Ohio History Journal

THE ROUSH FAMILY IN AMERICA

 

(Their Contribution to the "New Country")

 

 

BY REV. L. L. ROUSH

In these days when almost every one is writing and

when so many details of history are brought out of their

hiding-places by some historian especially equipped for

that purpose, and whose chief business is to bring to the

public eye such discoveries, one hesitates before he sets

himself to the task of adding anything to this volumi-

nous collection. However, no student dares venture

far into the field of historical research until he finds

much virgin soil for cultivation. In almost every

county, city and hamlet there lie, unknown and un-

touched, rich mines of historical data never brought to

the eye of the public. The discovery of such has made

it possible for the general historian to sum up such de-

tails as will enable him to present a narrative that ap-

peals to the serious student. Thus have many important

contributions been made to philosophy, science and gov-

ernment.

In the presentation of this article the writer is pos-

sessed of an ambition to reveal the activities of a large

and prominent family whose two hundred year sojourn

in America has never attracted public attention to any

notable degree, notwithstanding the fact that in their

historical connections great men pass in review, and the

fate of nations and destiny of races have in no small

measure been determined by the contributions they have

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The Roush Family in America.    117 made to this rapidly growing country of which they have ever been an active part. The success of any great general has been determined by his men in the ranks without whom his name could never have become great. Washington as father of his country, Lincoln as its savior are our outstanding American figures, but where

were their greatness without a noble, loyal and patriotic citizenry? Scarcely had the Atlantic seaboard been settled when there entered its portals a young man who at- tracted no more attention than any other ordinary im- migrant. He came, not as many had done, to fill his coffers with American gold and then return to his home-

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118     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

land where he might live in luxury and ease; but he

came possessed of an ideal -- the ideal that has made

America the one great nation among nations -- to have

a home unmolested and the freedom to worship God ac

cording to the dictates of his own conscience. The de-

tails of the environment from which he sprang and the

friends he left behind need receive only such considera-

tion here as to give the reader an appreciation of the

motives that led this family to America.

It was during the great German emigration which

was practically parallel with the beginning of the eight-

eenth century; the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania,

but chiefly the latter, furnished homes for these people.

The chief cause, tradition tells us, that led this home-

loving young man to break the ties that bound him to

home and friends was religious persecution and political

oppression. Added to this tradition were the devastat-

ing wars and social unrest of the times. One of the

strong characteristics of the German, which he gets

both by nature and training, is that he is a great lover

of home and homeland. It was fortunate, indeed, for

the American nation that so many of these home-loving

people found a permanent abode in this new country

destined to become, and the more so by them, the great-

est land of liberty among nations.

The background of this unrest is seen in wars --

wars for causes, and wars for almost no cause at all.

During the wars of the Spanish Netherlands, the Pala-

tinate in which lived the family that is the subject of

this sketch, was frequently overrun by destroying van-

dals and its inhabitants were often driven to forest and

cave and even in these sequestered spots at the point of

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The Roush Family in America.   119

 

the bayonet were forced to bring forth their small earn-

ings, if such they had, and in case they refused they

were frequently murdered in cold blood. Following this

there were wars of the Palatinate which were even

more devastating. The Palatinate, like Belgium, in the

late war, lay in the path of these destroying forces.

Thus were their high ambitions of a peaceful, quiet and

prosperous home life impossible of realization. In hope

of such possession new lands must be sought.

On the quiet autumn morning of October 19, 1736,

George Frazer sailed out of the blue waters of Rotter-

dam with his little ship, the Perthamboy, and bore away

across the sea the first representative of this large and

virile family, whose name was John Adam Roush

(Rausch). Appropriately the city of Brotherly Love

received him.

Like many of these early families, he was lost sight

of until he began to make a name for himself in the

great wilderness which at that time knew no bounds.

He must have taken up his abode in Pennsylvania for

a time and probably married there, a lady by the name

of Susannah, whose family name is not known. But

these eastern sections of the country were beginning to

meet the same problem that the European countries had,

that of over population, and land was becoming scarce

and costly. It was therefore evident that if this family

were to have access to cheap lands for their children

they must seek it beyond the mountains.

Far to the West, as it seemed to them, between the

Alleghanies and the Blue Ridge Mountains, lay a vast

stretch of fertile valley with its latent wealth undis-

turbed, known in its long course through the Old Do-

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minion as the Shenandoah Valley. No longer was it to

remain that untouched wilderness.

John A. Lewis, of Scotch-Irish descent, was the first

to disturb the quietude of this peaceful valley. Rapidly

there followed many of his Scotch-Irish friends. And

while these thrifty and determined people were estab-

lishing homes in the upper valley, the sturdy yeomanry

of Germany, than which none better ever came to the

American continent, were fast occupying the lower por-

tion, among whom were John Roush and his wife Su-

sannah.

After having lived here a few years, they obtained,

on November 2, 1773, a tract of land in the "Northern

Neck of Virginia" consisting of 400 acres on Mill Creek,

record of which is to be found in the State Land Office

of Richmond, Virginia. From this time on, land trans-

actions occur with much frequency in the family name.

In each deed there is a bit of history to be found by the

anxious reader. Family relationship is so clearly ex-

pressed that there need be no doubt about the connec-

tions.

In this vicinity the Pioneers lived and reared their

families and in this vicinity were their remains given

back to the earth from which they came. Here began

the early activities of the family soon to be spread to

various parts of the continent.

In certain old church records still extant in the

original handwriting of the Rev. Paul Henkel, a part

of whose autobiography is given in the ARCHAEOLOGICAL

AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume XXIII, April,

1914, much detailed information is to be found. It

might have been said earlier in this article that the

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The Roush Family in America.    121

 

Roush family seems to have embraced the Protestant

faith soon after the Reformation. That they were very

devout is evident in every community in which they have

lived.

The Lutheran church claimed them. They did not

lose their faith in the wilderness of the new continent.

One of the earliest visits made by any travelling

preacher to the rapidly growing settlement in the lower

Shenandoah was by the above-mentioned Paul Henkel.

In his autobiography he mentions the family. In his

records of births and baptism in 1766, he lists the in-

fant John Roush, son of Philip and his wife Catharine,

with the grandparents, John and Susannah, as sponsors.

This was in the Old Pine Church records (now St.

Mary's Lutheran) a few miles west of Mount Jackson.

It must have been in the days when religious services

were held in the homes of these early settlers. A church

house was later built and the organization still exists

as an active institution. The father and mother re-

mained active in this society until their death, 1786 and

1796 respectively. They were careful to obey the Scrip-

tural injunction, "Thou shalt teach them diligently unto

thy children." As a family they were active in the de-

velopment and promotion of this religious society.

"This man served me as a prudent trustee in the year

1783," says Paul Henkel in his notes recording a visit

with the Philip Roush family in Gallia County, Ohio, in

1806.

Later still, we find the sons especially concerned in

the building of another church nearer their farms,

known to this day as Solomon's Church. For this cause

Henry Roush gave two acres of land and was the third

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122     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

largest giver in current money. "Henry Roush and

Dorothea, his wife, of the county of Shenandoah and

state of Virginia, for five shillings and other good

causes and considerations to themselves thereunto mov-

ing, but more especially to the glory of God and the

spreading of his precious Gospel, grant, etc. * * *

to John Nease and Peter Ohlinger, Elders and Trustees

for the Lutheran and Reformed congregations in the

said county of Shenandoah, and their successors in

trust, a certain tract of land on a drain of Mill Creek,

being part of a tract of 8 1/4 acres granted to the said

Henry Roush by patent bearing date (date omitted) ad-

joining Jacob Nease and Thomas Henton, containing 2

acres including the church house commonly called and

known by the name of Solomonburg." etc.

Witnessed by

(Signed)   Henry Roush

Dorothea Roush.

Jacob Rinker

Ulrick Keenor

Jacob Rambo.

Dated June 13, 1796.

Shenandoah County Deed Book K 268-269.

Records still preserved show the family to have

made the following contributions to the church built in

1793.

Jacob Roush            300 pounds, etc.

Henry Roush           350 pounds, etc.

Daniel Roush           250 pounds, etc.

George Roush          150 pounds, etc.

Jonas Roush            60 pounds, etc.

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The Roush Family in America.     123

 

In the old minute-book of the New Market Church

we have discovered that another brother, John Jr. was

a moving figure in the establishment of that organiza-

tion about 1788 or 1790. These three churches, still

prosperous and progressive societies under able leader-

ship in Shenandoah county, to a large extent the contri-

butions of this family, are commendably serving the

people of the respective communities, as they have con-

tinued to do for a century and a half.

No sooner did they arrive in the Ohio Valley than

they again took up their religious activities. From the

History of the Great Kanawha Valley, published by

Brant Fuller and Company of Madison, Wisconsin, we

learn that they were instrumental in building the first

church west of the Alleghanies in the state of Virginia

-- a hewed log structure 20 x 24 feet with a seating ca-

pacity of about 50 people. To this church 56 acres of

land was given by Abraham Roush at the request of his

father Jonas. So far as records show the first preach-

ing in Point Pleasant (Va.) was in the John Roush

home. This was also true in the Cheshire vicinity in

Gallia County, Ohio, where the home of Jacob Roush

became a place for preaching and the religious educa-

tion of the children. The Jacob and Philip Roush fami-

lies were among the earliest settlers in Cheshire, Gallia

County. The Jacob Roush home became thus the first

church and also the first school, and this early settlement

along the Ohio river in this vicinity for years was known

to river men by no other name than Roush landing.

When Michael settled in Spring Township, in Adams

County, he soon embraced the faith of the Methodist

Episcopal church, we are told, and became one of its

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124     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

most ardent supporters, giving later the plat of ground

on which was built the first school and church of that

early settlement. Tradition relates that he loved to go

out in the open fields with his Bible on the Sabbath day

and was often seen sitting on a stump perusing its

sacred pages. This same enthusiasm for the promotion

of religious and educational institutions is clearly trace-

able wherever the family is found in any large numbers.

It has followed them in their westward march until

today some of the finest edifices are memorials to their

prudence and frugality.

It seems to be a fact overlooked by historians that

Lutheranism was founded in Ohio by the Roush family

and in the Roush home. The writers of Lutheran his-

tory for Ohio accredit the founding of this religious

society to the Rev. Paul Henkel which is officially true.

But they have not noted the fact that this family came

to Ohio nearly eight years prior to the coming of the

noted travelling preacher and that when he first came to

Point Pleasant, Virginia, he had as his host and hostess,

Captain John Roush and his wife Dorothea. The next

day, July 23, 1806, John Roush accompanied him up the

river on the Ohio side to the above-mentioned neighbor-

hood where his two brothers Philip and Jacob were

living.

Of this visit he says, "Now we are here with another

friend and lover of the Word. There are several for-

mer members of my congregation here. The young

people who expected me to preach here and begin in-

structions with them the first Sunday of last May, heard

of our arrival, and came together the same evening with

their hymn books and catechisms. Then instruction

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The Roush Family in America.  125

 

was begun, (in the Jacob Roush home) and with it, the

first exercise of my office in the state of Ohio." On the

morrow he visited Philip Roush who planned for him

to continue the instruction of the young people of the

Cheshire vicinity which he did for several days. This,

so far as records reveal, was also the first educational

work done in the county outside of the French settle-

ment at Gallipolis.

From here Captain John Roush took the Rev. Paul

Henkel on to the other brothers in Mason County where

the home of Daniel Roush also became a church for re-

ligious and educational instruction. This too, appears

to be the beginning of organized Christianity in Mason

County and hence west of the Alleghanies. Daniel

Roush's barn was converted into the first church of that

district. From the above date to August 12, the much

beloved pastor continued his instruction of the young

and preaching to the older people alternating between

the two neighborhoods.

On the twelfth of August, he started with John

Roush as his traveling companion, for the Adams

County settlement where he continued the function of

his office. Here were several sons of the Philip above

mentioned; and Henry and John, we discover, had

strong part in the establishment of the Lutheran faith

in the New Market neighborhood. The services of this

layman evangelist should not be passed by as of little

significance.

On August 13, 1814, Philip Roush deeded to his son

George "one acre as nearly square as can be surveyed",

"To be used for the express purpose of building a

schoolhouse and meeting-house for the use of our fami-

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126     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

lies, George, Jonas, Jacob and Adam Roush, their

families and our heirs and their heirs forever, and we,

the said Philip Roush and Catharine, my wife, our-

selves and our executives forever", etc. Deed Book 5,

page 267, Gallia County records. The same being ac-

knowledged before George Roush, Michael Roush and

Michael Will before Justice Phineas Matthews. This

written document stands as evidence of their interests

in educational affairs. Similar interests were thus man-

ifested in Mason County.

But their contribution to the new country did not

end in the religious and educational interests. John

and Susannah Roush had nine children known at this

date. They lived near the little town of Forestville,

some distance from Mount Jackson in Shenandoah

County. They had, we have reasons to believe, formed

acquaintance with George Washington when he made

the survey for Lord Fairfax, this line having run im-

mediately to the Roush settlement. While stationed at

Winchester, Washington had frequently roamed the

forests and dined with families in this section, and there

is little reason to think that such an active family of

boys would not have full share in such acquaintance-

ship. Their pastor, Peter Muhlenberg, was also very

intimate with the young general. These facts, com-

bined with their traditional hatred for tyranny in the

land of their father, threw the whole family immediately

on the side of the colonists when revolutionary breezes

began to blow.

Again we are indebted to the History of the Great

Kanawha Valley for confirming the tradition that ten

sons of this family saw service in the Revolutionary

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The Roush Family in America.              127

 

War. The sons known to date are: Philip, 1741-1820;

John Jr., 1743?-1816; Jacob, 174?-1830; Henry, 1752-

1831; Daniel, 175?-1832; Balser, (                ); George,

1761-1845; Jonas, 1763-1850. For the genealogy and

details of these families the reader should refer to "The

History of the Roush Family" of America by the author

of this article, published by The Shenandoah Publishing

House, Strasburg, Virginia.

John Jr. was Captain of the Shenandoah county

company. The files at Richmond still have his pay rolls.

At least George1 and Jonas were with Washington in

the siege of Yorktown.        A  common tradition     in the

George descent is that the soldiers wept for joy when

Cornwallis handed his sword to their beloved general.

Other pension records could be given but the reader

will see from this one something of the service of the

family for their country in its hours of need.

After the War was over, they settled again in the

Valley for a quiet and prosperous life. Here they were

ardent supporters of the Constitution. Fiske tells us

that had it not been for the people of the lower Shenan-

doah Valley, of which this family was a part, Jefferson

could hardly have succeeded with his democratic ideals

for the Constitution against the opposition of the aris-

tocracy of lower Virginia.

1 War pension Claim S. 8579; it appears that George Roush was born

in July, 1761, in Shenandoah County, Virginia. While a resident of his

native county, he enlisted in the fall of 1779 and served two months in

Captain John Roush's (his brother) Virginia Company. He enlisted in

the spring of 1780 and served two months in Captain Pugh's Virginia Com-

pany. He enlisted in the summer of 1781 and served three months in

Captain All's Virginia Company. He was allowed pension on his applica-

tioned executed October 1, 1832, while a resident of Meigs county, Ohio.

His brother, Jonas Roush, also a soldier, makes supporting affidavit. George

Roush moved to Mason County, Virginia, 1798.

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128     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

This pioneer father and mother had given their full

share to the noble cause of American liberty; the Con-

stitution was in process of formation; they now lived

in the United States of America. But destiny refused

them the privilege of enjoying it long. A little stone

from a native quarry, in the oldest cemetery of this

vicinity, near St. Mary's Church, midway between

Mount Jackson and the foothills of the Alleghanies,

reads as follows:

(I)

Anno 1711

Gebohren

Johannes Rausche

Gestorben

Den 19, October

1786

the figures indicating, we are told, that his is grave

number one in the cemetery. There is no reason to

doubt that his wife lies by his side, she having died

(reckoning from the time her name ceases among the

communicants of this church, as is the case with her

husband at the time of his death) about 1793.

The brother then became interested in the Ohio

Valley. There is some evidence that they may have

been represented on the staff with Washington when

he made his survey in the Kanawha and Ohio Valleys,

although we are told as yet unable to establish this

claim. At any rate, the family's interest in the west

goes back to 1774 when the brother Jacob joined the

General Andrew Lewis Company to oppose the Indians

of the West. They met at "Tu Endie Wei," as the In-

dians had named the mouth of the Great Kanawha.

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The Roush Family in America.            129

 

This battle was fought October 10, 1774, just six months

and eight days before the battle of Lexington. Jacob

survived this fierce and deadly fighting of the greatest

Indian battle and returned to his brothers in Shenan-

doah County subsisting while on his journey home par-

tially on wild fruits and edibles. In spite of all this, he

carried a glowing report of the Ohio regions to the

family of Virginia.

A tract of 6,000 acres of the Washington survey in

the Ohio Valley was for sale and the brothers took ad-

vantage of it for cheap lands. King George of England

had made a grant to the seven men indicated in the fol-

lowing excerpt of the original deed.

 

George the Third by the grace of God of Great Britain,

France and Ireland. King, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all to

whom these presents shall come, Greeting. Know Ye that for

divers good causes and considerations but more especially for the

consideration mentioned in a proclamation of Robert Dinwiddie

Esq. late Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of our

Colony and Dominion of Virginia bearing date the nineteenth day

of February, one thousand seven hundred fifty-four. For en-

couraging men to enlist in the service of our late Royal Grand-

father for the defense and security of said colony we have given

granted and confirmed and by these presents, for us, our heirs

and successors, to give grant and confer unto George Muse,

Adam Stephen, Andrew Lewis, Peter Hogg, John West, John

Polson and Andrew Waggener, one certain tract or parcel of

land containing 51,302 acres, lying in and being in the county of

Bottetout and bounded as follows, to wit *  *  *  Briefly this

boundary is described as follows: "A large sugar tree and syca-

more at the mouth of the Kanawha and immediate on the upper

point", was marked as the place of beginning. From this point a

line was run to Three Mile creek on the south side of the Kana-

wha and thence a zig-zag line to a point on the Ohio, one mile

below Letart Falls; then a line with the meanderings of the Ohio

to the place of beginning.

 

Vol. XXXVI--9.

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130     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

It was the John Poison tract that had been sold after

the close of the Revolution to the Rev. William Graham,

a Presbyterian minister who had died intestate, that the

Roushes became interested in. It lay between what is

now New Haven and Graham Station, West Virginia.

John Roush, the Captain, with his brothers as comple-

ments bought from the Graham heirs this six thousand

acre tract and in 1798, after having disposed of all their

Shenandoah estates, came to Mason County. John,

George, Jonas, Henry and Daniel moved their families

to this tract. Whether or not Jacob and Philip ever oc-

cupied any of it is not evident.

Jacob seems to have fulfilled his desire to locate near

the Point Pleasant bottoms over which he had so gal-

lantly fought more than twenty years prior to this time.

He had also become interested in the Ohio Land Com-

pany of which he was a stockholder. Their holdings

were in Ohio so that he and his brother Philip settled

in the bottoms of upper Gallia county, or as it was then,

lower Washington county. Jacob brought most of his

family, all of his sons (unless it be John who is not at

this writing known), with him to these rich bottoms.

The Philip family was divided, part of them having

gone a bit earlier to Adams County.

One historian dates the coming of these families to

Ohio as early as 1796 altho the writer thinks this date

a little early. Not until 1803 do we find him taking up

land, when he bought from President James Monroe,

his attorney, Ives Gilman, the 100 acre lot Number 745

in township 5, 14th Range of the Ohio Company's Pur-

chase, bounded on the north by Lot 39 drawn in the

name of Elijah Hammond; south by land sold by the

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The Roush Family in America.     131

 

Ohio Company to Jonathan Stone; east by the Ohio

River and west by section 8 being a reserve company

lot. The record reads as follows: "In witness whereof

I set my hand and seal this 4th day of March in the year

of our Lord 1803--James Monroe, by the attorney, Ben-

jamin Ives Gilman. (SEAL.) Signed and delivered in the

presence of William Parker Sr. and Joseph Gilman,

$400 in hand being the consideration.  The Gallia

County records also show that on October 21, 1809,

Jacob Roush sells to Jacob Knopp one complete share

of the Ohio Company lying northwest of the Ohio River

for the consideration of $1200 in hand." Deed Book

4 and 7, page 98.

When Gallia County was made a commonwealth of

its own from the aforesaid Washington County these

families were active citizens and helped to foster the

interests and organization of the courts and county at

large.

Gallia County was formed from Washington, April

30, 1803, the word Gallia being the ancient name of

France from whence the early settlers came. Washing-

ton County was formed July 26, 1788, by proclamation

of Governor St. Clair, and was the first county formed

within the bounds of Ohio. The original boundaries,

not now known to any but the student of history, were

as follows: "Beginning on the bank of the Ohio River

where the western boundary of Pennsylvania crosses it,

and running with that boundary line to Lake Erie;

thence along the southern shore of said Lake to the

mouth of the Cuyahoga River, thence up the said river

to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch

of the Muskingum; thence down the branch to the fork,

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132     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence with

a line to be drawn westerly to the portage of that branch

of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken

by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from

lower Shawnee town to Sandusky; thence south to the

Scioto River, and thence with that river to the mouth,

and thence up the Ohio River to the place of beginning."

Thus it will be seen that Washington County embraced

more than the eastern half of the State of Ohio in its

first boundary.

Washington County was first settled under the aus-

pices of the New England Ohio Company. Many of

the inhabitants are still descendants of these families.

Gallia County was settled first by a French company at

Gallipolis, (city of Gaul), 1791, under the auspices of

the Scioto Company, an association formed in Paris, as

a project of Colonel Duer of New York. A small per-

centage of the population of Gallia County now consists

of the descent of these French families. Great was the

anticipation of the French people when this company

was under preparation. And the "Frenchmen's Para-

dise" remained such until they reached the banks of the

beautiful Ohio, and found that it was not a place for

gentlemen untrained to work; that their existence could

only be maintained by the hardest kind of labor and

dilligent application to the problems of the dense wilder-

ness.

The boundary between the holding of the Scioto

Company and the Ohio Company extended in a line due

north from a point just above and opposite to the mouth

of the Great Kanawha River. The first settlement of

that portion of Gallia County within the bounds of the

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The Roush Fcmily in America.   133

 

Ohio Company was that made by the Roush families at

Cheshire where many of their descent are still to be

found. The oldest cemetery of this community was

taken from one of the Roush farms, Paul Roush, son of

Jacob, having set it aside as a family burying-ground.

There Philip Sr. whose stone is clearly marked with

date 1741-1820, and a number of the younger genera-

tions are buried. Of late years a great grandson of

Philip Sr., Cornelius, has opened up the new and beau-

tiful Gravel Hill Cemetery, much admired by all these

valley people.

Chronologically, we should have referred to the

Adams County branch of the family first. Adams

County is one of the oldest in the Northwest Territory,

third in point of organization in the State of Ohio, hav-

ing been formed July 10, 1797, by proclamation of Ar-

thur St. Clair, then Governor of the Northwest Terri-

tory. St. Clair being a friend of Washington and an

ardent supporter of the Federalist Party named most of

the counties for men of his party; the elder Adams then

being President, the new county was named in his

honor. The civil organization of the county was ef-

fected Tuesday, September 12, 1797, at the little town

of Manchester, where the Roushes had helped to found

the first white settlement in the Virginia Reservations,

and the third settlement in the State of Ohio.

Adams County lies in the picturesque hills along the

majestic Ohio, touched on the east by Scioto, north by

Highland, and west by Brown counties. As originally

organized, it embraced most of that territory known as

the Bounty Lands of Ohio or the Virginia Reservations.

These lay in the shape of an isosceles triangle between

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134     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

the Little Miami and the Scioto river. They included

some of the fairest and richest lands of the state, the

old Wyandot Reservation forming the apex. From it

were formed the counties of Adams, Clermont, Brown,

Highland, Clinton, Fayette, Madison and Union; and

portions of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Delaware, Marion, Har-

din, Logan, Champaign, Clark, Green and Warren.

The Virginia Military District grew out of the ad-

justment of claims of Virginia to portions of the North

west Territory acquired by the Treaty of Paris in 1783,

concluding the Revolutionary War. The colony of Vir-

ginia had raised two descriptions of troops -- State and

Continental. To the latter she had promised large

bounty lands, the apportionment to be made as follows:

to a private, 200 acres; to a non-commissioned officer,

400 acres; to a subaltern, 2,000 acres; to a captain, 3000

acres; to a major, 4,000 acres; to a lieutenant colonel,

4,500 acres; to a colonel, 5,000 acres; to a brigadier

general, 10,000 acres; and to a major general, 15,000

acres.

On November 13, 14, 15, 1787, John O'Bannon made

the first survey of this district which included Three-

mile, or Sprigg township. In the spring of 1790, Con-

gress declared this territory open for settlement, the

first of which was made at Three Islands or what has

since been known as Manchester in Adams County.

This is the site of the old stockade. The next settle-

ment, which soon followed, was made by the little com-

pany from Shenandoah County -- Michael and Philip

Roush, Jr., sons of Philip Sr., who settled in Gallia

County about the same time, and the Pences and Bow-

mans. George Bowman had married Elizabeth Roush

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The Roush Family in America.    135

in 1786, and Peter Pence had taken as his bride in 1796

Mary Roush, both daughters of Philip Sr. The Roush

and Pence families lived in Manchester and raised a

crop of corn on the lower island that year, say Evans

and Stivers in their history of Adams County.

Soon thereafter, John and Henry Roush, brothers of

the above, settled at New Market which was for a time

county-seat of Highland County and named for New

Market, Virginia, near which the Roushes had lived in

Shenandoah County. Here they spent their life ag-

gressive in community affairs and especially devoted to

their church and religious life. Henry died in 1861 at

the age of 81 years, having spent more than sixty of

these years in active church life. John attaining the

great age of 88 years, died in 1854 after practically a

life time of active service in his church. The offspring

of these families are still numerous in the southwest

portion of Ohio and in many of the states farther to the

West.

Of the brothers, John, the Captain, was the most

noted. He was one of the most active citizens of Point

Pleasant and Mason County, Virginia, in the early

years of its history. He was the largest land owner in

Graham District and with his brothers one of the largest

in Mason County. In 1810, he was elected Sheriff of

his county in which capacity he served for two succes-

sive terms. Before his death he had deeded most of his

property to his brothers, nephews and nieces, and to

Gideon Henkel whom he had raised from childhood. He

left no progeny. His will was probated in the above

court, January 30th, 1816.

George Roush seems to have staid on the Virginia

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136      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

tract in Mason County but six or eight years. In 1807

he was in Graham      Station, Sutton Township, Meigs

County, Ohio, where he purchased a tract of land from

Edward W. Tupper. The tract lay just east of what

has since been known as Racine and was evidently the

first tract purchased in that locality. The following

deed recorded in the Washington County Court is of

historical value:

Know all men by these presents, that I, Edward W. Tupper,

of Marietta, in the County of Washington and State of Ohio, for

and in the consideration of $400 to me in hand paid by George

Roush, the receipt of which I do hereby acknowledge and myself

therewith fully contend, satisfied and paid by virtue of power

vested in me by Samuel W. Pomeroy and being with him joint

owner and possessor of the same, have given, granted and sold

and do by these presents Give, Grant, Bargain and Sell to him,

the said George Roush, his heirs and assigns One Hundred Sixty

acres of land be there more or less, lying in the Tenth Section

of the Second Township of the Twelfth Range and bounded as

follows, beginning at the North west corner of said mile square

and running east forty one chains and thirty one links to a part

where a beech tree 30 inches bears north 28 west 6 links, and

white oak bears N. 56 E. 11 links, thence South 40 chains 25

links, thence West 41 chains 39 links to a post from a hickory 15

inches bears S. 85, E. 43 links, to a hickory 6 inches, N. 22 E. 29

links, thence North 40 chains 14 links to the place of beginning.

* * * In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal at

Gallipolis, Ohio, this 15th day of April in the year of our Lord

One Thousand Eight Hundred Seven."

Signed and sealed in the presence of

(Seal)    EDWARD W. TUPPER.

JOSEPH FLETCHER,

THOMAS RODGERS.

On this tract he lived until his death in 1845. He

lies buried in the oldest cemetery of the township now

within the corporation of Racine, his tombstone bearing

the inscription, "George Roush, a Soldier in the Revo-

lution, died May 31, 1845, aged 84 years."    In his fail-

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The Roush Family in America.     137

 

ing months his hobby was to speak with much frequency

of his fighting in the army.

His son, Daniel Roush, was in the War of 1812 and

was active in the fighting around Lake Erie. "From

the papers of the War of 1812 Pension claim, Widow

Certificate 300, it appears that Daniel Roush volun-

teered at Point Pleasant, Va., September 28, 1812, and

served as a private in Captain A. Van Sickles' Company

of Virginia Militia and was discharged March 27, 1813.

He married at Pleasant Flats, Mason County, Virginia,

January 2, 1810, Catharine Yeager, and he died in Ma-

son County, West Virginia, September 2, 1866, aged

79 years. She was allowed a pension on her application

executed March 16, 1871, while living in Graham Town-

ship, Mason County, West Virginia, aged eighty-one

years. She died July 28, 1886."

His nephew, Abraham Roush, son of Jonas, was also

a soldier in the same war having enlisted at the same

time and in the same company, serving part of the time

as a fifer. The Jonas family lived mostly in Mason

County so that but little Ohio history is connected with

them. The last days of Jonas, however, were spent

with his daughter in what came to be known as the

Nease Settlement, two miles back of Syracuse, where he

is buried, his stone bearing the inscription "Jonas

Roush, A soldier in the Revolution, born 1763, died

1850." His pension record, noting the transfer from

Virginia to Meigs County, Ohio, indicates that he was

at the Battle of Yorktown. This section of Sutton

Township known as the Nease Settlement is one of the

old settlements of Meigs County and was settled by a

family of Neases from Mason County, West Virginia,

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138     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

they having come from the Shenandoah Neases (Nehs)

whose history almost parallels that of the Roushes.

Jonas Roush's daughter, Regina, had married her cou-

sin, John Roush, son of George, and with them the

father made his home in his aged years, they also being

among these early settlers.

Meigs County, it might be said, was formed in June,

1819. It was composed of territory that was formed

from parts of Athens, Washington and Gallia and con-

tained the following townships: From Gallia County,

Letart Township, where Henry Roush was one of the

early settlers, organized 1803; Salisbury Township, or-

ganized 1805, embracing territory then as far north as

Ross County; Rutland Township, organized 1812, taken

from Salisbury; Lebanan, organized in 1813, taken out

of the Letart Township tract that originally extended

from the mouth of Shade River to the mouth of Kerr's

Run; Salem Township, organized 1814 from Salisbury;

Sutton Township from Letart, 1814; George Roush

helping to promote this organization; Orange Town-

ship, set off from Athens County 1813; Olive Township

from Athens, 1819; Scipio from Athens, 1819; Colum-

bia, set off in 1820; Bedford, including Chester, set off

from Athens in 1821.

By act of the legislature on May 10, 1803, associate

judges were authorized to divide the counties into town-

ships. In accordance therewith Gallia County was di-

vided into three townships, Gallipolis, Kerr and Letart,

thereby throwing a large part of what is now Meigs into

what is now Gallia, Meigs not yet being organized.

The same act of legislature authorized the associate

judges to appoint justices of the peace for each township

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The Roush Family in America.    139

 

thus organized. For Gallipolis township, Robert Saf-

ford and George W. Putnam were appointed. For Le-

tart township, an election for the justice of the peace

was held in the home of Henry Roush, Sr. For Kerr

Township, the election was held in the home of William

Robinson.

The Henry Roush here mentioned is one of the

brothers formerly named who was part owner of the

John Polson tract in Mason County. About 1802, he

went on to Letart Township in Ohio, near Letart Falls.

Since the Rev. William Graham died intestate their pur-

chase of this large tract had to be done through the

courts which in those days required a great deal of time.

It was purchased in the name of the brother John. He

could not in turn deed to each brother his share until

by decree of the Chancery District Court of Staunton,

Virginia, he be given a clear title. This was not done

until March 30, 1812, John having made a number of

trips back to Staunton to clear up all records. Mean-

while the Ohio Company was actively disposing of their

holdings in Ohio, and Jacob, as has been formerly men-

tioned, was a stockholder in the Company. Accordingly

Henry's interests were turned toward Ohio. Possessed

of fine skill in the art of agriculture, his keen insight

led him to the garden spot of Meigs where the first com-

mercial farming of any significance was carried on. His

farm was located near the place where George Wash-

ington is reputed to have crossed this Great Bend in the

Ohio River while making the survey in Mason County,

Virginia. This is said to be the only time Washington

was ever within the bounds of Ohio.

These fertile Letart Bottoms very early sent flat-

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140     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

boats laden with produce annually on trips to the South.

New Orleans being the port for which they were finally

destined. These traders would return by keel-boat with

sugar, molasses, rice, coffee, etc., for the merchants in

the county. John Roush, a son of Henry's youngest

brother, Jonas, was thus engaged in the keel-boat serv-

ice. These days when Henry went to the Letart Bot-

toms and his brother George to the Graham Station set-

tlement, later known as Racine, are almost forgotten

pages in Meigs County history. Mails were almost un-

known until several years later when George Warth of

a point opposite what is now Ravenswood and his

brother John were engaged to carry the mails from

Marietta to Gallipolis. This they did in canoes travel-

ling mostly at night to keep in seclusion from the In-

dians. Those were the days when history was rapidly

being made. George, for instance, was a citizen of

Shenandoah, Mason, and Meigs Counties at the time of

their formation and participated in their organization.

The origin of the Ohio Land Company was with the

disbanded soldiers of the Revolutionary Army includ-

ing a large number of citizens at large as stockholders.

Boston was the seat of its organization in 1787. A

million and a half acres of land was purchased from

Congress by negotiations made by Rev. Manasseh Cut-

ler. The State of Ohio was admitted in 1803 including

27 1/2 million acres of some of America's best land. The

settlement of territory was made possible by the vic-

torious company of Virginia at Point Pleasant, in which

Jacob Roush was a soldier under the command of Gen-

eral Andrew Lewis. This for a time freed the North-

west Territory from the encroachments of the savage

• 25
 

The Roush Family in America..     141

 

Indian. The land of the Ohio Company's Purchase was

located in the southeastern part of the State bordering

the River.

These lands were surveyed by a staff appointed by

President George Washington, consisting of General

Tupper, General Meigs, General Israel Putnam, Colonel

Ebenezer Sproat, John Matthews, and others.   The

lands were divided into townships six miles square, and

these subdivided into Ranges and further subdivided

into sections of 640 acres each. The custom of selling

the land in tracts of 100 acres was soon established and

the lots were numbered. All deeds within the bounds

of this survey are recorded according to the nomencla-

ture of the Ohio Company's Purchase as described in

their survey.

The census of 1820 locates in Letart Township

Henry Roush (Sr.), Anthony Roush, Baltzer Roush

and Henry Roush, Jr., the two latter being sons of the

Henry Sr. who served in the Revolutionary War under

Captain Tipton, who was one of the early settlers of the

Community known as Letart Falls, Ohio. The same

census for Sutton Township mentions George Roush

and his nephew Cornelius Roush, the descendants of the

latter still being numerous in Pomeroy.  Cornelius was

a son of Jacob, a Revolutionary soldier formerly men-

tioned as one of the earliest settlers of Cheshire, or the

Roush Landing, as it was originally known. In the

first court of Meigs County, George was one of the jury-

men.

State of Ohio, Meigs County, ss. July Term, 1819.

Be it remembered, that on Monday, the nineteenth of July,

1819, the Court of Common Pleas in said Meigs County at the

meeting house in the township of Salisbury -- presents the Hon-

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142      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

orable Ezra Osborn, president judge; Horatio Strong, Fuller

Elliot and James E. Phelps, associate judges -- the venire for

grand jurors was returned and the following jurors empaneled,

to wit: Foreman, Daniel Rathburn; David Lindsey, Adam Har-

pold (whose wife was Dorothea Roush. daughter of Henry L.).

Jesse Worthing, Joel Smith, Silas Knight, James Shields, Jr.,

George Roush, James Gibson, Calvin Marvin, John H. Sayre,

Alvin Ogden, Joseph Holt, Major Reed, talesmen.

In the Civil War more than a score of the family

are listed as soldiers and officers. They served in some

of the most noted engagements of that war. One starved

to death in the Danville prison; another was Major and

died in action before Vicksburg; another was in charge

of a ration train that was completely destroyed and he

was never heard of; another was in the Shenandoah

Valley, having fought over the ground of his grand-

parents; another was in the army that so many times

besieged the Winchester region so bitterly contested that

portions of it changed hands during the war no less than

seventy times; another was counted the bravest soldier

of his company; another family had six sons in the

Federal service.

The World War found them no less prominent.

They were to be found all the way from training camps

to the front line trenches. No lack of patriotism has

been found in the family. They have always met their

country's need with a spirit of courage and patriotism.

They have not been a people of an office-seeking turn,

due, probably, to their centuries of abode under the old

European regime where such privilege was denied the

ordinary citizen, altho they have actively used from the

first, their privilege of franchise. Among them, how-

ever, are to be numbered those who have filled prac-

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The Roush Family in America.  143

 

tically every office of their judicial, county and local dis-

tricts.

Pioneers they were in the "westward march of em-

pire", and pioneers they have ever been in America.

Making their way through unclaimed forests, over the

hills and through the jungles, interrupted now and then

by wild animals crossing their untrodden pathways, the

mothers often riding horseback with their new-born

babes in their arms and the men forming the advance

guard afoot, they arrived in new and unsettled territory

inhabited only by its native denizens such as the deer,

bear, wolf, fox and an occasional redskin most of whom

had been driven far to the North West. Here in the

great Northwest Territory these families came to build

for themselves a new social order in keeping with the

principles of American democracy which they them-

selves had helped to purchase at so great a price. Cabins

were soon erected, churches, though rude, were con-

structed, roads which took the place of forest paths soon

connected one settlement with another. Thus they con-

tinued in their westward march as long as new lands

were available. Not only were they pioneers in emi-

gration and settlements but in the business enterprises,

in scientific farming, and aggressive community and

social progress that has helped to make the great Cen-

tral West known in every country of the world.

None of the communities that first received them

have been able to hold all of their descent. Taking ad-

vantage of larger liberties and greater opportunities,

they have gone forward until today they are to be found

in large numbers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia,

• 28
 

144     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Florida, and smaller numbers in almost every other state. The separation and reunion of these families is worthy of mention in this connection. One historian tells us that when the family separated in 1796, part of them to go to the Adams County section of the State and part to the Mason-Washington County region of the Ohio Valley, they shed many tears, expecting never to meet again. This was true with the exception of the lay evangelist, Captain John Roush, who accompanied the traveling preacher previously mentioned to the lower settlement on the Ohio. For 130 years they remained apart until even the tradition of relationship between the two groups had almost become lost. It was not until Saturday, September 4, 1926, that a reunion of these families occurred. Through the support and encourage- ment of Lyman P. Roush of Chicago, of the Philip- Henry line and the noble efforts of that portion of the family now in Mason County, the writer was able to bring together on that day nearly 1200 of the descent. Here they effected "The Roush Family Association of America," which promises to be one of the most unique of its kind in the country. A complete organization was formed and a Constitution and By-Laws were adopted.

• 29