NOTE: Although the French Grant lies in a very small portion of southeastern Lawrence County, Ohio, researchers need to know a little bit of the history of that area when doing one’s genealogy.
The following are narratives of the French who settled the town of Gallipolis, Gallia County, Ohio, in 1790. This includes Sketches and Recollections of the Territory History of the Cause of their Leaving France and Settlement on the Western Continent, together with the Difficulties Encountered in being Americanized.
Ironton Register, June 18, 1857 – THE FRENCH OF SOUTHERN OHIO
By Lewis Newsom
[In our last, we left the French emigrants at Brownsville, Pa., on the Monongahela, making ready to _____ Ohio. The narrative continues, as below:]
At length, boats were made ready, and a day was named for their departure. All set about, with alacrity, to get their ponderous baggage aboard and arranged with a view to convenience on the river voyage.
At a given signal, they cast loose, expecting a pleasant voyage to the destination port. But in this, they were disappointed.
The river was low, and they often ran aground on shoals and bars, which prolonged their journey until the 17th day of October following (1790), when it was announced that they were then at the port selected for their debarkation, which was the identical spot upon which Gallipolis was laid out. Although it was known to them that they were in a wilderness inhabited by hostile Indians, they could not but rejoice that they were to be relieved from the pain and trouble of continual traveling, encountering difficulties, and had put an end to an eight months journey.
On landing, they were met by the surveyor and agent out by Col. Doer? to select and lay out their town and the hands employed in erecting blockhouses necessary for their accommodations. Four long rows of cabins were built, each having a door, a window, and a chimney, with a separate row of buildings-all within the garrison of a higher order of architecture for the accommodation of those appointed to superintend and manage the interest of the colony. The whole was picketed, that they might repose in safety in case of an attack by Indians, night or day.
When the apartments were allotted to each family, they hastily conveyed their massive chests, containing all they held valuable, collected, and stowed away in the hurry and bustle consequent on a revolution, which was distributed according to the taste of the matrons of the log cabin.
After time for rest and the resuscitation of their wearied systems, an enumeration was taken of the emigrants from France then present, which exhibited a roll numbering a few over five hundred, consisting of old and young, male and female.
It was but natural to suppose that, in their isolated condition, they would brood over their past misfortunes, or those they could forebode, or the lapse of time that must intervene before they could expect to enjoy the comforts life. But instead of indulging in gloomy thoughts, with a philosophy and a determination to make the best of a bad bargain truly characteristic of Frenchmen, they visited each other; brought into requisition all their musical instruments; musicians were sending sweet sounds in their cheerful cabins, exciting all to mirth and glee. They had their soirees and the merry dance, in which the old and young, the aged sire and wrinkled matron participated in the cotillion and the country dance.
From those demonstrations of levity in a wilderness, far removed from the settlement of white people, it might be inferred they were illiterate and wreckless of danger, but the presence of gentlemen of distinguished learning and of general intelligence, who had figured conspicuously in the administration of the government of France, and moved in the highest circles of society, should convince all persons that they were far from being illiterate, and of the lowest order of Frenchmen.
Some of them were of the common order of people, day laborers, and mechanics but possessed a goodly share of common sense and well-understood the art of living and in what manner they could best improve the advantages spread out before them. Among them were gentlemen distinguished for literary attainments, one of whom was a Catholic minister, who performed divine service, celebrated masses, sang vespers, married people, and baptized children. Indeed, the whole colony exhibited as much intelligence and good breeding as can be found anywhere in our country of the same number of people.
Count Martatic came on with them, a gentleman of distinguished abilities as a civilian and military officer. An inactive life did not suit him. When Gen. StClair was organizing a force to give battle to the combined Indian tribes of the North-western Territory, he tendered his services as a volunteer to that officer, which was accepted. He was with that army in the unfortunate engagement on the Miami of the Lake, on the 4th of November, 1791, in which our men were defeated.
Among the emigrants, there were physicians of justly exalted merit, having been well qualified in France, and spent many years in the Academy of Medicine and Surgery, without which they could not obtain licenses to practice their professions.
There were also French officers who had distinguished themselves as commanders, attorneys and counselors at law, manufacturers, merchants, and clerks who had been employed by the exiled parliament, many of whom had been well educated and qualified to become not only useful but ornamental in society, who had to flee from the impending storm, threatening to involve them in a common ruin.
Only a few of them had ever wielded an axe or felled the lofty oak, but a stern necessity now compelled them to lay aside restraints and to conform themselves to their present situation; to grapple the axe; to clear the forest of its native growth, to prepare the ground for cultivation, plant and sow, that they might reap support for those dependent on them.
In a very few years, their little villages assumed an altered appearance; the wilderness began to blossom like a rose. Still, the products of their own labors were insufficient to secure them from want. They were compelled to rely on wild game for their meat and Western Pennsylvania for breadstuffs. With such a diverse population, each, for a while, seemed undetermined about what business he could engage in with remunerative profits. But signs began to be appended to the residences of many of them, indicative of what wares were for sale.
There was to be seen a sign announcing the manufacture of thermometers, micrometers, and barometers; another where clocks and watches were repaired; another for the sale of merchandise; another one of still more significance – a physician who had announced his skill in midwifery found in time that he should starve at that business, concluded to engage in some other branch of business in connection therewith, and chose that of the bakery; his sign had therefore to undergo the process of being newly lettered, to conform to the union of the two branches of business, and in a few days afterward hoisted his sign with the following significant inscription: “Midwifery and Bakery.” In like manner, all began some branch of business in which their business habits could be exercised.
After being permanently settled and enjoying the means of supporting their families, many of them desired to explore the surrounding country. They fancied to themselves the presence of perpetual spring, summer, and autumn, as the first two winters of their settlement had been unusually mild, and indulged a hope of becoming proprietors of lands then offered for sale at very reduced prices. In order to be able to make a proper selection, they concluded to start out a party to explore the country from Gallipolis to the confluence of the Big Scioto with Ohio, and up the Scioto as far as they could ascend it with a keelboat which was chartered for the express purpose.
A Mr. Backus was chosen commander of the expedition. A crew was obtained well skilled (?) in the science of keel boating, hunters were selected, spies procured, to which was added a corps of observation particularly charged for making such scientific observations as might someday be worthy of being reported to the Historical Society of New York.
Altogether, they made quite a formidable appearance and resembled more a party for war than an exploring party. The greater portion of the inhabitants gathered on the bank to see them start, and as much interest seemed to be excited as if the expedition was setting out for Europe. Fears were entertained that they might encounter orving (?) bands of hostile Indians and all be slain, but fearless of consequences, they pushed off, and without accident, they arrived safely at the mouth of the Big Scioto.
After reconnoitering and a general observation of things worthy of remembrance, they pushed their keelboat up the Big Scioto many miles, as they stated, but which was in reality no further up than the bluff near the Court House in Portsmouth (further from the mouth than at present, the river has cut across the point, and now reaches Ohio about a mile above where it then did); there they encamped.
The spies were sent out to watch the stealthy movements of the wily Indian who was ever lying in ambush to cut off our people. The hunters, too, were on the alert to find a bear with which to satiate the appetite of this collected array of men; and soon, very soon after starting, they shot a bear of gigantic size, which was with much difficulty borne to the camp, upon which they feasted with epicurean appetite.
Having completed a tour so beneficial to science and being so delighted with the success of their enterprise, they struck their tent and commenced the return voyage. While the boat crew with their poles, pikes, and oars were propelling the boat, the spies scoured the surrounding hills, fearful of the presence of lurking Indians waiting in ambush to get a deadly shot at them. The hunters often brought in a deer or turkey as a trophy of their prowess, while the explorers would examine the lands on the bottoms, noting those most susceptible of cultivation.
For the lack of experienced keel boatmen, it took some ten days to complete the return voyage from Big Scioto to Gallipolis, about ninety miles; when the boat hove in sight, a general joy overspread the whole stockade, as fearful forebodings had been entertained about the safety of the party.
All were desirous of hearing something about their observations and how the country would compare with their native France. The inhabitants received the reports and observations of the whole of them with marked pleasure and satisfaction. They thenceforward began to be better reconciled and expressed hopes of someday seeing a population around them with which they could enjoy free intercourse.
While indulging in reveries of future happiness and free and friendly intercourse with the people of their adopted country (for whom they entertained the highest regard,) it was announced that a hostile band of Indians was prowling around their stockade; one of their numbers had been killed and scalped, and two others had been taken prisoners, and a number of their horses and cattle had been driven off. Immediate steps were taken to organize a defensive force to act in case of an attack.
On application to Gen. Rufus Putnam at Marietta, the acknowledged head of the settlements at that point and all others within Washington county, then embracing a territory within which are now some forty counties, a Captain was appointed by Col. Ebenezer Sproat, the name of whom was Francis D’Hebecourt, a gentleman of distinguished qualifications for such a command. – Another Frenchman named Malden was appointed Lieutenant, and C. R. Menager, Ensign.
A company consisting of some ninety of the colonists immediately volunteered their services for the continuance of the emergency, which were subdivided into lots of ten. On each succeeding day, one lot or patrol company was to start out in the morning to act in conjunction with the spies, whose duty it was to return every night to report the presence or absence of Indians. In this way, a defensive force was kept up until Gen. Wayne defeated the Indians in a fair fight at the “Fallen Timbers” on the Maumee Rapids, August 20th, 1794, and the treaty of peace at Greenville with all the Western Tribes.
It has at all times been a subject of wonder why a greater number of the colonists were not cut off in detail, as they would, despite the danger, venture out to their truck patches, to cultivate their little plantings. The only rational conclusion was the impression entertained by the Indians that the colony was from Canada, they they were Canadian French with whom they had been in perpetual peace and friendship; they, therefore, observed towards them the same forbearance as had been exercised towards the settlements at Vincennes, Kaskaskia, St. Louis, and other places where the Canadian French had settled.
While a state of war existed, they were cut off from free intercourse with a small settlement of Americans kept up at Point Pleasant, at the junction of the Big Kanawha with Ohio, and with the Ohio Company’s settlements at Marietta, ninety miles above, on the Ohio river. Thus cut off from the advantages of a Court of Justice, they were compelled to call a general meeting and in true democratic style, to make laws and certain municipal regulations for their own government, the better to maintain the enjoyment of their rights and liberties.
By these provisions, the personal liberty and the rights of each were respected, and good order was preserved, which were enforced until superseded by laws emanating from higher authority. After peace was restored, free intercourse took place between them and the colonists from Massachusetts, and other New England States, at Marietta and Belpre and with settlements at Point Pleasant Charleston, Kanawa Co., Virginia.
It now had become apparent that the Agent of the Scioto Company could never obtain for them any further remuneration for the impositions that had been practiced on them. But the letters to ascertain that fact, a general meeting was called to consult and advise what could be done to obtain a redress of grievance.
A committee was appointed to call again on Col. Duer and to receive from him a full report of the state of the case at that time. That gentleman, with much candor, declared that the affairs of the Company were in a state of insolvency and was sorry to confess he could do nothing more for them, that they must become reconciled to the declaration of the fact that any further attempt to obtain any further redress would be fruitless and vain.
But not willing to take the “ipse dixit” of Col. Duer, they had eminent counsel employed in Paris to prosecute their claims against the men who had received their money. On entering upon the duties incident to that appointment, the Attorney called on a Notary Public, before whom the official transactions had taken place when he was informed that by a general conflagration in that part of Paris where his office was situated, it had been burned with all his official documents.
He was further informed that one of these same Agents had been beheaded by the Jacobins and that the other had left France for parts unknown, having spent all the money in debauchery paid to him by the emigrants. Joel Barlow was then called to account for his instrumentality in the appointment of Agents to negotiate the sale of those lands when he could not but know that the Scioto Company had given them up two years previous to the commencement of those operations and that the Ohio Company at that very time owned them.
He gave an apology that from his continual residence abroad and consequent ignorance of those transactions he acted on the representations of gentlemen in whom he had full confidence. If any evil consequences had grown out of it, he could but regret it, and could give assurance that he had not been benefited pecuniarily, directly nor indirectly.
And the Attorney reported that his only fault seemed to have been in not exercising proper supervision over the official acts of the Agents thus appointed, thereby suffering them to abuse his confidence, entailing lasting distress on a confiding body of men who could not detect them in their schemes of plunder. All of which, on being reported to his clients, satisfied them that all hope was now gone of ever obtaining any redress for losses and grievances suffered.
A general meeting was again called to consider the expediency of purchasing the Ohio Company, some nine hundred acres of land, to include the town plat of Gallipolis and out lots then partially improved. On this occasion, they expressed their sense of the wrong they had endured; that the impositions practiced on them were premeditated and had taken from many of them the whole of their ready means; that they were now in a wilderness surrounded by a savage foe who looked upon them as intruders, and were waiting for an opportunity to exterminate them, while at the same they were far removed from those under ordinary circumstances might succor them or extend a common sympathy to them; yet it was a consoling reflection that they were in the United States where Washington was President, who had promised to be their friend. – And when they had expressed a general determination to remain here, they appointed Agents to purchase from the Ohio Company the requisite quantity of land. In due time the Agents reported the purchase, at one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, which at a subsequent meeting was agreed that the same should be subdivided among them in proportion to the amount each one had furnished to make the purchase.
At this time, without the very flattering prospect of very soon being enabled to enjoy even the common comforts of life, some left for Cincinnati, some for St. Louis, some for New Orleans, others for Pittsburgh – leaving here not more than three hundred. The time elapsed between their embarkation at Havre de Grace and the purchase of their land was six years.
Having now become proprietors, in fact, of the land they occupied, they redoubled their exertions in clearing up their lots and preparing them for cultivation and began a system of gardening, of agriculture, and of planting peach and apple orchards. [to be continued]
SOME EVENTS OF THE OLDEN TIME. THE FRENCH GRANT
Some Personal Reminiscences of the Gaul’s Coming.
Ironton Register, October 9, 1890
Next week, Gallipolis celebrates the landing of the French settlers on its inhospitable shores. It is an event that calls to mind a real romance in history, and it is particularly interesting to this region because a branch of the settlement extended hither, and many of our good citizens and neighbors trace their lineage back to those pioneers.
In some respects, the coming of the French to the shores of Ohio was a sorrowful experience. They came with hope and settled down in despair.
It was on the eve of the French revolution when Terrorists ruled France, that Joel Barlow’s stories of the Eden on Beautiful Ohio caught up the French fancy for romance and ease. It was miserable speculation on the part of Barlow and his associates. Still, the French believed all – that a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of sunshine and happy adventure, a land to be had almost without money, awaited them on the Ohio river. So a company of nearly 500 persons, mostly of the substantial classes of France, embarked to this country.
They arrived off Old Point, came up the Potomac to Alexandria, to find that “The Scioto Company,” which had lured them hither, was an irresponsible speculation, with no power or capital, except the uncertainty in the price of land certificates, to build their designs upon. These certificates arose in value so that the speculators abandoned their scheme and left the French emigrants to their own resources. Half returned to France; some went elsewhere, but a large number, still pursuing their dream, traveled to the Monongahela, built boats, and came down the river to where Gallipolis now is.
Though the Scioto Company was a myth, the emigrants indulged the hope that settling upon the land described as theirs might finally inure to their benefit. It was thought that the west line of the Ohio Company’s purchase ran to a point opposite the mouth of the Kanawha, so the French settlers went three miles belowto steer clear of the Ohio Purchase. In this, they made a miscalculation, and found they were settling on someone else’s property – that the Ohio Company’s line was still twenty miles west of them.
But the settlers went to work, half-hearted, to build huts, cultivate the land and make a living. Thus struggling with a hard fate, it occurred to them that Congress might give them relief, at least so far as to titles to land which they occupied. With this idea, they petitioned Congress and Mons. Gervais, one of the accomplished emigrants then a young man about 30, visited Philadelphia, presented the petition, and, through the influence of Washington, secured the unanimous consent of Congress to grant 20,000 acres for the settlers, and 4,000 for himself. This 20,000 was afterward increased to 21,200.
On the 21st of March, 1797, the first emigration to the “French Grant” was made. There were five families: Duduit, Bertram, Gervais, Lacroix, and Dutiel. These came first and settled on their lots. Afterward came Valodin, Ginat, Chabot, Vincent, Bertrand, Duflingny, and others. Familiar still are the names of the first five persons who established themselves on the “Grant.”
Gervais was a man of leisure and sought to boom a city on his 4,000 acres, the site being that of Haverhill now. Still, then, in Gervais’s dream, he called it Burrsburgh, in honor of Aaron Burr, whom he had met in Philadelphia, while there with the petition, and by whom he was fascinated as everybody else was. The center of his new metropolis was Gervais’s hall, whereas a bachelor, he reigned supreme. But his boom faded away, as most booms do, and in parcels, he kept selling off his land until 1811, when it was all disposed of, his entire 4,000 acres bringing him $8,750. He then went to Gallipolis, stayed there until 1817, then went back to France and died in 1824 at the age of 60 years. The post office 9 miles below Ironton is named after this pioneer.
Guillaume Duduit came to the Grant in the same boat as Gervais. He was at the storming of the Bastile and was 20 years old when he landed at Gallipolis. He was a brave young fellow and was one of the scouts selected by Col. Sproat, commander of the Marietta post. He had married just before he joined the party for America. He died in 1836.
He has several children still living – F. E. Duduit of Portsmouth, Andrew Duduit of Columbus, Mrs. Eliza Ridenour of Jackson, and Mrs. John Peters and Mrs. Isaac Peters of this city [Ironton]. Mrs. Isaac Peters has a sunglass that belonged to her father, which he no doubt used a great deal while scouring the country from the Muskingum to the Scioto, in company with Maj. Robert Stafford.
Dutiel is another familiar name. He and Claudius Cadot were the first company that landed in Gallipolis. The latter had three children, Marie Louise, Claudius, and Lemuel. His daughter, Marie Louise, was the first child born at Gallipolis. She married Mr. Le Clerq, for many years a noted citizen there.
Mons Cadot died in 1796, and his widow married Mons. Dutiel, in 1797, they went to the French Grant, Mrs. Cadot’s three children accompanying. Both her sons, Claudius and Lemuel, became prominent farmers. Mrs. Hayward, the mother of Frank E., is a daughter of Claudius Cadot, the first male child of French extraction born at Gallipolis. Mrs. Boynton, of Haverhill, is another daughter. Mrs. Hayward intends to visit Gallipolis and enjoy the Centennial next week.
Mr. LeClerq was not one of the “Grant” settlers, but as a surveyor, he came down to lay off Gervais’s new town of Burrsburg. This was in 1809. He was then a lonely widower, and Gervais suggested that he select one of the fine girls at the Grant for a wife. Thus put into the notion, he chose Marie Louise Cadot, courted her, won her, and took her back to Gallipolis. He died in 1836, and she several years after.
Antoine Vincent was another prominent character in those days. His name is pronounced Vansaw. He went to Gallipolis in the autumn of 1781 but not to the Grant until 1801. He was a jeweler, a musician, and a man of a good education. He was at Marietta when Louis Phillippe stopped there, and the afterward king coaxed hard for Vincent to go to New Orleans, but Vincent would not consent.
He lived in the new Grant (of 1,200 acres) two miles up Pine Creek, and he raised a large family there. Only within a few years, Mrs. Vincent died. Mr. Vincent was a great violinist, but after getting lost in the woods in a snow storm and getting into the water, he came near freezing to death and did lose some of his fingers; so that he could not play the violin. Mr. F. E. Hayward, of this city, has Mons. Vincent’s old violin, the identical one he played for the great-grandmothers to dance by long ago. It is well authenticated.
We would like if we have space to speak more of these French pioneers and of their neighbors too, and may, in the future, weave some tales of their experiences in the early days. One thing we noticed among the French settlers – they seemed to delight in orchards of various fruits, and it was no rare thing that they transmuted the apple and peach into mellow fluids that helped make the days pass sweetly by. It was common to have a cask of old “peach” in the corner of the room as an aid to digestion and to assist in making welcome the people who called. But this was an old world custom, and a new world custom too, in those days.
We are glad Gallipolis will celebrate the virtues and privations of the old French settlers. It is a worthy purpose, and we hope the event will be crowned with success.
IR Aug. 24, 1876 – The French Grant.
James Keyes in the Portsmouth Republican
A marked feature of the early history of Scioto county must not be overlooked, the settlement of French Grant by the French. It is unnecessary here to go into a history of how that land grant came to be made. It was given to a colony of French emigrants who had settled at Gallipolis but having no title to their land, which they supposed they had bought, Congress donated twenty-four thousand acres to them to be surveyed in what is now Scioto county.
In 1795, before any white man had settled in that county, a company of surveyors was sent down from Marietta under the leadership of Mr. Martin. They commenced opposite the mouth of Little Sandy and laid off the first four thousand acres for Mons. Gervais, who was the principal agent in procuring the grant.
They laid off the remaining twenty thousand acres into lots of two hundred and seventeen acres each, numbered from one to ninety-two. – These were drawn by the adult males of the citizens of Gallipolis, and each one got a patent for the number he drew, which made his title good. There were still eight persons who were entitled to land but did not get any.
So, on application, Congress granted twenty hundred acres more, commencing at what is now called Burke’s point and running nearly to the mouth of Hales or Pine Creek. This was laid off into one hundred and fifty acre lots. In 1796 the arrangements were all completed, and the French prepared to take possession of their lots.
In 1797 Mons. Gervais and three or four families came and commenced work to improve their respective lots. Mons. Gervais laid out a town opposite the mouth of Little Scioto and named it Burrsburg in honor of the celebrated Aaron Burr, who used his influence in procuring the grant by Congress.
But the town never came of anything, and as a Frenchman cannot enjoy life outside a town or village, M. Gervais became disgruntled with life in a new country and sold out to Asa Boynton and others, and in 1810 returned to France. Not more than twenty families of the original French of Gallipolis came and settled in the grant, but as the land in the surrounding country was not yet surveyed, and there were no preemption laws in those days, those of the French who did not choose to settle on their lands, sold to emigrants as they arrived, who had means and could not purchase elsewhere; so that the grant soon became the most flourishing settlement in the county and its fame extended throughout all the east.
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