The Indians neither loved nor feared him. There was little difference in Okonoksee's lofty bearing after he was deposed, but he did not boast so much about his great bravery nor count on his fingers how many white men he had killed in the war. His people obeyed his word sooner than they did the new chief's. The Indians became dissatisfied when the land near them was bought and settled by the whites, and finally the Government bought their reservation and moved them west of the Mississippi.
My father, as soon as possible, built a double-log cabin a short distance above the fort on the Augliaze. These cabins were roofed with clapboards and the floor made of puncheons. The trees were felled and sawed into proper lengths, split into puncheons, dressed off with a broad ax and adze, placed evenly on the sleeperes, driven closely together and firmly wedged.
My brother James loved to work in wood, and my father had taken a good supply of tools to Defiance.
This double-cabin, with a large entry between, was our home for several years. Here we entertained many people--travelers and land viewers--as there were none but Mr. Preston's and father to keep them.
We had at this time neither church nor minister, nor schools; we had no physicians, no roads, no carriages and no mills. We had not a post office even, but had to use Piqua or Fort Meiges (Maumee City) post office, and the mail carrier who carried the mail from Pique via St Mary, Fort Wayne and Fort Defiance to Fort Meigs, would mail our letters for us, and when he took letters out for us he paid the postage and we refunded him.
We felt sorely the absence of society, but our few neighbors were excellent people, and though we suffered many deprivation in that new country neighbors hastened to each other's help in sickness or trouble of any kind and were ready to lend a helping hand in putting up their cabins, etc., etc. Besides our good neighbors, we every week met men of refinement and polite manners passing through to Fort Wayne. My father was a farmer. He cultivated part of the bottom land on the other side of the Auglaize River. It was very productive and yielded fine corps of corn, potatoes, melons, etc.
The land was not yet surveyed. I think the contract was given that year to Capt. James Riley. I remember when he came to the fort; he entertained at our house. Soon after that the surveying was commenced. The surveyors suffered greatly while at there work from mosquitoes and gnats. The surveyors came frequently to Defiance for a rest.
It was a year and a half after that before we heard another sermon. The second was preached by Rev. Solomon Manear, from Ross County, a young man just licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church (and afterward to the Ohio Conference). He had come out to Fort Defiance with others in charge of two wagons loaded with flour, bacon and dried fruit. My parents invited him to preach in our house; we had just moved into our double cabin.
We had at this time neither church nor minister, nor schools; we had no physicians, no roads, no carriages and no mills. We had not a post office even, but had to use Piqua or Fort Meiges (Maumee City) post office, and the mail carrier who carried the mail from Pique via St Mary, Fort Wayne and Fort Defiance to Fort Meigs, would mail our letters for us, and when he took letters out for us he paid the postage and we refunded him.
We felt sorely the absence of society, but our few neighbors were excellent people, and though we suffered many deprivation in that new country neighbors hastened to each other's help in sickness or trouble of any kind and were ready to lend a helping hand in putting up their cabins, etc., etc. Besides our good neighbors, we every week met men of refinement and polite manners passing through to Fort Wayne. My father was a farmer. He cultivated part of the bottom land on the other side of the Auglaize River. It was very productive and yielded fine corps of corn, potatoes, melons, etc.
The land was not yet surveyed. I think the contract was given that year to Capt. James Riley. I remember when he came to the fort; he entertained at our house. Soon after that the surveying was commenced. The surveyors suffered greatly while at there work from mosquitoes and gnats. The surveyors came frequently to Defiance for a rest.
It was a year and a half after that before we heard another sermon. The second was preached by Rev. Solomon Manear, from Ross County, a young man just licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church (and afterward to the Ohio Conference). He had come out to Fort Defiance with others in charge of two wagons loaded with flour, bacon and dried fruit. My parents invited him to preach in our house; we had just moved into our double cabin.
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