FIRST CATHOLIC
CHURCH IN OHIO.
[The question is often asked, When did
the Catholic Church first
make a permanent settlement in Ohio? We
have diligently sought the
desired information. From Hon. W. B.
Archer, member of the Senate
of the 81st General Assembly, we
recently received the following com-
munication, which seems to settle the
question of the first Ohio Catholic
Church. - EDITOR.]
In compliance with your request I give a
brief statement of
what is known as the "East Fork Settlement"
in what is now
Noble County, Ohio, the location of the
first Ohio Catholic
Church.
I do not think that I could introduce
this subject better,
than to quote a passage from a letter
written many years ago,
by one of the immediate descendants of
one of the first pioneer
families.
"About the year 1803 or 1804 a
colony of five families,
named Archer, Enochs, Crow, Forshire and
Morris, in Marshall
County, Virginia (now West Virginia),
crossed the Ohio river
and made their way westward through
dense forests, till they
reached the East Fork of Duck Creek, in
what is now Noble
County. This settlement was known as the
'Archer settlement',
now the present site of East
Union". * * * James Archer
(the older of the Archers) married a
Miss Lincicome in Vir-
ginia-he was a Roman Catholic, the
remaining families of
the colony were Protestants."
James Archer came to Virginia from
Ireland, some time
prior to the year 1800. He brought with him his three
daughters (his wife having died prior to
this). A short time
after he settled in Virginia (on the
waters of Wheeling Creek)
his two oldest daughters were killed by
Indians and the third
(Jane by name) was thought to be, and
was scalped. She,
however, recovered and lived to bring up
a family.
Archer married again and there were born
to him of this
marriage, six sons and four daughters.
They were quite grown
(226)
First Catholic Church in Ohio. 227
when with their parents, they came to the new settlement in
Ohio--some of the sons being already
married.
From the best information at hand this
settlement was
made in the year 1803.
From the time of their arrival, the
Archers maintained
religious worship after the rule of the
Catholic church (as they
were devout Catholics). Their little
church society has been
kept up ever since and in the period
from 1803 to the present,
they have erected three church buildings
-the first a mere log
cabin, then later a small brick, now a
very commodious and
tastily built frame building of modern
design.
This church society has had an unbroken
existence from
then to the prsent and we claim for it,
that it is the oldest Cath-
olic church society in Ohio. In the
early years of the last
century a Priest came over from Virginia
to help along with the
church work of this little band of
struggling Catholics and he
taught school during his stay (for a
short period in the winter
season for several winters).
The Archers because of their religious
belief were an
isolated set, and largely lived to
themselves, till about the year
1825, when dissension arose in their
ranks and three of the
sons (Jacob, James 2nd, and Joseph)
severed their connection
from the church of their fathers. It was
in this wise-Nancy,
one of the daughters had married one
Elisha Enochs, one of
the Protestant settlers and a young man
of great force of char-
acter-the leader of the Protestants and
a local Methodist
minister. Enochs and his Protestant
neighbors of the settlement
had built a log church building for
worship and he did the
preaching. He was eloquent and a spell
binder for those days
and his good wife (Nancy) had persuaded
three of her brothers
to attend a religious revival held and
being conducted by her
husband who was in all matters outside
of religion a prime
favorite with the Archers.
These three sons became Protestants and
remained so, as
did their descendants ever since, while
the other three and
their descendants have remained true to
their original faith.
The descendants of James Archer 1st are
legion, and have
occupied almost every walk of life, and
many have been suc-
228 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
cessful in their chosen vocation in
life, yet the old pioneer oc-
cupies an unmarked grave in a remote
country graveyard.
The head of the Enochs family was Enoch
the first, better
known as Captain Enochs.
In the early days in Marshall County,
Virginia, or there-
about, a militia company was organized
to protect the early
settlers from attacks of Indians--two
names were proposed
for Captain, that of Enoch Enochs 1st,
and Simon Girty, but
Enochs was elected. This so enraged and
soured Girty that
he deserted his white people and
retreated to the savage camp.
The brutalities and barbarities of Girty
and his savage bands
are too well known to repeat here.
In a battle on the Ohio side with
Indians Captian Enochs
was wounded and left in the woods as
dead, but afterwards
recovered and wandered back to the
settlements.
He was an old man when he came across
with the settlers
to the new settlement in Ohio. His grave
is unknown and of
course unmarked. Many men of prominence
are descended
from him. In the last years of his life
he resided with his son,
Elisha.
Elisha Enochs was the grandfather of
Gen. William H.
Enochs (a general in the Union army and
who represented the
Athens district in congress for a number
of years) and his son,
Henry Enochs, was the first white child
born in what is now
Noble County. One day when Nancy, his
mother, was working
in the field nearby, a bear came along
and gently picked little
Henry from his sugar trough and carried
him a distance into
the forest and buried him snugly in the
leaves of a huge fallen
tree, when she went after her cubs. When
Nancy Enochs re-
turned to find Henry "absent
without leave" she repaired to the
forest. His screams soon directed the
way and nimble legs soon
carried her to the spot and as soon
returned the baby to the
cabin. She well knew that bruin would
soon return, so almost
intuitively she pulled down the old
flint-lock, and pushing it
through a crack in the wall near the
door dispatched the brute
when she returned.
Out of mere joke the neighbors started a
report that when
Nancy began to fortify the cabin and
prepare a heroic defense,
First Catholic Church in Ohio. 229
that Uncle Lish (as he was called)
retreated to the loft. This
somewhat enraged the back woods
"preacher" and he swore a
great oath that he would deliberately
kill a full-grown bear on
sight before a week, and he did. In a
day or two Bill Marsh's
big pet bear wandered into the yard for
a friendly visit, and
Lish shot him, only to find to his
chagrin that he had killed his
neighbor's bear, for on the collar
around his neck was the name
"Marsh".
Elisha Enochs cleared the first field
and built the first claim
in what is now Noble County. This field
was under cultivation
from the time it was cleared for over
one hundred years, which
is an indication of the richness and
fertility of the soil along
this beautiful and picturesque valley of
the East Fork of Duck
Creek.
This valley was discovered to the
Wheeling Creek settlers
by Martin Crow and Lewis Wetzel who
passed through here in
locating settlers farther down toward
the Marietta Country.
To more minutely describe, the
"East Fork" is the eastern
branch of Duck Creek running almost
north and south along the
eastern border of Noble county, coming
into the main branch
of Duck Creek near Salem in Washington
County, twelve miles
north of the city of Marietta and having
its head at Whigville
in Noble County. The
"settlement" extended from Crumtown
on the south to East Union on the north.
The soil is exception-
ally rich and fertile abounding in
springs and riplets of spark-
ling purity--studded (in those days of
course) with a dense
forest of massive oak, poplar, walnut,
sugar and sycamore, and
beneath whose sombre depths a thick
growth of underbrush and
vines of every description which almost
defied the advent of the
settler.
These five families were neighbors on
Wheeling Creek in
Virginia as well as in Ohio. The Crow
family (of whom Jacob
was the head) were all murdered by the
Indians in Virginia
except Martin, Frederick and
Christina--the last three named
being part of the Ohio colony.
For years Martin Crow was the friend and
associate of
the noted Lewis Wetzel and many were the
redskins who fell
before the unerring aim of these pioneer
free-booters.
230 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
At the death of Martin's people he with
Wetzel had taken
to the woods and had resolved to kill
every Indian they came
across-and they were true to their word.
Even when peace-
fully settled on the "East
Fork" any wandering Indians who
happened to pass that way ran the
gauntlet of their hate (how-
ever it must be understood Wetzel never
made any permanent
home and remained a wanderer long after
the last Indian had
been removed beyond their reach).
George Crow (son of Martin Crow) became
a Colonel in
the Confederate army and served with
distinction. Hon. Albert
Maywood Morris of this city, a lawyer
and a politician of wide
reputation, is a direct descendant from
James Archer, Enoch
Enochs and Isaac Morris as was also the
writer.
The above has been written as the
stories of these events
have drifted into the mind of the writer
and are necessarily dis-
jointed and illy connected, but we have
aimed to give the facts
as we have gathered them from our
ancestors and as we be-
lieved them to be true.
This church organization has always been
known as "Saint
Michael's", and it is hoped that it
will be conceded what is justly
due it, - that it is the oldest Catholic
Society in Ohio.
The settlement was made in Washington
County-after-
wards detached and placed in Monroe in
1814, and included in
Noble from 1852.
Respectfully,
M. B. ARCHER.