GEN. JOHN WEBB'S NARRATIVE (from 1880 History of Miami County, pp 393 - 400)
We believe that we can no better illustrate the life, trials, triumphs and experiences of a pioneer than by giving the history of one written by his own hand and such a document we introduce at this point. It is from the pen of Gen. Webb, and we preface it by saying that what the old gentleman says of other places is peculiarly applicable to the early settlement of Lost Creek Township:
"I was born of Baptist parents, at May's Lick, Mason County, State of Kentucky, May 17, 1793. My parents were church members before I was born. In the Month of November, 1797, my father removed to Ohio, six years before the State was admitted into the Union, and wintered near Waynesville. In March following, he settled in the dense wilderness between the two Miami Rivers, near where the city of Dayton now stands. There was no mark of an axe (excepting those of Indian tomahawks) there until my father and brothers cut logs to build a cabin, into which he put his family. At that time, the cabin was hardly up and covered, and it was without floor, chimney or door. Our nearest neighbors were Indians, bears, wolves, foxes, wildcats, turkeys, deer and raccoons. Spring opened early, vegetation grew rapidly, the ground was loaded with hickory-nuts, walnuts, etc., and the woods swarmed with different kinds of singing birds. I was not nine years old, and, not realizing our lonely situation, I thought it a paradise. About forty or fifty rods east of our house stood a little prairie, in which we made our first garden, but we were soon compelled to inclose it with a high staked and ridered' fence, to keep the deer from destroying the fruits of our first planting.
We had to watch our cornfields, to prevent the squirrels and raccoons from pulling up the corn in the spring, and from eating the ears in the fall. The wild pigeons were very plentiful and destructive, picking up the wheat almost as soon as sown.
"My father sowed the first wheat and clover seed, and planted the first apple and peach trees and built the first cabin in that region. After eight years of life there, father exchanged farms with my brother-in law, Timothy Green, and moved three miles west, near the present site of Beavertown.
There being, no school near us then, my mother taught my youngest sister and myself at home. Our main books were the spelling book, Testament and Bible. l was eight years old before l saw a schoolhouse, and never went to school in any house but a log-cabin. ln 1811, father sold his farm of 240 acres for $2,000, intending to purchase land in this (Miami) county for his sons. One day he mounted a young, hard-mouthed horse, intending to select a location, and started off. But the horse, becoming frightened, ran a quarter of a mile, threw my father against a stump, broke his arm in two places, and crushed his shoulder and skull, of course killing him instantly. This occurred on Thursday, November 28, 1811.
On the day following father's funeral, our family assigned to mother all the money and property that he left, and shortly afterward I purchased the land I now occupy, two miles north of Casstown, from John Rogers, for $320. At that time Rogers owned an entire section. There were two cabins on my piece, a lot of land inclosed; and I gave Rogers in payment, an order on my mother, for I was but eighteen years old, and engaged in "keeping" school. Two years before this I taught the first school ever held in this region.
In the following spring, mother and I, with my brothers Elisha and Joseph, moved to this neighborhood. Joseph having no house on his land, moved into one of my houses. He had purchased a quarter- section of land, where John Mitchell now lives (i.e. the present Hyatt farm-ED.), and subsequently built a cabin there. He afterward exchanged it for a quarter-section then owned by Richard Palmer, my brother-in-law, and now owned by George Hammon and Joel Burton, adjoining the village of Casstown.
"In the latter part of the winter of 1813, I volunteered as a soldier, expecting to go to Detroit. But the surrender of Hull's army there, left our whole northern and northwestern frontier exposed to Indian depredations. The general Government, therefore, caused a line of block-houses to be built along the frontier of Ohio and Indiana, and called out a large portion of the frontier militia to be stationed in them. So we were marched to Greenville, Darke County, under Captain Charles Hilliard, where we remained six months. John Sconer and Gosberry Elliott, two of our soldiers, were killed by the Indians, also Philip Taylor, an Indian trader, Mr. Rush, a settler, and two little girls, daughters of a Mr. Wilson. In August of the same year (1814) the savages killed David Gerard within a mile of our house, and the same evening Henry Dilbone and wife further up on Spring Creek.
"In the month of March, 1815, our two houses were consumed by fire, and we removed to Roger's until I built another cabin. I was teaching school in one of my own cabins at the time of this calamity. During this year, Priscilla Knight and I were married, and lived happily together for more than half a century. At our first company muster, after our return from Greenville, I drilled the company at the request of our captain. I was twenty years old at that time (1813). Having been appointed Orderly Sergeant, I was shortly afterward elected Captain. My company's membership extended as far north as there were inhabitants at that time. As there were a few settlers scattered along the Miami as far as where Sidney now stands, our place of company drill was on the ground where Elder D. E. Thomas' house now stands (i.e., near the D. &,M. R. R. depot adjoining Piqua). I afterward acted as Major at regimental musters, and shortly after was elected Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel successively. A short time subsequent, I was elected Brigadier General, receiving every vote in the county but one, and, by the resignation of Gen. Young, I became acting Major General of the Tenth Division of Ohio Militia. The division embraced the counties of Montgomery, Darke, Shelby and Miami, and consisted of ten regiments of infantry, riflemen, cavalry and artillery.
In 1819, I was unanimously elected Justice of the Peace of Lost Creek Township, in which office my whole term of service extended over thirty years. During that time, I married more than one hundred couples. I was a trustee of the original survey of the township, and, assisting in the survey, wrote all the leases. I also assisted in the survey of a number of county roads, and administered on many estates. In 1838, I resigned my military commission, and, many years after the war of 1812, I received two warrants for eighty acres of Government land each, and I now receive a yearly pension for services rendered the nation.
"In 1861, at the outbreak of the rebellion, the young men asked me to drill a company of Home Guards, which I consented to do. A company was speedily recruited, and made rapid improvements in the tactics. The patriotic ladies raised funds for the purchase of a beautiful flag, which was presented to the company at Casstown. On that day, the company was drawn up in a hollow square, the ladies and speakers facing inward. George C. Clyde presented the standard in the name of the ladies and D. E. Thomas accepted it in behalf of the company, in a neat speech. The whole affair was a grand and success.
"In speaking of the " financial frauds " of the old days, Gen. Webb says:"in 1819, I was appointed administrator with the widow on the estate of ------. Her bad management and the confused condition of the estate came near ruining me. The first difficulty I encountered was to clear it of a judgment for $18,000, in favor of John H. Piatt, of Cincinnati. There were other jndgments and other claims, and the result was that the estate proved to be insolvent, with but 40 cents on the dollar. The widow bought and kept it at its appraisement, for which she gave no security, and paid nothing, and I had to foot the bill! At various times I bailed---- ---- and others, and was left to pay the amounts. Many years after, I bailed -------; he availed himself of the bankrupt act, and, as usual, left me to pay his debts. I took stock in the Troy Manufacturing Company; it failed. I took stock in the Addison, Troy & Covington Turnpike Co.; it fizzled. Then I invested in two toll-bridge companies at Troy; one of the bridges fell before it was finished, and the other was washed away shortly after completion. I was generally called a good fellow, and consequently was often imposed upon.
"These difficulties, poor health and a large family, often seriously afflicted, have affected my progress. From the foregoing, it would seem that I have been a poor economist and financier. This is true, yet my family have been comfortably and respectably raised."
Gen. Webb concludes his memoir by saying that, on the 9th of August, 1827, he was received into the Lost Creek Baptist Church, and baptized by Elder Willis Hance. He was for many years Clerk of the Mad River Association, and prepared its minutes for publication. On one occasion, Mr. Webb went to Columbus on horseback to attend to some business pertaining to the church charter before the Legislature.