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A Walking TourOf Early DelawareWithCaptain Carson
Early pioneers coming to Ohio from the East
Early Ohio was covered in water all the way to Lake Erie
Using rivers and streams as their highways
Early pioneers settled along the Olentangy River
The unbroken forest was unsettled with no roads. This is a scene how Ohio looked for those early pioneers.
In order to reach what is now Delaware, settlers would have traveled down the Ohio River and up the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. However, these rivers were not conducive to flatboat travel because they were too shallow.
> fresh water for people and livestock> water for transportation> shelter> food supply> woods> animals
#1So …. Why would early pioneers choose to settle here?What would make this a good place to stay?
The Delaware Run and local streams provided what settlers needed. The Delaware Run still runs through Delaware today.
Early Ohio Wildlife
Questions about Delaware
The Sulphur Springs
OhioWesleyanUniversity
Mansion House HotelHotel and health resort - Make use of the mineral water1830’s Elliott House built1842 – OWU started
Built in 1833 as a health resort named the Mansion House Hotel, Elliott Hall is noted as Ohio's oldest collegiate Greek Revival building. The closure of the Bank of the United States and an economic panic in 1837 created nation-wide financial difficulties, which led to the decline of the luxury resort.
Under the leadership of Reverend Adam Poe, minister of William Street Methodist Church, the citizens of Delaware purchased the building for the establishment of a
Methodist college for men.
The Mansion House
Salt Licks along the Delaware Run
~ Actually the first settlers in the area
~ The springs and confluence of the rivers, Olentangy and Delaware Run, were an important spot for the ancient people
~ Evidence of that was the ancient burial ground found on a few hundred yards southeast of the sulphur spring
~ Glacial Kame peoples discovery 20+ bodies were found tied together and painted at that location
#2 What about Delaware’sNative Americans?
1000s of years later …. ~ Pluggy’s Town – combination of Native American tribes
Shawnee, Wyandot, Mohawk, Delaware Indians~ located where Mingo Park is today~ fresh water source~ salt lick source for salt and gathering place for animals~ early maps showing Pluggy’s Town is referred to
as Big Lick
#2 continued …..
Look what happenedwhen two high schoolboys were shagginggolf balls …… @1964
Native American burial ground where OWU’s baseball field is today discovered in 1960’s
The Glacial Kame Culture was a culture of Archaicpeople that occupied southern Ontario, Michigan,Ohio and Indiana from around 8000 BC to 1000 BC.
The name of this culture derives from its members’ practice of burying their dead atopGlacier-deposited gravel hills.
Indians of Pluggy’s Town had cleared land for corn
As a result:
~ an ideal setting~ 2 streams coming together~ 4 fresh water springs~ a salt lick ~an area already cleared
of trees in anunbroken wilderness
John BlackbirdNative American living in Delaware discovered by the Cellar Family circa 1802.
Time period: (roughly)~ After Pluggy’s Town left but before Delaware became a town. Before Moses Byxbee
~ 3 blocks upstream along the creek (behind Tim Horton’s)
: Research Project for DCHS
Early surveys of Ohio
George Washington was one of the early surveyors.
AzariahRootandMosesByxbee
Surveyors
Before the cabins, Byxbee wanted to make sure there was a place for people to meet and stay if they were traveling. He wanted a place to gather for entertainment or business. Before any cabins were built he wanted a tavern open.
Early tavernsThe Barber Tavern, 1807Joseph Barber’s Tavern and its location close to the Sulphur Spring on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University.
Two people who worked at the Barber Tavern:Sally and Billy
“Wildcat Holler story”
Archie Griffin and Jim Tressel meet with Ohio Wesleyan football players after speaking at the 118 year anniversary of Ohio State's first football game.
Commemorated the first football game in Ohio State history, at Ohio Wesleyan on May 3, 1890.
May 3, 2008
Wild Cat Hollow then, now The Glen.
New taverns were built. The original home of President Rutherford B. Hayes was an early tavern. (the Messenger House)
Early photograph of Rutherford B. Hayes’ childhood home.
The Old Tannery – 1808Two friends story … creates a Haunted House!
Sides of the creek were a problem – no bridge!Petition started for a tavern
Streets in Delaware:Henry Street Abraham Street – now Hill Street
Henry Baldwin paid forthe beginnings of Delaware.
To commemorate the services of Moses Byxbe and Henry Baldwin Co-founders of Delaware, Ohio 1808 Erected 1969 by Delaware City Chapter, D.A.R.
Home of Moses Byxbe, Jr. - 65 E. William Street
Delaware settled around the river, called the Whetsone River at that time. Streets were beginning to form.Note William Street and Sandusky as early big streets.William Street named for Moses Byxbee’s son; Witter Street, Byxbee’s wife; North Street (Now Central); Sandusky Street named after the Sandusky Military Highway.
Map of the Pioneer Mills and the Townships in Delaware County
Beiber Mill
Paper mill at Stratford
Mill stone
The town of Delaware started to build around the river.
#3What things did you notice had changed in Delaware
from its early beginnings?
Delaware:Then and Now
~ houses~ transportation~ streets~ businesses~ fewer fields and open spaces~ growth of farms
The "Nash" House is located at 157 E. William St., Delaware City Inlot #635 (old lot #18) in the "Lamb & Sturdevant Addition" to the city dated August 24th 1855.
1876 was a busy year for the property. Hugh and Nancy Carter sold it to Christopher Potter for $850.00, then Christopher and Emily M. Potter sold it to John Slattery for $1200.00,then John & Mary Slattery sold it to Thomas Slattery for $1200.00.
The 1879 Tax duplicate book has the notation to "Add H (House) @ $1000" making the tax value $1230.
JamesEaton:
Surveyorthat created the townships.his family donatedmany objects inThe Nash House.
Begin extra slides
Note: Teachers and presenters canuse as needed
Native Americans in Delaware CountyPluggy’s Town was a Mingo town.
But it was not the only village in and around what is now downtown Delaware. When the Iroquois left,a number of other tribes began to move into central Ohio. Among them were the Shawnee, the Wyandotand the Delaware.
The Delawares had two villages in the town that bears their name. One was at the spot where Delaware Run empties into the Olentangy. The other was on the high ground immediately west of the downtown where Monnet Park (OWU) is today. These were small villages but they had been here for some time.
In the years of the American Revolution these villages were overshadowed by Pluggy’s Town which took up most of what is now Mingo Park at the Horseshoe Bend of what the Delawares called Keenhongsheconsepung or “sharpening stone river.”
Pluggy’s Town was named for its first citizen. A ferocious warrior of Mohawk lineage, he had acquired the nickname “Pluggy” because most Europeans could not pronounce his given name of “Plukkemehnotee.” Like many Native Americans of his era, Pluggy had lost family and friends in the savage struggles that marked the history of the moving frontier in those days.
Arriving in central Ohio in 1772, Pluggy attracted a large number of people to his new town. The residents included Chippewa, Wyandot and Ottawa warriors as well as Mingos and a French blacksmith. At peak, the town held at least 600 residents and possibly many more.
It was from this village deep in the Ohio heartland that Pluggy and his people launched raid after raid against new settlements along the Ohio River and in what is now West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Supported by British guns and other supplies, Pluggy and his people came to a fearsome presence in the Ohio Valley.
The threat began to recede, however, just after Christmas in 1776. Having attacked Harrod’s Station in Kentucky on Christmas morning with a 50-man party, Pluggy moved on and attacked McClelland’s Station on Dec. 29. The fighting went on for hours and John McClelland, the founder of the settlement was killed.
As the warriors faded away from the settlement, a small party from the Station pursued the war party, found Pluggy and shot him dead in retaliation for the death of McClelland.
The fallen Pluggy was recovered by his people. He was reputed to have been buried on a bluff overlooking a nearby spring. Local legend says that an echo heard by the spring was “the death cry of Pluggy.”
In any case his village lived on – at least for a while. A year after his death several hundred people were still living in Pluggy’s town – including the well-known Mingo warrior called Logan. But the advance of American settlement soon caused most of these villages to be abandoned as their residents moved away to the north and west. By the end of the Revolution, Pluggy’s town was gone.
But in Mingo Park, Delaware still remembers a time when this now green quiet place was at the absolute center of the struggle for the Ohio Country.
For many years, people traveling north through Delaware, Ohio, would have seen a small marker at the corner of Lincoln and Sandusky Streets.
Cornstalk 1720 - 1777A prominent leader of the Shawnee nation just prior to theAmerican Revolution. Cornstalk opposed European settlement west of the Alleghenies in his youth, but he later became a strong advocate for peace. He also proved to be a fierce war chief when provoked. His murder by American militiamen at Fort Randolph during a diplomatic visit, on November 10, 1777,outraged both American Indians and Virginians.
Born in present-day Pennsylvania, Cornstalk moved to the Ohio Country, near present day Chillicothe, Ohio, when expanding white settlement forced the Shawnee westward. Cornstalk is said to have remained neutral during the French and Indian War, and it is not known if he participated in Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763. He was, however, active in the peace negotiations in 1764 that ended the wide-spread Indian uprising.
Cornstalk played a central role in Lord Dunsmore’s War of 1774 when Virginian settlers and land speculators moved into the lands south of the Ohio River. Although the Iroquois confederacy, who claimed ownership of the land, had agreed to cede the territory by treaty in 1768, the Shawnee objected to relinquishing their hunting grounds. Clashes soon took place, and Cornstalk tried unsuccessfully prevent escalation of the hostilities.
After failing diplomatically, Cornstalk turned to hostile action. With a force of 500 Shawnee and Mingo warriors, he attempted to block the Virginian invasion at theBattle of Point Pleasant, in present-day West Virginia. His attack, although ferociously made, was beaten back by the Virginians. The Shawnee retreated north of the Ohio River and Cornstalk reluctantly accepted it as the boundary of Shawnee lands in the Treaty of Camp Charlotte.
Cornstalk's commanding presence often impressed American colonials. A Virginia officer wrote from Camp Charlotte: "I have heard the first orators in Virginia, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, but never have I heard one whose powers of delivery surpassed those of Cornstalk on that occasion."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkpLxU9cB2w
War Savings Stamps Marker
D.A.R. Byxbe and Baldwin marker on right side of door.
Moses Byxbe’s gave at Oak Hill Cemetery.
Primary DocumentsMapsPhotosNewspaper articlesPamphlets
Moses Byxbee home
Myers Inn, Sunbury
Forsyth's Mill on the Olentangy River, ca. 1886-1888. This photograph is part of a collection compiled by Henry Howe while researching the 1889 edition of "Historical Collections of Ohio."
In recognition ofthe patriotism ofthe people ofDelaware Countywho oversubscribed theirWar Saving Quota in 1918this tablet isgratefully erected by theOhio War Savings Committee
Rutherford B. Hayes boyhood home
William Cratty
1805-1897U.G.R.R. Conductor
The early pioneers to Scioto Township were a diverse group of people and one thing that made these families different were their thoughts and experiences surrounding slavery. Some of the early pioneers came from slave-holding families while others participated in the cause of freedom for all men as conductors on the Underground Railroad.Prior histories have identified locations in Delaware County involved in the Underground Railroad, but failed to identify the homes of the Cratty, Flannigan, and Dodds families. Additionally, many have assumed the paths through Delaware County would find there way to the Scioto River where slaves would be led North to safety. Yet, research reveals many times slaves brought into Scioto Township were passed to the Benedict family near Alum Creek; the Benedicts being in-laws to the Scioto Township sympathizers.
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD OPERATORSWilliam Siebert's book, The Underground Railroad, published in 1898 identifies over 3,000 UGRR conductors and agents which includes the following names identified as having operated in Delaware County, Ohio:Aaron Benedict, Aaron L. Benedict, Cyrus Benedict, Daniel Benedict, G.G. Benedict, M.J. Benedict, John Cratty, Robert Cratty, William Cratty, Micajah Dillingham, William Dodds, Dea. Flannigan, Giffith Levering, John Lewis, Joseph Mosher, Aaron L. Osborn, Daniel Osborn, William Osborn, Samuel Ream, and Daniel Wood.Delaware County participants are not limited to this list. The list was comprised from the memories of those living in the 1890's as well as newspaper accounts, court cases, and other facts.
Many participants were reluctant to identify themselves being concerned for their safety and the safety of the slaves who relied on their help. Additionally, the list is diminished by the fact many people were illiterate and didn't answer the call to record their involvement. Siebert's book is criticized even today for not having recorded a great number of blacks that were involved, yet many of these people were illiterate or were unavailable to interview having fled to localities that welcomed them.
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STATIONSJones TavernMcClure/Warren Tavern
http://www.ostscioto.com/Black%20History.htm
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/oh9.htm
The Gooding Tavern
