note that
the author (unknown) of this article states that he was old enough in 1829 to
" take his "turn" at the horse-mill" used for grinding
grain. This probably meant that he was at least 11 or 12 years old which would
have made his birth date 1818-19.
The first
permanent settlement in the territory, now within the limits of the county, of
which there is any well authenticated history, was made in the year 1791. It is
probable that some improvements may have been made, in the way of clearing up
small patches of ground, prior to that time, and as early as the permanent
settlement at Marietta, by settlers from the Virginia side of the river. There
are some evidences of this, but where or by whom is unknown. Settlements were
made on the opposite side of the river as early as 1786, but the frequent
depredations and hostilities of the Indians prevented settlements on the
western shore. Ezekielton (now Sistersville, West Virginia) was laid out in
1800; but prior to that time settlements had been made by the Caldwells, Scotts
and others. At this point, in 1804, a ferry was established across the river,
which is now known as Tuel’s ferry.
Philip Witten,
brother-in-law of the noted scouts and Indian fighters, Kinsey and Vachel
Dickinson (having married their sister) settled on the Ohio river, in what is
now Jackson township, in 1791. He came there with his family from Wheeling and
his descendants still live on the same farm. Some of his grandchildren, still
living, have a distinct recollection of their grandparents, and have heard them
frequently talk of their early settlement, and the hardships and dangers the
first settlers had to overcome.
The next
settlement, in the order of time, was on Buckhill bottom, in 1794, and was made
by Robert McEldowney, who was soon followed by Jacob Ullom and others.
Settlements were made at and near the mouth of Sunfish creek and Opossum creek,
by the Vandevanters, Henthorns, Atkinsons and others, about the years 1798-9. A
settlement was made about where the town of Callais now stands in 1802. An
improvement was made there in 1798, by Aaron Dillie, from Dillie’s Bottom,
Belmont county.
About the same
time a settlement was made by Michael Crow and others on Clear Fork creek.
Cline’s settlement, on the Little Muskingum river, was begun about the year
1805; the settlement near and around where Beallsville now stands was made
about the same time. And Dye’s settlement in Perry township, in 1812.
More particulars
of these early settlements are given in the historical sketches of the several
townships.*
Few of its
present inhabitants can realize the hardships endured by the early settlers of
the county. Being without mills they were compelled to resort, in the early
fall, to grinding corn for bread, and when too hard for that, to hominy,
pounding it in large wooden mortars, called "hominy blocks," with
iron wedges in the ends of round sticks of wood for pestle. "Hog and
hominy," "johnny cake," and wild game, and mush and milk,
constituted their chief diet. When hand mills were introduced they were indeed,
a great acquisition; but a still greater were the horse mills. The writer was
old enough in 1829, when the water mills were dried up, to take his
"turn" at the horse-mill, after a stay of a day and a night, sleeping
on a pile of unbroken flax laid on rails in the corner of the mill. There were
no markets or mills, at the period of the first settlements, for grain or other
farm produce nearer than Wheeling or Marietta; and to those places from the settlements
along the river, long journeys in canoes had to be made. Then every farmer had
his flock of sheep and his patch of flax. The wool was carded with hand-cards,
spun and woven at home, and made up into garments for both sexes. The older
people can remember what nice suits were made for men of "fulled
cloth," and what nice gowns for women of "pressed flannel." The
flax was pulled and spread out in rows on the ground and "wetted and then
"broken and swingled," and was thus prepared for carding and the
"little wheel," as the machine was called on which the flax was spun,
to distinguish it from the larger machine for spinning wool. It was woven into
cloth for table-covers, toweling, sheeting and shirting. The "tow,"
which was the course portion combed out on the hatchel, was spun into course
yarn of which a cloth was made for summer suits for men and boys. The tow
shirt, so commonly worn, was, when new, an instrument of torture to the wearer,
as it was full of prickly spines left from the woody parts of the stalk.
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