BELMONT COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Part 3 (pub 1880) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Submitter: Tina Hursh Email: ribbit@clubnet.isl.net Date: 26 March 2003 *********************************************************************** >From the The Ohio Biographies Project http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~usbios/Ohio/mnpg.html a part of The U.S. Biographies Project http://members.tripod.com/~debmurray/usbios/usbiog.html Transcribed by Deb Murray. --------------- "Historic Collections of Ohio" by Henry Howe. Wm. Lloyd Garrison, his co-laborer, wrote of him " Instead of being able to withstand the tide of public opinion it would at first seem doubtful whether he could sustain a temporary conflict with the winds of heaven. And yet he has explored nineteen of the twenty-four States - from the Green mountains of Vermont to the banks of the Mississippi - multiplied anti-slavery societies in every quarter, put every petition in motion relative to the extinction of slavery in the District of Columbia, everywhere awakened the slumbering sympathies of the people, and begun a work, the completion of which will be the salvation of his country. His heart is of gigantic size. Every inch of him is alive with power. He combines the meekness of Howard with the boldness of Luther. "Within a few months he has travelled about 2,400 miles, of which upwards of 1,600 were performed on foot, during which time he has held nearly fifty public meetings. Rivers and mountains vanish in his path; midnight finds him wending his solitary way over an unfrequented road; the sun is anticipated in his rising. Never was moral sublimity of character better illustrated.'' This county has the honor of being the first to supply the State with an Ohio-born governor; this was Wilson Shannon, who was born February 24, 1802, in a cabin at Mount Olivet and the first child born in the township. He was of Irish descent. The next January his father, George Shannon, went out hunting one morning. Late in the day, while making his way home through the woods, a heavy snow-storm set in; he became bewildered and lost his way; after wandering about in a circle some time that constantly grew less he made unsuccessful efforts to start a fire and being overpowered by exhaustion he se-tted himself close to a large sugar tree in the centre of his beaten circle, where he was found in the morning frozen to death. Wilson was educated at Athens and Transylvania University, and then studied law with Chas. Hammond and David Jennings at St. Clairsville, and soon became eminent at the bar. In 1838 he was elected governor on the Democratic ticket by 5,738 votes over Jos. Vance, the Whig candidate; defeated in 1840 by Mr. Corwin, and in 1843 elected governor the second time. In 1844 was appointed minister to Mexico. In 1852 was sent to Congress, where he was one of the four Ohio Democrats who voted for the Kansas and Nebraska bill. President Pierce later appointed him governor of Kansas, which position he resigned in 1857 and resumed the practice of law. In 1875, in connection with the Hon. Jeremiah Black, of Pa., he argued the celebrated Osage land case before the Supreme Court and won the case for the settlers. As a lawyer he was bold, diligent, courteous and ever ready to assist the weak and struggling. Possessing a noble presence, in his old age he was described as a picture of a hardy, hale old gentleman of the olden time. He died in 1877 and was buried at Lawrence, Kansas, where the last twenty years of his life had been passed. James M. Thoburn, D. D., elected in 1888 by the Methodists as missionary bishop for India and Malaysia, was born in St. Clairsville, 0., March 7, 1836. He was graduated at Alleghany College at Meadville, Pa., and began preaching in Ohio at the age of twenty-one. He went to India in 1859 as a missionary, and in conjunction with Bishop Taylor did much to build up the church among the native tribes. He built the largest church in India at Calcutta, and preached for five years at Simyla, the summer capital He was editor for a time of the Indian Witness, published at Calcutta, and is the author of "My Missionary Apprenticeship”; "A History of Twenty-five Years' Experience in India," and of a volume of " Missionary Sermons." BRIDGEPORT lies upon the Ohio river 135 miles easterly from Columbus, on the old National road and exactly opposite Wheeling, W. Va., with which it is connected by a bridge, and on the C. L. & W. and C. & P. Railroads. It joins the town of Martin's Ferry; forming with it to the eye but a single city. Back of it rise very bold hills and the site is highly picturesque. Bridgeport has 1 Presbyterian, 2 Methodist Episcopal and 1 Colored Baptist church. First National Bank, W. W. Holloway, president; J. J. Holloway, cashier. Manufactures and Employees. - Standard Iron Co., corrugated iron, 205 hands; Bridgeport Glass Co., fruit jars, 80; AEtna Iron and Steel Co., 610; La Belle Glass Works, cut glass, etc., 335 ; L. C. Leech, barrels, etc.; Diamond Mills, flour, etc~; R. J. Baggs & Son, doors, sash, etc., 35; Bridgeport Machine Shop.- State Report 1887. Population in 1840, 329; in 1880, 2,390. School census 1886, 1,130; T. E. Orr, superintendent. Bridgeport was laid out in 1806 under the name of Canton by Ehenezer Zane. The locality had long been named Kirkwood from Capt. Joseph Kirkwood, who in 1789 built a cabin on the south side of Indian Wheeling creek. Indian Attack on Kirkwood's Cabin. - In the spring of 1791 the cabin of Captain Kirkwood, at this place, was attacked at night by a party of Indians, who, after a severe action, were repulsed. This Captain Kirkwood "was the gallant and unrewarded Captain Kirkwood, of the Delaware line, in the war of the revolution, to whom such frequent and honorable allusion is made in Lee's memoir of the Southern campaigns. The State of Delaware had but one continental regiment, which, at the defeat at Camden, was reduced to a single company. It was there-fore impossible, under the rules, for Kirkwood to be promoted; and he was under the mortification of beholding inferior office’s in the regiments of other States, promoted over him, while he, with all his merit, was compelled to remain a captain, solely in consequence of the small force Delaware was enabled to maintain in the service. He fought with distinguished gallantry through the war, and was in the bloody battles of Camden, Holkirks, Eutaw and Ninety-six." Captain Kirkwood moved here in 1789, and built his cabin on a knoll. There was then an unfinished block-house on the highest part of the knoll, near by. On the night of the attack, fourteen soldiers, under Captain Joseph Biggs, with Captain Kirkwood and family, were in the cabin. About two hours before daybreak the captain's little son Joseph had occaision to leave the cabin for a few moments, and requested Captain Biggs to accompany him. They were out but a few minutes, and, although unknown to them, were surrounded by Indians. They had returned and again retired to sleep in the upper loft when they soon discovered the roof in a blaze, wiuch was the first intimation they had of the presence of an enemy. Captain Kirkwood was instantly awakened, when he and his men commenced pushing off the roof, the Indians at the same time firing upon them, from under cover of the blockhouse. Captain Biggs, on the first alarm, ran down the ladder into the room below to get his rifle, when a ball entered a wiudow and wounded him in the wrist. Soon the Indians had surrounded the house, and attempted to break in the door with their tomahawks. Those within braced it with puncheons from the floor. In the panic of the moment several of the men wished to escape from the cabin, but Captain Kirkwood silenced them with the threat of taking the life of the first man who made the attempt, asserting that the Indians would tomahawk them as fast as they left. The people of Wheeling - one mile distant - hearing the noise of the attack, fired a swivel to encourage the defenders, although fearful of coming to the rescue. This enraged the Indians the more; they sent forth terrific yells, and brought brush piled it around the cabin, and set it on fire. Those within in a measure smothered the flames, first with the water and milk in the house, and then with damp earth from the floor of the cabin. The fight was kept up about two hours, until dawn, when the Indians retreated. Had they attacked earlier, success would have resulted. The loss of the Indians, or their number, was unknown - only one was seen. He was in the act of climbing up the corner of the cabin, when he was discovered, let go his hold and fell. Seven of those within were wounded, and one, a Mr. Walker, mortally. He was a brave man. As he lay, disabled and helpless, on his back, on the earth, he called out to the Indians in a taunting manner. He died in a few hours, and was buried the next day, at Wheeling, with military honors. A party of men, under Gen. Benjamin Biggs, of West Liberty, went in an unsuccessful pursuit of the Indians. A niece of Captain Kirkwood, during the attack, was on a visit about twenty miles distant, on Buffalo creek. In the night she dreamed that the cabin was attacked, and heard the guns. So strong an impression did it make, that she arose and rode down with all her speed to Wheeling, where she arrived two hours after sunrise. After this affair Captain Kirkwood moved with his family to Newark, Delaware. On his route he met with some of St. Clair's troops, them on their way to Cincinnati. Exasperated at the Indians for their attack upon his house, he accepted the command of a company of Delaware troops, was with them at the defeat of St. Clair in the November following, "where he fell in a brave attempt to repel the enemy with the bayonet, and thus closed a career as honorable as it was unrewarded.'' Elizabeth Zane, who acted with so much heroism at the siege of Wheeling, in 1782, lived many years since about two miles above Bridgeport, on the Ohio side of the river, near Martinsville. She was twice married, first to Mr. McLaughlin, and secondly to Mr. Clark. This anecdote of her heroism has been published a thousand times. Heroism of Elizabeth Zane. - When Lynn, the ranger, gave the alarm that an Indian army was approaching, the fort having been for some time unoccupied by a garrison, and Colonel Zane's house having been used for a magazine, those who retired into the fortress had to take with them a supply of ammunition for its defence. The supply of powder, deemed ample at the time, was now almost exhausted, by reason of the long continuance of the siege, and the repeated endeavors of the savages to take the fort by storm ; a few rounds only remained. In this emergency it became necessary to renew their stock from an abundant store which was deposited in Colonel Zane's house. Accordingly, it was proposed that one of the fleetest men should endeavor to reach the house, obtain a supply of powder, and return with it to the fort. It was an enterprise full of danger; but many of the heroic spirits shut up in the fort were willing to encounter the hazard. Among those who volunteered to go on this enterprise was Elizabeth, the sister of Colonel E. Zane. She was young, active and athletic, with courage to dare the danger, and fortitude to sustain her through it. Disdaining to weigh the hazard of her own life against that of others, when told that a man would encounter less danger by reason of his greater fleetness, she replied, “and should he fall, his loss will be more severly felt; you have not one man to spare; a woman will not be missed in the defence of the f'ort." Her services were then accepted. Divesting herself of some of her garments, as tending to impede her progress, she stood prepared for the hazardous adventure and when the gate was thrown open, bounded forth with the buoyancy of hope, and in the confidence of success. Wrapt in amazement, the Indians beheld her springing forword, and only exclaiming, "a squaw,” “a squaw,” no attempt was made to interrupt her progress; arrived at the door, she proclaimed her errand. Colonel Silas Zane fastened a tablecloth around her waist, and emptying into it a keg of powder, again she ventured forth. The Indians were no longer passive. Ball after ball whizzed by; several of which passed through her clothes; she reached the gate, and entered the fort in safety; and thus was the garrison again saved by female intrepidity. This heroine had but recently returned from Philadelphia, where she had received her education, and was wholly unused to such scenes as were daily passing on the frontiers. The distance she had to run was about forty yards. Among the best sketches of backwoods life is that written by Mr. John S. Williams, editor of the American Pioneer, and published in October, 1843. In the spring of 1800 his father's family removed from Carolina and settled with others on Glenn's run, about six miles northeast of St. Clairsvi1le. He was then a lad, as he relates, of seventy-five pounds weight. From his sketch, " Our Cabin; or Life in the Woods," we make some extracts.