PIONEER BIOGRAPHY.

SKETCHES OF THE

Lives of some of the Early Settlers

or

BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO.

BY

JAMES MCBRIDE,

of Hamilton.

Vol. I.

CINCINNATI:

ROBERT CLARKE & CO.

1869.

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern

District of Ohio.

OHIO VALLEY PRESS, ROBERT CLARKE & CO.

CINCINNATI, 0.

PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.

HE present series of biographical sketches form part of the manuscript collections of the late JAMES MCBRIDE, of Hamilton, which have been placed in our hands by his daughter. Having been partially prepared for the press by the author, we have selected them as our first publication from his papers. There were many dates, christian names, etc., left blank in the manuscripts, which we have endeavored to supply. We are especially indebted to Rev. JOSEPH MILLIKIN of Hamilton for his aid in this matter, particularly in the sketches of JOHN REILY, and of his grandfather JOSEPH HOUGH.

These unpretending sketches were compiled chiefly from memoranda, letters, and journals of the persons whose lives and adventures he has so faithfully sketched-some of them, during their lives and with their approval. Many of the original papers, from which they were drawn, and the first drafts of the sketches, with marginal notes of emendations and additions, are in our possession, and we can bear testimony to the scrupulous care and fidelity with which he has performed his task.

The work will, we think, be found to possess an interest beyond the mere details of the lives of the individuals. They were all of them men who took an active part in the settlement of the Miami country, were prominent in public affairs,

both civil and military, and participated in many of the early conflicts with the Indians in Ohio and Kentucky, and in the campaigns of Generals HARMAR, ST. CLAIR, SCOTT, and WAYNE; So that, interspersed in the narratives, will be found many details of interest concerning these early struggles, from the notes and recollections of eye-witnesses, which have never before, with a few exceptions, appeared in print. This leads us to remark, that on first reading these papers, we were impressed with our familiarity with some of the descriptions, incidents, etc. On further investigation we found that portions of them had been published, years ago, by Mr. CHARLES CIST, in his Cincinnati Advertiser, as editorial matter, and that the sketch of JOHN REILY is, in many parts, word for word with that given by Judge BURNET in the last chapter of his Notes on the North-western Territory. These coincidences seemed to indicate a plagiarism on the part of the author, which, however, we could hardly entertain, as we have so many evidences of his authorship in the original papers, in our possession, from which he had drawn his narratives. We mentioned the matter to Mr. CIST, since deceased, and he stated that he had frequently applied to Mr. MCBRIDE for contributions to his paper, but that he never could induce him to write specially for him, though he was ever ready to place at his disposal any of his own sketches, or other papers in his possession. Of these, Mr. CIST said, he frequently availed himself, and used them in making up articles, without indicating the source from which he received them, with Mr. McBRIDE'S consent, and at his request. In reference to the sketch of Mr. REILY, in BURNET'S Notes, we have printed in the appendix (page 73) a long letter from Judge BURNET to Mr. MCBRIDE, dated four years before his work was published, acknowledging the receipt and perusal of McBRIDE's sketch of the life of his