Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/242

 KENTON

KENTON

(abridgement of Beardslee's Report, 1879) : The Mechanical Engineer s Pocliet Book (1895) ; Steam Boiler Economy (1901).

KENTON, Simon, pioneer, was born in Farquier, Va., in Marcli, 1755, of Scotch and Irish extraction. His parents were poor and he labored in the fields until he was sixteen years of age, when, in a quarrel arising from a love-affair, he severely wounded his rival, William Veach, April 6, 1771, and fled to the Al- leghany mountains. He travelled to Ise's ford, on the Cheat river, where he changed his name temporarily to Simon Butler, and joined George Yeager and John Strader in a hunting expedition. At Fort Pitt the party was separated and the expedition abandoned, Kenton remaining at Fort Pitt as a hunter for the garrison. In the fall of 1771 they embarked on another expedition down the Ohio to explore the cane lands called by the Indians Kaintuckee. The party retui'ned to their camp on the Big Cateawah, where they engaged in hunting and trapping until the spring of 1773, when the camp was attacked by a band of Indians who killed Yeager, and Strader and Kenton reached a point on the Ohio about six miles from the mouth of the Kanawha, where they met a part}' of trappers. The whole party ascended the mouth of the Lit- tle Kanawha, where Kenton found employment as a hunter to Dr. Briscoe, who was attempting to found a settlement there. While hunting, his party was attacked by Indians and retreated to the settlements on the Great Briar, thus per- forming the first overland journey from Ken- tucky to Virginia. In the spring of 1774 the In- dians became more troublesome and the hunters and trappers retreated to Fort Pitt, where Ken- ton was employed as a spy by Lord Dunmore. In the spring of 1775, in company with Thomas Williams, he planted some corn at Camp Lime- stone, which was the first planted in Kentucky. In the autumn of 1775 he explored the interior of the country, and met Michael Stoner and Daniel Boone, who with a number of followers had set- tled in the cane lands the year before, and Ken- ton and Williams joined the party. The settle- ment was repeatedly harassed by Indians, and in one of these attacks Kenton saved the life of Daniel Boone. He prepared for another Indian expedition in September, 1778, and crossing the

Ohio they proceeded to Chillicothe, where they were pursued by the Indians, who captured Ken- ton. After enduring many tortures he was sen- tenced to death. His old friend Samuel Girty saved his life, but he was subsequently con- demned to the stake, notwithstanding Girty's in- fluence, and was conveyed to Sandusky, where he met Chief Logan, who sent Peter Dreyer, a French-Canadian, to intercede in his behalf. Upon the payment of one hundred dollars in rum and tobacco, Kenton was taken to the fort at Lower Sandusky, where he was held as a prisoner of war by the British general. He was permitted the fi'eedom of the town, where he remained, 1778-79. With the assistance of Mrs. Harvey, the wife of an Indian trader, he made his escape and reached the Falls of the Ohio in July, 1779. He travelled to Vincennes and joined Gen. George Rogers Clark, but subsequently returned to the Falls, and later to Harrod's Station. In 1780 the Indians again became troublesome and General Clark moved his force of eleven hundred men and one brass twelve-pounder to the Falls of the Ohio, and appointed Kenton captain of a com- pany of volunteers from Harrod's Station. They pushed on to Pickaway town, where a battle was fought, the Indians defeated and several of their towns destroyed. The army returned to the Falls of the Ohio and there disbanded. In the fall of 1782, upon hearing from his parents that he had not killed Veach, Kenton resumed his jiroper name. The Kentuckians the next spring formed an army of about 1500 men and fell on the Indian town at Great Miami, burned it and put the in- habitants to flight. After the army disbanded Kenton visited his home in Virginia and induced his parents to accompany him to Kenyon's Station. In 1784 he founded a settlement near his old camp at Limestone, and in 1786 he gave Arthur Fox and William Wood one thousand acres of land, on which they laid out the city of AVash- ington. An invasion into the Indian country was made by the Kentuckians in 1787, resulting in a total defeat of the Indians. In 179.3 General Wayne came down the Ohio with the regular army, and camped at Hobson's Choice. A regi- ment was raised in Kentucky v.ith Winfield Scott as colonel and Kenton as major. He served until the winter of 1793, when he was dis- charged. The Indian war terminated in 1794, and emigration to Kentucky pushed forward rapidly. Kenton, although then one of the wealthiest men in Kentucky, was soon through his ignorance of legal proceedings reduced to poverty. In 1802 he settled in Urbana, Ohio; was elected a brigadier-general of militia, and in 1813 joined the Kentucky troop under Governor Shelby. He crossed the lakes and accompanied General Harrison to Maiden in Upper Canada