Pioneer Days
The Lone Indian ? Early History of the County
by ?Uncle? John Butler
Fulton County Tribune ? September 27th, 1907
In those early days the pioneers secured their supply of honey from ?bee trees? which they found in the forest. In the fall of the year, it was not an uncommon occurrence to find a settler going through the woods looking for a bee-tree. The usual methods adopted now of locating a bee tree was then used by those early settlers.
?One fine October morning a year or so after we had located in Chesterfield township, Mr. Briggs said to me, ?This is a good morning to locate a bee-tree and I guess we had better go to the big timber on Bean Creek and see what we can find.? The necessary outfit was soon put in readiness for the day?s hunt and an hour later, we were tramping westward through the big woods, dodging around marshes, crossing streams on fallen logs, looking for bee trees. It was along in the middle of the afternoon when we came to an open place in the woods where some honey bees were working on some wild flowers. Mr. Briggs tried to get a line on the bees as they left the flowers for the tree but after going a short distance in the woods the line was lost. In the outfit which we had brought along was some old honeycomb. He built a small fire and commenced to burn this old comb and in a little while the bees were flying around us, having been attracted there by the burning of the comb. By this means Mr. Briggs soon located the bee-line which he had lost. The bees flew thick and it was not difficult to follow them. He left me to burn the comb while he followed the line to the tree, for when a bee is loaded with honey it flies directly to its home and the same is true when it leaves the tree ? it goes in a straight line to the place where it is working. Near the fire where I was burning the comb was another piece of comb for the bees to feed up. It seemed to me as if I had been burning that comb long enough for Mr. Briggs to have gone five or six miles and I was getting rather tired of my job as it was not the most pleasant thing to be left alone in the center of a big woods.
As I sat there watching the bees feed on the old comb until they had all they could carry away, then rise a few feet in the air and start of through the woods in the direction in which I had seen Mr. Briggs leave, I heard a noise a short distance back of me. I was not startled at the sound for it was nothing uncommon in those days to have an Indian walk up to you without your seeing or hearing him until he spoke to you, and so, being busy just then, fixing my fire and burning a little more comb I did not look around. A few minutes later, I heard the same sound again, then I heard a sniffing. I did not turn around but kept perfectly quiet thinking it was a deer. The nearer the sound came the less I believed it was a deer. The sniffing was within a few feet of me and I thought it was time that I found out what it was that was making the noise. I raised up and looked around, and there, within ten feet of me sat a big black bear. I uttered a scream and with a bound I was going down through the woods as fast as my legs could carry me. I called for help and ran as fast as I could in the direction taken by Mr. Briggs, when he left me burning the comb. At every bound I expected to feel the fangs of that bear sink into my flesh. I did not stop to turn around but kept on running until I reached Mr. Briggs who had heard my cries for help and had hurried back to me. Reaching me he exclaimed, ?What?s the matter John?? All I could say was ?a bear.? He took hold of my hand and assured me that there was no bear in sight. For a while I was afraid to look around but upon his assurances that there was no bear I turned around and sure enough he was gone. We walked back to where I was burning the honeycomb but no bear was there, but the comb that I had left on the ground when I made by hurried flight was gone. It seemed that the bear had been satisfied with the comb which I had left and after eating that had gone his way not wishing to hurt me or any one else.
?As we went along our way home that evening I jumped at every sound that was out of the ordinary and that night after I was in bed I could see that big black bear sitting up on his hind legs looking down at me. It was hours before I could go to sleep; and of all the scares that I received during those early days none left a more lasting impression upon my mind than the one given me by that black bear in the big woods on Bean Creek bottoms on that October afternoon in the early ?thirties.?
?Mr. Briggs had just located his bee-tree when he heard my screams. A few days later the tree was cut and the honey that we got out it was enjoyed upon our corn bread for many a day.
As the county became more thickly settled and as the stock was turned lose in the woods, some means had to be provided to distinguish the stock of one settler?s stock from another?s. To meet this requirement a law was enacted which provided that each settler should have a certain mark or design which should be cut in the ears of his stock. He was required to have a description of the mark or design together with a drawing of the same filed with the township clerk. After this was done no other settler could have the same mark or design to designate his stock and a settler was at liberty to go any where and claim any stock bearing his mark. These marks or designs were used to identify cattle, sheep and hogs.
?I have a book here giving a record of the proceedings of those early meetings together with the records of the township clerks for the very first years of Chesterfield township.? Unwrapping the book which bore evidence that it had seen pioneer days although it was well preserved considering the many times that it must been consulted, Mr. Butler said, ?I have taken care of that book for many a year.? He watches this book that nothing injures it and values it as he does a friend who has come down with him through all of these years and it now speaks in unmistakable language of those times when men?s souls were most severely tried. Opening the book and pointing to the first pages he said, ?Here is a record in Mr. Briggs? own hand writing of the first meeting held in Chesterfield township which I told you about. You will remember it was held in his Indian trading store, July 19th, 1837. Here is a list of the township officers who were elected at that time. Not a one of them are alive today.?
?I was telling you of how the pioneers identified their stock. These pages are all filled with descriptions of the marks adopted by those early settlers. This is a description of the mark selected by Lyman Beebe ? ?A swallow fork? in the right ear as represented in the above plate.? Just above the description was a drawing of the design. Stock bearing that mark was his and under the law he could take it where ever it was found. That record was made in 1842 by H. A. Canfield, father of Arthur Canfield of Gorham township. Mr. Canfield was then a resident of Chesterfield township and lived on the very farm which I now own. He was clerk of the township for a number of years.?
?I well remember the first time I saw my old friend, Edward Patterson, now living in Dover township. It was in the early fall of 1838 and I was a lad fourteen years of age. Patterson was about three years older than I, but as he was somewhere near my age and as he had come here to live, I was delighted to think that I was to have another companion. The first white boys with whom I associated and who were the only boys at that time, in the north part of this county with whom I could associate were the sons of Nehemiah Cone. A little later Garner Willett who for many years was a respected resident of Chesterfield township and who only a year or two ago was borne to that home whence no traveler returns, came into the township and was given employment by Mr. Briggs.
?Talking of those pioneer days brings back many recollects of the hardships and privations endured by those early settlers who laid the foundations for this happy and prosperous county. I could spend hours in telling you how we lived through winters, the first years we were here, on corn bread and pumpkin butter, and venison, and not grow tired at telling about them. I loved the Indian for he was ever true to him who showed him a kindness. Many a time have I heard Chiefs Winameg and Ottokee discuss the ?Whiteman?s? coming. I have heard them talk of Winslow and Col. Howard of Pike township and praise their goodness. Winslow was one of the early settlers of this county and is the father of Vol. Winslow who now resides near the little trading center named after Chief Winameg. I never knew this pioneer only as I have heard the Indians speak of him.
?A few years ago I was visiting friends in Kansas who were living near the reservation to which the Indians of this county were sent, and while there I went over to see if I could find an Indian whom I had known here. I asked for the Potowanomees, for that was the tribe that inhabited this county and as I passed along through their village I saw one face that I thought seemed familiar to me. As I started to go toward the Indian whom I thought I knew I noticed that he was watching me and as I advanced toward him he approached me. I extended my hand and said in the broken Indian tongue, ?I know your face, but I have forgotten your name.? He said, ?You are John Butler, the Whiteman?s boy with whom I played beyond the Great Water.? It was one of the Indian boys with whom I had played at Briggs? store. We sat down on the ground and talked for hours. He told me that of all the young men of his tribe who had come West he alone was left. As I took his hand to say goodbye, tears were coursing down his cheek and placing his other hand upon my shoulder, he looked into my face and said, ?Whiteman, a long farewell.? And there standing by that lone wigwam, on that Kansas reservation, I left the only Indian in the wide world who still remembered John Butler.
?On June 14, 1846, I was united in marriage to Lovina Clemons and for sixty-one years and more we have walked life?s pathway together, sharing each others joys and sorrows. As I have said Mrs. Butler was the daughter of Chesterfield Clemons, and because she lived in this county longer than any other citizen, she was elected president of the pioneer and historical society of the county. I have held numerous township offices, having been justice of the peace for the past twenty years and am still holding that office. We have four children living in this county, they are: Mrs. David Beebe, Edward Butler, U.G. Butler and Mrs. Fanny Taylor.
I stayed with Mr. Briggs until I was twenty one years of age and received a horse, bridle, and saddle for my services. I could have had forty acres of land instead, but at that time the horse was worth much more than the land. Col. Briggs was a good man and kept his word with me in every particular. He died in Wauseon and was buried in Lyons cemetery. He left two daughters, Mrs. David Disbow and Mrs. Eliza Beatty of your own town. Few are the pioneers remaining and ere long our feet will have touched the Silver Strand and our mission will be ended.?
Thanks to Glenda Bair for the transcription of this article
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