Warren County Local
History by Dallas Bogan |
Contributor: |
Dallas Bogan on 3 August 2004 |
Source: |
original article by Dallas Bogan |
Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
Robert Parker, of Lebanon, donated a history of Col. Thomas
Paxton to the writer, which was written by Jack T. Hutchinson
in 1955. We shall now review a short history of the Colonel and his productive
life.
The Paxton family immigrated from Balleymoney, County Antrim,
Ulster, Ireland, in 1730. They were Scotch-Irish and steadfast Presbyterians.
Samuel Paxton, Sr., was the progenitor of the family in America,
settling at Marsh Creek, near Gettysburg, in Lancaster County (now Adams County),
Pennsylvania. Samuel Paxton, Jr., married twice and had twenty-two
children; Col. Paxton was a child by his first marriage.
Thomas Paxton spent his early life on Marsh Creek, and it was
at this location he married to Isabelle Quaite about 1765.
Thomas, sometime previous to the American Revolution, migrated
to Rockbridge County, Va., where he joined several of his brothers.
The Colonel, upon hearing news of the Revolution breaking out, quickly returned
to Bedford County, Pa., and raised and commanded a company of rangers. Commissioned
Captain of the company on September 13, 1776, he was discharged exactly one
month later.
He was again appointed Captain in December 1776 of a company of militia of the
First Battalion of Bedford, which was under the command of Col. George
Wood. He was later commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Batallion
in December 1777, at the same location.
Lt. Col. Paxton, during this commission, was stationed at Valley
Forge, and was said to have been one of 16 officers who dined with General
George Washington in this camp on Christmas Day, 1777. He served until
the end of the Revolution and then returned to Bedford County.
Paxton and his first wife, Isabelle, who died
during the war, had one son and four daughters. Her father was English and a
faithful Tory during the war, a situation that Paxton frowned
upon. Just prior to leaving for Kentucky, he allowed Isabelle's
father to see his grandchildren for the last time before heading out.
Paxton married again, in 1782, at Marsh Creek to Martha
White. To this marriage were born two sons and four daughters, making
eleven children total.
In 1789, he removed to Kentucky and settled in Bourbon County, now Nicholas
County, near present day Carlisle. His eldest son, Robert,
brought the family to their new home the following year.
Beers 1882 History of Warren County tells
the story of the family's travels down the Ohio. It reads:
"The party was made up of sixteen flatboats which were lashed together
at Pittsburgh. Many of the older children by the first wife had families of
their own and all came in a group in this pioneer trek to the newly opened Kentucky
country. Whether Thomas
Paxton was with them or was awaiting their arrival in Kentucky
on this 1790 trip is unknown.
"At the Islands of the Three Sisters they were attacked by a party of hostile
Indians that rowed out in their canoes from the Ohio shore to assault them.
Several in the Paxton party were wounded and a number of the
Indians were killed.
"The descent of the river continued unmolested, though virgin wilderness
lined both banks. They safely landed at Limestone (now Maysville, Kentucky)
where they were met by friends and escorted inland to their new home near present
day Carlisle, Kentucky. The family lived there in then Bourbon County until
1796."
Gen. Washington chose Anthony Wayne, after
the defeats of Harmar and St. Clair by the
Indians, to quell the native uprisings. Wayne's knowledge and
study of the latter defeats allowed him to develop a plan and go forth into
the wilderness and challenge the Indians.
Thomas Paxton,
raised on the outback region of Pennsylvania, answered the General's question
as to who to put in charge of the scouting expeditions.
In 1794, Paxton was chosen to lead an advance guard in the
Battle of Fallen Timbers. He had fifty Indian scouts under his leadership that
spearheaded the attack. (One source said he commanded a group of Kentuckians
during the campaign.)
However, following the battle and ultimate defeat of the Indians, Paxton
led his command back to Kentucky via the east bank of the Little Miami River.
He liked what he saw, especially the locality where O'Bannon Creek flows into
the Little Miami. It was then that he decided to sell his lands in Kentucky
and establish a home in the newly found wilderness of Ohio.
Col. Paxton, the following spring, with several of his sons-in-law,
settled over the hill from the mouth of O'Bannon Creek; the women followed in
1796.
The Colonel was said to have been the first white man to settle in the Virginia
Military Tract (this tract was located between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers
and contained over 4,000,000 acres), where he built the first log cabin and
planted the first field of corn.
(As history states, Nathaniel Massie had, in 1791, established
Manchester in Adams County on the Ohio River, this being part of the military
tract. Also there were probably many stray squatters who had earlier settled
this area.)
The Colonel that was enclosed by a stockade the first few years built a sturdy
double log cabin; eventually, a sizable number of people settled around the
cabin. It was used for the first Presbyterian preaching within the tract.
His daughter, Elizabeth, was wed to John Donnells
on Thursday, September 28, 1797, which was the first wedding between the Little
Miami and Scioto.
The earliest election-polling place in Miami Township in Clermont County was
in the cabin of Col. Paxton. He was elected Auditor of Supervisor's
Accounts for O'Bannon Township (later Miami Township) of Clermont County in
1801.
As a surveyor in the Virginia Military Lands, he easily identified the many
military warrants and would purchase and sell tracts to the settlers. William
Lytle was also a surveyor of these lands and intermittent communication
was set up from Williamsburgh in Clermont County to the Colonel.
Indians while on a deer hunt below Milford ambushed him at one time, but he
escaped with his life. He was said to have been "one of the most expert
marksmen of his day, a day when good marksmen were a dime a dozen."
Col. Thomas Paxton
was born in 1739 and died in March 1813. He was said to have been a powerfully
built man and commanded his military with great authority and respect.
Paxton owned approximately 1000 acres near his home and close to another 1000
acres scattered in Clermont and Warren counties.
He was considered quite a wealthy man. His personal property, excluding his
lands, came to a total of $1,347.92, quite a sum in those days. His inventory
included a pair of silver shoe buckles, along with relics of the Revolution,
which were: his rifle gun, powder horn, and bullet molds; and a gold and silver
watch.
Col. Paxton was a true pioneer that definitely left his imprint
on The Northwest Territory.
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