vicinity, citizens of West Andover and neighborhood, organized a secret society, the Independent Sons of Liberty," to defend these men with their lives if need be. Signals, signs, passwords and a badge were agreed upon, arms procured and a place of rendezvous selected. A State lodge was organ ized and finally a United States lodge. The final object was to act politically and in a revolutionary manner if necessary for the overthrow of slavery. Members in common parlance were called "Black Strings" from a badge which they wore, a black string tied into the buttonhole of their shirt collar. ROCK CREEK, sixteen miles south of Lake Erie, on the Ashtabula & Pittsburg R. R. Newspapers: Banner, Republican, Scott & Remick, publishers. Churches: 1 Congregational, 1 Methodist and 1 Disciples. Bank: Morgan Saving & Loan Association, E. M. Covell, president, W. W. Watkins, cashier. Principal industries are tannery, flouring, saw, planing and handle mills, moulding factory, etc. Population in 1880, 558. ATHENS. ATHENS COUNTY was formed from Washington March 1, 1805. The surface is broken and hilly, with intervals of rich bottom lands. The hills have a fertile soil and a heavy growth of trees. The Hocking canal commences at Carroll on the Ohio canal in Fairfield county, and follows the river valley to Athens, a distance of fifty-six miles. In the county are extensive deposits of iron ore suitable for smelting; excellent salt to the extent of 50,000 barrels were annually produced between the years 1848 and 1868. Its greatest mineral wealth is in its coal; in 1886 there were in operation forty-one mines, employing 1,804 miners and producing 899,046 tons of coal, being next to Perry the largest coal-producing county in the State. Its area is 370 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 46,685; in pasture, 128,269; woodland, 57,906; lying waste, 4,256; produced in wheat, 24,695 bushels; corn, 638,984; tobacco, 56,108 pounds; peaches, 2,077 bushels; wool, 580,983 pounds; sheep, 108,454. School census 1886, 10,108; teachers, 215. It has 102 miles of railroad. Population in 1820 was 6,342; in 1840, 19,108; 1860, 21,346; 1880, 28,411, of whom 23,787 were Ohio born. In Evans' map of the middle British colonies, published in 1755, there is placed on the left bank of the Hocking, somewhere in this region, a town, station or fort, named "French Margarets." In the county above (Hocking) have been found the remains of an old press, for packing furs and peltries, which attest that French cupidity and enterprise had introduced an extensive trade among the Indians. Lord Dunmore, in his famous expedition against the Indian towns upon the Scioto, in the autumn of 1774-just prior to the commencement of the revolu tionary war, descended the Ohio, and landed at the mouth of the Great Hockhocking, in this county. He was there during the bloody battle at Point Pleasant-on an air line twenty-eight miles distant-between General Lewis and the Indians. At this place he established a depot and erected some defences, called Fort Gower, in honor of Earl Gower. From that point he marched up the valley of the river, encamping, tradition says, a night successively at Federal creek, Sunday creek, and at the falls of the Hocking. From the last he proceeded to the Scioto, where the detachment under General Lewis joined him, and the war was brought to a close by a treaty or truce with the hostile tribes. Dunmore, on his return, stopped at Fort Gower, where the officers passed a series of resolutions, for which, see Pickaway county, with other details of this expedition. Colonel Robert Paterson, one of the original proprietors of Cincinnati, with a party of Kentuckians, was attacked, near the mouth of the Hocking, by the Indians, two years after the erection of Fort Gower. The circumstances are given under the head of Montgomery county. The early settlement of this county began just after Wayne's treaty; its inception had its origin in one of the most noble motives that can influence humanity, viz. the desire for the promotion of learning. We extract from "Walker's His : tory of Athens County." During the year 1796 nearly 1,000 flat boats or "broad horns," as they were then called, passed Marietta laden with emigrants on their way to the more attractive regions of Southwestern Ohio. In the early part of 1797 a considerable number of newly arrived emigrants were assembled in Marietta, eager to obtain lands on the best terms they could and form settlements. The two townships of land appropriated by the Ohio Company for the benefit of a university had been selected in December, 1795. They were townships Nos. 8 and 9 in the fourteenth range, constituting at present Athens and Alexander townships. The township lines were run in 1795, and the sectional surveys made in 1796, under the supervision of General Putnam, the company's surveyor, who from the first took an ardent interest in the selection of these lands and the founding of the university. His policy (in which he was seconded by the other agents) was toencourage the early settlement of the college lands, make them attractive and productive, and so begin the formation of a fund for the institution. Encouraged by Gen. Putnam, who wished to introduce permanent settlers as soon as possible, a number of the emigrants who had stopped at Marietta decided to locate on the college lands. Among these were Alvan Bingham, Silas Bingham, Isaac Barker, William Harper, John Wilkins, Robert Linzee, Edmund, William and Barak Dorr, John Chandler and Jonathan Watkins. They made their way down the Ohio and up the Hockhocking in large canoes early in the year 1797. Having ascended as far as the attractive bluff where the town of Athens now stands, they landed and sought their various locations. A few of them fixed on the site of the present town, but most of them scattered up and down the adjacent bottoms. The pioneers soon opened up several clearings about Athens, and a little corn for corn-bread was put in the first spring. The clearings, however, were irregular and scattered, and no effort was made as yet to lay out a town. Early in 1798 a number of emigrants arrived; among them were Solomon Tuttle, Christopher Stevens, John and Moses Hewit, Cornelius Moore, Joseph Snowden, John Simonton, Robert Ross, the Brooks, and the Hanings. Some of these had families. Some settled in Athens and some in Alexander township. Mrs. Margaret Snowden, wife of Joseph Snowden, was honored by having "Margaret's creek" named after her, she being the first white woman who reached this central point in the county. The annexed vivid sketch of the captivity and escape of Moses Hewit (one of the early settlers above named) from the Indians, is from the history of the Bellville settlement, written by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, and published in the Hesperian, edited by William D. Gallagher. CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPE OF MOSES HEWIT. -Moses Hewit was born in Worcester, Mass., in the year 1767 and came to the Ohio in 1790; at the breaking out of the Indian war he resided on the island now known as " Blennerhasset," in a block-house, where he married. After his marriage, as the Indians became dangerous, he joined the company of settlers at " Neil's station.' At this period, all the settlements on both banks of the Ohio were broken up, and the inhabitants retired to their garrisons for mutual defence. Hewit's Physical Prowess.—Mr. Hewit was, at this time, in the prime of life and manhood; possessed of a vigorous frame, nearly six feet high, with limbs of the finest mould, not surpassed by the Belvidere Apollo, for manly beauty. The hands and feet were small in proportion to the muscles of the arms and legs. Of their strength some estimate may be formed, when it is stated that he could, with a single hand, lift with ease a large blacksmith's anvil by grasping the tapering horn which projects from its side. To this great muscular strength was added a quickness of motion which gave to the dash of his fist the rapidity of thought as it was driven into the face or breast of his adversary. The eye was coal black, small and sunken, but when excited or enraged, flashed fire like that of the tiger. The face and head were well developed, with such powerful masseter and temporal muscles that the fingers of the strongest man, when once confined between his teeth, could no more be withdrawn than from the jaws of a vice. With such physical powers, united to an unrefined and rather irritable mind, who shall wonder at his propensity for, and delight in, personal combat: especially when placed in the midst of rude. and unlettered companions, where courage and bodily strength were held in unlimited estimation. Accordingly we find him engaged in numberless personal contests, in which he almost universally came off victorious. Taken Captive-Some time in the month of May. 1792, while living at Neil's station, on the Little Kenawha, Mr. Hewit rose early in the morning and went out about a mile from the garrison in search of a stray horse. He was sauntering along at his ease, in an obscure cattle path, when all at once three Indians sprang from behind two large trees. So sudden was the onset that resistance was vain. He therefore quietly surrendered, thinking that in a few days he should find some way of escape. For himself, he felt but little uneasiness; his great concern was for his wife and child, from whom, with the yearnings of a father's heart, he was thus forcibly separated, and whom he might never see again. He In their progress to the towns on the Sandusky plains, the Indians treated him with as little harshness as could be expected. was always confined at night by fastening his wrists and ankles to saplings, as he lay extended upon his back upon the ground, with an Indian on each side. By day his limbs were free, but always marching with one Indian before, and two behind him. As they approached the prairies frequent halts were made to search for honey, the wild bee being found in every hollow tree, and often in the ground beneath decayed roots, in astonishing numbers. This afforded them many luscious repasts, of which the prisoner was allowed to partake. The naturalization of the honey bee to the forests of North America, since its colonization by the whites, is, in fact, the only real addition to its comforts that the red man has ever received from the destroyer of his race; and this industrious insect, so fond of the society of man, seems also destined to destruction by the bee-moth, and like the buffalo and the deer, will soon vanish from the woods and prairies of the West. Escape and Pursuit.-While the Indians were occupied in these searches, Hewit closely watched an opportunity for escape, but his captors were equally vigilant. As they receded from the danger of pursuit, they became less hurried in their march, and often stopped to hunt and amuse themselves. The level prairie afforded fine ground for one of their favorite sports, the foot-race. In this Hewit was invited to join and soon found that he could easily outrun two of them, but the other was more than his match, which discouraged him from trying to escape, until a more favorable opportunity. They treated him familiarly, and were much pleased with his lively, cheerful manners. After they had reached within one or two days march of their village they made a halt to hunt and left their prisoner at their camp, although they had usually taken him with them, as he complained of being sick. To make all safe, they placed him on his back, confining his wrists with stout thongs of raw-hides to saplings, and his legs raised at a considerable elevation, to a small tree. After they had been gone a short time, he began to put in operation the plan he had been meditating for escape, trusting that the thickness of his wrists, in comparison with the smallness of his hands, would enable him to withdraw them from the ligatures. After long and violent exertions, he succeeded in liberating his hands, but not without severely lacerating the skin and covering them with blood. His legs were next freed by untying them, but not without a great effort, from their elevation. Once fairly at liberty, the first object was to secure some food for the long journey which was before him. But as the Indians' larder is seldom well stocked, with all his search he could only find two small pieces of jerked venison, not more than sufficient for a single meal. With this light stock of provision, his body nearly naked, and without even a knife or a tomahawk, to assist in procuring more, he started for the settlements on the Muskingum, as the nearest point where he could meet with friends. It seems that the Indians returned to the camp soon after his escape, for that night while cautiously traversing a wood he heard the cracking of a breaking twig not far from him. Dropping silently on to the ground where he stood, he beheld his It three enemies in pursuit. To say that he was Suffering everything but death from the exhausting effects of hunger and fatigue, he after nine days struck the waters of the Big Muskingum, and came in to the garrison at Wolf creek mills. During this time he had no food but roots and the bark of the slipperyelm, after the two bits of venison were expended. When he came in sight of the station, he was so completely exhausted that he could not stand or halloo. His body was entirely naked, excepting a small strip of cloth round the loins, and so torn, bloody and dis figured by the briers and brush that he thought it imprudent to show himself, lest he should be taken for an Indian and shot by the sentries. It is a curious physiological fact, that famine and hunger will actually darken the skin in the manner mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah, when foretelling the fate of the Israelites; and may be accounted for by the absorption of the bile into the blood, when not used up in the process of digesting the food. In this forlorn state Hewit remained until evening, when he crawled silently to the gateway, which was open, and crept in before any one was aware of his being near. As they all had heard of his capture, and some personally knew him, he was instantly recognized by a young man, as the light of the fire fell on his face, who exclaimed, Here is Hewit." They soon clothed and fed him, and his fine constitution directly restored his health. Pioneer Hardships.-After the war was closed, by the masterly campaign of General Wayne, the sturdy settlers on the shores of the Ohio sallied out from their garrisons, where they had been more or less closely confined for five years, and took possession of the various farms, which had fallen to their lots either as "donation lands," or as proprietors in the Ohio Company, some of which had been partially cleared and cultivated before the commencement of hostilities. During this period they had suffered from famine, sickness and death, in addition to the depredations of the Indians. The small-pox and putrid sore throat had visited them in their garrisons, destroying, in some instances, whole families of children in a few days. The murderous savage without, with sickness and famine within, had made their castles wearisome dwelling places, although they protected them from the tomahawk, and saved the settlements from being entirely broken up. Becomes a Useful Citizen.-In the year 1797 Mr. Hewit cast his lot in the valley of the Hockhocking river, near the town of Athens, and settled quietly down to clearing his farm. He was by nature endowed with a clear, discriminating and vigorous mind; and, although his education was very limited, extending only to reading and writing, yet his judgment was acute, and his reasoning powers highly matured by intercourse with his fellow-men. For some years before his death he was a member of the Methodist church, which has the praise of reclaiming more depraved men than perhaps any other sect, and became a valuable citizen and useful man in society. A short time previous to his decease, which took place in the year 1814, he was appointed a trustee of the Ohio University, at Athens. At that early time the duties of a trustee mainly consisted in leasing out and managing the fiscal affairs of the college domain, embracing two townships of land. For this business he was well fitted, and his judgment and good sense were of real value to the institution, however little he might be qualified to act in literary matters. A Little Philosophy.-The life of Mr. Hewit affords an interesting subject of contemplation. Hundreds of others, who were among the western borderers in early days, afford similar examples of reckless daring and outrageous acts, while surrounded with war, tumult and danger, who, when peace was restored and they returned to the quiet scenes of domestic and civil life, became some of the most useful, influential and distinguished men. It shows how much man is the creature of habit; and that he is often governed more by the character, and the outward example of men around him, and the times in which he lives, than by any innate principle of good or evil, which may happen to predominate within him. About four miles north of Athens are mounds and ancient fortifications with gateways. One of the mounds, which was composed of a kind of stone differing from any in the vicinity, was taken for the construction of a dam across the Hocking; there were in it over a thousand perches, and some of the stones weighed two hundred pounds. In the mound were found copper rings and other relics. There are many mounds in some other parts of the county. ATHENS IN 1846.-Athens, the county-seat, is situated on a commanding site on the Hockhocking river, seventy-two miles southeast of Columbus. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Cumberland Presbyterian, and a Methodist church, a classical academy, eleven mercantile stores, and by the census of 1840 had 710 inhabitants. It was made the county-seat in March, 1805. The Ohio University, the first established in all the territory northwest of the Ohio, is situated here, but has temporarily suspended its operations, for the purpose of recovering from pecuniary embarrassment. It was first chartered by the territorial government, and afterwards, in 1804, by the State legislature. It was early endowed by Congress with the two townships of Athens and Alexander, containing 46,000 acres of land, which, with the connecting resources, yield an annual income of about $5,000. The buildings are substantial and neat, and stand in a pleasant green. This institution has exerted a most beneficial influence upon the morals and intelligence of this region. Among its graduates are many who do it honor, and it will, doubtless, when again in successful operation-as it soon will be-continue its good work.-Old Edition. In 1886 the university had pupils twenty-six gentlemen and eleven ladies, Chas. W. Super, president. Up to that date it had 494 graduates and partially educated about 10,000 persons. The first degrees were conferred in 1815. Thomas Ewing and John Hunter received in that year the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. Ewing was probably the first collegiate alumnus for the whole of Western America. Wm. Holmes McGuffey, D. D., born in Pennsylvania in 1800, was president of this institution from 1839 to 1843; from 1845 to 1873, the date of his death, was a professor in the University of Virginia. He was the author of the widely popular series of McGuffey's Readers and Spelling Books. Athens, the county-seat, is about twenty-five miles from the Ohio river on the Hocking river, seventy-six miles southeast of Columbus, by the C. H. V. & T. R. R., also on the C. W. & B. and O. & C. Railroads; is located amidst beautiful scenery; its citizens ranking high in intelligence and the learned professions. County officers in 1888: Probate Judge, William S. Wilson; Clerk of Court, Silas E. Hedges; Sheriff, Frederick Stalder; Prosecuting Attorney, David L. Sleeper; |