my going into the Indian country; he was a distinguished warrior in his day, and an old man when I knew him. Killbuck, another Delaware chief, had received a liberal education at Princeton College, and retained until his death the great outlines of the morality of the Gospel."

The Delawares had a village near the Sulphur Springs, in the city of Delaware, and cultivated corn in the vicinity. Howe says, "There were formerly two villages belonging to the Delawares, mostly within the limits of the present town of Delaware. One occupied the ground around the east end of Williams street, and the other was at the west end, extending from near the saw-mill to the hillside. Upon the ground now occupied by the town, they cultivated a corn-field of about 400 acres. The Mingoes had a small village above town, on 'Horse-shoe Bottom,' where they also raised corn.' They did not remain here long, however, after the advent of the whites. But, as it has ever been since the landing of the Europeans upon the Atlantic Coast, the Indians have been forced to give way before their more powerful foes. Step by step they have been borne backward across the Continent, until but a narrow space lies between them and the last shore. As a race, they are fast disappearing from the land. "Their arrows are broken, their springs are dried up, their cabins are in the dust. Their council-fire has long since gone out on the shore, and their war-cry is fast dying away in the untrodden West. Slowly and sadly they climb the distant mountains, and read their doom in the setting sun. They are shrinking before the mighty tide which is pressing them away; they must soon hear the roar of the last wave which will settle over them forever."* There is much in the Indian character to excite our bitter and revengeful feelings, and much, too, to awaken our pity and sympathy. When we reflect how their hunting-grounds have been wrested from them, we feel but little disposition to censure or condemn them for contesting the pale-face's 'right of possession" to the lands of their fathers.

After the removal of the Indians from Delaware County, detachments used to frequently return to trade their peltries to the white people. The Shawanees, Mingoes and Wyandots especially, were in the habit of making periodical visits to the neighborhood for a number of years. Much of their local history belongs more appropriately to

*Sprague's American Indians.

particular sections of the county, and hence will be given in the township histories.

Although it may be that neither La Salle, nor Joliet, nor Hennepin, nor, indeed, any of the French pioneers ever set foot upon what is now Delaware County, yet, it forms a part of the territory claimed by the French through these early explorations. Says Howe, in his "Historical Collections of Ohio": "The territory now comprised within the limits of Ohio was formerly a part of that vast region claimed by France, between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, first known by the general name of Louisiana. In 1673, Marquette, a zealous French missionary, accompanied by M. Joliet, from Quebec, with five boatmen, set out on a mission from Mackinac to the unexplored regions lying south of that station. They passed down the lake to Green Bay, thence from Fox River crossed over to the Wisconsin, which they followed down to its junction with the Mississippi. They descended this mighty stream 1,000 miles, to its confluence with the Arkansas. On their return to Canada, they did not fail to urge, in strong terms, the immediate occupation of the vast and fertile regions watered by the Mississippi and its branches. At this period, the French had erected forts on the Mississippi, on the Illinois, on the Maumee, and on the lakes. Still, however, the communication with Canada was through Lake Michigan. Before 1750, a French post had been fortified at the mouth of the Wabash, and a communication was established through that river and the Maumee with Canada. About the same time, and for the purpose of checking the progress of the French, the Ohio Company was formed, and made some efforts to establish trading-houses among the Indians. The French, however, established a chain of fortifications back of the English set- | tlements, and thus, in a measure, had the entire control of the great Mississippi Valley. The English Government became alarmed at the encroachments of the French and attempted to settle boundaries by negotiations. These availed nothing, and both parties determined to settle their differences by the force of arms." All this, however, belongs, more to the history of the country at large, than to this particular county. It is given in this connection merely to show who were the original possessors of the soil. It is general history, also, which tells us how, in this country, the lilies of France drooped and withered before the majestic tread of the British Lion, and how he, in his turn, quailed beneath the scream of the

American Eagle. The successful termination of the Revolutionary war decided the ownership of this section of country, perhaps, for all coming time, while the war of 1812 but confirmed that

decision.

At the period when it passed from the sway of the British Government, this broad domain was the undisputed home of the red savage, and the solitudes of its forests echoed the crack of his rifle as he pursued his enemy or howled behind his flying prey. His canoe shot along the streams, and the paths worn by moccasined feet were the only trails through the unbroken wilderness. But little more than three-quarters of a century have passed, and behold the change! Under the wand of enchantment wielded by the pale-face pioneer, the forests have bloomed into smiling fields clothed with flocks and herds, and waving with rich har| vests; and their solitudes have become peopled with over 30,000 civilized and intelligent human beings. Nor is this all. During the years that have come and gone in quick succession while the panorama has been unfolding to view, we behold the trail of the Indian obliterated by the railway track, and the ox-team displaced by the locomotive and the rushing train. The landscape is dotted with happy homes, churches and schoolhouses, and the silence of its wastes are broken by "The laugh of children, the soft voice Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn Of Sabbath worshipers." Delaware County has accumulated its population from various sources, but the larger portion of it has been drawn from the older States of the East. Several countries of the Old World have contributed to its settlement material that has developed into the very best of citizens. Here, too, may be found many of the descendants of Ham, who, under the refining influences of education, and the substantial benefits of a free government, have become honorable and upright men and Women. From the pine forests of Maine, to the Old Dominion," and the "dark and bloody ground;" and from that region to the Atlantic Ocean, every State has aided more or less in the settlement of the county. These elements from the different States, and from the different quarters of the world have blended into a population whose high standard of education and intelligence will compare with any county in the great State of Ohio.

The first settlement made within the limits of Delaware County by white people was in Liberty

Township, in 1801. Speaking of the first settlement, Howe, in his "Historical Collections," says: "The first settlement in the county was made May 1, 1801, on the east bank of the Olentangy, five miles below Delaware, by Nathan Carpenter and Avery Powers, from Chenango County, N. Y. Carpenter brought his family with him, and built the first cabin near where the farmhouse now stands. Powers' family came out toward fall, but he had been out the year before to explore the country and select the location. In April, 1802, Thomas Celler, with Josiah McKinney, from Franklin County, Penn., moved in and settled two miles lower down, and, in the fall of 1803, Henry Perry, from Wales, commenced a clearing and put up a cabin in Radnor, three-fourths of a mile from Delhi. In the spring of 1804, Aaron, John, and Ebenezer Welch (brothers) and Capt. Leonard Monroe, from Chenango County, N. Y., settled in Carpenter's neighborhood, and the next fall Col. Byxbe and his company, from Berkshire, Mass., settled on Alum Creek, and named their town Berkshire. settlement at Norton, by William Drake and Nathaniel Wyatt; Lewis settlement, in Berlin, and the one at Westfield followed soon after." There appears to be no doubt of the truth that Carpenter was the first actual settler in the county. Upon this point, the different authorities agree, also, upon the date of his settlement. In addition to those above mentioned as locating in Liberty Township, they were followed, in a few years, by Ebenezer Goodrich, George and Seth Case, who settled on the west bank of the river, below Carpenter's. David Thomas and his family were added to the settlement about the same time, and squatted just north of the spot occupied by the Cases. James Gillies and Roswell Fuller also came about this time. Timothy Andrews, A. P. Pinney and Mr. Bartholomew located farms on Tyler's Run, and were followed soon after by many other sturdy pioneers, who joined in the work of subduing the wilderness.

The

In the division of the county known as Berkshire Township, settlements followed a few years later than those mentioned in Liberty. Moses Byxbe is recorded as the first settler, or rather as the leader of a colony, who settled in this section in the fall of 1804. He owned 8,000 acres of land, which he had obtained by the purchase of land warrants from Revolutionary soldiers, and, being a man of influence and enterprise, he had induced a number of friends and neighbors to emigrate with him to the land of promise. The

Spring. The spot on which it was located is now embraced in the University Campus. Says Howe in his "Historical Collections," from which we have several times quoted: "It stood close to the, spring, and was made of poles, Indian fashion, fifteen feet square, in which he kept tavern. The principal settlers were Messrs. Byxbe, William Little, Dr. Lamb, Solomon Smith, Elder Jacob Drake (Baptist preacher), Thomas Butler, and Ira Carpenter. In 1808 Moses Byxbe built the first frame house on William Street, Lot 70, and the first brick house was erected the ensuing fall, by Elder Drake, on Winter street. Being unable to get but one mason, his wife laid all the brick of the inside walls." (Lady readers, how many of you, who grow up like hothouse plants, could, in case of the most extreme emergency, perform such work as laying brick?) But few settlements were made in this division of the county, until the laying-out of the town in 1808 (about the time of the formation of the county). After it became the seat of justice, it settled up rapidly, as more particularly noticed in another chapter."

In 1807, a settlement was made in the present township of Marlborough, by Jacob Foust. The following account of his trip to this section is of some interest: "Foust left Pennsylvania in 1799, with the aim to settle in the Scioto Valley. He had with him a good team of horses, a wagon, a cow, and his wife and seven children. He crossed the Ohio at Wheeling, and, leaving the few habitations of the river, entered the forest, which lay unbroken for miles before him. Twenty miles through the woods brought the family to a large building erected as a 'travelers rest,' capable of holding fifty persons. Here they resolved to pass a night. Morning came, and discovered the fact that some rascal had stolen the best horse. Foust rode to Will's Creek, and hired help to bring the family to that point. Thence they were advanced to Zanesville, where, arriving at night and finding a blacksmith-shop near the center of the town, they took possession. The smith was much surprised in the morning to find his shop converted into a dwelling, but kindly provided some provision for their breakfast.

Foust leased land of a man named Brown, and raised a good crop of cori. A woman came along one day with an empty wagon and four horses her share of an estate. Foust engaged the wagon and team, and hired a man named Bowman to convey his family on to Coleraine Township, of Ross County, where the family remained until 1807. In April of this year, Foust moved up to the

forks of the Whetstone, and squatted on lands belonging to the Campbell heirs-the first settler in that section, and only the cabin of Barber, near the spring at Delaware, between his cabin and the Carpenter settlement." The next settler on the river in this section was Ariel Strong; the third was a newly married pair of young people, named Swinington. These three families were all the settlers in this immediate section, prior to 1808. At other points in the township, there were Nathaniel Wyatt, from New York, William Brundage and his son Nathaniel, William Hannaman, Levi Hinter, William and Allen Reed and families. Joseph Curran, Isaac Bush and Silas Davis came in prior to 1812.

In the same year as given above (1807), settlements were made in Trenton Township. William Perfect and Mordecai Thomas were the first squatters, and came from the "dark and bloody ground." A man named Spining owned 1,000 acres of military land, and Thomas and Perfect each bought 100 acres of this land, located at the mouth of Perfect Creek, a little stream named for the family. Bartholomew Anderson also came from Kentucky, and settled just east of Perfect, in 1810. John Culver, Michael Ely and their families were the first settlers north of Culver's Creek, and located in the settlement in 1809. Shortly after them John Williamson came and bought land of Ely, and during the year, married his daughter Rosanna. A man named Roberts is noted as the first permanent settler on Rattlesnake's Run, where he lived for twenty years or more. John Gim settled on the Creek near by, as early as 1807–8. William Ridgaway came a few years later and settled on a farm adjoining to that of Gim's. We make the following extract referring to the settlers of this township: "The northern part of the township was settled by industrious people from New Jersey. A colony from Ithaca, N. Y. settled in the south, and one from Pennsylvania in the west part of the township, all strong men, well fitted for toil in the forest. Of the early settlers was Gratax, who wore leather breeches full of stitches,' a fawn-skin vest, and a coon-skin cap. One farmer ran two large asheries, and supplied Delaware with salt and window glass for more than twelve years. These articles he wagoned from Zanesville. Jonathan Condit, whose descendants are scattered over the east part of the township, came from New Jersey, and settled on Little Walnut. Oliver Gratax came a single man, and married a Miss Rosecrans.”