The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-03-27

WAS THkRE AWHITE MAN AT WKaF LIB
ERTY 2S7 YEAlts AGO l-cU tous ms.
ToRIcAI INQUIRY.
MANSFIELD, O., March 81, 1879.
To the Editors ofthe fntelligencer.
l find in your paper of tho 22d,, which
some one has done me the favor 10 for
ward, among much railroad news in re-
lation to the w. at. V.sR R, (which, as
will hereafter be shown, your citizens will
do well TO encourage), a letter from DR..
Foster, Of Indianapolis, 10 the New York
Tribune, evidently in the interest Of q
railroad, and 10 discourage the improve.
ment OF the Ohio river. Of course, fhaye
none other than public interest in that
Improvement; bnthavlng been, o member
OF the louisville ConYention, some years
since, was on a committee with Mr..
Thurston, Of Pittsburgh, and in consulta-
ton with eminent engineers we ascer-
tanned that 0 combination Of Ellet's reser.
voirs, locks and dams, wing dams and
dredging, navigation could be made. per-
manerit for about $25, 900 900. jIf DR..
Foster knew the Cheat and Upper Monon.
gahela as well as you and l do, he would
know that Ellet's plan could be made
pretty successful on half Of $600O0000.
But this Is not what l commenced to
write you about. He opens BY saying
that the credit Of discovering the Ohio
river is probably due to La Sale, between
1869 and 1871, although he wrote nothing
OF II. / can point you to the record Of
the existence Of o white man on its banks
nearly a century before that date, though
how he came there Is a mystery. Some
years before 1854 / had paid some atten-
ton to the mineralogy and archaeology Of
your region, and published the results
from time to time in the, DAILY Times.
THIS attracted the attention oil Mr.. A.
Mcclure, who lived near West Liberty,
where his father had been one Of the first
settlers. On the farm was an Indian grave
which the Oldest settlers knew had not
been opened during their time. Mr.. Nc
Lure and man whose name l have for
gotten, opened it, and found it in
all respects similar to the. graves
opened under where the old Northwest
ern Bank building stands-the one with
the sperm candlepillars, up Main street
and others in the region, except that the
piece OF mica, always found upon the
breast, was larger-six inches, square and
half inch thick, and omit was written
with some sharp instrument, inaplsin
old English hand: s4lsiN 10
"Trems Nebo, thou who did dy for me,
my wifi Jero and my SON Peto. g.
1885. eel WILLIAM WELSH"
l took the affidavit OF the parties that
this was taken from the grave the day
previous, the same as 1t was given me,
and of Others Of the oldest citizens that It
had not been disturbed during their time.
Spending some time on Lake Superior
that summer, asked Ojibway and other
chiefs If they had any such name as
Trems Nebo. They had not; others who
were familiar with many Indian Ian
guages had notheard ofit l neverfo
II except In Lieut.. Herndon's! trip down
the Amazon, afterwards published, in
which he has man OF that name, the
meaning of which he gives as dew fall.
In 1854 Judge Conrad was President
OF the Hempfeld road. He examined 1t
with much interest, and as was going
East, gave me letter TO the President Of
the Historical Society Of Pennsylvania,
who at first thought l had been humbug.
ged; but after long and critical exami.
nation and comparison with volumes oI
the clerkly writing ofthat day, pronounced
1t genuine. He called a meeting a the
principal members Of the society at their
rooms, and they, after long and critical
comparison, unanimously pronounced II
genuine, and requested It's deposit there;
but I deposited1t with the officers of the
American. Antiquarian Society Of Massa-
chusetts, who also, after long comparison,
pronouncedit genuine. ELSa sl$7
The question then is, how Welsh got
there in 1886. he was evidently English,
and had an italian wife, and gave his son
an Italian name. He could hardly have
come over with Sir Walter Raleigh, who
sailed late in the fall of 1854, but would
seem 10 me to more probably have come
over with De Soto, and being Joined by
some OF the southern nomadic tribes,
found his way up the rivers where his life
was in some way saved by the death oi
Trems Nebo. f'.s @'oFat
!, Perhaps this may not be as interesting
TO you or your readers, ifyou should give
It to them, asitis to me; but 1 have often
thought Of itas a lasting record of q hum.
BILE Indian hero. So IN. Yours truly,
]. e. WHARTON.