SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO VALLEY
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
Marietta, Ohio, November 27 and 28,
1908.
On Friday and Saturday, November 27 and
28, 1908, the
Ohio Valley Historical Association held
its second annual meet-
ing at Marietta, Ohio; the first annual
meeting was held a year
previous in Cincinnati, the proceedings
of which meeting were
briefly reported in the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
QUARTERLY for January, 1909. The
complete proceedings of
that meeting were published in a
separate pamphlet by the State
Society just named. The Ohio Valley
Historical Association,
it will be recalled, is an organization
consisting of the historical
and patriotic societies located in the
states bordering on the Ohio
River from Pittsburgh to the
Mississippi. The membership also
includes all students, teachers and
writers in history, residing in
said territory, the object being to
arouse and promote interest in
the history of the Ohio Valley,
stimulate the teachers in the col-
leges and schools, to emphasize the
history of their localities and
collect and preserve historical
manuscripts and memoranda and
other material that should not be lost.
The Association at once
entered upon an active and successful
career, the first meeting in
Cincinnati, being largely attended,
addresses were delivered by
many prominent writers and teachers in
American and especially
Western history. The second meeting,
held at Marietta, was
equally successful. We give the program
as previously arranged
and as practically carried out. The
proceedings in full have re-
cently been published in separate
pamphlet form by the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society. We reproduce a
synopsis of the four sessions and also
such of the papers or ad-
dresses as pertain more particularly to
Ohio history, or are val-
uable and suggestive on the subject of
studying history, gath-
ering and preserving its material.
391
392 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
THE OHIO VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
ANNUAL MEETING, MARIETTA, OHIO,
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 AND 28,
1908.
PROGRAM.
Presiding Officer, E. O. RANDALL, Columbus.
I.
Conference on Historical Manuscript
Collections Friday, November
27th, 10:00 A. M., Assembly Hall, The
Library, Marietta College.
Leaders of the Conference, I. J. Cox,
University of Cincinnati;
Harry B. Mackoy, Covington, Ky.
I. Report on Historical Manuscript
Collections.
(a) Colleges and public
Libraries-Professor Harlow Lindley,
Earlham College.
(b) Local History Societies-Professor C. T. Greve, Univer-
sity of Cincinnati Law School.
(c) State and County
Collections-Virgil A. Lewis, State
Archivist and Historian, Charleston, W.
Va.
(d) Private Collections-Frank T.
Cole, Columbus, Editor
"Old Northwest Genealogical
Quarterly."
II. Discussion of the above, with
reports of local representatives,
closing with paper by Mrs. Mary McA.
Tuttle, Hillsboro.
III. Discussion of plan for locating the
manuscript collections of the
Valley and preparing a general index of
the same.
(a) Methods of Locating Manuscripts-I.
J. Cox.
(b) Methods of Indexing Manuscripts-H.
B. Mackoy.
IV. "The Charles G. Slack
Collection of Manuscripts in the Marietta
College Library," Miss Hortense
Foglesong, Assistant Librarian.
The Slack Collection will be open to
visitors throughout the
morning session.
II.
General Public Meeting, 2:00 P. M., The
First Congregational
Church, Muskingum Avenue.
Address of Welcome-President A. T.
Perry.
Address-"The Relation between
Geography and History," Miss Ellen
Churchill Semple, Louisville, Ky.
Address-"Historic Beginnings of the
Ohio Valley"-W. J. Holland,
Ph. D., LL. D., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Address-"The Ohio River, its
Improvement and Commercial Impor-
tance" - Colonel John L. Vance,
Columbus.
Address-"Lord Dunmore's
War"-Virgil A. Lewis, Charleston.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 393
III.
Reception, 4:00 P. M.
A reception to the visitors in Marietta
will be tendered in The Ohio
Company's Land Office, (Oldest Building
in Ohio, standing on the
original site,) by the Marietta members
of Ohio Society of Colonial
Dames.
Reception Committee: Mrs.
Lovell, Miss Woodbridge,
Mrs. Daniel H. Buell, Miss Buell, Miss
Putnam.
IV.
Banquet, 7:00 P. M. Young Men's
Christian Association Building,
Second Street.
Main Address-"The Problems of the
Present Day South"-President
S. C. Mitchell, Ph. D., LL. D., of the
University of
South Carolina.
Toasts.
V.
Excursion, Saturday, 7:30 A. M.
Captain William M. Hall, U. S. Engineer
in charge of Dam No. 18, in-
vites the Association in common with the
Marietta and Parkersburg
Boards of Trade to pay a visit to the
Dam. The low stage of the
river and the nearing of completion of
this great work makes the
present opportunity one of a lifetime.
Interurban cars can be taken
at the Bellevue or Norwood Hotels at
7:00, 7:30 or 8:00, which
will allow visitors time for
sight-seeing and permit them to return
on the car reaching Marietta at 9:30 or
at 10:00 o'clock. Round
trip fare to Bryn Mawr (Dam 18) thirty
cents.
VI.
Meeting of the History Teachers,
Saturday, 10:00 A. M., Assembly
Hall, The Library, Marietta College.
Meeting under the direction of
F. P. Goodwin, Cincinnati.
Paper--"The Civic Value of Local
History"--Arthur W. Dunn, Direc-
tor of Civics, Indianapolis Public
Schools.
Discussion of the Paper-W. G. Culkins,
Cincinnati;
Henry R. Spencer, Ohio State University.
Paper-"The Present Status of Local
History in the Schools"-Miss
May Lowe, Circleville.
Business Session.
VII.
Historic Highways Meeting, Saturday,
2:00 P. M. Meeting under
the direction of A. E. Morse, Marietta
College.
(a) Braddock's Road, Henry W. Temple, Washington and
Jefferson College, Washington, Pa.
(b) Zane's Trace, C. L. Martzolff, Ohio University, Athens,
Ohio.
(c) The Old Maysville Road, Samuel M.
Wilson, Lexington,
Ky.
Specific historic roads will be
described, and there will be a dis-
cussion of some plans for marking these and other
historical places and
sites.
394 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
FIRST SESSION.
The second annual meeting of the Ohio
Valley Historical
Association opened in the Assembly Hall
of the Marietta Col-
lege Library with President E. O.
Randall, of Columbus, in the
chair. The conference on Historical
Manuscript Collections,
under the leadership of Messrs. H. B.
Mackoy, of Covington,
Ky., and I. J. Cox, of Cincinnati, was
the first feature on the
program. Professor Charles Theodore
Greve, of the Cincinnati
Law School, spoke briefly of the work of
local historical socie-
ties in preserving and making available
their manuscript col-
lections and incidentally described
those of the Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio, which he
officially represented.
He believed that all such societies
should make greater effort
than at present is done to collect and
classify such historical
manuscripts as are to be found in their
vicinity, even where they
seem to be safely kept in private hands,
for one can never tell
the moment when such collections may be
scattered beyond hope
of recovery. The people in general must
be instructed in the
value of all old pieces of paper
and from his own experience he
would especially urge the importance of
old pamphlets.
Mr. Virgil A. Lewis spoke of the value
of state and county
collections and to emphasize his various
points showed his au-
dience an indictment by one of the
Western Virginia grand juries
against Horace Greeley, the editor of
the New York Tribune,
charging him with personally inciting
the Negro to rebellion,-
and also a telegram showing when the
Confederate troops crossed
the Ohio River near Ravenswood in the
summer of 1863. This
feat was performed to enable General
Jenkins to plant on a
hill near the place of crossing a flag
presented to him for that
purpose by the ladies of Richmond,
Virginia. These bits of
contemporary history served not only to
emphasize the various
points of his remarks but represented
countless other forgotten
documents of similar character now
reposing in public archives.
It was his special purpose as the
official head of West Virginia's
Department of Archives and History to
collect, preserve, and
render available such material.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 395
ADDRESS OF VIRGIL A. LEWIS.
Archivist of West Virginia.
I rejoice that the Ohio Valley
Historical Association has been or-
ganized. As declared in the Second
Article of its Constitution: "Its ob-
ject is to promote the general
historical interests of the Ohio Valley and
especially to encourage the study and
teaching of its local history." I
am pleased that it has already commenced
the work before it, and that
chief among its varied interests, is
that of the collection and preserva-
tion of historical Manuscripts -
documents which throw light upon both
the general and local history of these
Ohio Valley States. This, I may
say, I regard as being immediately the
most important work before the
Association-this for the reason that
these documents should be found
and their contents known, before the
most thorough study, and conse-
quently, the best teaching of the local
history of this vast region can
be secured.
By reference to the Program, it will be
seen that to me has been
assigned the topic, "State and
County Collections of Manuscripts,"-
that is of a historical character. The entire mass of recorded history
of the region embraced within the field
of work of this Association is
divided into two classes- (1) Printed
Documents and (2) Documents
or Papers written by
hand-Manuscripts-our subject at this time.
OF WHAT THEY CONSIST:-These may be said
to consist of Jour-
nals of Explorations and Travel,
diaries, memoirs, narratives, survey-
ors' books, accounts of early
settlements, church records, county records,
municipal proceedings, "dead"
court papers, family records, autograph
letters, military papers, army rosters,
political announcements, records
of early joint stock companies and other
corporate organizations, account
books of early merchants, and note-books
of lawyers, ministers and
physicians, together with a hundred
other classes treating of as many
different individual efforts.
THESE MANUSCRIPTS DIVIDED:-These taken
as a whole may be
divided into two classes; viz:--(1)
Those which have been collected,
arranged, and classified by some State,
Institution or Society; (2) Those
which yet exist but are scattered far
and wide throughout the whole Ohio
Valley Region, in the possession of
families, individuals, county clerks'
offices, and church and other
organizations.
(1) THE FIRST CLASS:-I regret that I am
unable to speak intelli-
gently regarding the first class, that
is of Manuscripts collected and pre-
served. No Catalogues or Finding-Lists
of these have reached me and
I am, therefore, without detailed
information as to what the State
Libraries of Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois have
accomplished in this field; what the
Carnegie Institute, Marietta College,
the Ohio, and the Ohio State
Universities, the University of Cincinnati,
the University of Kentucky, Indiana and
Illinois, and other educa-
396 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
tional institutions in these States have
achieved; or what the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society, or the kindred Societies of
Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois have
done. But all, as I understand, have
been engaged in this work. I
have no information whatever as to
county collections in these States.
WHAT WEST VIRGINIA HAS DONE:--I am
better prepared to speak
of the work of rescue in my own
State-West Virginia-yet not able
to give such information regarding this
as would be contained in a
Catalogue or Finding-List. But we are at
work. The State's collec-
tion is in the custody of the Department
of Archives and History, in
which the labor has been so great, that
as yet, it has been impossible to
prepare a list of the collection. Last
year the Legislature appropriated
$2,500.00 to purchase Manuscripts
relating to the formation of the State,
and this was expended for that purpose.
In 1831, the General Assembly
of Virginia passed an Act requiring the
Supreme Court of Appeals to
sit 90 days annually at Lewisburg, in
Greenbrier County, for the purpose
of hearing appeals from the counties of
Trans-Allegheny Virginia, now
West Virginia. This was continued until
the division of the State.
After the Civil War, West Virginia came
into possession of many of the
papers of that Court-"dead"
court papers-in all about one thousand.
The State has about fourteen hundred
Manuscript letters and documents
of various kinds, pertaining to the
Restored Government of Virginia,
which made possible the existence of
West Virginia; and these, with
many other productions relating to the
Fairfax Land Grant and the early
settlement and development of the State,
make a mass which, when prop-
erly listed, will contain material for,
I should say, about three thousand
titles.
HISTORY MATERIAL IN OUR COUNTIES: -No
county in West Virginia
has collected, or attempted to make a
Manuscript Collection, but the
offices of the clerks of courts in each
and all of them are rich mines of
local history-all in manuscript
record-books. These are ponderous
volumes--dockets, order books--registers
of births, marriages, and
deaths, settlement rights, land titles,
proceedings of the Old Virginia
Circuit Superior Courts, Courts of
Chancery, and Courts of Equity, be-
ginning in 1754, when Hampshire
County-the oldest county in West
Virginia--was formed, down to the
founding of the State in 1863,--a
period of more than a hundred years-and
covering all the region from
the Potomac to the Monongahela, and from
the Alleghenies to the Ohio.
Among these records are many manuscripts
of a purely historical char-
acter. Let me illustrate this: On the
15th day of July, 1798, Colonel
John Stuart, the historian of Lord
Dunmore's War, and the most
prominent pioneer settler of the
Greenbrier Valley, went into the office of
the County Clerk of Greenbrier County,
and beginning on p. 754 of Deed-
Book No. 1, wrote what he was pleased to
call a "Memorandum." This
he commenced by saying: "The
inhabitants of every country and place
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 397
are desirous to enquire after the first
founders, and in order to gratify
the curious or such who may hereafter
incline to be informed of the
origin of the Settlements made in
Greenbrier, I leave this Memorandum
for their satisfaction, being the only
person at this time alive who is
acquainted with the circumstances of its
discovery and manner bf set-
tling." Then he proceeds to tell
the story of the settlement of that region
by white men of the Indian Massacre of
1763, of the re-occupation of the
Valley, the opening of roads, the
character of the people, etc. No one
can ever write the early history of West
Virginia without a knowledge
of this manuscript.
AN INDICTMENT AGAINST HORACE GREELEY:-As
a further illus-
tration, permit me to quote from the
Circuit Court Records of Harrison
county, Virginia-now West Virginia.
VIRGINIA, to-wit. In the Circuit Court of Harrison
County.
The Grand Jurors for said County on
their oaths present that here-
tofore, to-wit on the fifth day of July
in the year one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six, Horace Greeley
did write, print and publish and
cause to be written, printed and
published in the City of New York and
State of New York a book and writing,
to-wit a newspaper and public
journal and styled and entitled
"New York Tribune." The object and
purpose of which said New York Tribune
was to advise and incite
negroes in this state to rebel and make
insurrection and to inculcate
resistance to the right of property of
masters in their slaves in the State
of Virginia.
And the Jurors aforesaid do further
present that said Horace Gree-
ley afterwards, to-wit on the day of
July in the year 1856, did know-
ingly, wilfully and feloniously transmit
to and circulate in and cause
and procure to be transmitted to and
circulated in the said County of
Harrison the said book and writing,
to-wit the said "New York Trib-
une" with the intent to aid the
purposes thereof, against the peace and
dignity of the Commonwealth.
And the Jurors aforesaid upon their
oaths aforesaid do further
present that said Horace Greeley on the
day of July in the year 1856
did knowingly, wilfully and feloniously
circulate and cause and procure
to be circulated in said County of
Harrison a writing, to-wit a newspaper
and public journal, which said writing,
newspaper and public journal was
on the fifth day of July in the year one
thousand eight hundred and
fifty-six written, printed and published
in the City of New York and
State of New York and was styled and
entitled "New York Tribune"
with intent in him, the said Greeley,
then and there to advise and incite
negroes in the State of Virginia
aforesaid to rebel and make insurrection
and to inculcate resistance to the right
of property of masters in their
slaves. Against the peace and dignity of
the Commonwealth.
Upon the information of Amaziah Hill and
Seymore Johnson, wit-
ness sworn in open court and sent to the
Grand Jury to testify at the
398 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
request of the Grand Jury who had the
said New York Tribune in the
above presentment referred to before
them and examined the same.
A. I. GARRETT, Foreman.
When can another Document be found which
shows so clearly the
conditions and feelings of the people in
Central West Virginia, in 1857?
These Manuscripts will never be in the
possession of the State
Department of Archives and History for
they are parts of the county
records to which they belong, but we
list them in our Catalogue, show-
ing where they may be found, so that the
person making research may
know where the originals are.
Other Counties in Other States:- I am very sure that the counties
of these Ohio Valley States are just as
rich in history materials as are
ours, and will in the future, like ours,
be inexhaustible sources of local
history. There must be at this very
moment, history material in the
county, manuscript records of Washington
County, Ohio, from which
to compile one of the most interesting
and valuable volumes ever written
on the local history of that State; so
with Hamilton County. Likewise
it is true of Madison, St. Clair, Monroe
and Randolph Counties in
Illinois; of Knox and Allen, in Indiana;
and of Jefferson and Fayette in
Kentucky. Indeed it is true of Hundreds of counties in these Ohio
Valley States.
(2) THE SECOND CLASS:-But
it is with the second class that
we are chiefly concerned-that is with
that great mass-a vast mass-
I may say, of Manuscripts which are
scattered far and wide over the
whole area of these Ohio Valley States,
Manuscripts which are in the
possession of individuals, their
whereabouts unknown, but if located,
collected and properly classified, would
furnish new sources of informa-
tion-such information as would, to a
considerable degree, require the
history of this great Valley to be
re-written. Some persons have seemed
to think that after the pilgrimages of
Lyman C. Draper, up and down
this Valley, the whole region was left
without history material--that he
had borne away all sources of
information regarding its history. A
signal mistake. He was a pioneer
collector, one who, in a way, explored
the field, leaving it for others to
gather that to which he had opened
the way. The trouble has been that he
has not in fifty years had a suc-
cessor worthy of the name. On every hand
he left a great mass of
material relating to the struggles
between the White and Red men for
supremacy in this Valley; to its
occupation and settlement by the latter.
Then to this has been added these scenes
of olden time history, the manu-
script material dealing with the part
enacted by this vast region in the
greatest Civil War of all time. From
these Valley States went more
than half a million men to do battle in
that mighty struggle, and they
wrote letters, kept journals and diaries
which were sent or brought home;
but more than forty years have passed
away and no systematic plan
has been, as yet, undertaken for their
collection and preservation. What
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 399
we need most in this great work of
rescue and preservation, Mr. Presi-
dent, Ladies and Gentlemen, are more
Lyman C. Drapers,-men who,
with knapsack on their backs, are not
only willing, but anxious to go
on foot, if need be, many miles to the
left and to the right to secure
a journal, a diary, a memorandum, an
autograph letter, that shall be pre-
served and become a priceless document
to those who are to come after
us.
It is not my province to suggest a plan
of work as to rescue, classi-
fication, or cataloguing the written but
unprinted sources of the history
of the distant past, and more recent
history of the Ohio Valley. But
may we not hope that ere long, some plan
for systematic action may be
devised and adopted-one which will
result in rescuing from oblivion,
all which yet remains of the Manuscript
history of a Valley filled with
the most progressive people of the
world. Within a period of five years
this should be done, and those Documents
in the possession of persons
who will not part with them, should be
catalogued or listed by title,
with names of owner's location, and
brief description, but sufficiently
elaborate to indicate to the student the
value and character of the Manu-
script.
I close, as I began, by saying, that I
rejoice that The Ohio Valley
Historical Association has been
organized, and that its greatest work,
in the immediate future, is the
collection and preservation of the Manu-
script sources of the history of the
region included in its field of work.
Mr. Lewis was followed by Prof. Frank T.
Cole of the
Old Northwest Genealogical Society, who
presented an address.
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS.
FRANK T. COLE,
Old Northwest Genealogical Society.
Probably each one of us could name
instances where the papers
and correspondence of the grandfather,
preserved with care by him and
his children have gone to the waste
basket at the hands of the third
and fourth generation, and thus, through
carelessness or ignorance there
has passed from sight much accumulated
material for state and local
history.
This meeting does well to consider the
question, how many we
discover, preserve and render available
to the student such collections.
Some years ago, by the efforts of Mr.
William Henry Smith, a
beginning was made of such a collection
in the State Library, and the
papers and correspondence of Governor
Thomas Worthington, Governor
Ethan Allen Brown and some others were
secured and deposited there.
400 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
I have had occasion to consult the
Worthington papers and I know
of how much assistance such a collection
may be to the student of local
conditions. Possibly a reference to some bits of experience may be
permitted.
Colonel James Kilbourne, who in 1802
walked from the end of the
stage line at Shippensburg,
Pennsylvania, to Lancaster, Chillicothe and
Franklinton, examining with Nathaniel
Little, his companion, the land
of Central Ohio for a group of
Connecticut and Massachusetts men who
called themselves the Scioto Land
Company, left a chest of papers,
among which was the report which he made
to his company concerning
his journey. The report was published in
"The Old Northwest Gene-
alogical Quarterly," together with
some of his correspondence during
his ten years' service in Congress,
1811-1821. Among these papers were
especially notable the memoranda for and
a copy of his bill in further-
ance of free homesteads to actual
settlers, (for he was the first who
introduced a homestead law in Congress),
and also his correspondence
with the people of the Kaskaskia and
Cahokia settlements in Illinois.
We found in the home of a Delaware
County farmer a diary be-
gun in New Hampshire in 1816 and
continuously kept by mother and son
up to within a year ago; a series of
letters by Colonel James Denny,
who commanded a regiment under General
Hull in 1812, written to his
wife, which gave a frank account of the
expedition and of the General;
a story of the early life in Germany,
emigration by sailing ship, canal
journey to Ohio, early business
struggles and later business prosperity
of a representative citizen of foreign
birth, and also an account of a
missionary tour of two months among the
people of western New York
in 1808.
At our request Mrs. Mary McArthur Tuttle
examined the papers
of her grandfather, Governor Allen
Trimble. These papers were in the
Governor's desk just as it had been carried
up stairs after his death
thirty and more years ago. She found a
delightfully vivid autobiography
whose existence was wholly unknown to
the family. The manuscript
covered some thirty-five years of his
life up to the time that as President
of the Senate he succeeded Governor
Ethan Allen Brown in the execu-
tive chair on the latter's election to
the U. S. Senate. Would that Gov-
ernor Trimble had completed the accounts
of his pro tem term, of
Governor Morrow's term, and his own
term, when he was elected to
succeed Governor Morrow; of his labors
in the interests of education
and agriculture, and of his campaign as
candidate of the American
Party against Chase. He did give full
accounts of his share in the War
of 1812, and of his early legislative
career.
The papers above referred to we have
published besides many others.
I refer to them simply to show what may
be found by those who search
in a small way. There are extensive
family collections and some of
magnitude in private, college and
historical libraries, and some, like one
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 401
that I know of in Columbus, still
resting in the old desk where its owner,
a distinguished scientific man of Ohio,
left it over thirty years ago, still
undisturbed unless it be by the prying
fingers of curious little grand-
children.
The men who settled this region
preserved the letters received by
them
and in cases of importance, copies of their own letters. These
should be found, published, or copied or
placed in some safe depository
where they may be of service. The State
Library would seem to be
the proper place for them, especially
when they have suitable room for
their preservation. If not the State
Library, the State Archaeological
and Historical Society, which, before
many years, will have adequate
quarters for the proper care of such
papers. But at any rate, the material
should be sought out, catalogued and
duplicate lists distributed to all
libraries.
The mention by the preceding speaker of
Governor Trimble
and his autobiography formed a most
fitting introduction to Mrs.
Tuttle's paper, which follows in full.
HISTORIC MATERIALS FOUND IN OLD DESKS.
MRS. MARY MCARTHUR TUTTLE.
[In the absence of Mrs. Tuttle, her
paper was read by Mrs. J. A.
Gallagher.]
It was a lonely afternoon when the
mother of a statesman and her
daughter, sat side by side, in deep
reflection: for old age was fast over-
taking-the mother, and the white hair
and delicate flesh tints were sug-
gesting to the mind of the daughter, the
opal colors of the sun sinking
beyond the horizon. The daughter looked up and said-"Sister
has
done so much for you, what is there left
for me to do? Anything that
will make you happy?"
"I fear to mention that there is
one thing, I should like to see
accomplished before my death, the papers
in your grandfather's secre-
tary gone over. They have not been
looked at for many years; and
it may be there are yet papers of
especial importance and interest there."
It was a very warm August afternoon, but
the daughter assured
the mother, all should be done according
to her wishes. The next day
a large table was placed in front of a
wide open western window, and
stacks of papers, which filled a colonial
secretary, were laid in the sun
light. Could you believe one would ever
have patience to examine each
and every one? Ah! yes: because the dear
mother desired it. And now
let me tell you a secret. This labor was
only terminated at the close of
two years of correspondence, editing,
etc., etc.
Vol. XVIII- 26.
402 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Autographs of value, were found; land
grants, bearing the signa-
tures of our early presidents;
correspondence with eminent men; invita-
tions to Washington Irving, and Henry
Clay, Governor Dewitt Clinton,
and their replies to the early societies
who had invited them to partici-
pate in their celebrations over such
internal improvements in the State
of Ohio as canals, public schools and
the like; letters from celebrities
of the State; and last, a small roll of manuscript,
which proved to be
the autobiography of a Governor, describing
the early days, when Gov-
ernors led the "Simple Life,"
and watched the trend of big events. What
was to be done with such materials?
Aired, and put back in the old
secretary? Not at all! We must write to the editors of our State
Historical and Genealogical Magazines,
and inquire what they would
take out of your materials, mentioning
the contents that they might
judge the value; to the BIBLIOPHILE
SOCIETY of Boston, Mass., see what
they would give for any valuable paper;
to autograph hunters, and find
out their prices; and finally, learn how
to edit such materials. Possibly
as the result of such labor, and
research, one of you will awaken some
fine morning and find that you have
become a Life member for your
labors, of some Historical Society. But
to those of you who have not
yet thought upon these matters to the
extent that the writer of this
brief article has, may she jocosely say,
that from the standpoint of
good housekeeping, open the western windows; air the manuscripts;
dust the letters; as well as scour the
brass handles and polish the
mahogany of the old Colonial Secretaries-let
them not be "whitened
sepulchres." The heart of the
nation is within. Let us amplify their
importance.
The late Prof. Herbert Adams, of the
Johns Hopkins University,
said to us: "The daughters are
doing more to help the historians of
the age than can well be
estimated." But the daughters
now say:
"What about money returns to women
for such work?" A very sensi-
tive, aristocratic Virginia woman
remarked to us: "No, I will not throw
valuable parchment into the hands of
historical societies, unless they
compensate me, any more than I will give
historical museums my old
Colonial furniture." "It is a
very unfeeling way men have towards the
labors of women," she continued,
"women compete in other lines, why
not in historic work?"
To be made a life member of the
Historical and Archaeological
Society of my native State, was for me
sufficient compensation and honor,
and could not be valued by dollars and
cents. "Yet," I replied, "I want
to reason well in arguing with the
members of this Historical Associa-
tion on this point. If they will inquire
into the matter, they will find
that our historical societies, in some
instances, are not even self-support-
ing, with an income derived from the fee
of membership. Learn, there-
fore, to contribute to their aims, and
make their interests our own.
Perhaps, you may not all have a kind
brother to decipher worn and
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 403
faded manuscripts for you and put the
same into type-written form, so
that editors will readily accept them;
or you may not have historic mat
ter so much at heart, as the writer of
these lines has; nor have been
taught by an honored historian, a dear
husband, how to handle historic
facts.
The leaders of the morning's conference
then reported
briefly upon their correspondence
preparatory to the meeting and
outlined the following proposed scheme
for the work of a com-
mittee on Historical Manuscripts.
METHODS OF LOCATING HISTORICAL
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. J. Cox,
University of Cincinnati.
In my estimation, the first point to be
determined is, Who are the
historical personages of the valley? Among the methods for preparing
lists of such persons we may suggest the
following:-
1. The comparatively brief list that can
be obtained from the gen-
eral histories of the United States.
2. This list should be supplemented by
state, county, and city his-
tories.
3. From family and genealogical records
published.
4. From the files of historical
magazines.
5. From lists of members of historical
societies, who by corres-
pondence will report from their
localities.
6. As a sort of final resort, by
advertising in the papers.
Having thus determined the question, who
are historical personages
in the Valley, and prepared tentative
lists of such, the next point to
determine is the question, did they
leave manuscript collections, and if
so, what is the present place of deposit
of such? In pursuing this phase
of our subject, one would naturally
first make a thorough search of the
printed reports of well known manuscript
collections, such as the Library
of Congress, the Wisconsin Historical
Society, and the larger eastern
state societies. (Some letters of Senator John Smith of Ohio
are to
be found in the Pickering Papers in
the Massachusetts Historical So-
ciety.)
In pursuing this search one should, if possible, also secure the
names of those corresponding with the
individual searched for, for these
in turn will serve to locate other
historical personages of the Valley.
In a search of the manuscript
collections one should undertake to
find if a given historical character has
left descendants in the locality
in which he lived. It is usually
possible to ascertain this fact by cor-
404 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
respondence with local authorities,
compilers of family histories, con-
tributors to historical magazines, and
members of historical and patri-
otic societies. If this somewhat lengthy
list be exhausted without re-
sult, we may at last resort obtain some
information from present day
officials of the locality, especially
those connected with the County Clerk's
or Recorder's offices. The latter, at least,
will be able to suggest some
clue that may lead to the discovery of
those sought for. Correspondence
with these will frequently reveal new
names and unexpected collections.
The correspondence will frequently show
removal on the part of de-
scendants to other states. This will
naturally lead to a correspondence
with historical societies of those
states and will thus emphasize the
spirit of co-operation.
Having thus determined who are the
historical personages, and
whether or not they left manuscripts, we
may suggest a possible organ-
ization for facilitating the acquisition
of information of this sort. The
plan that seems to suggest itself more
readily, is that of a general com-
mittee composed of one representative
from each state in the Ohio
Valley. This general committee should
divide up the work along state
lines, each individual being responsible
for his own particular state. The
state representatives in turn should
endeavor to secure as many corres-
ponding members of this committee as
possible. It seems hardly neces-
sary to have a separate correspondent in
every county, and in some
counties it may be advisable to have
more than one, so I would suggest
no definite unit for sub-dividing the
state, but would emphasize the
necessity of using all who may be in the
least serviceable.
INDEXING MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS.
HARRY BRENT MACKOY,
Member of the Filson Club of
Kentucky.
Mr. Mackoy prefixed his remarks by
stating that three
classes of persons should be interested
in the work of an or-
ganization such as ours; makers of
history, writers of history,
and preservers of history. While
comparatively few could hope
to belong to the first two classes,
there was opportunity for many
to participate in the work of the third
class and it was the hope
of those who were in charge of the Ohio
Valley Historical As-
sociation to secure the active
co-operation of such persons and
thus give them an opportunity to enroll
themselves among the
"preservers of history." He read extracts showing the interest
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 405
aroused in many Kentucky families in the
plan for hunting
possible manuscript material. He spoke
of a number of Ken-
tucky collections that had recently been
transferred to the Li-
brary of Congress in Washington. While
they were thus re-
moved from the scene of immediate local
interest, they were
probably deposited in the place where
they would be rendered
most available for historical students
and most generally used.
In the absence of a strong local
sentiment for retaining a given
collection and where no fire proof
repository is available he
would favor the giving of valuable
manuscripts to the Library
of Congress, our recognized public
repository. Mr. Mackoy
also suggested a method of describing
and indexing a manu-
script collection, the significant
features of which are embodied
in the blank form in Appendix F.
At the conclusion of Mr. Mackoy's
remarks a motion was
made to recommend that at the business
session on Saturday
morning a permanent committee be
appointed to take up the task
of locating and rendering more available
for the use of his-
torical students the manuscript
collections of this region which
were still in private possession, and
where feasible to direct the
attention of owners of such collections
to the advantage of de-
positing the material in the most
available safe local repository.
SECOND SESSION.
President E. O. Randall was in the chair
at the second
session, held in the First
Congregational Church--a historic
spot, for upon its site was built the
first Protestant house of
worship in the Old Northwest if we
except the Moravian mis-
sions. The meeting was a general public
session and was well
attended. President Perry, of Marietta
College, delivered a
brief address of welcome. Then followed
the numbers of the
program introduced by a paper on
"The Relation between His-
tory and Geography" by Miss Ellen
Churchill Semple, of Louis-
ville, Kentucky, which paper is not here
reproduced as it was
published not only in the complete
proceedings of the meeting,
at which it was read, but also in the Bulletin
of the American
Geographical Society, Vol. XLI, No. 7 (July, 1909), pp. 422-439.
406 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
HISTORIC BEGINNINGS OF THE OHIO VALLEY.
W. J. HOLLAND, D. D., LL. D.,
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, Pa.
The Ohio River and the Ohio Valley are
from the standpoint of
the geologist of very recent origin.
There was a time when the greater
part of the water which is discharged
through this great stream found
its way to the valley of the St.
Lawrence, and thence to the Atlantic
Ocean. At the glacial epoch the great
continental glacier creeping down
toward the south opposed barriers to the
northward flow of the waters,
and in consequence they were turned
toward the southwest, and the
great river, on the banks of which we
are today assembled, came into
being. When the ice-sheet retreated,
Flora, returning again from the
south, cast her garlands upon the
desolated hills. The valleys, the
ravines, the mountains were clothed once
more, as they had been clothed
before the Age of Ice, with splendid
vegetation. The musk-ox, caribou,
and other boreal animals followed the
ice as it retreated, and from the
region of the Gulf of Mexico there
pressed up another fauna. And
later came man, moving northward and
eastward from the region of
Mexico to which he had wandered, coming
originally by way of Asia
and the Pacific coast. There were
succeeding waves of human immigra-
tion into the great Valley from the
southwest and from the southeast,
whether racially distinct, or not, is a
question in relation to which there
is dispute. Traces of this early human
occupation are left in objects
of stone and pottery, mounds and
earthworks, sprinkled all over the
region. At the time of the discovery of
the continent by Europeans
the great valley, so far as it possessed
human inhabitants, was occupied
by Indian tribes of the Algonquin stock.
In honor of Queen Elizabeth the eastern
shores of the new world
were called "Virginia." Even
what we know today as New England
was called "North Virginia."
In 1606 James I. issued a charter which
defines the territorial limits of
Virginia as extending from the 34th to
the 45th parallel of latitude, the
western boundaries being fixed one
hundred miles back of the Atlantic
coast. A second charter issued three
years later, extends the boundaries
westward from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. There was but a dim
comprehension of the geography of the
continent in the minds of those who
issued these old charters. In fact,
it was believed that the Pacific Ocean
extended eastward as a great
body of water, marked in the old maps as
the Gulf of Verrazano, which
was supposed to cover the whole of what
we know to be the upper
valley of the Mississippi.
While England was active in establishing
colonies along the Atlantic
coast, Frenchmen were equally active in
the valley of the St. Lawrence,
and pushing westward by way of the Great
Lakes, they discovered the
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 407
broad lands now covered by great
American Commonwealths lying about
the headwaters of the Mississippi. The
entire Valley of the Mississippi
including the Valley of the Ohio they
claimed by right of the discoveries
made by La Salle and others. I cannot
take time to recall to your
memories the early movements leading to
the discovery of the lakes,
the rivers, the mountains, and the vast
territorial expanse of the conti-
nent. As time passed and the truth
became known, other charters were
granted by the English crown, trenching
to some extent upon the elder
first grant made to Virginia. Lord
Baltimore received the grant of
Maryland; New Jersey was a gift to
English noblemen; William Penn
obtained the grant of the wooded lands
which bear his name. But Vir-
ginia still claimed the lands lying
westward of the Alleghany ridges,
and maintained that within her
boundaries lay the greater part of what
is now known as western Pennsylvania,
and the whole of that vast tract
covered today by the states of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wis-
consin. She asserted her right to the
Valley of the Ohio with all the
lateral valleys drained by its
affluents.
For over one hundred years after the
grant of the first charter to
the colony of Virginia the settlements
made by Englishmen upon her
soil did not advance westward beyond
tidewater. The plantations lay
along the shores of the James, the
Rappahannock, and the lower Potomac.
Between the westernmost plantation and
the blue peaks of the mountains,
which were here and there visible toward
the setting sun, was a broad
stretch of forest land tenanted only by
the wild deer and the Indian.
Governor Spotswood in 1716, looking
toward the distant peaks which he
saw, determined upon visiting them and
crossing them. The expedition
which he organized partook of the nature
of a junketing party. Fifty
of the leading citizens accompanied by
their servants, provided with
abundant supplies for the comfort of the
inner man, set out upon the
journey and arrived at last at the
summit of the Blue Ridge, not very
far from Harpers Ferry. In the eastern
part of the state, where the
soil was sandy, it was not the custom in
those days to often shoe the
horses, but on this expedition among the
rocky ridges it was found
necessary to frequently shoe the beasts,
and on their return the Gover-
nor presented his companions with a
souvenir of their trip in the form
of a stickpin made of gold surmounted by
a horseshoe, and the members
of the gay company were thereafter known
as "the Knights of the Golden
Horseshoe." What Spotswood saw and
what Spotswood learned through
other sources impelled him to recommend
to the powers in England,
whom he represented, that efforts should
be made at once to press for-
ward across the mountain ridges into the
great valleys lying in the
direction of Lake Erie, which was known
to be one of the channels of
communication for the French with the
lands in the West. Spotswood
himself offered, if allowed to do so, to
plant a colony upon the shores
of Lake Erie and thus to break the
hitherto uninterrupted progress of
408 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the French occupation. Governor
Spotswood was a man who, though
he possessed many faults, was endowed
with statesmanlike qualities and
admirable foresight. The question of the occupation of the
western
lands, having been thus raised, was
never forgotten. In 1748 Thomas
Lee of the King's Council in Virginia
associating with him a number of
prominent gentlemen in the colony, among
whom were Lawrence Wash-
ington and Augustine Washington, elder
brothers of George Washington,
succeeded in forming the Ohio Company,
obtaining a grant from the
English Crown of five hundred thousand
acres of land to be taken up
between the Monongahela and the Kanawha.
The condition of the grant
was that two hundred thousand acres of
the land should be selected im-
mediately, to be held for ten years free
from quitrents and taxes, the
company to settle one hundred families
on the land within seven years,
build a fort, and maintain a garrison
for the protection of the settlement.
In 1751 Christopher Gist as the agent of
the Ohio Company crossed
the mountains and made a preliminary
survey. In 1752, accompanied by
Joshua Fry and two other Virginian
commissioners, Gist made a treaty
at Logstown on the Ohio just below
Pittsburgh with the Shawanese.
The French had already been negotiating
with these Indians and it was
deemed expedient without loss of time to
win them over to an alliance
with the Virginians. The French, intent
upon occupying the valley of
the Ohio, had already in 1752 established
themselves in the vicinity of
Presque Isle. Leguardeur de St. Pierre
had established his headquarters
as French Commandant at Venango, now
Franklin, Pennsylvania.
Thither in 1753 George Washington, a
young surveyor, but twenty-one
years of age, was sent by Governor
Dinwiddie to warn the French that
their occupation of the territory was
regarded by Virginia as an encroach-
ment, and to demand the withdrawal of
the French forces. Unable to
obtain any satisfactory concessions from
the French, Washington returned
to report the failure of his mission,
and on his return, as you well know,
experienced some hairbreadth escapes
from deadly peril. In 1754 his
advice to occupy the point of land at
the confluence of what is now
known as the Monongahela and the Ohio
was accepted, and Captain
William Trent and Ensign Ward with a
company of militia were pushed
forward to the present site of
Pittsburgh, with instructions at the junc-
tion of the rivers to build a fort.
While laboring at their task, Trent
being for the moment absent, an
overwhelming company of French and
Indians, numbering seven hundred strong,
led by Captain de Contrecoeur
came down the Alleghany in their
bateaux, ordered the Virginians to
desist from their work, and allowing
them to take their tools with them,
assumed possession of the spot and began
themselves to erect a fort
which in honor of the Governor-General
of the French possessions in
Canada they named Fort Duquesne.
Captain Trent and Ensign Ward with their
handful of men retreated,
and on the 25th day of April, at Will's
Creek, joined the command under
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 409
Lieutenant Colonel George Washington who
was encamped there await-
ing the arrival of Colonel Joshua Fry,
who was to bring up the remainder
of the regiment, numbering three hundred
men, that had been sent for-
ward by the Virginians, the House of
Burgesses having voted ten thou-
sand pounds for the defense of the
colony. Washington pushed forward
as rapidly as possible. While Washington
was halting at the mouth of
Redstone Creek on the evening of May the
27th, an Indian runner came
to him bringing the information that a
party of hostile Frenchmen were
encamped in a nearby ravine. Washington,
taking forty men with him,
proceeded to investigate. When the
Frenchmen flew to arms at his
approach he gave the order to fire.
Monsieur Jumonville, the officer
in command, was killed with nine of his
men. The rest were taken
prisoners with a single exception. "When on this memorable night
Washington gave the command to
fire," says Bancroft, "that word
kindled the world into a flame. Here in
the western forest began that
battle which was to banish from the soil and neighborhood of our
republic the institutions of the middle
age and to inflict on them fatal
wounds throughout the continent of
Europe."
Knowing that he might certainly expect
to be attacked in force by
the French, Washington, upon whom the
chief command now developed,
owing to the death of Colonel Fry at
Will's Creek, fell back to a bit of
meadow-land under the shadow of the
Laurel Ridge, and here entrenched
himself, naming the spot Fort
Necessity. On the 3rd of July, De
Villiers, a brother of Jumonville,
appeared with a force of nine hundred
men, completely outnumbering the Virginians,
who mustered only four
hundred. The battle lasted all day until
the night fell. The French
fired from the cover of the woods and
from the rising ground. Rain
fell in torrents. In the dark the French
sent a flag of truce and pro-
posed a parley. The result was an
agreement by which Washington
was permitted to retire with the honors
of war upon condition that he
would surrender his artillery and give
hostages for the delivery in
safety of the prisoners who had been
taken in the affair with Jumon-
ville. The hostages given were Captains
Van Braam and Stobo, who
were sent by the French to Quebec, where
for weary years they lan-
guished as prisoners, Governor Dinwiddie
persistently refusing to re-
spect the honorable stipulations which had
been made by Washington.
Captain Stobo has left us a record of
the long years of imprison-
ment at Quebec and of his romantic
escape, and upon this strange story
Sir Gilbert Parker has founded his
fascinating romance entitled "The
Seats of the Mighty."
Beaten back by the French, the
Virginians determined to redouble
their efforts. The shot fired at the
mouth of Redstone Creek in western
Pennsylvania had been heard by kings and
courts. An army led by
Braddock, who was accompanied by the
young hero of Fort Necessity,
returned in the following year and
advanced bravely to the attack of
410 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Fort Duquesne. Through the insensate
unwillingness of the Commander
to heed the advice of the officers of
the Colonial forces, among them
Washington, who were well acquainted
with the methods of Indian war-
fare, the English platoons marched as if
on dress parade to their death,
while the shaggy hillsides resounded to
the wild cries and the savage
war-whoop of their Indian enemies
directed by a handful of Frenchmen.
It was not until the 25th day of
November, 1758, just one hundred
and fifty years ago day before
yesterday, that the stain placed by Brad-
dock's defeat upon the British arms was
wiped out by the capture of
Fort Duquesne. The capture was effected
by a brave Scotchman, born
in the old royal city of Dunfermline,
who, although he was carried on
a litter across the mountains of
Pennsylvania, already stricken by a fatal
disease, with lion-hearted courage held
his way, supported, counseled,
and cared for by Colonel Armstrong and
Colonel Washington, the leaders
of the forces sent to support the
British regulars by Pennsylvania and
Virginia. Associated with the
Pennsylvanians and Virginians were sev-
eral troops of soldiers from Maryland
and North Carolina. In the dusk
of the evening of November the 25th,
1758, Colonel Armstrong raised the
cross of St. George where in the dawn
the lilies of France had floated,
and Forbes gave to the spot the name of
"Pittsburgh" in honor of the
"Great Commoner" whose
political genius laid the foundations of Eng-
land's supremacy in India and on the
seas, and whose counsel, had it
been followed, would have prevented the
loss to England of the greater
part of her vast possessions upon the
soil of the new world. "Pitts-
burgh is," says Bancroft, "the
most enduring monument to William
Pitt. America raised to his name statues
which have been wrongfully
broken, and granite piles of which not
one stone remains upon another,
but long as the Monongahela and the
Alleghany shall flow to form
the Ohio, long as the English tongue
shall be the language of freedom
in the boundless valley which their
waters traverse, his name shall stand
inscribed on the Gateway of the
West."
The first step taken after the
occupation of Fort Duquesne and the
naming of the spot as Pittsburgh, was
the reconstruction of the fortifica-
tions at the junction of the Alleghany
and Monongahela. The fort
which was erected was called Fort Pitt,
and was situated in part upon
the ground occupied by the ruins of Fort
Duquesne. The first Fort Pitt
was subsequently replaced by a second
and much larger fortification,
likewise known as Fort Pitt, covering a
wide area at the junction of the
two rivers. Within the enclosure of this
greater fortification in the
year 1764 was erected on the edge of the
parade-ground a block-house.
This rude structure, alone of all the
fortifications at the junction of the
rivers, has escaped the ravages of time
and today, carefully guarded and
cared for by the Daughters of the
American Revolution, stands as a
memorial of the first occupation of the
region by the British forces.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley
Historical Association. 411
The story of the French and Indian War
is familiar to you, and I
need not even recapitulate its salient
features. Suffice it to say that the
contest between the French and English
terminated by a definite treaty
of peace signed on February the 10th,
1763, by which France renounced
the occupation of all territories
claimed by her on the soil of the new
world east of the Mississippi River.
The western borders of the territory
acquired by Great Britain
were not, however, to be left in peace.
The Indians who had been allied
with the French, viewing with alarm the
westward progress of the waves
of immigration, resolved upon making a
stand against the occupation of
their lands, and under the leadership of
Pontiac, who has been called
the "Napoleon of the red men,"
entered into a widespread league to beat
back the advancing whites. The storm of
Indian warfare broke in 1763.
Parkman in his charming narrative has
given us the history of these
stirring times, which you will do well
to reread. The fort at the head-
waters of the Ohio was made one of the
points of attack. The few
scattered settlers in the neighborhood,
who had received some timely
intimation of the hostile intent of the
Indians, were gathered within the
Fort, which was beleaguered by an
overwhelming number of red men.
For a long time the issue of the
conflict hung in doubt; provisions
were running short; the supply of
ammunition had almost given out
when Colonel Bouquet, at the head of a
small army, rapidly advanced
from the east and, after delivering to
the Indians, who attacked him at
Bushy Run, a bloody defeat, succeeded in
raising the siege, and then
coming westward into Ohio, by a display
of tact and firmness, which
marked him as a most able commander,
succeeded in pacifying for the
time being the Indian tribes occupying
the country immediately to the
west of Pittsburgh.
The movement on the part of the whites
to occupy the region
about the headwaters of the great river
was at first slow and marked
by timidity. The lands were not yet
surveyed; there existed a conflict
of titles between Virginia and
Pennsylvania; the fear of Indian hostili-
ties hung over the western mountain
valleys. The means of subsistence
to be won from the forest and the soil
were at best but precarious.
Nevertheless bold and adventurous
spirits here and there crossed over
into the region. They were mainly
Scotchmen who came from the
settlements made in the region of the
Cumberland Valley, or Virginians,
who having come from the south in the
forces led by Washington had
divined something of the possible future
greatness and prosperity of the
country. The men of Pennsylvania pressed
westward by way of Bed-
ford, Frankstown, and the Kittanning
trail. The men of Virginia came
by way of what is now Cumberland
(Maryland) and the valley of the
Youghiogheny. Those who came engaged in
hunting and trapping, trad-
ing with the Indians for peltries, and
established themselves here and
there in the open glades in the
woodlands where they were saved the
412 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
trouble of chopping down the huge forest
growths with which the whole
country was covered. Failing to secure
such favored spots, with axe in
hand they hewed down the great oaks and
broke the soil about their
rude cabins to create in the forest
their little farms. Their lives were
lives of toil and peril. In 1768 there
had already gathered about the
Fort a small settlement representing the
elements of the frontier, and
here and there in lonely clearings dwelt
men of iron mould, who, fearless
and self-reliant, set about to convert
the wilderness into gardens.
Fergus Moorhead was one of these early
settlers, and as his life
is typical of the lives of many of these
pioneers, you will pardon me
if in a few words I sketch his career,
because the story is familiar to
me, and is one which I hope my children
will hand down to their
children. He was the son of a
Scotch-Irishman, who had settled in the
Cumberland Valley and had acquired, in
obedience to the Anglo-Saxon
"hunger for land," large
tracts in that fertile country. Like Daniel
Boone, in spite of the large holdings of
his father, he found himself
cramped by the presence of too many men
about him, and so he wandered
forth across the Alleghany ridges with
his rifle in hand, and established
himself about 1770 on the very outposts
of civilization, in the midst of
the wilderness, where he took up tracts
which promised in time to be-
come fruitful farms. He built a cabin
for himself on a small prairie-
like opening which he found in the
forest near the site of the present
county seat of Indiana County, of which
he was the first settler. He was
a man of force and character. Together
with his brother Samuel, who
joined him at a later day, he formed a
body of frontiersmen into a
company of militia for the protection of
the western settlements. At
the outbreak of the Revolutionary War,
when the Indians, incited by the
English in Canada, rose in hostility,
Moorhead's troop, garrisoning Kit-
tanning, held the western line of
defenses in safety. But Fergus was
waylaid at Blanket Hill by the Indians
when going from the Fort at
Kittanning to visit his wife, whom he
had left in their lonely cabin. His
sole companion, Simpson, a private in
the troop, was shot dead. His
horse was shot under him, and he was
taken prisoner. Placing the
saddle of his horse upon his back, his
captors led him through the
seemingly trackless wilderness north
toward Canada. Again and again
he tried to escape, but the vigilance of
the Indians prevented. At last
they brought him to Quebec and there for
a year he languished in
captivity. His wife waited and waited
for his promised return, but he
did not come. One of his children died.
His wife with her own hands
dug a grave and in it laid the body of
her child. Then mounting a
horse, with one of her children behind
her and another in her arms,
she set out alone through the forest to
Fort Ligonier, thence across the
Alleghany mountains, returning to
Carlisle to her father's house. Here
a year and a half afterwards, as she was
seated one day upon the
veranda looking down through the hot
summer haze she saw coming
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical Association. 413
up the street a familiar form. She
raised her hand to shade her eyes
and then, with a scream, exclaimed,
"Oh God! If Fergus Moorhead
were still living, I would say that that
is he coming up the street." In
a few moments more he had her in his
arms. Exchanged as a pris-
oner of war he had walked from New York
to his home. You would
think that an experience like that would
daunt a man, but we find him
the next year back again, rebuilding the
cabin which the Indians had
burned. His son Joseph, whom the mother had carried across the
mountains, grown to man's estate,
accompanied St. Clair on his memo-
rable expedition into the Northwest Territory
and was wounded at St.
Clair's defeat. In return for his
services he received the right to take
up land within the State of Ohio. He
chose as his portion a tract of
land on the banks of this great river at
the point where the City of
Cincinnati now stands. His sister had married Isaac Anderson, a
young man engaged in trade with the
Indians. He made an exchange of
his holdings of land in Ohio for the
business of young Anderson. An-
derson going to the banks of Black Lick
felled a huge tulip-poplar tree,
hollowed it out into a canoe, and into
this he put his small store of
household goods, his wife and children,
and then floated down the Black
Lick into the Kiskiminitas, thence into
the Alleghany, and thence into
the Ohio. He came down the river and
established himself at Cincin-
nati. One of his descendants, the Rev.
W. C. Anderson, D. D., was
the honored President of Miami
University, assuming that position in
the year 1849 and holding it for many
years afterward. Of the descend-
ants of Fergus Moorhead many have risen
to wealth, a score or more
have been lawyers and clergymen of
distinction, and one of them a
justice of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania. It was men like these
who laid the foundations and who have
given to the family of American
Commonwealths, which now fill the great
Valley from east to west, that
courage and virility which has
characterized their population. This
man of whom I have spoken is only one of
thousands like him, whose
blood is telling today in the veins of
those who come after them.
The contention between Virginia and
Pennsylvania as to who should
occupy and claim the upper valley of the
Ohio, the metropolis of which
is Pittsburgh, was continued for a
number of years. The name of Fort
Pitt was changed to Fort Dunmore in
honor of the governor of Vir-
ginia. Western Pennsylvania was included
in what was by Virginians
styled the province of West Augusta.
Courts were held at Fort Dun-
more and elsewhere with appeal from
their decisions to the court at
Staunton, the seat of government of the
province. The followers and
representatives of the Penns protested;
they caused the arrest of Dr.
John Connelly, the representative of the
Virginian governor. He was
taken to Hannastown, the county seat of
Westmoreland County, Penn-
sylvania, and gave bail to appear at the
next term of court. He kept
his word, and returned to meet his
judges. But he was accompanied
414 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
by a considerable body of armed men, who
captured the court and took
them off to Staunton in Virginia as
themselves trespassers. The merry
war went on until the outbreak of the
Revolution, and even after that
time, and was not discontinued until in
1787 Virginia ceded to the con-
federacy of the thirteen states her
claim to that great territory out of
which Ohio and her sister states were at
a later date erected.
But there was another element
represented among the waves of
immigration. Coming with the troops as
chaplains, following the settlers
into their remote homes, Bible in hand,
were the ministers of Christ.
The day after the occupation of Fort
Duquesne it is a matter of historic
record that a Thanksgiving service was
held on the spot conducted by the
Rev. Charles Beatty, whose grandson, the
late Rev. Charles C. Beatty
of Steubenville, Ohio, was not only an
eminent clergyman, but also an
eminent philanthropist, who consecrated
his large fortune to the educa-
tion of young men. Eight years afterward
we find the Rev. Charles
Beatty, accompanied by Rev. Mr.
Duffield, visiting the region and then
returning to their homes in the east to
stir the hearts of men to send
Christian ministers to teach the truth
amidst the scattered settlements
of the frontier. The very flower of the
eastern colleges, which were
then in their infancy, were selected for
the work. Men like John Mc-
Millan, whom Albert Gallatin at a later
date called "Cardinal" McMillan,
so potent was his influence,-James
Powers, Thaddeaus Dodd, and
Joseph Smith, graduates of Princeton,
were leaders in the work of
evangelization and founders wherever
they went of schools and colleges.
Out of the log college established by
John McMillan on the banks of
Chartiers Creek grew Washington and
Jefferson College, and we find
this same McMillan, associated with the
others, whom I have named,
more than a hundred and twenty years ago
in the Board of Trustees
of the institution now known as the
University of Pittsburgh.
While Presbyterian clergymen were
laboring to organize congrega-
tions among the Scotch-Irish settlers in
the valleys of the Alleghany
and Monongahela, the Moravian
missionaries were laboring to teach
the red men of the wilderness the same
truths and to educate them.
David Zeisberger, whose mortal remains
now sleep under the sod of
Ohio, so preached the gospel to the
hostile Monseys who were on
the war trail upon the upper waters of
the Alleghany, that they laid
down their hatchets and were baptized in
the name of Him who is
the Prince of Peace. John Heckewelder,
many of whose descendants
live upon the soil of this State and
whose daughter was, I believe, the
first white girl born within the State
of Ohio, did a work among the
Indians that has made his name forever
historic.
The close of the Revolutionary War
brought to Pittsburgh a num-
ber of men who had been officers in the
Continental armies. They were
men of influence and culture. Associated
with them as leaders in the
early settlements were others, likewise
men of culture, among whom
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 415
may be mentioned Hugh Henry
Brackenridge, the author of a satirical
romance entitled "Modern
Chivalry," in which he sarcastically depicts
the political conditions of his time.
"The Pittsburgh Gazette," the first
newspaper printed west of the Alleghany
mountains, contains in its early
columns a number of contributions from
the pen of this versatile son
of Princeton, who had been a classmate of
James Madison, who at a
later time became President of the
United States. Brackenridge had un-
bounded faith in the future of the Ohio
Valley, and he used his influence,
not merely as a prophet, but as a very
active politician and lawyer, to
bring about the realization of the
dreams which he had dreamed. One
hundred and fifty years have passed
since Hugh Henry Brackenridge
prophesied, and it is interesting today
to those who take the trouble to
read what he wrote, to see how even far
beyond his fondest fancies has
been the issue of events.
It would be to me a fascinating task in
detail to sketch to you
how influences of various sorts have
been woven together to bring
about those conditions which we see at
present. The portion assigned
to me, however, has been in a few words
to tell of the early beginnings
of the settlement of the Valley. There
is no time for me to do more
than I have done, with a few bold
strokes to recall to memory the
stirring deeds from 1752 to 1787, in
which in rapid succession we see
the Virginian Cavalier and the
Pennsylvanian uniting to expel the chiv-
alry of France from the coveted valley,
and then turning to contend
between themselves for the possession of
the gateway of the West; to
picture to you the sturdy advance of the
pioneer settlers, men whose
implements were the rifle and the axe,
to remind you of the warfare
which they waged with the wild men of
the forest and with the obdurate
might of sullen Nature, to show how with
that culture which comes
through the plow there came the culture
which comes through the
printed Word, and how thus foundations
were laid by the hands and
the heads and the hearts of men for that
triumphant civilization which
has taken possession of the vast domain.
New England has her tradi-
tions of Plymouth Rock, Virginia of her
Jamestown, New York of her
early life on the banks of the Hudson;
but no less consecrated and no
less stirring are the traditions which linger
along the shores of what the
poetic Frenchman called "la belle
riviere," the fair Ohio, the shining
waters of which flow past this historic
town.
SKETCH OF OHIO RIVER IMPROVEMENTS.
COLONEL JOHN L. VANCE, Columbus.
President Ohio Valley Improvement
Association.
It is impossible in the limits of a
paper for such an occasion as
this to go into a detailed statement of
the various movements looking
to the improvement of the Ohio. A brief
summary, only, may be given.
416 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
In 1784 we find specific suggestions
made of the value of the
Ohio to the trade and commerce of the
United States in a letter from
Washington to Governor Harrison of
Virginia, in which he suggested
the connection of the Ohio and the
Potomac by the way of Wills
Creek. These words are used by
Washington: "The Western States,
I speak now from my own observation,
stand as it were upon a pivot.
The touch of a feather would turn them
either way. They have looked
down the Mississippi until the
Spaniards, very impolitically for them-
selves, I think, have thrown
difficulties in their way. * * * These
causes have, hitherto, checked the
industry of the present settlers. * *
But smooth the road and make easy for
them, and see what an influx
of articles will be poured in upon us;
how amazingly our exports will
be increased by them, and how amply we
shall be compensated for any
trouble and expense we may encounter to
effect it."
Later, Washington recommends the survey
of the Ohio and its
affluents in these words: "The
navigation of the Ohio being known,
they will have less to do in the
examination of it. But, nevertheless,
let the courses and distances of the
river be taken to the mouth of the
Muskingum and up that river,
notwithstanding it is in the ceded lands
to the carrying places of the Cuyahoga.
* * * In a word, let the
waters East and West of the Ohio, which
invite our notice by their
proximity and by the ease with which
land transportation may be had
between them and the lakes on the one
side and the Potomac and
James on the other, be explored,
delineated accurately, and a correct
and connected map of the whole be
presented to the public."
Again, he wrote: "I could not help
taking a more extensive view
of the vast inland navigation of these
United States from maps and
from the information of others, and
could not but be struck with the
immense extent and importance of it and
the goodness of that Provi-
dence which has dealt its favors to us
with so profuse a hand. Would
to God we may have wisdom to improve
them."
While Washington looked to the general
improvement of the entire
system of inland waterways, his letters
to Governor Harrison and
Thomas Jefferson make it plain that, in
his view, the first inland water-
way improvement would be in the
connection of the Ohio and the
Potomac and the James Rivers.
As early as 1804, the Legislature of
Kentucky incorporated a com-
pany organized for the purpose of
constructing the Louisville and Port-
land Canal, to avoid the falls of the
Ohio. Although contracts were
let for the work, it was not begun until
1825, and not until December,
1830, was the canal opened for
navigation.
In 1820, Congress made an appropriation
for a survey of the Ohio
from Louisville to the Mississippi
River. This survey was made by
Captains Young and Poussin of the
Topographical Engineers and Lieu-
tenant Tuttle of the Engineers. In 1824,
an appropriation of $75,000
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 417
was made for the improvement of certain
sand bars in the Ohio, and
for the removal of snags from the Ohio
and Mississippi Rivers. Dur-
ing the following year, Major Long, of
the Topographical Engineers,
began the construction of the first dike
on the Ohio at Henderson, Ky.
In 1830, work was begun on the removal
of rocks at Grand Chain;
and dikes at Scuffletown, Sisters, and
French and Cumberland Islands
were constructed in 1831 and 1832. The
first permanent work above the
Falls was the dams at Browns Island,
constructed in 1836. The con-
struction of dikes and cut off dams was
in pursuance of the project
of regulation of depths by closing island
chutes and by narrowing the
channel by dikes projecting from the
bank in order to concentrate
the water upon bars to cause their
removal. This method of improve-
ment was carried on at many places until
the practical discontinuance
of appropriations for the Ohio in 1844.
From 1845 to 1866 only two
appropriations were made, one of which
was quite small, and the other
only $95,000. Upon the resumption of
appropriations in 1866, the method
of improvement by work of contraction
was resumed, and with the re-
moval of snags, wrecks, and other
obstructions, and the cutting of
channels by dredging, this plan is still
in use. Ice harbors have also
been constructed at various points above
the Falls.
It was recognized at an early date that
to improve the river to
accommodate the existing commerce, a
system of locks and dams must
be inaugurated. The first recorded
proposition for this purpose was
made by Mr. W. Milnor Roberts, Civil
Engineer, in 1870. In 1874,
Major W. E. Merrill, Corps of Engineers,
recommended the construc
tion of 13 locks and movable dams with
Chanoine wickets between Pitts-
burgh and Wheeling, and stated that
there is no doubt of the absolute
necessity of using locks in any rational
plan of improving the Upper
Ohio. In 1875, Major Merrill expressed
himself in favor of extending
the movable dam system throughout the
entire river. In 1875, the sum
of $100,000 was appropriated, "to
be used for and applied toward the
construction of a movable dam, or a dam
with adjustable gates, for the
purpose of testing substantially the
best method of improving, perma-
nently, the navigation of the Ohio River
and its tributaries." This
dam was constructed at Davis Island, and
was opened for traffic October
7, 1885.
In 1895, the Ohio Valley Improvement
Association was organized.
The apparent neglect of the Ohio River
caused the formation of this
Association, which has labored
assiduously in behalf of the permanent
improvement of the river from Pittsburgh
to Cairo by a system of
locks and dams. It was thought at first
that 6 feet of water would
accommodate the traffic, present and
prospective. It was found that
more water would be required, and the
plan was changed (in 1902) to
9 feet.
Vol. XVIII- 27.
418 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Beginning with 1890, appropriations have
been made for thirteen
other locks and dams. The act of June 3,
1896, authorized a survey
from Pittsburgh to Marietta and a report
as to the number of movable
dams necessary to provide 6 feet of
water at low water. This report
provided for a system of 18 locks
between the points named.
The act of March 3, 1899, provided for a
survey between Marietta
and the mouth of the Big Miami. The
report of this survey provided
for 19 additional locks and dams-a total
of 37 to cover the river from
Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Big
Miami. Special surveys have been
made from time to time at various
locations, for use in connection with
the general improvement of the river.
The river and harbor act of June 13,
1902, provided for an examina-
tion at and below Pool No. 1, with a
view of securing increased depth
and additional harbor facilities for the
city of Pittsburgh. A Board of
Officers of the Corps of Engineers
(ordered to consider and report
upon this matter) was of the opinion
that to meet the demands of
traffic a depth of 9 feet should be
provided from Davis Island (Lock
No. 1) to Lock No. 7. The act of March
3, 1905, appropriated funds
for securing a stage of 9 feet in the
pools made by Dams Nos. 2, 3, 4,
5, and 6, by a modification of these
locks and dams.
The most important legislation in behalf
of the Ohio River was
contained in the act of Congress
approved March 3, 1905, as follows:
"The Secretary of War is hereby
authorized and directed to appoint
a board of engineers to examine the Ohio
River, and report at the
earliest date by which a thorough
examination can be made, the neces-
sary data with reference to the
canalization of the river, and the approxi-
mate location and number of locks and
dams in such river, with a view
both to a depth of six feet and nine
feet; and in said report shall in-
clude the probable cost of such
improvement with each of the depths
named, the probable cost of maintenance,
and the present and prospective
commerce of said river, upstream as well
as downstream, having regard
to both local and through traffic. They
shall also report whether, in
their opinion, such improvement should
be made, and whether other
plans of improvement could be devised
under which the probable de-
mands of traffic, present and
prospective, could be provided for without
additional locks and dams, or with a
less number than is described in
surveys heretofore made, giving general
details relating to all of said
plans and the approximate cost of
completion thereof. They shall also
examine the said river from the mouth of
the Green River to Cairo,
with a view to determining whether an
increased depth can be main-
tained by use of dredges."
In conformity with this act, the
Secretary of War appointed the
following officers as members of such
Board: Lieut.-Colonel D. W.
Lockwood, Lieut.-Colonel Ernest H.
Ruffner, Lieut.-Colonel Clinton B.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical Association. 419
Sears, Major Geo. A. Zinn, and Major Wm.
L. Sibert. Captain Harry
Burgess was the Recorder of the Board.
This Board most thoroughly performed the
important duties com-
mitted to it, and on the 15th of
December, 1906, made an exhaustive
report. I must be content to quote the
closing paragraph:
"In view of the enormous interests
to be benefited by continuous
navigation on the Ohio River, and the
great development which may be
expected from such increased facilities,
the Board is of the opinion
that the Ohio River should be improved
by means of locks and dams
to provide a depth of 9 feet from
Pittsburgh to Cairo."
As provided by law, this report was
referred to the Board of
Engineers for Rivers and Harbors for
review, i. e., Colonel H. M.
Adams, Colonel Chas. E. L. B. Davis,
Colonel R. L. Hoxie, Lieut.-
Colonel C. McD. Townsend, and Major E.
Eveleth Winslow. This
Board made a personal inspection of the
river and held a public hear-
ing at Pittsburgh, and on the 18th of
October, 1907, filed its report,
from which I quote the concluding
paragraphs:
"The General Government has
expended large sums in improving
the various tributaries of the Ohio. The
utility of these improvements is
dependent on the navigability of the
main stream. The proposed im-
provement of the Ohio River will create
a vast system of water com-
munication penetrating one of the most
populous and prosperous sec-
tions of the United States. Even in its
unimproved condition the river
has a marked effect on rail freight
rates, the cheap rates quoted in the
report as prevailing between New Orleans
and Louisville, Cincinnati,
and Pittsburgh being directly traceable
to its influence. Its effect on
rail freight rates will be greatly
increased if the proposed improvements
are carried out.
"For these reasons the Board is of
the opinion that the improve-
ment of the Ohio River by locks and movable
dams so as to secure a
depth of 9 feet as recommended in the
report of the special board is
worthy of being undertaken by the United
States.
"In making this recommendation the
Board realizes that it is sug-
gesting a plan for river improvement on
a scale not hitherto attempted
in this country, but it believes that
there will probably be in the near
future a popular demand for the
improvement of several streams on
such a scale. On account of the large
commercial development of its
shores and its connection with the lower
Mississippi now maintained
in a navigable condition the Ohio River
is, in the opinion of the Board,
the one river of all others most
likely to justify such work. Further-
more, it should be noted that by
authorizing the construction for 9-foot
navigation of 14 locks at various parts
of the river, Congress has already
practically entered upon such a system
of improvement."
420 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
On the 11th of January, 1908, these
reports, accompanied by a
letter from General Mackenzie, were
transmitted to the house of Rep-
resentatives by the Secretary of War and
were referred to the Commit-
tee on Rivers and Harbors.
It remains for Congress to complete the
work it has undertaken
by adequate appropriations. There is no
further room for discussion.
All the arguments advanced by the Ohio
Valley Improvement Associa-
tion, in behalf of the permanent
improvement of the river, have been
verified and confirmed by the
distinguished Engineers making the reports
by direct authority of Congress.
And so, after the lapse of a century and
a quarter, the dream of
Washington bids fair to be realized.
[The excellent address of Mr. Lewis on
Dunmore's War, is here
omitted as the author desires to publish
it elsewhere.-EDITOR.]
Following the papers of the formal
session there was a
most pleasing reception tendered the
assembled members and
their guests by the resident members of
the Society of Colonial
Dames in the State of Ohio, in old
office of the Ohio Land Com-
pany on Washington street. The structure
has the reputation of
being the oldest building in the
Northwest Territory still on
its original site, and has fittingly
passed into the keeping of this
patriotic organization. There amidst the
old desks, chairs, and
other mementoes of early days, some
fifty guests sipped their
tea and chatted by the light cast from
the blazing log in the old
fireplace or from the flickering candles
on the walls. The com-
mittee in charge of this feature of the
program consisted of Mrs.
Lovell, Miss Woodbridge, Mrs. Daniel H.
Buell, Miss Buell,
and Miss Putnam, whose efforts were
gratefully appreciated by
the assembled guests.
THIRD SESSION.
Over a hundred persons assembled in the
Y. M. C. A. build-
ing at seven p. m. for the annual dinner
of the Association.
After partaking of the substantial
repast provided for the occa-
sion, President E. O. Randall, in introducing
the toastmaster for
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 421
the evening spoke of the first banquet
that occurred in Marietta
on July 4th, 1788, near the spot where
the guests of the Asso-
ciation were now assembled. On the
former occasion the Mari-
etta settlers were joined by the
officers of Fort Harmar and the
Indians of the immediate vicinity and
Mr. Randall drew some
amusing comparisons between that
assemblage and the present
one, reciting several apt citations from
the speeches then uttered,
the menu served, and the toasts
rendered. He then in a few felici-
tous words introduced Prof. Charles
Theodore Greve, of the
Cincinnati Law School, who was to act as
toastmaster.
Mr. Greve congratulated the Association
upon its success in
bringing together persons from all parts
of the country to dis-
cuss matters of local historical
interest, and emphasized the im-
portance of many features of the work
that was planned for the
coming year. He then introduced
President S. C. Mitchell, of
South Carolina University, who delivered
the main address of
the evening on the "Problems of the
Present Day South." Al-
though speaking from a genuine southern
standpoint, as was
shown by his happy remark that he was
forty years old before
he learned that "damned
Yankee" was not simply one word,
President Mitchell speedily won the
sympathy of his audience by
his clear and convincing presentation of
the causes and condi-
tions that have rendered the South what
she is today. It is a
matter of great regret to the
publication committee that Dr.
Mitchell was unable to furnish them with
a copy of his admir-
able and eloquent address, which was one
of the most notable
of the entire meeting.
Following the main address brief remarks
were made by
Mayor McKinney, of Marietta, Mrs. Lyria
Poffenbarger, of
Point Pleasant, Prof. E. D. Bradford, of
Miami University, W.
C. Culkins, of Cincinnati, W. W.
Longmoor, of Frankfort, Prof.
Archer B. Hulbert, of Marietta, Prof. I.
J. Cox, of Cincinnati,
and others. From the social and
oratorical standpoints the din-
ner was a great success and the
residents of Marietta, who at-
tended in large numbers, expressed their
appreciation of the
opportunity to hear so many who were
engaged in various
phases of historical and civic work.
422 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
FOURTH SESSION.
At the Saturday morning meeting
President Randall turned
the program over to Prof. F. P. Goodwin,
of Woodward High
School, Cincinnati, who conducted the
meeting in the interest of
teachers of history. After some
preliminary remarks regard-
ing the value of local history as
illustrative of national move-
ments and of methods designed to utilize
it in this way, Mr.
Goodwin introduced the chief speaker of
the morning, Prof.
Arthur W. Dunn, the Director of Civics
in the Indianapolis pub-
lic schools.
The paper of Prof Dunn is not here
reproduced as it was
published in the complete report of the
Association annual meet-
ing, as well as in the Indiana
Quarterly Magazine of History for
December, 1908.
LOCAL HISTORY IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Miss MAY LOWE,
Circleville, Ohio.
Is he an educated man who, though versed
in mathematics, in lan-
guages, in all the lore of the ancient
civilizations, does not know that
(it may be) where now stands his home
once was waged as deadly
and as cruel a war as ever startled
Europe; that here dwelt a strange
people of mysterious lineage, who
wrought with their hands as remark-
able structures as the Pyramids--who
wrought with their minds as
abstruse problems as did Euclid?
Can the resident of Pickaway County be
termed educated, who,
though trained in the history of foreign
countries does not know of
the remarkable fortifications
(prehistoric remains) upon the site of which
the county seat now stands-who does not
know of the noble chiefs
Logan and Cornstalk, and of the latter's
sister (one as mighty as the
chief in council and in war) the
Grenadier Squaw?
What of those citizens of Marietta who
are ignorant of the doings
of the hardy pioneers who here laid the
foundation of the first town
in Ohio, and at the same time blazed the
trail for others whose coming
opened up all that vast region west of
the Alleghanies? What of those
citizens of Marietta who do not know
that within twelve miles of them
was that unique and beautiful house
which was the scene of one of the
most romantic episodes in any history;
in which was hatched the stu-
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 423
pendous scheme for the establishment of
that great Western Empire
which Aaron Burr should rule.
What may be said of those citizens of
New Lexington, who do
not know that less than a half century
ago, there worked and played
about the beautiful hills with which
they are so familiar, a young boy,
who, by his learning, his intrepid
spirit, his sympathy with the oppressed,
was destined to "change the face of
Eastern Europe"; who inspired the
Russo-Turkish war; who died in far-away
Constantinople, and who, to-
day, lies in the little St. Rose
cemetery, his grave marked by a huge
unhewn boulder, his name forever
enshrined in the hearts of those who
know--MacGahan, Liberator of Bulgaria?
Endless, indeed, is the list of
historical events bearing upon the
various localities of this great
country; and endless will be the profit
and pleasure assured to the boy and girl
to whose attention are brought
these events. For, once brought to their
notice in the right way, they
will prove a source of infinite delight
to the children, who will not be
slow in connecting the links until, at
length, there is strung together in
their minds a chain of knowledge of historical
events dealing with their
neighborhoods. And it will become, to
them, an endless chain, for they
will follow it along, will add links
dealing with their county, their
state, their Nation, and eventually,
other nations.
It rests with parents and teachers to
stimulate this interest.
That a knowledge of local historical
happenings is considered of
importance, by thinkers and writers, is
a matter of record. Note what
Whittier says:
"Our mother, while she turned her
wheel
Or run the new-knit stocking-heel,
Told how the Indian hordes came down
At midnight on Cocheco town,
And how her own great-uncle bore
His cruel scalp-mark to fourscore,
Recalling, in her fitting phrase,
So rich and picturesque and free,
(The common unrhymed poetry
Of simple life and country ways,)
The story of her early days."
And coming nearer home we have the words
of the venerable Dr.
William Henry Venable, with whom many of
you are personally
acquainted, and who is honored
throughout the land. In a letter written
some ten days ago, he says, "The
topic is exceedingly important," and
he expresses himself as being in perfect
sympathy with the objects of
the Ohio Valley Historical Association
and mentions a number of his
friends among the members. It is
needless to say to you, who know
him so well, that much of his work in
prose and many of his poems
424 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
testify to his
interest in the subject of local history. Beside that noble
poem, "The
Founders," written for your Central Ohio Valley History
Conference, a year
ago, we find in his latest volume many poems (among
them, "John
Filson," "A Ballad of Old Kentucky," and "Wending
Westward,")
which breathe forth a spirit of interest in events which
shaped the history of
a region with which we are all familiar.
Dr. John B. Peaslee,
for many years the Superintendent of the
Public Schools of
Cincinnati, and author of that instructive and enter-
taining book
"Thoughts and Experiences In and Out of School," has
done a great deal to
call attention to the value of this subject, as well
as to encourage its
study. I trust I am not going too far when I say
that there seems to
have been, on the part of those in authority, either
some prejudice
against or some lack of knowledge of the importance
of this subject as a
part of the work of the public schools. To over-
come, in any measure,
these difficulties has, no doubt, been an arduous
task; and we perhaps
owe it to the efforts of such men as Dr. Peaslee
that they have, even
in a small degree, been overcome. That the time
may come, and soon,
when certain time will be set apart in the school
courses for local
history, as it is for arithmetic and spelling, will be,
in large measure, the
result of the work of these pioneers and of the
Ohio Valley Historical
Association.
During Dr. Peaslee's
superintendency of the schools, in Cincinnati
there was not, and
there is not now (to quote from a letter) any
systematic course in
local history. He, however, supplemented the in-
cidental work done in
this direction by the introduction of "Pioneer
Day"
celebrations. The character and scope of these celebrations may
be gained from the
following:
SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS:
1. The day we
celebrate. 8. First settlement
of Columbus
2. General George
Rogers Clark. and Cincinnati.
3. The Ordinance
of Eighty- 9. Fort
Washington.
Seven. 10.
Habits of the pioneers.
4. The Ohio Company. 11.
Gen. Harrison.
5. Gen. St. Clair,
first governor 12.
The Cincinnati mound.
of Ohio. 13.
German pioneers.
6. Gen. Wayne. 14. The
Indians.
7. John Cleves
Symmes.
SELECT READINGS:
1. Extracts from
Ordinance of Eighty-Seven.
2. The West-extract
from speech of Dr. Daniel Drake.
3. Description of the
buckeye tree, by Dr. Drake.
4. Courage of Miss
Zane.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 425
5. "How Farmers Lived," by
Judge Burnet.
6. Extracts from letters of Washington
Irving, James K. Paulding,
Jared Sparks and James Madison, all
referring to our State or City.
These letters were written in 1855, on
the occasion of the "birthday"
celebration of Ohio by the citizens of
Cincinnati.
DECLAMATIONS:
1. "The Pioneers,"
"Tecumseh," and "Old Mound," by Charles A.
Jones. (This mound stood near where the
Hughes High School build-
ing now stands.)
2. "The Mothers of the West,"
and "Song of the Pioneers," by W.
A. Gallagher.
3. "Ohio's Pilgrim Band," or
"Pioneer Hymn," composed for the
occasion by Lewis J. Cist, and sung to
the tune of "America."
The schools were not confined to the
above topics and selections;
nevertheless, the list fairly represents
the character and scope of the
celebrations. As preparatory work, the
Superintendent of Schools gave
a talk of nearly an hour each to all the
pupils above the third reader.
Mr. C. B. Galbreath, State Librarian of
Ohio, while Superintendent
of Schools in Paulding County,
introduced some valuable work along
this line among the pupils under his
charge. Among other things was a
collection of maps of local interest
which he was asked to have pre-
pared as a part of the educational
exhibit at the Columbian Exposition.
Prof. Stanley Lawrence, Superintendent
of the village schools at
Ashville, Pickaway County, Ohio, (with
which is connected a joint town-
ship High School) says that his school
is typical of most of the village
and township schools with which he is
familiar, and that, in his school,
little systematic effort is made to
teach local history. The pupils read
Howell's Stories of Ohio, in the 6th
grade, and Ohio History Sketches,
in the 8th grade; once in a while, in
connection with composition work
or as graduating essays, papers on local
history are prepared by the
pupils; papers on such subjects are
given, now and then, on special
programs in observance of patriotic
days.
In the schools of Circleville, in the
same county, a similar con-
dition exists in regard to this subject.
Those teachers who have a
predilection for it give such
instruction as their limited time permits.
But no time is assigned for its study,
and those teachers to whom pay-
day is the most important period in
history allow a rich field to lie
uncultivated at their very doors. But
all honor to those who do, in any
degree, cultivate it, for in this
additional task they are neither stimulated
nor aided. Their reward comes, as it
must come to so many toilers, in
the consciousness that, whatever the
lack of encouragement, they could
not have been true to their high natures
had they done less than their
best.
426 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
A notable example of the work inspired
by these teachers is that
done by the pupils of the High School of
Circleville, in 1906 and 1907,
under the direct supervision of
Principal T. O. Williams, now Principal
of the High School at Newark, Ohio. A
magazine was conducted, dur-
ing these years, which reflected
considerable credit upon the school. It
took its name, as well as its cover
design, from the old fortifications
and the plan of the early town. Though
the contents of the present
number are taken, in some cases, almost
bodily, from a recent History
of Pickaway County, the selection shows
discrimination, and the whole
number exhibits, better than words can
do, the lively interest taken, for
a short period, at least, in the
remarkable local history of the vicinity.
An application for information, directed
to the State Superintend-
ents of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana,
brought courteous replies, but, as
far as the two former are concerned,
nothing very encouraging as to
work undertaken or progress made in the
study of local history in the
schools. The required books of
supplementary reading, in the Ohio
Pupils' Reading Course, which course is
not compulsory, include vari-
ous volumes of stories of Ohio history;
and the common schools of
Kentucky are required to study the
history of their State, the text book
adopted being Kinkead's History of
Kentucky. But it is evident that
in these two states, as well as in most
of the Union, the study of local
history rests almost entirely with
individual teachers-that no special
time is allowed and no space assigned
for this subject in the regular
courses of study.
A History of Education in the State of
Ohio, prepared by mem-
bers of the Ohio Teachers' Association,
formed a part of the representa-
tion of the educational interests of the
State, at the Philadelphia Cen-
tennial Exhibition, in 1876. It, in
conjunction with Historical Sketches
of Public Schools of the State of Ohio
(same date) purports to be a
complete record of the history, work,
and progress of the schools of
the State, up to that time. And as there
is no mention of local history,
in the synopsis of a course of study
given (in the first-named volume)
as representative of the courses taught
in the graded schools of the State,
it is, perhaps, safe to assert that
local history was not taught in the
Ohio schools, before that date. In the
Historical Sketches the course
of studies is given for each town and
city and local history is not named.
Of general reports, I have had access to
nothing later than the
report of the Commissioner of Education,
for 1906, and in it no refer-
ence, as far as I could detect, was made
to the subject of local history
study.
In the Report of the Committee of Ten (a
committee on secondary
school studies, appointed at the meeting
of the National Educational
Association, July 9, 1892, with reports
of the Conferences arranged by
this Committee) history is one of four
subjects mentioned as being im-
perfectly dealt with in primary and
secondary schools. This, it is to
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 427
be presumed, includes local history, as
one phase of the general subject.
This report was submitted by one of the
nine Conferences of ten mem-
bers each, decided upon by the Committee
of Ten, this special Confer-
ence of History, Civil Government, and
Political Economy convening at
the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Wis., on December 28, 1892. These
experts "wished that these subjects
might be made equal to Latin, Greek,
and Mathematics in weight and influence
in the schools, but they knew
that educational tradition was adverse
to this desire." The Report says,
that "taking a comparison of
statements of 150 college students, American
history is studied in only about
one-third as many instances in High
Schools as ancient history." It
adds: "The dry and lifeless system of
instruction by text books should give
way to a more rational kind of
work."
The only direct mention of the subject
made in this Report, is as
one of a list of topics suggested for a
year's intensive study for High
Schools, No. 14 being "Some
considerable phase of local history." The
only mention, notwithstanding the fact
that the Conference urged that
an eight-years' course of study of
history be adopted by the schools,
four in grammar grades and four in High
School. The first two years,
they suggested, be taken up with
elementary biography and mythology,
the third year with American history,
"because that is the subject in
which local interest is most readily
aroused, and with which it is easiest
to connect some study of civil
government." They urge, however, that
a year of classical history be taught in
the grammar grades. Great
stress is laid upon this point, the one
year of American history being
deemed quite sufficient, though the same
Conference recommends the
study of local and state government. In
fact, one deduction made by
this Conference would seem, to some
extent, at least, to cast a damper
upon the study of local history in the
public schools. They say: "Nor
has it seemed desirable to recommend a
method not uncommon in Ger-
many, by which the student begins with
the history of his own city and
widens out to his nation, to Europe, and
perhaps eventually, to the rest
of the world. If this process is at any
point interrupted the child is
left with the feeling that the world
stops where his study has ceased."
If this be true, (and far be it from me
to insinuate that these ten experts
in historical research are wrong,) would
it not be better for Johnny
and Jenny to think that Athens or China
has no history than to think
that Podgeville (where they live) has
had no part in man's heritage of
noble endeavor and stirring deeds?
The Report of the Committee of Twelve on
Rural Schools, ap-
pointed at the meeting of the National
Educational Association, July 9,
1895, makes very interesting reading, a
number of good things, especially
being suggested for the enrichment of
the work of the rural schools, by
means of subjects drawn from rural life
and surroundings. This could,
of course, be made particularly
effective in the study of geography,
428 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
geology, botany and zoology, and might
be made none the less interest-
ing if attention were directed to local
historical events and the preserva-
tion of historical sites and landmarks.
This latter is slightly touched
upon in an appendix to the Report, in
these words, taken from an excel-
lent paper by Francis W. Parker, of the
Chicago Normal School: "Most
towns in the Eastern states and some in
the West have interesting local
histories. There are generally stories
of the Indians, of settlements, of
colonization, of noted men and women, of
the part taken by the citizens
in the Civil War. A strong love of
history can be induced and fostered
by beginning this study close to the
home." Though these words are
so encouraging to our objects it is to
be regretted that, as far as the
Report goes, no definite action nor
recommendation was taken along
these lines.
But the seeming lack of interest in the
teaching of local history
manifested by the majority of those
mapping out courses of school studies
is pleasantly counteracted by the spirit
which inspired the course of his-
tory as published in the State Manual
and Course of Study for the
Schools of Indiana, 1908-09. This is the most encouraging thing
I have found in the whole range of
reports and courses of study to
which I have had access, and it may, no
doubt, be said that Indiana is
the pioneer in the encouragement of the
study of American history and
of local history. For, while other
educational leaders seem to wish to
ignore the history of our own country,
passing over the subject, in their
reports and study courses, as of little
or no importance. Indiana comes
to the front and through its State
Course of Study asserts that Ameri-
can history and Indiana history are
important-that, of all history, they
are of supreme importance to the pupils
of that State. For, out of an
eight-years' history course, five years
are devoted to American history,
the first year being taken up entirely
with local history. A note says:
"The pupils should be led to form
pictures of life in our own State and
community by the study of those brave, faithful
men and women who
have brought the crude territory to
Statehood, and the unbroken forests
to the present fruitful fields."
The course mapped out is so significant
of the great results which
may be expected from its study, and so
suggestive of the good which,
without doubt, would result from its
adaptation by other states, that I
copy it in its entirety.
FIRST PART. - PRIMITIVE LIFE.
References: Pictures of Indian life
found in calendars, railroad
circulars and general advertising
booklets. Books: Old Indian Legends,
Zitkala-Sa; Stories of Pioneer Life,
Bass; American Indians, Starr.
I. Local Study.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 429
1. Arrowheads, beadwork, moccasins,
pottery and other Indian
relics found in the locality may be
brought to the schoolroom
by the children. Indian mounds or Indian
cemeteries in the
neighborhood may be visited and
information regarding these
various relics and monuments, and the
primitive people who
lived in the locality before the white
people came, may be ob-
tained from people living in the
community.
2. Study the local geography - hills,
mountains, rivers, natural pro-
ducts, climate- and find the conditions
that probably induced the
Indians to live there.
II. Primitive Life as Drawn from I, I and 2, and from the
References.
1. Food and clothing.
2. Houses and furniture.
3. Modes of travel and communication.
4. Occupations.
5. Amusements. (Games, etc.).
6. Education. (What was taught and how?)
7. Religion. (What was worshiped and
how?)
SECOND PART. - PIONEER LIFE.
References: Stories of Pioneer Life,
Bass; Great Americans for
Little Americans, Eggleston.
I. Local Study.
1. What became of the Indians in the
locality? Study relics, old
buildings and other matter pertaining to
the early white settlers.
2. Study the local geography and find
the conditions of advantage
to the early white settlers.
II. Pioneer Life as Drawn from I, I and 2, and from the
Reading Refer-
ences.
1. Food and clothing.
2. Houses and furniture.
3. Modes of travel and communication.
4. Occupations.
5. Amusements. (Games, etc.)
6. Education.
7. Churches.
THIRD PART. - GREAT AMERICANS.
References: Stories of Pioneer Life,
Bass; Great Americans for
Little Americans, Eggleston.
1. Extend the study of the primitive
life and the pioneers from
the locality to other parts of the State
and country, and bring
out the friendly relations and the
struggles between the Indians
and white people.
430 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
II. Study Individual Pioneers.
1. The first Governor of Boston.
2. Marquette.
3. William Penn and the Indians.
4. John Stark and the Indians.
5. Daniel Boone.
6. George Rogers Clark.
7. Story of Frances Slocum.
8. Down the Ohio.
That one is able to find, in the great
desert of indifference and
antagonism to the teaching of local
history, such a pleasant oasis of in-
terest and zeal, is indeed, refreshing;
and that this interest may broaden
and extend is to be most devoutly
wished. One writer says: "History
furnishes the best training in
patriotism and it enlarges the sympathies
and interests." This is more than
ever true of local history, for is there
not a special meaning, to the child's
mind, in the fact, that upon the very
spot where his schoolhouse stands were
once performed deeds of valor
or daring? Does not this come home to
him more forcibly than if the
same deeds had been wrought in far-away
Asia or Africa? And does
he not, each time he hears these stories
repeated, cherish them and dream
upon them, as did Elaine with the shield
of Lancelot? Do they not be-
come, to him, an incentive to high
endeavor and noble deeds?
At the business session which followed
the Corresponding
Secretary and Treasurer informally
presented the report of the
Executive Committee which will be found
in Appendix. This
report, which included the proposed
constitution was unani-
mously adopted and a vote of thanks
extended to the committee
for its work. The Nominating Committee,
of which Professor
A. E. Morse was chairman, presented the
list of officers for the
coming year. Upon motion the report was
adopted and the fol-
lowing named declared duly elected:
President:
Charles Theodore Greve, Cincinnati, O.,
Historical and Philosophical
Society of Ohio.
Vice-Presidents:
Arthur William Dunn, Indianapolis, Ind.
Indiana Historical Society.
W. J. Holland, Pittsburgh, Pa., Director
Carnegie Institute.
Virgil A. Lewis, Charleston, W. Va.
State Archivist and Historian.
Woodford W. Longmoor, Frankfort, Ky.
Kentucky State Historical
Society.
Corresponding Secretary and
Treasurer:
Isaac Joslin Cox, Cincinnati, O.
University of Cincinnati.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 431
Recording Secretary and Curator:
Archer Butler Hulbert, Marietta, O.,
Marietta College.
Additional Members of Executive
Committee:
E. O. Randall, Columbus, O.
(Ex-Officio). Secretary of Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Society.
Frank Parker Goodwin, Cincinnati, O.
Cincinnati History Teachers'
Association.
Harry Brent Mackoy, Covington, Ky.
Hereditary Patriotic Societies.
Henry William Elson, Athens, O. Ohio
University.
Harlow Lindley, Richmond, Ind. Earlham
College.
Upon motion the question of a meeting
place for the year
1909 was referred to the Executive
Committee. To this com-
mittee was also referred the question of
the time when the meet-
ing should be held. Invitations to meet
at Frankfort, Kentucky,
and at Point Pleasant, West Virginia,
were then extended to
the organization through the Executive
Committee, for which
invitations the members expressed a vote
of thanks.
It was then moved and carried that the
president appoint a
committee of five to undertake the task
of locating and pre-
serving historical manuscript
collections in the Ohio Valley, and
also a committee of three to promote the
study of local history
in the schools of this section.
President Randall later an-
nounced the following appointments:
Committee on Historical Manuscripts:
Harry Brent Mackoy, Covington, Ky.
Isaac Joslin Cox, Cincinnati, O.
Virgil A. Lewis, Charleston, W. Va.
Henry W. Temple, Washington, Pa.
Harlow Lindley, Richmond, Ind.
Committee on Local History in the
Public Schools:
Arthur William Dunn, Shortridge High
School, Indianapolis, Ind.
Frank Parker Goodwin, Woodward High
School, Cincinnati, Ohio.
W. H. Bartholomew, Girls' High School,
Louisville, Ky.
Upon suggestion from the Executive
Committee Article 4,
of the proposed constitution was amended
to permit the selection
of four instead of two vice
presidents, thus increasing the
Executive Committee to eleven members;
and Article 6 was
amended to make the regular annual dues
of each organization
five instead of ten dollars. For the constitution as thus
amended
and adopted the reader is referred to
Appendix A.
432 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
FIFTH SESSION.
At the Saturday afternoon session, under
the direction of
Professor A. E. Morse, of Marietta
College, the following pa-
pers were read and at the conclusion the
members of the Asso-
ciation extended a most hearty vote of
thanks to the President
and officers of instruction of Marietta
College, where the meet-
ings were held, and to the people of the
city of Marietta, whose
thoughtful care and attention had
resulted in so successful a
gathering and had secured for them the
opportunity to enjoy the
many spots of historic interest in this
famous communited.
BRADDOCK'S ROAD.
HENRY TEMPLE,
Washington, Pennsylvania
The purpose of this paper is to give
some account of Braddock's
road before General Braddock's
expedition passed over it and to add a
few notes on the traces that still mark
the route which he followed.1
The interest attracted by the highway
cross the Alleghenies which long
bore the unfortunate general's name is
of various kinds. Like other
pioneer roads it was first an Indian
trail and a traders' path. It was
the earliest road laid out and opened
west of the mountains by the
English in conscious rivalry with the
French for commercial and military
control of the great west. When the
country was opened to settlement,
1. That portion of the following paper
which contains a brief de-
scription of General Braddock's route
and of the traces of the road
that remain to the present time is taken
from notes made along the
line of the road in August. 1908, when,
in company with seven others,
the writer tramped over all but a few
miles of it from Cumberland to the
battlefield. The expedition was proposed
and managed by Mr. John Ken-
nedy Lacock, formerly of Washington,
Pa., now of Harvard. The re-
maining members of the party were:
Professor Clarence S. Larzelere of
Mount Pleasant, Michigan; Mr. C. F.
Abbott of Somerville, Massachu-
setts; Mr. Em. K. Weller, photographer
for the expedition; Messrs.
Edgar B. Murdoch, John H. Murdoch, Jr.,
John Parr Temple and my-
self. The five last named members of the
party are all of Washington,
Pennsylvania.
For a more detailed description of the
route than I intend to give
in this paper those interested must be
referred to the article which Mr.
Lacock is preparing, and which, he
informs me, will be published in an
early number of the "American
Historical Review."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 433
after the French and Indian war was
ended and Pontiac's conspiracy was
crushed, this road was the great
immigrant route to the Ohio Valley.
Barges built at Brownsville on the
Monongahela, or at points on the
Youghiogheny, received the immigrants
after their difficult land journey
over the mountains and floated them down
these rivers and the Ohio
to their future homes on either of its
banks.
Very interesting, too, it is to note
that the existence of this road
between the waters of the Potomac and
those of the Ohio had some in-
fluence in determining a matter of
importance to the whole country.
Thomas Scott of Washington,
Pennsylvania, a member of the First Con-
gress of the United States, introduced
in the first session of that Con-
gress (August 27, 1789) the earliest
resolution looking toward the choice
of a location for the National Capital.
That resolution declared that "a
permanent residence ought to be fixed
for the General Government of
the United States at some convenient
place as near the center of wealth,
population and extent of territory as
may be consistent with convenience
to the navigation of the Atlantic Ocean
and having due regard to the
particular situation of the Western
Country."2 Richard Henry Lee soon
afterward introduced a modification of
this resolution which called for a
location as nearly central "as
communication with the Atlantic and easy
access to the Western country will
permit."3
This demand that the "particular
situation of the Western Country"
should have an influence in fixing the
site of the National Capital, and
even that the location should be only as
nearly central as the navigation
of the Atlantic and easy access to the
West would permit astonished
certain members from New
England. They perceived that a choice
governed by these considerations would
fix the capital on one of the
rivers rising in the "Western
Country." Fisher Ames protested
that
"west of the Ohio is an almost
unmeasurable wilderness; when it will
be settled or how it will be possible to
govern it is past calculation.
.
Probably it will be near a century before these people will be
considerable."4
The debate thus precipitated lasted in
one House or the other until
July, 1790, and the proposals were of
various sorts. Ease of access to
the western country was claimed for the
rival sites. The chief struggle
was between the advocates of a location
on the Susquehanna and those
who preferred the banks of the Potomac.
Mr. Vining, of Delaware said:
"I declare that I look on the
Western Territory in an awful and striking
point of view. To that region the
unpolished sons of earth are flowing
from all quarters, men to whom the
protection of the laws and the con-
trolling force of government are alike
necessary. From this great con-
2. Annals of Congress, First Congress,
vol. I., 786.
3. Same vol. page 836.
4. Same vol. page 869.
Vol. XVIII- 28.
434 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
sideration I conclude that the banks of
the Potomac are the proper
station."5
Mr. Scott, the mover of the original
motion, spoke again. He said:
"The Potomac offers itself under
the following coircumstances: From
the falls up the main river to Wills
Creek, it is about 200 miles: From
thence is a portage to the Youghioheny,
down which you descend to the
Monongahela which meets the Allegheny at
Fort Pitt and forms the
great river Ohio. This is a direct
communication between the Atlantic
and the Western Country."6
The portage between Wills Creek and the
Youghiogheny was made
by way of the Braddock road which passed
near Mr. Scott's early home
in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. This
congressman at first voted for a
site on the banks of the Susquehanna,
though he frankly said that the
interests of his constituents would be
better served if the site on the
Potomac were chosen. This being his
belief, his vote was one which
Alexander Hamilton had little difficulty
in delivering to Jefferson for the
Potomac in return for votes influenced
by Jefferson in favor of Hamil-
ton's project for the national
assumption of the State debts. The dust of
this almost forgotten man lies in a
neglected grave in the Franklin Street
graveyard in Washington, Pennsylvania,
his former home.
The Braddock road is of interest
therefore as a relic of Indian
days;
because of its association with the military struggle between
France and England for colonial empire;
as a reminder of the influence
of the Ohio country on the location of
the National Capital, and as the
route afterward followed by the nation's
great work of internal improve-
ment, the National Pike.
As "Braddock's Road," however,
its chief interest is that of Brad-
dock's expedition and the smaller
military movements which preceded
his and determined the route by which he
marched.
The Ohio Company of Virginia was
organized in 1748. Early in the
following year it presented a petition
to the King in Council. setting forth
"the vast advantage it would be to
Britain and the Colonies to anticipate
the French by taking possession of that Country
Southward of the Lakes,
to which the French had no Right, nor
had then taken possession ex-
cept a small Block house Fort among the
six Nations below the Falls
of Niagara."7 In the
Mercer Papers, which belonged to the Ohio Com-
pany, it is declared that the company
opened a road from Wills Creek to
Turkey Foot in 1751,8 though
the minutes of the company for April 28,
1752. show that the members had some
doubt whether "the road from
Wills Creek to the Fork of
Mohongaly" had yet been properly opened
5. Same vol. page 848.
6. Annals of Congress, vol. II, page
860.
7. Quoted in the Ohio Company's second
petition Darlington's
Gist's Journals, pages 226-230.
8. Gist's Journals, page 225.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 435
according to the instruction previously
given to Colonel Cresap.9 How-
ever, the company's second petition to
the King in Council asserts that
the petitioners had "laid out and
opened a wagon road thirty feet wide
from their Store house at Wills Creek to
the three branches of the
Ganyangaine, computed to be near eighty
miles."10
This assertion is so startling that it
is well to inquire into it a
little. The date of the document
containing it is not given in the copy
referred to, but it may be fixed
approximately from the known dates of
certain things referred to in the paper
itself. The petition contains a
statement that "the fort on
Chartiers Creek" is "now building." Now
the building of this fort was authorized
at a meeting of the committee
of the Ohio Company held at Stratford,
Westmoreland County, Vir-
ginia, July 25, 1753.11 The fort was not
built that year, however, for
Washington records in his journal,
January 6, 1754, on that day, as he
was returning from his mission to the
French forts, he "met seventeen
horses loaded with material and stores
for the fort."12 In February,
Governor Dinwiddie sent a company of
troops to aid the men of the
Ohio Company in the erection of the
Fort.13 Work had not been begun
on the fort on January 6, 1754, when
Washington, having recently stood
on the spot "where the Ohio Company
intended to erect a fort," now
met the expedition going out for that
purpose. By May 4th, it was
known in the Virginia capital that the
French had driven the troops
and the Ohio Company's people away from
the unfinished fort,14 which
had been placed not on Chartiers Creek
but some distance above at the
point between the Allegheny and the
Monongahela. The document which
asserts that the fort is "now
building" must therefore have been written
in 1754, between January 6th and May
4th. It is the same document
which declares that a wagon road thirty
feet wide had already been
"laid out and opened" between
Wills Creek and the Youghiogheny.
That some kind of a road had been opened
by the company in 1753 "at
considerable expense" is asserted
by Washington"15 in a letter in which
he also says that in 1754 the troops
which he commanded had greatly
repaired it as far as Gist's plantation,
but that a wagon road thirty
feet wide had been completed for any
considerable portion of that dis-
tance is highly improbable. Washington reported to Governor Din-
widdie16 in 1754 that the work required
to "amend and alter" the first
twenty miles of the road, from the mouth
of Wills Creek to Little
9. Gist's Journals, page 237.
10. "The Turkey Foot Forks" of
the Youghiogheny.
11. Extracts from minutes of Ohio
Company, Darlington's Gist, ap-
pendix, page 236.
12. Sparks, "Writings of
Washington," II, 446.
13. Dinwiddie Papers. I, 136. Dinwiddie
to the Earl of Halifax.
14. Dinwiddie Papers, I, 148.
15. Sparks, Writings of Washington, II,
302. Washington to Bou-
quet.
436 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Meadows, had occupied a detachment of
sixty men from April 25th to
May 1st, after which date the main body,
160 effective men, continued
the work until May 9th. An analysis of
these figures will show that
it took, on an average, eighty-seven men
to "amend and alter" one mile
of road in a day. John Armstrong's
experience a year later in building
the road through Pennsylvania to
intersect Braddock's road near the
Turkey Foot fork showed, according to
Armstrong's report to Governor
Morris,17 that sixty men could make one
mile of entirely new road in
one day through the mountain wilderness.
The suspicion seems to be
justified that the assertion contained
in the Ohio Company's second peti-
tion that the company had "laid out
and opened a wagon road thirty
feet wide" from their storehouse at
Wills Creek eighty miles to the three
forks was an overstatement of the
improvements they had made, pos-
sibly intended to influence the King in
Council to grant the requests made
in this petition.
In a letter quoted above18 Washington
reports to Governor Din-
widdie that his men have spent two days
making a bridge at Little
Meadows. This evidently does not mean a
bridge over Castleman River,
the only nearby stream that would
require two days to bridge, but to
a bridge of corduroy across the swamp--a
portion of the road which
Captain Orme, who accompanied Braddock's
army a year later, says has
been "very well repaired by Sir
John St. Clair's advance party."19 If the
word "repaired" is to be taken
in its ordinary meaning it is probably a
reference to the work formerly done by
Washington at this place.
By May 18th, 1754, Washington's little
army had reached the Great
Crossings, now Somerfield, Pennsylvania,
and from that place he wrote
to Governor Dinwiddie: "The road to
this place is made as good as it
can be, having spent much time and great
labor upon it. I believe wagons
may now travel with 15 or 1800 w't in
them by doubling at one or
two pinches only".20
Not to prolong further this part of the
paper, suffice it to say that
Washington opened the road as far as
Christopher Gist's plantation,
about twenty-three miles beyond the
Great Crossings. He withdrew after-
wards about twelve miles to Fort
Necessity, advanced again about six
miles to attack Jumonville, and a few
weeks later surrendered to 900
French and Indians who permitted him to
march his defeated troops to
Wills Creek.
The following summer Braddock's forces
were assembled at Wills
Creek, or Fort Cumberland as the place
was now called, and by May
30th the expedition for the recovery of
the Ohio country was ready to
start. On that day a detachment of 600
men under Major Chapman set
17. Penna. Colonial Records, VI, 401
Armstrong to Gov. Morris.
18. Dinwiddie Papers, I, 151.
19. Captain Orme's journal, entry for
June 16, 1755.
20. Dinwiddie Papers, I, 170.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 437
out, following Washington's road over
Wills Mountain. The road, which
Washington had said a year earlier might
be traversed by wagons carry-
ing 15 or 18 hundredweight, proved too
steep for the heavy and clumsy
army wagons, or king's wagons, as
Captain Orme's journal calls them.
Three of these were destroyed and other
were shattered on the mountain-
side. All the heavy wagons were sent
back to the fort ten days later
from Little Meadows, country wagons
being substituted for them.21
After Major Chapman's experience of the
difficulties of the way over
Wills Mountain, Lieutenant Spendelow, of
the detachment of seamen
from Commodore Keppel's fleet, found a
way to avoid the mountain by
following the old road less than a mile
from the fort, then swinging to
the right to Wills Creek and following
up that stream to the mouth of
a rivulet still known as Braddock's Run,
thence up the run, joining
Major Chapman's route at the western
foot of Wills Mountain about
five miles from the fort. In Winsor's
"Narrative and Critical History"
there is a reduced copy of a map which
shows the road leading from
the fort and separating into two
branches, one leading to Wills Creek
and the other towards the mountain. The
original has on the back an
endorsement in Washington's handwriting:
"Sketch of the situation of
Fort Cumberland".22 This sketch
shows the road crossing to the left
bank of Wills Creek.
Major Chapman's advance party had
marched on to Little Meadows
while the main body of the army waited
at the fort for the opening
of the new road. The army moved in three
columns from the fort on
June 7th, 8th and 10th, but was reunited
and encamped together on the
night of June 10th at the point where
the new route joined the old.23
The National Pike now follows Wills
Creek and Braddock's Run,
as did the Spendelow route, but the
original line of the pike, like the
pioneer road which was the main highway
to the waters of the Ohio
before the pike was built, took the way
over Wills Mountain. It is now
impossible to find on the ground any
certain trace of the Spendelow
loop. Perhaps an old packtrail still
distinguishable on the hillside along
Braddock's Run followed the old line of
march. Over the mountain,
however, the old route followed by Major
Chapman's advance party,
and afterwards by the pioneer road, is
still marked by a well defined
scar to where it joins the old route of
the National Pike in Sandy Gap.
It must be remembered, however, here and
elsewhere in this paper iden-
tified with the route of General
Braddock's army is a mark left by many
years' travel on the pioneer road long
called by Braddock's name. That
it followed everywhere exactly upon
Braddock's trace cannot be ascer-
tained. Yet it is not a wholly
unwarranted assumption that the early
21. Captain Ormes Journal entry for June
10, 1755.
22. Winsor's Narrative and Critical
History, vol. V, 577.
23. Braddock's Orderly Book, page LIII.
438 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
travelers would in general follow that
trace rather than cut a new way
through the forest.
Descending from Sandy Gap the old road
leads to the grove now
occupied by the summer cottages and
auditorium of the Alleghany Camp
Ground. Near this place was General
Braddock's first camp, which in
his orderly book is called "the
camp in the grove," but in Captain Orme's
journal it is called "Spendelow
Camp." The old road crosses the run
at a ford and proceeds westerly three
and a half miles to Clarysville,
lying most of the way north of the pike
and distant from it sometimes
only a few yards. At Clarysville the two
roads separate and do not
touch again for nearly ten miles, the
Braddock road passing through a
gap at the Hoffman mines, sometimes
coinciding with the modern public
road and sometimes showing a plain scar
through the fields. It passes
through the southern outskirts of
Frostburg, Maryland. It was in this
neighborhood that General Braddock made
his second camp, at a place
called in Captain Orme's journal
"Martin's Plantations." Martin's place
is shown in Shippen's draft, of 1759,
reproduced in Hulbert's "Historic
Highways." 24
Just beyond Frostburg the steep ascent
of Big Savage mountain
begins.
Here as elsewhere the road climbs squarely up the grade.
Though there is an ascent of 1,000 feet
in about two miles, some por-
tions of which are remarkably steep,
there is no movement along the
mountainside to make the slope more
gradual. Fronting the ascent
squarely the wagons would be higher, of
course, in front than at the
rear, but one side of the wagon would be
no higher than the other and
the danger of overturning would be
reduced to a minimum. The army
had no time to make a "side hill
cut" over every steep mountain it must
cross.
About four miles west of the top of Big
Savage mountain the old
road crosses to the north of the present
National Pike, and from that
point leads westerly, the old trace
following more nearly in a straight
line than the modern road but never
distant from it more than from a
half to three-quarters of a mile. Before
reaching Little Meadows the
road crosses Red Ridge, Meadow Mountain
and Chestnut Ridge. A short
distance west of Little Meadows the
trace passes again to the south of
the pike and crosses Castleman River.
About two miles west of Grants-
ville, Maryland, it crosses again to the
north of the pike on the steep
side of Negro Mountain. Two miles
farther west both turn southward,
but as the old trace turns more sharply
it crosses once more to the
south of the pike and follows on that
side until both roads have left
the soil of Maryland. A few hundred
yards north of the Maryland-Penn-
sylvania line, on Winding Ridge, the
trace crosses to the north of the
pike. Just south of the boundary line is
the site of Braddock's sixth
camp, called in Captain Orme's journal,
and in many accounts written
24. Hulbert, Historic Highways, vol. V,
28.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 439
by early travelers, "Bear
Camp".25 The trace again crosses to the south
of the pike before reaching Somerfield,
and fords the Youghiogheny
(Great Crossings) near the mouth of
Braddock's Run, about a mile
above Somerfield. Keeping still to the
south of the pike, but never more
than one mile from it, the road leads
westward over Briery Mountain,
or Woodcock Hill, and at a distance of
about twelve miles from Great
Crossings comes to Fort Necessity, where
it is within sight of the pike.
Two miles farther west, at Braddock's
grave, it crosses once more to
the north and the two roads never touch
again. The pike leads north-
west to Uniontown, thence to Brownsville
where it crosses the Monon-
gahela, thence through Washington,
Pennsylvania, and Wheeling, West
Virginia, to the West. The Braddock
trace also leads to the northwest
from the Old Orchard Camp near
Braddock's grave to the Rock Fort
where was the Half King's camp when he
led Washington's little force
along the mountain path to attack
Jumonville in his hiding place. From
the Rock Fort the trace leads almost due
north seven miles to Christo-
pher Gist's plantation, then inclining a
little to the northeast to Stewart's
Crossing of the Youghiogheny, just below
Connellsville. Thence pass-
ing along "the narrows"
between Mounts Creek and the Youghiogheny,
the old road passed through Prittstown,
across Jacobs Creek to the town
of Mount Pleasant and to Jacobs Cabins,
about two and a half miles
farther north. This point is mentioned
and called Jacobs Cabins in the
journals of Christopher Gist26 and
others before Captain Orme mentions
it as the site of Braddock's fifteenth
camp.
From Jacobs Cabins the route of
Braddock's army inclined a little
more to the northwest. Crossing
Sewickley Creek, five miles, little Se-
wickley, nine miles, the army came to
the precipitous bluff on Brush
Creek, a branch of Turtle Creek, fifteen
miles from Jacobs Creek and
about one mile west of Larimer. Unable
to pass farther in the desired
direction, the army turned almost at a
right angle toward the south-
west into the valley of Long Run, and on
reaching the stream turned
again to the right. The route followed
Long Run to its junction with
Jacks Run, thence passed over White Oak
Level to the site within the
present city of McKeesport where the
army encamped on the night of
July 8th. On the morning of the 9th the
army moved down the steep
hill into the valley of Crooked Run and
followed that stream to the
Monongahela. Just below the bridge which
now connects McKeesport
with Duquesne the army forded the river
and marched down on the
Duquesne flats to avoid the narrow pass
on the right bank where the
25. Atkinson says (Olden Time II, 543
that he had not been able
to identify Bear Camp. The map in Sargent's
"Braddock's Expedition"
is manifestly wrong in this as in other particulars. It
locates Bear Camp
at the Great Crossings, while Orme's Journal says that
the army marched
six miles from Bear Camp to reach Great
Crossings. See the journal,
entry for June 23, 1755.
26. Gist's Journal, entry for November
19, 1753.
440 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
bluff crowds close to the river. Shortly
after the army had passed over
General Braddock received a messed from
Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, the
commander of the advance party, saying
he had passed the second ford
and was safe on the right bank of the
river once more. While the
choppers, covered by a strong guard,
were opening the road beyond the
second ford Braddock's army marched down
the left bank, posted strong
guards on both sides of the ford and
passed over.
Some knowledge of the last section of
the road may be had from
maps or sketches drawn by contemporaries
and participants in the battle.
Among these the most valuable are the
two furnished by Patrick Mackel-
lar, chief engineer of the expedition,
who was with Gage in the advance
column when the fight began.27
They were drawn by Mackellar at the
request of Governor Shirley who sent
them to the War Office with a
letter dated November 5th, 1755. Others
are Captain Orme's plan of
the battle, accompanying his journal,28
a plan in the Harvard library, re-
produced in Winsor's "Narrative and
Critical History,"29 and an unpub-
lished plan in the Library of Congress.
Each of the two last mentioned
has a scale of distances. Though the two
plans seem to be sketches,
and not maps accurately drawn to scale,
and the distances are estimated
and not measured, they are of value in
interpreting all the others, since
all agree in the essential topographical
features of the ground and in
the position of the marching column when
the French and Indians were
first seen coming down the trail from
Fort Duquesne. All these sketches
show the vanguard of the advance party
of Braddock's army just passing
the head of a small stream which flows
into into the Monongahela. This
may doubtless be identified with the
stream mentioned by Colonel Burd
in a letter of July 25th to Governor
Morris. He says: "On Wednesday
the 9th current there was a small body
of French and Indians (about
five hundred, and never was any more on
the ground) discovered by
the guides at a small run called
Frazer's Run, about seven miles on this
side of the French Fort."30
It is still possible to identify
Frazer's Run within the limits of the
town of Braddock. Its location and
surroundings correspond with the
distance from the ford and the
topographical features indicated in the
sketch-maps mentioned above, and it is
now possible to say that the
vanguard of General Braddock's advance
party had reached a point
about a mile and a quarter from the ford
when it was attacked by the
French and Indians. The advance party
was driven back about a quarter
of a mile to a point near the
Pennsylvania Railroad station in Braddock,
to which the main body had advanced on
hearing the firing in front.
27. Parkman. Montcalm and Wolfe, library
edition, 1897, vol. I,
page 229, note. See Mackellar's maps in
the same volume.
28. See Sargent's "Braddock's
Expedition."
29. Winsor. Narrative and Critical
History, V. 499.
30. James Burd to Governor Morris, July
25, 1755. Penna. Col.
Rec. vol. VI, page 501.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 441
Here they held their ground for about
two hours, until the General was
wounded, when they retreated in
disorder, pursued by a small number of
Indians as far as the ford. While the
main body was engaged near the
site of the present railroad station the
guard of several hundred men
left with the baggage was also engaged
with Indians who had crept
around both flanks after the advance
guard had been driven back and the
flanking groups which General Braddock
had thrown out to some dis-
tance on both sides of the army had run
in to join the main body.31
This baggage guard action was at a point
considerably more than half
a mile from the main fight and a little
more than a quarter of a mile
from the ford.
Three of the above mentioned plans of
the battle were drawn by
men who were present and participated in
the fighting. The advanced
party had been several hours on the
ground before the battle began
and had covered the choppers while they
opened a mile and a quarter of
road through the precise territory on
which the fighting took place.
Patrick Mackellar was with this advanced
party.32 Being the chief en-
gineer of the expedition, he may be
presumed to have observed the
ground with some care. His sketch maps
of the field should be con-
sidered trustworthy in all essential
features, and particularly in indicating
the road. The plan given by Captain Orme agrees with those of
Mackellar. None of them can be
reconciled with the map given by
Sparks in his account of the battle.33
The Sparks map shows the road
lying between two ravines, crossing
neither but roughly parallel with
both, and shows the French and Indians
posted in the ravines. Mac-
kellar's sketches show the road crossing
these ravines almost at right
angles, and his explanatory notes say
that the Indians "did most of the
execution" not from ravines but
from a hill on the right of the army.
Captain Orme also mentions a
"rising ground" on the right, to face which
Colonel Burton was forming his command.
The belief sprang up early and has
persisted long that Braddock had
fallen into an ambuscade and that the
French and Indians had fought
either from intrenchments thrown up
beforehand or from ravines which
concealed them. There was no ambuscade.
According to the report of
the French officer who commanded during
most of the battle, the attack
was made by the French troops when they
were not yet in order of
battle, and they fired the first volley
when they were not yet within
range.34
31. "The advanced flank parties
which were left for the security
of the baggage, all but one, ran in. The
baggage was then warmly
attacked." Captain Orme's Journal,
entry for July 9th.
32. Parkman. "Montcalm and
Wolfe." I., 229, note.
33. Sparky "The Writings of Washington." II., 90.
34. "Il attaqua avec beaucoup
d'audace mais sans nulle disposition;
notre premiere decharge fut faite hors
de portee." Dumas au Ministre,
25 Juillet, 1756. Parkman.
"Montcalm and Wolfe." II.,
440. Ap-
pendix.
442 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
General Braddock did not live to realize
all the evil consequences
which his defeat brought upon the
frontiers. The road which he had
opened from the Potomac to within seven
miles of Fort Duquesne be-
came again an Indian warpath. In the
three years following this battle
it was used by a few small parties of
French and many bands of Indians
as an open road to the Potomac, whence
they ravaged the English set-
tlements in Virginia, Maryland and
Pennsylvania. General Braddock's
expedition was a failure. The road which
he left through the wilder-
ness proved throughout the war a benefit
to the enemy and an injury
to his own countrymen; but in later
years as a route for immigrants
coming to settle in the Upper Ohio
Valley and afterwards as a com-
munication between the Potomac and the
Monongahela, it proved to be
this unfortunate man's most useful and
most lasting work.
Professor C. L. Martzolff, of Ohio
University, Athens,
Ohio, gave a most interesting account of
the History of "Zane's
Trace." As Mr. Martzolff gave his
address without manuscript
we are unable to reproduce it here, but
for the benefit of our
readers, we refer them to the article on
this subject by Professor
Martzolff published in the Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Publications Vol. XIII, pgs
287-331.
THE OLD MAYSVILLE ROAD.
SAMUEL M. WILSON.
Lexington, Ky.
In this paper we shall deal
exclusively with that part of the ex-
tension of Zane's Trace which is known
in history, as it is commonly
known to this day, as the Maysville Road
or Maysville Pike.
In its main outlines the story of the
old Maysville Road has been
frequently told, and the present writer,
with somewhat limited time for
investigation, can hardly hope to do
more than embellish with a few mat-
ters of detail the somewhat scanty
record.
This Kentucky division of the Maysville
and Zanesville turnpike,
leading from Maysville on the Ohio River
through Washington, Paris
and Lexington, became famous in that it
was made a test case to deter-
mine whether or not the government had
the right to assist in the build-
ing of purely state and local roads by
taking shares of stock in local turn-
pike companies. Congress, in 1830,
passed an Act authorizing a sub-
scription to its capital stock, but
President Jackson promptly vetoed the
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 443
measure. This veto put an end to all
thought of national aid in the pro-
motion of this desired improvement, and
its completion was left to private
enterprise, and to State and County aid
alone.
The opening of Zane's Trace from
Wheeling, in Western Virginia,
through Southeastern Ohio to Limestone
or Maysville on the Kentucky
shore of the Ohio, was expressly
authorized by an Act of Congress which
became a law on the 17th of May, 1796.
Its route lay through Zanes-
ville, Lancaster, Chillicothe, and
Aberdeen, Ohio, while its termini were
Wheeling in Virginia and Limestone in
Kentucky. Besides furnishing
better and more dependable facilities
for the transmission of the mails,
Zane's trace was designed primarily to
afford a landward route of travel
from Kentucky to Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and the other middle and
north Atlantic States. Prior to the
construction of this pioneer pathway,
the principal avenue for travel to and
from Kentucky was Boone's
Blazed Trail through Cumberland Gap,
later known as the Wilderness
Road, and still later as the Wilderness
Turnpike Road, while the water
route by way of the Ohio, with the
cessation of Indian warfare, was daily
growing in importance. Added to the
dangers from attacks of hostile
Indians, there was throughout much of
the year an embarrassing un-
certainty in the stage of the water in
the Ohio, the upstream journey
was a serious undertaking at best, and
then as now the travel up and
down the river was seriously impeded by
protracted drouths in the sum-
mer time, which made navigation
difficult and sometimes impossible.
The pioneer road which connected
Maysville and Lexington followed
in a general sort of way the old buffalo
trail which led into the interior
from or near the mouth of Limestone
Creek on the Ohio River, across
the Licking, at or near the Lower Blue
Licks, and thence crossing North
Elkhorn Creek at a point afterwards
known as Bryan's Station, on
through Lexington, to the Kentucky River
and beyond. Maysville. al-
though incorporated as a town by that
name in 1787, was, until after 1800,
generally known as
"Limestone", and in the region immediately around
the town, was often called "The
Point". The old wagon road, which
followed more or less closely the
buffalo trail above mentioned from
Limestone to Lexington, was frequently
spoken of in 1784-1785, as
"Smith's Wagon Road" because
in the summer of 1783 and earlier, one
Smith of Lexington was the first that
traveled it with a wagon. There
can be little doubt that the Indians and
their British-Canadian allies
and leaders, who attacked the Fort at
Boonesboro and laid siege to Bryan
Station and triumphed in the bloody
disaster at the Blue Licks, followed,
to some extent, at least, this primitive
roadway.
Collins informs us that Simon Kenton,
together with Edward Wal-
ler, John Waller and George Lewis,
erected a block house at Limestone
(now Maysville), in February, 1784, and
that the road from this place,
by way of the Lower Blue Licks, to
Lexington became the favorite
avenue for immigration.
444 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The attention of Kentucky, after
becoming a State, was first di-
rected toward the care and improvement
of the Wilderness Road, which
gave access to Kentucky through
Cumberland Gap, and until well into
the nineteenth century was the route
most commonly traveled by immi-
grants to Kentucky, and for that reason
was best known to the first
settlers of the State. The first general
Act passed by the Kentucky
Legislature concerning public roads was
approved February 25, 1797. In
his prelection to this Act, William
Littell, who compiled a valuable col-
lection of the early statute laws of
Kentucky, explains that this general
law was "little more than a
transcript of an Act of Virginia of 1785;
that an antecedent Act of 1748 (which
was not repealed by the Act of
1785) required that all roads passing to
or from the Court-house of
every County, and all public mills and
ferries then made or thereafter
to be made, should, at all times, be
kept well cleared from woods,
bushes and other obstructions, and all
roots well grubbed up thirty feet
wide."
This Act of February, 1797, provided for
the opening of new
roads and the alteration of former roads
under surveyors appointed by
the County Courts. By it, all male
laboring persons, sixteen years old
or more, were required to work the roads
except those who were masters
of two or more male slaves over said
age. or, failing to do so, to pay a fine
of seven shillings, sixpence, equivalent
to $1.25 of United States cur-
rency. A curious provision of the law
required mill dams to be built,
where there were no bridges, at least
twelve feet wide for the passage of
public roads, with bridges over the pier
head and flood gates.
The Fayette County Court, by an order
entered April 12, 1803,
established "the Limestone Road
from Lexington to the Bourbon line
forty feet wide," to pass over
"the same ground where they run at pres-
ent." The same Court, by an order
entered July 10, 1809, directed certain
persons, appointed Commisisoners, to
"contract with some fit person
to causeway with stone across David's
Fork on the Limestone Road to be
paid for out of the next County
levy." An order of the same Court,
under date of August 14, 1809, calls the
road the "Limestone or Bourbon
Road."
Littell's Laws give an Act approved Jan.
31, 1811, "authorizing a
Lottery to improve the Limestone Road
from Maysville to the south end
of Washington in Mason County." It
was provided that the "drawing
of said Lottery shall be done at the
town of Washington in the County
of Mason." A sum not exceeding five
thousand dollars was, by the pro-
visions of the Act, to be raised and
applied to the improvement of the
road leading from Limestone, in Mason
County, through the town of
Washington, as followeth, to-wit:
One-half of the profits of said Lot-
tery to be applied exclusively to the
improvement of that part of the
road which lies between Maysville and
the top of Limestone hill; and the
other half of said profits to be applied
to the improvement of such part
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 445
of said road from the top of the
Limestone Hill to the south end of the
town of Washington, and in such manner
as to the said managers, or
a majority, shall seem most expedient.
Littell's Laws again give an Act
approved February 4, 1817, "to
incorporate the Lexington and Louisville
Turnpike Road Company, and
to incorporate the Lexington and
Maysville Turnpike Road Company."
The preamble to this act
recites--"Whereas, in all countries the foster-
ing care of government has been extended
to the internal improvement
thereof, and particularly to their
public roads; and in no country is
that particular part of internal
improvement more desirable than in a
country where the government is of the
people; the Legislature of Ken-
tucky being impressed with the public
utility as well as the private ad-
vantage to the citizens of this
Commonwealth from the formation of
artificial roads, and being willing to
aid all in their power to effect so
great and desirable an object; and
whereas this legislature, with anxious
anticipation, looks forward to the time
when the great national turnpike
road from the east of the general
government will reach the boundaries
of Kentucky, and that she may be ready
to meet this great national im-
provement; therefore
"Be it enacted, etc. (Sec. 31) That a company shall be formed un-
der the name, style and title to the
'Maysville and Lexington Turnpike
Road Company,' for the purpose of
forming an artificial road from Mays-
ville through Washington and Paris, and
thence to Lexington. The
Capital Stock of said Company shall be
three hundred and fifty thousand
($350,000) dollars, divided into three
thousand five hundred (3,500)
shares of $100.00 each," etc., of
which (it was further provided) five
hundred (500) shares shall be reserved
for the use and on behalf of the
State. This capital might be increased
"to such an extent as shall be
deemed sufficient to accomplish the
work," should it be found on trial
that the amount provided was
insufficient to complete the road according
to the intent of the Act.
Books for subscriptions to stock were to
be opened at Maysville,
Washington, Mayslick, Carlisle,
Millersburg, Paris and Lexington.
The old road seems to have passed
through, or very near, each of
these points, with the exception of
Carlisle, which did not come directly
into the main line of travel until the
Maysville Turnpike Road was finally
built.
Although no lasting organization was
affected, and no work appears
to have been done in pursuance of this
Act, its provisions are interesting
as shedding some light on the conditions
of travel, and the stage to which
the science and art of road-building had
advanced. It was proposed to
construct "an artificial road by
the best and nearest route from Maysville,
through Washington and Paris to
Lexington," and the Commissioners
designated in the Act were enjoined to
"combine shortness of distance
with the most practicable ground."
The use of the word "artificial" in
446 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
this connection is not without
significance. It implies that
theretofore
dependence had been placed rather
largely on the "natural" ways, the
sometimes aimless, ready-made ways of
the Indian and the Buffalo, and
other denizens of the forest. These
first pathways, whether trace or
trail, generally followed the line of
least resistance, while holding loosely
to the objective points sighted by instinct,
or the bearings of the crude
compasses provided by nature in the
appearance and movement of the
heavenly bodies, the growth of the
forest vegetation, the trend of moun-
tain and stream, and the other more
prominent features of the landscape.
Such a crude and primitive affair had
been the "Old Limestone
Road" in its beginnings, though
there is evidence that wagons passed
over it as early as 1783.
The officers and managers of the Company
were authorized and
directed to employ such number of
surveyors, engineers, "artists" and
chain-bearers as might be necessary to
make surveys, etc. They were
also empowered to condemn quarries, to
erect permanent bridges wher-
ever necessary over the creeks and
waters crossed by the new "route
or track," to build a road fifty
feet in width by said route from the
town of Maysville to the town of
Lexington, and of said fifty feet to
make "an artificial road at least
twenty feet in width, of firm, compact
and substantial materials, composed of
gravel, pounded stone or other
small, hard substances, in such manner
as to secure a good foundation
and an even surface, so far as the
nature of the country and the materials
will admit, in the whole extent of the
said road, whenever it shall be
necessary and the natural surface
require it, so as to fulfill the duties
of the said Company toward the public,
and shall forever maintain and
keep the same in good repair." It
was further provided that "the ground
over which the contemplated road passes,
shall be so dug down and
leveled, that when completed the
elevation thereof shall not exceed five
degrees."
On completing as much as ten miles of
the way, and for every
five miles additional, the company was
to be empowered, by license from
the Governor, to erect gates or
turnpikes, at which tolls might be col-
lected from persons using the road.
We get some idea of the varied
assortment of quaint vehicles then
in use from the references, in
prescribing the rates of toll, to sulkies,
chairs, coaches, chaises, phaetons,
stages, carts, wagons, coachees or
light wagons, sleighs, sleds, or
"other carriage of burthen or pleasure,
under whatever name it may go."
"And when any such carriage as
aforesaid," says the Act,
"shall be drawn by oxen or mules, in whole
or in part, two oxen shall be estimated
as equal to one horse, and every
mule as equal to one horse, in charging
the aforesaid tolls."
With reference to mile-posts or
milestones, and the tariffs on travel,
the Act provided that "the said
Company shall cause posts to be erected
at the intersection of every road
falling into and leading out of the
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 447
said turnpike road, with boards and an
index hand pointing to the direc-
tion of such road, on both sides whereof
shall be inscribed, in legible
characters, the name of the town or
place to which such road leads, and
the distance thereof in measured or
computed miles; and shall also
cause milestones to be placed on the
side of the said turnpike road, to
designate the distances to and from the
principal places thereof; and
also shall cause to be affixed on the
gates to be erected, for the informa-
tion of travelers and others using said
road, a printed list of the rates
of toll, which, from time to time, may
be lawfully demanded."
Other details of construction,
maintenance and management were
carefully set out, but enough has been
given to show the comprehensive
nature of the charter. In their leading
features, all the subsequent Acts
of the Kentucky Legislature
incorporating turnpike road companies are
modeled after this initial Act of
February, 1817.
The powers conferred by this original
charter having lapsed for
the want of compliance with its terms,
ten years later, by an Act ap-
proved January 22, 1827, the Maysville
and Lexington Turnpike Road
Company was reincorporated, with a
capital stock of three hundred and
twenty thousand ($320,000.00) dollars,
of which, at any time within three
years after complete organization, the
United States government was
authorized to subscribe one hundred
thousand ($100,000.00) dollars and
the State of Kentucky a like sum.
Collins, to whom we arelargely indebted
for items of information
embodied in this paper, tells us that
General Thomas Metcalfe, after-
wards Governor of Kentucky, then a
Representative in Congress from the
Maysville District, brought before
Congress the subject of an appropria-
tion for the proposed turnpike, but too
late in the winter session of
1826-27 for immediate success. This
action was doubtless prompted by
a resolution addressed to Congress and
adopted by the Kentucky Legis-
lature on the 25th day of January, 1827,
in which the co-operation and
assistance of the general government
were earnestly solicited. An Act
passed on the same date, supplemental to
the original Act incorporating
the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike
Road Company, required the
proposed turnpike to pass through Paris,
Millersburg, Carlisle, Lower
Blue Licks, Mayslick and Washington,
provided, however, that it should
not run through the town of Carlisle,
unless a majority of the Com-
missioners, having the matter in charge,
should deem it expedient.
General Metcalfe's labors were not
entirely in vain, for he suc-
ceeded in inducing the Secretary of War
to order a survey for the
location of a great leading mail road
from Zanesville, in Ohio, through
Maysville and Lexington, in Kentucky,
and Nashville, Tennessee, on to
Florence, Alabama, and thence to New
Orleans. On May 12, 1827, pur-
suant to this order, Col. Long, and
Lieut. Trimble, of the United States
Engineering Department, began the survey
at Maysville.
448 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
In the meantime, if we may take the
records of the Fayette County
Court as a sample, the Courts of the
several counties through which it
passed were having constant trouble with
the old Limestone Road. One
of the main obstructions to travel on
this road, in Fayette County, was
a body of water known as "Wright's
Pond." On July 9, 1827, the Fay-
ette County Court ordered that
"William Burkley and William Smith be
summoned to appear here at next Court to
show cause, if any they can,
why the Limestone Road shall not be
altered so as to pass around
Wright's Pond and over their land, said
pond being impassable, and
said road having to pass through
it."
Again on January 16, 1828, the Order
Book of the Court recites
that "it appearing to the
satisfaction of the Court that the bridge now
building across Wright's Pond on the
Limestone Road will not, as now
let by the Commissioners, be as high as
high water mark, it is there-
fore ordered that Clifton Thompson, Will
Pollock and James Rogers be
appointed Commissioners to let out to
the lowest bidder the raising of
said bridge twelve inches higher than it
is now contracted for, if they
think it necessary."
On June 9, 1828, the following
interesting item appears on the
Fayette County records. We give this
instance as illustrative of the
work that was doubtless done from time
to time all along the route in
all the counties through which this
historic highway passed.
The record reads: "The report of
the Commissioners appointed to
review the pond on the Limestone road
known by the name of Wright's
pond, was this day returned to Court and
on examining of the same, it
is ordered that the same be received and
concurred in; Whereupon it
is ordered that Clifton Thomson, James
Rogers and Beverly A. Hicks
be and they are hereby appointed
Commissioners to let the building of
the bridge agreeable to said report, and
that they, in letting said bridge,
do not exceed the sum of five hundred
dollars, including the appropria-
tions already made for said bridge and
that said Commissioners be
authorized to draw upon the Sheriff for
the appropriation or appropria-
tions already made. The said
Commissioners are directed to have the
bridge built as follows, viz: with two
stone walls built on a good founda-
tion two and a half feet or more thick,
raised above high water mark,
at least twenty-one feet apart from side
to side, and said walls to be
filled up with earth within one foot of
the top of said walls, and one
foot to be filled up with stone hammered
fine, with all necessary timbers
to make a safe passway for travelers,
with hand rails, the timbers of
black locust or good white oak, the
stone and timbers of the old bridge
to be used for the benefit of the
undertaker of the proposed bridge; also
with an arch in the walls to admit the
water to pass through, and that
said Commissioners take from the
contractor a contract or bond with
sufficient penalty and good security for
the performance of his or their
contract."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 449
This bridge was built by Samuel
Patterson according to specifica-
tions, and was duly accepted on October
31, 1829.
A permanent bridge over David's Fork of
North Elkhorn, at the
point where crossed by the Limestone
Road, was also contemplated at
the same time. This bridge, as later
records show, was erected by
Robert Wickliffe, who, for a number of
years, maintained a mill at the
same point.
That the situation of this road as a public
highway was growing
somewhat desperate may be inferred from
the fact that the Legislature
of Kentucky, by resolution adopted on
February 13, 1828, seconding the
initiative taken by General Metcalfe,
recommended Congress to extend
a branch of the National Road from
Zanesville, Ohio, to Maysville, Ken-
tucky, and thence through the State of
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama
and Mississippi, to New Orleans, and
instructed the Kentucky Senators
and requested the Kentucky
Representatives in Congress to use their
utmost exertions to effect this object.
A bill with an appropriation for
this very purpose, we are told, passed
the United State House of Repre-
sentatives, but its effect was defeated
in the United States Senate by the
vote of one of the Senators from Kentucky,
the Hon. John Rowan. Its
passage at that time, in the spring of
1828, when President John Quincy
Adams was ready and willing to approve
the bill, would almost certainly
have secured the prompt completion of
the road by national and state
aid.
That for several years prior to this
application to Congress there
had existed a great central thoroughfare
leading southward from Ohio
to New Orleans is apparent from the
language of an Act of the Kentucky
Legislature approved December 21, 1821,
providing for the improvement
of "the road leading from Lexington
to Nashville, in Tennessee," etc.
The preamble and first section of this
act read as follows:-
"Whereas it is represented to the
present General Assembly that
the great highway leading from the
northwest of the Ohio and upper
settlements of this state, to the states of Tennessee, Alabama and Orleans
country, is much out of repair, and
particularly at Muldrough's Hill,
near the Rolling Fork; and that owing to
the quantity of labor requisite
to put the said road in repair, and the
thinness of the population in the
neighborhood, the said road cannot be
put in repair with the ordinary
labor of the overseers and hands
allotted to work on the said road:
Therefore,
"Sec. 1, Be it Enacted by the
General Assembly of the Common-
wealth of Kentucky, That the sum of one
thousand dollars be, and the
same is, hereby appropriated for the
purpose of opening and improving
the said road, across the said
hill," etc.
This great interstate highway did not
await the introduction of
macadam or the helping hand of the
national government to come into
Vol. XVIII-29.
450 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
existence and use. What Kentucky sought
so persistently was aid in
improving and extending the rough
rudimentary road already established
and long the most eligible avenue of
approach to the inviting regions of
the South and Southwest.
While action by the federal government
was thus delayed, those
interested in the enlargement and
improvement of the road were not
idle. By an Act of the Legislature,
approved January 24, 1829, "for
widening the road from Lexington to
Maysville," the County Courts of
Fayette, Bourbon, Nicholas, Fleming and
Mason, were required to appoint
Commissioners, together with a surveyor
duly qualified, to examine "the
great road leading from Lexington through Paris, Millersburg,
Lower
Blue Licks, Mayslick and Washington to
Maysville," and to lay off a strip
or strips of ground, "through its
whole length," sufficient to increase its
width to sixty feet, "and they
shall report to the County Court of their
several Counties, as soon as may be, a
plat and proper description of the
addition thus made * * * and it shall be
the duty of the said several
county courts to cause to be recorded by
their Clerk a plat and descrip-
tion of so much of said road as is
within their respective counties, as
the same shall be enlarged and
established under the provisions of this
Act." Pursuant to this Act, on
March 9, 1829, the Fayette County Court
appointed Commissioners to widen and
straighten the Limestone Road
from Lexington to the Bourbon County
line. These Commissioners pro-
ceeded to execute their duties promptly
and faithfully, and made a very
full and comprehensive report to the
Court on November 9, 1829, said
report being forthwith approved and
recorded.
Some idea of the importance of
maintaining taverns along the route
for the accommodation of travelers may
be gathered from the fact that
the Act carefully provides "that no
such new way shall be established,
if it shall pass over a different side
of, or at a greater distance than
the present road does, from any house
now occupied as a tavern on the
present road, unless with the concurrence of two-thirds of the
justices
present in Court. or with the consent of
the proprietor of such house."
After being established and opened in
accordance with the directions
of the Act, it was made the duty of the
several surveyors of the road,
"to keep it open, smooth and in
good repair." With this improvement
completed we, doubtless, see the old
"Limestone Road" at its very
best. Gradually thenceforward, the
Maysville Turnpike was to supersede
the famous route, growing more and more
important as the importance
of the earlier road dwindled. Strong
proof of the importance of the old
Limestone Road is to be found in the
tenacity with which those living
along the route and at its termini,
Maysville and Lexington, clung to
the old name. In Fayette, and doubtless
in the other counties through
which it passed, not only did the old
road retain its name and continue
to do service as a public road, but the
new macadamized thoroughfare
constructed by the "Maysville and
Lexington Turnpike Road Company,"
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 451
and properly known as the Maysville Road
or Maysville Pike was, until
quite recent times, frequently spoken of
by persons of the older genera-
tion, as the "Limestone Road",
though, in strictness, the Limestone Road
throughout nearly its entire length must
have followed an entirely differ-
ent route, at no great distance,
however, from the more modern road
and substantially parallelling its course.
Five days after the passage of the last
mentioned Act "for widen-
ing the road from Lexington to
Maysville," by the same Legislature the
"Maysville and Washington Turnpike
Road Company" was incorporated
for the purpose of forming an
"artificial road" from Maysville to the
south end of Washington, in Mason
County. This road was required to be
located on as direct a line as the
toilsome grade would admit, and
from the north end of the main street of
Washington to the top of
Limestone Hill. But it was to be
"so leveled and graded that when
completed the elevation thereof shall
not exceed four degrees and a half."
This Act is illustrative of the notable
public spirit which at that
time animated the little town of
Maysville, which could only boast of
a population of less than two thousand.
The capital stock of twenty
thousand ($20,000) dollars was
subscribed by local friends of the en-
terprise by April 18, 1829, and the
first shovel of dirt was thrown on
July 4, 1829, and this short stretch of "high-way"-for
a high-way it
literally was,-was completed in
November, 1830. This four miles of
roadway was the first macadamized road
ever built in the State of Ken-
tucky, although the introduction of
McAdam's invention was the signal
for immediate and widespread interest in
the subject of so improving
the public roads of the State.
From an enginering standpoint this part
of the route offered by far
the most difficult problem to be solved.
The accomplished litterateur
Dr. Thomas E. Pickett, has kindly
furnished the writer of this paper a
very striking picture of Maysville as
viewed from the top of the over-
hanging Limestone hill. This picture
brings out with great effect the
beautiful and artistic construction of
the winding roadway which leads
from the valley below to the crest of the frowning hill. Dr. Pickett
accompanied this picture with the
following observations-
"In your first letter you asked me
to give you a helping hand at
this end of the line. It occurred to me
that nothing could give you more
help at the outset than a picture of the
'Maysville End,' showing the
great river with which the old
commercial entrepot connects, and giving
some conception of the prodigious 'lift'
required to reach the fertile, far-
reaching plateau. As it was with St.
Denis, so it was with us;- so it was
the first step that cost."
"The moving spirit in the
enterprise was John Armstrong, one of
our early commercial pioneers, and a man
of wonderful energy, sagacity
and tact, who had the full confidence of
the community and means of
finding helpful associates in the work.
The picture shows you that
452 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the work was well done. Years
afterwards, when his son, an eminent
banker of Paris, familiarly known to
this day as 'Baron Armstrong',
was toiling up the broad macadamized
road that rises from the city of
Fontainebleau to the Forest at the
summit, he is said to have remarked
-'Well, Father made a better grade than
this for the Maysville Hill.'"
Think of a road that, rising from the
humble conditions of 'Smith's
Wagon Road" (1783) to the dignity
and importance of a thoroughfare
that 'fills a nation with its renown,'
has been traveled by princes, war-
riors, statesmen, pleasure seekers,
'night riders', patrollers and mounted
police, and carried for many years in
its great white 'waggons' the com-
merce of many states! What a theme! How
I envy you the privilege
and opportunity of exploiting it. Do not
stop with a single 'paper'. Write
a book!"
By an Act of the Kentucky Legislature
approved January 22, 1830,
the Act of January 29, 1829, creating
the Maysville and Washington
Turnpike Road Company was amended so
that the name of the Com-
pany was changed to "Maysville,
Washington, Paris and Lexington Turn-
pike Road Company," and it was
authorized to extend its road to Lex-
ington. The capital stock was increased
$300,000.00 in addition to that
previously authorized, and by the terms
of this Act the elevation was
not to exceed four degrees, and its width
was not to exceed sixty (60)
feet. This Act, like its forerunner of
January 22, 1827, made a direct
appeal to the general government for a
subscription to its capital stock,
fifteen hundred shares of the par value
of $150,000.00 being the amount
which the general government was desired
to subscribe and pay for.
Immediately following the passage of
this act, and in order to aid the
enterprise which it contemplated, the
State of Kentucky, on January 29,
1830, authorized its first appropriation
to an "artificial or macadamized
road, this appropriation, however, of
$25,000.00 to stock in the company,
being conditioned upon the subscription
and payment by other stock-
holders of at least three times the
amount so subscribed. While this
beginning of great things in the future
was thus vigorously inaugurated,
the cause of internal improvement,
especially as it affected the State of
Kentucky, was being earnestly pressed
before Congress. In that body
a bill passed the House of
Representatives, April 29, 1830, by one hun-
dred and two yeas to eighty-four nays,
"authorizing and directing the
Secretary of the Treasury to subscribe,
in the name and for the use of
the United States, for fifteen hundred
(1,500) shares of the capital stock
of the Maysville, Washington, Paris and
Lexington Turnpike Road Com-
pany," to be paid for in the same
installments as by the stockholders
generally except that not more than
one-third should be demanded during
the year 1830. This Bill passed the
United States Senate, May 15, 1830,
by a vote of twenty-four to eighteen,
George M. Bibb, of Kentucky
voting against it, and his colleague,
John Rowan, of Kentucky, voting for
it only under the compulsion of
"instructions."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 453
"But President Andrew
Jackson," says Collins, "dashed forever the
hopes of national aid to works of
internal improvement in Kentucky by
vetoing the bill twelve days after its
passage on May 27, 1830." This
extraordinary action of the President
(which by many was ascribed to
his intense antipathy to Henry Clay, an
able and indefatigable advocate
of all measures having to do with the
internal improvements of a state
or national character,) gave to the road
a fame as broad as the Union,
but of no avail towards its completion,
unless it may have stimulated
somewhat or aroused afresh the
enthusiasm excited the year before by
the spirited and independent course of
the brave little city of Maysville,
by whose name the road has always since
been best known.
The lively interest taken by Henry Clay
in the matter is apparent
from his correspondence. Writing
from Ashland, on May 9th, 1830,
Mr. Clay said:
"I am rejoiced at the passage, in
the House of Representa-
tives, of the bill for the Maysville
road. I sincerely hope you are
correct in your anticipation of the
concurrence of the Senate. The
South will, of course, be opposed to it.
* * * The road, consid-
ered as a section of one extending from
the Muskingum or Scioto,
through Kentucky and Tennessee, to the
Gulf of Mexico, is really
of national importance."
Writing, a month later, from the same
place, to Adam Beatty, of
Maysville, he said:
"We are all shocked and mortified
by the rejection of the
Maysville road and other events
occurring at the close of the late
session. Meetings of the people are
contemplated in several counties
in this quarter, to give expression to
public sentiment and feelings.
At those meetings it has been suggested
that the public sentiment
may be expressed in terms of strong
disapprobation of the act of
the President. * * * Will you have a
meeting in Mason? If
you do, it will have beneficial
consequences that there should be as
many meetings as practicable in
adjoining counties."
The nature of the proceedings proposed
to be had at these indigna-
tion meetings is further outlined in a
letter of Mr. Clay's, dated at Ash-
land, June 16, 1830, in which he says:
"Great sensation has been produced
in this quarter about the
President's course relative to Internal
Improvements. Public meet-
ings of the people, in various places,
are about to be had, at which
spirited resolves, etc., will be passed.
They mean to attack the
Veto, by proposing an amendment of the
Constitution, requiring
only a majority of all elected to each
branch of Congress, instead
of two-thirds of a house, to pass a
returned bill."
But all of these protests and appeals
and others of similar import
fell upon deaf ears and obdurate hearts
and were utterly unavailing.
454 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"Old Hickory," in spite of
bitter opposition and plenty of severe abuse,
not all of which was wholly undeserved,
continued for the time to have
his own unrestrained, autocratic way in
the matter of the Bank of the
United States and in the matter of
Internal Improvements.
In addition to the state aid referred to
above, during the month of
April, 1830, $30,500.00 was subscribed
at Paris, $13,000.00 at Lexington,
$5,200.00 at Millersburg, $8,000.00 in
Nicholas County, $10,300.00 at Mays-
ville, in addition to what the last
named town had already done in build-
ing the road from the river as far as
Washington. Other efforts, soon
afterwards, increased the subscription,
and thirty-one miles of the road
were promptly put under contract. The
Legislature, by an Act approved
January 15, 1831, authorized the
Governor, on behalf of the Common-
wealth, to subscribe $50,000.00 for five
hundred additional shares of
stock in the company, and during the
next five years made other appro-
priations in behalf of the road until
the whole amount of State aid and
stock was $213,200.00, or exactly
one-half of the entire cost of the road.
The turnpike road appears to have been
completed throughout its entire
length of sixty-four miles from
Maysville to Lexington by the year 1835.
Its total cost was $426,400.00,
including thirteen toll houses and six
covered bridges. The cost per mile,
including the toll houses and bridges,
was $6,662.50 or nearly one-third the
cost of building a first-class rail-
road. Not only was the Maysville Road
the first macadamized road in
the State, but because of its
importance, it was made one of the best
roads ever built in the State. It is
said that Mr. Lewis V. Wernwag
built the bridges, which were
single-span arches of wood, braced by a
trussed frame, and they were good
bridges for many years. On the
Lexington and Danville Turnpike, which
was but a link in the extension
of the "Old Maysville Road,"
he built a bridge over the Kentucky River
about 220 feet long, with a double
track. This bridge, built in 1838, is
still there--seventy years after--in
good shape. This is a long life
for any ordinary wooden bridge. This
same capable bridge builder (it
may be added, in passing,) afterwards
built the Schuylkill Bridge at
Philadelphia, three hundred and forty
(340) feet long, which was for
a long time the longest wooden bridge in
the world.
Referring again to the records of the
Fayette County Court, a few
stray items relating to the road may be
considered worthy of mention.
On October 13, 1834, a levy was
authorized to raise $150.00 to pay the
interest on the installment for stock
due the Maysville and Lexington
Turnpike Road Company in 1835. The
payments on the stock in the
company subscribed for by Fayette County
appear to have been antici
pated, for under date of December 8,
1834, the last installment of
$2,650.00 was directed to be paid and a
certificate for stock due the
county to be obtained therefor.
Following this entry on December 14,
1835, the records show that Oliver Keen,
late Presiding Justice of the
Court, returned to the Court the
certificate of stock in the Maysville,
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley
Historical Association. 455
Washington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike
Road Company, for 100 shares,
numbers 1525-1624 inclusive, dated
December 14, 1834, signed by John
Armstrong, President, and William
Huston, Treasurer. The jealousy
with which the County Courts looked upon
any interference with their
authority over the county roads is most
emphatically shown in two
entries, one under date of August 12,
1834, and the other under date
of September 8, 1834. By these orders,
the Acts of the Kentucky Legis-
lature of the 22nd and 30th of January,
1830, seeking to deprive the
County Courts of their jurisdiction over
the public roads, and to confer
such jurisdiction on special Road
Commissioners, were boldly declared
unconstitutional and void, and the Court
announced that it would not
regard them, but "will continue to
act under the road laws as if said
above recited Acts had never
passed." The first mention we find of any
dividend paid to the County on its stock
appears during the years 1838
and 1839.
Supplanted as it was by the more modern
Maysville Turnpike Road,
the old original road is now frequently
spoken of in the records as "the
Old Limestone Road," still in use,
it is true, but eclipsed by the splendor
and superiority of the macadamized
turnpike road. It remained a County
Road under the name of the Limestone
Road until near the beginning
of the Civil War. This old Limestone
Road, in Fayette County, pur-
sued an entirely different route from
that adopted by its successor, the
Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Road,
though the general direction
of the two was the same.
The condition of the parent road,
throughout much of its history
until macadamized but especially during
the years of its infancy, and
under the stress of inclement weather,
was simply atrocious. The records
of that day but echo the execrations of
the toil-worn travelers and the
letters which have survived are filled
at times with complaints about its
dreadful condition and with warnings to
those about to visit the West
not to venture on so treacherous and
forbidding a route. It was a Ken-
tuckian, I believe, who said he did not
mind walking when he had paid
to ride in the stage, but he did not
like to walk and "pack" a rail to
help pry the stage coach out of the
mudholes which frequently punctu-
ated the customary line of travel. This
was true, however, not only of
the Maysville Road but of Zane's Trace
and of the Cumberland Road as
well. There were frequent changes and
alterations in the roadway, gen-
erally to avoid a troublesome hill or to
skirt standing water or miry
ground, and owing to these numerous and
irregular changes, the way
became devious as well as difficult. The
orders of the County Court of
Fayette, during the first half-century
of the road's existence, are taken
up with the establishment of road
precincts and the appointment of over-
seers and surveyors, as the road
superintendents were then called. In
this we have striking evidence of the
constant and increasing attention
demanded by the unsatisfactory condition
of the road. At certain sea-
456 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
sons, however, the Maysville Road and
its connecting routes to the
East were not only endurable but offered
the only sure passage to and
from the sea-board. This is made plain
in another letter of Henry
Clay's, written from Washington on
February 10, 1837, where he says:
"In the month of March, the
Cumberland route offers ad-
vantages so superior to any other, that
I must follow it to Ken-
tucky."
Elsewhere he expresses the same opinion
in these words--
"At the season of the year when we
shall return to Kentucky,
that is, about the 10th of March, we
have no alternative but to pro-
ceed to Wheeling or Pittsburg. The roads
on every other route
will then be almost impassable."
A passage in the Autobiography of Judge
Robertson shows that,
when a member of Congress in 1817-1819,
he traveled over this road in
journeying to and from Washington, and
at least two of his colleagues,
Col. Richard M. Johnson and Hon. John J.
Crittenden, did the same,
Col. Johnson in a Jersey wagon and the
others on horseback. We give
the account of his first trip in his own
words.
"When I received the certificate of
my election," says Judge
Robertson, "I was not twenty-six
years old; but I did not take
my seat until I was about ten days over
twenty-seven. The best
mode of traveling then was on horseback;
and I thus went to Wash-
ington in November, 1817, and also in
1818, and consumed nineteen
days in the first, and seventeen days in
the latter trip. Members of
Congress then earned their allowance of
three dollars for every
twenty miles of travel, which was
comparatively tedious, toilsome
and expensive. And I will here mention
an incident in my first trip
to Washington, which may be as useful as
it is incredible: I
bought a blooded three-year old horse
for my first journey to the
National Capital. He had never been
shod. An old friend in Gar-
rard (Elijah Hyatt), who was famous for
both skill anl care in
the management of horses, took my young
horse and prepared him
for the work before him. The day before
I started for my desti-
nation, he selected the iron and the
shoes, saw the shoes put on and
every nail made and driven; and when he
brought the horse to me,
he said, 'Now, George, all's right; your
horse will carry you over
the long and rocky road to Washington
without breaking a shoe
or loosening a nail.' And so it turned
out. Several gentlemen
who accompanied me frequently had their
horses' shoes removed
or repaired, and mine reached Washington
with his shoes appa-
rently as sound and firm as when I
started. I sent him to the
country to be kept during the session,
which continued about seven
months. He was brought in to me the day
I left for home, and the
keeper told me he had used him as his
saddle horse, and never had
touched his shoes, which appeared as
good as ever. Being impa-
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 457
tient to start, I did not have them
examined, but rode him as he was
to Wheeling, brought him to Maysville on
a flatboat or ark, and
rode him thence to Lancaster; and when I
reached home his hoofs
and shoes seemed to be in good
condition!"
Henry Clay was familiar with the entire
length of the road, of
which (as we have seen) he was always a
staunch friend and champion,
and frequent allusions to it may be
found in his speeches and correspond-
ence. Writing to his wife from
Maysville, on November 19, 1835, while
en route to Washington City, he gives this glimpse of the
hospitable
home of another distinguished Kentucky
statesman, whose services and
whose name are closely associated with
the history of the Maysville Road.
Says Mr. Clay-
"I got to Governor Metcalfe's last
night in good time, and
reached here today at two o'clock. The
weather has been very fine,
and my ride was a very good one. They
tell me that a steamboat
will be here this evening, in which,
when it arrives, I shall embark.
I have directed Aaron to go to Governor
Metcalfe's tomorrow night,
and the next day home."
This home of Governor Thomas Metcalfe's,
known as "Forest Re-
treat," was in Nicholas County, of
which for many years he was the
most prominent citizen. An interesting
picture of the residence, which
was a landmark on the old Maysville
Road, is given by Collins (Hist.
Ky., Vol. II., p. 653,) as it appeared
in 1846, and of the eminent man
himself, who was strong enough in a
close race to beat the gifted William
Taylor Barry for the governorship of
Kentucky, the historian says -
"He was an eloquent man, social,
hospitable, fond to the last of song,
frolic and fun."
Doubtless a search of the papers and
writings of our other early
statesmen would disclose a like intimate
acquaintance and similar interest-
ing associations with this well-traveled
highway.
Luckily our researches have unearthed an
early map of the "Road
from Limestone to Frankfort in
Kentucky," which was published in the
year 1826. It will be found in a
collection of maps and drawings made by
a Frenchman, Victor Collot (Georges
Henri Victor Collot), printed in
Paris as an Atlas in 1826. The title of
the book, which may be seen in
the Map Department of the Congressional
Library at Washington, is
"Voyage dans l'Amerique
Septentrionale, feu par le General Collot, Ex-
Gouverneur de la Guadeloupe, Atlas,
Paris, Arthur Bertrand, Libraire,
1826." The Map of the Maysville
Road (designated as the "Road from
Limestone to Frankfort in the State of
Kentucky") is drawn to a scale
of about four miles to the inch and is
Plate 22 in the collection. The
places named on the map are as follows
"Limestone, Washington, (Road
to Bracken" leading thence to the
West,) Northern branch of the Lick-
ing, Lee's Cr., Mazeleak (Mayslick),
Johnston-Fork. Blue Licks and
Salt Works, Licking R., Barren Rocks,
Farm road, Millerburgh, Hugs-
458 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ton (Hinkston) Cr., Bourbon ou Paris, Southern Branch of
the Licking,
Huston Cr., Mills, Lexington,
("Road to Georgetown" leading away
Northwest.) -Hunter's hut, Old Fort
(some dist. N. of road on 'Elk.
Riv.' i. e. Elkhorn Creek.) Tavern,
Frankfort, Kentucky River." It will
be seen that this list includes many
names that are not only familiar but
are in actual use to this day. The
drawing of the road itself is ex-
ceedingly well done and is highly
interesting. The fact that this ad-
venturous foreigner thought it worth
while to make and publish a map
of the Old Limestone Road in his
ambitious collection speaks volumes for
the relative importance of the route
among the historic highways of that
early time. The place-names here given
are copied just as they appear
on the map.
A contemporary of the amiable Frenchman,
whose name has also
some connection with the Limestone Road
and with Lexington, its
Southern terminus, was
"Dominie" Samuel Wilson, who, in all probability,
owed his life and learning to the rugged
heath of Bonnie Scotland. The
identity of names must not lead anyone
to infer a relationship between
the worthy 'Dominie' and the author of
this paper. While we should be
most happy to claim such a relationship,
there is no reason to suppose
that it exists. In the Legislative Acts
of 1826-'27, at page 165, Chapter
142, is an Act, approved January 25,
1827, which bears the title-"An Act
for the benefit of Nicholas Seminary,
and to establish Wilson Seminary,
at the Lower Blue Licks." This act
recites-
"WHEREAS, Samuel Wilson, A. M., a
gentleman of learning
and extensive literary attainments,
whose whole life has been de-
voted to the instruction of youth, the
promotion of science, and the
cause of education, and the advancement
of useful knowledge among
the people, proposes to found a seminary
of learning at the Lower
Blue Licks, in Nicholas County,
therefore,
"Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That
a seminary of learning
be and the same is hereby established at
the Lower Blue Licks, in
said county, to be called and know by
the name of 'Wilson Sem-
inary'; and that Ariss Throckmorton,
Jonathan W. Tanner, Daniel
Ballingal, Sen., Thomas Throckmorton,
and Solomon Bedlinger, be
and they are hereby, appointed trustees
of said seminary, and are
hereby constituted a body politic and
corporate, and to be known
by the name and style of 'the Trustees
of Wilson Seminary'; and
by that name shall have perpetual
succession, and a common seal;"
etc., etc.
While designed, as the Act recites, to
have "perpetual succession",
Wilson Seminary, painful to relate, has
disappeared along with its book-
loving founder, the scholarly Scotsman,
and has left "not a wrack behind."
But as if to vindicate his learning and
his unselfish devotion to the cause
of culture, in the Boston Public Library
may be found a curious little
tome of 23 pages, bearing this quaint
title in more or less classical Latin
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 459
-"Chelys Hesperia, carmina quaedam
anniversaria, et alia, numeris La-
tinis Sapphicis modulata, continens, cum
notis aliquot adjectis", "by Sam-
uel Wilson, of Kentucky, Lexingtonia,
typis T. Smith, 1825." Rendering
this composite Anglo-Latin title into
"more or less classical" English, we
make out that this frail octavo, with
its twenty-three pages of Latin
verses, is described by the genial poet as
"The Western Harp, containing
certain poems, composed for anniversary
and other occasions, in Latin
Sapphie verse, together with some added
notes, by Samuel Wilson, of
Kentucky; printed at Lexington, by T.
Smith, 1825. The tuneful harp
is silent, the poet's voice is mute, but
in token of our respect for the
aspiring pioneer schoolmaster and his
noble work, we breathe this passing
word of tribute to his memory, and
wonder if it can be possible that the
Ohio Valley Historical Association or
any of its members can boast a
copy of this rare volume among their
treasures!
In the Journal of the Kentucky Senate
for the years 1841-42, there
is a table showing the weight carried by
four and six-horse teams from
Maysville to Lexington, the number of
days it took to perform the trip,
and the price per hundred pounds, from
March 19th to September 1830.
This table also shows that the
construction of the macadamized turn-
pike road occupied the years 1831. 1832,
1833 and 1834. In the years 1835
to 1836, from six to seven thousand
pounds was the usual load throughout
the year for a six-horse team, and four
thousand pounds for a four-
horse team.
In 1835, the year the turnpike was
finished, the time to make the
trip from Maysville to Lexington was
four days, and this time was
allowed the teamsters in their
settlements, but after the road was com-
pleted, three and a half days was the
usual allowance; the price for haul-
ing, from 1835 to the present time, has
generally been 62 1/2 cents per hun-
dred-weight for dry goods, and 50 cents
per hundred-weight for heavier
articles, such as salt, iron, nails,
groceries, etc. The time allowed to
make the trip to Lexington and back in
the winter and spring months,
previous to the construction of the
turnpike road, was from fourteen to
fifteen days, including the days
consumed in loading and unloading. In
the summer and fall it generally took
ten days to make the trip. After
the turnpike road was completed, nine to
ten days were considered a
sufficient allowance to make the trip
from Maysville to Lexington and back
the year 'round, including the time
required for loading and unloading.
Shortly after the reconstruction of the
road with macadam became
an accomplished fact, it was brought
once more into prominence through
a sharp controversy between the
corporate managers of the Road and
the local contractor for transporting
the mails between Maysville and
Lexington. The dispute involved a
federal question almost as far-reach-
ing in its consequences as that which
underlay the agitation over In-
ternal Improvements. The case is
reported in 7 Dana 113, under the
style of Dickey versus The
Maysville, Washington, Paris and Lexington
460 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Turnpike Road Company, and the opinion,
delivered on June 22, 1838,
and covering some twenty-six pages of
closely printed matter, is one
of the ablest of the earlier opinions
handed down by Chief Justice Rob-
ertson for the Court of Appeals.
Speaking for the Court, Judge Robert-
son summed up the case and the final
conclusion of the Court in these
concise words:
"The only question presented for
consideration in this case is
whether Milus W. Dickey, as the
contractor for carrying the United
States Mail from Maysville to Lexington,
in this State, has the
right, in execution of his engagement,
to transport the mail in stage
coaches on the turnpike road between
those termini, without paying,
to the use of the Turnpike Company, the
rate of tollage exacted by
it, under the authority of its charter,
from other persons for the
transit of their horses and carriages.
"Can the carrier of the United
States mail have a right, either
legal or moral, to use the bridge of a
private person, or of an in-
corporated company, without paying
pontage, or the ferry of a
grantee of such franchise without paying
ferriage? That he would
have no such right is, in our judgment,
indisputable."
"We, therefore, conclude * * *
that, even if the Lexington
and Maysville turnpike should be deemed
a public State road in all
respects, and if Dickey, as mail
contractor, has a right to transport
the mail on any public road he may
prefer or choose to adopt be-
tween Lexington and Maysville, he cannot
do so, nor had Congress
power to authorize him to do so, without
paying for the use, if
demanded, a just compensation, and that is-prima
facie, at least,
-what other persons are required to pay
for a similar use of it.
"After refusing, as it did, by the
President's veto to contrib-
ute anything to the construction of the
Maysville and Lexington
turnpike, the general government could
not, with any semblance of
consistency, justice, or grace, claim
the right to use and impair it.
by carrying the mail upon it, in
coaches, without paying to those
who did make it with their own private
means, as much for the
use and dilapidation of it as they have
a legal right to exact and
do receive, without objection, from all
others who enjoy the use
of it, by traveling upon it in
carriages.
"Wherefore, as in every view we
have taken of this case, no
power of the general government has been
either exercised, or re-
sisted, or defied - it is clearly our
opinion that Dickey, as mail con-
tractor, can, as a matter of right, use
the Lexington and Maysville
turnpike road only as others have a
right to use it; and that, there-
fore, he may be, justly and
constitutionally, compelled to pay the
prescribed toll for such use as he shall
elect to make of it for his
own advantage and convenience."
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 461
One notable thing about this interesting
road, so far as it relates
to Kentucky, is the fact that it was
built entirely by State and private
aid, and had no aid whatever from the
national government. The same
thing is said to have been true of the
national road in Maryland, which,
though treated and used as an integral
part of the National or Cumber-
land Road, was built entirely by State
and local aid, and without any
contributions whatever from the general
government. Lines applied to
the latter road by one who lamented its
fading glories may be appro-
priately recalled here -
"We hear no more the clanging hoof,
And the stage coach, rattling by;
For the Steam King rules the traveled
world,
And the 'Old Pike' 's left to die!"
A few of the old tavern-keepers or
"Lords of the Road," whose
names have been preserved, are as
follows: William Bickley, Corbin
Gallegher, Amos Butter, George Harrington,
at Washington; George
Payne at Fairview; Landlord Holliday and
"Doggetts" at the Blue Licks;
"Governor" Herndon at
Mayslick; Talbott at Paris, and Rankin's, Throck-
morton's and Edward Martin's hospitable
houses of entertainment, which
helped to enliven the tedium of travel
and to mitigate the hardships of
the way. If we could have a full and
graphic description of these old
taverns in the early and middle years of
the last century, it would cer-
tainly give us a lively conception of
the social life of the road at that
period, and, as Dr. Pickett has
suggested, "If one, for example, might,
by great good luck, recover the details
of the interview between that
gentle Boniface, John Throckmorton, and
General Santa Anna, en route,
what a find it would be!"
About 1854-55, what was known as the
Bryan Station Turnpike
Road Company was incorporated, and
inasmuch as the Old Limestone
Road ran from Lexington directly by the
historic spot known as Bryan
Station, with its rugged hill-sides
resting on the low receding banks of
North Elkhorn Creek, and watered at the
base by the cool out-pourings
of the memorable Spring, and as the bed
of that old road was adopted
as the road along which the Bryan
Station Turnpike - Company was to
construct its macadamized road, as soon
as the old roadway had been
macadamized, the old name, still
redolent with historic suggestion and
endeared by many associations and many
cherished memories, finally dis-
appeared, and thenceforward down to the
present time, the Old Limestone
Road in Fayette County has been known as
the Bryan Station Turnpike.
But the name "Limestone,"
still clings, like a vanishing echo, to that
street by which the old road entered the
city of Lexington. The records
show that five continuous miles of the
Bryan Station Turnpike Road
were completed and a toll-gate
authorized to be erected in consequence
on February 6, 1860. Some years after
the war a subsidiary company
462 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
was incorporated for the purpose of
extending the Bryan Station Turn-
pike about two miles further from its
original terminus near Bryan Sta-
tion. This work in time was duly
completed.
A detailed account of the later history
of the Maysville Road will
have to be reserved for a future paper.
In its later years, before this
road, in common with nearly all the
other macadamized turnpike roads
in Kentucky, was made free and thrown
open to the public, Col. W. W.
Baldwin, of Maysville, was long the
Superintendent and owner of a con-
trolling interest in the road. He was
widely known in Kentucky and
elsewhere as the "Turnpike
King," and we understand that, at his request,
some one conversant with the facts
prepared, a number of years ago,
an interesting sketch of the road, with
special reference to its history
as a macadamized road, but a thorough
search has failed to reveal the
existence or whereabouts of this paper.
It may yet be found, as we
hope, in some fugitive issue of the
Maysville "Eagle." With the aid of
such a paper, it would have been
possible for us to furnish a much more
extended and, we doubt not, a far more
interesting, account of the road
than has been presented here.
About the year 1875, the owners of the
road became involved in
litigation, and for a time its
management and direction were in the hands
of a receiver. This litigation, as we
are informed, eventuated favorably
to the Company, and has left no blot on
the fair name and fame of the
old road.
Before closing this paper, just a word
about the steam railroads
which succeeded the macadamized turnpike
roads, just as the macada-
mized turnpike roads had followed the
old dirt roads, and these in turn
had followed the traces and trails of
the Indians and buffalo.
In 1830, Joseph Brunn, a public-spirited
business man of Lexington,
exhibited at Frankfort, a locomotive and
train of cars of his own in-
vention, and between 1830 and 1850,
while Kentucky was very active in
building turnpikes and improving its
rivers by locks and dams, the Lex-
ington and Frankfort Railroad was the
only railroad in the State, and,
for a long time, the only one west of
the Alleghany mountains. The line
from Louisville to Frankfort was
completed in 1851. Following this came
a period of railroad building, in the
course of which the Kentucky
Central Railroad was built from
Covington to Lexington, the Lexington
and Danville Railroad from Lexington to
Nicholasville, and the Louis-
ville and Nashville, and its Memphis
branch and the Lebanon branch
running out from Louisville as far as
Lebanon, Kentucky.
The railroad from Lexington to
Covington, as originally designed,
was intended to run from Lexington to
Maysville, via Paris. It was
built, however, only as far as Paris,
and then the construction work
stopped. The route was then diverted to
Covington. The work on this
road was completed before the Civil War,
and the extension of the road
to Maysville, in conformity to the
original design, was not completed
Annual Meeting Ohio alley Historical Association. 463
until along in the eighties. This was
made possible, just as the comple-
tion of the turnpike roads had been
rendered possible, by means of county
subscriptions, and for a long time the
railroad was operated in the in-
terest of the counties through which it
passed and which had contributed
to its construction.
A new chapter in the development of
transportation and inter-
course between the two towns which have
so long stood as terminal
stations of the "Old Maysville
Road," has been opened within our State,
as elsewhere, by the construction and
operation for several years past
of the electric car-line service between
Lexington and Paris. If the use
of air-ships and aeroplanes does not
outrun the growth of the trolley-car,
it is only a question of a short time
until Maysville and Lexington, ever
reaching out for each other's friendly
hand-clasp and ever cultivating
closer relations, shall be bound into a
more perfect and a happier union
by an electric railway system extending
on a virtual air-line from town
to town.
In conclusion, we may say of the
"Old Maysville Road" and its
predecessor, the "Old Limestone
Road," what Dr. Archer Butler Hulbert,
in one of his interesting volumes on
"Historic Highways of America,"
has said of Zane's Trace:
"The little road here under
consideration is unique among
American highways in its origin and in
its history. It was demanded
not by war, but by civilization; not by
exploration and settlement,
but by settlements that were already
made and in need of com-
munion and commerce. * * * And finally
it was on the subject
of the Maysville Turnpike that the
question of internal improvement
by the national government was at last
decided when, in 1830.
President Jackson signed that veto which
made the name of Mays-
ville a household word throughout the
United States."
CONSTITUTION OF THE OHIO VALLEY
HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATION.
1. The name of this organization shall
be THE OHIO VALLEY HIS-
TORICAL ASSOCIATION.
2. Its object shall be to promote the
general historical interests of
the Ohio Valley and especially to
encourage the study and teaching of
its local history.
3. Membership in the Association shall
consist of the following
classes: (1) Individual members; (2)
Organizations interested in its
objects, such organizations shall be
represented by not less than two nor
more than seven of their members, but
other members of said organiza-
tion are eligible to become individual
members of the Association; (3)
464 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Honorary members-persons of note in the
local historical field; (4)
Corresponding members--persons not
residing in the Ohio Valley, but
interested in the work of this
Association. All members, including so-
cieties, shall be elected at the regular
meeting of the Association upon
recommendations of the Executive
Committee.
4. The officers of the Association shall
consist of a president, four
Vice Presidents, a Recording Secretary
and Curator, a Corresponding
Secretary and Treasurer, and an
Executive Committee consisting of the
foregoing officers, the ex-Presidents of
the Association, and four other
members elected by the Association.
These officers shall be elected by
ballot at each regular annual meeting of
the Association, and shall have
charge of its general interests with
power to appoint all necessary sub-
committees.
5. One regular meeting of the
Association shall be held each year
at a time and place to be determined by
the Executive Committee. This
Committee shall likewise determine the
character of said meeting.
6. The annual dues of the Association
shall be one dollar for
each individual member, and five dollars
for each of the affiliated or-
ganizations, which sum shall entitle it
to two representatives. A society
may increase its representation to seven
by paying one dollar for each
additional representative. Honorary and Corresponding members pay
no dues. In addition to the annual dues
the Executive Committee may
authorize the raising of such additional
funds as may be required.
7. The Executive Committee shall adopt
such rules and by-laws
for its own conduct as are not
inconsistent with this Constitution.
8. This Constitution may be amended by
any annual meeting, notice
of such amendment having been given at
the previous annual meeting,
or the proposed amendment having
received the approval of the Execu-
tive Committee.
LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE OHIO VALLEY HISTORI-
CAL ASSOCIATION.
American Archaeological Institute, Ohio
Chapter, Cincinnati, O.
American Book Company, Cincinnati, O.
Ames, F. P., Rockland, O.
Avery, Elroy M., 2831 Woodhill Road, S.
E., Cleveland, O.
Baird, Chambers, Ripley, O.
Baird, Lucy (Miss), 927 Cherokee Road,
Louisville, Ky.
*Baker, Mrs. Charles W., Reading Road,
Cincinnati, O.
Baker, Phoebe S. (Miss), 1887 Madison
Road, Cincinnati, O.
Bettinger, Albert, Atlas Bank Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
* Deceased.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 465
Black, L. C., Union Trust Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
Bradford, J. E., Miami University,
Oxford, O.
Breed, W. J., Hotel Alms, Cincinnati, O.
Burton, S. R., First National Bank
Bldg,, Cincinnati, O.
Chamberlain, H. G. (Mrs.), Marietta, O.
Chatfield, A. H., Cincinnati, O.
Cincinnati History Teachers'
Association, Cincinnati, O.
Coleman, C. B., Butler College,
Indianapolis, Ind.
Colonial Dames, Society of in the State
of Ohio, Cincinnati, O.
Colonial Wars, Society of, in the State
of Ohio, Cincinnati, O.
Cole, Frank T., University School,
Columbus, O.
Columbus Public Library.
Cox, Isaac Joslin, University of
Cincinnati, Cincinnati, O.
Crowther, Elizabeth, Western College for
Women, Oxford, O.
Culkins, W. C., Care of Columbia Life
Insurance Co., Cincinnati, O.
Dale, T. D. (Mrs.), Belpre, O.
Dickinson, C. E. (Rev.), Belpre, O.
Dickore, Marie (Miss), 2530 Beechmont
Ave., Cincinnati, O.
Dilworth, James F., University of
Cincinnati, Cincinnati, O.
Dunn, Arthur W., Shortridge High School,
Indianapolis, Ind.
Durrett, Reuben T. (Col.), 202 East
Chestnut St., Louisville, Ky.
Dyar, Charles P. (Mrs.), Pollard Place,
Marietta, O.
Ellis, Frank R. (Mrs.), 969 Marion Ave.,
Cincinnati, O.
Elson, Henry W., Ohio University,
Athens, O.
Emerson, Dudley, College Hill, O.
Emery, T. J. (Mrs.), Edgecliff Road,
Cincinnati, O.
Evans, N. W., 301-304 Masonic Temple,
Portsmouth, O.
Fay & Egan Co., John and Front Sts.,
Cincinnati, O.
Foster, T. C., 4th and Broadway,
Cincinnati, O.
Friedlander, A. A., Manual Training High
School, Louisville, Ky.
Galbreath, C. B., State Library,
Columbus, O.
Gilchrist, C. W., 554 Frick Building
Annex, Pittsburg, Pa.
Goodwin, F. P., 3435 Observatory Place,
Cincinnati, O.
Greve, Charles Theodore, Carlisle Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
Harris, G. W., 606 Mound St.,
Cincinnati, O.
Heer, F. J., Columbus, O.
Hinkle, Frederick W., 1311 Union Trust
Bldg., Cincinnati, O.
Historical and Philosophical Society of
Ohio, Cincinnati, O.
Holland, W. J., Carnegie Institute,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Hulbert, Archer B., Marietta College,
Marietta, O.
Hurd, E. O., Third and Main Sts.,
Cincinnati, O.
Hutchinson, Jennie D. (Miss), 514 Fifth
St., Marietta, O.
Ingalls, M. E., 143 Ingalls Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
Jones, William Harvey, Board of Trade,
Columbus, O.
Vol. XVIII-30.
466 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Katzenberger, George A., Greenville, O.
Kentucky State Historical Society,
Frankfort, Ky.
Knight, Alfred, 419 Plum St.,
Cincinnati, O.
Levy, H. M., 309 Traction Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
Lewis, Virgil A., State Archivist and
Historian, Charleston, W. Va.
Lindley, Harlow, Earlham College,
Richmond, Ind.
Livingood, Charles J., Baker Place,
Cincinnati, O.
Lloyd, John Uri, Clifton and Lafayette
Aves., Cincinnati, O.
Longmoor, W. W., Frankfort, Ky.
Lowe, May (Miss), Circleville, O.
Lucas, Helen M. (Mrs.), Marietta, O.
McClintock, M. Petria (Miss), 45 W.
Fifth St., Chillicothe, O.
McCulloch, Delia A. (Mrs.), Point
Pleasant, W. Va.
Mackoy, Harry Brent, Covington, Ky.
Marietta College, Marietta, O.
Martzolff, C. L., Ohio University,
Athens, O.
Merrick, C. D. (Mrs.), Parkersburg, W.
Va.
Middleswart, Belle Otis (Mrs.), 527
Third St., Marietta, O.
Miller, John H., 514 Johnson Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
Mills, William W., Marietta, O.
Mitchell, P. R., 3859 Clifton Ave.,
Cincinnati, O.
Morse, A. E., Marietta College,
Marietta, O.
Myers, Irene T., Transylvania
University, Lexington, Ky.
Nye, Minna Tupper (Miss), 82 Beaver St.,
New York City.
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society, Columbus, O.
Orr, Minnie M. (Miss), Marietta College,
Marietta, O.
Perry, A. T., Marietta College,
Marietta, O.
Poffenbarger, Livia S. (Mrs.), Point
Pleasant, W. Va.
Pugh, A. H., Pugh Bldg., Cincinnati, O.
Randall, E. O., Supreme Court Bldg.,
Columbus, O.
Rashig, H. H., 618 Prospect Place,
Cincinnati, O.
Revolution, Daughters of the American,
Cincinnati Chapter, Cincinnati, O.
Revolution, Sons of, in the State of
Ohio, Cincinnati, O.
Short, Charles W., 1444 E. McMillen St.,
Cincinnati, O.
Slocum, Charles E., Defiance, Ohio.
Spencer, Henry R., Ohio State
University, Columbus. O.
Stubbs, Adeline A. (Miss), Woodward High
School, Cincinnati, O.
Sturges, Susan M. (Miss), 100 W. Park
Ave., Mansfield, O.
Sweney, E. C., University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati. O.
Temple, Henry W., Washington and
Jefferson College, Washington, Pa.
Todd, Joe E., Christmas Knoll, Wooster,
O.
Thruston, R. C. Ballard, Care of Ballard
& Ballard Co., Louisville, Ky.
Van Nes, H., Glendale, O.
Vincent, Boyd (Rt. Rev.), 663 Forest
Ave., Cincinnati, O.
Washington & Jefferson College,
Washington, Pa.
Annual Meeting Ohio Valley Historical
Association. 467
West Virginia State Department of
Archives and History, Charleston,
W. Va.
Whitcomb, Merrick, University of
Cincinnati, Cincinnati, O.
Wilby, Joseph, 604 Neave Bldg.,
Cincinnati, O.
Williams, Henry G., Athens, O.
Wilson, Bettie (Miss), 3000 Vine St.,
Cincinnati, O.
Wilson, O. J., 378 Lafayette Ave.,
Cincinnati, O.
Wilson, Samuel M., Trust Co. Bldg.,
Lexington, Ky.
Winslow, Horace, 519 First Nat'l Bank
Bldg., Cincinnati, O.
Wright, C. B., Cincinnati, O.
Wright, Paul H., Powhatan Point, O.
SUMMARY OF MEMBERSHIP.
Contributing Societies and Institutions
of Learning........ 14
Public Libraries
........................................
1
Individual Members .....
............................... 92
Total
.............................................. 107
SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO VALLEY
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
Marietta, Ohio, November 27 and 28,
1908.
On Friday and Saturday, November 27 and
28, 1908, the
Ohio Valley Historical Association held
its second annual meet-
ing at Marietta, Ohio; the first annual
meeting was held a year
previous in Cincinnati, the proceedings
of which meeting were
briefly reported in the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
QUARTERLY for January, 1909. The
complete proceedings of
that meeting were published in a
separate pamphlet by the State
Society just named. The Ohio Valley
Historical Association,
it will be recalled, is an organization
consisting of the historical
and patriotic societies located in the
states bordering on the Ohio
River from Pittsburgh to the
Mississippi. The membership also
includes all students, teachers and
writers in history, residing in
said territory, the object being to
arouse and promote interest in
the history of the Ohio Valley,
stimulate the teachers in the col-
leges and schools, to emphasize the
history of their localities and
collect and preserve historical
manuscripts and memoranda and
other material that should not be lost.
The Association at once
entered upon an active and successful
career, the first meeting in
Cincinnati, being largely attended,
addresses were delivered by
many prominent writers and teachers in
American and especially
Western history. The second meeting,
held at Marietta, was
equally successful. We give the program
as previously arranged
and as practically carried out. The
proceedings in full have re-
cently been published in separate
pamphlet form by the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society. We reproduce a
synopsis of the four sessions and also
such of the papers or ad-
dresses as pertain more particularly to
Ohio history, or are val-
uable and suggestive on the subject of
studying history, gath-
ering and preserving its material.
391