Early pioneers settled along the Olentangy and Delaware rivers in Delaware County, Ohio due to the rivers providing fresh water, transportation, and cleared land from Native American villages. As the town of Delaware grew in the early 1800s around the rivers, streets and businesses like taverns were established. Over time, Delaware changed from a rural settlement to a town with more houses, transportation infrastructure like bridges, and fewer open fields.
9. The unbroken forest was unsettled with no roads.
This is a scene how Ohio looked for those early pioneers.
10. 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.
11. > fresh water for people and livestock
> water for transportation
> shelter
> food supply
> woods
> animals
#1
So ….
Why would early pioneers choose to settle here?
What would make this a good place to stay?
12. The Delaware Run and local streams provided what
settlers needed. The Delaware Run still runs through
Delaware today.
17. Mansion House Hotel
Hotel and health resort - Make use of the mineral water
1830’s Elliott House built
1842 – 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.
22. ~ 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’s
Native Americans?
23. 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 …..
25. Native American burial ground where OWU’s
baseball field is today discovered in 1960’s
The Glacial Kame Culture was a
culture of Archaic
people 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 atop
Glacier-deposited gravel hills.
26.
27. 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 an
unbroken wilderness
28.
29.
30. John Blackbird
Native 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
31.
32.
33.
34. Early surveys of Ohio
George Washington was one
of the early surveyors.
36. 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.
37. Early taverns
The Barber Tavern, 1807
Joseph Barber’s Tavern and its location close to the Sulphur
Spring on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University.
38. Two people who worked at the Barber Tavern:
Sally and Billy
“Wildcat Holler story”
39.
40. 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.
41. New taverns were built. The original home of President
Rutherford B. Hayes was an early tavern. (the Messenger House)
42.
43.
44. The Old Tannery – 1808
Two friends story … creates a Haunted House!
45. Sides of the creek were a problem – no bridge!
Petition started for a tavern
46.
47.
48.
49.
50. Streets in Delaware:
Henry Street
Abraham Street – now Hill Street
Henry Baldwin paid for
the beginnings of
Delaware.
51. 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.
53. Delaware settled around the river, called the Whetsone River
at that time. Streets were beginning to form.
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.
54. Map of the Pioneer Mills and the Townships in Delaware County
59. The town of Delaware started to build around the river.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64. #3
What 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
65.
66. 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.
72. Native Americans in Delaware County
Pluggy’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 Wyandot
and 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.
73. 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.”
74. 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.
75. Cornstalk 1720 - 1777
A prominent leader of the Shawnee nation just prior to the
American 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.
76. 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 the
Battle 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."
82. 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."
83.
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93.
94.
95. In recognition ofthe patriotism ofthe people ofDelaware Countywho oversubscribed their
War Saving Quota in 1918this tablet isgratefully erected by theOhio War Savings Committee
103. 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 OPERATORS
William 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.
104. 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 STATIONS
Jones Tavern
McClure/Warren Tavern
http://www.ostscioto.com/Black%20History.htm
