More Pioneers: How Close to Westerville Did They Get?

Recently I posted an entry about wolves in early Westerville. Any more such tales? Relatively few early settlers left reminiscences; many were not literate, and those who were did not have the time to write memoirs. The doughty pioneer chopped trees all day and was too exhausted to keep diaries in their spare time. Even the idea of “spare time” was unknown.

Looking for early recollections can also be frustrating because accounts that “ought” to mention Westerville don’t. Readers might come across the story of a pioneer in northern Franklin County, and think, “Oh boy, this will mention Westerville for sure,” then be disappointed that the closest the account comes is miles away. These “near miss” accounts can still be interesting because they give a look at the neighborhood, the flora and fauna, and the hopes and expectations of the earliest viewers of what we call home - nearly.

Christian Newcomer was a missionary, a traveling minister of the United Brethren Church. Born in 1749, Newcomer did two things well - preaching and traveling. With a home base in Maryland, he preached and ministered all over Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and elsewhere. Career highlights included several meetings with “Father” Philip Otterbein in Baltimore, and the keeping of a daily journal for decades. Rarely did the diary go beyond his daily visits, but they remain a source for pioneer travel in the American northeast.

But he seems never to have made it to Westerville. He visited Columbus several times, in addition to Dayton, Middletown, Lancaster, Canton, and the Dover-New Philadelphia area. On June 13, 1823, Newcomer noted:

This day we travelled [sic] over a level and rich section of land and lodged in Delaware.

On the 14th,

Came to Franklinton and staid [sic] for the night with Grubb.

And on Sunday the 15th.

This forenoon I preached in Columbus, to a large congregation.1

I hoped he would take a very slight detour and ride over to see his co-religionists at Westerville, but did not. “Grubb” was likely Jacob Grubb (1777-1849), a wealthy landowner who paid property tax in Franklin County as early as 1819.2

Even earlier than Reverend Newcomer was John Brickel (1781-1844). As a boy, Brickel settled near Pittsburgh with his family. In 1791, he was taken captive by Native American warriors. After several changes of captor, he was taken to a spot near the Sandusky River, and made to run between tribesmen who hit and clubbed him. The act of “running the gauntlet” made you a native - if you survived. He was taken in by a Delaware family, and lived with them several years.

After the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, Native families were forced to give up captives. John Brickel parted from his adopted family and settled in Kentucky. “In 1797, I came to this place, that is, now Columbus, and have resided here ever since,” he wrote in 1842. Did he never visit Westerville? He did not say specifically, but added:

I learned the Delaware language well. . . . I will give the Delaware names of a few streams. . . Seckle Sepung, or Saltlick Creek, what is now called Alum Creek. Whingwy Mahoni Sepung, or Big Lick Creek, is what we call Big Walnut Creek.3

We do not know how much personal freedom John Brickel had. He may have walked along Big Walnut on a whim, or not. The Delaware tribe was semi-nomadic at the time, staying put for months and easily moving with little advance notice. If they had a word for a local river, they must have been familiar with them. Brickel may, or may not, have seen what is now Westerville, but he knew the stream we can see.

Other examples probably exist of travelers coming close to Westerville, or hearing of it. The early settlers found their way, not with GPS, or maps, but “through a glass darkly;” following trails, streams, and rumors. No wonder explorers could not always pinpoint where they had been.

1 John Hildt, ed., The Life and Journal of the Rev’d. Christian Newcomer (Hagerstown, 1834), p. 288.

2 "Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:748G-ZL2M : Sun Mar 10 16:22:42 UTC 2024), Entry for Jacob Grubb, 1818.)

3 William T. Martin, History of Franklin County (Columbus, 1858), pp. 119-20.