Regarding comment of early settlement in the Decatur, OH area of Byrd Twp in present Brown County, previously part of Adams County: (waters of Eagle Creek.) Per Beers' History, I believe, have many notes out, the first town within present Brown Co. was St. Clairsville, laid out by Basil DUKE and John COBURN on 1 Aug 1801. "The name was about fifteen years later changed by the Legislature to Decatur." The town's original name was apparently for Arthur ST. CLAIR, governor of Northwest Territory to whom early settlers throughout the general area petitioned for various needs. Valentine McDaniel was last recorded, in Mason Co. KY, as having land on Locust Creek *in 1795.* He first had land *title* (1800) in Ohio area within Survey #1033, at the head waters of a tributary of Straight Creek and Cornick Run near Ripley, OH. (Cornick or Cornick's Run discharges into the Ohio River at the west side of Ripley; a T. CORNICK was living along this run in 1876, within Survey # 1348 just south of #1033, *indicating* an early CORNICK family settled this area -- or the run was later named for them.) Can anyone tell me the name of the primary tributary of Straight Creek which comes in from the east, about one mile north of the Ohio River? -- and its south branch within #1033? (the latter with head waters about one mile north of Ripley, starting at the south end of DIXON Ridge.) Again from Beers: "It was in the spring of 1796 that the full tide of emigration to the Northwest Territory began to flow in...." "It is certain that in the year 1799, there was a considerable population on Eagle, Red Oak, Straight and White Oak Creeks." (All are within the southern portion of present Brown County and part of prior Adams County.) To support this, two petitions to Gov. St. Clair on 10 Jan 1799 were recorded in "Cincinnati Miscellany" in 1845. These were signed by inhabitants living between the waters of Eagle and Straight Creeks, "and thereabouts" -- within the area of present Brown County, and Adams. One petitioned Alexander MARTIN for Magistrate or Justice of the Peace and the other, "being destitute of militia officers," petitioned Thomas McCONNELL to be commissioned Captain, John MEFFORD, Lieutenant and Andrew ELLIS, Ensign. Those signing the J.P. petition were: Matthew DAVIDSON, Thos. McCONNELL, Joseph LACOCK, Isaac ELLIS, Wm. M'KINNEY, Wm FORBES, Geo. M'KINNEY, Jacob MILLER, John MEFFORD, John CARYON, Wm. LEWIS, Fergus M'CLAIN, Richard ROBISON, Henry ROGERS, Thomas ARK, Valentine McDANIEL, Wm. WOODRUFF, Geo. J. JENNINGS, Ichabod TWEED, Amos ELLIS, James HENRY, Wm. MOORE, Isaac PRICKETT, Tom ROGERS, Wm. LONG, Joseph MOORE, Benjamin EVANS, Jacob NAGLE, Lewis SHEEK, John PHILLIPS, James PRICKETT, James YOUNG and Uriah SPRINGER. Those signing the militia petition were: Abel MARTIN, George M'KINNEY, William M'KINNEY, Forgy M'CLURE, Henry ROGERS, N. McDANIEL (undoubtedly, to me, an error for "V." or Valentine McDANIEL as previously reasoned), J'no. HENRY, Thomas DOUGHERTY, John REDMON, William FORBES, Jas. PRICKETT, John CARYON, Thomas ROGERS, Tom ASH, Wm. MOORE, Isaac ELLIS, Jacob NAGLE, Geo. J. JENNINGS, Uriah SPRINGER, Joseph JACOBS, Samuel TWEED, William LEWCAS, Jacob MILLER and Walter WALL. Concerning the M.E. Church to be built in 1842 on land from Valentine McDaniel in Survey #641 of Byrd Twp, just north of Decatur, this congregation is understandably not mentioned in *early* history of the area, although the land deed shows this congregation had several trustees, indicating they were organized at least by 1842. Early religions mentioned within Byrd Twp. included "the Shakers" (1814) and a "Christian Church" at Liberty Chapel, by Archibald ALEXANDER (1810.) The former was said to have moved elsewhere within five years. The latter built a church in 1817, the building committee consisted of David DEVORE, Jeptha BEA.... and Samuel PICKERELL; masons who built the 2' thick walls were Daniel and Joseph HUGHES. (My notes are not necessarily complete concerning other possible congregations.) Possibly this will help those without access to history sources. Please re-post your family history info, maybe we can piece together parts of a puzzle -- and thanks to those who have. Searching the mailing list archives is fun but hard on my eyes -- and which prevents me from completing those tedious things we must do in between more important history and genealogy work. One genealogist friend says she is raising "dust bunnies" as a side-hobby, along with her genealogy. I don't know how she finds time for *two* hobbies, and know nothing about this new breed of rabbit -- although I understand they can somehow affect the operation of your computer. Neil McDonald -----Original Message----- From: macbd1 <macbd1@arthur.k12.il.us> To: OHADAMS-L <OHADAMS-L@rootsweb.com>; OHBROWN-L <OHBROWN-L@rootsweb.com> Cc: Sandra L. Lewis <sllewis@zoomnet.net> Date: Thursday, July 01, 1999 2:04 PM Subject: Re: M.E. Church, Pittenger-Mahaffey-Woods-Quarry-Bicker-Rutherford-Pickerell-Carson-Grimes-Sm ith-Kirkpatrick-Tacker-White-McDaniel >Re: Val McDaniel-McDonald land in Survey #641 (next section north of >Decatur's #999), where Val donated land to the M.E. Church: > >Survey numbers ran as high as #16000 or thereabouts, as I recall, so some of >the numbers in this area were indeed relatively low (early surveys.) During >"the great revival of 1800," Rev. Barton STONE introduced the southern style >of evangelism to his Kentucky congregations. During 1801 he preached at >several locations in northern Ky -- but also at *Eagle Creek in Adams >County, OH.* So, the Eagle Creek area must have been settled early (Brown >Co. not formed as yet.) > >The PITTINGER family apparently had quite a bit of land in this section by >1876 (3 residences), Val's land was purchased by Wm. PITTENGER in 1849 -- >are any descendants on line or does anyone have a PITTINGER snail mail >address? (who might have an old deed or interest in family history, send to >me, not to list) -- also RUTHERFORD, GRIMES, SMITH, PICKERELL, CARSON and >KIRKPATRICK families were living in this section #641 in 1876. Or, does >anyone know of a United Methodist Church historian in the area? I'd sure >like to learn specifically where Val's land was located or more about this >early M.E. Church group. > >Thanks for any help. >Neil McDonald >(Thanks, Hermon, for your several postings of info -- your point is well >taken regarding Survey #641 being 90% in present Brown Co. with the eastern >10% being within present Adams County; I can't tell for sure from my Byrd >Twp. map but this seems likely, from looking at #999 beneath it.) > >Did Adams County produce any kind of land-plat map similar to the Brown >County 1876 Atlas? > >I remember well, eating from church plates identified as "M. E.!" -- that's >prior to the "United" coming into play. > >-----Original Message----- >From: hermfagley@juno.com <hermfagley@juno.com> >To: OHADAMS-L@rootsweb.com <OHADAMS-L@rootsweb.com> >Date: Thursday, July 01, 1999 3:46 AM >Subject: [OHADAMS-L] >Blair-Williams-Archer-Pittenger-Mahaffey-Woods-Quarry-Bicker-Rutherford-Pic k >erell-Carlson-Grimes-Smith-Kirkpatrick-Tacker-White-McDaniel > > >>Pleasant Hill Church of Christ a couple survey's north is the POLLITT'S. >>I'm struck by the low numbers,and by the names on the survey's n of >>DECATUR,INCLUDING JOHN CRAWFORD,and MACHAIR [STATION ]. Arthur Fox,of >>Washington,Ky seems the surveyor. As you know,1876 atlas shows no church >>in that survey,unless it's in the 10% in ADAMS CO. >>___________________________________________________________________ >>Get the Internet just the way you want it. >>Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! >>Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. >> >> >>==== OHADAMS Mailing List ==== >>Help Instructions at: http://www.zoomnet.net/~chipmunk/SurnamesMail.html >>or contact Betty at: chipmunk@zoomnet.net >>Archives: >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?surname=OHAdams >>Your gracious donations to RootsWeb makes this all possible!! >>Rootsweb: http://www.rootsweb.com/ >