1816-1916 Cedarville Centennial Souvenir

or headquarters was old Chillicothe, or Oldtown, three miles north of Xenia and seven miles west of Cedarville. When they chose this place as their rendezvous is not known. They were here when the first white man came. They were comfortably fixt, lived in comfortable cabins, well-built, had apple orchards and fruit, gardens and corn– fields. Their council house, where business was transacted, was com– modious. Some of their celebrated chiefs were Silver Heels, Corn– stalk, Blackfish, Blackhoof, and Tecumseh. They all hunted and fisht within the confines of Cedarville Township. Their trail, along which they traveled so often from old Chillicothe to Chillicothe on the Scioto River, past just north of the Whitelaw Reid farm and crost the Clifton pike near the residence of Ervin Kyle. When a boy, I walkt in it in the woods many a time. At that time it was a foot and a half deep. Tecumseh was a man of intellect, a great orator, and delivered many addresses to the Indians scattered from Ohio to Florida. He exerted a wide influence among the tribes wherever he went. He was born in or near Old Chillicothe, and was one of a triplet. He was often in Xenia, was of a rncial nature, a welcome visitor at the Gallo– way home, and became infatuated with Rebecca, the beautiful daugh– ter, and even proposed marriage to her; but she could not think of living like . an Indian woman, and he could not consent to live like a white man: so the wedding never took place. The Shawnee Indians' greatest victories were gained under the leadership of Tecumseh. He commanded the Indian forces when Harmar's defeat and loss of 400 men took place. He was absent in the South when General Wayne gained a great victory over the Indians in 1794. Their last battle with the whites was the battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813. Tecumseh and his men were shielded by the tops of fallen trees, and when Col. Dick Johnson, of Kentucky, at the head of his company, charged upon the Indians, Johnson, riding his fiery steed, came around the tree-top in front of Tecumseh, who was in the act of flinging his tomahawk. Johnson leveled his horse– pistol and shot him dead. The Indians, seeing their leader fall, fled and never fought another battle. Soon after this the Indians removed west, and the early settlers in Kentucky and Ohio were never again troubled by them. Freebooters had already settled on the north side of the Ohio River. Soon after Wayne's victory in 1794, a survey of western Ohio was made by the United States Government under General Massie, and the land was opened up for sale. Pioneers at once came from Kentucky and bought land, beginning at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, and advanct north and east until they reacht Greene County. Daniel Wilson built the first house in Greene County in 1796. The first settler in Cedarville Township was Thomas Townsley, who came from Kentucky with his family in 1800, and bought 1000 acres one mile northeast of Cedarville, on both sides of Massie's Creek. He immediately erected a round-log cabin, without floor, and moved into it. He then set about to clear a small field for corn, potatoes, garden, apple orchard, etc. They wintered here, and early in the