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. This article was published in the Ironton Register newspaper on April 4, 1872. It is transcribed below.
Lot No. 5 was owned by Lawyer DUPONSAW OF Philadelphia and was his reward for assisting in affecting the French Grant. It remained unoccupied for many years until Thayer WHITE came into possession.
Next came the Jarvis tract of 400 acres. This old gentleman lived on the lower bank of Jarvis’ Run in a little cabin about 12 feet square and one (low) story high, composed of logs that two men could put up. He commonly wore a long blue broadcloth coat and a three-cornered cocked hat. He had no family. It was said that he amused himself in writing a history of France.
He had two or three acres cleared “smack smooth,” as it was then termed when all the timber was taken off. He put an apple orchard of some 50 or 60 trees on this. I think I may safely say that the first apples between Gallipolis and Portsmouth were grown on this orchard. On the spot where Haverhill now stands, JARVIS laid out a town, and from the great number of burs that grew there, he called it Bursburgh. He, however, made no attempt at selling lots or getting it peopled.
JARVIS lived here long enough to perfect his title to the land and then went up to Gallipolis. After he left, John HART lived here a little while; his wife was commonly called “Molly;” she was the mother, by a former husband, of John and William BRUCE, who married into the FERGUSON family. HART did little else but hunt.
Next, Peter BACCUS lived here for a short time, moved out on Gennet’s Creek, and kept a mill for some years. His wife’s name was Barbara. Their older children were Jacob, Enoch, Dorcas, and Joseph. Joseph was deranged in his mental powers, lost, and was never heard of afterward. I have no distinct recollection of what became of the rest of the children.
Not long after JARVIS went to Gallipolis, he sold the whole tract to a gentleman in New England named Samuel HUNT, about 1805 or 1806. HUNT came on to settle and improve his land. He brought four laboring men and a housekeeper; he had no family. He built a very large hewed log house, dug a well, and pushed on his improvements with the rapidity of a man of ability and energy. This was the first well dug in the Grant, or between that and Storms Creek, but death cut him off. HUNT was a small man of fine appearance and a perfect gentleman in his bearing. After Hunt’s death, a man by the name of WAY stepped in and occupied the house for some time.
The property now fell into the hands of a company formed for that purpose, consisting of DRURY, BAYINGTON, ABBOT, and WHITE, who moved on and settled along the bank in the order named, but at a period too late to be numbered among the old settlers. Still, they all proved valuable citizens and contributed much to the country’s improvement. They were all farmers.
Francis VALODAY settled on the lot next to the Jarvis tract. His wife’s name I never knew. I remember their children, Frank and Agnes; his wife dying, and he married Nancy SLATER. VALODAY was a farmer who pushed the improvements of his place, kept a still, and made his fruit into brandy. He built the first brick dwelling house in the Grant, or between that and Symmes Creek.
William DIDWAY settled below. His wife’s name I never knew. Their children’s names were Agnes, Augustine, Caroline, William, Frederick, and John. Agnes married Pressley GILLILLEN; Augustine married John WAUGH; Caroline married Stephen STEWART; who William married I have forgotten; Frederick married Helen H. GILRUTH; who John married I never knew. DIDWAY’s wife is dying. He married the daughter of Andrew LACROIX. DIDWAY was a farmer; he kept a still and made a lot of peach brandy.
Next, John FLETCHER, a house carpenter and, for many years, a justice of the peace. His wife’s maiden name was ______WOLF. I remember only two of their children’s names, Joseph and John. What became of this family has passed from me. The farm fell into the hands of Ezra HAND. For some time, a man named DILLON lived next below. He made very little improvement.
In about 1811, he sold out to Edward SUMMER and moved away. Next, Eli BARTON owned the front half of the lot, but before making much improvement, he left and went to Carcaska, Illinois. In the Summer of 1799 (I think it was), there passed a hurricane along this lot, scarcely leaving a tree standing; it passed out through the hills in a northeast direction and made its’ mark where it went – a mark by which the hunter in after years knew their whereabouts, but now is scarcely discernible.
I remember it well. It was in the afternoon, standing by my father and looking at the cloud, and listening to the sound, as the outskirts approached, said: “There it comes, like big guns.” This half lot fell into the hands of Edward SUMNER, who settled on it about 1811. He greatly improved it in the way of clearing and building.
John BERTRAND, a quiet hard, working farmer, hard of hearing of all the pioneer settlers of twenty years of age and upwards, when they came to these parts, he was the last to go the way of all the earth.
MILDS drowned soon after he came.
John GENNETT owned the lot, embracing the mouth of what is known by Gennet’s Creek. GENNETT lived here a few years, built a floating mill similar to that which STUMP built opposite the head of Ferguson’s sandbar, and set it opposite the mouth of the creek, but it failed because of the ice. I am not certain what became of him or who his wife was. I think that she was a daughter of Godfrey SMITH, that F. VALADAY became the owner of the lot, and that it ultimately fell into the hands of William POWER.
Andrew LECROIX (commonly called Lacaua) was a farmer who also practiced midwifery, at which he was said to be of the first class. He married Widow SEROT, who had four children, Mary, Leonard, John, and Peter. By LECROIX, she had Secella, Alexander, and her, that married William DIDWAY’S son. Secella married Jesse MARSHAL; Alexander married Rebecca POWER.
About 1806 or 1807, William FOLSOM settled next. He was considered a man of good business capacity. He married a Miss SMITH whose people lived a little above Leading Creek, Meigs County, Ohio. Soon after he settled here, he committed suicide by hanging himself. This was the first suicide committed in this region of the country, embracing Scioto, Lawrence, and Greenup Counties.
Next below settled Francis FORT, an old man living with his second wife; of their children, my recollection fails me, except Frank, what became of him I never learned.
Next came Peter FORT, a son of F. FORT by a former wife. He was a quiet, peaceable, industrious man and something of a mechanic in wood but gave his attention principally to faring. A deep, busy pond passing through his lot, perhaps, was the occasion of his moving back to the foot of the hill.
Kimber BARTON settled next. His wife’s name was Catharine. Their children’s names were Mrs. DAY, Deborah, Eli, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Naomi, Kimber, Matilda, and Catharine. Deborah married Ellis CHANDLER; Eli went to Cascaska, Illinois, who he married I never knew. Joseph married a Miss RECTOR; Mary married Clem WARREN; Elizabeth married William LOCKHART; Naomi married ______RECTOR (Joseph’s brother-in-law), from she obtained a divorce, and years afterward married Matthew WHITE; Matilda married Doc BIVENS, who went to Illinois, and settled in or near Marietta.
Catherine___ never learned; BARTON was a neat farmer and kept everything in nice order. His was the first shingle roof house, on this side of the river, between little Scioto and Big Sandy. For many years, he was a justice of the peace and a first-class citizen.
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