The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-07-07
EARLY Days I'm ohio County.


EdIton d The Initniseneet: as,sa f&1t, 4
The general settlement Of Ohio county
was begun in1773. The settlers and ia:
.lians lived In peace till The spring y
The following year, when q war broke out
between them and lasted for twenty years,
excepting short truce which followed
The treaty Of peace negotiated BY Lord
Dunmore. The construction Of plaeesot
refuge and deienceTfor the protection OF
the settlement were among the first things
attended TO in,t The panic which followed.
There were two Of these places east Of
FortGFfaxier's and Hosack's
block houses; Frhziers block house ap.
pears to have been built in 1I74 by Sam.
tlel Frazier, who must have settled there
the year before and was located on the
farm now owned by R. 81 Williamson,
one mile north OF Roney's Point, In the
edge Of Liberty district Hosack's block
house was erected by David Hosaek, who
settled there in l773, but The block house
seems not 10 have been built SO early rs
the other. It was on The Hosack farm,
in Triadelphia district; one mile south
Of Valley Grove, where Mrs. David
Hosack, daughter.in-law Of the urigi.
nal settler, still resides.' There was
another block ,house built towards
the close Of tho war on what is now
known MS the stoolfire farm and there
may have been another one or two in the
eastetn part Of the county but the first
two were tho principle ones and were
important places In that part 81 the
country in those early days yet no men
ton has ever been made Of them In any
record written hitherto. -,
THE DARKEST YEAR IN ALL ouR BORDER
HISTORY WAS l777: anaL
All that summer the woods were;flled
with rowing bands Of hostile sayages,
The settlers BECAME discouraged and most
II not all Of them, east Of Wheeling,
abandoned their homes for time. Some
Of them did not return for years and a
few did not return at all. There was an
other year Of great hardship that was
known by them ever afterwards, as, "the
famine year." The principle crop they
succeeded in raising was wheat and 4!
was "sick" and could not be, eaten and
they were unable to procure suffiCtency
Of wholesome food. We have not been
able 10 get the exact year but it was
somewhere between 1850 and 1890. y44.
The most remarkable fact in regard Ito
the early settlement Of the eastern part
OF the county Is that no murder or dep.
relation Of any kind was ever committed
there by the Indians. A man by the name
Of Henthorn was shot from his horse
where Triadelphia now stands and
John Grist was taken prisoner by
them at an other time not many
rods from the same place. Then
We heard OF no more mischief done
by them till we cross the Pennsylvania
line near West Alexander where Mrs
Ross was murdered by them. They
never did any mischief south Of these two
points in the county nor north OF them
though the Indians were known to, pas
often through these settlements. ,e
THERE IS A REMrNINcESsE IN THE no
4apt SACK FAMILY 4i..H
that on one occasion when Mr.. Hosact
was absent from home over night and his
wife and children slept in theft cabin I'M
protected save by adog, and apprehen'
ssive OF no danger, in the morning they
found Indian tracks in the snow around
their cabin but nothing was disturbed.
These settlements were composed al
most exclusively Of Presbyterians Of the
Scotch-Irish stock, who came there to
procure homes for themselves and their
children, and the majorityof the fami'
lies still have representatives in The
neighborhood. With a high sense 'oI
Justice which has ever been character
istic Of their race they refused to aid or
countenance any aggressive acts against
the Indians. There we're no scouts OF
warriors among them and none Of the
lawless class, they acted strictly on the
defensive. From the light that has
since been thrown on the character
Of Simon Girty, 1t would appeal
highly probable that they were indebted
to considerable extent TO this strang'
erratic character for their singularly
good fortune, Notwithstanding they al
uyh'huppOneu hAi " W hho'A WIS
enemy. Girty was well acquainted witt
the character OF the settlements. If i
was an accident, il was q very singular
one, that hostile Indians continued to pas
on their raids through settlement fol
twenty years without ever striking It {
single blow, whilst they committed muir
ders all round II. It Is further con-
firmatioh Of the theory that II the Indian
had been dealt with justly, 1t would hav'
saved the writing Of many a bloody pag'
OF border history. f1 'tl'nt y. irit
There was just one exception, so far a
known to the writer, to the above state
ment, and that was John Neiswager, VIII,
was one OF the earliest pioneers an,
a daring scout. He "took hp'4 lan'
owned now by the Stewards and Others
and forted under a rock in sort Of cav
one mile and half above Triadelphil
and n quarterofa mile north Of thepike
He was killed by the Indians. at III,
mouth Of Little Grave Creek, where h
had put in with his canoe for the nigh
when on a hunting expedition in 1885,
n - 'y W. s.
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