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| ISAIAH BAKER, son of the foregoing, born in
Barnstable, Massachusetts, in the year 1780, came to this county with his
family in 1814, and settled three miles west of Athens, where he followed
farming the rest of his life. He died in 1825, leaving seven sons and three
daughters, all of whom are living, except one son, Matthias, who was killed
by the kick of a horse in 1837. Mr. Baker was a worthy member of the
Methodist church. |
JACOB L.
BAKER, another of the sons of Isaiah Baker, is an
extensive farmer in Athens township. He has a family of seven
sons and one daughter, most of whom are well settled on good farms in
the neighborhood of their father, who manages to buy an additional
farm as often as needed, for some of his family.
The five other sons of Isaiah Baker removed to
the west and are there settled - most of them in Illinois. |
JAMES BAKER
born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in the year 1805, and came to
Carthage in 1826, where he has followed the joint vocation of farmer
and miller. Six of his sons and one son-in-law were in the
Union army during the late war.
Page 457 |
| NICHOLAS BAKER, senior, born in England in 1760, was
brought to this country at seven years of age, for forty-four years followed
the sea, as cabin boy and sailor, and in 1814, with his only son Isaiah
Baker, came to Athens county where he lived in his son's family, in the
vicinity of Athens, till his death in 1829. |
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NICHOLAS BAKER, son of Isaiah, born in Massachusetts
in 1799, has lived in Athens (town and township) fifty-four years. Social
and genial in his daily intercourse with friends, few men lead a more placid
life than "Uncle Nick." With a heart corresponding in capacity to his
ponderous frame, with a healthy and happy temperament, he is one of those
kind-hearted men whom dumb animals like and children make friends with. He
fondly cherishes the remembrance of his once having lived in Judge Silvanus
Ames' family, in Ames township, in the summer of 1817. Edward R. Ames (Rev.
Bishop Ames) at that time was eleven years old, and Mr. Baker, partial to
him in boyhood, refers to their early acquaintance with lively pleasure. He
relates with much gusto and laughter how "the bishop," being naturally
rather lazy, would lie on the grass in the shade and amuse young Baker with
his talk, while the latter cheerfully performed an extra amount of work for
his dreaming companion. Mr. Baker, formerly a farmer, has resided for many
years past in the town of Athens. His son, George W. Baker, is now treasurer
of Athens county. |
| NATHAN
BAKER, SR., born in England in 1760, was brought to this
country at seven years of age, for forty-four years followed the sea,
as cabin boy and sailor, and in 1814, with his only son Isaiah
Baker, came to Athens county where he lived in his son's family,
in the vicinity of Athens, till his death in 1829. |
| CAPT. ISAAC
BARKER, came from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the
northwestern territory in the autumn of 1788. For several years
he lived in the Belpre settlement on the Ohio river, about fifteen
miles from Marietta, and his name is preserved as one of the heads of
families who, in the year 1792, took refuge in the block house called
"Farmers' Castle," where he and his family remained till the violence
of the Indian war was spent. In 1798 he removed with his family
of five sons and three daughters to Athens township, and settled near
the village of Athens, where he passed the remainder of his life.
Capt. Barker was a sea-faring man in early life, being
supercargo and captain of an East India vessel, and, during the
revolutionary war, took an active part in the privateering service.
His sons were Michael, Isaac, Joseph, William, and Timothy. |
ISAAC
BARKER, JR., (son of Capt. Isaac Barker), long known in
Athens county as Judge Barker, was born in Massachusetts,
February 17th, 1779. He remembers his father setting out with
his family for the northwestern territory, from New Bedford,
Massachusetts, in 1788. They had one wagon drawn by two oxen and
a horse, and were accompanied on the journey by Capt. Dana and
his family, also emigrating to the west. They journey was not
marked by any special incidents. At one state Capt. Barker's
oxen having become footsore, he exchanged them with a Dutch tavern
keeper where they stopped for a fresh yoke. The next morning the
boys started on early with the team, the father remaining behind a
little while. They had not gone far before they came to a very
bad place in the road, over which the oxen refused to go. After
working with them for some time the boys suddenly thought it was
because the Dutch oxen could not understand English that they were so
stubborn; one of them accordingly went back for the Dutchman, who soon
arrived, and, by dint of considerable hard swearing at the oxen, in
good Dutch, got the team over. The emigrants traveled by land to
Sumrill's ferry on the Youghiogheny, where they procured keel boats
and continued their journey by water to Marietta. Captain
Barker's family spent several months in the family of Paul
Fearing, at Marietta, and removed thence early in 1790 to Belpre,
where he settled on a one-hundred-acre donation lot. They had
hard work to get along here, especially for the first year or two.
Mr. Barker says corn was four dollars a bushel and none to be
had at that. They lived for one year almost solely on corn bread
and wild meat. "One quart of cracked corn," he says, "Was the
daily allowance for our family of eleven. The children used to
stand by looking wistfully while their mother baked the daily loaf,
and, having received their share, would hoard it carefully, nibbling
it like mice during the day." They lived in a block house, or
garrison, some four or five years, during the Indian war. At
this time, says Mr. Barker, "I was a pretty smart boy and able
to handle a gun, and while father and my older brother worked in the
field I stood guard with the rifle. Every evening we barred up
the door before sundown. In the morning we would open it an hour
or so after sunrise, look carefully about, and, if no signs of Indians
appeared, brother Michael would go out (the door being
instantly barred behind him), and scout around a little."
Several men and one or two whole families were killed in that
neighborhood by the Indians during these years. Mr. Barker
recollects the massacre of the Armstrong family just across the
river from where they lived, the killing of Benoni Hurlbut, the
chase of Waldo Putnam and a man by the name of Bradford,
by the Indians, and the killing of Jonas Davis. This
Mr. Davis was engaged to be married to one of Mr. Barker's
sisters. One cold day during the war, seeing an old skiff lodged
on the ice some distance up the river, he ventured out to get some
nails out of her - they being very scarce. He never
returned. Being missed, after several hours, a search made, he
was found dead, stripped, and scalped on the ice. Though a mere
boy during the war, Judge Barker received at its close one
hundred acres of land as a bounty from the Ohio Company - General
Putnam saying that he had done a man's work and was entitled to a
man's pay. He used frequently to stand guard at the garrison.
Capt. Barker's family came to Athens in 1798, poling their
goods up the Hockhocking in the light flat boat. These boats
were built with a "running board" along each side; a man on each side,
furnished with a long pole with a pointed iron socket at the end would
plant it firmly in the bottom at the bow, and then with the upper end
against his shoulder would run to the other end of the boat,
propelling her by that means. After coming to Athens they lived
a year at the point close to Harper's Ferry. Judge Barker
tended this ferry for a while, and married Christiana, a
daughter of Mr. Harper. At this time they got their
milling from Capt. Devol's floating mill, some five miles up
the Muskingum. It took four days to go and come, and Mr.
Barker has himself more than once made this long trip to mill,
going down the Hocking and up the Ohio in a pirogue and back by the
same means, camping out over night.
Moses Hewitt and his family lived a short
distance up Margaret's creek. In the year 1800 some thirty or
forty Indians came in on Factory run, and three of them came over to
Mr. Hewitt's house. They were somewhat in liquor, and
Mrs. Hewitt in alarm sent hastily for her husband, who was a
short distance from the house. When Mr. Hewitt came he
ordered them in their own language (he had been a captive among them
several years before), to "go away." They refused and were
insulting, whereupon, Mr. Hewitt flew at the drunken ones and
knocked one into the fireplace and another headlong out of the door.
Mr. Barker was in the house and saw all this. A large
athletic Indian, who seemed entirely sober, then grappled with Mr.
Hewitt, and after a violent struggle, threw him on the floor.
Mrs. Hewitt and Mr. Barker, excited and alarmed, were
about to pull the Indian off, when Hewitt, who was a noted
fighter, told them to stand off and let him alone. The fight
continued, and Hewitt very soon managed to get his thumb into
the Indian's eye, and the Indian's thumb into his mouth, when the
latter screamed lustily and begged till Mr. Hewitt released
him. The moment he was on his feet, the Indian ran to the door,
and, putting his hand to his mouth, gave a regular war whoop, loud and
long continued, and then ran away. Mr. Hewitt himself
was now alarmed, thinking that the Indian would come over in the night
and kill his family. Accordingly he requested Garner Bobo,
a man named Cutter, and Mr. Barker, to stay in the house
over night while he took his wife and the children some distance
across the river. Mr. Barker says, "We had but one gun
among us - Bobo had that. I was armed with a heavy
clothespounder, and Cutter had a conchshell which he was to
blow for help in case of great danger. Thus accountered we
barred the door and prepared to pass the night. We took turns
sleeping and watching, and the night passed without any alarm.
About daylight I, being on watch, saw some three or four figures
gliding about the house and thought the redskins were after us now,
sure enough. I woke Bobo who had his gun ready in a
minute, and we were preparing for fight or a siege when we heard a
loud laugh outside, and looking out saw Hewitt and two or three
others coming up to the house. They had come over to scare us.
We saw nothing more of the Indians, and I think this was the last
considerable party of them seen in this part of the country."
About this time Mr. Barker and Martin
Mansfield both vigorous and athletic young men, boated a man by
the name of King, with his family, from the mouth of the
Hockhocking river to the falls near Logan, and then dragging their
boat around the falls, continued to within eight miles of Lancaster,
the place of destination.
The town plat of Athens was very heavily timbered at
that time, and the few cabins that stood here were widely separated.
Mr. Barker, though not a great hunter, killed great numbers of
deer and turkeys hereabouts. He remembers the following
incident:
Chris. Stevens, who lived back of the college
green, and a German named Heck, were hunting one day and treed
a bear in a large poplar not far from Stevens' house. The
bear climbed nearly to the top of the tree, which was very tall.
They had but one gun between them and Stevens was to shoot.
He had leveled his gun, taken aim, and sighted a long time;
Heck stood a little off waiting for him to fire, when, his
patience exhausted, he asked, "Why don't you shot?" Stevens,
who was a kind-hearted man, deliberately lowered his gun and said, " I
can't bear to see the poor thing fall so far!"
"Gott im himmels," cried the German, "gif
me de gun den - I shoots him if he falls mit de ground till a tousand
feet," and bruin soon came tumbling down.
Old Capt. Barker's first cabin stood about where
Joseph Herrold's house now stands. He afterward built a
log house near the river, south of John White's present
residence. Judge Barker's first cabin about one hundred
yards west of his father's first house, and he afterward built a two
story hewed log house on the river bank just at the turn of the road,
which was standing a few years since and occupied by the Beveridge
family. In 1815 Judge Barker moved to the town plat
and took the "Dunbaugh House," which stood where the "Brown
House" now stands, and which had been kept for a few years by one
Jacob Dunbaugh. Mr. Barker kept tavern here till
1818, when he bought the lot where he now resides. There was a
hewed log house on this lot, and he kept tavern in this while his
brick house was building, and till it was finished in 1823, and then
in his present dwelling till about 1830.
During his residence here, Mr. Barker has held
the offices of county sheriff, county treasurer, collector of rents
for the university, and was judge of the court of common pleas for
about ten years. He has lived for nearly three score years and
ten in the town of Athens, where he is passing the evening of his days
in quiet serenity. Though now eighty-nine years old, he devoted
a part of every day during this season (1868) to working in his garden
- his favorite employment - and is in possession of all his faculties. |
| MICHAEL
BARKER, son of Capt. Isaac Barker, born in 1776 at New
Bedford, Massachusetts, came with his father's family to Marietta in
the autumn of 1788. During the Indian war, from 1792 to 1795,
while they lived in Farmers' Castle at Belpre, Michael served
as a scout or spy against the Indians in a company raised under the
authority of the Ohio Company. He came to Athens county and
settled near the town of Athens in April, 1798, where he spent the
rest of his life. He married a daughter of Wm. Harper,
who was county treasurer from 1809 to 1811. Mr. Barker
was for many years constable in Athens township, and held other local
offices. He was a man of scrupulous exactness in his dealings,
and of much firmness and decision of character. He died June
10th 1857. |
ENOS
BARNES, from New England, a son-in-law of Mr. Bagley,
settled here in 1818. He was a blacksmith.
Page 524 |
CAPTAIN
HOPSON BEEBE was born in Connecticut, Feb. 17, 1749, was a
soldier of the revolutionary war, and settled in Rome township in
1804, where he resided till his death in 1836. One of this
sons, the venerable Mr. Charles Beebe, now in his
eighty-third year, resided on the "old farm" until quite recently.
He now lives with Mrs. J. W. Johnson in this township.
Doctor Wm. Beebe, another son, was an assistant surgeon in
General Tupper's brigade in the war of 1812. After the war
he settled in Belpre, and practiced medicine there for the rest of
his life. His son, Dr. Wm. Beebe (grandson of
Captain Hopson Beebe), is now a practicing physician in Barlow,
Washington county.
The youngest son, Peter Beebe, was an active and
successful business man, and for several years one of the township
trustees. He died in the prime of life in 1849. ~ Page 516 |
The BARROWS
BROTHERS, William, George, and Henry, came to
what is now Canaan township in 1797, and settled near where N. O.
Warren now resides. During the next year they brought out
their father, Ebenezer Barrows, and the rest of the family
from the east. The old man had been a soldier in the French
and revolutionary wars. His descendants are widely scattered
through Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa. One of his
daughters, Mrs. Ebenezer Culver, is living in Upper Sandusky,
Ohio, aged ninety years. Two of his grandsons, Voltaire
and Massena, own the old Barrow's mill on Federal
creek. Perry Barrows has a farm near the mill tract.
These are sons of Henry Barrows. Several of the
children of George Barrows survive. Parker, now
seventy years old, is a respectable farmers of Canaan township.
Orange and George, also farmers, live in Rome
township, the latter on the old farm. Between seventy-five and
eighty of the descendants of Ebenezer Barrows, are known to
have served in the Union army during the late rebellion.
Page 445 |
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| JOHN BALLARD was born in Charlemont, Massachusetts,
October 1st, 1790, and came to Athens in February, 1839. During the greater
part of his residence here he engaged successfully in the mercantile
business; was also for several years president of the Athens branch of the
State Bank, and a leading man in the local enterprises of the place. He has
now retired from business. Four of his sons are living, viz: Otis, a banker
in Circleville, Ohio; Charles, manufacturer of farm implements in
Springfield, O.; James, merchant in Athens, and the Rev. Addison Ballard at
Detroit, Michigan. |
|
HENRY BARTLETT, the son of
Captain William Bartlett was born at Beverly, Massachusetts, February
3, 1771. His father was a seafaring man, and received, it is be
believed, the first commission that was issued to engaged in privateering,
during the revolutionary struggle, in which he rendered conspicuous service.
In 1785, Captain Bartlett removed with his family to Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, and settled near the Forks of Yoh, where he lived till
his death in 1794. While living in Westmoreland county, Henry
Bartlett married Miss Betsey Corey, and in 1796, brought his
young family to the northwestern territory and settled the next year in
Athens. During his youth, Mr. Bartlett enjoyed pretty good
educational advantages, and after his arrival at Athens was soon recognized
as one of the readiest and most accurate clerks and business men in the
community. Previous to the organization of the county, he taught
school several quarters in the surrounding neighborhoods. Soon after
the organization of the county in 1805, he was appointed by the county
commissioners as clerk of the board and of the county courts, which position
he held, discharging the duties with great fidelity for thirty years.
He ceased to be clerk in 1836, and from that time till his death, acted as a
justice of the peace in Athens. He was also for many years secretary
and auditor of the Ohio university. He died September 9th, 1850.
Esquire Bartlett was a man of great purity of character,
thoroughly judicial mind and excellent capacity for business. During
his early residence here, he adapted himself with admirable facility to
pioneer life, and to the changing circumstances of the times, and was for
many years almost indispensable in the management of county affairs.
He possessed a fine quality of with and humor, which he was fond of
exercising, though always without offense to others, and which made him one
of the most popular as he was one of the most highly respected men in the
county. His family consisted of two sons and ten daughters, of whom
nine daughters are living. |
FRANCIS BEARDSLEY, born at Stratford, Hartford
county, Connecticut, December 28, 1792, came to Athens in 1814, where he has
lived ever since. Soon after coming here he married Miss Culver, sister of
John Gillmore's wife, who died in _____. For his second wife
he married Rebecca, daughter of Esquire Henry Bartlett. Of a retiring
disposition and unobtrusive manners, Mr. Beardsley has led a quiet and
useful life. A model of Christian rectitude under all circumstances, he is
respected and esteemed by all who know him. |
DR. WILLIAM BLACKSTONE was born in Bottetourt county,
Virginia, in 1796, and came with his father's family to Ohio in 1802,
settling first in Pickaway and afterward in Ross county. He studied medicine
at Circleville, Ohio, and Lexington, Kentucky, and graduated at the
Cincinnati Medical college in 1833, having engaged actively in the practice
during several years before this. Dr. B. came to Athens in 1838, and has
practiced here continuously since. He and Dr. Carpenter have both partially
retired from active practice.
Dr. Perkins, Dr. Jewett, Dr. Bierce (who left here about 1840),
Dr. Carpenter, and Dr. Blackstone are the only resident physicians who remained
for any length of time in the place during the first half of this century.
There are now three practicing physicians here, viz: Dr. W. P. Johnson,
Dr. C. L. Wilson, and Dr. George Carpenter. |
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SAMUEL L. BLAKE, born in Middletown, Middlesex
county, Connecticut, in 1779, removed in 1816 to Alexander township, where
he lived the rest of his life. He was a thorough farmer, a man of
excellent character and sound judgment, and assisted largely in molding the
society of the township. He died March 16, 1859, leaving a large
number of descendants, some of whom are well known in the county. |
JAMES
BOSWORTH, from Fall River, Massachusetts, came here in 1821,
but, after living in the township a few years, went back New England.
Page 524 |
DANIEL BOYD
was born in Ireland in 1794, emigrated to the United States in 1819,
and settled in Carthage township as a farmer in 1838. He was
an active member of the Methodist church and an excellent citizen.
He died August 20, 1867. His oldest son, Dr. John E. Boyd,
died in West Virginia in 1855. His other two sons, Hugh and
William F., graduated at the Ohio university in 1860 and 1866,
respectively, and have engaged successfully in teaching.
Page 458 |
COL.
ABSALOM BOYLES, born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in
1797, came with his father's family to the northwestern territory in
1799, and to Ames township in 1801. He grew up with the
community, and was largely identified with the development of the
township and county during a long and active life. With fine
intelligence, high sense of honor and ardent desire to benefit
others, he was always one of the first and most active supporters of
social reform, and of every movement that tended to the common
welfare. He held various civil positions in the township and
county, and, in connection with the early militia organization of
the county, was commissioned, by Governor Ethan A. Brown,
ensign in 1819; lieutenant in 1820; captain in 1821; by Governor
Trimble, lieutenant colonel in 1822, and by Governor Morrow,
colonel in 1823.
He lived an honorable and useful life, and died May 3,
1863, on the farm near Amesville, where he had resided for sixty-two
years. |
JOHN BOYLES,
son of Peter, was born in Pennsylvania in 1791, came to
Canaan township with his father's family in 1795, and lived there
till his death in 1849. Some of his descendants still reside
in the county.
Page 447 |
PETER BOYLES,
a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, settled in what is now
Canaan township in 1795. He was probably the first white
settler within the present county of Athens. This was the year
of the treaty of Greenville, and the close of the Indian war.
Athens county was the very frontier at that time, and Mr. Boyles,
in settling here, took his life in his hand, for this section was by
no means safe in that year from Indian outrages. He lived in
Canaan township till 1827, when he removed west, and died in
Missouri in 1843. The date of his settlement here is
accurately fixed by his son, George Boyles, who is still
living in Andrew county, Missouri, and who was born in Canaan
township June 5, 1795. He was, beyond doubt, the first white
child born in Athens county. He says he was born "on the
school section between the graveyard and the river." Mr.
Hocking H. Hunter, of Lancaster, Ohio, has frequently been
accorded the distinction of having been the first white child born
in the Hockhocking valley. He was not born till Aug. 23, 1801.
It hardly admits of a question that George Boyles, a native
of Canaan, was the first white child born on the waters of the
Hockhocking.
Page 446 |
PETER J.
BOYLES, son of John Boyles, was born in Canaan
township, Dec. 20, 1820, and has since passed his life in this
county. He now owns and lives on the "Daniel Stewart
farm" in Rome township - probably the best farm in the county.
Samuel S. Boyles, another son of John lives in Lodi
township. Both he and Peter W. are prosperous and
highly respected citizens.
Page 447 |
| JAMES BRICE
was born in Maryland in the year 1750,
and, removing to western Pennsylvania, settled near Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) in
1787. While living here he held various public stations, such as member of
the state legislature, county commissioner, collector of internal revenue,
trustee of Washington college, etc. In 1821 he removed further west, and
settled in the town of Athens, where he passed the latter years of his life,
living in the family of his son. He was a man of high character, and during
his long life was an active and exemplary Christian. He died in Athens,
December 22, 1832.
Barnet Brice,
his son, and a native of Pennsylvania, preceded his father to Athens, having
settled here in 1807. He kept public house many years (he built the Union
hotel now occupied by O. B. Potter), and was extensively acquainted through
the country. He died about 1853.
Thomas Brice, another son of James, came to Athens in 1818. He was a
successful merchant here for many years, and a large dealer in cattle from
1820 to 1830. He built the brick dwelling house on Court street, now owned
and occupied by Dr. W, P, Johnson.
THOMAS BRICE,
another son of James, came to Athens in 1818. He was a
successful merchant here for many years, and a large dealer in cattle
from 1820 to 1830. He built the brick dwelling house on Court
street, now owned and occupied by Dr. W. P. Johnson. |
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A. G. BROWN, son of
Captain Benjamin Brown, was born April 16th, 1798, near Waterford, in
Washington county, Ohio, and has lived in Athens county since he was one
year old. His youth was passed in working on his father's farm (in
Ames township), and in assiduous study and preparation for college. In
due time he became a student at the Ohio university, and graduated there in
1822. From 1824 to 1825, he was preceptor in the academical department
of the university. In 1825 he began the publication of the Athens
Mirror, the first paper printed in the county, and continued as its
editor and publisher for five years. From 1827 to 1833, he was county
recorder, which office he again filled from 1836 to 1841, when he began the
practice of law in Athens.. In 1841 he became a member of the board of
trustees of the university, which position he still holds. He was a
delegate to the convention which formed the present constitution of Ohio,
and was for two years president judge of the Athens district. Judge
Brown came to Athens county when nearly the whole of its area was an
unbroken forest and to the town of Athens when it was a mere cluster of log
cabins. The personal friend and associate of the leading men of the
community who assisted in building up society here, most of whom have passed
away, he has witnessed the steady development of the county during
considerably more than half a century. Looking back over its whole
history to a period before it was organized, he may very truthfully say:
- "Qua ipse vidi,
Et quorum pars magna fui."
Judge Brown's sons,
Henry T. Brown, an active lawyer and business man, and Louis W. Brown,
for many years clerk of the county, are natives of Athens, and well known in
the Community. |
CAPT. BENJAMIN
BROWN, father
of General John, and of Judge A. G. Brown, and one of the most prominent
among the early settlers of Ames, was born October 17, 1745, at Leicester,
Massachusetts. His grandfather, William Brown, came from England to
America while a youth, was the first settler in the town of Hatfield, on the
Connecticut river, and was often engaged in the Indian wars of that period.
Capt. John Brown, father of Benjamin, served with credit in the colonial
army during the French war, and represented the town of Leicester in the
Massachusetts legislature during, and for many years after, a revolutionary
war. In February, 1775, Benjamin Brown, then thirty years old, joined
a regiment of minute men, and two months later was engaged in active
hostilities. In May he was commissioned a lieutenant in Colonel
Prescott's regiment of the Massachusetts line, and in June participated in
the battle of Bunker's Hill. Two of his brothers, Pearly and John
Brown, were also engaged in this battle, the latter being dangerously
wounded in two laces, and born off the field during the engagement.
This brother Pearly was subsequently killed at the battle of White Plains,
and another brother, William, died in hospital. In January, 1777,
Lieut. Brown was commissioned a captain in the eighth regiment Massachusetts
line. His regiment took a very active part in the operations directed
against Burgoyne during the summer of 1777, and Capt. Brown was engaged in
nearly all of the battles that preceded Burgoyne's surrender, in some of
which he particularly distinguished himself by his gallantry and daring.
A short time after this he was offered the position of aide-de-camp on Baron
Steuben's staff, but declined it, fearing that his military knowledge was
inadequate. In 1779, compelled by the necessities of his family and
other personal reasons, he resigned his commission and returned home to
provide for their support. About the year 1789, he removed with his
family to Hartford, Washington county, New York, then a new settlement,
whence he again migrated in the fall of 1796, and sought a home in the
northwestern territory. He reached Marietta in the spring of 1797, and
in 1799 came to Ames township, in company with Judge Cutler, as
elsewhere stated. He was one of the prominent citizens during the time
he resided in Ames, holding various township offices and contributing
largely to the advancement of the settlement. In 1817, his health
becoming feeble, he went to live with his son, Gen. John Brown, in
Athens, and here he died in October, 1821.
His wife, whom he married in Massachusetts in 1772, and
who bore him a large family of children, died at Athens in 1840, aged
eighty-six years. |
JOHN BROWN,
well known in southern Ohio as "General Brown," son of
Captain Benjamin Brown, one of the pioneers of Ames, was born in
Rowe, Massachusetts, December 1, 1785. in 1787, his father's
family moved to Hartford, Washington county, New York, and in 1796,
with several another families seeking homes in the west, came to the
Forks of Yoh, on the Monongahela, three miles above Williamsport,
Pennsylvania. Here they remained til February, 1797, building a
boat during the winter, in which they completed their journey and
arrived at Marietta, February 11, 1797. Of the twenty-three
persons of various ages who descended the river in this boat, there
are but four now living, viz: Samuel and John Brown,
Mrs. Aphia Hamilton, and Mrs. Phebe Sprague. As
elsewhere stated, Captain Brown's family came out to Ames
township in the spring of 1799, moving their household effects by
canoes down the Ohio, and up the Hockhocking and Federal creek - the
members of the family not required to work the canoes coming across
the country.
In 1811, Mr. Brown married Sophia Walker,
daughter of Dr. Ezra Walker, and continued to live in Ames
township till 1817, when he removed to the town of Athens, where he
still resides. On coming to Athens he kept a public house one
year at the Zadoc Foster house (on the south end of the lot now
owned and occupied by Judge Barker), when he bought the corner
property in front of the university, and built and kept the "Brown
House," so long known to the public, and so kindly remembered by
his hosts of friends. He kept this house till December, 1865, a
period of forty-seven years.
In 1808, Mr. Brown was elected captain in the
militia, and was subsequently made major and colonel, and in 1817 was
elected brigadier general. He was county auditor from 1822 to
1827, and has been treasurer of the Ohio university from 1824 to the
present time. He was also mayor of Athens for several years, and
coroner for two terms. He is, in every good sense, one of the
village fathers who has "come down to us from a former generation."
Possessed of sound judgment, a kind heart, sterling integrity, and
unfailing humor, General Brown has for fifty years had the
respect and affectionate regard of this community. His genial
wit still oft enlivens the social circle, and his venerable form is
recognized with pleasure by all, on the streets of the town where he
has lived so long and where, without an enemy in the world, he is
cheerfully approaching the end of his journey. He reared here a
family of six sons and two daughters; four of the sons graduated at
the Ohio university, and three survive, viz: Oscar W., Wm.
Loring and Archibald Douglas; the latter is cashier of a
bank in Pomeroy, Ohio. One of the daughters, Mrs. Hanna Pratt,
lives in Illinois, and the other, Mrs. Lucy Hey, in Cincinnati,
Ohio. |
| JOHN
BROWN (nephew of Capt. Brown), born February 10, 1774,
Leicester, Massachusetts, married Miss Polly Green, of Spencer,
Massachusetts, in 1797, and set out for the Ohio Company's purchase in
the autumn of 1801. He brought his young family and few effects
over the mountains, with one horse, in a little wagon, and, when
descending difficult places in the road, attached a small tree to the
rear end of his wagon, to act as a break, or lock. When he
reached wheeling, on the Ohio river, after a most toilsome journey, he
"swapped" his wagon for a canoe and two heifers, and proceeded down
the river toward his destination. His second son, Lemuel
Green Brown, was born the day after their landing, near
Marietta, and the head of the family found himself in these rather
difficult circumstances, with but fifty cents in his pocket. As
soon as practicable he resumed travel, and reached Ames township in
March, 1802. He first settled on the farm now owned and occupied
by the heirs of Stephen Green, where he lived for a short time,
and thence moved to where John D. Brown now lives. He was
soon elected a justice of the peace, and was frequently re-elected,
holding the position, altogether, twenty-seven years. He was
also at one time one of the appraisers the college lands in this
county, and of the same in Miami county. In 1811 he built a
brick house on his farm in Ames (one of the first brick houses, if not
the first, erected in this part of the county), where for many years
he kept public house. Being situated on the principal
thoroughfare from Marietta westward, it was, during fifteen or twenty
years, much resorted to by travelers. The building was standing
till within a few years. Of excellent business capacity, and of
a kind and genial nature, Mr. Brown was always able and willing
to relieve the poor and help the distressed. His house was at
all times open for religious services, and a list was made of
seventy-two preachers, who, at different times, had held meetings
there. He was twice married, and his second wife is still living
in the county, nearly eighty years old. He died July 23, 1833. |
| JOHN
BROWN, son of Samuel, was
born in Ames township, December 23, 1801, but lived the greater part
of the time, until 1840, in Washington county, about eight miles from
Marietta. In that year he bought property in Albany, Athens
county, where he located and engaged successfully for many years in
the mercantile business. In 1867 he associated with his son,
J. D. Brown, and engaged in the banking business. During the
present year they have removed from Albany to Athens, which is Mr.
Brown's present residence. He is a gentleman of fine
business capacity, and a public spirited citizen. |
| JOHN B. BROWN,
another son of John, was born in the
year 1803, in Ames township, where he has lived ever since. He
has been successful in life, and is respected as one of the solid men
of the community. |
| PEARLY BROWN,
oldest son of the preceding (John Brown)
was born in Massachusetts, July 24, 1798, and was four years old
when brought to this county. In the year 1819 he married
Eliza Hulbert (who is still living), and settled in Ames
township, on a new farm, given him by his father. A
hard-working and energetic man, he soon improved his circumstances,
and laid the foundation for a competence. To afford some idea
of the prices that prevailed when he was a young man, Mr. Brown
states that he worked a week for Judge Currier, in Athens, in
1823, at 31¼ cents a day, and at
Saturday night was paid in two tin cups at 25 cents each; a quarter
of a pound of tea, 50 cents; one pound of coffee, 50 cents, and 37½
cents in money - making $1.87½ - with which valuables he walked home
- ten miles. While yet living with his father, in 1814 or
1815, he was hired to carry the mail, with two other riders, between
Marietta and Chillicothe, the distance being about one hundred
miles, and to make three trips a week, or two hundred miles a week
for each rider; for which service he received $6 a month. He
cultivated his farm in Ames till 1829 or 1830, when he removed to
McArthurstown (then in Athens county), and engaged for many years in
selling goods and dealing in live stock. In 1839 he and his
partners drove across the mountains to the eastern markets 2,100
cattle, 1,300 hogs, 1,800 sheep and 20 horses. He was at the
same time quite extensively engaged in the mercantile business with
his brother, Samuel H. Brown, well known in the county for
many years, and till his death in 1854, as an untiring business man.
Pearly Brown has held the positions of county commissioner
and justice of the peace, and is widely known in this and adjoining
counties as a man of unswerving integrity. He has reared a
family of three sons and six daughters. His oldest son,
Pinckney Brown, is an extensive dealer in live stock. |
| SAMUEL H.
BROWN, youngest son of John,
was born in Ames township, October 8th, 1807. He became an
active business man, and well known in southern Ohio and in the
eastern markets as an extensive and successful cattle dealer, in which
business he engaged, with little intermission, for over twenty-two
years. He served as justice of the peace and associate judge in
this county. He removed to Meigs county about 1850, and died
there October 2d, 1854. He was an honest and capable man. |
EBENEZER
BUCKINGHAM, SEN., settled in what is now Carthage township in
1801, near to Esquire Cooley. He was the father of the
late Ebenezer Buckingham of Muskingum county, who was at one
time esteemed one of the wealthiest men of southern Ohio.
Stephen Buckingham of Muskingum county, who was at one time
esteemed one of the wealthiest men of southern Ohio.
Stephen Buckingham, his brother, setter, settled near him
and about the same time.
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