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FORDHAM'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE
1817-1818

PERSONAL NARRATIVE

OF

Travels in Virginia^ Jllaryland^
T^ennsylvaniay Ohioy Indiana^
f^entucky'y and of a Residence in
the Illinois Territory: iSij-iSiS
BY
ELIAS PYM FORDHAM
With facsimiles of the author s sketches and plans
Edited by
FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, A. M.
Author of "The Opening of the Mississippi"

Cleveland
The Arthur H. Clark Company
1906

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

e^v-^ 4^

CONTENTS
Editor's Preface  ii
Editor's Introduction  13
Fordham's Personal Narrative: 1817-1818
Original Preface  .41

The ocean vo3rage — Ascent of the James — A Virginia land
scape — Petersburg — The Virginia fanners — Voyage from
Norfolk to Baltimore — The coasts of the Chesapeake . 43
II
Character of the Virginians — Unhealthful physical condi
tions — Baltimore — Communications between Baltimore
and Pittsburg — The Marylanders — The Pennsylvanians —
The East and West as fields for settlement . 55
III
Vices of the western Pennsylvanians — Slavery, and society
in the slave states — The Climate of the United States 64
IV
Methods of earlier writers on the West — Pittsburg — In
dustries of the vicinity — Flat-boats and keels on the Ohio
— The start down the river — Neville's Island — Logstown
— Beavertown — Wheeling — Fish Creek — A thunder
storm — Marietta — The Muskingham [Muskingum] — Blen-
nerhassett's Island — Galliopagus [Gallipolis] — Portsmouth
— Manchester — Maysville — Augusta — Arrival at Cincin
nati ... 70

Lack of time for writing — The trip across Indiana — Vin
cennes — The Indians of the neighborhood — Princeton —
Prices of land .... . 95
VI
The forests of Indiana — The Indiana Constitution — Char
acter and prices of land — Emigration directed further west
— Commercial importance of the Mississippi — Unhealthy
conditions on the lower Mississippi — The Wabash — De
scription of Princeton — Prospective visit to the Illinois
Territory  . . 100

Ford ham's Personal Narrative

VII
Physical character of southern Illinois — The English Prairie
— Three lines of communication with the Atlantic — Set
tlers in and about the English Prairies — Rates of freightage
— Cost of travel — A tabular view of products — Fauna of
the region — Salt deposits — Cost of building — Advantages
of the backwoods settler — Profits of trade — Land the basis
of wealth — The Mississippi river system — Slaves and
bound persons — Classes of frontier settlers — Character of
the backwoodsman — Democratic manners — Signs of prog
ress — How to take up land — Eastern ignorance of the
West — The climate — Size of the Illinois Territory — Op
portunities for capital in Illinois — No prejudice against
liberal-minded Englishmen ... . m
VIII
A trip down the Patoka — Winter labors" and amusements —
Christmas — Legislation against duelling — A journey to
Cincinnati — Lack of scenery — Difficulties of travel — A
frontier j udge — Fredericksburg — Albany — Louisville —
Shelbyville — Cost of lodgings — Frankfort — The Ken-
tuckians — Arrival at Cincinnati . . 136
IX
A trip across the Wabash in search of land — A night in the
woods — The people of Indiana — The Kentuckians 166
X
The Americanizing of emigrants — Attitude of Westerners
toward Englishmen — Prospective peace with the southern
Indians — Emigration to Missouri — Mr. Birkbeck's estate
— Fordham's farm — Opportunities for men with capital —
Respect for education and manners . 170
XI
The people of Virginia — The Kentuckians — The winning
of Kentucky from the Indians — The work of Daniel Boone
— Sensations experienced in the wilderness — Nature of
Indian warfare — Cassidy's achievements — Manner of life
of a wealthy Kentucky farmer — Society inchoate in the Illi
nois Country — The farming class — The hunters 176
XII
Dimensions of the Ohio — Its scenery — Velocity of the cur
rent — La Salle on the Ohio — Early settlements in the
West — Struggle of frontiersmen and Indians — Population
of the western states — The growth of Cincinnati — Descrip
tion of the city — Manners of the people — The negro popu
lation — Story of the negro Anthony — Character of the
flatboatmen  . . 183

Contents

XIII
A record of temperatures — A hard winter — Life during
the cold weather — The climate and health — Reasons for
lack of longevity among the Westerners — A trip from
Princeton to the English Prairie — The hiring of laborers —
Entering more land — English manners to be preserved in
Mr. Birkbeck's settlement — Possibility of an Indian war —
The Rappites of Harmony — Their manners and character
— Religious services 198
XIV
Rise of land values — The question of admitting slavery —
Lack of free laborers — Wages and expenses of laborers —
Land for every immigrant — Mr. Birkbeck's plan for the
settlement of his English laborers — Difficulties of estab
lishing a settlement — Threatened incursion of Indians —
Kentucky hospitality — Mode of life of the Kentuckians 209
XV
Mr. Birkbeck's book — A journal of ten days — A fourth of
July celebration — The coming struggle over slavery in Illi
nois — Acts of Congress regarding Illinois — A projected
trip up the Red River — Character of the backwoodsman —
High regard for Englishmen — The life of the hunters on
the Wabash — The hunters on the Missouri — Men needed
to develop the wilderness . 217
XVI
Opportunities for English settlers in the West — Sacrifices
and comforts of frontier life — Places of settlement recom
mended for various classes of English emigrants — Expenses
of living — Servitude ... . 226
XVII
The prevalence of intermittent fevers — The climate of Illi
nois — Lung troubles almost unknown 230
XVIII
The town of Albion planned — Continued surveying — The
surrounding prairies — Prairie fires. Instructions for Emi
grants : Capital required — Paying occupations — Clothing
to be brought — Blankets a good investment — Travelling in
the steerage — The journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg
— Down the Ohio to the Illinois Country 233
Selected List of Contemporary Travels . . 239
Index  243

ILLUSTRATIONS
Plan of Pittsburg in i Si 7 , . . . 73
Ohio River Flatboat and Keelboat . . tj
English Prairie . . . . . .113
Sketch Map of Fordham's Estate, English
Prairie (text cut) . . . • .173
Plan of Cincinnati iniSiS . . . . 185

EDITOR'S PREFACE
For information regarding the personal history of
Elias Pym Fordham, author of the narrative here
with published, the Editor is indebted to Dr. Hubert
de Laserre Spence, of Cleveland, Ohio, who has
supplied not only a statement of his own knowledge
of the enterprising young Englishman, but also a
memorandum by his aunt, Sophia Worthington,
and an interesting manuscript embodying the
recollections of Mary Spence, his mother.
The preparation of the notes has been facilitated
to such a degree by recent volumes of Early
Western Travels j 1748- 1846, edited by Dr. Reuben
Gold Thwaites, that special acknowledgment of
obligation ought to be made for use of material
in the early volumes of travel made accessible
in that valuable series. Full titles of the works
chiefly referred to will be found in the list of con
temporary travels at the end of this volume. It is
hoped that the publication of the Fordham manu
script may be of service to students of Western
history in general, and especially to those inter
ested in the processes by which the composite popu
lation of the Mississippi Valley was built up in the
great era of migration. F. A. O.
Harvard University, January, igo6.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
The years immediately following the close of the
second war with Great Britain witnessed a remark
able increase in the population of the Mississippi
Valley, particularly of the old Northwest Territory
and the remoter regions of Missouri a:nd Arkansas.
Aside from the high birth-rate uniformly charac
teristic of American frontier communities, this
increase was due to an unprecedented influx of
settlers from two sources : the seaboard states and
Europe, chiefly Great Britain and Germany.
Prior to about 1815 emigration from the East
to the West had been large in the aggregate, but
very unsteady. The westward movement had been
in the nature of successive waves separated by inter
vals of comparative inactivity. Three important
epochs of migration since the establishment of
national independence can be distinguished : ( i ) the
years of uncertainty and distress between the end of
the Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution ;
(2) the period including the "hard times" of 1800
and culminating in the acquisition of the Louisiana
Territory in 1803; and (3) the era of commercial
depression which began with the embargo of 1807
and continued until relieved by the succeeding war.
During each of these periods of unsettlement, thou
sands of people in the older states abandoned con
ditions which they found disadvantageous, or posi
tively onerous, and yielded to the allurements of

14 Fordham's Personal Narrative
the far-famed West. As time went on, the numbers
increased and the movement tended steadily to
become more constant and less dependent upon
prosperity or the lack of it on the seaboard.
The outbreak of war in 1812, with the accom
panying Indian uprisings in the West, checked the
flow of homeseekers temporarily ; but by the winter
of 1814 the exodus from the East along the high
ways of New York and Pennsylvania and down
the Ohio had come to be on such a scale as to call
forth astonished comment in all sections of the
country. By 18 16 Ohio, which the census of 1810
showed to contain a population of 230,000, was
estimated to be the home of 400,000 whites. In
these six years the population of Indiana increased
from 24,000 to 70,000, enabling this territory in
1 81 6 to become a member of the federal union.
From 406,000 to more than 500,000 was Kentucky's
growth in the same period. And Illinois was
brought from 13,000 or 14,000 almost to the attain
ment of statehood. The frontier — technically de
fined as the line of at least two settlers to the square
mile, though more properly to be regarded as a belt
or zone than as a line — was pushed back rapidly
and given long finger-like protrusions up the larger
water-courses, especially the Wabash, the Kaskas-
kia, the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas,
and the Red.
In the Eastern states, where there was a strong
disposition to lament the draining off of the sturdi
est elements of the population, it was expected that

Introduction 15

the end of the war and the restoration of commer
cial prosperity (together with the rise of new and
profitable industries) would reduce emigration
across the Alleghenies to something like its earlier
volume. But this anticipation was not realized.
With each succeeding year after the Peace of Ghent
the number of emigrants rose to a higher figure,
and as a matter of fact the decade from 181 5 to
1825 became the period during which the central
Mississippi Valley attained its highest per cent of
increase in population in the century. Land-hunger,
dislike of overcrowding, discontent with economic
conditions, love of adventure and novelty — these
were the great forces which impelled men to for
sake New England, New York, and Virginia for
the ruder but roomier prairies and river-valleys of
the West. The final suppression of the Indians, by
William Henry Harrison in the Northwest and
by Jackson in the South, relieved many prospective
emigrants of the fears which had hitherto been an
insuperable obstacle ; and the development of steam
navigation on the western lakes and rivers, which
began with the launching of the "New Orleans"
on the Ohio in 181 1, provided means of travel and
trade distinctively stimulative to migration and set
tlement. The peopling of the West, however, was not left
entirely to be accomplished by the migrations of
native Americans. The same decade which was
marked by so considerable a westward movement
from the seaboard states was likewise notable for

1 6 Fordham's Personal Narrative
the unprecedented immigration of Europeans, part
of whom settled in the East and offset in a measure
the depopulation caused by the westward exodus,
but a very large proportion of whom pressed on
across the mountains in quest of homes in the fertile
and undeveloped interior. Prior to 1820 no records
of immigration were kept by the United States
Government, and hence we have nothing better than
unofficial estimates from which to judge the extent
of the settlement of Europeans in America during
the six important years following the Peace of
Ghent. Since the majority of immigrants in this
part of the century came from Great Britain, the
hostilities of 1811-1814 very naturally caused a
marked cessation in the movement. But about
1817 the tide resumed with greater force than ever,
and in that year the total number of irhmigrants
arriving was estimated at over 20,000. The num
ber the following year was probably about the same.
Congress saw in these figures a necessity for legis
lation to regulate the transportation of immigrants
and to prevent the overcrowding of ships on which
they made the voyage to the United States; and
a law was enacted, March 2, 181 9, containing suit
able provisions in this direction and prescribing
that an official count should begin to be kept the
following year. The first records obtained in con
sequence of this legislation showed how overwhelm
ingly our immigrants from the United Kingdom
outnumbered those from other European countries.
While from September, 181 9, to September, 1820,

Introduction 17

the number of Germans coming to the United
States was but 948, of Frenchmen but 371, and
of Spaniards but 139, that of British and Irish was
6,000. The close of the Napoleonic wars left Great
Britain in a condition, politically and economically,
exceedingly favorable to heavy emigration. The
nation had been engaged in a titanic conflict which
had lasted with little intermission for more than
twenty-two years and which had left the Govern
ment staggering under a war debt of £831,000,000.
During this long period the movement for larger
popular liberty, which had grown to considerable
proportions during the years in which the seeds of
revolution were ripening in France, had been held
in abeyance; much had been lost in this time and
nothing gained by the cause of liberalism. The
Tory ministry, absorbed wholly in the conflict with
the ambitious Corsican, had shown itself quite indif
ferent to domestic well-being and in the hour of
victory its proud and complacent attitude betokened
the period of political reaction through which Eng
land was destined in the next decade to pass.
The establishment of a lasting peace cleared the
way for a revival of domestic problems, and a great
mass of discontented people who had been patriotic
enough to withhold their criticisms while the nation
was in danger, now became more insistent than
ever that numerous and far-reaching reforms in
governmental and industrial conditions be speedily
undertaken.

1 8 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Part of the evils complained of were political.
Owing to excessive property requirements for the
exercise of the franchise and the lack of adjust
ment of representation to the distribution of popu
lation. Parliament was very far from constituting
a true national assembly and its legislation was
felt to be that of a class for a class, regardless of
the interests of the masses of the people. The
multiplying of sinecure offices, created and main
tained at heavy public expense for the benefit of
do-nothing aristocrats, was regarded as another
crying political abuse. Even more critical were
the evils of an economic character. England was
yet in the throes of the Industrial Revolution, and
thousands of men were being crowded out of em
ployment, temporarily at least, by the introduction
of machinery and the establishment of the factory
system. Then the return of peace reduced the for
eign demand for many kinds of manufactured
goods, resulting in a yet further over-supply of
labor. The Corn Law of 1815, enacted for the
express puqiose of keeping up the price of food
stuffs, in the interest of the aristocratic landlord
class, bore intolerably on the poverty-stricken ten
ants, and indeed upon the entire laboring class of
the realm. The condition of the poor, in both city
and country, was worse, relatively if not absolutely,
in 181 5 than it had been thirty years before. Wages
which fell below the cost of bare subsistence coupled
with rising rents and famine prices for bread could
but stir up the spirit of insurrection; for eco-

Introduction 19

nomic distress will frequently provoke men to
action when political disabilities call forth only
harmless complaint.
The result was a period of incessant agitation
for reform — for the liberalizing of the Government
so that laws might be made according to the de
sires of the majority of the people, for the imme
diate repeal of obnoxious class legislation like the
Corn Law, and for the cutting off of aristocratic
sinecures and every other excrescence which made
the burdens of the ordinary people harder to be
borne. Led by William Cobbett, editor of the
Weekly Political Register, Major John Cart
wright, and others, the liberal element (organized
into the Radical Party in 18 19) entered upon a
campaign which soon stirred the whole population
and caused the Government to take stern measures
to prevent the growth of the disaffection. Riots
and popular demonstrations of every character be
came common and on several occasions — notably
the gathering at Spa Fields, London, in 18 16, and
the Manchester Massacre (or "battle of Peterloo")
in 1 81 9 — the assemblies of the people to protest
and organize against the existing state of things
were forcibly broken up.
Success was destined to reward the agitators,
but not until after many years and in many cases
in ways quite different from those they had mapped
out. In the meantime, during the period from about
1815 to 1820, while the movement was yet young
and far from promising, many men became dis-

20 Fordham's Personal Narrative
couraged or impatient and sought the relief in emi
gration which they could see little reason to hope
for if they remained in their old homes. "A nation,"
declared one of these, "with half its population sup
ported by alms, or poor-rates, and one fourth of its
income derived from taxes, many of which are dried
up in their sources, or speedily becoming so, must
teem with emigrants from one end to the other:
and, for such as myself, who have had 'nothing to
do with the laws but to obey them,' it is quite reason
able and just to secure a timely retreat from the
approaching crisis — either of anarchy or despot
ism." About 1817-18 the desire to emigrate spread
over the entire country and affected all classes of
people except the privileged aristocrats. The land
to which men looked for a new home, one which
would be free from the oppressions of an aristo
cratic government and the distress occasioned by its
economic policies, was quite naturally the United
States. In the first place its population was made
up predominantly of English-speaking people,
bound to English people everywhere by numerous
ties of sentiment and interest. In the next place it
had at its disposal a superabundance of the choicest
of land, which it was ready to bestow at inconsider
able cost. Even in the Eastern states land could be
had at reasonable rates, and beyond the Alleghenies,
especially in Indiana, Illinois, and to the westward,
it need only be entered according to legal process
and paid for within four years at the rate of two
dollars an acre. Finally, the rapidly expanding

Introduction 21

manufactures of the United States, created largely
during the war period, called for thousands of
skilled laborers, so that English mechanics 'and
artisans could expect to find profitable employment
without being compelled to resort to the unaccus
tomed occupation of agriculture.
As a consequence of discouraging conditions at
home and liberal advertising of the opportunities
offered in America, emigration became easily the
most discussed subject of the times, aside from
the transcendent question of reform. That the
actual migration in the years after 181 5 was large
is abundantly attested, not only by fragmentary
evidences in contemporary American records, but
also by the files of all the important English news
papers and magazines of the period. On the one
hand, accounts of popular meetings in the interest
of emigration to America are abundant, and on
the other innumerable editorials and articles bewail
the departure of the tillers of the soil, and also
of not a few capitalists, for an alien country. The
press made a united demand upon Parliament to
stop the "ruinous drain of the most useful part of
the population of the United Kingdom," and all
manner of arguments, including many palpable
falsehoods, were brought forth to dissuade men
from migrating. But it was to no avail. People
came from all parts of the kingdom, both country
and city, to the ports to take passage. We are told
that 229 English immigrants landed at New York
in a single week, and that in the week ending Au-

22 Fordham's Personal Narrative
gust 23, 1817, 1500 arrived at the five ports of
New York, New London, Perth Amboy, Philadel
phia, and Boston. Nor were the immigrants all,
or even generally, of the poorest class. English law
forbade vessels to carry more than two passengers
for each ton, and this restriction was in itself suffi
cient to keep passenger rates at a high figure and
to preclude the pauper class from taking passage.
This fact only increased the indignation of the
English press, since the people who migrated were
almost exclusively the fairly well-to-do who could
most ill be spared. In his Sketches of America,
published in London in 1819, Henry Bradshaw
Fear on tells us that by 18 17, when he was deputed
by thirty-nine English families to visit the United
States and ascertain what portions of the country
were best adapted to settlement by Englishmen,
"Emigration had . . . assumed a totally new
character: it was no longer merely the poor, the
idle, the profligate, or the wildly speculative, who
were proposing to quit their native country; but
men also of capital, of industry, of sober habits and
regular pursuits, men of reflection who apprehended
approaching evils ; men of upright and conscientious
minds, to whose happiness civil and religious liberty
were essential; and men of domestic feelings, who
wished to provide for the future support and pros
perity of their offspring."
While the controversy regarding the expediency
of the settlement of Englishmen in America was
rag^g, an enterprise of large moment was under-

Introduction 23

taken by two gentlemen of wealth and influence liv
ing in the vicinity of London — Messrs. Morris
Birkbeck and George Flower. This was the estab
lishment of an agricultural colony in southeastern
Illinois, in the portion of Edwards County which
afterwards came to be known as the English Prai
rie. Morris Birkbeck (1763-1825) was a successful
practical farmer of Quaker origin who very well
represents the type of well-to-do middle class Eng
lishmen in this period who were dissatisfied with
conditions in England and saw little prospect of an
early improvement. Happening, in 1816, to meet
the American diplomat, Edward Coles, who was
returning from a mission to Russia, he first got
from him an authoritative idea of the vast extent
of unoccupied lands in the Illinois country. After
some reflection he determined to sell his estate near
London, migrate to Illinois with his family, and
there prepare the way for the establishment of a
colony of discontented English country laborers.
Doubtless he expected to better his own fortunes,
but his project seems to have been shaped in no
small degree by philanthropic considerations. An
other English farmer of similar station, George
Flower, was attracted by the scheme and decided
to join his old friend in it. In the summer of 1816
Flower came out to America in advance to get a
personal knowledge of the land and its people. He
visited various sections of the country, including
the West, and, returning to Virginia in the autumn,
spent most of the winter with Thomas Jefferson at

24 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Monticello. The following spring Birkbeck, with
his family, landed at City Point, Virginia, and with
Flower proceeded to the Illinois. A tract of 16,000
acres of unbroken prairie was in part purchased
outright and in part designated to be taken up later,
and on this it was planned to locate the prospective
colonists. The purchase lay in Edwards County,
which at that time embraced an immense area, ex
tending almost from the Ohio to Upper Canada and
including a portion of the present state of Wis
consin. The two promoters then began to build
log huts, import furniture, and make other prepara
tions for the influx of settlers. Reports of the most
optimistic character were sent back to England,
with the result that a new stimulus was given to
emigration, though many of the persons thus at
tracted found land that suited them without going
so far west as to the English Prairie.
In the same year in which the settlement was
begun Birkbeck published a book under the title
Notes on a Journey in America from the Coast of
Virginia to the Territory of Illinois, with Proposals
for the Establishment of a Colony of English (Phil
adelphia, 181 7). The next year another book. Let
ters from Illinois (London, 1818), appeared from
the same author. Both attracted widespread atten
tion in England, and the English Prairie settlement
became the center about which was waged the whole
controversy over the expediency of emigration of
English people to America. Birkbeck's writings
represented emigration, particularly if directed to

Introduction 2j

his section of Illinois, as an enviable escape from
political oppression and economic ruin and a sure
road to good fortune and happiness. Some of those,
however, whom he induced to settle in the western
covmtry were keenly disappointed, and, embittered
by ill-luck or the hardships of frontier life, sent
back reports denouncing Birkbeck in no uncertain
terms and asserting that, having been himself de
ceived in the character of the American interior,
he was seeking to recoup himself by selling his
lands to unsuspecting emigrants. The letters of
the malcontents were seized upon and made use of
with avidity by those who were laboring to restrain
emigration, while on the other hand men who were
satisfied with the Western settlement or who had
interests involved in its prosperity, as warmly de
fended Birkbeck's project. The result was a veri
table war of the newspaper writers and pam
phleteers — a war in the first instance between two
groups of English writers attacking and defending,
respectively, the policy of emigration; and in its
later phase between the English who satirized
American conditions and the Americans who re
sented this procedure and declaimed vehemently
against it. While the literary belligerents talked
and wrote, the people continued to migrate. Ad-
lard Welby, a conservative Englishman who made a
tour of inspection in the West in 1819, very fairly
summed up the situation when he said: "These
favorable accounts [the writings of Birkbeck],
aided by a period of real privation and discontent

26 Fordham's Personal Narrative
in Europe, caused emigration to increase ten-fold;
and though various reports of unfavorable nature
soon circulated, and many who had emigrated actu
ally returned to their native land in disgust, yet
still the trading vessels were filled with passengers
of all ages and descriptions, full of hope, looking
forward to the West as to a land of liberty and
delight — a land flowing with milk and honey — a
second land of Canaan."
The ablest attack upon the English Prairie
scheme was made by William Cobbett, the noted
Radical leader and pamphleteer, who, in 1818, pub
lished his Year's Residence in the United States of
America (New York, 1818), by way of a reply to
Mr. Birkbeck's books. Cobbett was not opposed
to emigration from England in itself, but he sav
agely denounced Birkbeck and all others who
sought to induce the emigrant to go beyond the
Alleghenies in search of a home. His writing upon
this subject was done at a farm in Long Island
where he was living in virtual exile, with prosecu
tion for political offenses hanging over him if he
returned to British jurisdiction. It cannot be known
definitely whether, as Birkbeck declared, he was
practically bought up by Eastern capitalists to ad
vocate the settling of immigrants in the seaboard
states rather than on the western prairies, but in
any case this was the policy he urged with uncom
promising fervor. For information as to what
really were the conditions at the English Prairie
Cobbett made use of Thomas Hulme's Journal made

Introduction 27

during a Tour in the Western Countries of Amer
ica: Sept. 50, 18 18 — August 7, 18 ig. Hulme was
an honest English farmer, strongly Radical in prin
ciples and a follower of Cobbett. On the whole his
Journal, however, exhibits a favorable attitude
toward the Birkbeck enterprise, and it was only by
twisting its statements and utterly ignoring their
real import that the vilifying pamphleteer could
adapt them to his ends. Cobbett's attack, which was
renewed in successive editions of his book and in
other writings, brought the English Prairie settle
ment its highest measure of notoriety, though
scarcely to its profit. Birkbeck kept up his side of
the controversy in similar new editions and inci
dental effusions, and was not lacking in out-spoken
supporters. Chief among these was Richard
Flower, father of George Flower, who in 1818
sold his estate in Hertfordshire and joined his rela
tives and former neighbors in Illinois. In 1819 he
published Letters from Lexington and the Illinois,
contfiining a Brief Account of the English Settle
ment in the Latter Territory, and a Refutation of
the Misrepresentations of Mr. Cobbett (London,
1819) ; and somewhat later Letters from the Illi
nois, 1820, 182 1. Containing an Account of the
English Settlement at Albion and its Vicinity, and
a Refutation of Various Misrepresentations, Those
more particularly of Mr. Cobbett (London, 1822).
In 1 82 1 John Woods, a well-to-do, practical, and
observant English farmer who had but lately estab
lished a home in the West, published Two Years'

28 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Residence in the Settlement on the English Prairie,
in the Illinois Country, United States, This, like
Flower's books, was a sane, honest description of
the settlement, which contrasted markedly in these
qualities with the glib criticisms of writers like
Cobbett, and showed that if conditions and pros
pects were not quite so roseate as Birkbeck pictured
them they were at least immeasurably better than
the detractors would have people believe.
Other books of this period, written by English
travelers and settlers and containing noteworthy
descriptions of the English Prairie in particular or
of the Illinois country in general, are : ( i ) Henry
Bradshaw Fearon's Sketches of America, A Nar
rative of a Journey of live thousand miles through
the Eastern and Western States of America; with
Remarks on Mr. Birkbeck's "Notes" and "Letters"
(London, 1819); (2) Adlard Welby' s Visit to
North America and the English Settlements in Illi
nois, with a Winter Residence at Philadelphia (Lon
don, 1821); (3) William Tell Harris's Remarks
made during a Tour through the United States
of America during the years 181/, 1818, and
1819 (London, 1821); (4) James Flint's Letters
from America (Edinburgh, 1822) ; (5) George W.
Ogden's Letters from the West, comprising a Tour
through the Western Country, and a Residence of
two summers in the States of Ohio and Kentucky
(New Bedford, 1823); and (6) William Faux's
Memorable Days in America: being a lournal of
a Tour to the United States, principally undertaken

Introduction 29

to ascertain, by positive evidence, the condition and
probable prospects of British Emigrants; including
accounts of Mr. Birkbeck's settlement in the Illinois
(London, 1823). Of these six writers it may be
added simply that Fearon was an agent sent out
by thirty-nine English families to ascertain what
parts of the United States were best adapted to set
tlement; Welby was a conservative farmer of the
upper middle class, prone to display in his writings
a degree of insularity and prejudice even beyond
that displayed by the average English traveler of
the time; Harris was a fair-minded student of
agrarian questions who came to America "with a
view to estimating the advantages the United States
were represented to afford;" Flint was a Scotch
economist who emigrated primarily to study prices,
wages, land questions, and labor problems, but who
found pleasure in observing and recording his im
pressions of all sorts of things having little connec
tion with economics; Ogden was an agriculturist
and traveler of much the same type as Harris ; and
Faux was another farmer whose object in visiting
the United States was to investigate the advisabil
ity of English migration thither — a writer who,
though of inferior grade, yet in his characteristic
blunt and inelegant manner supplies much valuable
information. One of the party of nine which accompanied Birk
beck to America in the spring of 181 7 was a young
Englishman by the name of Elias Pym Fordham,
author of the letters and journal herewith published.

30 Fordham's Personal Narrative
The family to which Fordham belonged is among
the oldest in Eastern England. The claim is made
that its line of descent can be traced back with ease
as far as the time of King Stephen. For eight cen
turies its ancestral estates in Hertfordshire and
Cambridgeshire have passed from generation to
generation, and they are today in the possession of
a branch of its vigorous descendants. Elias Ford
ham, father of Elias Pym, was born in 1763, and
at the age of twenty-one married Mary Clapton,
one of the last descendants of an honorable old fam
ily which, among other distinctions, had furnished
Elizabeth a lord chancellor. The elder Fordham
is described as a lively, bright, and happy man,
whose admirable character and gracious manner
won for him a multitude of friends. He was edu
cated to be a Trinitarian minister and for some
years had charge of a congregation of that faith;
but, suffering an attack of throat trouble, he decided
after a time to abandon the ministry and to become
a brewer. In the new occupation he was doing well,
until one night while riding near his home his horse
stumbled over a tipsy man who, when aroused, man
aged to mumble that "it was all along of Fordham's
fine ale." The incident troubled the conscientious
brewer and the upshot was that he gave over the
business, retired to Gannock where he had some
property and, renting a tract of land of his brother,
spent the rest of his life as a farmer. During his
later years he occupied much of his time with occa
sional preaching, though diligent study of his Bible

Introduction 31

had led him to reject the Trinitarian and to adopt
the hitherto despised Unitarian creed. In those
days Unitarianism was looked upon by people gen
erally with horror; yet so exemplary and sincere
a man was Fordham that, rank dissenter though he
had become, the bishop of his diocese licensed the
kitchen of the worthy farmer's residence as a place
for public worship.
In 1808 Mrs. Fordham died, leaving two sons,
Elias Pym and Charles, and five daughters, Anne,
Maria, Catherine, Harriet, and Sophia. Elias Pym
became a pupil of George Stephenson and while yet
a young man developed into a capable and promis
ing engineer. Despite his enviable prospects, how
ever, he was seized with the fever for migration to
America which spread over England about 181 6
and instead of settling in the practice of his pro
fession at home began to cast about for a chance to
try his fortunes in the New World. The opportu
nity was speedily forthcoming. George Flower was
an uncle of his by marriage, and when Flower de
cided to take part in Birkbeck's projected settlement
in the Illinois, Fordham, who was then twenty-nine
years of age, resolved to be one of the first members
of the new colony. As has already been related.
Flower came to America in 181 6, in advance of the
rest of the party. Fordham came with Birkbeck
and his family early the next year. The vessel on
which they took passage from Gravesend brought
them to the James River, in Virginia, whence the
Birkbecks continued their journey westward over

32 Fordham's Personal Narrative
the mountains to Pittsburg, traveling in a phaeton
and a light Jersey wagon, and thence went on horse
back across southern Ohio to Cincinnati. Fordham
took charge of the equipment which was being
transported to the new settlement, consisting main
ly of farming implements and household furniture,
and arranged for its transportation by water from
Norfolk to Baltimore, thence overland to Pittsburg
and down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, where the
party was reunited and from whence it proceeded
across southern Indiana to the site of the prospec
tive colony.
One of the ladies who accompanied the expedition
was Fordham's sister Maria, who, being in ill-
health, had been sent to America in the hope that
the change would prove beneficial. In the Wabash
country she soon became acquainted with a French
man, Charles de la Serre, who was descended from
a Huguenot family which had fled from France at
the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
and settled in Guernsey. La Serre had abandoned
his English home for a life of travel and sport in
the American wilderness and, when discovered by
Flower, was spending his time with a band of In
dians in the vicinity of the English Prairie. In a
short time he and Maria Fordham were married;
but the young wife was still an invalid and died a
few years later. A daughter, born in July, 1823,
was the mother of Dr. Hubert de Laserre Spence
of Cleveland, through whose good offices it has been

Introduction 33

made possible to publish the documents contained
in this book.
Elias Pym Fordham made an entry of land in
the English Prairie, and, from the outset found
abundant labors to occupy his time in surveying,
investigating the quality of lands to be purchased,
and assisting in the preparation of buildings, mills,
etc., for the use of prospective settlers. William
Faux, who visited the Prairie in November, 1819,
tells us in his Memorable Days in America that he
met Fordham and that the young emigrant "never
means to return to England, except rich, or to be
rich. If he fails here, he will turn hunter and live
by his rifle on the frontiers." Concerning his actual
fortunes in the new home we know little, but in any
event his residence in America was comparatively
brief. We hear of him while not yet a middle-aged
man once more in England following his favored
occupation of civil engineering. That he enjoyed a
high reputation for skill and integrity is evidenced
by his appointment as Engineer to the Cinque Ports
— a position in those days of no small trust and
responsibility. He is known also to have been em
ployed by Stephenson in various technical under
takings of national importance.
Late in 1818 a member of the family in England
made a transcript of portions of the letters and
journals which Fordham had sent home during the
past eighteen months from Illinois. The collection
(which in recent years has come into the hands of
Dr. Spence) was given the title, Extracts from Let-

34 Fordham's Personal Narrative
ters written on a Journey to the Western parts of
the United States, and during a residence in the
Illinois Territory, By an . English Farmer. Its
authorship has been positively identified and though
it does not appear in all cases to whom the individ
ual letters were addressed this is not a matter of
much importance ; the names of the addressees were
omitted by the transcriber because they were re
garded as of no consequence to the reading public,
and because the persons in question were still living
and did not desire the notoriety of appearing by
name if the letters were printed. As a matter of fact,
though it was evidently in the mind of the trans
criber to publish the manuscript thus prepared, no
further steps, so far as we know, were ever taken
toward this end.
In adding another to the already long list of pub
lished records of western travel in the early part of
the nineteenth century it may not be amiss to call
attention briefly to the character of the new ma
terial and the degree of value it possesses for the
student of western history. The manuscript falls
naturally into three parts: (i) a series of seven
letters, written between May i8 and November 15,
1 81 7, from as many different places in the West and
on the way thither; (2) a journal of daily happen
ings on and about the English Prairie from Decem
ber 7, 181 7, to February 26, 18 18; and (3) another
series of ten letters, written between February 3
and October 30, 181 8, chiefly from Kentucky, Cin
cinnati, English Prairie, and the Indiana settlements

Introduction 35

at Princeton and New Harmony. Following
roughly the chronology of Fordham's experiences
during the first eighteen months of his sojourn in
America, the movements which he recounts and
the topics which he discusses, may be indicated
somewhat as follows: the land and people of Vir
ginia, a voyage up the Chesapeake, a trip on the
Pennsylvania Road from Baltimore to Pittsburg,
the people of western Pennsylvania, the city of
Pittsburg, the descent of the Ohio to Cincinnati by
flat-boat, the land and people of southern Indiana,
establishing the settlement at the English Prairie,
hardships of the first winter, the surveying and
entering of public land, prices, wages, and labor in
the West, the classes of people on the frontiers, a
trip through Kentucky to Cincinnati, the character
of the Kentuckians, the city of Cincinnati, the Rap-
pite settlement at New Harmony, and the prospects
for English emigrants in the American interior.
As is explained in the Preface prepared by the
transcriber of the letters, the author wrote under
all the disadvantages incident to the life of the
frontier settler and explorer. He made no attempt
to relate his experiences or to describe the Western
people and country in a systematic and thorough
going fashion. He probably had not the slightest
idea that the hurried letters which he despatched
to relatives and inquiring friends and the fragmen
tary journals which he kept for their amusement
and instruction would ever be put in print — at least
without having undergone considerable revision.

36 Fordham's Personal Narrative
What we have in his writings is not a formal com
pendium of information, like Fearon's Sketches or
Melish's Travels of an earlier date, but simply a
personal narrative of life as an English immigrant
found it, and learned to share it, in a favored region
of the growing West. The claim of the manuscript
to the dignity of source material for the study of
Western history arises from its author's superior
intelligence and training, his candor and utter art-
lessness, and his rather unusual opportunities for
observation. The scientific trend of mind which his
professional study had developed saved him from
numerous errors of other writers and led him to a
wholesome comprehension of the difficulty of de
scribing a frontier people with entire fairness and
accuracy. "I find it no easy task," he acknowledges
frankly, "to write descriptions of manners and opin
ions. If individual pictures only be drawn, the in
ferences must be in part erroneous ; and sketches of
a more comprehensive nature are either loose and
incorrect, or tame and unreadable." In the main,
Fordham wrote cautiously and conservatively, con
fining himself pretty closely to what he had himself
seen and giving the reader due notice when speak
ing merely from hearsay. His only object was to
keep his relatives and friends informed concerning
his novel experiences and to give them such facts
as he felt to be of interest regarding the country
and its people. He had no ambition to be known
in London as the author of the latest book on
America.

Introduction 37

As much cannot be affirmed of most English
visitors to the United States in this period, whose
writings we possess. For, as Dr. Thwaites has well
said, "Every English traveler hither, whether his
journey was that of a serious investigator or merely
of a tourist eager to behold strange lands and new
conditions, felt impelled to give his personal im
pressions in volumes of varying merit, evincing
every shade of admiration and dislike." Many of
these books were mere collections of letters or
diaries ; only a very small number were in the nature
of systematic treatises. This was inevitable; but
the unfortunate thing, from the standpoint of the
historical student at least, is that most of these pub
lications were composed with a definite purpose
either to promote or to discourage emigration. In
the one case, America was pictured in the most
extravagant manner as a land possessing every de
sirable physical resource and condition, inhabited by
a people of rare enlightenment, and offering to
every newcomer all the delights of material pros
perity, free institutions, and opportunity for un
limited advancement; in the other, the country was
represented to be an unhealthy wilderness, defying
the substantial advance of civilization, and the peo
ple to be the off-scourings of Europe, now retro
graded almost to the level of savages.
Fordham represents the type of English emi
grant, all too rare, who appreciated to the full the
manifold inconveniences and deprivations of life in
a new country but yet had the faith to believe that

38 Fordham's Personal Narrative
the difficulties were only temporary and that inces
sant industry was all that was needed to transform
the crude backwoods settlements into flourishing
and enlightened commonwealths. Like other trav
elers, he saw many things — slavery, intemperance,
ignorance, lack of manners — of which he could not
but heartily disapprove, but he did not allow these
to blind him to the fundamental facts of American
opportunity and achievement. Without in any sense
posing as a seer, he was able to forecast with re
markable success the main lines along which the de
velopment of the country took place during the two
formative decades after he wrote. A sane optimism,
a clear insight, an honest purpose — these were the
young engineer's best qualifications as a portrayer
of conditions and a chronicler of events in the Mid
dle West of his day. F. A. O.

FORDHAM'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE
1817-1818

ORIGINAL PREFACE
The following pages contain extracts from letters
written by a young man to his friends in England.
They were composed under every disadvantage:
sometimes when the writer was surrounded by the
noisy inhabitants of a smoky cabin, in his blanket
tent, or in the bar room or no less public dormitory
of a tavern. As he wrote to intimate and dear
friends, and without any thought of their being
presented to the world, the writer requests it may be
remembered that what was meant for the eye of
friendship alone is not a fair subject of criticism.
The author is now engaged in exploring the State
of Illinois, and, probably will have further and bet
ter opportunities of describing this interesting coun
try. Whether he will appear again before the pub
lic will be determined by the degree of favor now
shown to him.
Nov. 2, 1818.

FORDHAM'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE

The ocean voyage — Ascent of the James — A Virginia landscape —
Petersburg — The Virginia farmers — Voyage from Norfolk to
Baltimore — The coasts of the Chesapeake.
On board the Schooner George Whythe
Chesapeak Bay May i8th i8i'j.
Our voyage was remarkably quick and, to those
who were in health, agreeable.^ We were only 30
days from Land to Land and 32 from the Downs
to Cape Henry, the entrance to the Chesapeak. In
the Gulf Stream we had stormy weather, but I
think it rather added to the spirits of the party, than
otherwise, for it afforded continual subject for con
versation and admiration. I suppose you know that
the Gulf Stream is a current of water which flows
from the Gulf of Mexico round the point of Florida,
up the coast of the United States; then spreading
and turning gradually to the westward; less per
ceptibly as it leaves the coast, deposits the mud of
the West Indies on the banks of Newfoundland,
then passes Eastward; and ultimately, flowing
Southward down the coast of Africa, is again car
ried by the trade winds into the Gulf of Mexico.
'The "America" (Captain Heth), on which Fordham took pas
sage, sailed from Gravesend, March 30, 1817, bound for Richmond,
Virginia. For a fuller account of the voyage than that here given
see Morris Birkbeck, Notes (London, 1817), pp. 5-11. Some other
interesting journals of voyages of Englishmen across the Atlantic
in this period are: John Woods, Two 'Years' Residence (Early
Western Travels, x, pp. 179-184) ; Adlard Welby, Visit to North
America (Early Western Travels, xii, pp. 151-163) ; and Will
iam Faux, Memorable Days (Early Western Travels, xi, pp.
33-S3).

44 Fordham's Personal Narrative
It becomes so feeble and indistinct after it reaches
the Azores that it loses its name. But westward
of the Banks it runs at one or two miles per hour
or even faster. Bad weather is always expected
within its current which varies from 200 to 60 miles
in width. If fear was felt at any time, no person
in the cabin expressed it, and I believe none felt it.
Indeed, a gale of wind comes on so gradually that
it is not nearly so formidable as one would suppose
it would be to a landsman. The wind rises — stud
ding sails are taken in — the waves roughen — top
gallant sails are struck, and top-sails are reefed —
the sky looks dark and darker yet — the waves climb
the ship's sides and the spray rattles against the
cabin windows — the dead lights or shutters are put
in — the Captain and the officers are looking out to
windward — a squall is seen in the distance, upturn
ing the billows and covering their crests with foam ;
— "Brail up the Mizen quick; bear up the helm a
weather;" — it comes — we are prepared; — the ves
sel stoops before it, snorts through the waves, rises
again and bounds onward like a stag. One day
while we were at dinner M". B. observed that the
ship snorted more than usual, when the first mate
came in and said "Captain, a heavy squall is com
ing." The Captain left his knife and fork sticking
in the ham he was carving, and went out to give the
necessary orders. The ladies at the cabin door, the
gentlemen wrapped in boat cloaks and holding by
the shrouds, awaited its coming. It did come — the
waves dashed over us — the leeward ports sunk deep

The Voyage 45

into the water; "Man the yards" — but, before a
man had reached a shroud, in one instant, the fore
sail was split, rent from its yard, and carried in
tatters over the ship's side. After this we lay un
der stormstay sails for 24 hours, but the heavy swell
that followed the gale sprung the bowsprit and
foretopmast. We all liked our Captain exceedingly ; next to the
safety of the ship and the interest of the owners, the
comforts of his passengers was the object of his
attention. M''. B. drew up a letter of thanks for his
kindness to us, which we all signed, and presented
to him the day before we left the ship; he was so
affected by it that he could not restrain his tears.
We cast anchor in Hampton Roads on Saturday
night,^ and the next morning proceeded up James
River with a fair wind and a clear sky. The banks
of this noble stream are beautiful, but not very
healthy. Land is worth from 10 to 16 $ per acre.
After running up 90 miles in about 10 hours, we ar
rived at a mud-bank, called Harrison's Bar. A
consultation took place between the Captain and
Pilot about crossing it; at high tide it was filled
with about 12 feet of water; our ship drew about
15. After searching for the softest places, the ship
was steered into it with all sails set; but the wind
at that moment died away and of course we all got
stuck fast.'

^May 2, 1817.
""May 6. Harrison's Bar.— This is a shoal of mud, which greatly
impedes the navigation, and in which we must be contented to lie
until the next tide, and we may easily content ourselves, as it is

46 Fordham's Personal Narrative
The next morning the Jolly boat was sent ashore
with part of the passengers, and the pinnace, deco
rated and manned with eight of the smartest sailors,
took M'. B., the ladies, and the Captain to M'.
H  's, who is an acquaintance of the Captain's.
M'. H. was not at home, but W\ H. received the
party with politeness. There was a great deal of
company there and everything in and about the
house was most elegant. After staying some time,
sweetmeats were handed round by a train of black
servants and the party received pressing invitations
to return the next day.
I landed with the boys and young men on the
opposite shore, on a most beautiful and picturesque
bank which was covered with acacias in full blos
som, almond trees covered with flowers of snowy
whiteness, cedars, weeping willows, mountain ashes,
laurestinas,^ wild grape-vines, and almost every
Shrub that is to be seen in the Green house or Pleas
ure grounds of an English gentleman. After pene
trating this thicket, which edged the winding bank
for many a mile, we found ourselves among fields
of wheat and Indian corn, just springing out of the
ground. The landscape was composed of dark for
ests crowning every hill, the sides partially cleared
a bend of the river, which is surrounded by all that is beautiful in
woodland scenery, in the gayest dress of spring. We are fixed
about the middle of the stream, which is four miles wide. Several
rich plantations and substantial dwellings are in view." — Morris
Birkbeck, Notes, p. 14. In more recent times Harrison's Bar has been
known as Harrison's Landing. It is about twenty miles up the
James from the mouth of the Chickahominy.
iThe laurestina (Viburnum tinus) is an evergreen shrub which
blooms during the winter months. It is a native of southern Europe.

The Voyage 47

and cultivated, and narrow vallies or rather ravines,
clothed with shrubs which were beautiful beyond
description scented the air with delightful perfumes,
conducted streams of fresh water which were
oftener heard than seen in the dark recesses of the
thickets. Here, while a fervid sun rendered walk
ing in the open fields painful, we enjoyed the most
refreshing coolness, and birds of most beautiful
plumage or of sweetest notes seemed to invite us
to stay. The Mocking-bird which is here, as the
Robin is in England, esteemed sacred, would
scarcely avoid us, and partridges, turtle-doves, and
hares started up at every step.
These delightful regions are cultivated by lazy
Slaves, who are fat and comfortable enough in their
general appearance, but who are never trusted out
of the sight of the Overseers; nor are they, I am
told, trustworthy.
After two days of excessive exertion, our ship
was dragged through 300 yards of mud, into which
she had sunk 3 feet. A few hours carried us to
City point,^ a poor village, situated on a beautiful,
but unhealthy, spot. From City point the gentle
men went in gigs to Petersburg, about 12 miles
off, to get Cleared of the Custom house. These

'City Point is located at the mouth of the Appomattox, about
thirty miles below Richmond and ten northeast of Petersburg. It
has never grown to be a place of importance.
2 Petersburg is situated on the Appomattox River, about twenty-
two miles south of Richmond. Its site, as well as that of Rich
mond, was selected by Colonel William Byrd, one of the most emi
nent Virginians of the early eighteenth century. The town was
incorporated by the legislature of Virginia in 1748. During the
closing campaigns of the Revolution, Petersburg was brought into

48 Fordham's Personal Narrative
gigs were not quite equal to English ones. Having
been for some time an invalid, I was afraid of being
jolted, and tried to get a saddle-horse ; but that was
not to be obtained. The saddle hurt the horse — or,
I should hurt the horse — or, ride too fast ; — at last
a light sulky was found for me, which, when the
horse trotted, shook my poor bones unmercifully.
Our road was through forests of pine, live oak,
acacias, and many ornamental trees. Spaces of
cleared land occurred at intervals, with shabby farm
houses, and now and then fields worn out, and aban
doned to the growth of young pines and weeds. The
land is not very good here, but the scenery beauti
ful. Petersburg, a port and market town, was half
destroyed by fire two years ago. The old part con
sists of wooden houses, surrounded by balconies and
supported by posts. The Shops are like wooden
booths. The new part, which already contains 300
handsome brick houses, would shame most of the
country towns of England. After finishing our
business, we went to dine at a tavern with about 60
prominence by being captured by the British from Baron Steuben
in 1781, and by serving as an important stopping-point of Cornwal
lis in the movement which culminated at Yorktown. When the Birk-
beck-Fordham party visited the place in 1817 to attest to the con
tents of their baggage they found it the most flourishing in that
section of the state. " Petersburg," writes Birkbeck (Notes, pp.
i,';-i6), "is growing into a place of importance, being the emporium
of export and import to a large district. Tobacco is the staple prod
uce; and every article of British or German manufacture, the re
turn. It is not quite two years since half the town was destroyed
by a fire, occasioned by some negroes playing at cards in a stable,
and it is already nearly rebuilt in the most substantial manner.
Two hundred capital brick houses were built last year. This vigor
ous revival under a calamity so general is a strong proof of general
prosperity."

The Voyage 49

farmers, who had just arrived from the race-
ground. A violent rain detained the whole party all
night, which gave us an opportunity of gaining
some information from the most intelligent and
communicative guests of the tavern. When I speak
of a Virginian farmer, at least, such as I have
hitherto seen, you must not imagine him to be a
plainly dressed, clownish man: nothing is more
unlike; he is usually a tall, pale, genteel looking
man; his language is correct and good with no vul
garisms in pronunciation. He has a free, inde
pendent, look. His easy manners and loose long
dress remind you of a Frenchman, only that the
latter has most frequently something of a mihtary
appearance, which the Virginian has not. Their
manners are too familiar, though not coarse. They
used to be great duellists ; but since the laws against
dueUing are enforced with rigour, the young men,
I am told, carry dirks and decide their quarrels upon
the spot. This, I am assured, is a common practice.
One young man was cut in the hand by a dirk at the
tavern we slept at, soon after we went to bed.^
W. B., having decided to go to the Ohio State as
soon as he could, enquiries were made as to the
most eligible mode of travelling. Indian corn being

'Birkbeck (Notes, p. i6), recounting the impressions gained dur
ing this enforced sojourn at the Petersburg tavern, writes: "A
Virginian planter is a republican in politics, and exhibits the high-
spirited independence of that character. But he is a slave-master,
irascible, and too often lax in morals. A dirk is said to be a com
mon appendage to the dress of a planter in this part of Virginia.
I never saw in England an assemblage of countrymen who would
average so well as to dress and manners : none of them reached
anything like style; and very few descended to the shabby."
4

50 Fordham's Personal Narrative
two $ per bushel at Richmond, and as in the Moun
tains it cannot be procured for any number of
horses, I agreed to go down the River to Norfolk^
in the first vessel that would take the heavy luggage.
M"". B. and the rest of the party went to Richmond
last Friday week in the Steam boat;^ — then with the
Phaeton and a light Jersey waggon they will pro
ceed across the mountains westward. ^ On Satur-

iThe next day (May 3) after the "America" anchored at Hamp
ton Roads, Captain Heth went in the pilot-boat to Norfolk, four
teen miles distant, to make entry of the ship at the Custom House.
He was accompanied by Birkbeck, who recorded in his Notes (p. 12)
that the town had not fewer than ten thousand inhabitants and that
"the streets are in right lines, sufficiently spacious, with wide paved
causeways before the houses, which are good-looking and cleanly."
2 This was May 9. In Birkbeck's Notes (pp. 19-20) there is an
interesting description of the Virginia capital, in part as follows :
" Richmond contains 13,000 inhabitants, nearly half of which are
negroes. The hill, on which stands the Capitol, a building of com
manding aspect, is inhabited by the more opulent merchants, and
professional men, who have their offices in the lower town. Their
houses are handsome, and elegantly furnished, and their establish
ments and style of living display much of the refinement of polished
society. The town is generally well built, and increasing rapidly,
whilst but little provision seems to be made in the country round
for the accommodation of its inhabitants. The market is badly
supplied; the common necessaries of life are excessively dear,
and, excepting the article of bread, of bad quality. . It is
worse supplied and at a dearer rate than any other place of equal
size in the United States, or perhaps in the world. The town is
forced up by the stimulus of commerce, whilst the surrounding
country is groaning under the torpid influence of slavery: the
cultivators are said to be jealous of its rising prosperity, instead of
availing themselves, as they might, of the advantages it would af
ford as a market for their produce. . . The enterprizing peo
ple are mostly strangers : Scotch, Irish, and especially New Eng
land men, or Yankees, as they are called, who fill every house as
soon as it is finished."
8 Birkbeck and his nine companions left Richmond May 17, "in
two hacks, which are light coaches with two horses, and a Jersey
waggon and one horse for the baggage." (Notes, p. 26.) Their
route to the West was as follows : from Richmond by way of Fred
ericksburg to the Potomac River; thence to Washington by steam
boat; thence by way of Fredericktown, Maryland, to McConnells-
town [present McConnellsburg] Pennsylvania; thence along the

The Voyage 51

day I hailed a Schooner, bound to Norfolk, and
agreed with the master, a free Negro, to take me
for 30$. His miserable cabin contained Sailors,
negroes, and a half-bre[e]d Indian woman and her
child. At Norfolk I arrived on Monday morning. That
day and the next I was employed in looking out and
bargaining for a vessel to take me to Baltimore.
I got an introduction to an English merchant resid
ing at Norfolk, who gave me much assistance. I
engaged a small bark to take the goods and myself
for 44$, and sailed on Tuesday evening. On board
this bark I am at this moment. It is a tight little
Schooner, commanded by a respectable young man,
only 22 years old, but he is married and has a fam
ily. His crew consists of two boys and one man
younger than myself. Young as we all are I can
assure you we are very careful : in fact, M'. Dennis
is rather too much so for my patience ; for I want to
get round to Cincinnati in time to join M''. B. who
wishes me to go with him in his exploring journey.
I have now been six days out from Norfolk and
am yet 200 miles from Baltimore. The Schooner
though nearly full of our luggage, is yet so lightly
loaded, that she does not stand well against head
winds when they blow hard. We have run into har-
Pennsylvania State Road to Pittsburg; thence on horseback through
Ohio to Cincinnati, by way of Canonsburg and Washington (Penn
sylvania) Wheeling (Virginia), and St. Clairsville, Zanesville,
Somerset, Rushville, Lancaster, Chillicothe, Piketown, Greenfield,
Leesburg, and Lebanon (Ohio) ; from Cincinnati to the English
Prairie, in Edwards County, Illinois, by way of Madison, Lexing
ton, Vincennes, Princeton, Harmony, and Mt. Vernon (Indiana),
and Shawneetown, Illinois.

52 Fordham's Personal Narrative
hour three times since we left Norfolk. The coasts
of the Chesapeak thus far are low. The farm
houses, which I have yet seen, are mean : the people
live in a plain way. Even in Norfolk, though there
is some splendor, there is little Comfort — English
Comfort I mean. An air of lazy luxury pervades
everything. From Baltimore I shall proceed over land to Pitts
burg. I must hire waggons for the luggage, and,
if I am well enough, I shall walk with them. But,
if I feel too weak for that, I shall go by the stages
to Pittsburg, and thence down the Ohio to Cincin
nati. My tour will be eleven or twelve hundred miles.^
' The routes to the West from Baltimore and Philadelphia, as well
as the difficulties of the journey thither, were very well understood
in England by reason of the numerous letters and pamphlets pub
lished by English travellers and settlers who had been over the
ground. In 1817, for example, appeared John Bradbury's Travels
in the Interior of America in the Years i8og, 1810, and j8ii, in
which the course to be pursued by the newly arrived emigrant was
outlined as follows : " It shall be supposed that the design of the
emigrant is to proceed to the countries east of the AUeghanies,
therefore he ought not to stay more than two or three days in the
city, which he can leave when he pleases, as, great numbers of wag
gons start from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, or from Baltimore to
Pittsburg or Wheeling, every day. The charge is by the hundred
weight, both for passengers and their luggage, and the rate varies
from five to seven dollars per hundred ; but the men may go cheaper
if they chuse to walk over the mountains, which is recommended.
The waggoners travel with great economy : many of them carry
a small camp-kettle with them to cook their provisions, and some
have even a bed in their waggons, in which they sleep at night. A
traveller who chooses to adopt a similar mode, may travel very
cheap ; or, as there are plenty of inns on the roads, he can be accom
modated every night with beds, at a very reasonable rate. When
the emigrant arrives at Pittsburg or Wheeling, he will find that
numbers of Europeans and Americans are arriving there every day,
and the same causes that operated against them in the maritime
cities, as respects employment, will, in some degree, have an effect
here ; but as he will have occasion for information, it would be ad
visable for him to stop a few days to make enquiries. If we find

The Voyage 53

P. S. There is expected to be a great scarcity
of wheat. Flour at Norfolk is worth 14^$ per bar
rel. Indian Corn, which is the food for the horses
and blacks, and much eaten by poor people, is 2$
per bushel. Corn bread, when new, is very pal
atable, and, I believe, wholesome. I have eaten
scarcely any other.
When you consider I have been much engaged,
and that I am not quite in health, you will excuse
the negligent, loose, way, in which I have written
this letter. I have been afflicted with headaches ever
since the Seasickness left me, but I hope I shall re
gain my strength, as I live very temperately. The
evening air is dangerous to new comers ; for after a
hot day, the dew falls like rain. I have a fire lighted
in our little Cabin every evening. Wood costs noth
ing but the fetching. I have just been busying
myself in chopping up a fine deal board, which the
it necessary to descend the Ohio, the best mode of proceeding will
be to enquire for one or more families, who have intentions of go
ing to the same neighbourhood as himself, who may join him in
the purchase of an ark, one of the kind of vessels in which fam
ilies descend. These arks are built for sale, for the accommoda
tion of families descending the river, and for the conveyance of
produce. They are flat-bottomed, and square at the ends, and are
all made of the same dimensions, being fifty feet in length, and
fourteen in breadth; which last is limited, because it often happens
that they must pass over the falls at Louisville, when the river is
at a low state, at which time they pass betwixt two rocks in the
Indian schute, only fifteen feet asunder. These arks are covered,
and are managed by a steering oar, which can be lifted out of the
water. The usual price is seventy-five dollars for each, which will
accommodate three or four families, as they carry from twenty-
five to thirty tons : and it frequently happens that the ark can be
sold for nearly what it cost, six or eight hundred miles lower down
the river." Early Western Travels, v, pp. 300-302. For other de
scriptions of Ohio River craft see p. 79, note.

54 Fordham's Personal Narrative
boys found on the shore. It went against my con
science to burn such a piece of wood, which had
scarcely a knot in it and would have made four or
five steps for a handsome Staircase.

II
Character of the Virginians — Unhealthful physical conditions —
Baltimore — Communications between Baltimore and Pittsburg
— The Marylanders — The Pennsylvanians — The East and
West as fields for settlement.
Bedford,^ in Bedford County
Pennsylvania, June /th, i8i/,
I THINK I gave you an account of my voyage up
the Chesapeak. That little trip made me more of a
Sailor than my passage across the Atlantic; and
I felt much more anxiety, as I had the charge of
goods worth at least a thousand pounds, which could
not be replaced. The whole crew of the little
Schooner were one night so fatigued that they fell
' The site of Bedford near the headwaters of the Juniata, was
first occupied in 1751, though the place was known for some time
as Raystown, from the name of its earliest settler. During his
campaign against Fort Duquesne in 1758, General Forbes selected
it as a location for a new fort, known as Fort Bedford, which in
the Indian wars that followed became a stronghold second in im
portance only to Fort Pitt in the contested territory of western
Pennsylvania. The town of Bedford was incorporated by the Penn
sylvania legislature in 1766. By the end of the century it had come
to be important as the chief halting place for travellers and emi
grants going westward over the wagon roads from either Philadel
phia or Baltimore to Pittsburg. Practically every foreigner who
visited the West and left a record of his experiences and observa
tions had something to say about the inevitable sojourn at Bedford.
Among such accounts of the place may be mentioned Frangois
Andre Michaux, Travels (Early Western Travels, iii, p. 145) ;
Fortescue Cuming, Sketches (Early Western Travels, iv, pp. 63-
65) ; John Melish, Travels, ii, pp. 36-37 ; and Thomas Nuttall, lour
nal (Early Western Travels, xiii, pp. 39-41). Cuming, in 1807,
speaks in high terms of both the appearance of the town and the
manners of its people. He says it then contained about eighty
houses, with a school and a church. Melish, in 181 1, says the
town was thriving and that it had 547 inhabitants. Visitors to the
town were generally struck with the beauty and healthfulness of
its location. On the development of this portion of Pennsylvania
Jones, History of the Juniata Valley (Philadelphia, 1856) may be
consulted to advantage.

56 Fordham's Personal Narrative
asleep repeatedly while the vessel's head was plung
ing under every wave. I steered her four hours my
self. Of the Virginians I can say but little of my own
observations, but I hear from all quarters that they
are urbane, hospitable and generous. They have
very little commercial enterprise ; they live much on
their own Plantations, which they cultivate with
little spirit. Almost all of them deplore the exist
ence of Slavery; though they think it must be con
tinued, now it is introduced. They were fond of
gaming and they were till lately great duellists, but
both practices are partially put a stop to by Laws
lately enacted. It seems there is something in the
influence of the fervid sun, under which they live,
or probably in their education; for now duelling is
prevented, they do not quarrel the less frequently;
but they (that is the young men) draw the dirks,
which they usually wear, and stab one another upon
very slight provocations.
It is said they are peculiarly addicted to Swear
ing : I do not think they are more so than the Mary
landers and Pennsylvanians ; but all Swear a great
deal. They are a tall, elegantly shaped race of men.
The gentlemen are fairer than Englishmen, their
faces being always shaded by hats with extraordi
narily broad brims. The poorer people and over
seers are very swarthy: on the hills of the west
ward, very healthy, but on the low shores of the
Chesapeak very much otherwise.

Baltimore to Pittsburg 57
I landed very often ; and, sometimes rambled for
miles through the Pine woods with my gun. At
every opening where I saw a house I used to make
up to it, and always received an invitation to enter,
and sometimes to share a meal.
The Ague and Fever are very common here. I
gave away in these visits all my bark and laudanum.
They would send a negro five miles through the
woods, and as far with a canoe on the water, for
one or two doses. In return they always sent milk
or anything I wanted. The medical men in these
districts have not much reputation. I have ^no
doubt that, with an Edinburgh Dispensary, I could
gain a good income in any of these unhealthy dis
tricts, if my conscience would allow me. The East
ern shores of the Chesapeak are lower, if possible,
than the western, and more intersected with
marshes, which emit a most offensive effluvia. Such
is the quantity of decaying vegetable and animal
substances on these Shores that the stench arises
through the salt-water when touched by the keel
of a boat. There are some rich meadows here,
which cattle can scarcely keep down, however nu
merous they may be.
From Annapolis,^ a beautiful little town seen

'The name Annapolis was given, in 1691, to the Protestant strong
hold in Maryland which had formerly been known as Providence.
This was at the time when Maryland became a royal province and
the capital was taken away from the Catholic centre St. Mary's.
The town was located on the Severn River, about two miles from
its entrance to Chesapeake Bay. It grew very slowly and was a
place of little consequence well down into the nineteenth century.
There is a description of it as it was in 1807 in Melish, Travels, i,
pp. 189-190.

58 Fordham's Personal Narrative
from the water, to the Petapsco^ the country is hilly
and fine; thence to Baltimore is hilly, but bare of
trees. Baltimore,^ except that it has not such Palaces
as Paris can boast of, nor Churches like St. Paul's
in London, nor is quite so picturesque as Rouen
nor so grand in itself or in situation, is the most
beautiful town I have ever seen. It has no bad
streets; but all the liveliness, with scarcely any of
the dirt, of a seaport. It contains 60,000 inhabi
tants. I lodged at the Fountain Inn, where at the
time M'. Munro, the president, has taken up his
abode. Do you ask me how I like this Country? Upon
the whole very much. But there are many things
to disgust an Englishman. There is too much Lux
ury; too much slavery in Virginia and Maryland.
But, on the other hand, the country is beautiful,
most of the people are well informed; some men
among the higher orders are very gentlemanly, ele
gant in their manners and cultivated in their under
standings. I had several letters of introduction; and the gen
tlemen with whom I became acquainted gave me
'The Petapsco is a small stream flowing into Chesapeake Bay
about twenty miles north of Annapolis and a short distance south
of Baltimore.
2 For a description of Baltimore in 1806-07 see Melish, Trcevels,
i, pp. 184-185; in 1817, Fearon, Sketches, pp. 342-345; and in 1820,
Woods, Two Years' Residence (Early Western Travels, x, pp.
187-196). Fearon's account is particularly interesting. He gives 60,-
000 as an estimate of the population of the city.

Baltimore to Pittsburg 59
much good advice respecting my journey and
treated me with great kindness.
M^ A. joined me at Baltimore.
The distance from this place to Pittsburg is 240
miles, across four ridges of mountains. The mail is
six days going this distance — the waggons sixteen.
They travel at 12, 15 or 20 miles per day. They
avoid, as much as possible, the turnpike roads, &
scramble over hills and mountains, where English
waggons would be dashed to pieces ; but these light
carriages, built in a masterly way, & of the best
materials, seem to be indestructible. The waggoners
requested that we keep with them on the mountains ;
for the combined strength of several men is neces
sary to keep the waggons from upsetting in descend
ing the cliffs. The horses would in England be ad
mirably adapted for the gig or coach.^
Maryland, which I have now traversed from Bal
timore to its Eastern extremity, is very hilly; and
westward, very mountainous. Even the plains be
tween the ranges would be reckoned hilly in Eng
land. They are in general very rich ; and, where this

'In the earlier part of the great era of westward migration the
most important thoroughfare from the New England and Middle
states to the Ohio Valley was the Pennsylvania Road, or "Pitts
burg Pike," built in 1785-87 by act of the Pennsylvania legislature.
It extended 197 miles from Carlisle to Pittsburg, along very nearly
the same route as the present highway between the two places.
Even after the construction of the Cumberland Road, in 1806-1818,
from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia (and subse
quently as far westward as Vandalia, Illinois), the majority of trad
ers and travellers from Baltimore and Washington, as well as from
more northern points, made use of this route, coming into it gen
erally from the south at McConnellstown (present McConnells
burg), 130 miles from Pittsburg. Travellers during the period fol
lowing the War of 1812 were invariably astonished not only at the

6o Fordham's Personal Narrative
is the case, the people are so too. A great many
Quakers among the Marylanders are Slave-holders.
They are not like the Virginians; being a mixture
of Dutch, German, Irish ; boorish when poor, rather
reserved when rich; very inquisitive, but soon re
pulsed. I have been but 15 or 1 6 days among them,
so you must take my observations as giving only a
hasty sketch.
As soon as I entered Pennsylvania, I remarked a
different people. Here are no slaves; white people
are seen working in the fields and roads. They are
cleaner than the Dutch, but the latter are not always
boorish. If Maryland be the land of hills, Pennsyl
vania is the land of mountains. We have struggled
over four distinct ridges — the North Mountains —
the South Mountains — the Cove Mountains & the
Sidelong Hills. The two last are infested with ban
ditti, after whom about 40 young men went with
their rifles about a week since. These men have
not yet attacked travellers, but they plunder farmers

difficulties with which the waggoners had to contend on their trips
along this wilderness highway, but also at the amount of traffic
actually carried on under such disadvantages. Writing at Bed
ford in October, 1818, Thomas Nuttall says, in his Journal: "To
judge of the inland commerce carried on betwixt Philadelphia and
Pittsburg, a stranger has but to view this road at the present sea
son. All day I have been brushing past waggons heavily loaded
with merchandise, each drawn by five and six horses; the whole
road in fact appears like the cavalcade of a continued fair" (Early
Western Travels, xiii, p. 41). Birkbeck (Notes, p. 36), writing in
May, 1817, says that the money paid annually for the conveyance of
goods on the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg exceeded £300,000
sterling. For contemporary descriptions of the traffic westward over
the Pennsylvania highways see Cuming, Sketches (Early Western
Travels, iv, pp. 25-76); Melish, Travels, ii, pp. 24-54; Fearon,
Sketches, pp. 183-189; and Woods, Two Years' Residence (Early
Western Travels, x, pp. 197-216).

Baltimore to Pittsburg 6i
of their clothes and cattle. They have women with
them, and live in wigwams among the rocks.
My health having suffered from a severe cold,
which I could not attend to while I was travelling
with the waggons and as I could hear nothing of the
three hindermost, I stopped here yesterday at noon.
M*". A. went on with the first; to-day the last came
up. I shall proceed to-morrow by the Stage to the
foot of the Allegany mountains; and if I hear that
the roads over them are bad, I shall again march
with the foremost waggon which contains the Piano.
We have already saved it from being dashed to
pieces twice : it is a high load, as the case would not
lie at the bottom of the waggon. If I hear a good
account of the road I shall go on in the Stage to
Pittsburg, which I shall then reach in three days.
At Pittsburg I hope to meet the ladies : M''. B. and
 I suppose are gone to explore the South
Western country.
I have visited to-day the mineral springs; about
a mile and a quarter from this little town.^ I met
there two Philadelphians, amiable young men. It
was quite refreshing to converse with people of re
fined and English manners, after having lived with
waggoners ten days. They tell me that land within
20 miles of Philadelphia is worth 50$ 100$ 150$
'In writing of his visit to Bedford in 1807 Cuming (Sketches)
says that some chalybeate springs strongly impregnated with sulphur
had lately been discovered in the neighborhood of the town, to
which great medicinal virtues were attributed. (Early Western
Travels, iv, p. 65). Melish (Travels, ii, p. 37), in 1811, remarks
that the Bedford springs had by that time become a notable water
ing place and that he found there " a vast concourse of people col
lected from different places, some of them very distant."

62 Fordham's Personal Narrative
p''. acre. Then it is one's own ; few taxes, no t)d;hes,
good market, society, & European papers daily.
I am not sure that English elderly people would
do right to pass the mountains. The ocean is a mere
nothing; and if all I hear of Philadelphia and N.
York be true, an English family with moderate
property may fancy themselves in England im
proved on a hired farm. For young men, everybody
agrees, that the Western territory will be the best
to settle in. But, alas, it is another world; not only
distant but distinct from Europe; more connected
with the Spanish Main, with the East Indies even,
than with England. The bright side of the prospect
is, that the further West (I quote Gen. Wilkinson)^
the more honest, the more generous the people are.
The hunter of the Prairie, of St. Louis, or the woods
of Illinois or Tennessee, will divide his venison with
you; he will rather strip his shirt off his back than
take a cent from you. These men retire from the
never ceasing flow of population ; with this comes a
'James Wilkinson was a Marylander who, after a rather dubious
career in the Revolution, went to Kentucky to engage in business
and repair his fortunes. In the decade of controversy between the
people of the south-western United States and the Spaniards of
Louisiana regarding the right of the former to the navigation of
the Mississippi River, Wilkinson followed the demagogic plan of
appearing to champion the interests of the Americans while at the
same time acting as the paid agent of the Spaniards to bring about
a revolt of the inhabitants of Kentucky and Tennessee and the dis
memberment of the Union. Despite his intrigues, in 1796 he suc
ceeded General Anthony Wayne as commander-in-chief of the
United States army. In 1805 he was appointed governor of Louis
iana. While holding this important office he first co-operated with
Aaron Burr in his ambitious designs, then betrayed him. At the out
break of the War of 1812 he was removed from his western post.
After an inglorious part in the conduct of that war he retired, in
1815, to an extensive estate which he possessed near the City of
Mexico, and there he died in 1825.

Baltimore to Pittsburg 63
laborious, enterprising, set of men, mingled with
sharpers, desperadoes, &c. Then rise towns and
cities. Give my kindest remembrances to all friends — I
cannot mention all the names that I value. Excuse
the incorrectness of this letter, for time is seldom at
my command — you have a better or truer descrip
tion of what I see and feel than a more laboured one
would give.

Ill
Vices of the western Pennsylvanians — Slavery, and society in the
slave states — The climate of the United States.
Pittsburg June i/, i8iy.
Though I have so long delayed, yet I have not
forgotten to write. Several times I have begun a
letter, which I wanted time to finish. I have put it
in my travelling trunk, seen more, and found that I
had written down first impressions, which upon
deeper insight I have discovered to be erronious.
Of this singular country nothing is known in
England: the Inhabitants of its cities even do not
know it, so various and contrasted are the materials
of which its population is composed, so strange is
the structure of society, so imperfectly is it cemented
by opinion.
Of the Inhabitants of the Northern States, or
Yankees, I have seen nothing: they have the repu
tation of being very keen, shrewd, enterprising and
industrious. The Merchants of the Cities are like
the Merchants of England: indeed, most of them
finish their commercial education in England,
France, or Holland.
But the inhabitants of the interior of Pennsyl
vania are very different. Coarse in their manners,
inquisitive to a tormenting degree, careless of giv
ing pain or offense, and obstinate in persisting in
their rudeness : these are the most common features
in their characters. They are chiefly of Dutch, Ger-

Pittsburg 65
man, or Irish extraction; and in general seem to
have preserved all the vices of their forefathers, and
to have acquired a few others. Whisky is very cheap.
With the labour of an hour a man may purchase as
much as will make him ferocious, if not drunk; he
fights with the first drunkard he meets, and they
bite each other like dogs, or tear out each other's
eyes. Perhaps disgust has induced me to shade
the picture too darkly.^ Disappointment too has
deepened my dislike of the Pennsylvanians. Yet
this is the country of Penn — whose capital is called
the City of Brotherly Love. Travelling across a
mountainous track, which will never be thickly in
habited, I have seen the worst of its population.
There are, however, bright exceptions — angels
among these Demons. I was taken ill at the house

'The testimony of travellers generally in the first quarter of the
nineteenth century tends to bear out Fordham in his estimate of the
western Pennsylvanians. Francois Andre Michanx tells in his
Travels of what he saw at Bedford in 1802 as follows : " The day of
our arrival was a day of rejoicing for the country people, who had
assembled together in this little town to celebrate the suppression
of the tax laid upon the whiskey distilleries ; rather an arbitrary
tax, that had disaffected the inhabitants of the interior against the
late president, Mr. .A.dan]s. The public houses, inns, and more espe
cially the one where we lodged, were filled with the lower class
of people, who made the most dreadful riot, and committed such
horrible excesses, that is almost impossible to form the least idea
of. The rooms, stairs, and yard were strewed with drunken men ;
and those who had still the power of speech uttered nothing but
the accents of rage and fury. A passion for spirituous liquors is
one of the features that characterise the country people belonging
to the interior of the United States. This passion is so strong, that
they desert their homes every now and then to get drunk in public
houses ; in fact. I do not conceive there are ten out of a hundred
who have resolution enouph to desist from it a moment provided
they had it by them, notwithstanding- their usual beverage in sum
mer is nothinof but water, or sour milk" (Early Western Travels,
iii, p. 144). The tax to which Michaux refers was the excise on
whiskey which had led to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and which
had been repealed by Congress, much to the delight of the Pennsyl-
s

66 Fordham's Personal Narrative
of a German in Bedford County — a tavern fre
quented by waggoners ; if I had been a son, I could
not have been better treated. The landlady pre
scribed for me and nursed me, the sons came to chat
to me at my bedside, and the old man never passed
my chamber door without enquiring how I was.
Books were borrowed for me in the Town, and I
read the Romances of M". Radcliffe^ amidst scenery
scarcely less wild than the Vallies of the Appen-
nines, or the shores of the Adriatic.
In Maryland, a slave state, the people are more
mild and civilized. The Virginians, though dissi
pated, are gentlemen. I am told by a person of this
town that I shall universally find a good society and
polished manners in Slave States, and the reverse
where slavery is not allowed. If this be the case,
how superior is England to America, as a place of
residence, to those who can afford to stay there!
vanians, in the spring of 1802. Cuming, writing at Bedford in Jan
uary, 1807, says of the people of that vicinity : " So far do they
carry this mania for whiskey that to procure it, they in the most
niggardly manner deny themselves even the necessaries of life;
and, as I was informed by my landlord Fleming, an observing and
rational man, countrymen while attending the courts (for they are
generally involved in litigation, of which they are very fond) occupy
the bar rooms of the taverns in the country towns, for several days
together, making one meal serve them each day, and sometimes two,
and even three days — but drinking whi.skey without bounds during
the same time" (Early Western Travels, iv, pp. 62-63). Melish
(Travels, ii, p. 51), in 1811, sought to explain, if not to disprove, the
excessive use of spirituous liquors in the back country by showing
that on the frontiers cider and malt liquors could not easily be had.
'Anne Radcliffe (1764-1823) was one of the most popular Eng
lish writers of fiction in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
Among her numerous romances may be mentioned The Castles of
Athlin and Dunbayne: a Highland Story; The Italian: or The Con
fessional of the Black Penitents; The Mysteries of Udolpho; The
Romance of the' Forest; and A Sicilian Romance. These stories, by
their appeal to the love of the wonderful and the supernatural,
marked a new departure in English novel-writing.

Pittsburg 67
The Southern States, at least Georgia and the
Carolinas, must be cultivated by blacks or aban
doned. The heat there is so excessive in August
that to walk a mile in the Sun would subject a
European to the most imminent danger. The landed
Proprietors of those States are hospitable and gen
erous, but not so refined as the Virginians. They
make great profits from their plantations ; but they
are usually in debt, & are dissipated and indolent.
The climate of the United States, from the Lati
tude of 39° North, is very severe. Sleighs are seen
at every house. The Monongahela, which is rolling
its turbid waves beneath my window, is frozen
across every winter, and loaded waggons pass to the
opposite bank; yet now the Thermometer I think
would be as high as 90 in the shade. I could not
venture out in the Sun without suffering for my im
prudence, now I am in ill health. When I recover I
shall be more hardy. When I crossed the Alle-
ganies the leaves on the Trees were frost bitten on
each side, and the weather here is as hot as it is
ever known to be in England. . .
The baggage amounts to 9,000 lbs. weight, con
tained in about 70 packages. I have sent off half
of it under the care of M''. A., in a keel boat. The
remainder is not come in, and if it does not arrive
tonight, I shall tomorrow take a horse and go in
search of it. M"". B.'s Phaeton was left in Virginia.
The party travelled by the Stage as far as it was
safe from M'cConnal's town^ within 14 miles of this
'McConnellstown (the present McConnellsburg, in Fulton County,

68 Fordham's Personal Narrative
place. They walked 120 miles across the Moun
tains, along roads of which you can have no
idea. . . .
If the Ladies should be left at Cincinnati, I believe
they will proceed with me by water to St. Louis,
Missouri Territory.* Kentucky or the Missouri
Territory, I am inclined to think, will be our choice.
I have sent a line of route which I obtained from
Gen.  which strongly recommends the Prairies
of St. Louis. . . .

Pennsylvania), was the point at which the lines of travel from Bal
timore and Washington toward Pittsburg merged with the Penn
sylvania State Road. It is approximately one hundred miles from
Baltimore and 130 miles from Pittsburg. Its site was first occupied
by Fort Lyttleton, one of the chain of frontier posts built in 1756
for the protection of the western Pennsylvania border. Under date
of June 17, 1803, Thaddeus M. Harris, a Massachusetts traveller,
writes of the town, in his Journal, as follows : " Passing the Side
ling Hills, we reach McConnel's town, a delightful, well-watered vil
lage in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, to dine. It is situated in
the valley, or, as it is called " the Cove," between Sideling and
North Mountains. It has been built eight years; contains about
eighty houses, several of them handsomely built with brick or stone,
a number of stores and shops, and a small Dutch meeting-house "
(Early Western Travels, iii, p. 367). Melish (Travels, ii, pp. 34-
3S), in 1811, wrote that the place had eighty or ninety houses and
about five hundred inhabitants. Fearon (Sketches, pp. 187-191) gives
some interesting information about the place as he found it in Octo
ber, 1817.
' St. Louis was founded in 1764 by Pierre Laclede Liguest and
a company of followers, representing a French fur company. The
town early gained a considerable population by reason of the fact
that France had but recently yielded the territory east of the Mis
sissippi to England and at least a third of the inhabitants of the
ceded region at once withdrew to the new post on the western bank
of the river. The town was incorporated in 1809 and in the fol
lowing year the census showed that it had a population of 1,000.
By 1818 it had 3.S00 inhabitants, and by 1821, 5,600. On the history
of St. Louis see Elihu H. Shepard, The Early History of St. Louis
and Missouri (St. Louis, 1870); Frederic L. Billon, Annals of St.
Louis in its Early Days under the French and Spanish Domina
tions (St. Louis, 1886) ; and Thomas Scharf, History of Saint Louis
City and CoMwiji (Philadelphia, 1883). Lewis C. Beck, Gazetteer of
the States of Illinois and Missouri (.A-lbany, 1823), pp. 324-331, has
a good description of the city about 1822, with map.

Pittsburg 69
Having said so much against the commonalty of
this Republic, I ought to say, that from the gentle
men, and there are gentlemen here, I have met with
kindness, politeness and hospitality. M * * N * *,
DeG* * of N * * and some others, remind me of
those I most love and esteem in England.
Excuse this bad writing; having just been bled,
I cannot mend my pen, and the heat makes my head
ache. I shall not close the letter, 'till I leave this
place. June ipth : Since writing the above, I have been
in agreeable parties — a higher set. I have met with
women, whose Manners are quite English, and
whose personal appearance and attractions would
be admired anywhere.
I am informed that M''. B. has reached Cincin
nati, and that he intends leaving the ladies there.
I am going to embark on a flat boat ; my provisions
are already on board. Cincinnati is 500 miles hence,
and I shall be 10 days on the voyage.

IV
Methods of earlier writers on the West — Pittsburg — Industries
of the vicinity — Flat-boats and keels on the Ohio — The start
down the river — Neville's Island — Logstown — Beavertown
— Wheeling — Fish Creek — A thunder-storm — Marietta —
The Muskingham [Muskingum] — Blennerhassett's Island —
Galliopagus [Gallipohs] — Portsmouth — Manchester — Mays
ville — Augusta — Arrival at Cincinnati.
On the Ohio River June 22,
, . . If it be observed that my letters con
tain no information concerning the state of the
country, you may say in my defence, that I have but
little opportunity to make correct observations; I
have something else to do. It is very easy to write
letters and books, too, as Mellish, Wild^ and others
have done. They go to a Tavern-keeper, pump from

' No trace is obtainable of any work on Western history or topog
raphy by a writer of this name. In a letter to the Editor Dr. R. G.
Thwaites has suggested that Fordham intends here to mention Isaac
Weld, Jr., whose Travels through the States of North America and
the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in 1795-97 (London,
1799) was well known in both England and America. This seems
the most plausible explanation of the doubtful reference.
John Melish, Travels in the United States of America in the Years
1806 & 1807, and 1809, 1810 & 1811 (Philadelphia, 1812). Melish was
a Scotchman who visited the United States for the first time in
1806, in the pursuit of commercial interests. During the next six
years most of his time was spent in this country. He tells us that
prior to his first visit he read all the "Travels in America" that
he could lay hold of, but found them uniformly unsatisfactory — in
some cases because of the ignorance and superficiality of the authors,
in others because the facts had been twisted or obscured with a
view to promoting or discouraging emigration. Hence he resolved
to utilize his opportunities for observation in the preparation of
a full and unprejudiced description of the country and the various
elements of its population. His earlier travels took him through
New England, the Middle States, and much of the South; and in
1810-11, as the relations of Great Britain and the United States
became more strained he came to the conclusion that there would
be no profit in international trade for some time to come and that
the lull could be best occupied by him with a tour through the West.

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 71
him all he chooses to tell them, and set it down : nine
times in ten the information is very incorrect, some
times purposely distorted. No dependence can be
placed on any representation but that of an inteUi
gent, honest man, long resident in the country, and
who is personally well disposed toward you.
When I arrived at Pittsburg I went to M"'. B. of
that place with letters of introduction. As I was
very ill, I consulted M''^ B. about having Medi
cal advice. She recommended me to D^ M. and to
him I went; — he was a sensible clever man & set
me up for 6$. I expected to have paid 20$.
Pittsburgh contains about 10,000 inhabitants.
Having carefully planned the places he desired to visit and the in
quiries he desired to make as he went along, he set out from Balti
more June 3, 181 1. It was late autumn before he returned to the
East, and with him he carried a vast amount of information regard
ing Kentucky, Ohio, and other parts of the western country, which
he proceeded to put in shape for publication. The result was the
two volumes published the next year, embodying his observations
on all sections of the United States — East, South, and West —
which he had been able to visit. The value of Melish's writings is
considerably greater than Fordham's remarks would lead one to
suppose. ' In 1754, by command of Marquis Duquesne, governor of Canada,
Fort Duquesne was built in the angle of the Monongahela and Alle
gheny rivers by a party of French under the leadership of M. de la
Jonquier. The site selected for the fortification was exactly that
of the later city of Pittsburg. For four years the French contrived
to hold the place against the hostile English, but in November, 1758,
when General Forbes undertook a well-planned campaign against it
longer tenure seemed impossible and the fort was evacuated and
burned by the commandant De Lignery. An English fort built
forthwith somewhat further up the Monongahela received the name
Fort Pitt, in honor of the Earl of Chatham; and by common con
sent the town which in time began to grow up around the strong
hold was known as Pittsburg. The location of this town at the
junction of the two leading rivers of western Pennsylvania and the
beginning of the Ohio made it easily the most important gateway
to the West. Some travellers, traders, and emigrants went west
ward by a route further to the north along the line of the lower
Great Lakes, and others went by a southern route through the Cum-

72 Fordham's Personal Narrative
mostly engaged in manufactures. The land around
is fertile, though too hilly. It is pretty well cleared
near the town, but lo miles off the country is an im
mense forest, broken into and gapped by settlers.
The farmers live well and work rather hard. Their
servants are paid 75 cents per day and are boarded
— in the morning with meat and coffee, hot meat
and whisky at dinner and coffee, cold meat, and veg
etables for Supper. Farming is not reckoned very
berland Gap ; but travel from the entire eastern coast tended strongly
to converge upon Pittsburg, where the Ohio became the great ave
nue for four or five hundred miles, in its lower course inviting set
tlers to spread out again toward both north and south. Practically
all of the European elements that came into the West advanced
thither from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore by way of Pitts
burg. The result was that nearly every emigrant or traveller who
wrote letters to friends at home, or published more pretentious ac
counts of the new country, had a good deal to say about Pittsburg.
It may be of interest to cite a few of the most important of these
early descriptions of the place, including some by American writers.
Frangois Andre Michaux (Travels), in 1802, says that the town had
400 houses and was growing rapidly. He points out how the place
was losing its importance as a military post and acquiring signifi
cance of a new sort as a medium of commerce between the East
and the West (Early Western Travels, iii, pp. 156-163). Cum
ing, on the occasion of his visit in February, 1807, got a less favor
able impression — of the town itself, if not of its people. He found
but a single paved street and was struck with the blackened appear
ance of all out-door objects, due to the already considerable use
of coal. According to him (Sketches), in March, 1808, there were
17 streets, 236 brick houses, 361 wooden ones, 50 stores, 24 taverns,
and several factories. He gives a very detailed classification of the
population industrially, and a careful statement of the prices of all
important commodities, concluding that " either as a trading or a
manufacturing town, Pittsburg for situation, is not excelled in the
United States, and it bids fair to become the emporium of the cen
tre of the federal union" (Early Western Travels, iv, pp. 76-87,
242-255). MeUsh (Travels, ii, pp. 54-63), in 1811, says that the popu
lation of the town the previous year was 4,768 and prophesies that
"it will become one of the largest towns in America and one of
the greatest manufacturing cities in the world"— its manufactures
being already valued at more than $1,000,000 annually. Thomas
Hulme (Journal) says of the city in 1818 : " This place surpasses
even my expectations, both in natural resources and in extent of
manufactures. Here are the materials for every species of manu
facture, nearly, and of excellent quality and in profusion; and these

•A'/A/.

p'-y%-^i»

(y-zU, -/t ._

¦/'¦

^¦^^^i"^•l!^i^'^l<^'/^V-¦^^'
^-,
¦^-t-^Ci ^i /a.-tit-
PLAN OF PITTSBURG IN 1817
y4 — Site of Fort Du Ouesne D — BakewelPs glass works
B — Fort Pitt F — O'Hara's brewhouse
C — City hotel, where I lodged G — Shipyard
H — Col. Killbuck's island, a chief of the six nations
Pittsburg to Cincinnati 75
profitable, but there are many able, that is rich,
farmers. A Saw Mill is very profitable. One on
a constant stream, costing 6 or 700$ will earn its
value in one year ; and sometimes a great deal more.
When worked by steam and connected with a Grist
Mill, it is an excellent business. It then requires a
capital of 13 or i40o£ sterling. Tradesmen at Pitts
burg live weh and save money ; but they complain of
hard times, because Peace has thrown the Ocean
trade into New Orleans, which they in War monopo
lized.^ M''. Bakewell's glass works are admirable : he has

means have been taken advantage of by skilful and industrious arti
sans and mechanics from all parts of the world. There is scarcely
a denomination of manufacture or manual profession that is not
carried on to a great extent, and, as far as I have been able to ex
amine, in the best manner. The manufacture of iron in all the
different branches, and the mills of all sorts, which I examined with
the most attention, are admirable" (Early Western Travels, x,
PP- 35-37)- Other descriptions by writers of the period are: Mor
ris Birkbeck, Notes, pp. 40-48; Fearon, Sketches, pp. 199-216; Est-
wick Evans, Pedestrious Tour (Early Western Travels, viii, pp.
247-255) ; James Flint, Letters (Early Western Travels, ix, pp.
82-89) ; John Woods, Two Years' Residence ( Early Western
Travels, x, pp. 217-218); Wm. Tell Harris, Remarks, pp. 89-90;
Thomas Nuttall, Journal (Early Western Travels, xiii, pp. 44-45) ;
and George W. Ogden, Letters (Early Western Travels, xix, pp.
26-28). An older popular history of Pittsburg is Neville B. Craig's
History of Pittsburg (Pittsburg, 1851) ; a recent book on the subject
is T. J. Chapman, Old Pittsburg Days (Pittsburg, 1900).
'Fearon in 1817, Estwick Evans in 1818, and Adlard Welby in
1819 agree that the trade of Pittsburg was, if not actually declining,
at least not making appreciable growth. As a matter of fact, while
the " hard times " of which Fordham speaks did not continue and
the commerce of Pittsburg expanded remarkably during the next
ten years, it was nevertheless true that the city had reached the
critical point in its history where the carrying trade must give place
to manufacturing as the staple industry and source of wealth; in
deed the transition was already far progressed. The commercial re
lations of Pittsburg and New Orleans before and during the war
are well described by Frangois Andre Michaux as follows : " The
major part of the merchants settled at Pittsburgh, or in the environs,
are the partners, or else the factors, belonging to the houses at

76 Fordham's Personal Narrative
excellent artists, both French and English. His Cut
Glass equals the best I have seen in England.^
Brewing succeeds well here, especially the Porter
Brewery. New Orleans is the principal market for
it. The Pottery business must be very profitable;
a plate, worth a i**. in England, sells here for 6^.
DistiUing on a small scale answers well : many farm
ers are distillers.
I met some Baltimore acquaintances here.
Mess". E  Sen^ & Jun^ The old man took me
Philadelphia. Their brokers at New Orleans sell, as much as they
can, for ready money; or rather, take in exchange cottons, indigo,
raw sugar, the produce of Low Louisiana, which they send off by
sea to the houses at Philadelphia and Baltimore, and thus cover their
first advances. The barge-men return thus by sea to Philadelphia
or Baltimore, whence they go by land to Pittsburgh and the environs,
where the major part of them generally reside. Although the
passage from New Orleans to one of these two ports is twenty
or thirty days, and that they have to take a route by land of
three hundred miles to return to Pittsburgh, they prefer this way,
being not so difficult as the return by land from New Orleans to
Pittsburgh, this last distance being fourteen or fifteen hundred
miles. . . . The navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi is so
much improved of late that they can tell almost to a certainty the dis
tance from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, which they compute to
be two thousand one hundred miles. The barges in the spring
season usually take forty or fifty days to make the passage, which
two or three persons in a pirogue make in five and twenty days."
Travels (Early Western Travels, iii, p. 159).
'The first glass factory west of the AUeghanies was built at
Pittsburg by General James O'Hara in 1797. That of Bakewell,
Pears and Company was established in 1808. Thomas Nuttall,
who visited Pittsburg in 1818 on his way to the Arkansas Ter
ritory, writes : " The day after my arrival I went through the
flint-glass works of Mr. Bakewell, and was surprised to see the
beauty of this manufacture, in the interior of the United States,
in which the expensive decorations of cutting and engraving
(amidst every discouragement incident to a want of taste and
wealth) were carried to such perfection. The productions of
this manufacture find their way to New Orleans, and even to
some of the islands of the West Indies. The president, Monroe,
as a liberal encourager of domestic manufactures, had on his
visit to those works given orders for a service of glass, which
might indeed be exhibited as a superb specimen of this elegant
art." Joiurnal (Early Western Teavels, xiii, p. 45).

A

I A!

> N NN

-V>

3

:TlC

¦iZal;--

\. V

IVER flatboat (k), AND KEELBO.AT (b)

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 79
to see his son's manufactory of Steam Engines and
his Foundery. Seventy men were employed in the
different works.
I sent off the first load of baggage under the
care of M''. A., and when the remainder arrived I
hired freight on board a flat boat for 50 cents per
cwt. These flat boats or Orleans boats as they are
called in the Western Waters are from 12 to 25 feet
wide, and from 30 to 90 feet long. They are sold
when they arrive at their place of destination, and
broken up. Not a 100 nails are used in building
one, but they are stuck together with wooden pins.
They will carry 700 barrels of flour. They cost 1$
p'. foot in length and sell for J4$- They are manned
by four men each, and a pratoon. In the Missis
sippi double that number is necessary for the stream
runs eight miles an hour: and is full of Eddies.
Goods are brought up the river on keels or keel-
boats, which require 12 or 24 men to row and pole
them against the current. It was in such a boat
that Lewis and Clarke ascended the Missouri; it
was built at Pittsburg.^
' The information here given regarding the various sorts of craft
navigating the Ohio about 1817 may be supplemented by the fol
lowing passage from Estwick Evans's Pedestrious Tour, published
in 1819 ; " The boats which float upon the Ohio are various, —
from the ship of several hundred tons burthen, to the mere skiff.
Very few if any very large vessels, however, are now built at
Pittsburgh, or indeed at any other place on the Ohio. They were
formerly built on this river, particularly at Pittsburgh and Ma
rietta ; but the difficulties incident to getting them to the ocean,
have rendered such undertakings unfrequent. An almost innum
erable number of steam-boats, barks, keels, and arks, are yearly
set afloat upon this river, and upon its tributary streams. The
barks are generally about one hundred tons burthen, have two
masts, and are rigged as schooners, and hermaphrodite brigs. The
keels have, frequently, covered decks, and sometimes carry one

8o Fordham's Personal Narrative
On Thursday, at noon, I went on board my Ken
tucky boat : there was another lashed to it. Having
bid my friends farewell, we pushed off into the
middle of the stream, which here runs at 3 miles an
hour.^ The bank of the river on our left was high,
abrupt, and covered with trees. On our right it
was hilly, but not precipitous. Col. Killbuck's island
mast. These and also the barks are sometimes rowed and some
times moved up the river by poling, and by drawing them along
shore with ropes. The flat-boat or ark is of a clumsy construc
tion; but very burthensome. Its foundation consists of sills like
those of a house, and to these is trunneled a floor of plank. The
sides are of boards loosely put together, and the top is covered
in the same way. The bottom of the boat, and so much of the
sides as come in contact with the water, are caulked. Some of
this kind of boats will carry four or five hundred barrels of
flour, besides considerable quantities of bacon, cheese, and other
produce. On the deck of the ark are two large oars, moving
on pivots, and at the stern there is a large steering oar. The
progress of the ark is principally in floating with the current;
and the oars are seldom used excepting for the purpose of rowing
ashore. The business carried on by boats, on the Ohio and the
Mississippi, is immense. The freight of goods up and down these
rivers is high; and the freighting business here is exceedingly
profitable. No property pays so great an interest as that of steam
boats on these rivers. A trip of a few weeks yields one hundred
per cent upon the capital employed. The arks, and, generally
speaking, the keels, when they reach New Orleans, seldom return
up the river again. The former are sold for lumber." (Early
Western Travels, viii, pp. 256-257.) Another description of an
Ohio River "ark" may be found in Thaddeus M. Harris's Jour
nal (Early Western Travels, iii, p. 335). For the steamboat traf
fic on the Ohio and Mississippi see, p. 106, note. There is an interest
ing chapter on the evolution of river craft in Archer B. Hulbert
Waterways of Westward Expansion (Historic Highways of
America, ix, pp. 100-150).
'Among other interesting narratives of the descent of the Ohio
by travellers and emigrants of this period may be mentioned:
FranQois Andre Michaux, Travels (Early Western Travels, iii,
p. 168, ff.) ; Fortescue Cuming, Sketches (Early Western Travels,
IV, p. 87, ff.) ; John Melish, Travels (ii, p. 84, ff.) ; James Flint, Let
ters from America (Early Western Travels, ix, p. 89, ff.) ; Thomas
Nuttall, Journal (Early Western Travels, xiii, p. 47, ff.) ; Thomas
Hulme, Journal (Early Western Travels, x, p. 38, ff.) ; William
Faux, Memorable I) ays (Early Western Travels, xi, p. 167, ff.) ;
William Tell Harris, Remarks, pp. 90-99; and John Woods, Two
Years' Residence (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 222-256.)

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 8i
is well farmed by his tenants. This is not often the
case: very little land is rented here.
Chartier's creek,^ a pretty shaded stream, was the
first break in the coal-hill on the left. A romantic
wooden bridge spanned the river cliff. Gen'. Ne
ville possesses an island at its mouth, which
stretches six miles down the Ohio and is a hand
some farm.^ After passing four or five islands off
Indian's Logstown^ i8 miles from Pittsburg, a gen
tleman from Salem and his lady with three chil
dren, had put off an hour before us in a family
flat boat. As I had a boarding house acquaintance
with him, I rowed myself forward in our skiff, and
took coffee with him. As his boat was light, and
he had two men who pretended to know the river,
he said he should go on all night. The dangers of
the river are Planters, Sawyers and Wooden Isl-
' Chartier's Creek flows into the Ohio three miles below Pitts
burg. It received its name from a French-Shawnee half-breed
who was a man of influence in his tribe about the middle of the
eighteenth century. An Indian village, known as Chartier's Town,
was situated at the mouth of the creek.
^General Neville's island was known commonly to Ohio navi
gators as Long Island. It lay immediately below Cow Island.
Fortescue Cuming noted in 1807 that its soil was of the best qual
ity and that it might be divided into several good farms. At
that lime Major Isaac Craig of Pittsburg had part of it under
cultivation. After the close of the War of 1812 Major Craig
retired to the island, where he resided until his death in 1826.
^Logstown was situated on a high bluff on the north bank of the
Ohio, just below the site of the present town of Economy, Penn
sylvania. During the middle of the eighteenth century it was the
most important Indian trading village on the Pennsylvania fron
tier. Its population was a mixture of Iroquois, Mohican, and
Shawnee. Soon after the establishment of Fort Duquesne in 1754,
on the site of the later Pittsburg, the French built houses for the
village's inhabitants, but after the early substitution of English
for French supremacy in the region the place rapidly declined.
Cuming, in 1807, speaks of it as " a scattering hamlet of four or
five log cabins" (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 97).

82 Fordham's Personal Narrative
ands} A Planter is a tree rooted fast to the bottom
of the river, & rotted off level with the water, a
heavy boat striking one of them may be staved and
sunk. Sawyers are trees less firmly rooted; they
rise and faU with the water; if they point up the
stream, they are dangerous, but not so much so
when they point down. Wooden Islands are logs
accumulated against planters or shoals.
On Friday the 20* we advanced 60 miles, passed
Big beaver Creek, 70 yards wide at the mouth.
Four miles up it has falls or rapids, which extend
three miles. On them are forging, fulling, and grist
mills; chiefly in the hands of Quakers. The river
here is very crooked, bounded by high, precipitous,
banks, which are covered with gigantic trees. In
some places bare rocks project into the Stream,
forming eddies and ripples. Beavertown,^ a mis-

' " Planters are large bodies of trees firmly fixed by their roots
in the bottom of the river, in a perpendicular manner, and ap
pearing no more than about a foot above the surface of the water
in its middling state. So firmly are they rooted, that the largest
boat running against them, will not move them, but they fre
quently injure the boat.
" Sawyers are likewise bodies of trees fixed less perpendicularly
in the river, and rather of a less size, yielding to the pressure of
the current, disappearing and appearing by turns above the wa
ter, similar to the motion of a saw-mill saw, from which they
have taken their name.
"Wooden-Islands are places where by some cause or other large
quantities of driftwood have, through time, been arrested and mat
ted together in different parts of the river." Zadoc Cramer, The
Ohio and Mississippi Navigator (Pittsburg, 1804), p. 11. This
little book, which passed through twelve editions, was the stand
ard guide of navigators for more than a quarter of a century.
There is a description and synopsis of it in Archer B. Hulbert,
Waterways of Westward Expansion (Historic Highways of
America, ix, pp. 73-99).
2 Big Beaver Creek, a stream about fifty yards wide at its mouth,
flows into the Ohio ten miles below Logstown. The Indian vil-

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 83
erable place, was almost the only break we saw
this day. It stands 200 feet above the river. The
rounded pebbles evince that the Ohio has been 200
feet higher here, than it is now. We passed two
or three log houses and taverns, with an acre or
two of cleared land attached to each, but the gen
eral character of the river scenery is gloomy and
grand. My amusement was to row the skiff
through the eddies, to land and scramble up the
rocks and search for curious plants or squirrels.
This skiff is so light that I can with ease catch the
boats when they are 3 miles ahead. I find that I
have not forgotten the art of swimming, so that I
am under no apprehension when the skiff strikes a
log as it sometimes does.
I should have told you that I had a letter to Major
N  , son of Gen. N  . This gentleman has
shewn me much civility. His father was the rich
est man in Pensylvania, and has signalized himself

lage which was situated at its junction with the larger stream in
the earlier part of the eighteenth century, where the town of
Beaver now stands, was variously known as King Beaver's,
Shinga's Old Town, or Sokhon. It was a noted station for the
fur trade and frequently served as a base of operations in the
jjorder raids of the time. King Beaver, from whom the creek and
settlement took their names, was the supreme chief of the Dela-
¦wares — an ally of the English against the French until Braddock's
defeat, but after that catastrophe a dangerous neutral, and in the
end a leader in the Pontiac conspiracy. The present town of
Beaver was laid out in 1792. Cuming says of it in 1807: "It
stands on a stony plain on the top of the high cliff which con
ceals it from the river and contains about thirty indifferent houses,
much scattered, on three parallel streets " (Early Western
Travels, iv, p. 98) . Flint, in 1818, says that within three miles of
the mouth of the Beaver he found three saw-mills, a grist-mill,
an iron furnace and forge, a fulling-mill, a carding-rnill, and a
mill for bruising flax-seed (Early Western Travels, ix, p. 95).
These were the mills, of course, of which Fordham speaks.

Fordham's Personal Narrative

in the Indian Wars. In W, N  's house I found
books of taste; Ariosto, the English poets, &c &c,
which was quite refreshing after a long journey
through the wilds of Pensylvania. Major N. has
given me a letter to his father the General.
The inhabitants of the western towns are not so
hospitable as they were formerly. The constant
stream of emigration would make such hospitality
enormously expensive. Besides there are so many
unworthy characters amongst these emigrants, that
the people are become shy of them.
Saturday 21"*. The hills are now rather lower,
and the woods a little more broken by settlements.
M''.  and  , my fellow passengers, landed
at Wheeling,^ which is the Court house town of
' The fi_rst building constructed on the site of Wheeling was
Fort Fincastle, a stockade erected during Lord Dunmore's war in
1774. The name of the structure was subsequently changed to
Fort Henry, in honor of Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia.
The first town lots at the place were laid out in 1783 by Colonel
Ebenezer Zane, who had taken up the land of the vicinity twenty-
three years before. In 1797 the town became the seat of Ohio
County^ Virginia. At an early date Wheeling began to rival Pitts
burg as a depot for westward commerce. Her advantage at first
lay simply in the fact that by shipping goods down the Ohio from
this point, rather than from Pittsburg, nearly a hundred miles
of the upper course of the river — the portion most difficult to
navigate in low water — were avoided. The only disadvantage was
that a day more was required to reach Wheeling from the East.
In 1818, when the Cumberland Road was completed to this place,
the obstacles of bad travel and delay were largely removed. The
new highway was the shortest route from Baltimore and Wash
ington to the Ohio, and being in addition free from tolls until
it was ceded to the states in 1830-35, it became the great rival thor
oughfare of the northem route by the Pennsylvania State Road.
Flint, in 1818, says that the carriage of goods was already cheaper
from Baltimore to Wheeling than from Philadelphia to Pitts
burg (Early Western Travels, ix, p. 105). For descriptions of
Wheeling in the early part of the century see Francois Andre
Michaux, Travels (Early Western Travels, iii, p. 171) ; Fortescue
Cuming, Sketches (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 113) ; Thaddeus
M. Harris, Journal (Early Western Travels, iii, p. 349) ; Thomas

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 85
Ohio (the County, Virginia) and contains 120
houses 1 1 stores and 2 inns. I bought a tin pot for
boiling coffee for 62 J4 Cents. Several men were
drinking at the Tavern. At 9 A. M. this day it was
excessively hot. A shower fell, and the moisture
immediately rose off the plants in dense steam. We
moored at night below Fish Creek^ five miles from
Wheeling, after having advanced 40 miles in the
day. As we were passing Fish Creek, our pratoon
pointed out a boat moored in the mouth of it, which
he said was D*". B  's. The skiff was directly
sent off and I jumped in. My greatest exer
tions could not prevent its being driven down
by the strength of the current about 100 yards,
as there was a counter current close in shore.
With some difficulty I got round the point into
the Creek. To my disappointment, it was not
the Doctor's boat. I then put off again; a bend
of the river was just taking the boats from my
sight, which were already a mile and a half
ahead. Evening was closing in — I rowed hard,
turned the bend, and the boats were out of sight. As
there were many islands, I was afraid of taking
the wrong current and passing the boats. The
darkness increased; I could not see either shore.
After shouting several times and rowing about half
Nuttall, lournal (Early Western Travels, xiii, p. 51) ; Adlard
Welby, Visit to North America (Early Western Travels, xii,
pp. 204-205) ; and John Woods, Two Years' Residence (Early
Western Travels, x, p. 221).
' For the connection of the Fish Creek region with the early
life of George Rogers Clark, see Thwaites (Early Western
Travels, iii, p. 350, note 37).
6

86 Fordham's Personal Narrative
an hour, I heard voices in answer; and presently I
saw a light. It was kindled on the deck of one of the
boats, which was moored under the shade of some
gigantic Sycamores. The sultry dark night — the
croaking of the frogs — and the innumerable fire
flies, which were flashing among the trees, all fore
told a storm; which came on an hour after mid
night. The lightning fell so near us, that we dis
tinctly heard it whiz through the air. The trees,
rocks, and hills were at times distinctly visible in
the intense blaze, then lost in utter darkness ; while
the sky was rent by rattling thunder. The thunder
storms in England are insignificant to those of
America. Sunday the 22^, We made a short trip this day;
— not quite 40 miles. The banks of the river here
are exceedingly crooked, high, and crowned with
dark forests.
Monday 2^. Landed at Marietta* at 9 A. M., a
' Marietta is located at the junction of the Muskingum and the
Ohio, about sixty miles below Wheeling. The town dates from
1788 and, unlike most of the settlements of the Ohio Valley, had
its origin in migration from New England rather than from the
southern states. In 1786 a group of soldiers who were interested
in securing the bounty lands due them for service in the Revo
lution organized at Boston what was known as the Ohio Com
pany, with a view to getting possession of a considerable tract of
land in the territory northwest of the Ohio. As soon as the
Northwest Ordinance was enacted, in 1787, the company desig
nated Dr. Manasseh Cutler to make the necessary contract with
Congress. The result was an arrangement for the purchase of
1,500,000 acres at 662-3 cents per acre. At a meeting of the com
pany in Boston, August 30, 1787, it was voted that 5,760 acres
about the mouth of the Muskingum should be reserved for a town
and commons. In November of the same year twenty-two me
chanics set out from Danvers, Massachusetts, to begin prepara
tions for the new settlement, and within a twelvemonth a town
of considerable proportions had been laid out and given a very
respectable population. The site chosen was on the left bank of
the Muskingum, opposite Fort Harmar — a stronghold constructed

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 87
pretty town on the banks of the Muskingham, hav
ing about 120 houses. This town is laid out on rath
er a large scale, which will not be filled up for a
century or more. The streets are now green lanes,
bounded by worm fences. Where houses ought to
be, there are now groves or gardens. The land is
good, and pretty well cultivated. Here I found D''.
B., whose men were going to leave him. He wished
me much to take the command of his boat, which
I declined, as I did not like to leave my luggage.
I, however, found and engaged two sailors for him.
The banks of the Ohio are now comparatively low
and fertile, both on the Ohio and Kentucky side,
but most so on that of the latter state. They are
not yet more than broken into by the axe of the cul
tivator. The Muskingham is a fine river. It is
crossed by a ferry boat, attached to a cable stretched
high above the water, alternately at the head and
stern of the ferry boat it is carried over either

in 1785-86 by a detachment of troops under Major John Doughty
to afford protection to the Virginia frontiers. The name first
given the New England settlement was Adelphi, but this was soon
changed to Marietta, in honor of the queen of France, Marie An
toinette, whose gracious reception of Franklin at court was just
then the subject of admiring comment throughout America. The
town did not grow as its founders hoped it would, chiefly be
cause the rich interior of Ohio offered immigrants too many
counter attractions. For a description of the place in 1802 see
F. A. Michaux, Travels (Early Western Travels, iii, p. I77) 5 jn
1807, Cuming, Sketches (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 124) ; in
181 1, Melish, Travels, ii, pp. 101-107; in 1818, Flint, Letters (Early
Western Travels, ix, p. 109), and Evans, Pedestrious Tour (Early
Western Travels, viii, p. 264) ; and in 1820, Woods, Two Years'
Residence (Early Western Travels, x, p. 223). Thomas J. Sum
mers, History of Marietta (Marietta, 1903) is useful. There is
an interesting plan of Marietta in 1803 in Thaddeus M. Harris,
Journal, which is reproduced in Winsor, The Westward Movement,
p. 303- '

88 Fordham's Personal Narrative
way by the force of the current.^ This evening M''.
P  and I went forward in the skiff to examine a
cave near the mouth of Shade river; but this river
is so concealed by rocks and trees, that we passed
it without seeing it, and we were unable to row
back before the boats came down.
As the late rains have made the waters uncom
monly high, our pratoon held on all night. On
Tuesday we passed Blannerhasset's Island. 2 The
Estate the proprietor forfeited on account of some

' This ferry was noted and described by almost every traveller
who visited Marietta, for example, by Thomas Hulme, Journal
(Early Western Travels, x, p. 40).
^Blennerhassett's Island lies eighteen miles below Marietta and
two below the mouth of the Little Kanawha and the present city
of Parkersburg, West Virginia. It is three and a half miles in
length and contains about 500 acres of very fertile land. Harman
Blennerhassett, from whom the island takes its name, was an
Irishman of wealth and refinement who migrated to the United
States out of admiration for American democratic government and
society. In 1798 he bought the island below the Little Kanawha
and there established his family in a home which soon became
noted as a centre of culture and good manners. In 1805 the
Blennerhassetts were visited by Aaron Burr, then on his way to
New Orleans, and unfortunately the gifted proprietor was so at
tracted by the questionable schemes of the plotter that he com
mitted himself unreservedly to them and staked his whole fortune
upon their success. In little more than a year the bubble had
burst, Burr was a refugee, and Blennerhassett had been himself
compelled to seek safety in flight. Both men were arrested and
tried for treason, but, on technical grounds, acquitted. In the
meantime the Blennerhassett estate was overrun by hungry credi
tors and seriously impaired in value. In 181 1 the fine mansion,
with all the art treasures and books it contained, was ruined by
an accidental fire, and thereafter little was left to tell of the
splendor of the place in its happier days. Blennerhassett him
self eked out a pitiable existence as a virtual outlaw and exile
until his death, on the Island of Guernsey, in 1831. Cuming,
in his Sketches, gives a very interesting description of the Blen
nerhassett estate as it appeared in 1807 (Early Western Travels,
iv, pp. 128-130) ; and Melish (Travels, ii, p. 109) describes it in its
deserted condition in 181 1. For an account of the island as it
is to-day see Thwaites, On the Storied Ohio, pp. 95-98.

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 89
attempt which he made to excite an insurrection
against the government of the United States.
Galliopagus^ was the next village, which struck
my fancy. It was founded by a hundred French
families, about 30 years ago, on the Ohio side.
Their title was a bad one, and all who were not
rich enough to purchase their estates a second time
were ejected. The place has not flourished since,
although its site is most beautiful.
On Wednesday we moored at Portsmouth^ 390
'The writer means Gallipolis. This town is on the right bank
of the Ohio, nearly opposite the mouth of the Great Kanawha.
it is about one hundred miles below Marietta. The early history
of Gallipolis was extremely unfortunate, as Fordham suggests.
The Scioto Company, an off-shoot of the Ohio Company, pro
posed to reap a harvest by disposing of its western lands to dis
contented inhabitants of France, and in 1788 sent an agent to
Paris in the person of the poet Joel Barlow to advertize the
attractions of the American West and to stimulate emigration
thither. Barlow executed his commission faithfully, with the re
sult that in 1790 about six hundred French people — of every type
but that adapted to frontier life — arrived en route at Alexandria,
Virginia. There the prospective settlers were compelled to tarry
fifteen months, to await the termination of Indian uprisings on
the Ohio and to secure new land titles as far as possible, in the
place of worthless ones which the Company had tricked them into
accepting. After the emigrants finally arrived on the Scioto they
proved totally unable to cope with the hardships of backwoods
existence. By granting them 20,000 acres of land between the
mouth of the Sandy and Scioto rivers Congress endeavored to
make amends for the Company's swindle, and the thirty families
who removed to this tract, settling at the mouth of the Great
Scioto, succeeded for a time fairly well. But Gallipolis was an
absolute failure, and, but for the coming in of American settlers,
would likely have been completely extinguished. There is to-day
almost no trace of the town's French origin. F. A. Michaux,
in his Travels, says that in 1807 the settlement was composed of
sixty log-houses, mostly uninhabited and falling to pieces, the re
mainder occupied by Frenchmen " who breathe out a miserable
existence" (Early Western Travels, iii, p. 184). Melish (Travels,
ii, pp. 115-117) gives the place, in 1811, a population of 300. See
" Centennial of Gallipolis," in Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Society Publications, iii.
2 Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Scioto, was laid out in 1803
by Henry Massie, taking its name from Portsmouth, Virginia.

90 Fordham's Personal Narrative
miles from Pittsburg. The men at the oars of the
second boat, Germans and Swiss, not understand
ing the orders of the Pratoon, pulled it into a cur
rent they were unable to stem, and it was driven
against a tree with a tremendous crash. It was
loaded with Iron, and had my luggage on board.
It got off with no material damage, except being
stripped of one of its roofs. Whilst the attention
of our people was called off to that boat, we were
drifting on a Planter, the point of which projected
about a foot above the water. Our Pratoon called
the men to their duty; but though the boat cleared
it, one oar, made of an entire tree, caught against
the stump. The men dropped down to save them
selves; I had that moment, thrown myself on the
oar to assist them. Its recoil threw me into the
boat, with no injury but a slight contusion on the
thigh. After we had moored at Portsmouth, Mess".
P  C  and myself went to the mouth of the
Scioto, and then into the skiff, to see the ancient
Indian fort opposite Alexandria.^ The Shawanees,
The surrounding region, being a noted rendezvous of the Shaw-
nees, had long been resorted to with frequency by French and
English fur-traders. Travellers generally speak well of the town
in its early years. Cuming (Sketches) tells us, in 1807, that
though it contained as yet but twenty houses it had a handsome
and healthy situation and, as the seat of Scioto County, was likely
to grow to be a place of some importance (Early Western
Travels, iv, p. 161). Flint (Letters from America) says, in 1818,
that it was well-built and had a court house, a newspaper office,
a woollen factory, a number of stores, and several good taverns
(Early Western Travels, ix, p. 113). See Thwaites, On the
Storied Ohio, pp. 151-154-
'Alexandria is situated on the western bank of the Scioto, op
posite Portsmouth. The town was founded by Major John Belli,

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 91
though not the first constructors of the fort, which
is a circular redoubt, were defeated here by Gen.
St. Clair^ 35 years ago, and have since descended
the Mississippi. After a charming ramble of an
hour, we attempted the arduous task of rowing, pol
ing, and dragging the skiff" up the stream about two
miles and a half. The flood had run in among the
trees, and the eddies and counter-currents helped
an Englishman who settlad at Alexandria, Virginia, in 1783, and
who, after 1791, interested himself in the development of the Ohio
country. The site of Alexandria was occupied in the first half
of the eighteenth century by the chief town of the Shawnees —
the place at which, in March, 1751, Christopher Gist was warned
back while inspecting lands for the Ohio Company. In 1753 a flood
led the Shawnees to abandon the place. Some of them sought
new homes in regions further north, while others established a
new village across the Scioto, on the site of Portsmouth. Cum
ing, returning from his western tour in 1807, visited Belli's new
town, subsequently recording in his Sketches : " This village . . .
is nicknamed Hardscramble, either from the hilly roads by which
one arrives at it, or from the difficulty experienced by the first
settlers to obtain a subsistence. It contains about a dozen houses
and cabins, a meeting house, and three taverns, but does not seem
to thrive" (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 237). The fort to
which Fordham refers was across the Ohio, on the Kentucky
shore, on the site of the present Springville.
'General Arthur St. Clair was a Scotchman who came to
America in 1755 with Admiral Boscowen. He served in Canada
under General Wolfe in 1759-60 and after the close of the war
was placed in command of Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania. He
had an honorable career in the Revolution, rising to the rank of
major-general, and rendering Washington valued service in the
Yorktown campaign. In 1786 he was elected a member of the
Continental Congress from Pennsylvania, and the following year
he became president of that body, now about to expire. When
the Northwest Territory was organized under the Ordinance of
1787 he was made its first governor. In this office he remained
until 1802, when Ohio was on the point of being constituted a
state. In 1790 occurred one of the periodic movements of the
Indians of the West to expel the whites. General Harmar was
ordered to conduct the campaign against the redskins, but be
ing at least partially defeated in the Maumee country, he was re
placed after a few months by St. Clair. September 17, 1791, the
new commander set out from Fort Washington (on the site of
Cincinnati) for the country about Detroit; but on November 4
he was surprised and totally defeated on the banks of a small

92 Fordham's Personal Narrative
us, but so often was the skiff bumped against logs,
that M''. C. preferred walking on shore and drag
ging the rope when he could. In two hours and a
half we got up the river, high enough to cross over
to Portsmouth. With two oars and two paddles,
we worked as hard as three young men in high
spirits could work. We dashed across in the midst
of floating logs and branches of trees, which the
river was bringing down in great abundance.
Thursday  A heavy thunderstorm and rain
kept us within this morning. Called at Manches
ter,^ a village of 25 houses in the State of Ohio.
Here, as in all the Ohio towns, the people are rude
and half civilized, yet very sharp and inquisitive.
We reached at length the pleasant thriving town
of Maysville,^ Adam's County, Kentucky. Here

tributary of the Wabash. St. Clair retired from command in
chagrin, popular sentiment generally holding him at fault. He
was succeeded by General Wayne, who defeated the Indians in
August, 1794, and concluded a lasting peace with them at Green
ville, Ohio, a year later. After yielding the governorship of the
Northwest Territory in 1802, St. Clair lived in obscurity in Penn
sylvania until his death in 1818.
'Manchester is in Adams County, Ohio, twelve miles above
Maysville. It was laid out in 179T by Nathaniel Massie, a sur
veyor of bounty lands, and was the pioneer Virginia settlement on
the north bank of the Ohio. The town's growth was very slow.
Cuming (Sketches) says that in 1807 it had only ten houses and
was not likely to thrive, owing to the proximity of Maysville,
Kentucky (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 167).
^Maysville, in the earlier years of its history, was commonly
known as Limestone, from the quantity of rock of that variety
found in the neighborhood. The first building upon its site was
a blockhouse erected in 1783. The town may be said to have been
settled the following year, and in 1787 it was incorporated by the
Virginia legislature. F. A. Michaux (Travels) says, in 1802,
that it had thirty or forty houses of wood ; that it had long been
the place where all emigrants by way of Pittsburg and the Ohio
landed; and that it was still the staple for all sorts of mer-

Pittsburg to Cincinnati 93
the tall, pale, well dressed men, and agreeable look
ing women, reminded me of Virginia, of which
Kentucky is an offslip. There are a few slaves in
this place, comfortable, sleek looking fellows. We
entered the port in the afternoon, amid repeated
feux de joie from some small pieces of cannon. On
enquiring the cause, we learnt that a vessel from
Baltimore had just arrived with Gen. N. from New
Orleans, and several from Pittsburg, and on this
account they were firing. I smiled at the cause, yet
I could not but admire the effect of this cannonade.
The echoes rolled along the high banks like claps of
thunder. The dislike of Slavery is becoming less violent.
There are more men of refined manners and culti
vated minds in the slave states, than in those that
are more consistently democratic. This I learn
more from information than observation; yet both
more and more confirm me in this opinion. Behind
this town is a fine, rocky, eminence, up to which we
scrambled through a watercourse. On the top, we
were rewarded for our trouble by a birds-eye view
of the Town, and the river of Limestone Creek, as
chandise sent from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Kentucky (Early
Western Travels, iii, p. 195). The distance from Maysville to
Lexington was only sixty-five miles by the road running through
the present Mason, Fleming, Nicholas, Bourbon, and Fayette
counties, by way of Mayslick, Millersburg, and Paris. Cuming
(Sketches) savs, in 1807, that the place was not growing and
existed merely on the traffic passing through it, but that it was
the greatest shipping port on the Ohio below Pittsburg — the port
for northeastern Kentucky as Louisville was for the southwestern
part of that state (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 169). Other
characterizations may be found in Flint, Letters (Early Western
Travels, ix, pp. 127-131) and in Welby, Visit to North America,
(Early Western Travels, xii, pp. 214-218).

94 Fordham's Personal Narrative
rich and beautiful as can be imagined. The top of
the hill is a rich, black, earth, producing abundant
crops of Indian corn and wheat: the latter is chang
ing colour. . . .
In two days I shall see my friends in Cincinnati,
from whom I have been separated seven weeks to
day; and I have travelled in that time 1200 miles.
Saturday, Left the pretty town of Augusta;^
went to Gen. N  's villa with a letter from his
son. I spent great part of the day with this fine old
gentleman and his amiable family. . . .
We moored in the course of the day seven miles
from Cincinnati. If a thundergust had not oc
curred, I should have gone thither in the skiff, but
it was not possible. So I rolled about in my blanket
all night, called the Pratoon before day, tugged at
the oar with the men, and got to Cincinnati^ early
in the morning. I saw  and the rest of the
party, who are all well and happy.
'Aug^ista, once the seat of justice of Bracken County, Kentucky,
is about twenty miles below Maysville and forty-two above Cin
cinnati. It is important only as a shipping point for tobacco.
Woods (Two Years' Residence) tells us, in 1820, that the town
was established to rival Maysville in the back-country trade and
that "it appears a flourishing place" (Early Western Travels,
X, p. 233).
*0n Cincinnati, see p. 183, note.

Lack of time for writing — The trip across Indiana — Vincennes —
The Indians of the neighborhood — Princeton — Prices of
land.
St Vincennes State of Indiana
July 26, 18 17.
I WROTE to C  as I descended the Ohio, and fin
ished my letter at Cincinnati and sent it thence to
Philadelphia. I hope it has been received safe by
this time, for I had great pleasure in writing it, and
often pictured to myself your family circle, gath
ered together in the garden parlour, listening to the
narrative of the journeyings of their poor wan
derer. . . .
I cannot give you a journal of our march across
Indiana : many sheets of paper could not contain it ;
and I am too well employed in business or too much
engaged in the pleasures of the chase, to devote
much time to writing. Do not take this confession
unkindly; if I am wrong, I have many excuses and
palliatives to offer; — but I know you will excuse
me. We travelled on horseback, each person fur
nished with an upper and under blanket, and sad
dle-bags, and two pack horses with extra luggage
and bedding. Taverns on the road are bad and
"few and far between." Farmers have generally
a room appropriated to the reception of travellers,
for whose food they charge moderately. We were
furnished with guns and tomohawks, and all things

96 Fordham's Personal Narrative
necessary to encamp in the woods ; which M*". B. act
ually did one night ; but the main body of the party
escaped that adventure.
Indiana is a vast forest, larger than England, just
penetrated in places, by the back-wood settlers, who
are half hunters, half farmers.^
This old town, which was a settlement made by
the Indian traders, stands near the river on a beau
tiful prairie, surrounded by woods and gently rising
hills. Its inhabitants are Canadian and European
French, Anglo Americans, Negroes, and a few half-
bre[e]d Indians. The French have given their tone
of manners to the place.^
There are many Indians in the neighborhood,
Delawares, Miamies, and Kaskaskians. The for-

' Birkbeck gives a reasonably full account of the expedition of
his party (including Fordham) across southern Indiana. His ob
servations on the people and resources of the state, if cursory, are
yet interesting. See Notes on a Journey in America, pp. 90-98.
2The founding of Vincennes has been assigned to various years
between 1702 and 1735. The most probable date is the latter,
though it appears that Frangois Morgan, Sieur de Vincennes, at
the command of Governor Perier of Louisiana, visited the site of
the future town as early as 1727 and erected a fort to counteract
the designs of the English on the Indian trade of the Wabash
Valley. But the first authenticated settlement of Frenchmen with
their families occurred in 1735. When George Croghan visited
the town thirty years later he found it to contain eighty or ninety
French families — "an idle, lazy people, a parcel of renegadoes
from Canada, much worse than the Indians." Tours into the
Western Country (Early Western Travels, i, pp. 141-142). Faux,
in 1819, says in his Memorable Days that although long the capi
tal and mother-town of the state, Vincennes loolced like an " old,
worn-out, dirty village of wooden frame houses, which a fire
might much improve" (Early Western Travels, xi, p. 207).
Welby (Visit to North America) gives an interesting account of
a sojourn at the place in 1819 (Early Western Travels, xii, pp. 236-
248). The generally unfavorable comments of the travellers may
be off-set and incidentally explained somewhat by the following
statement of Birkbeck (Notes, p. 105), in 1817: "There is nothing
in Vincennes, on its first appearance, to make a favourable im-

Cincinnati to Vincennes 97
mer tribe contains about 1200 warriors, and are a
fierce, determined race of men. The Miamies and
Kaskaskians, though excellent warriors, are more
mild. They all hunt and fight with rifles, and are
good marksmen. I have seen a young Delaware
warrior present a heavy rifle, and hold it immova
ble without a rest, for several minutes. Some of
the Miamies are very fine fellows; comparatively
rich. Their Tomohawks and guns are beautifully
ornamented. They ride blood ponies ; and some of
them have handsome saddles and bridles.^
I have received an invitation to visit a camp of
Miamies, a few miles hence, and to join a hunting
party. I have declined it, not being master of suf
ficient leisure, nor do I know enough of the Indian,
who invited me, to entrust myself with them.
We staid at St. Vincennes a week, then went 25
miles S. W. to a little new town, called Princetown,^
of about 20 houses, situated in the woods. We like
the place so much that a house is hired for 9 months
pression on a stranger ; but it improves on acquaintance, for it
contains agreeable people : and there is a spirit of cleanliness,
and even neatness in their houses and manner of living: there
is also a strain of politeness, which marks the origin of this settle
ment in a way very flattering to the French." The development of
Vincennes will be found well treated in the histories of Indiana
by Dillon, Dunn, and William H. Smith, and in Hubbard M.
Smith's Historical Sketches of Old Vincennes (Vincennes, 1902).
' Birkbeck gives a valuable description of the Indians of the
Vincennes region in his Notes, pp. 99-100.
^Princeton is situated about thirty miles south of Vincennes,
within two miles of the Patoka River and ten of the Wabash. The
first settlement in the vicinity was made as early as 1800. In
1813 Gibson County was erected and Princeton became its seat.
Town lots were first put on sale in 1814. The place received its
name from William Prince, an Indian agent located there in
1812, subsequently a member of Congress. Hulme (Journal)

98 Fordham's Personal Narrative
and there the ladies, servants, and myself are left,
while M'. B  &  go on to explore.
I have met with two agreeable men, of whom I
have heard excellent characters, and who have
shown me great civilities. M*^. H  and Col.
E  a gentleman from Virginia. The latter,
especially, is a very engaging man; just after my
own heart. All I have heard of him has been favor
able, and the best of it has been confirmed to me
by Gen.  an old revolutionary officer.
Col. E  and M'. H  have proposed to form
a grand hunting party, as soon as I shall be at leis
ure; and Judge P  with several experienced
hunters are to go with us. We shall be out sev
eral days. Our game will be deer, bears, and opos
sums. My health is good. I never sleep in a bed : usu
ally my cloak and saddle-blanket, spread on the
floor, form my couch. The climate is so fine, that
sleeping in open balconies is a common practice.
I left Princetown yesterday, accompanied by 
in order to copy a map of the Southern part of the
State of Indiana from the Maps of the Land Of
fice. I shall most probably finish it, and return,
tomorrow.
speaks of it in 1818 as a very dull town and says it will never
be otherwise while all the inhabitants persist in attempting to be
keepers of stores and taverns (Early Western Travels, _x, p.
46). Faux (Memorable Days) gives an account of a sojourn
there a few years after Hulme's visit (Early Western Travels,
xi, pp. 214-224). For a noteworthy word-picture of the develop
ment of little frontier towns of the type of Princeton, see Birk
beck, Notes, pp. 104-105. The families of Birkbeck and Flower were
left at Princeton in the autumn of 1817, while the Illinois prairies
were being examined and places of habitation prepared.

Cincinnati to Vincennes 99
M'. B., after he returns from the Illinois terri
tory, wishes minutely to survey the banks of the
Ohio, from the Wabash to the Great Miami.
Best land is worth 6 or 70o£ sterling per section :
further from Market 35o£ or 40o£ — uncleared.
Let important letters have duplicates, and even
triplicates, sent by different ships, and with differ
ent directions.

VI
The forests of Indiana — The Indiana Constitution — Character and
prices of land — Emigration directed further west — Commer
cial importance of the Mississippi — Unhealthy conditions on
the lower Mississippi — The Wabash — Description of Prince
ton — Prospective visit to the Illinois Territory.
July JI. l8l/,
Princetown, Gibson County, Indiana.
. . . We left Cincinnati in the last week in June,
and crossed over the Great Miami River into Indi
ana. Excepting on the banks of the Rivers Ohio and
Wabash, this state is one vast forest, intersected by
a few Blase roads^ and two or three open roads.
There are a few new towns, and some settlements
on and near the state roads and rivers. These are
generally from one to three years old ; though there
are much older and more substantial improvements
on the Ohio ; and St Vincennes on the Wabash was
settled 30 years ago. Indiana has been a state only
two years. Its constitution seems to have exhausted
the wisdom of all ages and countries — so complete
is it — and yet so simple. It has a Governor, who is
President in the Senate, and Commander in Chief
of its armies; a Lieutenant Governor; a Senate; a
Legislative body ; and is represented in Congress by
two members. Its Executive [sic] consists of Cir-
' Blaze roads are merely lines, marked through the forests by
slices of bark, like a blaze, being chopped off the trees. When
a road is surveyed, the trees are cut down, and the stumps are
left to rot in the ground. The trees on each side are notched
at convenient distances, to distinguish the State road from pri
vate ones to Plantations, and this is then called an open road.
— Fordham.

Indiana loi
cuit Courts, and a Supreme Court. Its civil code is
founded on the Common Law of England. Every
office, civil or military, is elective, and held only
during good behaviour. Every citizen is by law a
soldier, but he need not enter the regular army un
less he choose it. Every Citizen may carry what
arms he please for the defence of his person or prop
erty. Slavery is not allowed in this State. All re
ligions are equally protected. The word "tolerate"
is not to be found in the articles of their Constitu
tion.^ The land near the Water Courses is excellent.
Some of the very first quality; but all that is quite
conveniently situated on the Ohio banks, that is,
' There is a similar synopsis of the Indiana system of govern
ment in William Tell Harris's Tour Through the United States,
pp. 136-137. The main steps in the organization of civil govern
ment in Indiana may be indicated briefly. In 1800 Congress made
a division of the Northwest Territory, creating a separate Indiana
Territory which comprised practically all of the original except
Ohio. The capital was fixed at Vincennes, and William Henry
Harrison was appointed the first governor. In 1805 Congress at
tached to Indiana the " District of Louisiana " — all possessions
west of the Mississippi and north of 33° ; but this great region
was detached again in the following year. In 1805, also, the
Michigan Territory was given a separate organization. The first
general assembly of the Indiana Territory met at Vincennes July
29, 1805. In 1809 the Territory was once more pared down, Illi
nois being separated from it. By 1810 the population of Indiana
proper was 24,520. In 1813 the legislature moved the territorial
capital from Vincennes to Corydon, on the Ohio. In 1815 the
legislature petitioned Congress for the admission of Indiana as
a state, alleging that the Territory now had a population of nearly
67,000. In the enabling act which resulted, in 1816, Congress
granted the forthcoming state four sections of land to be acquired
from the Indians for a new seat of government. The legislature
appointed a commission to select a site, and after a time Indian
apolis was chosen, though as yet the place was but a wildemess
more than sixty miles from so much as a store ; the capital was
not transferred thither until 1825. In pursuance of the enabling
act a convention of delegates met at Corydon, June 10, 1816, and
framed the constitution concerning whose features Fordham
speaks. 7

I02 Fordham's Personal Narrative

high, dry, and rich, has been already entered. It
was bought at the auctions of the U. S. at high
prices, from lO to 15$ p'. acre. What was not then
sold may now be purchased at 2$ p^ acre at the
Land Offices ; but it is often better to give 6 or 7$
per acre to the first settler for his chosen section
with an improvement upon it, than to go into the
woods, away from a navigable river and take land
at the Land Office price.^ You have not a bad
'The earliest arrangements for the sale of public land were ef
fected by an ordinance of 1785, which established the quadrangular
section of 640 acres as the unit. During the next eleven years —
a period of great activity on the part of speculating land com
panies — there remained no provision for the sale oi land in small
quantities, and only after 1796 could a single section of 640 acres
be disposed of to a purchaser. Even this modification did not
open the public domain to the would-be land-holder who was
poor. In 1799 William Henry Harrison, who had been Secretary
of the Northwest Territory under the governorship of General
St. Clair, was elected by the general assembly of the Territory
to the office of delegate to Congress. Being appointed chairman
of the House committee on public lands, Harrison gave his atten
tion to drafting and securing the passage of an act authorizing the
sale of public land in half-sections, or tracts of 320 acres. By this
act (1800) it was further provided that only one-fourth ' of the
purcha.se price need be paid down, while for the rest credit of
two, three and four years was to be given. This act was prop
erly regarded as a great public boon, for its tendency was to open
the public domain to the worthy but poor emigrant — to give farms
to the many instead of plantations to the few. The process of
paring down the saleable units went on in after years, until in our
own day it has been possible to gain a title to as small an area as forty
acres. The method by which public land was divided and sold
in the period in which Fordham wrote is described with admirable
clearness by Flint, in his Letters from America, as follows : " In
the public land-offices, maps of the new lands are kept. Sections
of a square mile, and quarter sections of 160 acres, are laid down.
The squares entered are marked A. P. meaning advance paid. This
advance is half a dollar per acre, or one-fourth of the price.
Lands, when first put to sale, are offered by public auction, and
are set up at two dollars per acre. If no one offers that price,
they are exhibited on the land-office map, and may be sold at
that rate at any subsequent time. Besides the land-offices for
the sale of national property, there are agents who sell on ac
count cf individuals. I can mention Mr. Embree, of Cincinnati,
as a gentleman who does much business in this way, and with

Indiana 103'
chance, however, in this latter plan, for there is a
district as large as all England to be picked over
now. M".  and I have a great fancy to look
much reputation to himself. Lands entered at the public sales,
or at the Register's office, are payable, one fourth part of the
price at the time of purchase; one fourth at the expiry of two
years; one fourth at three years, and the remaining fourth at
four years. By law, lands not fully paid at the end of five years,
are forfeited to the government, but examples are not wanting
of States petitioning Congress for indulgence on this point, and
obtaining it. For money paid in advance at the land office a dis
count of eight per cent, per annum is allowed, till instalments to
the amount of the payment become due. For failures in the
payment of instalments, interest at six per cent, is taken till paid.
The most skilful speculators usually pay only a fourth part of the
price at entry, conceiving that they can derive a much greater
profit than eight per cent, per annum from the increasing value
of property, and occasionally from renting it out to others. Where
judicious selections are made, they calculate rightly. The land
system now adopted in the United States is admirable in regard
to ingenuity, simplicity, and liberality. A slight attention to
the map of the district, will enable any one to know at once the
relative situation of any section that he may afterwards hear
mentioned, and its direct distance in measured miles. There can
be no necessity for giving names to farms or estates, as the
designation of the particular township, and the number of the
section is sufficient, and has, besides, the singular convenience of
conveying accurate information as to where it is situated. By
the new arrangement the boundaries of possessions are most
securely fixed, and freed alike from the inconvenience of rivers
changing their course, and complexity of curved lines. Litigation
amongst neighbors as to their landmarks, is in a great measure
excluded. The title deed is printed on a piece of parchment of
the quarto size. The date, the locality of the purchase, and the
purchaser's name, are inserted in writing, and the instrument is
subscribed by the President of the United States, and the agent
of the general land office. It is delivered to the buyer free of all
expense, and may be transferred by him to another person without
using stamped paper, and without the intervention of a law prac
titioner. The business of the land office proceeds on the most
moderate principles, and with the strictest regard to justice. The
proceeds are applied in defraying the expense of government,
and form a resource against taxation. The public lands are in
reality the property of the people. The stranger who would go
into the woods to make a selection of lands, ought to take with
him an extract from the land office map applying to the part of
the country he intends to visit. Without this, he cannot well
distinguish entered from unentered grounds. He should also
procure the names of the resident people, with the numbers and
quarters of the sections they live on, not neglecting to carry

104 Fordham's Personal Narrative
at the Western side of the Illinois territory; and
since he and M'. B  have left me here, I have
received an account of a tract of land on the left
bank of the Mississippi, reaching from Kaskaskia*
nearly to S*. Louis. It is called the American bot
tom, and consists of rich Alluvium from 8 to 40
feet deep. There is a farm to be sold there of 1400
with him a pocket-compass, to enable him to follow the blazed
lines marked out by the surveyor. Blaze is a word signifying
a mark cut by a hatchet on the bark of a tree. It is the more
necessary for the explorer to be furnished thus, as he may expect
to meet with settlers who will not be willing to direct him, but,
on the contrary, tell him with the greatest effrontery, that every
neighbouring quarter section is already taken up. Squatters, a class
of men who take possession without purchasing, are afraid of
being turned cut, or of having their pastures abridged by new
comers. Others, perhaps meditating an enlargement of their prop
erty, so soon as funds will permit, wish to hold the adjoining lands
in reserve for themselves, and not a few are jealous of the land-
dealer, who is not an actual settler, whose grounds lie waste,
waiting for that advance on the value of property, which arises
from an increasing population. The non-resident proprietor is
injurious to a neighbourhood, in respect of his not bearing any part
of the expense of making roads, while other people are frequently
under the necessity of making them through his lands for their
own convenience. On excursions of this kind, the prudent will
always be cautious of explaining their views, particularly as to the
spot chosen for purchase and without loss of time they should re
turn to the land-office and make entry" (Early Western
Travels, ix, pp. 175-181). Woods (Two Years' Residence), in
1820, has a good account, similar to Flint's (Early Western
Travels, x, pp. 330-334)-
' Kaskaskia was situated on the east bank of the Kaskaskia
River, four miles east of the Mississippi. It was about 150 miles
distant from Vincennes. The town owed its origin to the migra
tion of French traders and missionaries thither about 1700, in
duced by the removal of the Kaskaskia tribe of Indians to the
region at that time. It continued a straggling settlement of
coureurs des bois and Indians until taken possession of by the
English in 1765. In 1772, after the abandonment of Fort Chartres,
Kaskaskia became the " capital " of the Illinois country. In 1778
it was captured from the English by George Rogers Clark during
the course of his notable campaigns in the West. It remained
the capital of Illinois until 1821, when it was succeeded in that
dignity by the wilderness town of Vandalia. The village was all
but ruined by a flood in 1844, and in 1847 it ceased even to be the
seat of Randolph County.

Indiana 105
acres, with house and buildings, for 5$ p"". acre ; the
land, half prairie, half wood, and all richer than
your tame, English, imagination can conceive; at
least, if it be equal to the descriptions I have of it.^
The wave of Emigration has already reached 200
miles up the Missouri. It is this thirst, this rapa
cious desire, to obtain the very best land, that keeps
Indiana so thinly inhabited.
If the whole population of England were planted
in Indiana and Illinois, there would be good land
enough in the state and territory to make every
man an independent farmer.
Were the choice left to me, I would settle on
the Ohio banks below the falls,^ or on the Missis-

' The American Bottom lay between a range of hills and the
Mississippi, extending from the Kaskaskia on the south to the
mouth of the Missouri on the north. Its length was about lOO
miles and its area something like 320,000 acres, embracing present
Monroe and St. Clair counties, with parts of Randolph and Mad
ison. It is the most extended unbroken stretch of fertile prairie
in Illinois and had the reputation in the early nineteenth century
of being the richest agricultural land in the United States. It
contained the first white settlements in Illinois — the French posts
of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Prairie du Rocher. Its name was
given it when it constituted the western boundary of the United
States, before the acquisition of Louisiana.
2The " falls " of the Ohio comprise a stretch of rapids between
Louisville and the present suburb Shippingport, two and a half
miles down stream. A ledge of rocks extending across the river
produces in this distance a descent of about twenty-five feet, ren
dering steam-boat navigation impossible except at high water and
the passage of other craft more or less hazardous at all times.
Until a canal was completed around the falls in 1830 it was gen
erally necessary for the cargoes of all boats to be unloaded at one
end, transported by land to the other end, and there reloaded
for the remainder of the voyage. The local employment thus
afforded laborers, and the desirability of distributing goods thence
as far as possible without a second loading on the river craft, in
evitably gave rise to a town, which in time grew into the city of
Louisville. The Ohio Falls were noted and described by nearly
every traveller in the West, beginning with Croghan in 1765.

io6 Fordham's Personal Narrative
sippi, — that "father of waters," as the Indians call
it, below its junction with the Missouri; because
that great river must be as much the high road of
Commerce as Main Street is in Philadelphia, or
Cheapside in London. Every kind of produce is
sent to New Orleans in the cheapest way — to
Europe if you please, or to the West Indies, for Sea
vessels are often built on the river, but flat boats are
the usual conveyances. For the conveyance of
goods up the river, keel boats are used which are
impelled by sails, oars and poles. Steam boats are
now beginning to supersede their use, and one of
400 tons burden has made several trips.^

Melish, in 1811, has a good account, accompanied by an excellent
map of the vicinity, in his Travels, ii, pp. 149-152. Descriptions
by Nuttall (Journal) in 1818, Early Western Travels, xiii, p.
66; Hulme (Journal) in 1818, Early Western Travels, x, p. 43;
and Woods (Two Years' Residence) in 1820, Early Western
Travels, x, pp. 242-243, are of value. H. McMurtrie's Sketches of
Louisville and its Environs (Louisville, 1819) contains a good de
scription and map. The long-discussed project of constructing a
canal around the falls was revived in 1804 and in that year a com
pany to undertake the work was incorporated by the legislature of
Kentucky. Owing, however, to the indifference of Louisville (whose
prosperity was thought to depend largely on the continuance of
the rehandling of goods occasioned by the lack of a canal) and
other causes, nothing further was done until 1825. In that year
a new organization, the Louisville and Portland Canal Company,
was chartered, with a capital of $600,000. It was this company
which, during the next five years, pushed the project to comple
tion. The canal was eijlarged in 1872, and in 1874, by act of
Congress, it passed under the control of the United States.
' The first steamboat to appear on the Ohio was the New Or
leans (built by Nicholas J. Roosevelt in 1810) which in 1811 de
scended to the city from which she took her name. In 1815 the
Aetna led the way in stemming the current from New Orleans to
Louisville. Thereafter steamboat navigation on the Ohio and the
Mississippi developed steadily — to such a degree, in fact, that
within a few years Wheeling, Marietta, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and
Louisville came to number shipbuilding among their most im
portant industries. In 1818 fourteen steamers were built in these

Indiana 107
Again — the Mississippi banks below the Ohio
mouth are vmiversally unhealthy, generally vmin-
habitable, from the overflowing of the River and
the many Bayous which form inland swamps of
great extent. The perpendicular rise of the river
water is sometimes 200 feet, at such times the
whole valley of the Mississippi below the Ohio is
overflowed. Now this is not the case above the
Ohio. The Bluffs of Kaskaskia are always safe.
How valuable then must land be in such situations
in a few years, when the population above, and the
trade below, have increased, so that towns, like Cin
cinnati and Pittsburg, shall be built on convenient
landing places. — The finest land in the world, on
the banks of the greatest river, with the market at
your gate.
The Wabash^ is 300 yards wide, and rolls its
cities, and in 1819, twenty-three. Estwick Evans, in his Pedestrious
Tour in 1819 writes : " In speaking of large vessels on the Ohio,
I may add that ships of large tonnage have been built on this
river, laden for the West Indies, and there sold, both vessel and
cargo. A person in Europe, unacquainted with the geography of
our western waters, would be astonished to see, in the Atlantic
Ocean, a large vessel, freighted with country produce, which was
built and laden at Pittsburg, between two and three thousand
miles from the Gulf of Mexico" (Early Western Travels, viii,
p. 269). Faux (Memorable Days) gives some valuable information
(Early Western Travels, xi, p. 198). A list of steamboats em
ployed on western rivers between 1812 and 1819 may be found in
H. McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville and its Environs (Louis
ville, 1819), pp. 200-204.
'The Wabash, or Ouabache as they called it, was regarded by
the French in early times as a very valuable highway between
Canada and Louisiana. Croghan, in 1765, wrote that " its course
runs through one of the finest countries in the world, the lands
being exceedingly rich and well-watered" (Early Western
Travels, i, p. 137). The river is about 400 miles in length. There
is a description of it, almost contemporary with Fordham's, in
Lewis C. Beck's Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri
(Albany, New York, 1823), pp. 16-17.

io8 Fordham's Personal Narrative
warm, transparent, waters over a bed of sand and
gravel. It is navigable for keels nine and for bat
teaux and flats twelve months in the year. It inter
locks with the head waters of the Great Miami of
the Lakes. Its Eastern fork, the Missisipany, rises
in rich low ground, and so near to the springs of
St. Mary's, which is the principal branch of the
Miami of the lakes, that when the waters are high,
boats pass over the intervening land.^ Congress has
voted a piece of land to raise funds for making a
Canal here, which will connect the Lakes, the St.
Lawrence, and the Northern Ocean with the Mis
sissippi and the Gulf of Mexico. There is some
fine land on the Wabash, both above and below St.
Vincetmes. Princetown, where we now reside, is situated
about ten miles from the Wabash, 12 from the
White River, 28 from the Ohio, and 30 South of
Vincennes. It stands on a range of hills in the
midst of wood^. It was laid out 3 years ago, but
one cabin stood here 1 1 years ago. There are three
small brick, four or five frame, and seven or eight
log, houses, and about a dozen cabins in the town.
The stumps of the trees have not yet had time to
rot away in the streets, which are therefore dan
gerous to walk in after dark. We have hired a
small frame house, with a log kitchen &c, adjoin
ing a good garden and stable.

iThe sources of the eastern fork of the Wabash and of the
St. Mary's are in the vicinity of the present town of Selina, Ohio.
By the Miami of the Lakes is meant tbe Maumee.

Indiana 109

The woods around us are inhabited by Indians,
bears, wolves, deer, opossums and racoons. We
hear the howling of the wolves every evening, as
they are driven back from the farmyards by the
dogs, who flock together to repel the invaders.
In looking in the maps, I find I am wrong in
saying, that the Indians inhabit the neighborhood.
Their boundary line is thirty miles hence, but they
often hunt here.
August f. 1 1 at night. I delayed finishing this
letter, because  returned two days ago, and
M"". B  this evening. I am going off tomorrow
by sunrise to the Illinois territory, to explore the
Little Wabash for a mill seat  G  will go
part of the way with me.
I am informed that the Illinois is a most beauti
ful country; — quite unsettled in the interior, with
no accommodations for travellers but such as the
cabins of the hunter afford. In my next letter I
hope I shall be able to give you some important in
formation. . . . I wish you could see your brother mount
his horse to morrow morning. I will give you a
sketch. A broad brimmed straw hat, — long trous
ers and moccasins, — shot pouch and powder horn
slung from a belt, — rifle at his back, in a sling, —
tomohawk in a holster at his saddle bow, — a pair
of saddle bags stuffed with shirts and gingerbread,
made by an old friend of yours, — Boat cloak and
Scotch tent buckled behind the saddle. . . .
Good bye.

1 10 Fordham's Personal Narrative
P. S. Tell  and  that I like them well
enough to wish them here. Bears eat neither cows,
hogs, nor sheep, till they have been accustomed to
see them two or three years ; by that time they are
himted away.

VII
Physical character of southern Illinois — The English Prairie —
Three lines of communication with the Atlantic — Settlers in
and about the English Prairies — Rates of freightage — Cost
of travel — A tabular view of products — Fauna of the region —
Salt deposits — Cost of building — Advantages of the back
woods settler — Profits of trade — Land the basis of wealth —
The Mississippi river system — Slaves and bound persons —
Classes of frontier settlers — Character of the backwoodsman —
Democratic manners — Signs of progress — How to take up
land — Eastern ignorance of the West — The climate — Size of
the Illinois Territory — Opportunities for capital in Illinois —
No prejudice against liberal-minded Englishmen.
Shawanoe town} Illinois Territory
Noif. 15. 181/.
I AM here resting from a journey through part
of the Wabash country, and I gladly seize this
opportunity of describing it. But I must first ex-
' Shawneetown, so named because of the identification in early
times of the Shawnee Indians with its locality, was laid out in
1808. It is situated in Gallatin County, Illinois, twelve miles
north of the junction of the Saline River with the Ohio. Cum
ing tells us in his Sketches that already before the end of 1808
the town comprised twenty-four cabins and was a place of consid
erable resort on account of the salt-works twelve miles distant [see
p. 120, note] (Early Western Travels, iv, p. 271). Nuttall, in 1818,
called the place a mere "handful of log cabins" (Early West
ern Travels, xiii, p. 71). In the summer of the same year Will
iam Tell Harris visited it, afterwards writing in his Remarks (p.
139) : " From the situation of Shawneetown its inhabitants might
be supposed to partake of the nature of the wild duck, for every
year they expect to be driven, by the waters, to their upper stories,
as land high enough to avoid them is not to be found within a
mile of the place; the consequent unhealthiness of such a spot is
apparent in the sallow complexions of those who here deprive
themselves of many comforts, and risk both health and life, for the
sake of gain; considerable business being done here, as it is on the
road from the southern States to St. Louis, and the Missouri, and
the land -office is here." This land-office was for the southeast dis
trict of Illinois and had been established only a few months before
Harris wrote. Fearon, in his Sketches (p. 260), says the town had
still only about thirty log houses when he visited it in 1817. Its
chief importance lay in its situation respecting the chief routes
of trade, especially down the Ohio and from south central Illinois.

112 Fordham's Personal Narrative
press my regret that I have not yet received a let
ter from old England. . . .
That part of the Illinois Territory^ which lies
between the great and little Wabash rivers and
south of the latter to the Ohio, is about as hilly as
Hertfordshire. It is intersected with a vast num
ber of streams or creeks, and interspersed with
prairies or natural meadows, containing from i,ooo
to 100,000 acres. They are very irregular in figure,
and are dotted and clumped with trees, like Eng
lish parks. Some of the smallest are low, flat, and
swampy, but the greatest part are high, dry, and
rolling. The soil of the latter is generally light,
and very rich ; consisting of a due mixture of vege
table mould, sand, and clay lying on sand rock.

'The stages in the political evolution of the Illinois Territory
may be indicated briefly. December 12, 1778, after the conquest
by George Rogers Clark, the legislature of Virginia constituted
what was known as the County of Illinois. In 1784 the region
was ceded to the nation by Virginia, and it then became a part of
the Northwest Territory, definitely organized in 1787. By act of
May 7, 1800, Congress divided the Northwest Territory, giving
the name Indiana to all west of a line beginning on the Ohio op
posite the mouth of the Kentucky River and continuing through
Fort Recovery to the northern limits of the United States [see
p. loi, note]. As the population of the Illinois country grew, a strong
demand was made for a separate territorial organization. The
result was that by act of February 23, 1809, the Territory of
Illinois was set aside from Indiana, with boundaries the same as
those of the present state, except that they extended northward
to Canada. Ninian Edwards was appointed first governor, and
Kaskaskia was made the capital. [For admission to statehood see
p. 174, note 2.] On the early history of Illinois the following works
will be found useful : John Reynolds, The Pioneer History of
Illinois (Chicago, 1887) ; Henry Brown, History of Illinois from
its first Discovery and Settlement (New York, 1844) ; Ninian
W. Edwards, History of Illinois from 1777 to 1783; and Life and
Times of Ninian Edwards (Springfield, 1870) ; Alexander David
son and Bernard Stuve, Complete History of Illinois from 1673
to 1873 (Springfield, 1874) ; and John Moses, Illinois, Historical
and Statistical (Chicago, 1889).

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ENGLISH PRAIRIE
Every square is one mile, and contains 640 acres. Thirty-six miles
form a township. The squares are called sections and are sold entire or in
quarters, price 2$ in four annual installments. Discount for cash 6
p' cent.
The Illinois Territory 115
Limestone has been found in the Piankeshaw vil
lage prairie,^ which is divided from the Boltonhouse^
or English Prairie by only two miles of timbered
land. On the English Prairie very excellent brick
earth has been found by M"". Birkbeck.
The English Prairie^ lies in Latitude 38° 30'
North, and Longitude 88° west of London. It is
4j^ miles long and 4 miles wide. It is high on the
North and East sides and has some beautiful situ
ations for houses. A creek runs through it, and
there are a dozen branches which are filled by every
shower of rain.
M"'. Birkbeck's* house will be on the spot marked
' A district west from Vincennes which took its name from
the Piankeshaw Indians, a branch of the Miamis, who had in
habited it when it first became known to the whites.
2 " The English prairie was first called Boltinghouse prairie, from
a young man of that name, who was killed by the Indians a few
years ago." John Woods, Two Years' Residence (Early West
ern Travels, x, p. 270).
SFor Birkbeck's description of this prairie — the special field of his
colonizing operations — see his Notes, pp. 129-131. It lay almost due
north of the mouth of the Great Wabash, about forty-five miles
from its shipping port, Shawneetown.
4For facts regarding Birkbeck and his Illinois settlement see
Introduction, p. 23 et seq. A full account may be found in George
Flower's History of the English Settlement in Edwards County,
Illinois (Chicago, 1882), edited by Elihu B. Washburne, as Vol
ume I of the Chicago Historical Society's Collections. Con
temporary descriptions of the settlement are Woods, Two Years'
Residence (Early Western Travels, x, p. 271) ; Welby, Visit to
North America (Early Western Travels, xii, p. 248, ff.) ; William
Tell Harris, Remarks, pp. 137-139; and William Faux, Memorable
Days (Early Western Travels, xi, p. 252, ff.). The observations
made by these writers, with the exception of Woods, were gener
ally unfavorable. Adam Hodgson, in his Letters from North
America (London, 1824), ii, pp. 64-77, gives a very discouraging re
port of the enterprise, based, however, not on personal knowledge,
but merely on the complaints of discontented settlers who were
returning East from the Illinois country. A fairly useful essay
entitled " Morris Birkbeck and his Friends," by Daniel Barry, has
appeared in Publication No. 9 of the Illinois State Historical
Library (Springfield, 1904), PP- 259-273.

Ii6 Fordham's Personal Narrative
+, and we have a hunting cabin on the spot marked
o; and there will probably be a range of cottages
on the dotted line 
The little Wabash,^ a fine mill stream, which de
scends from the North 2 or 300 miles, is six miles
west of the Prairie. The big Wabash, a navigable
river, which interlocks with the Miami of the Lakes,
will probably be connected with it by a canal; at
present the portage is 8 miles. The Indian traders
ascend the Wabash, descend the Miami, and trav
erse Lake Erie in 30 days. We have thus at our
very doors 3 lines of communication with the At
lantic, chiefly, or entirely, by water, i'*. from
Baltimore, Pittsburg, and the Ohio. 2^. The Wa
bash, the Lakes, and the S'. Lawrence. 3*. The
Wabash, the Ohio, and the Mississippi. On all
these rivers there are large commercial towns.
The Steam boats descend the Ohio and the Mis
sissippi so rapidly that I could be with you in Hert
fordshire, via New Orleans, in two months.
The spaces on the map contained by the dark
lines are M*". Birkbeck's and M*". Flower's pur
chases.^ They have divided them by a meridian

'The Littie Wabash rises near the source of the Kaskaskia, in
central Illinois, flows southward, and empties into the Great Wa
bash in Gallatin County, Illinois.
2 For facts regarding the settlement of George Flower and sub
sequently his father Richard, in Illinois, see Introduction, pp.
23-27. The best account of the whole Birkbeck-Flowef enterprise
is the younger Flower's History of the EngUsh Settlement in
Edwards County, Illinois, referred to in note 4, p. 115. This book
was written during the author's later years, when, after suffering
financial reverses, he was living with his children in southern
Indiana and Illinois. The unfortunate quarrel which alienated the

The Illinois Territory 117
line a.b. Besides this, they have made entry of
another prairie, near the little Wabash. The dots
are entries made by American Back-woodsmen.
All but six have been made since August. There
were none at that time in the Village Prairie, two
miles to the North of us: there are now 15. A M''.
DePugh made an entry of a quarter section in the
Village Prairie; a month afterwards, he wished
to sell in order to purchase close to our settlement,
and he has been bid 3>4$ p^ acre for his land.
Let us go back to the means of access to our
settlement. It is on a ridge between the Great and
Little Wabash ; nearly equi-distant from both. The
former is always navigable; the latter two months
in the year; and two days ago, I signed a petition
to the Governor, requesting permission and au
thority to form a Company, for the purpose of ren
dering it permanently navigable.
M'. Birkbeck's and Flower's purchase in the
Brushy Prairie^ will then be greatly inhanced in
value, — for it lies within two miles of it.
The present rate of freightage is — from Shawnee
to Orleans 1$ per hundred lbs. — back 4^/2$ — to
Pittsburg 3J^$ — from Pittsburg 1$ — from Louis
ville, Kentucky, 2,7 y2 cents — from Shawnee, or the

Birkbeck and Flower families soon after the settlement was estab
lished is related in detail in Faux's Memorable Days (Early
Western Travels, xi, p. 272, ff.).
iThe Brushy Prairie lay on the east bank of the Little Wabash
(in Wayne County), seven miles southwest of Albion and eleven
east of Fairfield.

II 8 Fordham's Personal Narrative
mouth of the Wabash, to Carmi,^ on the little Wa
bash, 20 miles below us, 37^ cents — to the nearest
point of the Wabash to our settlement 50 cents —
down the stream to Shawnee 5 cents p"". hundred
lbs — from Vincennes on the Wabash to the Boon
pas ^ — 5 cents.
Passage in Stage and expenses of a journey from
Philadelphia to Pittsburg 50$ — Journey down the
Ohio 900 miles 10 to 15$ — To Orleans 30$ by
Steamboat and back again up the Mississippi 90$
— To St. Louis, by the Steamboat, 20$ — by land
on horseback 8$.
The Illinois territory produces the finest crops of
corn and grain of any country in the world.
I will give you a rough estimate of produce per
acre and value.* $ Cents
Indian Corn — 50 to 80 bushels . .25 per bush.
Wheat — 25 to 30 . ... .75
Barley — say 32 ... . .75
Oats — 50  37J^
Tobacco — 12 to 15 hundred lbs. . . 4.50 per hundred lbs.
Cotton for domestic manufacture . 40.00
Pork — fatted in the woods 3.50
Do. — corn-fed . . 4,00
' Carmi, seat of White County, Illinois, is twenty miles above the
mouth of the Little Wabash.
2 The Bonpas is a small stream to the east of the English Prairie,
flowing southward and emptying into the Great Wabash about
forty-five miles below Vincennes. It forms the present eastern
boundary of Edwards County. On the creek, twelve miles distant
from Albion, was a little village known as Bonpas which served
as a " port " for the English settlement. Commodities were car
ried back and forth between the settlement and this station on
horses or in wagons. The waterway from Bonpas to Shawnee
town was about sixty miles in length.
'A table of prices, wages, etc. in Kentucky at about the same
time is given by Flint in his Letters from America (Early West
ern Travels, ix, pp. 139-140) ; one for Ohio may be found in Hulme's
Journal (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 74-75).

The Illinois Territory 119

Beef ...

5-«»

Hides ...

12.00 pr. hund<J. lbs.

Maple Sugar

37-50 

Honey

-75 per gallon.

A day's work .

.50 with board.

A labourer's board .

.121^

A horse and man, one day
Do. with a plough

I 25 \ ""'ithout board.

A good horse .

60.00

A handsome saddle horse

. 100.00

A Cow

. 20.00

An Ox . .

. 12.00

A Sow with Pigs

6.00

Shop-goods — double what they are in England.
In the Woods there are great quantities of
Grapes, Walnuts, Hickory Nuts, and Parsimins;
and, in low river bottoms, Pocoons, a species of thin
shelled walnut, and little pappaws. Raspberries and
strawberries grow wild ; as do also hops and indigo.
Hemp and flax are cultivated; and I have eaten in
these wilds as fine musk and water Melons, as I
have in France.^
Game is as plentiful here as in other parts of the
U. S. east of the Mississippi. Bears, Deer, Racoons,
and Beavers, are chiefly valued by the hunters.
There are wolves, a very few panthers, and some
elk in remote situations ; Also Turkeys, Pheasants,
American Partridges, prairie Hens, and innumer
able Squirrels, which are delicious food. The rivers
abound with fish, some species of which weigh up
wards of 100 Ibs.^
There are many Salt ponds. Those at the Saline
' A full description of the plant life of the Illinois prairies is
given in Woods, Two Years' Residence (Early Western Travels,
X, pp. 292-309).
2 The fauna of the Illinois country is described by Woods, Two
Years' Residence (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 281-292).
8

I20 Fordham's Personal Narrative
river near Shawnee, yield 150,000 bushels of salt
annually at 75 Cents per bushel. The Wabash,
White River, Ohio, and Illinois rivers have coal
banks. I cannot enumerate all the natural produc
tions of this fine country, which literally flows with
milk and honey. "Man is the only growth that's
wanted here:" and that want will soon be supplied.
Every log Cabin is swarming with half -naked chil
dren. Boys of 18 build huts, marry, and raise hogs
and children at about the same expenee.
A Cabin of rough logs, containing 2 rooms costs
50$ — Ditto, smoothed by the axe 60$. A brick
house containing 4 rooms 12 feet square with shin
gled roof 600$. A Kitchen detached, log built 30$.
Smoke house 20$. .Stable for 4 horses, with loft,
35$. Corn house 30$. Barn 100$. Fencing with
split-rails 25 Cents per rod. Ditching in the Prai
ries 31^; one rail and stakes to do, with hedge
planted, perhaps, 123^ Cents more.
Farming will not, perhaps, pay more per Cent
here than it does in England, if the farmers per
sonal labour be deducted. There is an obvious rea
son for this; although we are here 1500 miles from
the sea, yet the water communication is so expedi
tious and cheap, that the prices in West Indian and

IThe salt-works on the Saline were about twelve miles from
Shawneetown. They supplied the settlers of all southern Illinois
and a large portion of those in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and in
the territories along the lower Mississippi. Woods tells us that
by 1820 they produced about 300,000 bushels annually. Prior to
1818 the salt-works were held as a government reservation, the
surrounding land being leased to the operators. When Illinois was
admitted to the Union the proprietorship of the salt fields was
given over to the new commonwealth.

The Illinois Territory 121
European Markets affect the value of produce here,
so wonderfully and beautifully does the commerce
undisturbed by war connect men living in the most
distant regions, and equalize the profits of produc
ing food.
But, still the advantage is greatly in favour of
the back settler in America : His table is profusely
furnished ; if he choose, with delicacies : He is lord
of the soil he cviltivates : His land tax, on first rate
land, is i Cent per acre; on second rate % of a
Cent: And the lowest estimate of the annual rise
of the value of his Estate, even when unimproved
by cultivation and building, is 16 per Cent per
annum on first cost.
Trade, from the general want of capital, and
other causes with which I am unacquainted, is ex
ceedingly profitable. 75 to 100 per Cent is reck
oned a good profit; 50 per cent is a living profit;
25 p''. cent, will not keep a man to his business, he
will look out for something else. A Tanner is now
in the room, who has quitted N. York and a busi
ness which paid him 30 p"". Cent. He is going to
St. Louis to establish himself there with the expec
tation of getting Cent per Cent.
I had the following account from a River Trader

Dr.

c-.

A boat of 36 tons burden

from Orleans to Louis

ville
$
$
14 men at 75 $ . .
1050
Freight of 36 tons at 90$ 3240
—board for 75 days .
52s
Deduct expences i7So
—extra pay to Steersman
75
— wear of boat . . .
100
1750
Clear profit remaining 1490
122 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Freighting down to Orleans will pay the expenee
of going, and leave one or two hundred dollars
overplus. But if, besides 700 dollars, the price of
a new boat completely rigged, the owner has a cap
ital of 1500 or 2000$, he may make the Voyage
down pay him from 500 to 1500 dollars. The whole
trip is completed in two or three months. Steam
boats pay better interest still, and are gradually
increasing in number and perfection of machin
ery. . . .
Moreover, Land is the basis of wealth. The
possession of it is sure to enrich the purchaser, if
he has selected it with any judgment. The enhance
ment of its value does not depend on contingent
circumstances, but on the never ceasing and pro
gressive increase of the human race. We are here
on the most favorable spot for buying it; we have
headed the tide of Emigration.
My friends have made their election almost be
fore a civilized being had set his foot upon this
ground, which a few months ago was traversed only
by the Savage or the hunter. From the contempla
tion of an entire continent, they descended to the
examination of limited states. With minds unbi
assed and intensely fixed upon its object they have
passed by every district that offered peculiar ad
vantages, till they found one that contained an
aggregate of all: — the climate of Virginia, — the
fertility of Ohio, — a commercial communication
with the Ocean, — Prairies, like those of the Mis-

The Illinois Territory 123
souri, — the Minerals from the North and East, —
and — freedom from slavery.
If you will look at any of the Maps constructed
since the Travels of Pike or Lewis and Clarke have
been published,^ and the surveys of the Land Offices
have been exhibited, you will see that Rivers, to
which the Thames is but an insignificant stream,
are from the North, the East, and the West, into
the Valley of the Mississippi, "the father of waters."
This again rolls the floods of half a Continent into

'The western explorations of Zebulon Pike and of Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark, between 1804 and 1807, had their origin
in the desire of President Jefferson to find out what sort of coun
try it was that, under the name of Louisiana, had recently been
purchased from Napoleon. Pike made two exploring trips of im
portance. The first was undertaken in 1805, under the immediate
direction of General James Wilkinson. It comprised an ascent
of the Mississippi from St. Louis for the purpose of selecting sites
for military posts, treating with the northem Indians, and ascer
taining whether the British were in possession of any places on
the Canadian frontier properly belonging to the United States.
Cass Lake, at the mouth of TTurtle River, was the limit of this
expedition. The second trip was longer and more important. It
was undertaken in 1806 and embraced an ascent of the Missouri
as far as the Osage, an overland passage through Kansas to the
Arkansas, an ascent of this river as far as Leadville, Colorado,
and a capture in 1807 by Spanish dragoons on the Rio Grande del
Norte, which afforded an unexpected opportunity to view the lands
and peoples of the Southwest. The first record of Pike's travels
given to the public was An Account of Expeditions to the Sources
of the Mississippi, and through the Western Parts of Louisiana, to
the Sources of the Arkansaw, etc. (Philadelphia, 1810). The book
went through numerous editions. The best for use to-day is Elliott
Coues (editor). The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike
to the Headwaters of the Mississippi River, through Louisiana Ter
ritory, and in New Spain, during the Years 1805-6-7 (New York,
1895). It appears that Jefferson planned some such expedition as
that later undertaken by Lewis and Clark while the Louisiana ter
ritory was still a French possession and in the hands of the Span
iards. After June, 1803, when the news of the purchase treaty
reached America, preparations which had been begun under cover
were rapidly pushed to completion. Captain Lewis, a Virginian and
the President's private secretary, was designated to head the enter
prise, and by him another Virginian, Captain Clark, was selected
as chief associate. The Lewis and Clark party, twenty-nine in num-

124 Fordham's Personal Narrative
a Gulf, which seems to be designed by Nature to
be the very focus of Commerce — the centre of the
habitable world.
The Illinois territory is watered by five of the
most important of these streams. It is bounded by
no tract of land intended by Nature to be a desert.
Northward lies one inland Sea, and North East
ward, it has water communication with another.
The ease with which property is acquired by the
industrious, produces an equality unknown in old
Countries. No white man or woman will bear being
called a servant, but they will gladly do your work.
ber, spent the winter of 1803-04 in camp at the mouth of the Mis
souri; the summer and autumn of 1804 in ascending the Missouri;
the winter of 1804-05 in a stockade among the Mandan Indians
in North Dakota; the summer and autumn of 1805 in pushing on
across the mountains to the Pacific coast; the winter of 1805-06 in
camp at Fort Clatsop, studying the country and its resources; and
the summer of 1806 in effecting the return journey to St. Louis.
The explorers, according to instructions, kept elaborate journals,
and in 1807 one of these — that of Patrick Gass — was published. In
the same year a Philadelphia house put out a prospectus announc
ing the forthcoming publication of the journals kept by Lewis and
Clark. Lewis, however, was soon made governor of the Louisiana
Territory and Clark was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs
and brigadier-general of militia — positions which involved heavy
duties and seriously delayed the preparation of the journals for
the press. In 1809 Lewis took up the work afresh, but met his
death before getting well started. Clark then secured the assist
ance of an editor in the person of Nicholas Biddle of Philadelphia
and the manuscript was finally prepared — only to be rejected as a
publishing venture by every one to whom submitted until 1813.
The work was finally seen through the press by a Philadelphia
newspaper man by the name of Paul Allen. The Biddle-Allen edi
tion of the journals was a mere paraphrase, made as readable as
possible by the omission of practically all of the scientific data,
which in fact gave the writings their chief claim to value. For
tunately the original manuscripts were secured by Jefferson, being
placed for safe keeping in the archives of the American Philo
sophical Society. Due to the enterprise of this organization we
have now a most excellent reprint of the journals, edited by Dr.
R. G. Thwaites under the title Original Journals of the Lewis and
Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 (New York, 1904), 7 volumes and
Atlas.

The Illinois Territory 125
Your hirelings must be spoken to with Civility and
cheerfulness. Domestic services, perhaps, will be
obtained with difficulty.
Respectable families from Kentucky, who do not
distinguish between a Servant and a Slave, do all
their domestic work, except washing, with their
own hands; others indenture negroes for 10 or 15
years; but having been accustomed to treat their
Slaves with severity, they generally spoil the tem
pers of their bound servants, whom they have not
so much under command.
The people who live on these frontiers may be
divided into four classes, — not perfectly distinct
yet easily distinguishable.^
i^'. The hunters, a daring, hardy, race of men,
who live in miserable cabins, which they fortify in
times of War with the Indians, whom they hate but
much resemble in dress and manners. They are
unpolished, but hospitable, kind to Strangers, hon
est and trustworthy. They raise a little Indian
corn, pumpkins, hogs, and sometimes have a Cow

'Fearon, in his Sketches of America (pp. 263-264) says: "The
inhabitants of Illinois may, perhaps, be ranked as follows : First,
the Indian hunters, who are neither different in character or pur
suits from their ancestors in the days of Columbus. 2nd, The
' Squatters,' who are half-civilized and half-savage. These are, in
character and habits, extremely wretched : indeed, I prefer the
genuine uncontaminated Indian. 3rd, A medley of land jobbers,
lawyers, doctors, and farmers, who traverse this immense continent,
founding settlements, and engaging in all kinds of speculation.
4th, Some old French settlers, possessed of considerable property,
and living in ease and comfort." Another attempt to classify the
population of the West will be found in Flint's Letters (Early
Western Travels, ix, pp. 232-236). Cuming, Sketches (Early
Western Travels, iv, pp. 135-140) and Bradbury, Travels (Early
Western Travels, v, pp. 281-287) have descriptions of value for a
somewhat earlier period.

126 Fordham's Personal Narrative
or two, and two or three horses belonging to each
family: But their rifle is their principal means of
support. They are the best marksmen in the world,
and such is their dexterity that they will shoot an
apple off the head of a companion. Some few use
the bow and arrow. I have spent 7 or 8 weeks
with these men, have had opportunities of trying
them, and believe they would sooner give me the
last shirt off their backs, than rob me of a charge
of powder. Their wars with the Indians have made
them vindictive. This class cannot be called first
Settlers, for they move every year or two.
2^. class. First settlers ; — a mixed set of hunters
and farmers. They possess more property and com
forts than the first class; yet they are a half bar
barous race. They follow the range pretty much;
selling out when the Country begins to be well set
tled, and their cattle cannot be entirely kept in the
woods. 3^. class. -^ is composed of enterprising men from
Kentucky and the Atlantic States. This class con
sists of Young Doctors, Lawyers, Storekeepers,
farmers, mechanics &c, who found towns, trade,
speculate in land, and begin the fabric of Society.
There is in this class every gradation of intellectual
and moral character ; but the general tone of Social
manners is yet too much relaxed. There is too much
reliance upon personal prowess, and the laws have
not yet acquired sufficient energy to prevent vio
lence. Such are the Inhabitants of the Southern parts of

The Illinois Territory iz'J
Indiana, and of Shawanoe town, St. Louis, St. Gene
vieve,^ and the large settlements on the Mississippi.
4*. class— old settlers, rich, independent, farm
ers, wealthy merchants, possessing a good deal of
information, a knowledge of the world, and an
enterprising spirit. Such are the Ohio men. West
ern Pennsylvanians, Kentuckians and Tenessee
men. The young men have a military taste, and
most of them have served in the late war. They
were great duellists, but now the laws against duel
ling are more strictly enforced; they carry dirks,
and sometimes decide a dispute on the spot. Ir
ritable and dissipated in youth, yet they are gener
ally steady and active in Manhood. They under
take with facility, and carry on with unconquerable
ardour, any business or speculation that promises
great profit, and sustain the greatest losses with a
firmness that resembles indifference.
You will perceive from this slight sketch, which
I have made as impartially as I am able, that the
Backwoods men, as they are called somewhat con
temptuously by the Inhabitants of the Atlantic
States, are admirably adapted by Nature and edu
cation for the scenes they live and act in. The
prominent feature of their character is power. The
young value themselves on their courage, the old
'The original Ste. Genevieve was situated about three miles south
of the present town of the name, in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.
The date of its founding is uncertain; 1732 is not improbable.
In 1763, when the Louisiana territory east of the Mississippi was
transferred by France to England, Ste. Genevieve, being one of the
two French towns on the western bank of the Mississippi, received
a considerable influx of population from the ceded country. But
it never became a place of importance^

128 Fordham's Personal Narrative
on their shrewdness. The veriest villains have
something grand about them. They expect no
mercy and they shew no fear ; "every man's hand is
against them, and their hand is against every
man's." As social Comforts are less under the protection
of the laws here, than in old countries, friendship
and good neighbourhood are more valued. A man
of good character is an acquisition; not that there
is a small proportion of such men, but because the
bad are as undisguisedly bad, as their opposites are
professedly good. This is not the land of Hypoc
risy. It would not here have its reward. Religion
is not the road to worldly respectability, nor a pos
session of it the cloak to immorality.
I wish I could give you a correct idea of the
perfect equality that exists among these republi
cans. A Judge leaves the Court house, shakes
hands with his fellow citizens and retires to his log-
house. The next day you will find him holding his
own plough. The Lawyer has the title of Captain,
and serves in his Military capacity under his neigh
bour, who is a farmer and a Colonel. The shop
keeper sells a yard of tape, and sends shiploads of
produce to Orleans ; he travels 2000 miles in a year ;
he is a good hunter, and has been a soldier; he
dresses and talks as well as a London Merchant,
and probably has a more extensive range of ideas ;
at least he has fewer prejudices. One prejudice,
however, nothing will induce him to give up — he
thinks the Americans in general, and particularly

The Illinois Territory 129
those of his own state, are the best soldiers in the
world. Such is the native Shopkeeper: the East
ern Emigrant is very different.
I have not seen an effeminate, or a feeble man,
in mind or body, belonging to these Western Coun
tries. The most ignorant, compared with men of
the same standing in England, are well informed.
Their manners are coarse; but they have amongst
themselves a code of politeness, which they gener
ally observe. Drinking whisky is the greatest pest,
the most fertile source of disorders, amongst them.
When intoxicated by it, they sometimes fight most
furiously. In this they resemble the Lower Irish.
There is an universal spirit of enquiry amongst
all classes of people. In the state of Indiana, in
which there is but one town that is of six years
standing, there are several Book-clubs. News
papers and Reviews from Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Kentucky, and S*. Louis, are received weekly.
When we arrived at Princetown, there was no Post-
office nearer than Vincennes ; now we have the Mail
once a fortnight, and shall soon have a Western
and a Southern mail every week.
M''. Birkbeck was known here by his writings,
before he came to America. His tour through
France has been read at S*. Louis.^ His settlement

' George Flower, in his History of the English Settlement in Ed
wards County, Illinois (p. 23), tells of the writing of this book
as follows : "After the downfall of Napoleon the First, and the
peace succeeding to a twenty-years' war, Mr. Birkbeck invited me
to accompany him in a journey to France, to which I readily
acceded. We travelled together three months in that country, avoid
ing the usual route of English travel. Passing from north to south,
to the shores of the Mediterranean, skirting the Pyrenees, and re-

i3'o Fordham's Personal Narrative
has already attracted the attention of Land Specu
lators and Farmers. W  of Philadelphia
writes: "I have directed 120 Germans to you; they
are proceeding toward Ohio, and you will proba
bly receive a deputation from them."
M'. J  of Philadelphia wishes to send a num
ber of families to our neighbourhood. I met him
at Cincinnati in September. He requested me to
select 5,000 acres for him; which I declined to do.
He wants 20,000 acres.
I think of entering some land about Sections 12
and 13. The land is high, soil light, and tolerably
rich. Timber — good ; not standing thick, but pretty
large; it is black oak, hickory, walnut, with some
white oak. A Stream winds through a narrow val
ley between the hills, and the house if placed on
the mark # would command a view of the whole
prairie, and have a southern and western aspect.
If any persons in England would like to possess
a small stake in this Country, I could procure it for
them thus. A.B. in England advances the first and
second installments of J.^$ per acre per annum. I
pay the third ahd fourth, and have the option of
holding the land as a partner, or of selling it by
auction. If I should fail in making my payments,
the land is secured to us for five years. It would
turning through the heart of the country by a more easterly route
to Paris, we saw more of the country and Frenchmen at home,
than we otherwise should, if confined to any one of the popular routes
of travel. . . . On our return Mr. Birkbeck published his 'Notes
of a Journey through France' [London: W. Phillips, 1814]. It
had a wide circulation in England, and was well known in Amer
ica. It was the first book I met with at Monticello, the residence of
Thomas Jefferson."

The Illinois Territory 131
then be sold by the U. S. and the overplus of 2$
would revert to the original purchasers. To a share
of this overplus I should then relinquish all claim,
and return it entire to my partner A.B. But, if
I pay my installments, I should be an equal sharer
with A.B., putting my knowledge of land acquired
by travelling, and studying the subject on the spot,
and also my trouble, against the credit of i dollar
per acre for two years. This is the plan M'. E 
acts upon.
Were you to ask me, "Do you think the Illinois
Territory would be the best place in the U. S. for
me to emigrate to, supposing that I could with pro
priety and prudence leave England?" I should hesi
tate in giving an affirmative to this question. You
want the society that is to be found near old estab
lished towns, comforts ready made to your hands.
You ought to enjoy them at your time of life. Easy
and constant intercourse with Europe, a quiet and
respectable neighbourhood, religious institutions,
and access to large libraries, are advantages you
would probably not like to forego. The vicinity of
Philadelphia, the Jerseys, many parts of the State
of New York, present them all to you.
The inhabitants of the Eastern ports know no
more about this country, than you do in England.
Some are afraid to cross the Mountains: so many
terrible stories of it are in circulation. Kentucky,
or Bloody Ground, as it used to be called, seems
to them to be the verge of the habitable world.
These prejudices are, however, disappearing. The

I3'2 Fordham's Personal Narrative
rising, and already important, commerce of the
West is becoming an object of their jealousy. The
poorer and more enterprising of the farmers leave
the inhospitable climates of the North, and find here
fertile lands and short winters.
The hottest weather of July and August did not
injure my health; yet the thermometer was fre
quently as high as 90, generally at 80 at noon. I
enjoyed that weather very much. This Autumn
more rain has fallen than has ever been remem
bered at this season of the year. It has at length
ceased, and we have now fine sunshiny days and
slightly frosty nights. Heavy freezing, I am told,
sets in at Christmas, and lasts from three to six
weeks. Then the snow melts, and Spring comes
on rapidly. I have been writing all day with the
door open to the road, and this is the 24*. day of
November. Farmers are now gathering their Indian corn,
which they pick from the stalks. Their wheat was
cut in June, and housed in July. They will begin
soon to kill their pork for the Orleans market.
I have written a long letter of heterogeneous ob
servations just as they have arisen in my mind.
You will perceive that I have taken care to state
every thing exactly as the impressions I have felt
were left upon me. So rapid is improvement in this
Country, that by the time you read them, circum
stances will be altered, and many statements will be
incorrect. I must add a word or two more. The Illinois

The Illinois Territory 133
Territory has but a small proportion of Indian
Lands. In this it has greatly the advantage of In
diana, in which state the Indians possess two thirds
of the soil.^ So that, in the improbable event of
another war, there will be no fighting near the Eng
lish settlement. We shall of course be called upon,
and be ready, I hope, to defend our neighbours ; for
here every man is a soldier.
Illinois is 300 miles long and 200 broad; it con
tains 50,000 square miles, or 32 millions of acres.
It is supposed to contain 30,000 inhabitants, who
are scattered about, chiefly on the banks of rivers.
There is so much to be done and such a field for
exertion, that no one need be discouraged from

' The lands comprising the present state of Indiana were acquired
from the Indians by means of a long series of treaties and agree
ments between 1795 and 1840. By the treaty of Greenville, nego
tiated by General Wayne in 1795, the work was begun by the ac
quisition of large tracts, mainly in Ohio, but including lands in the
future Indiana Territory on the Wabash and at the junction of
the St. Mary and St. Joseph, and George Rogers Clark's grant on
the Ohio. When, in 1800, William Henry Harrison was made
governor of the newly organized Territory, he was invested with
genera! powers to conclude treaties with the natives relating to the
proprietorship of lands. In this work he was active and success
ful. By five successive treaties, between 1802 and 1805, he acquired
for the United States a title to all the Indian lands along the Ohio
River, from the mouth of the Wabash to the western boundary of
the state of Ohio. In 1809, by the treaty of Fort Wayne, he se
cured the cession of about 3,000,000 acres on the Wabash in the
region of present Parke County, though Tecumseh and his brother,
the Prophet, refused to recognize the new arrangement. This was
the status when Fordham wrote, in 1817. Thereafter a prolonged
series of cessions was arranged, until in 1840 the last Indian title
to extensive lands within the bounds of the state was extinguished.
By most of the final treaties small " reservations " were set aside, but
these have now generally passed out of Indian possession. A few
descendants of the Miamis still live in Wabash and Miami counties.
For an elaborate account of the Indian cessions of land in Indiana,
with an excellent map illustrating the subject, see William Henry
Smith, History of the State of Indiana (Indianapolis, 1897), i,
pp. 221-239.

i3'4 Fordham's Personal Narrative
coming here, by the fear of wanting Markets for
produce, or for his labour. A capital of £50,000
could be as easily employed here as in England,
and with great advantage to the country and to
the capitalist. This is not a random guess : I could
prove it, and calculate results. A man may fall into
poverty here, as well as elsewhere; but the propor
tion of those who succeed is greater here, than in
any place I have ever been in. Every thing and
every body is in motion : no standing still, and liv
ing upon interest of capital : but every man has his
business or employment. . . .
P. S. Rough and democratic as these back
woodsmen are, they shew great respect to talent,
to superior knowledge, to age, and to wealth. There
is no danger to an European who possesses these
advantages, of being jostled, or of not being of
consequence among his neighbours. The respect
that is shewn to M"". B. is even more marked than
that he commanded in England from his labourers.
Lord Selkirk^ and suite were at Vincennes the other

'Thomas Dundas, fifth earl of Selkirk, was born in Kirkcud
brightshire, Scotland, in 1771. He was educated at the Univer
sity of Edinburgh and in 1799 succeeded to the title and property
of his father. His life was devoted largely to the promotion of
emigration to British America. As early as 1802 he put forth con
siderable effort to influence the British Government to provide for
the transportation of discontented and impoverished Scottish peas
ants to the New World. In 181 1 he secured from the Hudson Bay
Company a large tract of fertile land in the valleys of the Assini-
boin and Red River of the North, where, late in the same year,
his first band of colonists was established. Many difficulties were
encountered, arising chiefly from the opposition of the Northwest
traders to the enterprise, and in 1816-17 the settlement was broken
up. It was soon restored, however, under Selkirk's personal super
vision, and the conflict was transferred to the courts, where the
energetic promoter at length secured judgment in favor of his

The Illinois Territory 135
day at a dinner and ball, and received the most
marked attentions. But worth and talent, without
Rank, will command respect. Indeed, no rank is
known here, but military rank, and that is obtained
by tavern-keepers and farmers.
English Aristocrats could not live here. But
such men as you would be judges. Magistrates, and
respected Citizens.

avowed rights. In 1816 Selkirk published A Sketch of the British
Fur Trade, and in the next year The Red River Settlement. He
died in 1820.

VIII
A trip down the Patoka — Winter labors and amusements — Christ
mas — Legislation against duelling — A journey to Cincinnati —
Lack of scenery — Difficulties of travel — A frontier judge —
Fredericksburg — Albany — Louisville — Shelbyville — Cost of
lodgings — Frankfort — The Kentuckians — Arrival at Cincin
nati.
Princeton, Indiana. Dec''. 7, i8iy. As it will be
agreeable to myself, and, perhaps, amusing to my
relations in England, to review the occurrences and
difficulties of settling the Bolton-house, or English,
Prairie, and as I shah have an opportunity of seeing
ab initio an English settlement in the wilderness of
the Illinois, I will keep a record of our transactions.
The prairie is fine, dry, light land, and rolling.
It contains about 16 square miles, and lies about 6
miles from each of the Wabashes. The country
around is healthy, although at a distance there are
swampy places.
A few weeks ago, two carpenters (and the wife
of one of them) arrived uninvited from England.
Yesterday I purchased a batteau on Mill Pond,
for 3$ and Isaac P  repaired it.
This morning I sent Isaac to Harmony on horse
back to buy saws, with directions to proceed across
the Wabash to Carmi ; there to get provisions and
necessaries, which he is to get hauled to the Eng
lish Prairie.
Jacob P  and his wife, B  d B., and myself
are going down the Patoka^ in the batteau, for the
'The Patoka is a small stream flowing westward through Dubois,
Pike, and Gibson counties, Indiana, and emptying into the Great

Indiana and Kentucky 137
swamp between this town and Coffee Island^ has
been rendered impassable by the late unprecedented
rains. For a week past we have had hard frost;
the Thermometer nightly down to 18°. and even to
12"".; to-day, fine balmy weather like the Indian sum
mer. We shall take with us blankets and pro
visions, as we shall probably have to encamp on
the unsettled banks of the Patoka.
Monday Dec''. 7"'. — Put the batteau on the car
riage of a waggon, and sent it off to the Patoka
with J. P  , who is directed to make oars &c,
and to launch the boat. Yesterday 8 men on foot
armed with pistols and rifles came into the town
from Harmony. They had been in pursuit of an
absconded debtor from Vincennes.
Dec''. 8"\ B  d, P  's wife, and myself went
on horseback to T  's on the Patoka, where we
breakfasted. Loaded the batteau ; which Was found
to be much too small to carry us, our tools, and the
various "impedimenta" which were stowed in it.
Besides being too small, it was weak and very leaky.
We borrowed a canoe in exchange for the skiff;
but that was so ticklish that we did not like to
venture in it heavily loaded. At last we determined
to take both batteau and canoe.
The Patoka crosses Indiana from East to West.
It is a deep, but narrow stream, and exceedingly
crooked throughout its whole course. Its length

Wabash at Mt. Carmel, Illinois. There is a brief description of the
valley of the Patoka in William Tell Harris's Remarks, p. 133.
' Coffee Island is located in the Great Wabash a small distance
below Mt. Carmel.

I3'8 Fordham's Personal Narrative
in a right line is about 200 miles. Where we em
barked it was about 20 yards wide.
We have been much impeded by fallen trees, some
of which lie quite across the river; one we have
been obliged to cut through.
I hunted for an hour without success; missed
some ducks, my gun being loaded with Buck shot.
B  d took his turn. He saw a large herd of deer,
but killed nothing but a parroquet.^
Encamped at night on the Northern shore. Soil,
rich. Timber, — Poplar, Sycamore, Hickory, &
Spice. Weather warm, but squally.
Made 15 miles this day.
Dec'^. p*''. Morning rainy. Caulked the batteau.
Weather cleared at 9. Launched our craft. We
had not started an hour, before we had a thunder
storm and hard rain.
This day the trees were more across the river
than yesterday. Nearly lost the batteau on a rapid,
which was incumbered by fallen trees. I leaped
out with an axe and cut through some branches,
and we passed under the trunks. The canoe soon
after got again entangled under a fallen tree. Cur
rents very rapid. The axe was employed all day.
Towards evening I left P  and B  d to
dig a channel for the boats round the butt end of
'Paroquets (a variety of small parrot), which according to re
ports of travelers were abundant in the Ohio Valley a hundred
years ago, are now found only in latitudes much further south.
Cuming, in 1807, writing from the mouth of the Scioto, says : " We
observed here vast numbers of beautiful, large, green paroquets,
which our landlord, squire Brown, informed us abound all over the
country. They keep in flocks, and when they alight on a tree, they
are not distinguishable from the foliage, from their colour" (Early
Western Travels, iv, p. 161).

Indiana and Kentucky 139
a fallen tree; and I walked across a neck of land
to find a camping ground. Had great difficulty in
lighting a fire; the wood was so wet.
The Timber and soil nearly the same as yester
day. — Pappaws and Cane —
The stream was so crooked, that we went towards
every point of the compass, and only once had a
view down it of 300 yards.
The meal and bread got wet. We shall be on
short allowance in two days. Mem"". — To get a
tobacco pouch, with a compartment for matches;
for not being able to get logwod bark, I burnt al
most all my tow in kindling a fire. Advanced 18
miles. Dec'. io*'\ Morning rainy. Waited tiU nine and
started in a drizzling shower, which soon increased
to a heavy rain, which lasted all day. Arrived at
Coffee Island at night thoroughly soaked.
The banks of the Patoka clayey, and covered gen
erally with cane. The Timber — Hickory, the soil
— thin.
The banks of the Wabash low and swampy. The
Sycamore is the most common tree on the shore,
which spreads its white crooked arms over the
stream. The Wabash at Coffee Island is 1,100
yards wide.
Advanced to-day, down the Patoka 15 miles
 down the Wabash 9 
24.
Slept at M  's house.

140 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Dec'', if". We were discouraged from proceed
ing further by water, and enquired for waggons.
There were but two wheeled carriages in the settle
ment ; one was broken and the other rotten. After
some delay we engaged a Frenchman to take our
plunder^ on a two horse sleigh, and packed the bed
ding on a horse, — on which the woman rode. We
got to the Boonpas an hour before sun-set. Car
ried the plunder and the sleigh across in a canoe,
and swam the horses. We should have staid, but
the Boonpas was rising so fast, — 6 feet in 24
hours, — that we were afraid that the creek at the
Deer's lick would be banked up. As it was, we were
just in time to cross without difficulty.
In crossing the Cypress creek,^ before we reached
the Boonpas, the bedding got wet. The prairies
were half leg deep in water.
No rain to-day, but the weather rather cold. The
snow is now drifting into the camp, which we have
pitched one mile beyond the crossing.
DuG  is a complete hunter and an entertain
ing companion.
Marched to-day 10 miles.
Dec", if". Saturday. Breakfasted before sun
rise and struck our camp. The long prairie is an
entire swamp. Waded through several creeks. At
9 a. m. it began to snow, and continued all day.

' A frontier provincialism for " baggage."
2 Cypress Creek is a sluggish stream in Gallatin County, Illinois,
between Equality and Shawneetown. It flows southward into the
Saline River.

Indiana and Kentucky 141
At 10 entered our own prairie, and met Isaac P.
with the waggon. The water was running rapidly
off through the creeks, which were nearly full.
Passing the second, the waggon was stuck in the
mud, and the sprig tailed mare, upon which B  d
and J. P  were crossing, fell with them into the
water. I left the baggage, and went on to light a fire in
the cabin,^ which we all reached in safety at 3^ past
12., though most frozen.
Spent the afternoon in fixing ourselves as well as
we could in our cabin.
DuG  and the waggons left us to return to
their respective homes.
The snow is now (9 p. m. ) 5 inches deep. We
shall sleep in our blankets on Clapboards with our
feet to the fire.
Dec''. 14*''. Sunday. Sent the two P  s to
W  's, about three miles off for the Yager Rifle,
and the Wallet, containing my blanket and plunder,
and the spade.
We have now a complete set of Sawyer's and
Carpenter's tools. B  d went to E  's and
brought back a kettle of honey.
While the men were gone, W  and another
man, who had heard of our arrival, came to call on
us. W  promises to come tomorrow to begin

'This I had built 2 months ago of round logs, chunked and
mudded. It had nothing but the bare earth for the floor at this time,
and that trod to mud directly. — Fordham.

142 Fordham's Personal Narrative
the other cabin. I hear that another English Emi
grant has arrived at Princeton, and is coming out
to us with his family.
I searched for a good place to make a saw pit.
Made a tent in the house to keep off the snow, which
drifts through the roof. Snow to-day a foot deep.
P  unpacked his base viol and has played sev
eral psalm tunes and the evening hymn — the lat
ter recalled England to my mind.
Dec\ 15"'. The P  's are making a sawpit.
B  d went on the mare to A  and W  ,
and bought a hog weighing 200 lbs for 7$. I went
surveying. The weather very cold — the snow 14
inches deep.
The soil where the sawpit is dug is rich mould,
but thin: next to it lies a hazle mould: beneath
lies a fine grey clay, mixed with ochry substances.
Dec''. 16"'. The P  's still preparing for saw
ing. E  called to ask rne to follow a bear, whose
track, freshly made, was within 200 yards of our
cabin. As I could not go, he returned home.
A  came with W  and agreed to build two
cabins 12 feet by 14 inside, — standing 16 feet apart,
and the roof to be continued over the intermediate
space ; they are to be chunked, doors to be cut out ;
joists and sleepers laid: the whole for 25$.
Went with B  d to get a grape vine as a sub
stitute for a chain. After dinner surveyed till dark.
The weather is more mild to-day — some snow,
but a Southwest wind has driven away all the
clouds. The night is calm and beautiful.

Indiana and Kentucky 143
I found to-day a beautiful prisimon tree, about
fifty feet high, and a great quantity of fruit upon
it, — which are now delicious. They taste like rai
sins dipped in honey. I have kept some seeds to
send to M  .
Dec', if". Wednesday. Surveying. Saw some
prairie hawks, blue bodies, ash coloured belly and
wings, tipped with black.
Came home over the middle creek, into which I
fell through the Ice.
Dec\ i8'K Bought a deer of B  for $1.50.
He promises to bring in some Turkeys.
W  brought in a hog, which A  shot
for us.
I planted about a peck of peach stones. Bid
W  good bye.
The settlers are all glad we are going to have a
mill built; they have now to pack their meal 25
miles. A  has been pounding corn for us, and
it makes good bread.
Weather still very cold — 7 degrees below
zero. . . .
I rather dread my voyage up the Patoka, as we
shall have logs, and, perhaps, ice to impede us.
S  has told me how to rig the canoe to the best
advantage. Sawing goes on very slowly: the tools are all
new; and the black oak very hard. Every body
says that the mill will be carried away by the first
hurricane. But, as Smeaton has erected a tower,
which withstands the winds and waves of the Ocean,

144 Fordham's Personal Narrative
there is certainly a possibility, that another may be
made to stand fast against wind alone.^ It will be
the first wind-mill built on this side of the Ohio.
The P  s have been a little disheartened by
the difficulty of getting provisions, but now that
they have 300 lbs of meat hanging against the wall,
they are quite chearful.
B  d and I cut off two ribs from the Buck,
spitted them on a sharp pointed stick, and roasted
them for our dinner; they were delicious.
Walked to W  s and slept there. We could
not take our pack horse across the Boonpas, be
cause of the Ice. We were therefore obliged to
leave him tied to a tree, with a blanket over him,
which was more merciful than to swim him through
freezing water.
Dec", ip*'". Walked to DuG  's, where we
were told that the Wabash was impassible because
the Ice was floating down in such great quantities.
Sent Isaac back with the packhorse and walked
on to the river. The masses of ice filled the cur
rent of the stream, and broke against the shore,
like harsh and distant Thunder.
20*'\ 2i'\ Dec". At the cottage of the ferryman.
This cabin contains but one room 12 feet square.
The owner is a Canadian Frenchman, and he and

'John Smeaton (1724-1792) was an English civil engineer who
made notable experiments on the power of water and air to turn
mills and other machinery requiring a circular motion. His chief
fame came from his rebuilding of the Eddystone lighthouse after
its destruction by fire in 1755. This is the achievement to which
Fordham refers.

Indiana and Kentucky 145
his wife are very civil to us. We have two blankets
and a buffalo robe on which we sleep with our feet
to the fire.
Three men on the opposite shore, have, at the
risk of their lives, crossed over amidst the ice. They
were nearly two hours making unsuccessful efforts.
They relanded, and lighted a fire. In the afternoon
they tried again and dashed across. Their Canoe
was nearly bored through, and half filled with Ice,
which broke over them. They described the grind
ing of the Ice terrible.
I believe I should try, but my guns are valuable ;
and though B  d and myself might save our
selves, we should inevitably lose them if the Canoe
should upset.
There is more genuine kindness and politeness
among these backwoodsmen, than among any set
of people, I have yet seen in America. They know
so well the value of good neighbourhood, and feel
so independent of the laws and restraints of every
kind. Each man has a consciousness of power to
do good or evil. Thus he is polite, for the same
reason that the most powerful animals are gentle.
Canadian French Words
Freit, s.
Mui,
orea, s.
bain. ad.
The river upon which Detroit is built is thickly
settled for 60 leagues.'^
' Detroit is located on a broad stream of the same name connect
ing Lakes Huron and Erie. Its site was regarded as strategic by
the earliest French explorers, as La Salle, but a permanent post

cold

aussite

likewise

me

icite

for

ici

ear

L'isle. s.

for

I'oeil

good

146 Fordham's Personal Narrative
The Hurons and Iroquois are Catholics.
Mocassins are sewed with the sinews of the Deer.
There are a few Indian slaves in Detroit.
2^'^. Crossed the Wabash in the afternoon in a
Canoe amidst the Ice. Walked to the Swamp; but
it was too dark for us to find the way across, and
the Ice was rapidly thawing. After making three
attempts we held a Council, whether it would be
best to camp out upon a neck of land running into
the Swamp, or to go back some miles to the only
hut on that side the Swamp. We decided on the
latter, as the melting snow would have made it im
possible to light a fire, and it was then raining hard.
The whistling of the wind and the howling of the
wolves, all seemed to promise a stormy night. After
cutting up my gun case to cover my thin Mocas
sins, which did not sufficiently protect my feet, we
slowly retraced our steps, and reached M^ A  's
cabin at 10. Found all the inhabitants abed, but
not asleep. The room was so full of children, hunt
ers, hogdrivers, and dogs, that it was with diffi
culty we could stretch our bodies upon the floor.
There on our wet great coats, with our own wet
blankets laid over us, we slept as soundly as ever
I have slept on a featherbed.
was not established there until 1701, when Fort Pontchartrain was
constructed by De la Mothe Cadillac. A settlement of French and
Indians was begun, and by 1750 the place had a population of five
hundred, with fully two thousand Indians living in the immediate
neighborhood. Between 1760, when it passed under English control,
and 1813, when it was finally reclaimed from British possession after
Hull's surrender, the town had a history whose interest and sig
nificance it would be difficult to exaggerate. The story is told in
many places, among them being Farmer's History of Detroit and
Michigan (Detroit, 1884).

Indiana and Kentucky 147
Next morning, proceeded at day break in a pelt
ing shower to the swamp, with a man who was
going the same way. Found a Canoe half full of
Ice, and brimfull of water. Bailed it dry with our
hands, and with difficulty launched it. After work
ing hard in breaking the ice, and having our bodies
completely drenched in perspiration, though our
feet were very cold, we left the canoe, trusting our
selves to the Ice, and reached M'. C  's house,
where we breakfasted and hired two horses, to take
us to Princeton at Christmas Eve.
It was not expected we should have crossed the
Wabash. Christmas Day — This day was spent by one
set of the religionists in hearing a sermon and
prayers which lasted from breakfast till nightfall.
Another set of people were busy in cooking wild
turkeys, and dancing in the evening.
The young men had their rifles out, and were
firing feux de joi almost all the preceding night,
all the day till late into the evening. It reminded
me of Byron's description of the Moslems firing at
the feast of the Ramadan in Constantinople:^ — but
we backwoodsmen never fire a gun loaded with ball
into the town, — only from all parts of it, out
towards the woods.
^(5"". — The Ball — There were about 20 cou
ples: most of them genteelly dressed. We had
Judge  there with his daughter, with whom I

'The reference is obscure. The poem entitled The Giaour contains
a passage which may have been in the writer's mind.

148 Fordham's Personal Narrative
danced. There were no thin shoes to be obtained
in the town, so we young men agreed to dance in
Mocassins; some of which, made by the Indians,
gaily embroidered and hung with little tassels of
hair dyed red looked very smart.
2f' & ^5'\ — Planning the Mill.

January 18"'. 1818. I have been making a model
of a Windmill, which is now nearly completed. The
weather has been cold, but the air clear and chear
ful. The Thermometer once down to 8 below zero ;
but afterwards the air gradually became milder,
till yesterday at noon it rose to 57°., and at night
was 48°.
Several families have passed through the town
for the Illinois, and every thing is going on so
favorably, that all are chearful.
A repeal of the old law against duelling has been
obtained, and a new one enacted which subjects de
linquents to corporal punishments, in addition to
the other penalties of fine and disability to hold
public offices. Col. E. drew up this bill.
This bill was thrown out at the third reading.
The subject is involved in more difficulty, than it is
in Europe. Every State has attempted to put a
stop to duelling, and some have nearly effected it;
but the manners and dispositions have not become
more moderate or more mild. There are a number
of dissipated and desperate characters, from all
parts of the world, assembled in these Western
States; and these, of course, are overbearing and

Indiana and Kentucky 149
insolent. It is nearly impossible for a man to be
so circumspect, as to avoid giving offence to these
irritable spirits ; who, in fact, do not always wait for
provocation to be insolent. The Kentuckians on
these occasions use their dirks, and the Ohio men
are abusive. Men of education and manners, will,
if they can, fight with weapons ; and the vulgar bite,
kick, and gouge each other.
A new County has been made South of us; and
Evansville, it is expected, will be the County Seat.^
There are Pelicans on the Wabash.
Rode this afternoon with Mess". H  and
S  through the Seminary Township," which will

' This was Vanderburgh County, separated from Warrick by the
state legislature early in 1818. In 1812 Hugh McGary, of Ken
tucky, built a log-house on the site of the future Evansville, which
was the first dwelling erected by a white man in this section of the
Indiana Territory. In 1816 General Robert M. Evans and James
W. Jones purchased the land lying north of the present Main Street
and laid out a town. Three years later the place had a hundred
inhabitants, but thereafter it grew slowly (as late as 1830 having a
population of only five hundred) until about the time of its in
corporation in 1847, when it began a steady development which has
made it second in size only to Indianapolis among the cities of the
state. General Evans, the founder, was a Virginian who in 1803
settled at Paris, Kentucky, and two years later removed to a farm
two miles north of the present town of Princeton, Indiana. From
1809 to 1811 he kept a hotel at Vincennes, but with the exception
of these two years and 1824-25, which were spent at Evansville, he
remained the rest of his life at his Gibson County location.
2In 1804 Congress bestowed upon the Territory of Indiana a
township of land to be used for the establishment of a seminary of
learning. Two years later Albert Gallatin, then Secretary of the
Treasury, selected for this purpose a township, comprising 23,040
acres, in what is now Gibson County, and in 1807 the Territorial
Legislature passed an act incorporating an institution " to be called
or known by the na_me or style of the Vincennes University " and
to be supported by lotteries and by the sale of land in the " sem
inary township." About 4,000 acres of the land were sold, a brick
building was erected, and in iSro the " university " was opened.
Funds soon ran low, however, and in 1823 the school was forced to
close its doors. In the following year it was declared extinct by the

150 Fordham's Personal Narrative

be probably sold in a year or two. The land we
crossed was excellent. Sugar tree. Elm, Oak, Hick
ory, and Sassafras mixed together. The Surface
¦ — rolling — and several fine eminences for houses.
H  has proposed to me to go to the South with
him to join Gen. Gaines,^ who is fighting with the
legislature. Meanwhile, in 1816, in the enabling act of Congress
authorizing the formation of a state government for Indiana, the
commonwealth was given another township, to be designated by the
President of the United States, for the maintenance of a seminary.
The township selected by President Monroe lay in what is now
Monroe County and was later named Perry Township. In Jan
uary, 1820, the Indiana legislature passed an act to establish a
State Seminary. The site selected by the trustees of the prospective
institution was the town of Bloomington, situated on the northern
edge of the new " seminary township." In 1824 the Seminary was
opened under the direction of Rev. Baynard R. Hall, who for three
years was the only instructor. In January, 1828, the legislature
raised the institution to the rank of a college and the presidency
was vested in Dr. Andrew Wylie, then President of Washington
College, Pennsylvania. By act of February 25, 1838, Indiana Col
lege was converted into Indiana University. In 1822 the legislature
passed an act authorizing the sale of the remainder of the seminary
township in Gibson County and providing for the application of the
proceeds to the support of the Seminary created two years before.
This act was defended on the ground that the trustees of the Vin
cennes? University had sold a portion of their land in an illegal man
ner and had suffered their organization to lapse. It was keenly
resented, however, by the friends of the defunct college and after
the resurrection of the school in 1840 its new trustees brought suit
against the purchasers of the Gibson County land to recover pos
session. In 1846 the legislature, recognizing the injustice of allow
ing the burden of defense of titles to rest on the purchasers, au
thorized the university to bring suit against the state. The out
come was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States
six years later in favor of the university; whereupon the state
made due compensation for the lands thus virtually adjudged to have
been confiscated. Vincennes University still exists as a minor col
lege, though its persistent demands to be recognized as an insti
tution having a just claim upon the state for support have been
uniformly ineffective.
' In 1816-17 General Edmund P. Gaines was occupied on the Flor
ida frontier with the difficult task of preserving order and checking
the depredations of runaway negro slaves, Spanish and English
filibusters, and various groups of hostile Indians. There ensued
a period of border warfare, which culminated in the Seminole War
of 1818, marked by the dashing operations of General Andrew
Jackson.

Indiana and Kentucky 151
Creek Indians. I declined the honour, and I be
lieve he has relinquished his design.
Jan^- 7p'\ Thermometer 54°. The morning
opened with a thunderstorm. The day has been
darker than any we have had this winter. I have
yet seen no mists, except on the great rivers.
Jan^. 2^^. Commenced my journey to Cincinnati.
Slept at Vincennes.
 24^, — Sunday. — Slept at M". H's. Killed
an Opossum on the ro^d. Weather cold and rainy.
 2^"". — Monday — Slept at Bar's between the
forks of White River .^ Road dreadfully bad. The
Prairie, or rather barren, for it is covered with
shrubs, is pretty good land lying on clay, which
gets so soft in wet weather, that the Horse's foot
sinks deep into it. Once my horse sunk in the
plain up to his chest, and rolled over.
Snow in evening.
26*''. Crossed the East fork of White River and
slept at D'. A  's. . . .
I made myself very comfortable here, and slept,
for the first time in many months, between a pair
of sheets. These are, however, no luxuries, com
pared with a clean and rather fine blanket.
A few miles from D"". A  's a river gushes from
the ridge of rocky hills to the North, at once in its
fuU size. Seventeen miles further North, a stream
apparently as large, sinks into the hills. These are
'The East Fork of White River rises in Rush County, in south
eastern Indiana, and the West Fork in Madison County, in the
central part of the same state. The two unite near the town of
Petersburg, about eighteen miles south-east of Vincennes.
1 0

152 Fordham's Personal Narrative
probably one and the same. Last summer I rode
with  over that ridge, and missed both rivers.
We passed some wildernesses, which seemed to be
the abode of nothing but wild beasts; yet there
while I was thinking of camping out, being quite
lost, I found a habitation and a welcome.
It is reported that 250 warriors are assembled on
the head waters of the White River, to avenge the
deaths of some men, who have been murdered near
this place.
Judge  of  overtaking me, informed
me that the road to Cincinnati through Indiana
was too bad to be travelled with safety.
I then changed my route, and set off with him.
We swam Cane Creek and another little rapid
stream. My mare swam by jerks, and dipped me
waist deep. It was freezing hard, so that our
clothes soon became stiff, and our horses were
bearded with icicles.
Our road then lay over some high, rocky hills,
which afforded distant prospects. We passed the
mouths of some caverns, out of which rushed some
mountain torrents.
America, however, is not the land of prospects.
There is too much wood; and, when on the barren
peak of some rocky hill, you catch a distant view,
it generally is nothing but an undulating surface
of impenetrable forests. The very views which are
admired by the few Americans who have taste
proves to me that North America is not generally
picturesque.

Indiana and Kentucky 153

Perhaps some parts of the mountains of Virginia
and Kentucky would present exceptions; and the
great rivers during the summer season.
The footsteps of man, in spite of all the nonsense
that has been written and said to the contrary,
leave behind them beauty and delight. When the
forests recede from the valleys, and verdure clothes
the hills, and villages are scattered through wastes.
North America will become a beautiful and pic
turesque country.
It is seldom that a view of 200 yards in extent,
can be caught in Indiana. The woods west of the
Mountains are not, as M". W. says in the wrongs
of woman, "clustering forests of small trees." It
is a long time before an English eye becomes accus
tomed to their size and grandeur. The live poplar,
or tulip-bearing tree, of which canoes are made, the
sycamore, the walnut, and the white oak, grow to
a prodigious size.
Four miles from Cane Creek we struck into a
new path, which led over the tops of one of these
knobs, which was composed chiefly of sandstone,
with some argillaceous schist. The trees were cov
ered with ice, so transparent and so brilliant, that
the boughs looked like glasswork, and threw on
the eye a confused splendour, which was bounded
only by the distant hills. The boughs and fretwork
of ice, that intercepted the rays of the sun, were
faintly tinged with prismatic colours. At our feet
were rapid torrents, which gushed from the cav-

154 Fordham's Personal Narrative
erns above us, sparkled in light, and then leaped
into the darkness of the abysses below.
Another hour brought us to French-lick creek,'
where we dressed and warmed ourselves, and hired
a guide to take us to a fordable crossing. We car
ried our blankets and saddle bags in our arms, and
walked over a fallen tree, which tottered high in
air above the flood, and our guide drove our horses
after us through the river. This young man was
a cripple, and the second I have seen in the West
ern Country. Deformity is as rare among the
Backwoodsmen, as it is among the Indians.
We slept at M"". H  's on  Creek, a sub
stantial Indiana farmer. He came home while we
were at supper, with three of his neighbours, who
were completely armed. They had been to take
some men to Paoli gaol, for robbing a store on
Little Blue river.' They informed us that there
were a gang of brigands on that river, who lived
by passing forged notes, stealing horses &c., and
hunting. They had a strong rock house among
'The sulphurous saline springs at French Lick became at an
early date one of the best known features of southern Indiana.
They are located in Orange County, about forty-five miles north
west of New Albany. Hulme, who visited them in 1818, says in his
Journal: "On our way [from Princeton to New Albany], pass
French Lick, a strong spring of water impregnated with salt and
sulphur, and called Lick from its being resorted to by cattle for the
salt; close by this spring is another still larger, of fine clear lime
stone water, running fast enough to turn a mill " (Early Western
Travels, x, p. 62). The stream thus originated is the creek to
which Fordham refers. The French Lick and neighboring West
Baden springs are now health resorts of considerable note.
2 Paoli, the seat of Orange County, Indiana, is forty miles north
west of New Albany.
3 Little Blue River is a small stream in southern Indiana, flowing
into the Ohio at a point about seventy-five miles below Louisville.

Indiana and Kentucky 155
the hills, and it was said they had three or four
guns apiece. One of M''. H  's guests wanted to
raise the whole force of the settlement that night,
and to make an attack on the rock house before
daylight. But more prudent councils prevailed.
My companion Judge  is a lively, entertain
ing young man; 24 years old. He is an associate
Judge and sits on the bench with the circuit or law
judge; but gives his opinion only on the equity of
a case. He is a merchant and a store keeper. He
rides a good horse with silver studded bridle, and
his saddle is ornamented with silver, and scarlet
housings. He carried a pair of pistols at his saddle
bow; and altogether looks more like a Dragoon
Officer in plain clothes, than a Judge. At least,
he is not at aU like Lords Mansfield or Ellenbor
ough. 2f'\ Breakfasted at M"'. C.  's — another sub
stantial farmer. He was at Corydon } being a rep
resentative of his fellow citizens in the Legislature.
His wife and sister soon cooked us an excellent
breakfast of Venison, Fowls, ham and bacon, hot
johnney cakes, waffles &c. We had likewise tea
and coffee, and a dram of whiskey, to keep the cold
off our stomachs. Our horses had 2 gallons of
oats. For all of which we paid 375^ Cents.
The country is still hilly, though not so broken
as that we crossed yesterday.

' Corydon, seat of Harrison County, became the capital of Indiana
in 1813. Twelve years later, and nine after the Territory had be
come a state, the capital was transferred to Indianapolis. See p. loi,
note.

156 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Soil — third rate, — except in the bottoms. We
crossed the Little Blue River at Fredericksburg, a
miserable village, in a mud hole. The river is 50
yards wide, deep, and has a rapid current. It is
called blue from the tint of the waters, which are
clear and flow over a slaty bottom.
The land around Fredericksburg is high, and
some of it sandy. It is inconceivable that the Amer
icans should be so stupid as to plant their towns
in the dirtiest puddles they can find. But they have
such a dread of a little trouble, that they must be
near a creek, that they may dip for water at their
Cabin doors; _for wells won't dig themselves, and
the swing pole and bucket are for ever out of order.
Pumps are out of all question with a backwoods
man. Ascending the hill from the forks of the Little
Blue, we entered a high rolling country of sandy
barrens. When we had passed these, we got en
tangled in a flat swampy tract of White oak land,
which we were two hours crossing. At Sunset
passed another little village of hewn log Cabins,
and arrived at M^ D  's just as it got dark. . . .
Here we overtook a Capt". B  from the upper
parts of Kentucky, who joined Company with us.
^gth — About 8 miles from D  's we ascended
a high ridge, which gave us a view of the Ohio
with its Silver waves gleaming in the Sun. Louis
ville' on the opposite banks 6 miles N. E. and the

' The first plot for a settlement on the site of Louisville was pre
pared in 1773 by Captain Thomas Bullitt, an agent sent out by the

Indiana and Kentucky ic^'J
hills of Kentucky, formed a waving outline of dark
forests, and around and beneath us were steep banks
thinly covered with timber.
Two hours brought us to Albany,^ on the Ohio.
College of William and Mary to approve western surveys. Two
years later the place was occupied, though the beginnings of the
present city are really to be traced only to the pioneers who went
to " the Falls " with George Rogers Clark in 1778 and eventually
settled there (see note i below). By 1784 the town comprised a
hundred houses and thanks to the growing traffic up and down
the Ohio and to the rapids which compelled a portage near its site,
was well on the road to prosperity (on the Falls, see p. 105, note
2). Cuming, in his Sketches, written in 1808, describes the place
as follows : " Louisville consists of one principal and very hand
some street, about half a mile long, tolerably compactly built, and
the houses generally superior to any I have seen in the western coun
try with the exception of Lexington. Most are of handsome brick,
and some are three stories, with a parapet wall on the top in the
modern European taste, which in front gives them the appearance
of having flat roofs. I had thought Cincinnati one of the most
beautiful towns I had seen in America, but Louisville, which is
almost as large, equals it in beauty, and in the opinion of many
excells it" (Early Western Travels, iv, pp. 259-260). Melish tells
us, in 1811, that the town had a population of 1307, including 484
negro slaves (Travels, ii, pp. 149-150). By 1820 the population had
increased to over 4000, and by 1826 to over 7000. Travellers were
generally very favorably impressed with the location of the town
and with the character of its people. Among interesting accounts
may be mentioned Fearon, Sketches, pp. 245-255; Woods, Two
Years' Residence (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 242-244) ; William
Tell Harris, Remarks, pp. 129-130, 143-145; Faux, Memorable Days
(Early Western Travels, xi, p. 196) ; Welby, Visit to Narth Amer
ica (Early Western Travels, xii, pp. 226-227) J and Ogden, Let
ters from the West (Early Western Travels, xix, pp. 40-41).
On the history of Louisville see Reuben Thomas Durrett, The Cen
tenary of Louisville, Filson Club Publications No. 8 (Louisville,
1893) ; H. McMurtrie, Sketches of Louisville and its Environs
(Louisville, 1819) ; and Ben Casseday, History of Loiuisville from its
Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852 (Louisville, 1852).
' Albany, now known as New Albany, is the seat of Floyd County,
Indiana. The history of the town begins in a sense with the grant
of 150,000 acres of land in its vicinity to the officers and soldiers
of George Rogers Clark's Illinois regiment, made by the legislature
of Virginia in 1783. Clarksville, across the Ohio from Shipping-
port and a little above the mouth of Silver Creek, was established
in pursuance of this grant. The site selected was not a healthful
one, however, and for various reasons the settlement did not pros
per; in 1819 it contained fewer than one hundred people. The
place is now a suburb of New Albany. The latter town proper was

158 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Its Main Street is a broad ditch of mud. We crossed
the Ohio here, and took leave of Judge  . Capt".
B  and myself w^ent on to Louisville.
We put up at the Washington Hall, a handsome
hotel; supplied apparently with the usual luxuries
of European Inns, except clean floors. There were
a great many well-dressed gentlemen in the read
ing and bar room, whose attention was caught by
my appearance. I had on a decent suit of clothes,
though past their best, and a pair of Kentucky leg
gings, but over my great coat I wore a blanket,
pinned under the chin in the Indian fashion, and
confined to the waist by a leather belt ; to which was
suspended a large hunting or scalping Knife. Fif
teen years ago, this was a common dress in Ken
tucky, as it is now on the frontiers of Indiana and
in the Illinois Territory. But the early Settlers of
Kentucky are dead, or moved farther west ; or have
become rich and luxurious, and Mercantile adven
turers have introduced the fashions of London and
Paris. Perhaps there is a greater proportion of
well dressed men in Louisville than in any Eu
ropean Commercial city.
We remounted our horses again at 4 p. m., and
at dark we reached the habitation of Mons". N.,
who keeps a house of private entertainment, that is
to say, an Inn ; in which travellers are received, but
neighbours are not allowed to drink.
laid out by Messrs. Scribner, its proprietors, in 1814. Being lo
cated on the second bank of the river, it was found satisfactory from
the standpoint of healthfulness, and within half a dozen years it
had come to have a population of one thousand. Thereafter its
growth was slow but steady.

Indiana and Kentucky 159
These houses are more comfortable than Inns,
and are generally a little cheaper. You take your
Meals with the family, — retire into the strangers'
room, as soon as the meal is over, — and generally
the master of the house follows to chat with you.
You are not expected to call for liquors; which,
indeed, are not often kept in the house. . . .^
To avoid sleeping with a bedfellow in a smaU
bed, I wrapped myself up in my blanket and laid
on my great coat and Saddle bags before the fire.
This arrangement disconcerted two Negro slaves,
who had chosen that place for themselves. I
obliged them to sleep at some distance.
Negroes are never supplied with more bedding
than a blanket and the Kitchen or dining room floor.
This too in Kentucky; which is the Paradise of
slaves, compared with the Southern States.
Jan^. JO*''. — We passed through a fertile country,
well settled, but with miserably bad roads by Mid
dleton,^ to the flourishing little town of Shelbyville,
in Shelby County.^
Here we met, at a good Inn, a large party of rich
farmers and Merchants, all busy talking politics.
' "A page of the Journal here has been lost. The next day the
Author and his companion proceeded on their journey and arrived
at night at another house of entertainment." — Transcriber.
2 Middleton is situated on the headwaters of Bear Grass Creek,
twelve miles east of Louisville and twenty west of Shelbyville.
3 Shelbyville and Shelby County take their names from Isaac
Shelby, first governor of the state of Kentucky and one of the
most notable personages in early Western history. Shelbyville is
thirty miles east of Louisville and twenty west of Frankfort. Melish,
in 181 1, gives it a population of 424 (Travels, ii, p. 179). Faux,
in 1818, describes it as a " good-looking, youthful town " (Early
Western Travels, xi, p. 195).

i6o Fordham's Personal Narrative
The Landlord, finding I was an Englishman, in
vited me to spend the evening with his wife and
daughters. I found them handsome and agreeable
women. Our charge for Supper, breakfast, and
horsefeed was $1,75*=^°'". Hostler & boots got,
25^ Dearer travelling than in Indiana, where a
dollar per day will pay all the expences.
They may be stated thus :

In Indiana

In Kentucky

Cents

Cents

Breakfast

. 12-^2

• . 25

Horsefeed

, I2>^

. 12^

D°. at noon

. i2y2.

. I2>4

Supper & horsefeed

. 62>4

. 1,00

$1,00

$1,50

The above are the charges at houses of private
entertainment. At good taverns the charges are
at least 50 p". Cent higher. If the badness of the
roads, in the Winter, is taken into consideration,
travelling at this Season is dearer than in England;
for you cannot get half the distance in the same
time. In Summer the roads are, in general, good for
travelling on horseback.
Jan^, 31", Started for Frankfort.^ Passed
'The site of Frankfort was first surveyed in 1773 for the McAfee
brothers. In October, 1786, it was purchased by James Wilkinson
(see p. 62, note), who had secured the passage of a bill in the
Virginia Assembly to erect a town upon it. The place was selected
in 1793 to be the capital of the new state. Cuming visited it in
1807 and found a town of ninety houses, including a state-house,
a jail, a court-house, a state penitentiary, a market-house, a gov-

Indiana and Kentucky i6i
through a fine rolling country; cleared enough to
present something like views ; though none of them
of any extent.
Frankfort is a smart little town, on the Kentucky
river. It is the seat of Government ; and the Legis
lature is now sitting.
It was Sunday, and a few smartly dressed young
men were picking their way through the half frozen
mud in the streets. Like others it is hid in a mud
hole, with fine commanding situations around it.
They have begun to pave the Main Street — in a
way that would make a London Paviour laugh.
The Kentucky River pours a noble stream over
a bed of Limestone. It is crossed by a wooden
bridge supported by four stone piers. ^ There is a
good view from the Eastern bank, which rises
abruptly, perhaps lOO feet, above the bed of the
river. Its circuitous course winds among steep
bluffs, south of the Town. In the plain above are
several smart houses, pleasantly situated. They
look like the places of Summer retreat, in which
the Citizens of London indulge themselves on Sun
days. ernment house, and four inns which in size, accommodations, and
business he declares were not surpassed in the United States (Early
Western Travels, iv, pp. 191-196). Travellers generally compared
Frankfort with Lexington, favorably as a rule to the former except
in the matter of commercial facilities. See Faux, Memorable Days
(Early Western Travels, xi, p. 174) and Welby, Visit to North
America (Early Western Travels, xii, pp. 222-225).
' Cuming, in 1807, says : " The erection of a permanent wooden
bridge over the Kentucky has been lately commenced, which will be
about one hundred and forty yards long from bank to bank, the
surface of which is about fifty feet above low water mark. The
present bridge of boats is about sixty-five yards between the abut
ments, and the river now at low water is eighty-seven yards wide "
(Early Western Travels, iv, p. 193).

1 62 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Five miles further, we put up at M'. B-

house. A respectable and venerable man, who has
been thirty four years in Kentucky. His lady was
complaining bitterly of the Mal-practices of their
State Legislature, of their taxes &c, though the
latter are nothing more than County rates.
Monday Feb\ 2^, Took leave of Capt". B 
who was going to Lexington,^ crossing Elk horn
creek, ^ and struck N.W. among the Eagle creek
hills.' I soon left the fertile plains of Kentucky.
'The traditional story of the origin of Lexington (as told, for
example, in Melish's Travels, ii, p. 187, and accepted in Winsor's
Westward Movement, p. 85) to the effect that the first log cabins at
the place were built in 1775 and given the name Lexington in
honor of the battle lately fought between the Americans and British,
can hardly be regarded as true. It appears that there was no per
manent settlement on the site of the present city before 1779. In
1780 the new town was made the seat of Fayette County and two
years later, it was incorporated by the legislature of Virginia. Fran
cois Andre Michaux has a good description of the place in 1802
(Early Western Travels^ iii, pp. 199-206). Cuming, in 1807,
writes a very full account (Early Western Travels, iv, pp. 181-
189). He estimates the town's population at three thousand and
has nothing but praise for its schools (including Transylvania Uni
versity), churches, stores, and manufacturing enterprises. Melish,
in 1811, gives some interesting information (Travels, ii, pp. 185-
190). Two visitors in the year 1818 record the most contrary
impressions : Faux declares that every public building in the city,
save that of the University, was filthy, neglected, and falling into
ruins, and that though the place still contained the cream of Ken
tucky society it was thought to be retrograding (Early Western
Travels, xi, p. 188) ; but William Tell Harris was charmed with
all that he saw, and wrote that Lexington was " a spot so much
more pleasant, as well as more central, that it appears difficult to
conceive what could have induced the transfer of the legislative priv
ilege to Frankfort, unless it be a supposed advantage in its being
washed by the waters of the Kentucky " (Remarks, pp. 145-146) .
George W. Ranck's History of Lexington (Lexington, 1872) is a
fairly good work of its kind.
2Elkhorn Creek, on a branch of which Lexington is situated, flows
into the Kentucky River in Franklin County, about eight miles
north of Frankfort.
3 Eagle Creek Hills are in the region north of Shelbyville and
twenty to thirty miles west of Frankfort.

Indiana and Kentucky 163'
The roads have been so bad, that my horse has
been for two days much fatigued. Today he gave
out, and I with difficulty got him through the wil
derness. I arrived at the house I am now writing
in, and as the people seem to be civil and courteous,
I shall rest tomorrow.
A Traveller, who has been four or five months
in the wildernesses of the lUinois Territory, or the
gloomy forests of Indiana, is delighted with the
fine clearings of the Kentucky farms. Yet these
seldom extend half a mile from the road, and that
the most public one from Louisville to Lexington.
Hence there are seldom any views that can be called
picturesque in that tract of country which lies with
in 50 miles of Ohio. There are some that are
grand and solemn among the hills, but in the rich
country, the stumps of trees in the fields, the worm
rail-fences running in straight lines, and even the
forests, with their rigid outlines as left by the axe,
have little of beauty and still less of the picturesque.
It is the feeling that he is surrounded by the dwell
ings of man, that cheers the lonely traveller.
The Kentuckians^ have the character of being
the best warriors of the United States. As far as
courage without conduct can make them soldiers,
they are deserving of this praise.
' Other accounts of the life and society of Kentucky in the early
part of the last century are F. A. Michaux, Travels (Early Western
Travels, iii, p. 222, ff.) ; Cuming, Sketches (Early Western
Travels,, iv, p. 165, ff.) ; Melish, Travels, ii, pp. 202-208; Fearon,
Sketches, pp. 237-255; Flint, Letters (Early Western Travels,
IX, p. 132, ff.) ; Faux, Memorable Days (Early Western Travels,
xi, p. 188, ff.) ; and Ogden, Letters from the West (Early Western
Travels, xix, pp. 94-102) . Cf., pp. 177-181 and 214-216 of this volume.

164 Fordham's Personal Narrative
They pride themselves on their veracity and
honour. In their persons they are large, and generally
handsome, but are too much inclined to corpulency.
Tuesday and Wednesday. My horse being un
able to proceed, J staid two days at M". T  's,
a Kentucky farmer of the middle class. He works
himself and employs two Negroes. Every thing
around him bespoke comfort and moderate wealth.
Yet he has cultivated his own land among these
hills only 10 years. His farm is productive, though
far from being so rich as the level plains.
He talks of moving out to the Illinois Territory.
Feb"- 5*^, Thursday. Rode to M'. H  's Tav
ern, with whom I spent a most agreeable evening.
He rents a farm for which he pays one third of the
produce. He talked of mechanics, and is going to
erect a carding machine.
Feb". (5*\ Friday. Rode to M"^. G  's. At
this house I met M''. S  , a member of the Sen
ate, and other interesting gentlemen.
The bridge of Frankfort cost 40,000$. One is
projected over the mouth of Licking at Newport,^
which will cost as much. Another is talked of to be
thrown over the Ohio, at the expense of 300,000$.
'The Licking River rises in south-eastern Kentucky, near the
sources of the Cumberland and Kentucky. It flows through a course
of some two hundred miles, but is of slight value for navigation
during all but two months of the year. Newport, the seat of Camp
bell County, was platted in 1791 by General James Taylor, a re
cent emigrant from Caroline County, Virginia. It was incorporated
and made seat of justice in 1795, and in 1803 the Government se
lected it as a location for an arsenal. Covington, on the west bank
of the Licking, opposite Newport, was founded in 1815.

Indiana and Kentucky 165
Feb". f'\ Crossed the Ohio and arrived at Cin
cinnati.^ Called on my friend  . Told him
my wish to obtain private lodgings; which he got
for me in a most respectable quaker family. He
offered me too, his interest in the Library of Cin
cinnati. . . .
Feb". 23^. The City Guards, who are a uniform
company of volunteers, are parading the town in
celebration of the birthday of Washington, which
fell yesterday on Sunday.
A grand ball will be given tonight, to which I
shall not go, as I do not choose the risk of being
insulted by any vulgar Ohioans. . . .
I send you a map of the Illinois territory. It is
tolerably correct, being taken from the Office Map.
Feb". 26*^. We have had a launch of a Steam
boat today of 150 Tons burthen. It was a beauti
ful sight; she plunged bows under, as the bilge
way was at the lowest end eight feet above the
water.

1 On Cincinnati, see p. 183, note.

IX
A trip across the Wabash in search of land — A night in the woods
— The people of Indiana — The Kentuckians.
At a farm house among the Eagle Creek Hills;
50 miles West from Frankfort, Kentucky, Feb", 3. 1818,
As general descriptions of Countries give always
vague and unsatisfactory ideas, I will fill up this
sheet with extracts from [my] Journal, which I
hope will be amusing. You will keep in mind, the
truth of a picture depends much upon the slightest
touches, and that resemblance cannot be produced
but by attention to minutiee.
Soon after my return from Cincinnati in Sep
tember, I went across the Wabash to seek some
good timbered land. I went alone on horseback,
carrying my American Rifle, which is a long gun,
weighing 10 lbs, and shoots a bullet of J4 oz
weight. I had a clean shirt and stockings in my
saddle bags, and provisions for four days ; a bag of
Indian corn for my horse, a blanket, a cloak, and
tin cup; a pocket compass, a map of the country,
a large hunting Knife, and a hatchet.
The first day's ride brought me to a swampy, flat
prairie, which I crossed just as the sun went down.
I turned into a thick wood, where the trees were
small and close together. I was then a poor woods
man, or I should have chosen a better place. I
lighted a fire with brush wood, and then began cut
ting down some small trees.

Notes in Kentucky ibj
I had nearly finished the second, when my hatchet
flew off the handle. During the time I spent in
looking in vain for it, the fire went out and it got
quite dark.
I was in a bad -Rx, as they say in the back woods.
However, I made the best of it; fed my horse, eat
my supper, and wrapped myself up warm, hugging
•my gun in my blanket. I lay listening a good
while, and had fallen into a doze, when my horse
snorted, and my dog jumped up, and I heard some
thing rush through the woods at, perhaps, lOO
yards distance. All was still again, — but the winds
whistling through the trees, and now and then a
wolf howling afar off. I lay down again, and soon
fell asleep.
The next morning I struck a path which led to
a Cabin where I breakfasted on hominy and honey,
and proceeded across the Boon-pas, up the long
Prairie 2 miles. I then took the woods, and, after
struggling five hours among grape vines and
creeks, I found some Whiteoak timbered land near
our prairie. I ran the section line, then crossed the
prairie to the North end, and reached M''. E. 
at dark.
The next day I found still better land, well tim
bered. Found the section line and started off for
Shawnee town, which I reached in two days.
Here I entered land; and soon after went again
to the Prairie to get a cabin built, and returned to
Shawnee. . . .
I hope you will not think this letter is filled with

1 68 Fordham's Personal Narrative
matter unworthy of being sent across the Atlantic.
These minute descriptions alone can give you an
idea of these wildernesses.
The farmers of Indiana generally arrive in the
country very poor, but somehow they get a great
deal of property very soon. They all work, and
there are not half so many labourers for hire, as
there are farmers. The former live with their em
ployers, and are their equals, if they are men of
good character ; which is not always the case. The
hunters have more politeness, and I think more of
virtue and hospitality than the farmers. The worse
set are boatmen, and petty traders in horses and
whisky, who live on the banks of rivers. Some of
these are connected with horse stealers and forg
ers, and are the pests of a rising society. The new
towns on the frontiers generally are inhabited by
these men, till they rise into importance; when the
scamps move off. Though we have rascals even
here, yet the tone of morals is higher on the fron
tiers, than among men of the same station in Eng
land. They are either very good or openly bad in
these back woods.
I do not think much can be said in praise of the
daughters of Indiana; they are completely desti
tute of education. Not so, the Kentucky women.
From the little I have seen and the much I have
heard, I judge they are the most spirited women in
the world. They are exceedingly fond of dress,
and are generally very handsome. But Kentucky

Notes in Kentucky 169
is growing very rich, and the people are becoming
very proud.
I shall reserve my observations on Kentucky for
a future letter, and likewise a geographical and
statistical sketch of the South Eastern section of
the Illinois Territory.-^
Either Kentucky or Illinois must be the abode
of an English farmer. In the one he will find an
agreeable society, in the other there is none, and
he will give to it, as it rises, a tint of his own man
ners. Cincinnati. Feb". 14*''. . . . Land has been
sold near this town for 200$ per acre. — 45£. The
people cannot be poor who buy or sell such land.
Yet twenty-two years ago, this land was the prop
erty of the Indians, and the few white men who
lived here, dared not leave their fort. Still if it
were not for Slavery, Kentucky or Virginia would
be the countries for English Gentlemen. A Ken-
tuckian is an Englishman with a little more pride.

' For the promised observations on Kentucky see pp. 177-181,
and pp. 214-216. There does not appear in the manuscript any sys
tematic sketch of the Illinois Territory, but much valuable informa
tion and comment is given incidentally here and there.

X
The Americanizing of emigrants — Attitude of Westerners toward
Englishmen — Prospective peace with the southern Indians —
Emigration to Missouri — Mr. Birkbeck's estate — Fordham's
farm — Opportunities for men with capital — Respect for edu
cation and manners.
Cincinnati Feb". i8. 1818.
I TAKE a hasty opportunity of sending you a few
lines by a gentleman who is going to Scotland from
this place. He will start tomorrow morning early;
and I have to give a dozen orders to Engineer,
Smiths and founders in the course of the day; so
you will excuse a very hastily written scrawl.
We are all in good health and spirits, and are
more accustomed to American manners; — there
fore more comfortable. It is useless for Emigrants
to think of retaining English manners or English
feelings, in this country of liberty and equality.
But, to do the Americans justice, they respect the
love, which every man of generous feeling has for
his native country, and they are pretty in express
ing their contempt of a Renegado. There are too
many of this character ; and I have been more hurt
by their conduct, than by all the rudeness of the
Ohioans, or the pride and haughtiness of Kentuck
ians. The Western Americans generally feel great
hostility to the British Government, but towards
the English Emigrants, they are, with few excep
tions, kind and hospitable. They are in most re
spects different from their brethren in the East, for

Settlement in the West 171
whom they do not entertain much respect or affec
tion. Military courage is here considered to be the
prince of all the virtues. Even quakers talk like
soldiers, and frequently the younger members turn
out with their fellow citizens.
The Indians in the South, who were making a
great head against Gen. Gaines, have now proposed
a friendly talk, and, probably, peace will be con
cluded before this reaches you. I am glad of this,
because there was some danger of the spirit of hos
tility spreading among the tribes who live on the
Western banks of the Mississippi, and the North
ern tribes. In that case we must have fortified our
dwellings; and we young men, though not called
upon by law, should have looked small if we had
not volunteered.
The prophet chief, brother of Tecumseh,-^ is still
living beyond the Missouri. The Missouri Terri
tory is peopling so fast, that very soon our country

' The Prophet was a Shawnee warrior, known in early life as
Lawlewasikaw, but after assuming the prophetic role in 1805 as
Pemsquatawah. With this change of name and profession he began
to make himself conspicuous by declaiming against witchcraft, the
use of intoxicating liquors, intermarriage with the whites, and the
selling of Indian lands to the United States. Late in 1805, or early
in 1806, he and his brother Tecumseh removed from the Delaware
villages on the west fork of White River (in present Delaware
County, Indiana) to Greenville, Ohio; and in the spring of 1808
they gained permission of the Pottawattamies and Kickapoos to settle
on the Wabash near the mouth of the Tippecanoe, at a place which
afterwards bore the name of the Prophet's Town. While the
Prophet's fame and influence grew among the tribes of northwestern
Indiana, Tecumseh busied himself with efforts to unite these tribes
in one great confederacy on the basis of a common resistance to the
encroachments of the whites. Relations between the Indian leaders
and the representatives of the national government, chiefly Governor
William Henry Harrison, became more and more strained, until in

172 Fordham's Personal Narrative
will be backed up on that side. The banks of the
Okaw^ and the Little Muddy, ^ about 80 miles west
ward of us, are entering very fast, though unluck
ily by Speculators, as well as settlers. We have as
yet, however, been fortunate enough to keep the
former away from our immediate neighbourhood.
An English gentleman of fortune, a M''. Q  ,
is gone down the river with his family, with the
intention of buying land close to us.
M'. Birkbeck is laying out a farm of 1600 acres
in the midst of his Estate of 4000 acres. He has
entered the whole of the Bolton house prairie ; with
the exception of three quarters on the South V/est
side, and one quarter on the North side of M''.
Flower's land, which I have entered for myself.
My little Estate lies on and between two small
hills, from which descend several small streams,
that unite in the valley and flow on through the
prairie. An arm of the prairie runs up this valley
and extends itself on the heights somewhat in this
shape.^ I suppose I have about 100 acres of meadow
and 60 of timber land. The timber is white oak,
181 1 the crisis came in the noted battle of Tippecanoe in which the
Indians were defeated and the confederacy shattered. Tecumseh
joined the British the following year and was killed in the battle
of the Thames, October 5, 1813. The Prophet removed to the
Indian country on the western side of the Mississippi, where he
died in 1834. A good account of the careers of these rather re
markable redskins will be found in John B. Dillon's History of
Indiana (Indianapolis, 1859), pp. 423-553 passim.
'The Okaw is a small tributary of the Kaskaskia, in Washing
ton County, Illinois.
2 The Little Muddy flows into the Big Muddy in the eastern part
of Jackson County, Illinois. The Big Muddy enters the Mississippi
in northwestern Union County.
3 See sketch on opposite page.

Settlement in the West 173
walnut, and Hickory.
There are some Per
simmons, a most de-
on straight and rather
lofty trees, a good
many grapes and
hazels.
I am getting the iron work for a wind-mill, and
other machinery. Iron costs 12^-4 c". per lb, and
the working is charged at I2j4 c*'. more. I have
bought anvils, bellows, and all the tools of a Black
smith's, Millwright's, and Carpenter's shop. I can
get work done here as well as in London at from
50 to 100 per Cent advance upon London prices.
I am going down the river in a boat of which I
shall take the command. I went down last Au
tumn in two boats, in one of which I had two
horses. To confess the truth I nearly lost the
boats and all the property would have been gone,
if my lads had not made uncommon exertions. It
was in the night and a most tremendous thunder
storm came on. The intervals between the flashes
of lightning were so dark that we could not see
some rocks, which we ran foul of, and hung to all
night. I am boarding in a very respectable quaker fam
ily, who do not in general take in boarders. But I
was recommended by a gentleman of this town,
with whom I had travelled, and to whom we are all
well known. Introductions into respectable fami-

174 Fordham's Personal Narrative
lies are as necessary in this country as in any other ;
and as much is thought of steadiness of conduct,
though more latitude is given to speech.
I have consciously avoided giving to my young
friends in England coloured descriptions of this
country: but I must beg leave to assure you — that
you cannot do a greater favour to any young man,
v/ho possesses from 8oo£ to 5,ooo£, with a proper
degree of spirit, than by sending him out here. But
if he has no money, if he knows no mechanical
trade, and if he cannot work, — he had better stay
in a Counting house in England.
Any young man, who wishes to marry, but dare
not enter into business and the expences of a family
in England, if he can command iooo£, may choose
his trade here. If he is a plain working farmer,
50o£ will make him more independent than an Eng
lish gentleman with iooo£ per annum.
An Emigrant who is rich, may settle near a large
town ; find society, libraries, and a great many com
forts. If he does not object to holding Slaves, Ken
tucky offers him great advantages. But if he is
not rich, or is ambitious, — the Illinois and Missouri
Territory, and, from what I have heard, I may say,
the Alabama Country, will hold out advantages
that will pay him for all sacrifices.^
A bill is in Congress for making a State of the
Illinois Territory.^ We shall be Citizens as soon
as it passes, and eligible I believe to any office.
' For more extended observations on the various regions which
held out inducements to European emigrants see pp. 227-228.
2 In January, 1818, the legislature of Illinois, through Nathaniel

Settlement in the West 175
Men of Education and Manners are much re
spected; and there is a large proportion of the peo
ple, who have a great deal of information; which
though acquired more by conversation and obser
vation, than by reading, makes them good judges of
character, and enables them to value literary and
scientific acquirements.
I have had interest offered me to procure an elec
tion to a command in a Militia regiment in In
diana; but I have declined the offer. . . .
Pope, the territorial delegate, petitioned Congress for admission
to the Union. On the following eighteenth of April Congress
passed the desired act enabling the people of the territory to frame
a constitution and establish a state government. A noteworthy
feature of this act was the provision that the northern boundary of
the new state should be the line 40° 30' N. Lat. — a provision se
cured by the efforts of Pope, who saw that if a line drawn through
the southernmost point of Lake Michigan were made the boundary,
as it had been assumed would be the case, the valuable port of
Chicago would be lost to some state yet to be constituted on the
north. The new line is about forty miles further north than the
old one and the fourteen lUino.is counties lying wholly or in part
between the two were regarded by not a few Wisconsin people of a
generation ago as wrongfully attached to the commonwealth on the
south. August 26, 1818, a convention met at the capital, Kaskaskia,
and framed a constitution, which was duly ratified. Shadrach Bond,
a Marylander who had settled in Illinois at an early date, was elected
first governor of the state. He assumed the duties of the office in
October, 1818. In this same month the legislature had its first
session and Ninian Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas were elected to the
United States Senate. During an adjourned session, in the winter
of 1818-19, a code of laws (borrowed in the main from the codes
of Virginia and Kentucky) was adopted and commissioners were
appointed to select a site for a new capital. The result of the
latter act was the choice of Vandalia, occupied in 1821 (see p. 104,
note i).

XI
The people of Virginia — The Kentuckians — The winning of Ken
tucky from the Indians — The work of Daniel Boone — Sensa
tions experienced in the wilderness — Nature of Indian war
fare — Cassidy's achievements — Manner of life of a wealthy
Kentucky farmer — Society inchoate in the Illinois Country —
The farming class — The hunters.
Cincinnati Feb". 26. 1818.
Having an opportunity of sending a letter by a
private conveyance, I seize it with avidity, because
I have great hope you will receive it safe. The
post offices of this Western Country are so ill con
ducted that it is quite discouraging.
I need not tell you what we are doing, for M'.
Birkbeck's book^ has told you already. We are
proceeding steadily, though slowly. . . .
Now I will tell VOU a little of what I have seen
and learnt; and that I may give you my ideas un
disturbed, and fresh from my mind, I will not affect
any sort of arrangement.
I have seen but little of Virginia. The men of
education and wealth are much like English Coun
try gentlemen, about as refined and nearly as proud.
The young men are irascible but goodnatured.
They are, however, rude and greedy in their man
ners at public tables to a most shameful degree.
The women are pretty, languishing, made-up
misses. Their chief pleasures seem to be in dress
ing well and in combing their long fair hair. They
' Fordham here refers to Birkbeck's Notes on a Journey Sn Amer
ica from the Coast of Virginia to the Territory of Illinois (Phil
adelphia, 1817).

Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana 177
have most beautiful hair, and are generally much
fairer than English women. Like the men, they
are tall and thin; but they have not the intelligent
look of the former.
Kentucky, which is the daughter of Virginia,
has fewer men of literary tastes and habits, but
more men of enterprise, both commercial and mili
tary. Their military enthusiasm scarcely knows
any limit. They are, without doubt, very brave,
but the men of other States say they are not steady.
It is certain that they have in the late war been at
times most unaccountably panic-struck.
Kentucky, or "bloody field," was won inch by
inch from the Indians; — by a few enterprising
men, unaided by governments, unorganized, for the
most part poor, and connected merely by mutual
wants and interests. It was not the property of
any particular tribe of Savages, but the disputed
hunting ground of many. It was the theatre of
their wars ; — and was won from them by Boon and
his associates contending with them in their own
way. Daniel Boon'^ first crossed the mountains on a
hunting expedition in 1769, accompanied by 5 men.
In 1772 his force did not amount to 100 men, and

' Daniel Boone was born in 1734 in the valley of the Schuylkill in
Pennsylvania. In 1757 his family moved to Buffalo Lick, on the
north fork of the Yadkin, in North Carolina. There he grew to
manhood, becoming a hunter and backwoodsman of the most strenu
ous type. In 1769, with five companions, he pushed westward
through Cumberland Gap and began the notable career in Kentucky
which Fordham outlines. His later years were spent in the Mis
souri Territory, which became more attractive to him than Ken
tucky, owing to the rapidity with which the latter was increasing in

178 Fordham's Personal Narrative
in the interval between these years he had been
living 18 months in the wilderness alone, clad in
bear skins, and often fearing to light a fire. He
had sent away his Companions for his family and
for powder.
You will never have a correct idea of what a
wilderness is till you come to visit me. It is no
more like a great wood, than a battle is like a re
view. Whatever limits it may have on the map,
however quickly the eye may traverse the chart,
or the imagination may skim over the fancied des
ert, — the traveller and hunter find impediments,
which give to him notions of extension.
To be at an unknown distance from the dwell
ings of man; to have pathless forests of trees
around you; and intervening rivers, across which
you must swim on your horse or on a raft, what
ever be the temperature of the water or the air; —
the whispering breeze among the leaves, the spring
of the deer, or the flap of the Eagle's wing are the
only sounds you hear during the day; and then to
lie at night in a blanket, with your feet to a fire,
your rifle hugged in your arms, listening to the
howling wolves, and starting at the shriek of the
terrible panther: This it is to be in a Wilderness
alone. To return to Daniel Boon, — and Kentucky — He
was twice taken prisoner by the Indians and
population. The removal to Missouri seems to have been made in
the spring of 1799. The best biography of Boone is Thwaites,
Daniel Boone (New York, 1902). William Harvey Miner's Daniel
Boone: Contribution toward a Bibliography of Writings concern
ing Daniel Boone (New York, 1901) is useful.

Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana 179
French, and once marched to Canada. He had
been spared by the Indians because they admired
his bravery. He escaped alone, and returned to
his fort on Kentucky river. His wife and daugh
ters, having been left by their husband, who had
been surprised in the woods, had likewise left the
fort desolate. Boon pushed on across the Moun
tains to N. Carolina, and found his family at a rela
tion's house.
Battles with the Indians are a series of duels;
it was so then, and is so now. A brave man kills
the greatest number, and it is nothing to him,
whether ten are engaged or a hundred. He only
looks to do his own duty, and to get as many scalps
as he can. The Kentuckians have adopted the In
dian custom of scalping the dead.
Cassidy, an Irishman, — a smaller man, it is said,
by people who know him, than I am, — is the next
on the list of fame.^ He has killed more men than
Boon has, and most of them in single fights, or In
dian hunting, as it is called. I believe he is alive
yet. Boon has a settlement 280 miles west of us,
has got a new rifle this season, — and is gone out
to kill another bear before he dies : — he is 80 years
old.

' Captain Michael Cassidy was a native of Ireland who migrated
to the United States in his youth and won no small distinction as a
soldier in the Revolution. At the close of the war he removed to
Kentucky and settled at Cassidy's Station, in Fleming County. He
was one of the most noted frontiersmen of his time. In connection
with his diminutive stature, to which Fordham alludes, it may be said
that numerous amusing stories are told regarding his encounters
with Indians, who thought him to be a mere boy and treated him
with corresponding condescension.

i8o Fordham's Personal Narrative
A wealthy Kentucky farmer has 20 or 30 slaves,
whom he treats rather like children than servants,
— 2 or 3000 acres of land, 500 acres of which are
cleared and in cultivation. He lives in a bad house,
keeps a plentiful table, which is covered three times
a day with a great many dishes. Brandy, Whisky,
and Rum are always standing at a side table. He
is hospitable, but rather ostentatious, plain in his
manners, and rather grave; a great politician,
rather apt to censure than to praise, and a rather
bigoted republican. It is said by enemies, that
were a person to travel through Kentucky and
openly approve of Monarchical principles, he would
be stabbed. This is not true; but it is true that
they are irascible, to a great degree, and it would
not be wise for any man to preach up even federal,
that is, tory, principles in this State.
Nothing is more common than for men in Ken
tucky to quarrel about politics, and the pistol used
to be the universal resort. But as almost every
duel was fatal, the legislature took effectual means
to prevent duelling. The dirk is now generally
worn, and not unfrequently used in the lower parts
near the Tennessee line.
I, however, like Kentucky : — there is much to in
terest me in its inhabitants, though there is much
to disapprove.
You have heard of the Mammoth Cave^ — I have

' Mammoth Cave is in Edmonson County, Kentucky, about ninety-
five miles southwest of Louisville. It was discovered accidentally
by a hunter in 1809.

Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana i8i
seen the skull of a Mammoth found in White River
in Indiana — it is a tremendous head-piece.
In the Illinois Country, Society is yet unborn, —
but it will be soon. The western parts toward St.
Louis are thickest settled, and with very dissipated
characters. French and Indian traders, Cana
dians, &c, gamblers, horsestealers, and bankrupts.
Near us there are only a few farmers and hunters.
Farmers, who till their own land, shear their own
sheep, grow their own cotton and tobacco, the for
mer of which their wives manufacture into cloth
ing through every process. They tan the hides of
their cattle and deer skins, and make them up into
shoes and harness. They are hospitable according
to their means; but, if they live near roads, expect
payment for food and lodging, which is rather de
manded by travellers than accepted as a favour.
The hunters live rather worse, but are more en
tertaining and interesting companions. Clothed in
dressed not tanned buckskins: — a home-made,
homespun hunting shirt outside; — belted to his
waist with a broad belt, to which is appended a
knife with a blade a foot long: a tomohawk, or
powder horn, in the belt of which is sometimes a
smaller knife to cut the patch of the bullet ; a bullet-
pouch; mocassins on his feet; a blanket on his sad
dle ; and a loaf of Indian Corn. Thus equipped and
accoutered he enters the trackless woods, without
a compass, or a guide, but what appears a kind of
instinct. He is fearless of every thing, attacks
every thing that comes in his way, and thinks him-

182 Fordham's Personal Narrative
self the happiest and noblest being in the world.
These men have kindly feelings. I should expect
to receive more sympathy from them in real dis
tress, such as they could understand, than from
more enlightened, and more civilized men. They
never swear. Their women never sit at table with
them; at least, I have never seen them. I cannot
speak in high terms of the manners or of the virtue
of their squaws and daughters. Their houses con
tain but one room, and that used as a sleeping room
as well by 'Strangers as by the men of the family,
they lose all feminine delicacy, and hold their vir
tue cheap.

XII
Dimensions of the Ohio — Its scenery — Velocity of the current —
La Salle on the Ohio — Early settlements in the West — Strug
gle of frontiersmen and Indians — Population of the western
states — The growth of Cincinnati — Description of the city —
Manners of the people — The negro population — Story of the
negro Anthony— Character of the flatboatmen.
Cincinnati March 6, 1818,
I WISH you could see this town,^ one of the most
prosperous in the west. I will give you a sketch
of it, its situation, and its early settlement.

' The site of Cincinnati was first occupied in 1780 when George
Rogers Clark, in the course of his campaign against the allied
British and Indian invaders of Ohio, gathered there about a thou
sand riflemen and built a blockhouse. In 1787, after the organiza
tion of the Northwest Territory, Judge John Cleves Symmes of
New Jersey applied to Congress for a grant of a million acres of
land lying north of the Ohio and between the Great and Little
Miami rivers. The grant was obtained, though the tract was found
eventually to contain not more than 600,000 acres, and in 1788
Symmes removed thither with his family and about fifty associates.
His settlement was established on a site opposite the mouth of the
Licking, receiving, at the suggestion of the Kentucky schoolmaster
John Filson, the awkward name Lostantiville — the town (ville)
opposite (anti) the mouth (os) of the Licking (L). When St. Clair,
governor of the Northwest Territory, arrived in 1790 he very sen
sibly ruled that the town should be called Cincinnati, in honor of
the military society of that name. Symmes was one of the first three
judges associated with St. Clair in the management of Northwestern
affairs. Cincinnati grew slowly at first, being for some time consid
erably more important as a stockade than as a town. In 1792 its
first school and church were built and by 1800 it had a population of
about seven hundred and fifty. It was the seat of government of the
new state of Ohio until 1806, when the capital was transferred to
Chillicothe. The census of 1810 gave it a population of 2,320, and in
the following year Melish describes it as, next to Pittsburg, the
greatest manufacturing town on the Ohio and a place rapidly in
creasing in size and advantages (Travels, ii, pp. 126-131). Its
growth after this time was rapid, as is indicated by the fact that its
population in 1813 was 4,000; in 1815, 6,000; in 1819, 10,283; and
in 1826, 16,230. Travellers in the period 1816-1830 were generally
surprised by the industrial and commercial activity of the place,
as well as by the high state of society in it. The following visitors
have good descriptions of the town : Fearon, Sketches, pp. 226-237 J

184

Fordham's Personal Narrative

The Ohio river is 1,000 miles long; join it with
the Alleghany it is 1,300. Its width at Cincinnati,
which is nearly equidistant from Pittsburgh and
its confluence with the Mississippi, is 534 yards;
which may be assumed, says D'. Drake,^ as its
mean breadth. He is wrong; — I have gone down
900 miles, and have made by estimated angles above
50 measurements, and its average breadth cannot
Birkbeck, Notes, pp. 8i-8g; Hulme, Journal (Early Western
Travels, x, pp. 41-42) ; Nuttall, Journal (Early Western Travels,
xiii, p. 62) ; Flint, Letters (Early Western Travels, ix, pp. 149-
156); William Tell Harris, Remarks, p. 99; Woods, Two Years'
Residence (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 235-237) ; and Ogden,
Letters (Early Western Travels, xix, pp. 35-38). A very valuable
work on early Cincinnati is Daniel Drake's Natural and Statistical
View or Picture of Cincinnati and the Miami Country (Cincinnati,
1815), for which see note i, below. Two very good popular
accounts are Francis W. Miller's Cincinnati's Beginnings (Cincin
nati, 1880) and Ford and Ford, History of Cincinnati (Cincinnati,
1881). ' Daniel Drake was born in Kentucky in 1785. At the age of
fifteen he became a student of medicine at -Cincinnati, where he
settled permanently in the practice of his chosen profession in 1807,
soon becoming one of the foremost physicians of the West. He es
tablished the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati (opened in
1820) and in 1827 was selected to be editor of the Western Medical
and Physical Journal. In 1810 he published a pamphlet entitled
Notices concerning Cincinnati, which constitutes the first authorita
tive description of the place of any length that we have. Five years
later his larger work, the Natural and Statistical View or Picture of
Cincinnati and the Miami Country, appeared — a book which served
a very useful purpose in promoting the prosperity of the city and
region described in it. It is this volume (pp. 13-17) that contains
the statements regarding the Ohio to which Fordham takes ex
ception. Drake also published History, Character, and Prospects of
the West: a Discourse (Cincinnati, 1834) ; and by all odds his
greatest work was On the Principal Diseases of the Interior Val
ley of North America, published in 1850, two years before the
author's death. Further information will be found in Charles D.
Drake [ed.]. Pioneer Life in Kentucky: a Series of Reminiscential
Letters from Daniel Drake, M.D., of Cincinnati to his Children
(Cincinnati, 1870) ; Charles D. Meigs, A Biographical Notice of
Daniel Drake, M.D., of Cincinnati (Philadelphia, 1853) ; and Ed
ward Deering Mansfield, Memoirs of the Life and Services of Daniel
Drake, with Notices 0/ the Early Settlement of Cincinnati and
some of its Pioneer Citizens (Cincinnati, 1855).

Cincinnati 187

be less than 700 yards. Its annual range from high
to low water is 50 feet — its extreme range 7 feet
more. It may be forded in many places above
Louisville when the water is at the lowest stage;
but between these bars, which form slight rapids,
there are basins of deep water many miles long.
It is frozen over at Pittsburg almost every win
ter — sometimes at Cincinnati — I believe never at
Shawanoe. Generally navigation is stopt by float
ing ice 8 or 10 weeks.
The Ohio river is not generally a picturesque ob
ject. It addresses itself powerfully to the imagina
tion, but not to the senses. Its banks are clothed
Math dark forests. Here and there a small cabin
peeps from the trees. Sometimes the rocks rise
around you in solemnity and gloom — but at one
place only, at the falls, do your eyes glance over any
expanse of country.
Nevertheless, I am more happy, more self-satis
fied, on the banks of the Ohio, than ever I could
have been on the fair plains of Old England. The
forests of Indiana, the mountains of Kentucky, the
wilds of the Illinois, if they are not so beautiful, yet
their grandeur calls forth deeper, more sublime,
emotions. They are the fields of enterprise, the
cradle of freedom, the land of rest to the weary,
the place of refuge to the oppressed. Every sound
that issues from the woods, from the crashing tor
nado which rushes across entire regions, clothed
in sheets of fire and shaking the hills to their foun
dations, — to the soft low murmur of an autumnal

1 88 Fordham's Personal Narrative
breeze, — all excites the most profound sentiments
of adoration for the divine author of Nature, — all
recall to man the uncertain duration of his exist
ence; but these thoughts are unmixed with aught
that can debase his worth or circumscribe his
powers. These wildernesses are given to him
alone : in them he is free ; owning no master but his
God, and no authority but that of reason and truth.
"And sovereign man scarce condescends to see
"A nation's laws more sovereign still than he."
To go back to the Ohio River. The velocity of
its current is estimated at 3 miles per hour. When
the waters are high and rising, it is equal to 4 and
5. But the progress of a boat must be estimated
at less, because the filament of the current always
inclines towards, and is generally very near, the
concave shore; thus making the course of a boat
longer than the length of the middle of the river:
And there is generally a light breeze on the surface
of the water, blowing upwards against it.
Mons*". de la Salle, a frenchman, in an inland voy
age from Quebec to the Mississippi in 1680, de
scended the Ohio. Probably he was the first white
man who ever navigated it ; and his adventure was
imitated by his countrymen exclusively for 70
years.^ Vincennes, on the Wabash was founded
' On the achievements of La Salle, Fordham is badly confused.
If La Salle ever descended the Ohio at all it must have been in
1670 or 1671. The claim is made, on the basis mainly of some
questionable documents in Margry's Decouvertes et Etablissements
des Frangois dans I'Ouest et dans le Sud de I'Amerique Septen
trionale, i, pp. 103-166, that the noted explorer, in the course of a
western expedition from La Chine in 1670 discovered the Ohio and,
following its course to the Mississippi, became also the French

Cincinnati 189

in 1735;^ and in 1753 Fort DuQuesne, at the con
fluence of the Monongahela and Alleghany. In
1788, the first settlement was made in the State of
Ohio, at Marietta by New Englanders. ^ In the au
tumn of the same year, a party of New Jersey men
settled at the North Bend, just above the mouth
of the Great Miami;* Fort Washington was built
opposite the mouth of Licking, where Cincinnati
now stands;^ and the settlement of Columbia, just
below the Little Miami, was undertaken. «
A dreadful War was waged by the Indians
against the New Comers, who appear to have been
well furnished with arms, and with nothing else.
They used to steal out singly at night, and watch
the deer come to the creeks to drink; and when
discoverer of this latter river. It is possible, as Parkman thought,
that the Ohio was reached at this time and descended perhaps as far
as to the site of Louisville, but that this was the case cannot be
proved; that in any event no more than this was accomplished is
practically beyond dispute. La Salle's expedition to the Mississippi
in 1680 was made by way of the Great Lakes and the Illinois River.
1 See p. 96, note 2.
2 See p. 71, note. The date should be 1754.
3 See p. 86, note.
4 The town at North Bend, some miles west of Cincinnati, was es
tablished by Judge John Cleves Symmes in the hope that event
ually it would be made the capital of the Northwest Territory. See
p. 183, note.
6 Fort Washington was established by Major Doughty in 1787
as a frontier protection against the Indians. Being no longer needed,
it was demolished in 1808. Its site is marked at present by Fort
Washington Monument, in Third Street, erected in 1901. See Rob
ert Ralston Jones, Fort Washingtom at Cincinnati, Ohio (Cincinnati,
1902). sin 1787 a block-house was built on the site of Columbia by Major
Stiles, of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and twenty-five associates.
Like the slightly later settlement at North Bend (see note 4,
above), Columbia was for a time a rival of Cincinnati for the
' dignity of capital of the Northwest Territory.

190 Fordham's Personal Narrative
they had shot one, they were obliged to lie hid for
some time to discover if any Indians were roused
by the report of the gun; then the poor hunter
would take the whole carcase on his back, and carry
it perhaps 5 and 6 miles. They had seldom any
bread, and sometimes no salt to eat with their Ven
ison. In process of time they drove back the In
dians, built their huts, made themselves farms, and
married. Their children grew hardy and chubby
by paddling in the mud, rolling in the sand, and
eating hominy.
I copy the following table from D''. Drake's
book.^ Tenessee settled in 1775 had in 1791 .... in 1800. in 18 10
35691 inhabitants 105602 261727
Kentucky settled in 1775 . . 1790 .... in 1800. in 1810
7Z(>77 inh. 220690 4065 11
Ohio settled in 1788 .... 1790  1800. . 1810
3000 inh. 42156 230670

The proportion
of males
to females. . .

Ohio 100 to 86
Kentucky 100 to 91
in Tenessee 100 to 93 in
Mexico 100 to 95
Rhode Isl'd 100 to 105

North'n States 100 to loi
Middle States 100 to 95
South'n States 100 to 95

I shall tire you with dates and numbers. Let us
see what Cincinnati is now. It stands on the first
and second banks of the Ohio. The second -is 40
feet higher than the first. The two banks are both
plains nearly parallel with the horizon. At the dis
tance of a mile from the river you come to steep
hills above 300 feet high.
In 1810 Cincinnati contained 2,320 Inhabitants;
' Daniel Drake, Natural and Statistical View of Cincinnati, p. 28.
See ante, p. 184, note.

Cincinnati 191

in 1814, 4,000, in 181 5, 6,000; at the present time
the lowest estimation is 8,000, living in 800 houses.
There are 6 places of worship; 2 presbyterian, 2
methodist, i baptist and i quaker ; no Roman Cath
olic Chapel, though there are Catholics ; a unitarian
has preached here, and they talk of getting a Chapel
built. It is a Corporation town, governed by a Mayor,
and twelve councilmen.
It has a Court house and gaol, a public seminary
on Lancaster's plan, and a Theatre fallen into dis
repute, and in a state of dilapidation. The Steam
Mill cost 130,000$.
M"". Greene's foundery is a flourishing establish
ment. He has workmen equal to do any thing in
Machinery. There are four Banks. They issue notes as low
as dollars. There are tickets in circulation of as
small value as 6j4 Cents — about 4 pence. This is
the smallest division of money, and is valued about
as much as a halfpenny is in England.
There is a United States' Land Office here, and
M''. Jesse Embree has established a Land agency
office, at which emigrants may procure informa
tion, that might otherwise cost them many hundred
miles travelling to obtain.
The houses of the principal streets are built of
brick, and are handsome without and convenient
within. The upper part of the Town is not yet
much built upon, and is chiefly encumbered by mean
paltry wooden houses; though there are some

192 Fordham's Personal Narrative
dweUings with their proud porticos, that look too
aristocratic by half for the State of Ohio. Around
the town are scattered a few good and many indif
ferent villas and ornamented Cottages; like, but
unequal to those near London.
The river, which is now rising, and open, dis
plays a gay and busy scene. Boats and barges,
some of which are schooner-rigged, are taking in
or discharging cargoes. Flour is shipped here,
which you possibly may eat in London, and Eng
lish goods block up the path along the shore. Some
of these boats are manned by Sailors, and their
cheerful shouts and yo-hoing make me forget I am
1,500 miles from the Ocean.
Of the manners of the Citizens of Cincinnati I
ought to say but little, for my acquaintance has
been confined to the Quakers. Servants are so dif
ficult to be obtained that the wives and daughters
of the middle classes do nearly all the household
work themselves, and a negro, unless you hire him
by the month to clean your boots will charge you
each time 12^ Cents. This, however, is not the
case with the very rich, who live in plenty and even
splendour, that would excite the envy of an Eng
lish Shopkeeper. There are several carriages and
some one-horse chaises, but Jersey waggons are
more common and more useful.
The western Americans are not so domestic as
the English. Business and politics engross the
thoughts of the men. They live in their Stores and
Counting houses, and associate with their wives

Cincinnati 193

as little as may be. The latter are generally infe
rior in information and talents of conversation to
English women of the same station in life. They
are good managers in their houses, but are fond of
dress, in which they have but little taste. The Ohio
women are pretty, but not interesting. We some
times meet with one who is above the common
standard, but she is, ten to one, an Emigrant from
the East.
But, however, there is no standard of manners,
no classification of these people, who have come
perhaps from the Mountains of Vermont or the
barren sands of Nantucket, from Massachusetts
and Connecticut and from every State in the Union,
from the frozen regions of Canada, from every
Country in Europe.
There are a few white servants, chiefly inden
tured girls, who are allowed indulgencies which
would astonish an English housekeeper. They are
treated rather as poor relations, or as children, than
as menials. Black servants wiU take liberties that
are not granted.
There are a few Negroes here; perhaps 200 in
the whole town. More dissipated, vile, insolent
beings there cannot be. I have been on the point
of knocking my Shoeblack down twice. I changed
him ; — and but little for the better. It will not do
to speak to a Negro as you must to a white man;
he assumes upon it immediately. Yet I know Ne
groes who are most excellent servants. M''. J 
has one — his story is worth relating.

194 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Anthony was brought into Indiana by a man
named Hopkins, who became Sheriff, and went
with the Militia to Tippecanoe. He took Anthony
with him as a waggoner. In that fiercely fought
battle the Americans nearly yielded to the onset of
the Indians. Anthony, who was safe amidst the
baggage, rushed into the thickest of the fight,
snatched a rifle from a dying soldier, and fought by
the side of his Master. When Indiana became a
state, slavery was abolished and Anthony was free.^
He said to his Master, "You bought me but a little
while ago for a great deal of money; you will lose
it, if I leave you now. I will indenture myself for
10 years." His offer was accepted by Hopkins,
who afterwards sold him as a slave for life to some
Orleans traders, who wanted to take him by force
down to Louisiana, where he would have been
worked, starved, and flogged into feebleness and
submission. Anthony, who is as strong as an Ath-

'The provision of the Ordinance of 1787 that there should be
"neither slavery nor involuntary servitude" in the Northwest
Territory was understood by the people of the Territory to mean
simply that free negroes could not legally be enslaved and that
slaves could not be brought in from outside sources. It was as
sumed that the ordinance was not retroactive and did not affect the
status of slaves already held at the time of its promulgation ; and this
assumption was proved well founded when the question was tested
subsequently in the courts. The population of southern Indiana
and Illinois was largely of southern origin. It included many resi
dents who were slave-holders in 1787 and many others who came
in after that date, bringing their slaves with them and holding them
on sufferance. An elaborate system of indented servitude also pre
vailed, and it was not until the adoption of the constitution of fhe
state of Indiana in 1816 that slavery, or its practical equivalent, was
finally and absolutely abolished in that portion of the old Territory.
On the great struggle over slavery which went on in Indiana during
the period 1800-1812 see John D. Dillon, History of Indiana, chapter
xxxi, and Jacob P. Dunn, Indiana, chapter vi.

Cincinnati 195

lete, broke from them and ran into Princeton,
where his part was taken by my friend M". J  ,
who bought his time and treats him as a friend
rather than a servant. In three years he will be
free, and he talks of going to his father, who lives
among the Chickasaws, but I tell him I shall want
him. As I always pay him the respect due to his
virtues and almost heroic character, he is very
much attached to me. He is learning to read of
M''. Birkbeck's servant.
This man Anthony is as well made as any white.
His colour is deep black. There is a quickness and
cheerfulness about him, which makes him an ex
cellent servant.
The whites here hold themselves above the
blacks, be they bondsmen or free. The blacks are
the Helots of this modern Sparta.
Workmen of every class are upon an equality
with every man. I am now surrounded by those of
M''. Green's Shops, whose address is equal to that
of many an Englishman who farms his thousand
acres; they expect civility and they generally re
turn it.
The boatmen who used to be my aversion, are
not nearly so much so now. There are some in
corrigible scoundrels among them; and their con
versation and manners are only to be equalled in
the sinks of London ; but should you take a respect
able young woman on board a boat, especially if it
be your own, you will not hear a word to offend
)^ou. — But I would advise all travellers going alone

196 Fordham's Personal Narrative
down the river, to get one man at least that they
can depend upon, and to wear a dagger or a brace
of pistols; for there are no desperadoes more sav
age in their anger than these men. Give them your
hand, — accost them with a bold air, — taste their
whisky, — and you win their hearts. But a little
too much reserve or haughtiness offends them in
stantly, and draws upon you torrents of abuse, if
not a personal assault. They are a dauntless, hardy
set; thoughtless, and short lived from intemper
ance. I must say for them, that, since I have un
derstood their characters, I have never received a
saucy word from any of them.
I write in a desultory manner, which I hope you
will excuse; and I hope you will never imagine
things to be worse than I represent them. I give
the darker shade to every vice, the full, broad, out
line to all I dislike in this Country. So pray do
not let your imagination dwell on the ills, which
follow the footsteps of man wherever he goes.
The family I am in are from Nantucket. In the
Pennsylvanian farmer's letter by Hector S*. John,
there is a pretty description of that little island,
and it is correct, I am told, in all respects, but one
in which he mentions the general use of opium.^
The Nantucketers are most like the good, old
fashioned English, of any Americans I have seen.
To me, now I am becoming an American, they seem
to be absolutely English. Perhaps there may be
'Two more recent descriptions of the island are R. H. Cook's
Historical Notes on the Island of Nantucket (Nantucket, 1871)
and William R. Bliss's Quaint Nantucket (Boston, 1896).

Cincinnati 197

some differences, but they are not very obvious. I
am treated by this family with great kindness, as
much so as if I were a Son of it. I should say that
part of the family is from New Jersey, who are
next akin to English. New Yorkers, perhaps, come
next.

XIII
A record of temperatures — A hard winter — Life during the cold
weather — The climate and health — Reasons for lack of
longevity among the Westerners — A trip from Princeton to the
English Prairie — The hiring of laborers — Entering more land
— English manners to be preserved in Mr. Birkbeck's settlement
— Possibility of an Indian war — -The Rappites of Harmony —
Their manners and character — Religious services.
English Prairie May 5. 1818.
I SHALL attend to your desire to have a meteoro
logical diary kept : it is the only way of obtaining a
correct knowledge of the temperature of the cli
mate. M''. B. has noted in his almanack the variations
of the Thermometer till he left Princeton 3 weeks
ago. — I will give you now from memory a sketch
of the changes since July 181 7.
July. Therm, at noon 75°. to 85°. — at
night, perhaps, 50°. to 55°- — Thun
derstorm once in 10 days — no fogs
or hazy weather.
August. 75°. to 90°. Thunderstorms, frequent
— clear weather and warm nights.
Sepf. 70°. to 85°. Thunderstorms and hard
rain two or three days, nights warm.
October. 40°. to 80°. Cold winds and rains the
latter part of the month.

English Prairie

199

November. 40°. to 70°. A few days of hazy
weather, succeeded by the Indian
Summer, during which the sky was
always obscured as if by smoke. The
weather warm and pleasant. The sun
looked red, and the clouds yellowish.
This was succeeded by rain and after
by cool weather — It was still pleasant
sleeping in the woods.
December. Therm: varied a good deal. Some
times we sat out of doors in the even
ing. The month closed with hard
frosts, which broke up after 10 days
duration — say for this month —
i^'. week 40°. to 55°. at noon.
2".  35". to 50".
3"^.  at night 8°. below o. at noon
10° and 15°. above.
4*.  The frost broke up with cold
rain.
January. Pleasant weather; generally 50°. at
noon.
February. Freezing hard and thawing again.
Weather changing every week.
March. Cold winds, — quite English March
weather.
April. English April weather.
May. 5"". Trees are putting forth leaves, grass
beginning to grow, and woods gay
with blossoms.

200 Fordham's Personal Narrative
The oldest Indian traders say that there has been
more rain, and that it has been altogether severer,
this winter, than they have known for thirty years.
Some very old men say at the first settling of S'.
Vincennes 60 years ago, there were two or three
such winters. Much credit cannot be given to such
long recollections. The waters of the Wabash this
winter rose to some very old water marks, which
evidently had not been touched for many years.
When the Thermometer is 10°. below Zero, it is
impossible to warm a boarded frame house. A
good log or plastered one may be made warm. Men
never think of working in this weather, but every
body crowds round the tavern fires to talk politics.
The bear hunters, however, choose this weather,
and go out 9 or 10 days without returning home.
They make blanket tents, open towards the fire,
which is an oblong pyramid of logs 10 feet by 3 or
4 at the base.
The coldest weather is cheerful: fogs are almost
unknown, except on large bodies of water. On the
Ohio I have known it so dark at 10 a. m. that I
could not see 30 yards.
This spring is later than any ever remembered.
There is, upon the whole, a superiority in the Cli
mate of the western Country to that of England;
though not so great as I at first imagined, or as
you would expect from the latitude. Consumptions
are almost unknown here. Bilious fevers are rather
prevalent, but not dangerous when early attended
to. Women have not such good health as the men

English Prairie 201

have; but that is to be attributed to their mode of
life, — being always in the house, usually without
shoes and stockings, and roasting themselves over
large fires.
People are not so long-lived here as in England,
and they look old sooner. This I think may be
justly attributed to
i^'. The universal use of spirituous liquors.
2diy 'pj^g disregard of personal comfort and
cleanliness, exposure to bad air near swamps &c,
and want of good Clothing.
^diy q-j^g great stimulus and excitement of the
mental passions, which adventurers and first set
tlers are, by their situation, subject to.
^thiy_ (Perhaps) violent religious enthusiasm.
5*'^. In some instances, very early marriages.
I find it no easy task to write descriptions of man
ners and opinions. If individual pictures only be
drawn, the inferences must be in part erroneous;
and sketches of a more comprehensive nature are
either loose and incorrect, or tame and unreadable.
Harmonie on the Wabash — May 6.
Robert W  arrived at Princeton on Sunday,
while I was taking a walk in the woods with M'.
S  As we returned into the town, a woman
poked her head out of a hole, caUed a window, in
the side of a log cabin, and screamed out "An Eng
lishman is come."
I ran home, and found whole packets of letters.
You do not know what it is to have letters from a

202 Fordham's Personal Narrative
long left native land. — I did not sleep that night.
The next morning Robert and I started for the
Prairie. I took him the shortest road, or rather
through Woods and Swamps where there was no
road at aU. He had been wearied by his journey
and discouraged. I talked, laughed, galloped and
splashed along, to his great astonishment, who
could not imagine that a civilized Englishman could
like such a dismal Country.
We came to the Wabash: Even "the handsome
river," with its silver waves, excited in the Lon
doner no admiration. At Coffee Settlement^ there
was daylight, but no inhabitants but Canadian
French and Creoles. 2
Eight miles more of woods and wet prairies
brought us to Bonpas, and my friends the W  's,
fine specimens of backwoodsmen. Their hospi
table, not to say, courteous manners, frank and in
trepid look, and the pleasure they expressed at see
ing me, pleased Robert: here he felt a little better.
We then travelled through some rough, brushy
woods, broken by ravines ; then through part of the
Long Prairie and a narrow strip of wood; and the
English Prairie, with all its swelling hills, mean
dering brooks, and dark surrounding forests,
opened at once upon our sight. A strong North-
' Coffee Creek is a little stream flowing into the Wabash six
miles below Mount Carmel, in Wabash County, Illinois. The set
tlement to which Fordham refers was on this creek, eight miles
from Bonpas. See p. ii8, note 2. — Editor.
This word is pronounced in the back woods " saitelmeant." — Fordham.
2 Half or quarter bred Indians. — Fordham.

English Prairie 203

westerly wind swept off the clouds over the South
ern ridges, and the sun shone forth in the clear sky
of a Southern climate, throwing alternate light and
shade on the wood-clothed hills, which rise above
each other in long succession till they are lost in the
blue horizon. Robert exclaimed, "This is grand!"
and I was shaking hands with him to welcome him
to our territory, when four deer springing from a
thicket startled our horses; and his ran away with
him across the Prairie. We reached the settlement
at sun down; and that night Robert shared my
blanket on the floor of a new Cabin.
Yesterday I left the English Prairie with  ,
and came here to engage hands to take a keel boat
to Shawnee. I must go then to enter land, and
shall return immediately on horseback to superin
tend the building of houses to receive  's and
my people. Mine will be French Canadians.
I have hired one man, his wife and three boys,
great and small, for 15$ per month, and I am to
find them food. The woman is to cook and wash
for me. DuG  has offered me his eldest son, 1 5
years old, a very nice boy, on trial. I have sent to
Vincennes for 3 more men ; besides which I want to
contract with Americans to build four houses, and
to make two miles of fence railing, and one mile
of ditching.
I have surveyed the land next behind mine, and
only one quarter section is good. There are some
hills of thin timber, such as will lie unoccupied, per
haps five or six years. But I think I can find some

204 Fordham's Personal Narrative
good land for you near the Brushy Prairie. The
English Prairie is entirely taken up by our party,
except 3 quarter sections at the bottom, which I
have no dovibt will be bought by some of us.
I shall enter one quarter more north of my own,
which will make my farm 480 acres, of which 200
acres will be good prairie, and the remaining 280
acres, white oak, post oak, shell-bark hickory and
walnut land, that is pretty good second rate land,
such as will grow fine wheat crops, and about 50
bushels of Maize per acre. The timber is very
thrifty, apparently of about 40 or 50 years growth.
I wiU not enter inferior land for you for the
sake of proximity. The country is filling up fast;
so it will answer better to buy good land further
off. I am obliged to you for remembering me. I can
assure you, I often think of you in this land of dirt,
bad cooking, and discomfort of every kind.
But I am not, thanks to the very nice family I am
with, either discouraged, or yet quite a hottentot. I
still prefer sweet butter to grease, milk fresh from
the cow to sour and rancid swill; although, I like
corn or hoe cakes, hominy (that is boiled corn) and
mush (hasty pudding made of Indian meal) and
stewed pumpkins very well. I change my shirt,
when it is convenient, twice a week, and sometimes
take my clothes off when I go to bed. My hands,
though rougher by far, are not quite so dark as
an Indian's; and moreover I am grown very stout.

English Prairie 205
M''. Birkbeck does not mean to introduce more
American customs in our Colony than will be neces
sary. English ideas and manners will be preserved
as much as possible ; and already we begin to be re
spected. Some of the wildest fellows want to re
move, but other respectable men wish to get near
us. So in many respects the desert will soon begin
to smile.
When we first came out there was no population
to withstand an incursion of Indians, if a war
had been excited by the violent and cruel hunters.
Our houses were planned to be easily converted into
forts, and bastions erected at the angles. These pre
cautions will be unnecessary now; though M"'. B.,
who never pronounces the word fear, and Judge H.,
a cidevant Soldier, both thought them to be pru
dential measures a few months ago.
However, should a war break out on our fron
tiers, I hope there is not nor will be, a young Eng
lishman among us, who would hesitate to turn out
with his gun and blanket. There is much less
Indian Territory in Illinois than in Indiana.
I am at Harmonic,^ where I am now well ac-
' The town of Harmony, properly New Harmony, in Posey Coun
ty, Indiana, was established in 1815 by a company of Germans under
the leadership of George Rapp. The settlement, which was one of
the most unique in the history of the West, was the ultimate out
growth of a migration from the German state of Wiirttemberg a
decade earlier. In Wiirttemberg at the beginning of the century
the Lutheran creed was being imposed relentlessly upon all the
inhabitants and it was felt by many that the principles of religion
were being employed by the government merely as convenient tools
of despotism. One man of influence holding this opinion was
George Rapp (1757-1847) who proceeded to get together at Iptingen
a group of persons of similar mind and to form them into a society
to live after what he conceived to be the ideal plan of the New

2o6 Fordham's Personal Narrative
quainted both with the leaders Mess". Rapp Sen*".
and Jun"". and with the people. I am treated here
with great kindness.
Their monastic way of life is, which I once
doubted, the result of religious conviction. I have
talked with some of them on their religious Princi
ples. The Tavern is conducted in the most orderly
and cleanly manner that a tavern can be in Amer
ica, where men spit every where, and, almost on
every thing. Now they know my habits are Euro
pean, they put me in a clean bed, give me clean
towels, and pay me more respect than they do any
American.

Testament. The speedy incurring of fines and imprisonment at the
hands of the authorities prompted Rapp and his associates to decide
to emigrate to the LTnited States. In 1803 Rapp and a few com
panions came out as agents of the society to select a site for the
future settlement. The location chosen was on Conequenessing
Creek, in Butler County, Pennsylvania, about thirty miles north
west of Pittsburg. In 1804 the society embarked at Amsterdam and
in the following year a town was laid out on the proposed site and
given the name Harmony. Within twelve months the colony had
come to comprise ninety families. A tract of nine thousand acres was
bought, mills and factories were erected, and the thrift and frugality
of the settlers soon brought material prosperity. In 181 1 the society
had eight hundred members. In the course of a few years the region
around Harmony became so thickly settled that land rose to a high
value and the Germans saw an opportunity to increase their capital
by selling their original tract and moving to another farther
West. In 1813 Rapp purchased for the use of his colony thirty
thousand acres in the south-western corner of Indiana and there,
two years later, the town of New Harmony was laid out. In 1824
this location was purchased in turn by George Flower for Robert
Owen, of New Lanark, Scotland, who desired to use it in experi
menting with his communistic projects. The year following Rapp
led his colony back to Pennsylvania and settled it in the new town
of Economy, in Beaver County, seventeen miles northwest of Pitts
burg. After some years of interesting but on the whole not en
couraging efforts at New Harmony, Owen gave up his enterprise
and returned to Scotland. Because of its location and its unique
character the New Harmony settlement, especially under Rapp's
occupancy, was visited by virtually every traveller who came at all
near it and as a consequence a number of valuable descriptions were

English Prairie 207

Their cooking, their dress, is exactly the same
as it was on the banks of the Rhine. Their lan
guage is German. They are orderly, civil people,
and their town is already very neat. The houses,
log-built, are placed at regular distances, and are
each surrounded by a neat kitchen and flower gar
den, paled in. The footpath is divided from the
road by rows of lombardy poplars. M"'. Rapp's
house is a handsome brick building, by far the
best in Indiana.
The Harmonists have, to each family a cow,
which comes to its owner's gate every morning and
evening. In the woods they are kept by herdsmen.
They have public ovens, public stores, and every
thing in common. They brew beer and make wine :
the latter is kept for the sick and to sell. They
all dress alike : — M'. Rapp as the meanest labour
er; — except when he goes out of town.
They are great musicians, and many of them
study music as a Science. Once a week they have
a concert at M". Rapp's, to which I am invited.
Their church is a neat wooden building, painted
white. It has a tower, a beU, and a clock. The

left on record, such as that which Fordham here gives. Other con
temporary accounts are Birkbeck, Notes, pp. 135-142; Hulrae,
Journal (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 53-61) ; Bradbury, Travels
(Early Western Travels, v, pp. 314-316) ; Woods, Two Years'
Residence (Early Western Travels, x, pp. 312-315) ; Welby,
Visit to North America (Early Western Travels, xii, p. 260, ff.) ;
and Faux, Memorable Days (Early Western Travels, xi, p. 248,
ff.). George B. Lockwood's The New Harmony Communities
(Marion, Indiana, 1902) is the best general history of the Rapp
settlement, though Hinds, American Communities (Chicago, 1902)
contains a fair account. For the history of the Rappites themselves
Sachse's German Sectarians of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1900)
is useful.

2o8 Fordham's Personal Narrative
men sit at one end of the church and the women at
the other ; and M*". Rapp sits while he preaches in a
chair placed on a stage, about one yard high, with
a table before him. When I heard him one week
day evening, he wore a linsey woolsey coat and a
blue worsted night cap. In praying the Harmon
ists do not rise up nor kneel down, but bend their
bodies forward, almost to their knees. Their sing
ing is very good.
The country people hate the Harmonists very
much, because they permit no drunkenness in their
taverns. When I make severe remarks on the Americans,
you must understand I always except a consider
able number; some of whom would be ornaments
to any Country. Judge H  , S  , and B  ¦
(though quite a youth) are of this number. . . .

XIV
Rise of land values — The question of admitting slavery — Lack of
free laborers — Wages and expenses of laborers — Land for
every immigrant — Mr. Birkbeck's plan for the settlement of
his English laborers — Difficulties of establishing a settlement
— Threatened incursion of Indians — Kentucky hospitality —
Mode of life of the Kentuckians. Princeton June 20. 18 18.
Kentuckian Speculators are very busy in every
direction around us, and I expect that land on the
Wabash, the Ohio, the Illinois, and the Mississippi,
will be very shortly worth from 5$ to 30$ per acre.
Perhaps in two or three years ; and as far inland as
the beneficial effects of navigation can be felt. The
rise of the value of land will be modified by the cir
cumstances of local situation, quantity and quality
of timber, water, and, — more than all, — by the de
cision of the Convention, now about to be elected,
upon the grand question of Slavery.^ If Slavery
be admitted, it is the opinion of many that well-
' The constitution framed by the convention of 1818 and subse
quently adopted contained a provision (Art. VI, §1) which was
interpreted as prohibiting the further introduction of slaves into the
new state but not as liberating those already held there or abolish
ing slavery as an institution. These latter ends were not achieved
until the second constitution was adopted in 1848. The census of
1820 showed that Illinois contained 917 slaves, and that of 1830,
746. The years 1822-1825 were marked by a bitter struggle between
the pro-slave and free-state elements, resulting from an attempt to
change the constitution so that it would give positive rather than
mere negative protection to slavery. The leader of the free-state
party was Edward Coles, who had been elected governor of the
commonwealth in August, 1822. Coles was a Virginian and had
been a slave-holder, but he was strongly opposed to the conversion
of nominally free into avowedly slave soil. In the fight which he
waged with the pro-slave party after his election his most active
supporters were the inhabitants of the English Settlement in Ed
wards County, notably Morris Birkbeck, George and Richard Flower,

2IO Fordham's Personal Narrative
chosen land will double in value in one day ; and no
good and well-situated land will be worth less than
10$ per acre. In fact, some land is worth io$ per
acre at this moment, and a section at the mouth of
Bon pas is valued by the owner at 1 5$ per acre. I
believe M". B. will purchase it.
I would not have upon my conscience the moral
guilt of extending Slavery over countries now free
from it, for the whole North Western Territory.
But, if it should take place, I do not see why I
should not make use of it. If I do not have serv
ants I cannot farm ; and there are no free labourers
here, except a few so worthless, and yet so haughty,
that an English Gentleman can do nothing with
them. A man used to work will earn in one day what
will suffice for the simple wants of a Backwoods
man a whole week. If he be sober and industrious,
in two years he can enter a quarter section of land,
buy a horse, a plough, and tools. The lowest price
for labour now is 13$ per month with board and
and Gilbert Pell ; and that the balance was finally turned in favor of
freedom and against slavery was due in no small measure to the
efforts of these men. Birkbeck, in fact, was Coles's main reliance
in the southern, pro-slave section of the state. In October, 1824,
when David Blackwell, Secretary of State, resigned his office. Coles
gave the place to Birkbeck in recognition of his services and his fit
ness for it. The nomination required confirmation by the Senate,
however, and that body, having a pro-slave majority, voted on Jan
uary 15, 1825, to reject the appointee. Birkbeck was thus forced to
retire after having served three months. On the slavery struggle
of this period see William H. Brown, An Historical Sketch of the
Early Movement in Illinois for the Legalization of Slavery (Chicago,
1865) ; Elihu B. Washburne, Sketch of Edward Coles, second gov
ernor of Illinois, and of the Slavery Struggle of 1823-4 (Chicago,
1882) ; and George Flower, History of the English Settlement in Ed
wards County, Illinois (Chicago, 1882).

Industrial Conditions 211
lodging. I will give two years net proceeds in fig
ures. $ $
12 months at 13$ . . . 156$ Clothing for two years —
12 months at 13 ... 156 say  100
^312 One quarter of land . . 80
One horse and harness and
plough  100
Axe grubbing hoe &c . . 10
Gun and powder &c . . . 15
"$305
After putting in his crop of maize, he can sup
ply himself with meat and some money by hunting,
or he can earn $i per day in splitting rails for his
neighbours. Many men begin as independent
farmers with half the above mentioned sum, but
they are thorough Backwoodsmen.
Now, is it not evident that while land can be
bought, no matter how far from navigable rivers,
at $2 per acre, and when there are tracts they may
"squat" upon for nothing, that labour will be for
many years limited in price only by the ability of
those who want it, to pay for it. It is indeed the
only expenee; but is so overwhelming that I would
rather farm in old England with a capital of 2 or
300o£ than on the North West of the Ohio. If we
consider the immense territory to the North West
of us, and the roving spirit of the Americans, we
may wonder that any work can be hired. The truth
is, none are to be hired but Emigrants from the
Eastern States, who intend to be land owners in
one, two, or three years. And these are few in num
ber : for the steady and prudent earn the money at
home and bring it with them.

212 Fordham's Personal Narrative
M"". Birkbeck's object is to settle his old servants
around him, and, while they earn money to enable
them to be independent farmers, he will get his
Estate greatly improved. It will be raised in value
by the industrious population around improving the
land he sells. Thus his speculation will succeed;
and he will be gratified by his being looked up to
as the chief of the Colony: but for immediate, or
even distant, profit in money, he does not expect.
His English labourers have already caught the de
sire to be land owners, but they rely on his promise
to let them have land when they can pay for it at
2$ per acre. They feel gratified for this generosity,
which is in fact a wise and liberal policy.
Our colony now contains between 40 and 50 per
sons, besides American settlers in the neighbour
hood. M''. B. with great difficulty gets Cabins
erected by the Backwoodsmen; and not nearly fast
enough for the demand. His own people finish
them, make fences &c. I cannot convey to you any
idea of the difficulties one meets with at every step
in founding a colony; especially when food is to be
carried on horses, or a waggon, and a road to be
made 12 miles to a river, where it is to be unloaded
from boats on to land the property of a stranger,
and which is unsettled. Then every article must be
slightly covered in a Camp, and guarded, or ex
posed to the cupidity of the boatmen or hunters.
Horses are to be broken in to work together ; wag
gons, carts, and ploughs to be made, or brought sev
eral days journey. Even when they are ordered.

Industrial Conditions 213
there is no certainty of the order being executed:
for the Smith has no iron; you buy it, then he has
no coal. The Wheelwright is gone a hunting, or
is drunk, or attending a lawsuit. The Sadler and
collar maker will sell the articles you have ordered
to the first com.er. — You are sure of nothing; not
even when you go for it yourself; except at Har
monie where business is done, when they have time,
with great regularity.
M"". Birkbeck has fifty acres fenced. He has sunk
two wells 20 or 30 feet, and found coal instead of
water. He must try elsewhere. I have one cabin
covered in, and one house of hewn logs nearly done
for  . There is a small spring near his house.
Some of M^ Birkbeck's men are sick. I have all
mine, except a frenchman, engaged by the job ; and
they are all well. I expect an additional force from
Harmonie of 3 men and 2 women, just arrived from
Switzerland. They are good looking people, and
one speaks a little french.^ . . .
A message from the prairie informs me, that 8
backwoodsmen are gone to drive off some Indians
from a creek near my line. They have killed 20
does in one day. If the Indians resist they will be
murdered. ' The most notable settlement of Swiss people in the West was
that at Vevay, Indiana. In 1802 John James Du Four obtained from
Congress a grant of two thousand five hundred acres of land on
the Ohio for the purpose of establishing an experimental colony for
the culture of the vine. .\ considerable number of settlers were
brought over from the Swiss district of Vevay, and in 1813 the Indi
ana town of Vevay, in Switzerland County, was laid out. Descend
ants of these original settlers own most of the land about the town
today. William Tell Harris, in 1817, gives a good characterization
of the settlement (Remarks, pp. 126-127).

214 Fordham's Personal Narrative
I have been here two days since my return from
Kentucky, ill from riding in the sun. But I shall
go to the Prairie tomorrow or Robert W. will be
uneasy. He lives in my cabin and takes care of
the provisions and stores. I shall put it into a de
fensible state, if any mischief has been done; but I
shall be under no personal apprehensions; for be
sides being known to a great many Indians, I can
bring down deer, birds and squirrels at every shot
with my rifle. I have done harm to none, and I
have not the least fear that any will do harm to
me. In my late visit to Kentucky I have become ac
quainted with several respectable families. M*". A.
received us with great kindness and hospitality. I
will describe our reception, and it will answer for
all the rest of our visits. We alighted at the Inn at
Henderson^ and sent for M^ B  . M'. A. came
with him and took us to his house, a neatly fur
nished cabin-built cottage. We then sent for our
horses. M'¦^ A  ordered a second dinner.
Toddy, ice and fruit were handed about. A foot
man shewed me to my room, and then acted as valet
de chambre.

' Henderson, as well as the county in which the town is situated,
took its name from Colonel Richard Henderson, a Virginian who
had an important part in the early settlement of Kentucky. It was
also known as Red Banks, and sometimes as Hendersonville.
Audubon, the famous naturalist, having failed as a merchant in
Louisville, took up his residence at Henderson in 1812, though he
did not become known to the outside world until fourteen or fifteen
years later. Woods (Two Years' Residence) records that in 1820
the town contained about a hundred dwellings, together with a
court-house, a jail, a steam mill, and several tobacco warehouses
(Early Western Travels, x, p. 252).

Industrial Conditions 215
My dirty shirt, cravat, &c, was taken possession
of by the laundress. At dinner, every thing in pro
fusion; — but no imported luxuries. Ice was placed
on the butter and on the water and in the water
jug. Whisky and Toddy instead of Wine. Supper
— much the same, with the addition of tea and cof
fee, — the only imported luxuries in the house; M''.
A.'s garden and icehouse furnished all the rest. My
bed was delightfully adapted for a warm climate;
sheets like gauze, and gauze mosquito curtains
around it.
We visited Judge T  , M^ H  , M^ A  s
and Gen. H  , members of Congress. Not one of
these gentlemen live in so good a house as that of
our baker at  in England. Gen. H  has
160 negroes, who live in cottages on the skirts of
the farm of 500 acres, which is cut out of immense
and dark forests. In the centre of this clearing
are the old rotten cabins which are occupied by the
General and his genteelly dressed daughters ; to each
of whom he gives 10 negroes and a farm, for a
marriage portion.
Many gentlemen live just as well as the General,
who have only 70 or 80 acres of productive land.
The Kentuckians are so hospitable that they will
stop you on the road, and oblige you to go to their
houses, if they have ever seen you in respectable
society. This has happened to me, and I have not been
suffered to pursue my journey till I had promised
to call again and sleep.

2i6 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Though the houses near Henderson are bad, there
are good gardens and icehouses; and cleanliness,
which strongly contrasts with the dirty Ohio houses,
and the Indiana and lUinois pigsties, in which men
women and children wallow in promiscuous filth.
But the Kentuckians have servants; and whatever
may be the future consequences of Slavery, the
present effects are in these respects most agreeable
and beneficial. A Kentuckian farmer has the man
ners of a gentleman; he is more or less refined ac
cording to his education, but there is generally a
grave, severe, dignity of deportment in the men of
middle age, which prepossesses, and commands re
spect. . . .
I thought I was Mosquito proof last year ; but in
sleeping at the mouth of the Bon pas 3 weeks ago,
I was terribly bitten. I have been exposed to their
attacks once since, and my body is covered with
swellings, which itch intolerably. After the skin
is once inoculated and saturated with the poison
of these insects, their bites have but little ef
fect. . . .
I am not at present very well. The weather is
very hot. — Therm: 90°. — the sky clear: — if a
cloud passes once a week, a thunder gust drives it
off. We have had a slight shock of an Earthquake.
A Prussian Baron B  , who was five years
Minister at the Court of Louis 15, is coming to
visit me.

XV
Mr. Birkbeck's book — A journal of ten days — A fourth of July
celebration — The coming struggle over slavery in Illinois —
Acts of Congress regarding Illinois — A proj ected trip up the
Red River — Character of the backwood.^^man — High regard
for Englishmen — The life of the hunters on the Wabash —
The hunters on the Missouri — Men needed to develop the
wilderness.
Princeton July 6'^. 1818,
You have read M''. Birkbeck's book.^ — It is correct
as far as it goes ; but it is the sketch of a traveller,
who tells the truth when he finds it. But, Truth,
grotto loving Goddess, is not often to be seen, ex
cept by glimpses, by a Traveller. M'. B. could now
write a better book if he would; but, in describing
this country, all he would say of the manners of the
people, would be tinctured by his preconceived no
tions. Sketches in general have hitherto been too
sunny. I will give you my journal of the last ten days.
June 26"'. — Went with M". R  , just arrived
from England, to our settlement. Before we left
Princeton filled our pockets with biscuits, and car
ried two sacks of corn (maize) for our horses. At
Coffee Island Swamp M"". R  was astonished
that I left the road and all visible track, to go
through a part that was not so deep a bog. He of
fered me his compass, which I, a little vain of my
hunting instincts, declined using. — We came out 2
miles from the place we entered exactly where the
road passes between the two ponds.
' See p. 176, note.
14

2i8 Fordham's Personal Narrative
2f^. Hunting land with M'. R  . Did not
find any that quite pleased us. Crossed the Pianke
shaw Prairie at noon — Sun — burning hot.
Reached M*". Q  r's Cabin just at dinner time
— it is floored and carpetted. It is made of Hickory
logs, and is ornamented with large mirrors in
gilded frames, a handsome four post bedstead &c.
It looked like a fairy bower in the wilderness.
28*^\ Started alone at daybreak from my own
humble cabin and went to B  of Burke's prairie.^
Taking my departure from thence I plunged into
the trackless woods, having my surveying compass
and maps with me. Ran the lines through  's
Prairie; and noted some fine land to be bought
for him. Returned at night weary and hungry to
Burke's Cabin ; where I found nothing but a hearty
welcome to corn cake and some sweet milk, which
M'¦^ B  said she had kept sweet because I liked
it so, better than soxir.
2^*^. B  accompanied me to the Banks of
the Little Wabash. He went fishing while I swam
across the river. Not liking the growth of timber
there, I returned, and he took me a few miles up the
stream, to a rich bottom, where I took notes of 480
acres of land to be entered for my uncle K  .
B  .shewed me this day how to entice does by
bleating. But though he could bring the beautiful
' Properly, Birks's Prairie. This prairie was a long, narrow belt
comprising about four thousand acres of excellent land and situated
three miles west of the English Prairie. It took its name from its
earliest resident, Jeremiah Birks, a Kentuckian who, after the in
flux of English settlers in the vicinity, moved on across the Mis
sissippi.

Journal at Princeton 219

affectionate looking creatures within twenty steps,
and leveled his unerring rifle several times, he
would not shoot one. Yet there was no meat in
his cabin and we lived this day on squirrels. We
saw fresh signs of Bears in many places, but could
not put one up. Chased a wolf half a mile without
success. Returned well pleased with my day's work.
July 2^. Went to Princeton (40 miles) for let
ters. Met Mess".  and  , English visitors
to our Prairie.
July 4"". Anniversary of independance. Last
night I assisted in raising the flag of liberty in the
public square, which this morning waved proudly
over the group of young citizens assembled there
to celebrate the day with festal games. The young
men of the more respectable class gave a ball to
all the damsels of the village and the vicinity. It
commenced at three o'clock.
Some few of the girls were really handsome, and
all were well dressed and appeared to be very happy.
English country dances, or sets as they are called
were attempted without success. In reels and cotil
lions they were quite at home.
In this land of equality it is very difficult to keep
improper persons out of a public or even a private
party. This evening some of the young men armed
themselves with Dirks (poignards worn under the
clothes ) to resist the intrusion of the Militia, as the
vulgar are contemptuously called. Unluckily one of
our party was electioneering, and treated some hunt
ers in the bar room with rum.

220 Fordham's Personal Narrative
We supped in the open air at 7, and afterwards
continued the dance till ten. After supper several
attempts were made by some shabby looking fel
lows to come in, but they were prevented by the
bar-keeper. The dancers kept it up most indefati-
gably, in spite of heat almost equal to that of the
West Indies. In going away some of the gentle
men were insulted by the rabble, but the rumour
that they were armed with dirks and pistols pre
vented serious mischief. In the night a large win
dow was smashed to pieces, and the frame driven
into the house.
The female part of the Company were all well
dressed, but their birth and education as different as
possible. The daughter of a proud and poor Vir
ginian stood next the heiress of a bricklayer's for
tune : An English adventurer danced with the wife
of a member of the legislature; the maker of
laws with the daughter of a lawless hunter: and a
major of militia led out the only female servant in
the inn, and who was obliged to leave the party to
help, not her mistress but the tavern-keeper's wife,
to set out the supper table.
July 5"'. This day being Sunday was spent by
the young men in visiting their mistresses and talk
ing politics.
I am going tomorrow across the Wabash, and,
probably, the next day I shall cross the Little Wa
bash to "hunt land."
Today the people of the Illinois meet to choose
members of a convention to frame a constitution.

Journal at Princeton 221
There will be a grand struggle between those who
are for, and those who are against Slavery. Num
bers are nearly balanced ; but the advocates of Slave-
holding gain strength daily.
Congress has granted to the people of the lUi
nois power to form a constitution, although there
are but 35,000 inhabitants scattered over a tract
400 miles long and 200 miles wide. Congress has
enlarged the limits of the state northwardly, so as
to embrace 60 miles of the shore on the western
side of Lake Michigan, and has given up the advan
tages to be drawn from its Salt works, which are
the best in the United States. With these conces
sions it has forbidden Slaver}^, according to its Or
dinance for the Government of the North Western
Territory. But the people here are utterly regard
less of ordinances, and will take the subject into
their own hands, and say they wiU make a treaty
with Congress as an independent State.
Liberty is the watchword of the popular or dem
ocratic party, and in their vocabulary it means any
thing and every thing. It has no limits but the
weakness of man, no boundary but that of his de
sires. To right oneself by violence, to oppose force
to force, is reckoned a virtue here; and woe to the
man who is suspected of cowardice.
If particular circumstances had not happened I
should probably have gone up the Natchitoches or
Red River on a trading expedition to the Osage
Nation.^ An honest little doctor of Princeton was
' Thomas Nuttall, during the course of his travels in the Arkan-

222 Fordham's Personal Narrative
out last winter 600 miles up the Red River, and
made a profitable trip of it. He likes the Country
so well that he is going to take his young wife and
infant, his father in law, and his wife's brothers
and sister, with him, to settle on that remote fron
tier, 300 miles above the town of Natchitoches. I
had almost engaged to go with an expert hunter
and Indian trader, a second Drewyer or Clarke,
when D'. P  told me of his plan. This seemed
to add safety to enterprise ; and we reckoned on en
gaging a large boat's crew to carry with us arms,
beaver traps and Indian goods, and to make it a
trading expeditron on my part, a hunting one on
J  's, and to facilitate D''. P  to settle with
his family. If I liked the adventure, I should return
in the ensuing fall of the year, and buy the furs
which J  and P  would by hunting and by
barter be able to procure.
Our market would have been New Orleans or
New York, according to circumstances. If New
York, I should go there by sea from N. Orleans,
purchase Indian fittings, take them by land to Pitts
burg, thence down the Ohio, and the Mississippi,
and up the Red River to our station on Pocoon
point. . . .
Lax morals ; few principles, but those deeply im
pressed on the mind ; a careless haughtiness of man
ner, without any affectation, or consequential airs;
and a quick perception of the ridiculous — these are
sas territory in 1819, visited the Red River country and the lands
of the Osages. A good account may be found in his Journal (Early
Western Travels, xiii, pp. 235-240, 245-262).

Journal at Princeton 223'
some of the characteristics of a man born and raised
in the backwoods. The fondness for ridicule is re
markable in the Kentuckians, as well as their pa
tience in taking a joke. But try to offend, and a
knife or a dirk is drawn and aimed in an instant.
M"". S  wears one, when among strangers, ten
inches long in the blade. He is so avowedly fond of
ridiculing unworthiness, that he confesses it is one
of the greatest pleasures of his life, to laugh at and
despise a scoundrel. — There is plenty of food for
his spleen in this country.
Some of our Englishmen have won the Kindness
of the Americans almost by surprise. G  and
M''. B  have both become favorites in a few
days. A Kentuckian suspects nobody but a Yan
kee, whom he considers as a sort of Jesuit. An Eng
lishman is one of that nation with whom he is proud
to contend in the field of battle. Comes he as a
visitor? he is received courteously; as a settler? —
with frank hospitality and kindness. But if he
thinks to flatter them by declaiming against his old
country, he will be listened to with suspicion and
contempt. You please them by openly avowing
your affection and even your prejudice in favour
of Old England, if you admit at the same time that
you do not approve of all the acts of the British
Government. I fear you will find this a dull letter, but I am so
racked with anxiety to see  that I can attend
to nothing. I must take my rifle and my horse
and bury myself for another week in the forests

224 Fordham's Personal Narrative
with B  . He is a fine feUow. There are traits
of kindness in his character, which soften down
the sterner features of a ranger. Three Indians
with their wives were killed at the South end of
the English prairie 15 months ago. B  had
moved them off his hunting ground, but would not
kill them, in pity of their wives. Three others 25
miles further off came after them, kiUed all six, and
buried them in our Prairie. B  said his hand
should never be stained with woman's blood.
I have been at these hunters' cabins, and found
them almost without food of any kind. A deer or
a turkey has been brought in at nightfall ; each has
cut off the part he liked best, stuck it on a sharpened
stick which he has inserted between the logs of the
chimney, and so roasted it. The best skins and
blankets have been chosen for me. The broken fid
dle, and a cup of metheglin made of wild honey,
have been produced; and dances, songs and mirth
have lasted till past midnight. I have been obliged
to get up and dance with them, such has been the
intolerable noise. Living all together in one room,
they have no notion that silence is necessary to a
sleepy man : and, having no society and no regular
engagements, night and day are alike to them.
The hunters on the Missouri are, I am told, a
more abandoned set than those on the Wabash.
They live entirely under the shelter of a blanket or
the bark of trees, and are never nearer to each
other than 9 or 10 miles, and moving every week
or two. They trap a great many beavers and by

Journal at Princeton 225
this are enabled to buy spirits. They are more like
the amphibious race on the banks of the Ohio, who
are by turns hunters, boatmen, and farmers, and
to whom robbing, violence and even murder, are
familiar. Instead of being more virtuous, as he is less re
fined, I am inclined to think that man's virtues
are like the fruits of the earth, only excellent when
subjected to culture. The force of this simile you
will never feel, till you ride in these woods over wild
strawberries, which die your horse's fetlocks like
blood yet are insipid in flavour; till you have seen
waggon loads of grapes, choked by the bramble
and the poisonous vine ; till you find peaches, taste
less as a turnip, and roses throwing their leaves of
every shade upon the winds, with scarcely a scent
upon them. Tis the hand of man that makes the
wilderness shine. His footsteps must be found in
the scene that is supremely & lastingly beautiful.

XVI
opportunities for English settlers in the West — Sacrifices and
comforts of frontier life — Places of settlement recommended
for various classes of English emigrants — Expenses of living —
Servitude.
Princeton August 24. 1818.
You ask me, can a farmer with a capital of £250
live comfortably in this country? — Certainly much
more comfortably than he can in England, if he has
only £250, and no friends to lend him £2,000 in ad
dition to it, or his friends are unwilling to help
him. It is only a matter of choice then between
servitude and independance. But there is no com
fort here for the poor man beyond coarse food in
plenty, coarse clothing, log huts, and the pleasure
of repose earned by hard work. If the industrious
farmer invest his capital in Land and Hogs in the
Illinois, these will pay him 50 per cent, and that
25 per cent, per ann. for several succeeding years.
But perhaps he must carry his horse-load of wheat
30 miles to the mill, — and his wife, if he have one,
must make biscuits of it on his return. This is
not consistent with English notions of comfort, but
it is certain the backsettler is happier than the
wretch, who is condemned to crouch to haughty
landlords, to dread the oft repeated visit of the
tytheman, the taxgatherer, and the overseer.
If a man can live within his income without
losing his rank in society, and without being forced
to borrow of those who think they oblige by lend-

The English Emigrant 227
ing; if he can pay the overwhelming taxes, which
the English Ministry have so thoughtlessly squan
dered in making the English name hated to the
uttermost parts of the earth : there are in England
comforts, nay, sources of happiness, which will for
ages be denied to these half savage countries, good
houses, good roads, a mild and healthy climate,
healthy, because the country is old, society, the arts
of life carried almost to perfection, and Laws well
administered. " Blest he, — who dwells secure
" Where Man, by Nature fierce, has laid aside
" His fierceness ; having learnt, though slow to learn,
" The Manners and the Arts of civil life."
I will loosely classify English Emigrants, and
point out the sections of country, in which each
will find the greatest number of advantages.^
The English Country Gentleman, — may settle in
Virginia, district of Columbia, Maryland, New Jer
sey, and the lower part of Pennsylvania.
The genteel farmer — in Kentucky.
The rich yeoman — in Kentucky, Missouri, Ten
essee, and Appalachicola.^
' Flint, in his Letters from America, gives an estimate of the com
parative advantages offered to English emigrants by the several
sections of the United States (Early Western Travels, ix, pp. i8i-
194). Fearon, m his Sketches (pp. 445-449), has an interesting
discussion of the classes of people whose betterment in America
could be reasonably assured, and who, therefore, should be en
couraged to emigrate. These classes were (i) the extremely poor,
who could immediately change their state from that of paupers to
that of independent laborers ; (2) mechanics whose income was
small and uncertain; and (3) small farmers having families to
support. 2 By Appalachicola Fordham means the region in general about
the river of that name, between the southern boundary of Tennes
see and the Gulf.

228 Fordham's Personal Narrative
The poor farmer — with a capital of £300 & up
wards, — in Illinois and Indiana.
Ditto, — if unmarried, — in Missouri, the lower
parts of Kentucky and Appalouchia;^ because in
these countries he can have servants.
Mechanics, — if masters of the most useful trade,
and capitalists, — always in the most settled parts
of the Western Country, and generally in the Slave
States. Ditto — inferior workmen, — or without money,
— in the new towns on the frontiers.
Engineers, smiths, founders, millwrights, and
turners, may find employment in the larger towns
on the Ohio.
Shopkeepers, and makers and dealers of articles
of luxury, should never cross the mountains.
I cannot think that any elderly man, especially
if he have a family delicately brought up, would
live comfortably in a free state. In a slave State,
if he have wealth, say, 500o£ and upwards, he may
raise upon his own farm all the food and raiment,
the latter manufactured at home, necessary to sup
ply the wants of his own family.
This has been, till lately, the universal economy
of the first Kentucky families. Thus, without liv
ing more expensively than in a free state, a family
may have the comforts of domestic services, and yet
find plenty of employment within doors ; not sordid
slavery that wears out the health, and depresses the
' Appalouchia was a name sometimes used in the early part of the
last century to designate in a loose way the region now comprised
in Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and eastern Texas.

The English Emigrant 229
spirits of Ohio, but useful yet light labours, that
may be remitted and resumed at pleasure.
There is more difference between the manners of
the female sex on the East and West sides of the
Ohio River than on the East and West shores of
the Atlantic Ocean. Servitude in any form is an
evil, but the structure of civilized society is raised
upon it. If the minds of women are left unim
proved, their morals will be at the mercy of any
man. It is much worse where there is no superior
rank to influence them by example, or to awe them
by disapprobation. I am conscious that I repeat
again and again the same arguments — or rather I
state similar facts; but it is an important subject.
Society may suffer more by the abjectness of
Slaves than by the want of servants, and a father
of a family would prefer to live where there are
good free servants as in Europe, or where slaves
have more liberty of action than servants, as in
Kentucky. The question in these wildernesses is
this: Shall we have civilization and refinement,
or sordid manners and semi-barbarism, till time
shall produce so much inequality of condition that
the poor man must serve the rich man for his daily
bread ?
Mess". F. and W. R  arrived here yesterday.
I go with them to-day to the prairies. . . .

XVII
The prevalence of intermittent fevers — The cHmate of Illinois —
Lung troubles almost unknown.
Shawnee Oct. 17. 1818.
Soon after  's arrival at the prairie I fell sick,
and indeed throughout the Settlement there were
more sick than well. G  had brought no medi
cines with him and mine were almost all used or
given away, and the nearest Physician was thirty
miles off. Mv fever reduced me to a state of ex-
treme weakness, but my nurse, by constantly sup
plying me with corn meal gruel and chicken broth
prevented me from sinking under the violence of
my disorder.
The fever soon became a regular intermittent,
of which I was soon cured by bark and laudanum.
These intermittent fevers are the Scourges of
new Settlements in the Western Country. They
are seldom dangerous and are much under the pow
er of medicine, but ought to be considered by Emi
grants as unavoidable. When provided for, they
are slight and of little consequence.
The first year may be passed by a careful or ro
bust person without receiving any injury from the
climate, but in the second the system becomes re
laxed by heat. I cannot explain how, but I can
state the fact as related to me, and confirmed by
my own experience, that those who come from
Northern and healthy climates will in these South-

Climate and Health 231
ern latitudes suffer a change of constitution, and
that this change will be produced or accomplished
by a fit of sickness. This is not to be wondered
at, when we consider that for some weeks in the
year the air is a perfect hot bath, and, for another
period of equal duration the cold causes the quick
silver to sink 8°. below zero in Fahrenheit's Ther
mometer. The Western Americans, especially the poorer
class, are likewise very subject to febrile diseases.
Their irregular way of living, their intemperance,
the great mental excitement which to them is pleas
ure, produced by gambling, racing, fighting and
moving, wear their constitutions. Their lean car
casses, their pale and eager countenances, early in
life marked with wrinkles, and their reckless air,
shew them to be adventurers, to whom anything is
more welcome than plodding industry; to whom
risk and danger is the preferable road to wealth,
and the only path to honour. . . .
The leaves are now falling. We have fine de
lightful weather with frosty nights. The woods are
beautifully^ The Ohio is low. I have crossed it
twice this morning, and never saw it look so calmly
beautiful. The canoe scarcely left a ripple behind
it and seemed to glide without impulse through the
transparent stream.
The climate of the Illinois is more agreeable than
that of England. The sky is brighter, the air more
transparent, but at present, less healthy. The coun-
iThe sentence stands thus incomplete in the manuscript.

23'2 Fordham's Personal Narrative
try is intersected with innumerable streams whose
overflowings produce swamps, which partially dry
up in the summer, filling the air with mosquitoes and
noxious effluvia. There are situations elevated and
remote from stagnant waters, such as the English
Prairie. But even here English Emigrants ought
to expect to suffer a seasoning, before they can be
inured to the changes of the weather. These
changes are less sudden with us than in the state of
Ohio, and become less and less so as we advance
southward and southwestward, till in Appalouchie
500 miles west of the Mississippi, a climate is found
of medium temperature; the summers being cooled
by the breezes from the snowy mountains of Mex
ico, and the northern winds are tempered by pass
ing over the Prairies of the Missouri.
You will take into consideration, that disorders
of the lungs are here almost unknown, and that
those who are already invalids are quite as likely to
improve as to injure their constitutions by remov
ing to this Country. I am more strong and healthy
than I was in England, and I should probably have
escaped the seasoning sickness, if the summer had
not been uncommonly hot and wet. When good
houses are erected, roads opened, and mills built,
the health of the people will be much better. . . .

XVIII
The town of Albion planned — Continued surveying — The sur
rounding prairies — Prairie fires — Instructions for Emigrants :
Capital required — Paying occupations — Clothing to be brought
— Blankets a good investment — Travelling in the steerage —
The journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg — Down the Ohio
to the Illinois Country. English Prairie Oct. 30. 1818.
I AM laying off a new town to be called Albion.^
It will consist of 8 streets and a public square. Most
likely it will be the County Town, and if so, there
will be a Court house and a gaol, as well as a Mar
ket house and a Chapel, which last will be built
whether it be the seat of justice or not. I wished
to have sent you a plan of this town, but I cannot
spare the time. I have never been more busily em
ployed in my life than I am now.
As soon as I have laid out this town, and the
winter is well set in, I intend entering some more
land, as the waters are up, and you may know what
' Albion became the town center of the English settlements and
in 1821 it was made the seat of Albion County. It was situated
in the northern portion of Flower's tract, two and a half miles
east of Wanborough, the home of the Birkbecks. Welby, who vis
ited the English Prairie in 1819, says of the town : " Notwithstand
ing the miserably unprovided state in which I found it, much had
certainly been done, and more was rapidly doing towards rendering
the place habitable. Among other well-judged resolutions, they
had determined that in future all the houses should be substantially
built of bricks, for the manufacture of which they have, as I under
stood, plenty of good clay in the neighborhood. A neat covered
market, and place of worship . had been finished and opened
to the public; to which I have to add that a roomy boarding house
and tavern were half up; a store (shop) pretty well supplied was
opened" (Early Western Travels, xii, p. 256). Woods (Two
Years' Residence) tells us that in 1820 the town contained about
twenty cabins in addition to the structures mentioned by Welby
(Early Western Travels, x, p. 272). Fordham himself kept a
store in Albion for some time before his return to England. There
is an interesting account of the founding of the town in Flower's
History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois, pp.
127-142. 16

234 Fordham's Personal Narrative
places are acceptible or not, or what lands are too
wet for cultivation or healthfulness; in short, you
are sure not to be deceived by the apparent beauty
of the situation.
I was yesterday taken from the New Town Sur
vey to explore, and run the section lines over, the
Long Prairie'^ and the Bon pas Prairie,^ G  not
being able to make out the corner trees, and being
besides too busy to leave home two days in succes
sion. I had never before crossed them so high from
the mouth of the river, and was delighted with the
beauty and variety of these meadows. The Bon
Pas Prairie extends itself like a vast lake of ver
dure. The soil is rich, but lies rather too low.
The Northern arm of the Long Prairie is more
like an immense river, studded with islands of wood,
and bounded by dark forests, whose irregular out
lines present to the eye fresh views at almost every
step. The surface of this Prairie is gently undulat
ing, completely free from brushwood, and its soil
is still more rich than that of the Bon Pas Prairie. ,
I have noted down some sections to enter for
friends. . . .
Since I began to write this letter I have been in
terrupted by a tremendous fire in the Prairie, which
driven by a strong South wind threatened our hab
itations. By the exertions of about 40 Americans
1 The Long Prairie lay in Edwards County, about two miles east
from the English Prairie. It was a strip nine miles in length (from
north to south) and from one to one and a half in width.
2 The Bonpas Prairie lay in Edwards County, four miles north
east of Albion. It was about two miles in diameter.

Albion 235
we saved every thing but a hay stack of G  's.
It was the most glorious and most awful sight I
ever beheld. A thousand acres of Prairie were in
flames at once ; — the sun was obscured, and the day
was dark before the night came. The moon rose,
and looked dim and red through the smoke, and the
stars were hidden entirely. Yet it was still light
upon the earth, which appeared covered with fire.
The flames reached the forests, and rushed like tor
rents through. Some of the trees fell immediately,
others stood like pillars of fire, casting forth sparkles
of light. Their branches are strewed in smoking
ruins around them.
While I was with G  's people, burning a
trough round his house, I saw the fire approach my
own. It almost had surrounded it. I ran with my
utmost speed, and found I could not get round the
fire. A small opening appeared in one part, and I
dashed through, though not without singing my
hunting shirt and scorching my mocassins with the
glowing ashes.
A small creek near my house stopped the fire;
which, however, would not have reached it, as the
grass had been eaten down and trodden to pieces by
my horses. The way to stop the fire is to light
smaller fires, which are kept from spreading by beat
ing the grass with Clapboards or poles. This can
only be effectual where the grass is short, or much
trodden. There are five large fires visible tonight, some
many miles off.

236 Fordham's Personal Narrative
The prairies are fired by the hunters to drive out
the deer. Two or three years after a place is set
tled, the grass is eaten down and will not burn.
We have now 200 English on our Settlement.^
Many are discontented; but the strong-minded re
gret that they did not come out sooner. . . .

[The following directions were given by the author
to young men of small fortune in England who
might feel inclined to emigrate.^]
If you are tired of a state of dependency, or if
you are not in a good line of business, come out if
you can raise 30o£.
You need not work at any laborious employment,
but you must not mind a little rough living at first.
I would advise you to learn to butcher a hog, to cut
it up, and to salt it down properly; likewise a bul
lock. For the most profitable trade is salting pork
and beef for home consumption, or for New Or
leans. Dealing in corn, grain, and flour, pays extremely
' This was in October, 1818. Under date of August 16, 1819,
Richard Flower wrote in his Letters that in a tract between the Great
and Little Wabash seventeen miles from east to west and from four
to six from north to south, where a year and a half before there
had been but a .few hunters' cabins, there were about 60 English
families, comprising 400 souls, and 150 American families, aggregat
ing 700 inhabitants (Early Western Travels, x, p. 104).
2 A similar body of instructions was appended by Fearon to his
Sketches of America (pp. 453-462). He gives advice regarding the
choice of a vessel for the passage across the Atlantic, provisions to
be carried by cabin and steerage passengers, clothing and other
articles to be brought, and means of reaching the interior from
the seaboard. His suggestions agree essentially with those here
offered by Fordham.

Instructions for Emigrants 237
well. There are indeed many things you could do
here, and your choice would be puzzled with the
variety. Bring three good coats, cloth waistcoats and
trowsers, for Breeches are never worn here, except
by a few English; three or four pair of light linen
trowsers ; two suits of fustian coats and trowsers ;
and several pair of worsted and cotton socks, but no
stockings. Bring no shooting jacket, unless you
have it by you.
Let your chest be made of seasoned deal, and the
lid should have a groove in three sides, and the
box have a slip or tongue to fit into it. The back
part should have a rule joint, like a table. Such a
box would be air tight.
The only article of merchandise I can recommend
you to bring is blankets ; some tolerably good, others
coarse. These will pay you Cent per Cent. Invest
£50 in this article.
Come in the steerage, if there are but few steer
age passengers, but don't venture among a great
many; and by all means, take your passage in an
American ship. If you can meet with two or three
respectable young men, board yourselves, and you
may live a little better than on ship provisions.
Do not bring with you any English rifles, or in
deed any firearms but a pair of pistols. A good
rifle gunlock would be valuable.
I will suppose you come by way of New York
to Philadelphia. Bring with you, if you can pro
cure them, letters of introduction; and at the latter

238 Fordham's Personal Narrative
city enter your intention of becoming a citizen of
the United States.
Engage a waggoner to carry your box and bed;
but not yourself. The inside of the waggon is al
ways filled, so that you cannot ride with any com
fort. Your ship mattress and blankets are the best
things you can bring to sleep on. You may wrap
them in a horse-rug, rolled up and fastened with
two stirrup leathers. By sleeping on your own bed,
you wiU save from I2j^ to 25 cents per night, and
avoid catching anything disagreeable.
You may perhaps meet with an intelligent, well-
behaved, waggoner ; this will add much to the com
fort of your journey, and you may, by rendering
him a httle assistance now and then, make him your
friend. Americanise your appearance as much as you
can; you will be treated better. You may pick up
companions on the road, but beware lest you asso
ciate yourself with a scoundrel.
Address your luggage to some merchant at Pitts
burg, and get a letter of credit sent forward to him.
Otherwise, should you fall sick, or not choose to
keep up with the waggon, you will then be under no
uneasiness respecting it. One small trunk or port
manteau you should have with you to contain a
change of linen.
Arrived at Pittsburg, you would take your pas
sage to Cincinnati in a flat boat, or buy a skiff.
Land at Evansville, leave your baggage there, and
proceed to Princeton.

SELECTED LIST OF CONTEMPORARY
TRAVELS
The following volumes are frequently cited in
the introduction and notes by short titles. Com
plete titles are given below for the sake of refer
ence. Birkbeck (Morris), Notes on a Journey in America
from the Coast of Virginia to the Territory of
Illinois, with Proposals for the Establishment of
a Colony of English (Philadelphia, 1817).
Birkbeck (Morris), Letters from Illinois (London,
1818).
Bradbury (John), Travels in the Interior of Amer
ica in the Years i8op, 18 10, and 18 11 (London,
1819). Reprinted in Thwaites, Early Western
Travels, 1748-1846: A series of annotated Re
prints of some of the best and rarest contem
porary volumes of travel descriptive of the ab
origines and social and economic conditions in
the middle and far West, during the period of
early American settlement (Cleveland, 1904) ; v.
BuUock (WiUiam), Sketch of a Journey through
the Western States of North America. With a
description of Cincinnati, by B. Drake and E. D.
Mansfield (London, 1827). Thwaites, Early
Western Travels, xix.

240 Fordham's Personal Narrative
Buttrick (Tilly, Jr.), Voyages, Travels, and Dis
coveries (Boston, 1831). Thwaites, Early
Western Travels, viii.
Cobbett (William), A Year's Residence in the
United States of America (London, 1818).
Cuming (Fortescue), Sketches of a Tour to the
Western Country, through the States of Ohio
and Kentucky (Pittsburg, 1810). Thwaites,
Early Western Travels, iv.
Evans (Estwick), Pedestrious Tour of Four Thou
sand Miles, through the Western States and Ter
ritories (Concord, N. H., 1819). Thwaites,
Early Western Travels, viii.
Faux (William), Memorable Days in America: be
ing a Journal of a Tour to the United States,
principally undertaken to ascertain, by positive
evidence, the condition and probable prospects
of British Emigrants ; including accounts of Mr.
Birkbeck's Settlement in the Illinois (London,
1823). Thwaites, Early Western Travels, xi-
xii.
Fearon (Henry Bradshaw), Sketches of America.
A Narrative of a Journey of five thousand miles
through the Eastern and Western States of
America (London, 1818).
Flint (James), Letters from America (Edinburgh,
1822). Thwaites, Early Western Travels, ix.
Flower (Richard), Letters from Lexington and the
Illinois, containing a Brief Account of the Eng
lish Settlement in the Latter Territory, and a
Refutation of the Misrepresentations of Mr. Cob-

Contemporary Travels 241
bett (London, 1819). Thwaites, Early Western
Travels, x.
Flower (Richard), Letters from the Illinois, 1820,
1821. Containing an Account of the English Set
tlement at Albion and its Vicinity, and a Refuta
tion of Various Misrepresentations : Those more
particularly of Mr. Cobbett (London, 1822).
Thwaites, Early Western Travels, x.
Harris (Thaddeus M.), Journal of a Tour into the
Territory Northwest of the Alleghany Moun
tains, made in the Spring of the Year 1803 (Bos
ton, 1805). Thwaites, Early Western Travels,
iii.
Harris (William Tell), Remarks fuade during a
Tour through the United States of America diir-
ing the Years 18 1"/, 18 18, and 18 19 (London,
1821).
Hulme (Thomas), Journal made during a Tour in
the Western Countries of America: September
30, 1818-August 7, 181Q. Thwaites, Early West
ern Travels, x.
Melish (John), Travels in the United States of
America in the Years 1806 & 180/ and iSop,
1810 & iSil (Philadelphia, 1812). Two vols.
Michaux (Frangois Andre), Voyage a I'ouest des
Monts Alleghanys, dans les Etats de I'Ohio, et
du Kentucky, et du Tennessee, et retour a
Charleston par les Hautes-Carolines (Paris,
1804). English edition (London, 1805).
Thwaites, Early Western Travels, iii.
Nuttall (Thomas), Journal of Travels into the Ar-

242 Fordham's Personal Narrative
kansa Territory, during the Year i8ip, with Oc
casional Observations on the Manners of the Ab
origines (Philadelphia, 1821). Thwaites, Early
Western Travels, xiii.
Ogden (George W.), Letters from the West, com
prising a Tour through the Western Country,
and a Residence of Two Summers in the States
of Ohio and Kentucky (New Bedford, 1823).
Thwaites, Early Western Travels, xix.
Welby (Adlard), Visit to North America and the
English Settlements in Illinois, with a Winter
Residence at Philadelphia (London, 1821).
Thwaites, Early Western Travels, xii.
Woods (John), Two Years' Residence in the Set
tlement of the English Prairie, in the Illinois
Country, United States (London, 1822).
Thwaites, Early Western Travels, x.

INDEX

ALBION, laid out by Pord^
ham, 233; growth of, 233.
Alexandria (Ohio), Fordham
at, 90.
"America," voyage of, 43.
American Bottom, fertility of,
104.
Annapolis, early history of,
'5.7; Fordham at, 58.
Appalachicola, 227.
Appalouchia, 228'.
Arks, in use on the Ohio, 53;
described by Evans, 80.
Audubon, John W., at Hen
derson, Kentucky, 214.
BACKWOODSMEN, character
of, 127. 134, 145, 170, 222;
inqulsitiveness, 129; atti
tude toward the English,
170, 223; why short-lived,
201, 231.
Baltimore, described, 58; the
route to Pittsburg from,
59.
Barlow, Joel, 89.
Beavertown, history of, 82.
Bedford, Fort, 55.
Bedford (Pennsylvania), ear
ly history of 55; chalybeate
springs near, 61; Mlchaux's
experiences at, 66.
Belli, Major John, 90.
Big Beaver Creek, passed by
Fordham, 82; settlements
in the vicinity of, 83.
Big Muddy River, 172.
Birkbeck, Morris, acquaint
ance with Edward Cbles,
23; decides to migrate to
Illinois, 23; arrives in the
United States, 24; publishes
two books on the West, 24;
stimulates emigration from
England, 25; opposed by
Oobbett, 26; defended by
Richard Flower, 27; de
scribes the town of Peters
burg, 48-49; at Richmond,
50; plans for the English
Prairie colony, 212.
Birk's Prairie, 218.

Blennerhassett's Island, Ford
ham at, 88; Aaron Burr's
connection with, 88.
Bloomington, (Indiana), se
lected as site for the Indi
ana Seminary, 150.
Bond, Shadroch, governor of
Illinois, 175.
Bonpas Creek, US'.
Bonpas Prairie, 234.
Boone, Daniel, in Kentucky,
177-179.
Boston, Ohio Company organ
ized at, 86.
Bradbury, Jtohn, describes
conditions of westward
travel, 52-53.
Brushy Prairie, 117.
Buffalo Lick, (North Caro
lina), 177.
Bullitt, Captain Thomas, 156.
Burr, Aaron, relations with
James Wilkinson, 62; deal
ings with Blennerhassett,
88.
Byrd. Colonel William, 47.
CANE Creek, 153.
Cartwright, John, 19.
Cassidy, Michael, in Kentuc
ky, 179.
Cassidy's Station, 179.
Chartier's Creek, 81.
Chartres, Fort, 104.
Chesapeake Bay, Fordiham's
voyage on, 55; shores of
described, 57.
Chillicothe, becomes capital
of Ohio, 183.
Christmas Day, celebrated at
Princeton, 147.
Cincinnati, Fordham's arrival
at, 165; founding of,, 183;
described, 190-194; plan of,
185; population, 191; build
ings, 191; trade, 192; slav
ery in, 193.
City Point (Virginia), Birk
beck's party at, 47.
Clapton, Mary, mother of
Elias Pym Fordham, 30;
death of, 31.

244

Fordham's Personal Narrative

Clarksville (Indiana), estab-
lisihed, 157.
Clatsop, Fort,. 124.
Oobbett, William, prominent
in reform agitation, 19; op
poses Birkbeck's coloniza
tion scheme, 26; misuses
Hulme's Journal, 27; at
tacked by Richard Flower,
27.
Coffee Greek, 202.
Coffee Island, 137.
Coles, Edward, acquaintance
with Birkbecli, 23; leader of
anti-slavery party in Illi
nois, 209.
Congress, legislates on immi
gration, 16.
Com Law, enacted, IS; de
mand for repeal of, 19.
Corydon. Fordham at, 155.
Covington (Kentucky), found
ed, 164.
Craig, Major Isaac, 81.
Croghan, George, at Vincen
nes, 96; describes the Wa
bash, 107.
Cumberland Gap, passed by
Daniel Boone, 177.
Cumberland Road, used by
travellers to the West, 59;
traflBc on, 60.
Cutler, Manasseh, agent for
the Ohio Company, 86.
Cypress Creek, 140.

DEBT, British in 1815, 17.
Detroit, founding of, 145.
Doughty, Major John, 87.
Drake, Daniel, historical writ
ings of, 184; quoted by
Fordham, 190.
Duelling, once common in Vir
ginia, 56; efforts to sup
press in the West, 148.
Duquesne, Fort, 56, 71.
Duquesne, Marquis, 71.

EAGLE Creek Hills (Ken
tucky), 162.

Edwards County (Illinois),
Birkbeck settlement in, 24.
Edwards, Ninian, first gover
nor of Illinois Territory,
112; elected to the United
States Senate, 175.
Elkhorn Creek, crossed by
Fordham, 162.
Embree, Jesse, land agent at
Cincinnati, 191.
Emigration, from the East to
the West, 13-15; from Eu
rope to America after tbe
Wlar of 1812, 16; from Great
Britain, 19-23; advocated in
Morris Birkbeck's books,
25; under what conditions
desirable, 174; classes of
emigrants, 227.
Englisih Prairie, settled by
Birkbeck and Flower, 24;
controversies concerning,
24-29; Fordham's sketch of,
113; location, 115.; possible
lines of trade from, 116;
Birkbeck's plans for settle
ment of, 212.
Evans, Estwick, describes
craft on the Ohio, 79^8'0.
Evans, General Robert, found
er of Evansville, 149.
Evansville, early history of,
149; seat of Vaniderburgh
county, 149.
FAUX, William, author of
Memorable Days in Ameri
ca, 28; visits the English
Prairie, 33.
Fearon, Henry Bradshaw, on
the character of Englisih
emigration, 22.
Fincastle, Fort, 84.
Fish Creek, 85.
Flatboats, sketched by Ford
ham, 77; described, 79; in
use on the Mississippi, 106.
Flint, James, publishes his
Letters, 2S; describes the
method of acquiring public
land, 102-104.

Index

245

Flower, George, cooperates in
Birkbeck's colonization en
terprise, 23; visit to the
West in 1816, '23; goes with
Birkbeck to IllinoiSi 24;
writes a history of the Eng-
lis'h settlement, 116.
Flower, Richard, publishes his
Letters, 27.
Fordham, Ellas, character of,
30.
Fordham, Elias Pym, ances
try, 30; a pupil of Stephen
son, 31; migrates to Amer
ica with Birkbeck, 31; life
at the English Prairie, 33;
returns to England, 33; let
ters to English friends and
relatives, 34 ; arrives in Am
erica with Birkbeck's party,
45; at Petersburg, Virginia,
48; at Norfolk, 51; voyage
up Chesapeake Bay, 51-52;
at Annapolis, 58; at Balti
more, 58; at Pittsburg, 71;
descends the Ohio, 80; at
Wlheeling, 85; at Marietta,
86; at Blennerhassett's Is
land, 88; at Gallipolis, 89;
at Portsmouth and Alexan
dria, 8'9-91; at Maysville,
92; journey across Indiana,
95; at Vincennes, 96; at
Princeton, 97; at Shawnee
town, 111; descends the Pa
toka and Wabash, 138-140;
trip across Indiana, 157; at
French Lick, 154; at Cory
don, 156; at New Albany,
157; at Louisville, 158; at
Sbelbyville, 159; at Prank-
fort, 160; at Cincinnati,
165; searching for land,
166; farm located, 172;
surveying, 203, 218; life in
the West, 204; at Harmony,
206; at Henderson, 214;
lays out Albion, 233; gives
directions for emigration,
236.

Fordham, Maria, marriage to
Charles de la Serre, 32.
Port Wayne, treaty of, 133.
Fourth of July, celebrated at
Princeton, 219.
Frankfort (Kentucky), early
history of, 160; Fordham
at,, 160.
Fredericksburg (Indiana), de
scribed, 156.
French Lick, Fordham at, 154.
GAINES, Edmund P., cam
paigns on the Florida fron
tier, 150.
Gallatin, Albert, selects the
"seminary townsbip" in
Indiana, 149.
Gallipolis (Ohio), Fordham
at, 89; early history of, 89.
Gass, Patrick, journal pub
lished, 124.
Ghent, Peace of, 15.
Gist, Christopher, 91.
Gravesend, the "America"
sails from, 43.
Great Britain, condition of at
the close of the Napoleonic
Wars, 17-19; agitation for
reform, 19-20; emigration
from to America, 20-22.
Greenville, treaty of, 133.
Gulf Stream, nature of, 43.
HALL, Baynard R., instruc
tor in Indiana Seminary,
150.
Hampton Roads, Birkbeck's
party arrives at, 45.
Harmar, Fort, 86.
Harmar, General Josiah, de
feated by the Indians, 91.
Harris, William Tell, pub
lishes his Remarks, 28.
Harrison's Bar, Birkbeck's
party at, 45; location of,
46.
Harrison, William Henry,
suppresses the Indians, 15;
public land bill, 102; treat
ies with the Indians, 133.

246

Fordham's Personal Narrative

Henderson (Kentucky), 'Fordt-
ham at, 214.
Henry, Port, 84.
Hulme, Thomas, Journal used
by Cobbett, 27.
ILLINOIS, increase in pop
ulation of, 14; physical fea
tures, 112; political devel
opment, 112; products and
prices, 118 ; fauna and flora,
119; ease of acquiring prop
erty in, 124; classes of in
habitants, 125-127; complete
democracy, 128; advantages
and drawbacks of life in,
131; climate, 132; extent
and population, 133; gains
statehood, 175; inchoate
condition of society, 181;
contest over slavery, 209-
210, 221; opportunities for
settlers, 226; sanitary con
ditions, 230-232.
Immigration, after the War
of 1812, 16; from Great Bri
tain, 16; legislation con
cerning, IC.
Indiana, increase in popula
tion of, 14; Fordham's jour
ney across, to Illinois, 96;
a forest region, 100; consti
tution and government of,
100-101 ; classes of inhabi
tants, 125-127; democracy
in, 128; lands acquired from
the Indians, 133; seminary
township, 149; higher edu
cation in, 150; Fordham's
trip across, to Kentucky,
151-155; character of popu
lation. 168.
Indiana University, establish
ed, 150.
Industrial Revolution, effects
of, 18'.
JEFFERSON, Thomas, visit
ed by George Flower, 23.
Jones, James W., a founder
of Evansville, 149.

KASKASKIA, early history
of, 104.
Keelboats, sketched by Ford
ham, 77.
Kentucky, increase in popula
tion of, 14 ; Fordham's jour
ney through, 158-165; prices
in, 160; people of,, 163, 177,
180, 216; Daniel Boone in,
177-179; Michael Cassidy in,
179.
Kentucky River, described,
161.
LAND, prices of near Phila
delphia, 61; value of in In
diana, 99, 102; methods of
acquiring described by
Flint, 102-104; the basis of
wealth, 122; ceded by In
dian® in Indiana, 133;
prices about Cincinnati,
169'; value of influenced by
slavery, 210.
La Serre, Charles de, 320.
Lewis and Clark, western
travels of,, 123.
Lexington (Kentucky), early
history of, 162.
Ligonier, Port, 91.
Liguest, Pierre LaclSde foun
der of St. Louis, 68.
Limestone [Maysville], 92.
Little Blue River, 154.
Little Muddy River, 172.
Little Wabash River, 116.
Logstown, passed by Ford
ham, 81.
Long Prairie, 234.
Louisiana, District of, 101.
Louisville, early history of,
157; Fordham at. 168.
Lyttleton, Fort, 68.
McConmellstown, visited by
travellers to the West, 68.
McGary, Hugh, occupies site
of Evansville, 149.
Mammoth Cave, 180.
Manchester massacre, 19.
Marie Antoinette, 87.

Index

247

Marietta, Fordham at, 861;
early history of, 86-87.
Maryland, physical features
of, 59; inhabitants of, 60.
Massie, Henry, 89.
Massie. Nathaniel, 92.
Maysville (Kentucky), Ford
ham at, 92; descrii)ed by
travellers, 92.
Melish, John, investigations
in America, 70; publishes
his Travels, 70.
Michigan, Territory of, 101.
Middle West, early emigra
tion to, 14-17; routes of
travel to, 52; classes of in
habitants, 124-127; Eastern
prejudice against, 131.
Missouri River, hunters on,
224.
Monroe, James, designates a
"seminary township" in
Indiana. 150.
NANTUCKET, people of de
scribed, 196.
New Albany, founding of,
157; Fordham at, 158.
New Harmony, Fordham at,
206; establishment of, 206
life of inhabitants, 206-208
religious services, 208.
New Orleans, trade from
Pittsburg to, 75-76.
"New Orleans," launched, 16.
Newport (Kentucky), found
ing of, 164.
New York, arrival of British
immigrants at, 21.
Norfolk, Fordham at, 51.
Northwest Ordinance, enact
ed, 86.
Northwest Territory, divided
by Congress, 112; slavery
in, 194.
Nuttall, Thomas, visit to
Pittstourg, 76.

OGDEN, George W., publish
es his Letters, 28.
O'Hara, General James, 76.

Ohio Company, organization
of, 86.
Ohio, increase in population
of, 14.
Ohio River, methods of navi
gating, 53; craft described
by Evans, 79-80; narratives
of navigation, 80; descent
of by Fordham, 81; the
"falls'' of, 106; aspects of,
184, 187-188; La Salle on,
188.
Owen, Robert, at New Har
mony, 206.

PARLIAMENT, demand for
reform of, 18; enacts tbe
Corn Law, 18.
Paroquets, abundant in the
Ohio Valley, 13«.
Patoka River, described, 137;
Pordham descendsi, 138-139.
Pell, Gilbert, anti-slavery
leader in Illinois, 210.
Pennsylvania, the people of,
60, 64-66.
Pennsylvania Road, 59.
Petapsco River, 58.
Petersburg (Virginia), des
cribed by Fordham and by
Birkbeck, 48.
Piankeshaw Indians, 115.
Pike, Zebulon, western trav
els of, 123.
Pitt, Port, 55, 73.
Pittsburg, plan of drawn by
Fordham, 74; early history
of, 71; described by trav
ellers. 72; commercial con
ditions at, 75; dependence
on the Ohio River trade, 76.
Pittsburg Pike, 59.
Pontchartrain, Port, 146.
Pope, Nathaniel, territorial
delegate of Illinois, 176.
Population, increase of, in
Middle West, 14.
Portsmouth (Ohio), Fordham
at, 90.

248

Fordham's Personal Narrative

Prince, William, 97.
Princeton, Fordham at, 97;
described. 97-98, 108; cele
bration of Christmas at,
147; Fourth of July at, 219.
RADCLIFFE, Anne, 66.
Radical Party, organized, 19.
Rapp, George, founder of New
Harmony, 20S.
Recovery, F'ort, 112.
Richmond, described) by Birk-
.beck, 50.
Roosevelt, Nicholas J., build
er of the "New Orleans,"
106.
ST. CLAIR, Arthur, career
of, 91.
St. Louis, early history of, 68.
Saline River, salt works on,
120.
Scenery, lack of in America,
152, 163.
Scioto Company, 89.
Selkirk, Lord, at Vincennes,
134; operations in the
Northwest, 134.
Seminary Towns^hip, history
of, 149-150.
Shade River, 88.
Shawneetown, early history
of,. 111.
Shelijy, Isaac, governor of
Kentucky, 159.
Shelbyville ( Kentucky), Ford
ham at, 159.
Shippingport (Kentucky),
105.
Slavery, deplored by Virgin
ians, 56; essential in the
far South, 67; at Cincinna
ti, 193'; story of the slave
Anthony, 194; contest in Il
linois, 209-210, 221; influ
ence on value of land, 210.
Smeaton, John, engineering
exploits of, 144.
Spa Fields, meeting at, 19.
Spence, Dr. Hubert de La
serre, possessor of the Ford
ham manuscript, 11, 32.

Steamboats, early use on wes
tern rivers, 106.
Stephenson, George, 31.
Symmes, John Cleves, obtains
grant on the Ohio, 183.

TAYLOR, General James, 164.
Temperatures, record of, 198-
200.
Thomas, Jesse B., elected to
the United States Senate,
175.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, editor
of Early 'Western Travels,
11; quoted, 37.

VANDERBURGH County (In
diana), created, 149.
Vevay (Indiana), Swiss set
tlement at, 213.
Vincennes, early history of,
96; population of, 96; In
dians in the neighborhood
of, 97.
Vincennes University, estab
lished, 149; later history,
150.
Virginia, people of, 49, 56, 66,
176.

WABASH River, described,
108; trafiic on, 116.
Washington, Fort, 91, 189.
Wayne, General Anthony, ne
gotiates treaty of Green
ville, 133.
Weekly Political Register, 19.
Welby, Adlard, visits the Eng
lish Prairie, 26.
Wheeling, Pordhami at,, 8'4;
growth in commerce, 84.
Wilkinson, James, career of,
62.
Woods, Jtohn, publishes his
Two Years' Residence, 28.
Wylie, Andrew, President of
Indiana College, 150.
ZANE, Colonel Etoenezer, 84.

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'TU'BLISHE%S CLEVELAND, OHIO

Early Western Travels
— — 1 748 - 1 846 ========
A SERIES of Annotated Reprints of some of the best
and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descrip
tive of the Aborigines and Social and Economic Condi
tions in the Middle and Far West, during the Period of
Early American Settlement.
Edited with Historical, Geographical, Ethnological, and Bibliographical
Notes, and Introduftions and Index, by
Reuben Gold Thwaites, ll.d.
With facsimiles of the original title-pages, maps, portraits,
views, etc. 3 1 volumes, large 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt tops.
Price $4.00 net per volume (except the Maximillen Atlas,
which is ^15.00 net). The edition is limited to 750 com
plete sets, each numbered and signed; but in addition there
to, a limited number of the volumes will be sold separately.
An Elaborate Analytical Index to the Whole
"This new series of historical and geographical works by the scholarly
editor of' The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,^ promises to be
particularly valuable and of more than usual popular interest. All the
books are rare, some of them exceedingly so, no copy being found in the
largest collections on this side of the Atlantic, or in many abroad. They
are copiously explained and illustrated by introductions and notes, bio
graphical sketches of the authors, bibliographical data, etc. The series
should, of course, be in every public, collegiate, and insti
tutional library, to say nothing of private collections of
respectable rank. The works included naturally vary in literary
merit and attractiveness, but many of them will compare favorably
with the better class of modern books of travel, while some are as fas
cinating as the best fiction. " — The Cridc.

The Arthur H. Clark Company
tvelisherj cleveland, ohio

Extracts from a few of the reviews
American Historical Review : " The books are handsomely bound and print
ed. The ediring by Dr. Thwaites seems to have been done with his
customary care and knowledge. There is no want of helpful annotations.
The books therefore are likely to be of more real value than the
early prints from which they are taken."
The Independent : "The editor's annotations make the present scries worth
possessing, even if one already owns the originals."
The Literary Digest: '<It is next to impossible, at this late date,
even to a well-endowed public library, to amass a consider
able collection of these early travels, so essential to an adequate
understanding of the life and manners of the aborigines, and the social and
economic condidons in the middle and far West, during the period of
early American settlement. The making of a judicious and competent
selection of the best and rarest of these writings has become an inevit
able requirement ; and the padent company of historians, librarians,
and scholars will be quick to congratulate each other that the great task
has fallen to the hands of so well-equipped an editor as Dr. Thwaites,
eminent as an authority on all questions pertaining to the exploration and
development of our great Western domain."
The Forum: "A most helpfiil contribution to the study of the America of a
century or so ago. ' '
The Athenaum: "... A series of permanent historical value . . . It ought
to find a place in every geographical or historical library."
Public Opinion: "The century that sets the bounds ofthis work is the most
important and interesting in the history of the 'winning of the West;' . .
it is comprehensive, and the materials at the disposal of the editor assure a
collection that will be indispensable to every well-equipped public
or private library."
The Nation : "A stately series, octavo in size, typographically very open and
handsome. The annotations are abundant and highly valuable. ' '
New Tork Times Saturday Review: "An invaluable series of reprints of
rare sources of American history."
The Dial: <'An undertaking of great interest to every student of
Western history. Exhaustive notes and introductions are by Dr.
Thwaites, the foremost authority on Western history, who is also to sup
ply an elaborate analytical index, under one alphabet, to the complete
series. This latter is an especially valuable feature, as almost all the rare
originals are without indexes.

" We cannot thoroughly understand our own history, local or National, without some knowledge
of these routes of trade and war." — The Outlook.
The Historic Highways of America
by Archer Butler Hulbert
A series of monographs on the History of America aa portrayed in the evo
lution of its highways of War, Commerce, and Social Expansion.
Comprising the following volumes :
I — Paths of the Mound-Building Indians and Crreat Game Animals.
II — Indian Thoroughfares.
Ill — Washington's Road: The First Chapter of the Old French War.
IV — Braddock's Road.
V— The Old Glade (Forbes's) Road.
VI — Boone's Wilderness Road.
VII — Portage Paths: The Keys of the Continent.
VIII — Military Roads of the Mississippi Basin.
IX — Waterways of Westward Expansion.
X — The Cumberland Road.
XI, XII — Pioneer Roads of America, two volumes.
XIII, XIV — The Great American Canals, two volumes.
XV — The Future of Road-Making in America.
XVI— Index.
Sixteen volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt tops. A limited edition
only printed direct from type, and the type distributed. Each volume hand
somely printed in large type on Dickinson's hand-made paper, and illustra
ted with maps, plates, and facsimiles.
Published a volume each two months, beginning September, 1902.
Price, volumes i and 2, ;gz.oo net each; volumes 3 to i6, II2.50 net
each. Fifty sets printed on large paper, each numbered and signed by the
author. Bound in cloth, with paper label, uncut, gilt tops. Price, ^5.00
net per volume.
•*The fruit not only of the study of original hifitoncaj sources in documents found here and In
England, but of patient and enthusiastic topographical studies, in the course of which every foot oi
these old historic highways has been traced and traversed.'* — The Living Age.
"The volumes already issued show Mr. Hulbert to be an earnest and enthusiastic student, and a
reliable guide." — Out West.
*' A look through these volumes shows most conclusively that a new source of history is being
developed— a source which deals with the operation of the most effective causes influencing human
affairs." — Iowa Journal of Hisioiy and Politics.
" The successive volumes in the series may certainly be awaited with great interest, for they
promise to deal with the most romantic phases of the awakening of America at the dawn of occi
dental civilization." — Boston Transcript.
" Tbe publishers have done their part toward putting forth with proper dignity this important
worK. It is issued on handsome paper and is illustrated with many maps, diagrams, and old
prints." — Chicago Evening Post.

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