FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Franklin County Indian Story (published 1880)
				Keziah HAMLIN & David BROOKS
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Historical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe LL.D.

Franklin County Indian Story

An interesting anecdote,  illustrating the peculiar characteristics of
the Indians as our first settlers of Columbus found them,  is related of
Keziah,  the youngest daughter of John and Mary Hamlin.

In 1804 Mr. Hamlin built the first cabin east of the Scioto River,  on
the spot where Hosters Brewery now stands,  and here,  Oct 16,  1804, 
his daughter Keziah,  the first white child in Columbus,  was born.

At this time a tribe of Wyandot Indians were located near a bend in the
river just below the present Harrisburgh bridge.  They were very
friendly to the Hamlins,  and were specially fond of Mrs. Hamlin's
freshly baked bread.  On bread baking days they would come to the
cabin,  and lifting aside the curtain which served for a door,  enter, 
and help themselves to the content of the larder without asking
permission or saying a word to the occupants. Upon leaving they would
throw a hunk of venison or whatever game they had upon the floor as
compensation,  and then silently take their departure.

One day when Mrs. Hamlin was attending to her household duties with
nobody present save her infant daughter,  who was camly sleeping in her
crib,  several of the Indians entered the cabin,  and without saying a
word deliberately took up the sleeping infant and carried her away with
them to their village,  leaving Mrs. Hamlin trembling with fear and
anxiety for the safety of her child.  As the hours passed by,  and the
child was not returned,  she suffered the greatest mental anguish and
suspense,  until,  toward the close of day,  her sufferings were
relieved by the reappearance of the Indians bringing with them the
child,  which wore a beautiful pair of beaded moccasins upon her little
feet,  and which the Indians had been working industriously upon all
day,  and had felt the necessity of having the child with them so as to
insure a perfect fit.  This token of the appreciation of a savage race
for the kindness and hospitality shown them by early pioneers was
preserved until a few years ago,  when the scion of a younger generation
of the same house unfortunately destroyed them when too young to
appreciate their value.

Miss Keziah Hamlin,  the heroine of this pleasing anecdote,  married Dec
19,  1822,  David Brooks,  of Princeton,  Mass.,  and died Feb. 4, 
1875,  leaving a family of three sons and two daughters,  one of whom, 
Mr. David W. Brooks,  of the banking firm of Brooks,  Butler & Co., 
kindly furnished us with the facts given herein.


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