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John Bratton—A . Pioneer Sketch,fFi'om ttiL' ZauoHviilo -Signal, Dee.It is an agreeable lucid oat of an editor's vocation to now 1 and then turn away from the more stirring duties of his profession, and from the men of a lator to those of an older generation, ftml jot down and put uji record sketches ofthe lives of those who battled with pioneer hardships, and planted and nursed our civilization in the wilderness.In the wlnri and excitements of the intense life ve lead, we are apt to forget our obligations to - the brave men who wrested from wild nature and savage men, our fair heritage of fruitful fields, with their golden harvests, pleasant homes, and the thousand and one blessings of our daily life. In their comfortable enjoyment we forge I. that they are the peaceful fruit of many a stormy planting, the summer harvest, after long winters of pioneer struggle, danger and deprivation.Among the few early pioneers of this section, yet living, is the subject of this sketch, Mr. John Bratton, lie was bom in Mifflin township, in what is now Juni-atta county, Pa., March 14, 1781), and with his parents, first crossed the Ohio rLvur at Wheeling, December 4, 170ft, now id most three-quarters of a. century ago. Thu family first moved on to lands on McMahan's Crock, Belmont county .seven miles south-west of where St. Clairsville now stands, and camped near a spot called Big Lick, where buffalo and elk were wont to resort. John and his elder brother Mward, (yet living near Cambridge, aged 8? years and over) a few days after going into camp at tills Lick, found in the vicinity a gigantic elk’shead and horns, the latter so long, that when placed on the ground, inverted, men six feet high could walk under the skull.In 1803, Mr. Bratton's father leased a fdaee on the old Wheeling road, (then called ZaucV Trail), seven miles west oJ: St. Clairsville, on which he remained two years. In 1805, the father entered two quarter sections on the Brushy Fork of Wills' Creek, then in Muskingum enmity, but now in Madison township, Guernsey county, ami on the Steubenville road. Their nearest neighbor to eastward was fifteen miles distant, and the nearest westward, at Cambridge, where there there was then but one house, that of John Beatty, who kept a terry,The fan lily remained on Brushy Fork seven years, when the father sold out, John remaining two years longer, and continuing to keep the public house of his father, in company with his widowed sister, whose husband, Hubert Wu-rnock, hail been killed by the Indians. In 1812 lie went into the army as Orderly Sergeant of a Company, and was engaged against the Seneca Indians, and is still receiving a pension from the government for his services. In IS 1.5 he was married to his cousin, Llizabelh Bratton. After residing on Brushy Fork from 1815 to 1335, when his wife died, and having married his second wife. Ann Smith, he sold his property in Guernsey county, and bought Peter Li vs n goods mill and farm on Salt Creek, S.ucm township, this eonnly, in 1333.By the way. as a digression, this Peter Livengood was the man who carried sixteen bus)ads of wheat, at once,' to-wib* oiitf bug on each p-ioulder, one on Ids back, and oiie on Ids breast.Mr. Ilmttoil’s second wife’s health failing, in 183ft, he rcntlt;M his mill,ami leasedit tavern in Adnmsvllle. During this year hi; lost a son by his first wife, another by his second, a daughter by the same, and also bis wife, the daughterdying on Saturday, one of the sons on thefollowing Sunday, and Ids wife on the following Wednesday* thus breaking up his family, and leaving iu his charge an infant child. The cause of these terrible bereavements w as scarlet: lever and erysipelas. In 1840 hr1 moved hack to the mill, and, in 1.341, he was married, for the third time, to the widow Ilinman, ofZanesville, who still survives. By this last marriage one child, a daughter, was horn, who L mnrrkui uml residing in Illinois; six children and two wives having departed this life.John Bratton, himself, still lives, a hale, hearty man, intelligent and of vigorous mind, and able to narrate many reminiscences of interest. He voted the first time ter Thomas JcfFcTsun; has taken the Democratic paper of this county ever since the first one published by David Hob!), mid his Signal is paid for well into the year 187J.
Newspaper Details
Cambridge Jeffersonian
Cambridge, Ohio, US
Thu, Dec 12, 1872
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Muskingum C.
OH, USA 26 Sep 2020
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