The Rev. James Gilruth died before July 12, 1873, a year after publishing these stories, in Davenport, Iowa. He was an abolitionist and preacher of the Gospel. More on him later. June 27, 1872
Next, above settled Josiah DAVIDSON (commonly called “Short Si” to distinguish from any other Josiah DAVIDSON.) His wife’s name was Amy __. Their children’s names I have forgotten except for the two oldest sons, Reuben and Jesse. Rueben married the daughter of William GUTHRIE, a respectable Baptist minister.
One of the daughters married John THOMAS, and another married William MCCARTNEY. A few equaled Jesse as a marksman with the rifle in this or any other country. After living here for some years, this family moved back to the waters of the East Fork of Little Sandy. DAVIDSON was a farmer but not a slaveholder.
Next, above settled Stephen COLVIN. His wife’s name I never knew. Their children were John and two other boys, whose names I have forgotten, both of whom were prelatic to the extent that rendered them incapable of business. John married Margaret DAVIDSON and made a first-class citizen. Mr. COLVIN was a farmer and owned slaves.
He, in connection with a gentleman named BARKLEY, who lived at Rumla, VA, bought off Congress all that fine bottom in the lower end of Lawrence County, between Luke KELLY’S section and the French Grant. He kept the best-blooded horses of any man in all this region of the country and furnished several valuable stallions which proved of much use in those early days. From his house and that of “Short Si,” DAVIDSONS obtained the best view of the Hanging Rock.
Next, the above settled Josiah DAVIDSON. To distinguish him from the first name Josiah, he was called “Long Si.” He was a farmer. I never knew his wife’s name. Their children’s names were Lizzie, Maple, and Samuel, and they were all nearly grown up when they moved here. This family did not live here for many years. Where they went, or what became of them, has passed from me. After they left, the place was occupied by a William ROBY. This family stayed but a few years and moved into Ohio down in Miami country.
Next, above settled Joseph POWELL, an illustrious farmer and a member of the Baptist church. Their children’s names were Vincent, Catherine, and Benjamin. They had several younger children whose names I had forgotten. Vincent married Polly KELLY. Benjamin married Rev. John YOUNGS’s daughter. What became of Catherine I have forgotten? Having arrived at a point nearly opposite where I commenced, I shall go no farther but return and give you some account of the early settlement of Greenupsburg.
In a former letter, I told you that Lewis WILCOX first settled there and cleared up a part of the ground where Greenupsburg now stands. The land, as I understood, belonged to Robert JOHNSTON of Kentucky; (Col. BOONE’S land antagonist.) To give aid to the formation of the contemplated town, he came up and built a little tub mill at the falls of Little Sandy. This was the first attempt at improving this waterpower.
JOHNSTON was a heavy-set man and, at his time, a little inclined to corpulence. His son Richard (who was afterward Vice President of the United States) was also here for a short time. He was then rather spare and, as I remember him, slightly over the common size. I do not remember that JOHNSTON or his son was ever here, but the one summer.
James MCGUIRE put up the first carpenter shop. O. S. TIMBERTAKE put up and kept the first tavern. Reason DAVIS put up the first (and only) hat shop. He lived in the WILCOX house and kept the first ferry. Robert DAUGHERTY established the first dry Goods store. JONES and NOBLE put up a small cotton spinning factory, ran it for some time, and then moved it to Portsmouth when it fell through.
Mr. SEATON established the first school in the shape of an academy (a little out of town). It ran it a little while, but it fell through, and he turned lawyer. The first resident lawyer was a young man by the name of FISHBACK. He, however, did not remain long. The first resident doctor was a man by the name of GREEN.
I think that the first sermon in Greenupsburg was preached by R. LINDSEY, an itinerant Methodist minister, about 1812, who came then to establish Circuit preaching in town, but not meeting with any encouragement, on the invitation of Thomas GILRUTH, of the French Grant, he made his house a preaching place. I think the second sermon there was preached by the celebrated Lorenzo DOW. His description of sinful conduct made considerable talk among the town people in as much as the description so closely fitted some cases that it puzzled some of them to account for it.
Up to 1818, I have not the most distant knowledge of their having lived in the place so much as one man, woman, or child that made any profession of or gave any evidence of being religiously inclined.
Benjamin LOCK, of the French Grant, built the first Courthouse. A frame building composed of white pine lumber, for which he received $900. I have forgotten who built the jail. It was a double-walled building, composed of hewed logs about 10 inches square, with flagstones filled in between, and about 14 feet square, with a log ceiling above.
The first man put in it as a criminal was a hatter by the name of BYRMAN, who, in a quarrel with William WEBB (a brother of James WEBB of Ice Creek), struck him a fatal blow with his fist in the pit of the stomach, which killed him outright.
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