Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/70

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��HISTOKY OF OHIO.

��Connelly, who was one of its original proprietors, and who distinguished himself in the commence- ment of Lord Dunmore's war, and who was now a Tory, and doing all he could against the patriot cause. The proceeds of the sale of his lands were divided between Virginiaand the county of Jefferson. Kentucky, the next year, was divided into three counties, Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette. Courts were appointed in each, and the entry and location of lands given into their hands. Settlers, in spite of Indian troubles and British intrigue, were* pouring over the mountains, particularly so during the years 1780 and 1781. The expeditions of Clarke against the Miami Indians ; Boone's cap- tivity, and escape from them; their defeat when attacking Boonesboro, and other places — all combined to weaken their power, and teach them to respect a nation whose progress they could not stay.

The pioneers of the West, obliged to depend on themselves, owing to the struggle of the colonies for freedom, grew up a hardy, self-reliant race, with all the vices and virtues of a border life, and with habits, manners and customs necessary to their peculiar situation, and suited to their peculiar ta.ste. A resume of their experiences and daily lives would be quite interesting, did the limits of this history admit it here. In the part relating directly to this county, the reader will find such lives given; here, only the important events can be noticed.

The last event of consequence occurring in the West before the close of the Revolution, is one that might well have been omitted. Had such been the case, a great stain would have been spared the character of Western pioneers. Reference is made to the massacre of the Moravian Christian Tmlians.

These Indians were of the Delaware nation chiefly, though other Western tribes were visited and many converts made. The first converts were made in New York and Connecticut, where, after a good start had been made, and a prospect of many souls being saved, tli^y incurred the enmity of the whites, who, becoming alarmed at their suc- cess, persecuted them to such an extent that they were driven out of New York into Pennsylvania, where, in 1744, four years after their arrival in the New World, they began new missions. In 1748, the New York and Connecticut Indians fol- lowed their teachers, and were among the founders of Friedenshutten, "Tents of Peace," a hamlet near Bethlehem, where their teachers were sta-

��tioned. Other hamlets grew around them, iintil in the interior of the colony, existed an Indian community, free from all savage vices, and grow- ing up in Christian virtues. As their strength grew, lawless whites again began to oppress them. They could not understand the war of 1754, and were, indeed, in a truly embarrassing position. The savages could form no conception of any cause for neutrality, save a secret sympathy with the English ; and if they could not take i;p the hatchet, they were in the way, and must be removed. Fail- ing to do this, their red brothers became hostile. The whites were but little better. The old suspi- cions which drove them from New York were aroused. They were secret Papists, in league with the French, and furnished them with arms and in- telligence; they were interfering with the li(juor trafiic; they were enemies to the Government, and the Indian and the white man combined against them. They were obliged to move fi-om place to place; were at one time protected nearly a year, near Philadelphia, from lawless whites, and finally were compelled to go far enough West to be out of the way of French and English arms, or the Iroquois and Cherokee hatchets. They came finally to the Muskingum, where they made a set- tlement called Schonbruu, "beautiful clear spring," in what is now Tuscarawas County. Other settle- ments gathered, from time to time, as the years went on, till in 1772 large numbers of them were within the borders of the State.

Until the war of independence broke out, they were allowed to peacefully pursue their way. When that came, they were between Fort Pitt and De- troit, one of which contained British, the other Americans. Again they could not understand the struggle, and could not take up the hatchet. This brought on them the enmity of both belligerent parties, and that of their own forest companions, who could not see wherein their natures could change. Among the most hostile persons, were the white renegades McKee, Girty and Elliott. On their instigation, several of them were slain, and by their advice they were obliged to leave their fields and homes, where they had many comforts, and where they had erected good chapels in which to worship. It was just before one of these forced removals that Mary, daughter of the missionary Heckewelder, was born. She is supposed to be the first white female child born north of the Ohio River. Her birth occurred April l(i, 1781. It is but proper to say here, that it is an open ques- tion, and one that will probably never be decided.

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