Ohio History Journal
BRIAN P. BIRCH
A British View of the Ohio
Backwoods: The Letters of James
Martin, 1821-1836
Although the British formed a sizeable
minority of the early farm
settlers in Ohio, very little is known
about them.1 A few accounts ex-
ist of particular British, notably
Welsh and Scots, "colonies," but
with no language barrier to separate
them from the broad tide of
American settlers moving across the
Appalachians in the early nine-
teenth century, the British were
largely absorbed into that stream
and left behind few tangible records.2
The paucity of evidence about British
settlers and their impres-
sions of the Ohio farm frontier gives
some significance to a collection
of letters written between 1821 and
1836 by James Martin, an immi-
grant from London who settled to farm
near Bucyrus, Crawford
County.3 Not only are these
letters of some interest in providing first-
hand accounts of the perils of the
Atlantic crossing, of the toil of the
Brian P. Birch is Senior Lecturer in
Geography at Southampton University, England.
1. There are no texts specifically on
British farm settlers in Ohio although some ref-
erence can be found to them in Mary L.
Ziebold, "Immigrant Groups in Northwestern
Ohio to 1860", Northwest Ohio
Quarterly, 17 (April-July, 1945), 62-71.
2. Studies of a Welsh and a Scottish
group settlement in Ohio include Stephen R.
Williams, The Saga of Paddy's Run (Oxford,
1972), and Andrew Gibb, "A Scottish
Venture in the United States: the
Glasgow Ohio Company, 1824," Scottish Historical
Review (forthcoming). Some information on George Courtauld's
1818 Englishtown set-
tlement in Athens County can be found in
Charles M. Walker, History of Athens Coun-
ty, Ohio (Cincinnati, 1869), 544. Studies of individual British
immigrants to the state
include James H. Rodabaugh, "From
England to Ohio, 1830-1832: The Journal of
Thomas K. Wharton," Ohio
Historical Quarterly, 65 (January, 1956), 1-27, 111-51. The
archives of the Ohio Historical Society
contain a few sets of letters written by British
settlers in Ohio; for example, the
letters of Scottish immigrant Charles Rose written in
1822 and 1830 from Wellsville,
Columbiana County, Ohio.
3. The letters of James Martin to Mrs.
Caroline Monro and Mordaunt Martin Mon-
ro, 1815-1836. Greater London Record
Office, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R
OAB, Item No. GLRO Acc. 1063/130-150,
twenty-one parts. Because these letters were
taken into the archive under local
government amalgamation, no record exists of their
date or form of deposition, but they are
quoted here with the permission of the Great-
er London Council, the governmental
authority for the metropolis.
140 OHIO HISTORY
wagon journey west in search of suitable
land, and of the difficulties
of establishing oneself on the frontier
amongst people to whom one
felt largely alien.4 They are
also of value in illustrating three traits
common to other British settlers on the
midwestern farm frontiers.
First, like many others who left England
to farm in the Midwest,
James Martin came with almost no prior
knowledge of farming, and
particularly of farming in the
backwoods, so that he greatly
underestimated the problems of making a
living from the land, with
the result that even after fourteen
years in Crawford County most of
his quarter-section farm remained
unimproved. Secondly, like many
other British settlers who lacked
farming experience, Martin at-
tempted to combine farming with a
different trade or skill previously
acquired in Britain, but often to the
detriment of both occupations.
In James Martin's case, he took to
preaching on the basis of his
strongly-held fundamentalist religious
beliefs developed in England;
but the increasing amount of time he
devoted to this only further de-
layed the improvement of his farm and
further reduced his family's
circumstances. Nor was he a very
successful preacher. Thirdly, the
letters clearly show that Martin cared
little for many of his American
neighbors. While part of this antipathy
resulted from differences in
religious beliefs, it was not uncommon
for British settlers to comment
disparagingly on settlers of other
nationalities, especially the Ameri-
cans around them.5 This
Martin frequently did.
Only a little can be learned of James
Martin and his family before
they emigrated to America, and this
comes entirely from biographi-
cal accounts in the relevant Ohio county
histories and from his earlier
letters in the London collection written
before he left England.6 He
was born in Ireland in 1774 and at the
age of sixteen joined the Royal
4. A collection of comparable letters
from British immigrants giving their impres-
sions of life in America and the
problems they faced in farm improvement can be found
in Charlotte Erickson, Invisible
Emigrants: The Adaptation of English and Scottish Im-
migrants in Nineteenth Century
America (Leicester, 1972).
5. Erickson felt, by and large, that
there was little antipathy between British and
American settlers on the frontier but
did quote some examples of it. As William Petin-
gale wrote from Rochester, New York, in
1835 to his sister: "The Englishman has no
feelings in common with the Americans.
The latter has an unnatural antipathy to the
former." Erickson 439. Emigrant
letters often show that the English tried to avoid trav-
elling or settling near other foreign
groups, notably the Irish.
6. Apart from what is contained in the
earlier letters, the only other sources for bi-
ographical information on James Martin
and his family are: W. H. Perrin, History of
Crawford County, Ohio (Chicago, 1881), 583, 959; John E. Hopley, History
of Crawford
County, Ohio and Representative
Citizens (Chicago, 1912), 242-44, and
Crawford Coun-
ty Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical
Society, Families of Crawford County, Ohio
1977-78 (Galion, Ohio, 1979), 349.
A British View
141
Navy where he gained his education and
the strong religious views
which lasted throughout his life. At the
age of thirty, after fourteen
years of naval service, he settled on
the north side of London, where
he married Sarah Hawks. They continued
to live there and raise
their four daughters until the whole
family emigrated to America in
1821.7
It is not known what occupation Martin
entered immediately after
leaving the navy, but by 1815, when the
series of preserved letters
commences, he had been for a number of
years a private tutor in the
home of Mrs. Caroline Monro at Barnet, a
suburb ten miles north of
the center of London, where he not only
looked after the well-being
of her son Mordaunt, but seemed to act
as confidant to Mrs. Monro,
particularly in terms of their shared
religious beliefs. By 1815, for rea-
sons which are not clear from the early
letters, Mrs. Monro had de-
cided to give up her London house to
move into the East Anglian
countryside in the east of England,
leaving James Martin without a
job and the Martin family without a
home. Although she had pro-
vided her employee with sufficient
compensation to allow him to set
himself up on a small farm or with an
inn, nothing appeared to come
of these schemes.8 As a
result, by 1821 James Martin had decided to
emigrate with his family to America
where his brother was already
settled.
Of the twenty letters in the collection,
nineteen were written by
James Martin and one by a daughter.
Eleven were written from Amer-
ica between 1821 and 1836, of which
seven were addressed to Mrs.
Monro and four to her son Mordaunt. In
the quotations from the let-
ters that follow, the original spelling
has been retained but some ad-
ditional periods and paragraphing have
been introduced to make
their meaning clearer. The first letter,
largely reproduced here, gives
a graphic account of the Atlantic
crossing which the Martins en-
dured and their welcome in Delaware by
James's brother over seven
weeks after leaving England.
7. All four daughters were born in
England. The birth dates of the two older
daughters, Martha and Betsy, are
unknown, but Mary was born in 1812 and Caroline
in 1816. The youngest child, Joseph, was
born in America in 1822.
8. In a letter to Mrs. Monro dated 12
July 1815, James Martin states, "I am not will-
ing to give up the idea of farming, but
I think I would be content in any plan appointed
me. I do not like anything mercantile
..." By 1 August of that year he is writing to
her: "I fear a public house must be
my lot. I feel it is quite incumbent on me to search
after something that will procure a
livelihood for my family, in consequence of not be-
ing employed by you." Later letters
show that the search for an inn to run proved
unsuccessful. Greater London Record
Office Acc. 1063/131 and 133.
142 OHIO HISTORY
20 October 1821 ... It is with the most
sincere thankfulness to Al-
mighty God for the preservation and safe
conduct of myself and dear
family that I now enter on a detail of
occurrences since we left you. We
left Gravesend on the 19th August and
had fair weather for about a
fortnight tho' the winds were light and
we did not get very forward
on our voyage. During this part of our
voyage nothing particular oc-
curred but as is common we were all
sea-sick except Caroline. Howev-
er this lasted only a few days, the
children afterwards improved very
much in their looks and Martha got quite
fat. She has much im-
proved from the change. On the 2nd of
September, about eight in
the evening in Lat. 47° Long.
27° a gale of wind began to blow tremen-
dous indeed. I never witnessed anything
to be compared with it. It is
impossible for me to give an adequate
idea of it. We could only lye to
throughout the chief part of the time it
lasted. When I had an oppor-
tunity of standing on the aftermost part
of the ship and clearly ob-
serving that small body to which we had
consigned ourselves, strug-
gling amidst the waves, the scene was
awfully sublime, and often
brought to my mind the figurative
expression, "raging waves of the
sea foaming out their own
destruction" and often indeed did they
visit their rage against us as if to
sink us in the vast abyss, but a great-
er than them was there.
To this gale succeeded calms and blowing
winds until the 12th when
we had another very heavy storm during
which our rudder was
rendered useless by a heavy sea. Thus in
the midst of the Atlantic
we were placed completely at the mercy
of the waves and winds. At
this accident every countenance was cast
down. I however kept my
wife and children in pretty good spirits
and they bore our disasters
pretty well. Invention was put to the
rack. All that were capable were
offering their advice. The wind was
against us fixed steadily and it
was contemplated that we should lay the
ship before it and endeav-
or if possible to reach Europe. Lisbon
or Cork were the most likely
places that presented themselves as the
nearest habours. These were
the prevailing opinions amongst the
Captain and cabin passengers,
not mine. I saw other prospects and
hoped better things and so it
turned out. A young man, a sailor, on
the morning of the 14th at the
risk of his life took the advantage of a
calm, went down over the stern
of the ship, unshipped a small piece of
wood, called a woodlock
which prevented the rudder from being
unshipped by the sea on
the rolling of the vessel. This piece of
wood was, I think, more than
three feet under water, I believe about
4 feet, am not certain. This
had been previously considered
impracticable. After this there was
A British View 143
much difficulty in getting it unshipped
and brought on board. How-
ever this was accomplished and proper
hands set about repairing it
which was finished on the afternoon of
the 15th and shipped in the
same evening to the great joy of all on
board. Thus our dismal pros-
pects ended. The captain gave the above
named sailor 20 dollars re-
ward.
I must inform you that the storm of the
2nd of September which with
us lasted about 20 hours reached the
American coast on the 3rd and
was considered the heaviest gale of wind
ever remembered on this
coast. This I was told by the pilot who
brought our ship up the Dela-
ware. There were two pilot boats lost in
it and all hands perished
with several ships on the coast at the
time. From the 15th of Septem-
ber to the 21st we had a succession of
gales and calms. Afterwards
we had tolerable fine weather until the
end of our voyage altho' we
made but little progress, that is we had
a tedious time of it.
We made land on the 49th day after we
left Gravesend and 51 days
after we left London dock. We made Cape
Henlopen the southern-
most cape of the entrance of the
Delaware ... sailed quite up the bay
and arrived that night near Newcastle.
.... The next morning about
three o'clock the ship's boat took the
Captain, three cabin passen-
gers and me up to Newcastle. This was
the first place I set my foot on
American ground. I proceeded from there
in a stage to Wilmington,
distance five miles, the vehicle was
tolerably easy but the roads
most of the way were in a complete state
of nature.
My brother lives about five miles from
Wilmington on the Lancaster
road where I arrived about 11 o'clock
and found him and family very
well and very glad to see me. Having
left my wife and family on board
the ship at Newcastle I staid at my
brother's only about an hour this
day. We both set off for Wilmington and
on the packet from there up
the river to Philadelphia when I again
joined my family, the ship
having in the interim gone up the river.
My family came all ashore
as soon as possible. . . . We all
arrived safe at my brother's house
where my family was affectionately
received and are all here where I
write this.
This country to a person just arrived
from England appears as under a
very bad course of cultivation, the
ground seemingly very foul altho'
I have seen some trifling exceptions. I
am of opinion that not more
than half of the land in this
neighbourhood has ever been cleared of
144 OHIO HISTORY
timber. Idleness and speculation seems
to be the fault of all (with lit-
tle exception) around me, food and
raiment is easily acquired there-
fore improvement is very tardy. ... A
good farm may be bought
here for between twenty and thirty
dollars an acre. Wheat is about 6
shillings a bushel. Taxes-I have seen
none yet that could tell me the
amount of their own even. My brother
says from 5 to 8 dollars upon
an 100 acres, this includes all taxes
and poor rates.
He is much against my going to the back
country on account of my
children being all girls unless he was
going with his family which he
is not prepared for at present, altho'
inclined much to go. This I can-
not advise on, he is so well off where
he is. A most beautiful farm was
offered him for sale a day or two ago,
beautifully situated on a run-
ning stream of considerable size. . . .
What was asked for the above
farm was about 20 dollars an
acre-whether he will buy it or not I
cannot tell. The land is a rich sandy
loam. ... I am extremely happy
in the change I have made. I have found
no religious society yet and
whether I shall at present I cannot
tell. I feel a little liberty here in ex-
pressing myself which I did not there
[in England]. I was delighted
[with] the market of Philadelphia, its
regularity and cleanliness. I
walked thro' the principal parts of the
town and never saw one man
out of work, nor have I since I left it.
However my opportunity for see-
ing anything has been very limited ....9
Martin's next letter to Mrs. Monro was
not sent until fourteen
months later, a delay he explained by
being "completely occupied in
travelling in quest of a future residence."
For two months after leaving
his brother's place near Wilmington he
had lived in Philadelphia
"looking for some situation that
might suit" but he found neither the
city nor its religious sects to his
liking. Intent on making a "departure
from that scene of corruption" soon
after the birth there of his son,
he decided to look to Ohio and much of
this next letter describes
his journey to Coshocton County with his
family. Figure 1 lays out
the route he took.
9. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 20 October 1821, Greater London Rec-
ord Office, Acc. 1063/138.
A British View 145
27 December 1822.... Having prepared for
my journey from Phila-
delphia, I embraced the first
opportunity to proceed. I sent 6 cwt of
my baggage to Northumberland situated in
the forks of the Susque-
hanna, 120 miles from Phila . . . I put
the rest of my baggage, about 4
cwt in my light waggon with one horse,
the children sometimes all
riding, sometimes riding alternately. I
should have told you that my
family is increased since I left you, my
wife had a son, born the 14th
of last February, which we call Joseph,
she therefore was obliged to
ride mostly with the child, but we had a
noble horse, who as-
cended the hills like a lion, but descended
like an ox ... Mary,
Betsy, Martha, Caroline were all quite
able to guide him through our
whole journey which was about 500 miles.
We passed through Reading (having left
Phila about the middle of
July) a very handsome little town on the
Schuylkil river 50 miles from
Phila .... From there were proceeded
towards Northumberland,
crossing in our journey 40 miles of
mountains, I believe a part of the
blue ridge of the Allegany range. The
journey was very pleasant and
we all enjoyed good health. In crossing
a part of these mountains,
called the Flat Mountains, 4 miles over
we were all rolling very pleas-
antly along when I heard a noise which
immediately struck me as the
noise of a rattlesnake. I jumped out of
the waggon and just caught a
glimpse of it entering some heath on the
roadside. I struck twice at it
hearing its rattle altho' I did not see
it. On searching further we
found it nearly dead. It was easily
killed, the children entertained no
fear of it but immediately took it up in
their hands, cut off the rattle
and threw the snake away. They have the
rattle now. It was nearly
four feet long.
We arrived at Northumberland in seven
days and was very civilly en-
tertained at a small inn where we put up
and where I had sent my
baggage. The Americans in general are
glad to see strangers and are
very civil to them. They would be a very
interesting people if it was
not for their great duty Gain - I should
have said their accursed
God.
Having rested one night we proceeded
along the banks of the west
branch of the Susquehanna, with a plan
to proceed 40 miles up the
river to Williamsport. Having a good
natural road we past thru' Milton
11 miles from Northumberland, a nice
little growing town of one street
on the bank of the river. Arrived at
Williamsport the 10th day from
leaving Philadelphia, Joseph a little
unwell from having been fed
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146 OHIO HISTORY |
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A British View 147
with some eggs on the road. Here we took
private lodgings where we
remained 2 months during which time I
was always busied with
enquiring after or travelling in search
of land. I explored a great deal
of the country between the two branches
of the Susquehanna and
ascended Lycoming creek to its
source.... Land could be pur-
chased here from 2 to 60 dollars per
acre according to its situation on
hills or river bottoms, however there is
no good land of first rate
quality.... It is a wonderful country
for fine timber, they grow to a
wonderful size along the creeks from an
hundred to an hundred and
forty feet high and 3 and 4 feet in diameter.
Wearied at length with my researches in
that part of the country I re-
solved on pushing forward for the state
of Ohio and set out from
thence with my family. In company with
two other families bound
thither there were twenty seven of us in
all in company. There were 10
or 12 young men who handled their
firearms wonderfully and along
the road made great havock among the
squirrels, supplying the
whole company with squirrel meat. . . .
Our party often surrounded a
tree with 6, 7 or 8 squirrels in it and
one of the party soon mounted
the tree, disturbed the squirrels. Their
leaps from the tree at this
time was very entertaining to see ....
This was the manner we spent
the principal part of the journey travelling
and squirrel hunting. The
apples and peaches were in abundance
along the road and of them
we had a plentiful supply.
Of the road southward from Williamsport
it is impossible for me to
give you an adequate idea, in some
places ascending the steepest
precipice, at other places literally
sliding from one rock to another,
and again, large rough unfixed stones in
the road where the wagon
for miles was hopping from one stone to
another. Thus we surmount-
ed one hundred miles of the road until
we once more struck the
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh road, 95
miles from Pittsburgh. We
then had good roads over the remainder
of the mountains and the
chief mountains of the Allegany until we
arrived in Pittsburgh.
This is a remarkably filthy town. They
burn coal here and the towns-
people are nearly the colour of the
coals. There is a very good market
here, and a considerable trade, being
the principal emporium be-
tween Philadelphia and the western
states. After we crossed the
mountains I was much surprised at the
change . . . the land seemed
to improve immediately. I think I acted
right resisting every entreaty
to stop to the eastward. . . . We stayed
at Zanesville two nights and
148 OHIO HISTORY
got a little repair done to our wagon.
Zanesville is on the Muskingum
river and lies very low and must be
unhealthy.
From there we put about and proceeded
directly north into Coshoc-
ton County to a place called West
Bedford. Here we arrived in good
health and spirits having travelled 500
miles without meeting with
any accident worth mentioning.
We stayed at West Bedford three weeks.
It is a very hilly country but
I have seen many of the hills having six
or eight inches deep of black
mellow vegetable mould on their tops. If
it was not for speculation
many or nearly all the people in this
state would have been in a most
comfortable situation. We are living in
a log house, it is very cold but
we have plenty of firing for little or
nothing. We are now eight miles to
the west of West Bedford in a town that
is newly laid out of three
houses called Mount Airy. ... It is high
and healthy. We all enjoy
good health and have been in this part
of the country about 9 weeks.
This part of the country is much more
level than any part I have seen
to the eastward of this state. It is a
rolling country, there are many
quarter sections of land to be sold here
from 4 to 8 hundred dollars
according to the quality of the land and
the number of acres cleared
and in a state of agriculture. I was
offered 160 acres of land, 70 of
which was in a state of husbandry and 25
of which is beautiful
meadow with a small stream of water
running along it, a dwelling
house, stable and granary, for 700
dollars.10
Martin concluded that letter: "I
intend still going farther and
where land may be had for one and a
quarter dollars. I am on the
straight road for Sandusky and the tide
of emigration flows that way.
Congress has much land to sell that way
...." In his next letter, writ-
ten the following summer he reported on
the continuation of his mi-
gration that finally brought him into
Holmes Township, Crawford
County (Figure 2) where he was to
settle.
10. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 27 December 1822, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/139, (2
letters). The village of Mount Airy from which Martin
wrote had been laid out in the southwest
of Newcastle Township, Coshocton County,
in 1816. It had a schoolhouse and up to
twenty houses by 1820 but was abandoned by
the 1860s. M. M. Hill, History of
Coshocton County, Ohio (Newcastle, Ohio, 1881).
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A British View 149 |
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June 1823. My last left me at Mount Airy, county of Coshocton .... The last winter having proved very severe and the spring exceedingly wet I could make but little inquirys after land and it was the first of April before I could set out in search of a future residence, but hav- ing travelled about 70 miles north west of Mount Airy I entered a fine district of land called the Delaware district, situated on both sides the river Sandusky. There are seven countys and but little of it entered yet. I crossed the Sandusky near its source after having |
150 OHIO HISTORY
crossed the famous plains called
Sandusky plains. I believe they are
40 miles along and about 20 broad. The
land on the plains I did not
like. I rode about 50 miles on them, the
timber on them is very inferi-
or and scattered in groves at irregular
distances over them. Many
people choose them and particularly the
Yorkshire English. There
are several families of Yorkshire people
in their borders.
But having left the plains and crossed
the Sandusky and at a small
new town called Busirus of only eight or
ten houses and only about
eighteen months old, I immediately
entered a fine tract of land lying
between Sandusky river and Broken Sword
creek, distance about 7
miles. The only fault I found was that
it was too level and that water
lay too frequently on the land. It is
exceedingly rich and heavily tim-
bered. On my return from Broken Sword I
crossed . . . a small emi-
nence or little hill, the highest piece
of ground I met with and having
observed the land adjoining, I concluded
I would travel no further
altho' some parts of it was wet. Two
mile distance from Busirus and 42
from the city of Sandusky on the
entrance of Sandusky bay on Lake
Eire.
This little hill I went and purchased at
the land office of Delaware
with the quarter section belonging
thereto. There is a road about to
be opened by my house to the city of
Sandusky from Columbus, the
capital of the state, and when the New
York Canal is finished which
strikes Lake Eire on the east and which
is expected to be finished
this summer there will be only 42 miles
of land travel from my house
to New York-a distance of about 700
miles.
Well, having entered my land at Delaware
I returned to Mount Airy to
my family and prepared for another
removal which we were unable
to accomplish until the 20th May through
the wetness of the season,
but having agreed with a person to clear
four acres of land and build
me a cabbin I made myself the more easy.
This spring has proved very backward for
all farming concerns, and
much more so for me for I expected to
have had 4 acres cropped, but
am quite disappointed through the
excessive rains, the man not be-
ing able to get forward with clearing
and burning. This is the greatest
disappointment met with in America but
seeing it is the will of provi-
dence I trust I shall be found truly
submissive. We will be able to get
in some potatoes and turnips and having
the summer before us, we
will be able to get a good deal of land
clear for wheat this autumn
A British View 151
and for crops next year. I am busy now
clearing a garden and getting
in some garden seeds which altho' late
will be better than none. I
should have said above that the last 70
miles of our journey was the
worst of the whole but we all arrived
safe and without any acci-
dent. .... I have just to mention that I
live only 3 miles from an Indi-
an reserve, the Wyandots. When this
country was sold to Congress
they reserved to themselves twelve miles
by eighteen. They have a
little town called Upper Sandusky, a
school, a mill, a methodist
preacher amongst them. They grow Indian
corn and keep a great
many cows. .. .11
In his next letter, written only two
months after the last but not
posted for another six weeks
"principally on account of the distance
to the post office" which was
thirty miles away, Martin continued to
describe the problems of setting up a
farm in a new country and espe-
cially the lateness of the crops because
of the wet summer.
8 August 1823. .. .I got some corn in in June which now looks very
beautiful altho' five weeks too late. I
have got plenty of potatoes in
the ground which promises much. I have
likewise some turnips but
after the American manner which did not
succeed. I have sown a
second time but can say little about
them yet. Mangle worzil altho'
sown very much out of season looks very
well. We have cucumbers in
abundance altho' quite out of season
mainly by sowing them in the
garden. I have sunk a well and got good
water at 30 feet deep. I
stoned it up about 8 feet and cut down a
hollow sycamore tree which
I put in the well on the stones which
walled the remainder up three
feet above the surface. The hollow part
of the tree was nearly 5 feet in
diameter.
The country is settling fast round me
and I will soon have plenty
of neighbours altho' I was obliged to
hire men to cut me a road
through the woods for nearly two miles
to Mount Hope, the name I
have given my farm.
11. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, dated only as June 1823, Greater
London Record Office, Acc. 1063/140. By
settling in Holmes Township, Crawford
County, in 1823, Martin was one of the
early pioneers there. No settlement had been
possible there before 1820 and the
western part was not taken from the Wyandots until
1836.
152 OHIO HISTORY
I never seen anything equal to the
thickness of the vegetation in this
part of the country. Owing to the
wetness of the season I believe an
intermitting fever with some instances
of ague prevails. I believe a
want of cleanliness and the eating of
unwholesome food by poor set-
tlers is another cause of this disorder
with other sufferings and priva-
tions which people in a new country are
liable to. The last 40 miles of
our journey Martha and Mary were obliged
to walk up to the knees in
mud frequently, and both of them were
seized with an intermitting
fever and ague, which I suppose was a
consequence of their fatigue
and hardship. I hesitated a little about
bleeding them but did so
after they had been ill two or three
weeks - which stopped the ague
altho' not the fever. I then made strong
bitter of the wild cherry tree
and administered the Peruvian bark
especially. They are now getting
strong ....
I am persuaded I have settled in a
climate best adapted to our Euro-
pean constitution. Here we have slept
all the summer with a sheet
and coverlet with only a night or two's
exception. On the contrary at
Philadelphia we were obliged to have
open windows, no furniture
and neither shirt not coverlet. ... To
conclude, after a journey over
sea of about 4000 miles, a journey over
land of about 700 miles and
myself thru' America one thousand miles,
I think I have great reason
to adore the Beneficience of God . . .
two or three weeks' illness in
two of the children is the only
exception to perfect health ... 12
No more letters were sent by Martin to
Mrs. Monro in England for
three and one-half years, after which
they continued to arrive at only
infrequent intervals over the next nine
years. Now problems connect-
ed with making a living from the farm,
of his failing health, and of
raising a large family increased.
Preaching in the local neighbor-
hood, which often brought him as much
hostility as respect, also
began to take up more of his time.
Having said in his first letter from
Crawford County that he was
"quite pleased with the choice of
residence I have made," Martin's
next, written after his first few
seasons there, showed that he had
made slow progress towards establishing
his farm and even slower
progress in accustoming himself to the
ways of backwoods society:
12. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 8 August 1823, Greater London Record
Office, Acc. 1063/141.
A British View 153
"I am here in the wilderness having
cleared a few acres of land and
owning 160 and having ten head of cattle
and one horse, with a quan-
tity of hogs, and poultry in abundance,
but amongst the most traf-
ficking, trading, quirking people in the
world, true children of the
great whore. . ."13
Another letter written over two years
later showed that most of his
farm still remained unimproved and the
family depended as much on
their animals freely roaming the forest
as on their crops. Martin still
had little time for his neighbors.
11 August 1829 ... I have cleared only
about twenty acres of my land
most of which I have put in grass and
have mown about 4 tons of
hay. This year I raised about two acres
of wheat, a little Indian corn,
plenty of potatoes and some flax. I keep
only one horse and have two
yoke of oxen for working, in all about
twenty head of cattle. My cows
range the woods in the summer time and
almost daily come up to
suckle their calves. When they miss
coming up one of the children
mounts our little mare, enters the
almost impenetrable forest, scours
the woods for 2, 4, 6 or even ten miles
sometimes of a morning, under
the shade of immensely high timber,
until the well known sound of a
bell suspended to the neck of a leading
cow or ox directs her to the
feeding herd - who, all at the word
'home' direct their march on-
ward....
Most of the children have learned to
spin and Mary has learned to
weave. We now nearly make all our
wearing apparel as we keep a few
sheep and grow flax and Mary weaves and
after having been previ-
ously spun in our own family. We keep
plenty of poultry and a few
hogs for we are not willing to keep many
as our neighbours are none of
the most honest and hogs run at large.
I am nearly completely disgusted with a
republic and the society it
produces. . . . The New Englanders are
by far the best society and
consequently the best neighbours - I
feel sorry I am not entirely
amongst them. I believe the western
parts of Pennsylvania produces
the basest race of people in the western
states being bred up in or
13. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 15 March 1827, Greater London Rec-
ord Office, Acc. 1063/142.
154 OHIO HISTORY
near the mountains, they in a great
measure partake of the ferocity of
the bears and wolves their neighbours
....
I have been out but very seldom this
summer reading the scriptures
amongst the people. I went to see a
friend who lives about 30 miles off
a few weeks ago. I slept at a friend of
his 10 miles short of the place he
lives at who was a very sensible man and
not shackled by the priest-
hood. I got to bed about one o'clock ....
I arrived next day at my
friends and got to bed about the same
hour, read the scriptures pub-
licly in the schoolhouse next day to a
considerable number of peo-
ple, which after we finished many of
them followed to my friend's
house to hear something more ....
Preachers of all denominations are on
fire at me. The Methodist con-
ference this year placed their ablest
man in this neighbourhood as is
said to counteract my influence. Indeed
I have laboured very little
against them as I could not be absent
from my own affairs with pro-
priety. .. 14
The next letter in the series came two
years later from Martin's eld-
est daughter, Martha. Written apparently
without his knowledge and
begging for monetary help from Mrs.
Monro, Martha told of her fa-
ther's failing health and eyesight, of
the still unimproved state of the
farm and of the family's "straitned
circumstances." Their friends
were "all gone and we are among
strangers and without a friend, in an
ungrateful country... ."15
Mrs. Monro clearly responded to Martha's
plea, but less than
three months later Martin wrote again to
his former employer, largely
discounting problems with his health and
the state of the farm. Ad-
mitting that he had lost the sight of an
eye "thro' fatigue," much of
the letter dwelt on his increased
preaching activities by which "I am
quite turned into a public speaker. I
have this last autumn been much
occupied from 20 to 40 miles off, in
expounding the scriptures of the
Kingdom of God.... I rode very often
thro' almost impenetrable
forests for many miles following tracks
scarcely visible, at other times
through broken roads and mud knee deep.
.."16
14. Letter from James Martin to Mordaunt
Monro, 11 August 1829, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/143.
15. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 6 November 1831, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/144.
16. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 17 January 1832, Greater London Rec-
A British View
155
In a letter written three years
previously, Martin said that he had
heard favorable comments of the St.
Joseph area 200 miles to the
north-west, mainly within Michigan
Territory, which "seems to have
the principle amount of migration to it
at present. It is celebrated for
fish, fine water and some good land - it
is just come into the market
. . as far as I can learn [it has] a
sandy soil with many sandy and
barren prairies - but some are very rich
and easy of cultivation,
much easier than where I reside and much
better waters...."17
Now that his preaching activities had
made him better known in the
surrounding districts, he had hopes of visiting
the St. Joseph area:
"I intend this summer if I can
accomplish it to go on a journey to the
river St. Joseph on the Michigan lake
where is a large new settlement
who have expressed a desire to hear me.
. ."18
None of the later letters, however,
indicate if he ever made this
journey. Rather they suggest that while
Martin's family continued
the struggle to improve the farm he,
either through an inability or
lack of interest in working their land,
chose instead to become more
active in preaching locally, although
not always meeting with much
success. In the first of two letters
written to England in 1833, he stat-
ed: "If I were able to work we
should want for nothing, providing I
could attend to it, but this I can
hardly do. . . . We may suffer some
privations on account of my inability to
labour, but we grow flax,
have a few sheep, spin and weave and the
children are willing to
work. I spend a great deal of my time
abroad as I can do little at
home.. ." 19
In the second letter written on 2
September 1833, Martin added: "I
am still occupied, when I possibly can,
in riding out. ... It is aston-
ord Office, Acc. 1063/145.
17. Letter from James Martin to Mordaunt
Monro, 11 August 1829, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/143.
18. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 17 January 1832, Greater London Rec-
ord Office, Acc. 1063/145.
19. Letter from James Martin to Mordaunt
Monro, 28 April 1833, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/146. Indicative
of Martin's greater interest in pastoral work
and preaching than farming was his
taking into his family a young Englishman, Thom-
as Alsoph, described as a nobleman's son
and "not always sane in mind." Hopley's
Crawford County states that Alsoph came to America with the Martin
family but the
letters suggest otherwise. He had by
1832 been for ten years under the care of some-
one who had so neglected him that Alsoph
had "suffered a great deal of hardship, in
hunger, nakedness and cruel punishment
from a brute of a man." Because of this Mar-
tin states in his letter of April 1833
that Thomas Alsoph had now come into his care
with the financial support of the young
man's father in England. John E. Hopley, His-
tory of Crawford County, Ohio and
Representative Citizens (Chicago,
1912), 244, and
Greater London Records Office, Acc.
1063/145 and 146.
156 OHIO
HISTORY
ishing the opposition the truth meets
with particularly from profes-
sors. My views are most acceptable to
those who will not be bound
down under the shackles of
superstitions, rites and ceremonies ....
The people here are wonderfully
intelligent generally speaking but
there is a ... low cunning which makes
them very disagreeable. ...
I have spoken a great deal in our
village but it has made but little im-
pression. There is a great deal of envy
and jealousy and some say it is
only to make myself look singular . . .
yet they generally crowd to
hear me. Everyone here is afraid that
his neighbour should be
greater than he is in politics. This
principle they carry into religious
controversies ... ."20
The village Martin was referring to was
Bucyrus, or as he wrote,
".. .Busirus, spelled by those
affected people Bucyrus." Several of
his letters had noted the rapid growth
of the settlement and of the
surrounding area. Whereas in 1823 he
reported that Bucyrus had
"only eight or ten houses," in
1829 he wrote: "our little town grows
very fast. I suppose it contains nearly
100 houses, 4 stores and 3 tav-
erns."21 In the same
letter he wrote of the partly completed turnpike
from Lake Erie to Columbus which passed
close to his farm: "This
has been a great benefit to us in this
place." In another letter he stat-
ed that the turnpike on which "we
have a stage coach passing every
day" was "as good a turnpike
as the materials of this country will
afford-at this moment it is
excellent."22 In the same letter in 1833 he
20. Letter from James Martin to Mrs.
Monro, 2 September 1833, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/147. Martin
attended several religious "camp meetings," two
of which he described in his letters,
but he does not appear to have preached at any.
In his letter of September 1833 he
described them as follows, drawing a comparison
with the travelling salesmen and show
people who frequented local and county fairs in
England and resembling fairs that held
each year at Barnet where both Martin and
Mrs. Monro had lived: "We have camp
meetings here in the woods lasting six or seven
days and some have been protracted to 30
days as I have been informed.... At the
camp meetings many thousands meet
together and live in tents like Barnet fair people.
Sometimes, considering the number of
people, they are considerably orderly, pro-
tected by the Law. But their very order
is complete confusion-preaching, praying,
shouting, groaning, hallooing, all
frequently at the same time. There is a large stage
erected upon which the preachers (for
sometimes they are many) stand, in the front of
which is their prayer ring, a space of
ground enclosed into which those that want reli-
gion enter when they are prayed for.
This is a scene that I cannot describe, some lying
apparently lifeless as you would think,
some you would think were dancing for joy,
some tossing, some tumbling, some
screaming, whilst others you would think were
drawing their last breath. Many honest,
well-meaning people are entangled in these
things...."
21. Letter from James Martin to Mordaunt
Monro, 11 August 1829, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/143.
22. Letter from James Martin to Mordaunt
Monro, 28 April 1833, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/146.
A British View 157
was able to confirm that "the
irregular state of the post office in this
backwoods ... is now well regulated and we have a mail
every
day." Indeed, while his own farm
remained underdeveloped, Mar-
tin could appreciate the rapidity of
improvement around him. As he
wrote in 1836, in the last letter in the
collection: "The emigration to
this country is astonishing and altho'
14 years ago I sat down in a
complete wilderness I am now surrounded
with a very dense popula-
tion."23
He died four years later at Mount Hope
Farm.
23. Letter from James Martin to Mordaunt
Monro, 9 October 1836, Greater London
Record Office, Acc. 1063/149. In his previous letter
Martin stated that he had still only
cleared thirty of his 160 acres, the
rest still being under woodland. He also had four
milk cows, eight other cattle and some
sheep. He added that "it is with great difficul-
ty that we work our farm-all heavy
labour . .. but . . . this is a fine country for work-
ing men and for all farmers who can do
their own work." Letter from James Martin to
Mordaunt Monro, 28 September 1834,
Greater London Record Office, Acc. 1063/148.