The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-11-17
sborodgb Highland County, oho Thursday November H. ls
The limits of the present State q q

the limits of the present State ol
Ohio. o..
Lord Dunmore's war occurred the
following year (1774), causing great
anxiety in the mission settlement, and
| by the advice of Zeisberger, Roth, the
only one Of the missionaries who had
children, returned with his family to
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
In note on page 4Q5 is given the
subsequent history of this 'frst child, -
as follows:
''In this way John Lewis Roth, the
first white child born on, the soil of
Ohio, was brought to Pennsylvania
when not quite one e.year Of age. There
his parents lived successfully at Mt.
Soy, York, Emmaus and Hebron, at
all of which places his father was pas
tor of. the Moravian Church. In 1890
his father took Charge a, Second time
of the church at York, where he died
in the following year, on the 23d of
July. His mother died at Nazareth,
February 26, 1868.
'JOhn Lewis Roth himself was ed
ucated at Nazareth Hall, and formed
| q member of the class of 1855, the
! first organized in that institution.
After leaving Nazareth Hall there are
nc traces of him for a number of
years, until he is found living on a
farm near Nazareth, married, and the
head Of family. In 1886 he be-
came a resident of Bath, PennsyIvan-
ia, and joined the Lutheran Church,
which the Rev. A. Fuchs gathered in
that neighhorhood. OF this church
he remained a consistent and worthy
member. He died on the 25th of
ISeptember, 1841, in the sixty-ninth
year OF his age, and was buried in the
Bath graveyard, where his remains
now lie. His tombstone bears the
following inscription:
'Zum Anderken an Ludwig Roth,
geboren 4th JUL, 1773. Gestorben
25th September, 1841, alter 68 Jahre,
I'm, q tage."
Mr.. Fuchs preached his funeral SER
mon on the parable of the Prodigal,
v hiCh text Mr.. Roth selected previ-
Gus to his death. He left five child
ren, four sons ard one daughter.
This, then, is the first recorded
birth of white child within the pres
ent limits of Ohio. 1t is quite possi-
ble, however, that he may not have.
Leen the first born of Ohio. A fort
and trading post was established at
the mouth of the Sandusky as early as
1851 by the French, and was subse-
quently held by the British. Lara
mics and other British trading posts
were established within the State, but
probably that of Sandusky was the
only one to which families could have
been brought in safety The British
traders were generally solitary adven-
Jurers, who risked their own lives for
ithe enormous profits of their traffic
with the Indians. The French were
more permanent in their settlements,
and carried their families and priests
with them. Vincennes, Indiana, in
l772, numbered about four hundred
white inhabitants; Detroit over six
hundred; so that it is probable that
hundreds Of families had established
themselves at the intermediate station
Of Sandusky, and if so, white children
may have been born there previous
TO 1873. But there is little probabili-
ty that any such record will ever be
found, and we must content ourselves
with hOnOring John Lewis Roth as the
first Of the Buckeyes.