Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-06-10
Mr.. Jewett's Ohio Homes-Ro'
nance of a Quaker Boy
Emigrant.
r"Gath" in the Cincinnati Enquirer
n Nov 9S 1880


to the Valley of Deer Creek, in Mary
land, where Hugh j. Jewett, son OF
good Quaker couple, passed the hrst
twenty Gears of his life. When he had
studied law with Colonel Groome, at
Elkton, in the same county where David
Davis and Thomas +. Bayard, both
like himself honored with Presidential
mention, had their origin, he faced TO
the West and crossed the Allegheny
Mountains alone. Maryland has known
him no more, except by the report Oh
his many honors and success. For
nearly forty five years he has been
citizen of Ohio.
FOLLOWING THE TRAIL.
like to take individual careers and
follow them up from point to point,
seeking in the locality the secret of the
man. Myself resident In boyhood OF
the region where Mr. Jewett was born
and reared, had never lived in the
West, now the ruling section of the
country, when took leave of the relics
of this Maryland boy about the head
of the Chesapeake-his fathers farm
house, his mothers grave, his old
neighbors and schoolmates-If felt that
would like to taHe up his life in the
Wes. and see where it led to, how he
was received beyond the Ohio, what
trials and delays he had, what waitings
and sorrows, until finally came the turn
in his condition and Fortune showed
her face at his window-pane
In one of my opportunity for travel
and habit of following DIP clews a
thought so entertained will not nestle
still. The law of association, like the
gout, settles in the feet, and carries the
inquirer onward to the next connection.
was on my way to the Chicago Con-
vention several days before the time,
and stopping off to wash an6 rest at
Wheeling, w. Va, / saw an omnibus
in the street taking on parcels marked
St. Clairsvllle. "Where is St. Clairs
viIle?" ! asked the editor of the Wheel
ing IntelIigencer. 81: is an old town
up the National Road" said Mr..
Campbell, ''about fifteen miles from
Wheeling, which, thirty to fifty years
ago, ruled all this region of country by
the eminence of it's local Bar. There
lived Benjamin Ruggles, Wilson Shan
non, Judge Kennon, Charles Hammond,
Hugh ;. Jewett and other legal lights.
A stage starts from here at two o'clock
every afternoon, and runs over the Ma
tional Road to St. Clairsville, as it is
off the main railroad lines"
In another hour was in that stage
crossing the Suspension Bridge over
the Ohio River and going through the
opposite city of Bridgeport.
THE NATIONAL ROAD
I was upon, a wide, well-kept, Kings
Highway of ancient travel, wou I'D along
the dashing Wheeling Creek, accom-
panied by the new railroad to Cleve-
land, which is controlled by the New
York Central Railroad, and which for
ten miles of the course is in sight ofthe
National Road, tapping the coal veins
on the hill-sides and the broad cliffs Of
sandstone and limestone.
For several miles the National Road
passes through little valleys and widen
ing basins of farm land, and occasion
ally passes a mine or a mill. The toll
bar, Ikea pair of shears, rises to let
us go through and falls behind u.s.
There is occasionally milestone, much
consulted in the days of stages. Bits
of woodland, with cedar, maple and
locust, adorn the slopes. We pass
tramp or two, like Rip Van Wrinkle,
who slept for twenty years, while the
great tide of travel was being diverted
to the railroads. Old taverns, turned
into farm houses, were frequent, and
some of these were built of solid blocks
of limestone, with large rooms, where
oEce there had been dining, fiddling
and dancing, while the horses were be-
ing fed in the large tumble down
stables in thesrear. All the bridges
were substantial, with arches and para
pets, and broad sills of green carpet
spread between the fences and the
crushed stone over which our omnibus
quietly rolled. Hills almost like noun
tains were at short distances on either
side, and they seemed to close before
US, intimating that ultimately we must
climb thelT barrier to the airy plateau
in the West. At last we came TO a
bridge worthy of the Romans when
they built the Appian Way, with three
great arches, and solid stone parapets,
on whose crests were circular bases
carved as if to hold statues. Here
Wheeling Creek left US to return no
more, and we began to climb mighty
hill of steep yet equal grade, which led
us into the face of cliff which seemed
to have been located at the hardest
possible ascent, as if the Government
had resolved to show its resources both
in money and engineering, and leave a
monument for future age.
"This bridge" said one of the pass
engers, ''is perhaps the finest work on
the whole National road. There were
jobs in those days, as now, and this
was the job of Charles Hammond. He
owned farm right on this hill, and
while his neighbors, supposing the Ma
tional road would go straight up the
Valley of Wheeling Creek, we've quar-
reling about which side it would take,
Hammond, who was both lawyer and
a newspaper editor, exerted his infu
ence and had it made across his farm,
though at great expense. He was the
editor of the Federalist, one of the
earliest papers of the Whig spirit in
Ohio, and afterward an editor of the
Cincinnati Gazette"
ENTERING ST. GAINESVILLE.
When we gained the top of this long
hill there burst upon us a prospect of
the far distant ranges Of moundy
mountains, with lovely valleys between
all clothed in wheat and pasture, with
here and there flock of cattle feeding,
and often bunch of woodlands to re-
mind us of those antique days when