The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-04-07
from the Eaton Register.J
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
COLONEL PauILarsh.


much of the early history of Preble
county. aud of its earliest settlers, has
been suffered to fade from the mem
ory of the present generation. One
after another of the pioneer heroes
have gone down to the grave, and left
no written record of the times and
scenes that they passed through.
Thus our early history is becoming
more and more dim, and its facts and
incidents less and less easily recalled.
How much better the history of Preble
county could have been written twen-
ty years ago than it can now; or ten
years or even one year ago. Year by
year the task becomes more difficult,
and yet no one has felt called upon to
undertake the task.
These reflections are thrown out,
to pave the way for saying, that In the
preparation of these sketches, it is i'm
possible to take up the subjects in the
order of time, properly speaking. The
data In many cases are so meager and
difficult OF procurement, that the
writer's must necessarily. conform to
circumstances, and use the materials
as they are presented.
The subject OF this sketch was born
in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, on
the Sth day OF October, A. d. 1872
he and the late Gen. Cass, of Michigan,
having been born on the same day.
He was of French extraction, his
grandfather (also named PauD having
emigrated from France about 1854 or
80. He came from either the city or
vicinity of Strasburg, on the Rhine,
and with an only brother and sister
settled first in Canada. 1t might be
Interesting to relate few incidents Ill
his career, as connected with pioneer
life in Ohio.
Our French emigrant very soon left
his brother and sister in Canada, and
providing himself with a stock of
merchandise suitable for trading with
the wild inhabitants of the forests,
conveyed them by some means to a
Shawnee village, situated, as near as
can be now ascertained, near the pres
ent town of Xenia This was about
the year 1756. He had been there
some two or three years, and came to
be highly esteemed by his savage Gus
toners, when white woman with
three children, (who had been cap
tured in a raid into Virginia,) was
brought to the village. This lady,
with her children, he rescued from
her captors, at the sacrifice of his
goods and furs, took them in a canoe
down the Little Miami to the Ohio,
down the Ohio to the Mississippi, and
up that stream to the fourishing can
tonment of Kaskaskia, where they
were married. Here was born Charles
Larsh, the father of the subject of
this sketch, and here they remained
until that fourishing and happy COM
munity was broken up by an incursion
of British troops, some time before
the Revolutionary war. He, with his
family, was taken by the British
troops to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg;
and after various vicissitudes he To-
Gated upon Georges creek in Fayette
county, Pennsylvania, where he re-
mained the balance of his days.
But to return to our subject When
young Paul was some four years old.
his father determined to try his for
tune in the new territory of Kentucky,
then the theme OF unbounded praise
for its wonderful fertility, abundance
of game, and salutation of climate. 1t
is needless to describe the privations
and dangers, at that time incident to
journey down the Ohio river, in an
open boat, through wilderness region
infested with hostile savages. Suffice
it to say, that the voyage from Union
town, Pa. to Maysville, KY, was sue
cessfully accomplished, and in due
time the family established near Lex
ington, KY, where the subject of this
sketch and a numerous family of
brothers and sisters were reared, SUBJ
ject to all the vicissitudes and priva-
tions incident to life in the wilder
ness.
Before attaining his majority, our
subject, with his fathers family, To-
Gated upon the Ohio river, near the
present site of Manchester, Ohio,
where all hands were employed for
several years in building fiat boats,
for the navigation of the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers. The custom then
was, to load fiat-boat, carrying from
60 to 100 tons, with the various pro-
ducts of the country, float it down the
Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans,
there dispose of boat and cargo, (the
proceeds of which was usually re-
ceived in silver, then the crew return
home on foot, through the wilderness
of Mississippi, Tennessee and Ken
tucky, then occupied by the Cherokee,
Chicasaw, and Choctaw nations of In
dians. The subject of our present
sketch made several voyages of this
kind whilst young man, usually pur-
chasing a Mustang, or Mexican horse,
in New Orleans, on which to pack the
silver, Spanish milled dollars,) the
proceeds of his boat and cargo, him
self and crew making the journey of
about twelve hundred miles on foot
almost the entire way through an un-
inhabited wilderness.
In the summer of 1906, having tIan
attained the age OF "a years, and not
having seen the place of his nativity
since his infancy, Mr.. Larsh deter
mined to revisit his native home. IF
we call to mind the fact, that at that
day most of the way between the set
Elements on the Ohio river in the
vicinity of Maysville and Uniontown,
in Pennsylvania, was an unbroken
wilderness. for the most part traversed
by roads impracticable for vehicles,
and not infrequently an entire days
ride between houses, it will be under
stood that trip OF that kind was no
mean affair, aud not to be rashly ven
tured upon. The journey was made,
however, on horseback; and it was
during this visit, at the house of
relative, that our subject made the
acquaintance of Miss Mercy Minor, Of
Green county, Pa, to whom he was
united in marriage on the 9th day of
November, 1906 Within lew days
after marriage, he and his wife started
on their journey to the west. They
made the trip on horseback, arriving
at his fathers residence, on the banks
OF the Ohio, early in the month of