John Paul the First Settler
From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908
We have before referred to the fact that John Paul was the first white settler, so far as is definitely known, in Clark County. Tn a recent issue, January 16, 1908, of the New Carlisle Sun, Mr. Julius C. Williams, himself a pioneer, has given a very good history of Mr. Paul in which he states the means of his information, and I deem that I can do no better than to quote this article for the history it gives of the early times as well as the life of the person whom so far as is known was the first wliite settler of this county.
Mr. Williams says:
"All the printed histories have to say of this man Paul is, that he and his family were surprised and killed by the Indians somewhere north of Fort Washington, now the city of Cincinnati, sometime in 1789 or 1790. So far as location is concerned the student of history is left to judge for himself where the massacre took place. Some few persons who have taken a deeper interest in the early history of the Miami Valley have delved into early traditions and have sought to show that Mr. Paul and his family met death at the hands of the Indians somewhere near the forks of Twin Creek. The part Mr. Paul and his son, John Paul, Jr., played in the making of Clark County, would indicate that the slaughter must have taken place somewhere within the county's borders.
"One son and one daughter of the Paul family escaped being slaughtered by the Indians. They remained where the father had built the first cabin in Clark County and continued to farm, the son, John, dying at the age of ninety-one years in 1851. He was buried in the New Carlisle cemetery where now a marble slab marks his last resting place. Mr. Benjamin Suddoth who, until death at the age of eighty-nine years, two years ago, was one of the pioneer residents of the county and lived with John Paul, Jr., for a period of thirty years during his early life. In this way Mr. Suddoth heard Mr. Paul tell the story of the massacre many times and became quite familiar with all details regarding the death of John Paul, Sr., his wife and three children. Mr. Suddoth related the following narrative of the Paul family to the writer a number of times, going to the Paul farm and pointing out the exact location of the original cabin and the place where the slaughter took place.
"Mr. Suddoth heard John Paul, Jr., relate many times the experiences he had with the Shawnee Indians and heard him tell of the slaughter of his father, mother and other members of the family. According to the boy's story of his father's life, Mr. Paul, Sr., was a member of the Kentucky Squirrel Hunters who marched with General George Rogers Clark against the Indians at the Battle of Piqua. One division of Clark's army pursued the Indians westward from Piqua, near what is now Durbin, until they came to Honey Creek. Here, near the forks of the creek on what is now the Joseph Kable farm, the last stand was taken with the Indians against Clark's men. This fact is borne out from the finding of cannon balls and musket balls that compare with those found in the battlegrounds of Piqua. After the skirmish the Indians disappeared in the forests toward the west, and Clark's men retreated to the south, going back to Kentucky.
"When Mr. Paul, Sr., who was with this division, visited the valley in the vicinity of the forks of Honey Creek he was very much impressed with the fertility of the soil and thereupon resolved to bring his family from Kentucky and settle at this point. Soon after the organization of the Northwest Territory by the Ordinance of 1787, John Paul gathered his family into his wagon and they started northward from Cincinnati to find, if possible, the place where he had visited in his skirmish with the Indians while with the Squirrel Hunters.
"The journey northward must have been fraught with many hardships, as many times it became necessary to use the axe to cut their way through the tangled forest. Mr. Paul and his family, on their lonely journey, followed the Miami River as far as Dayton, then took up the banks of Mad River and proceeded northward toward the point of the former battle. Many nights the Indians prowled about the little wagon, around which one member of the family always stood guard while the others slept lest they be taken by surprise and lose their lives during a night attack of the treacherous Redskins.
"After many days of such experiences, Mr. Paul and his family reached the place with which he had been so impressed during his former visit to Clark County.
"All members of the family at once set about to erect the cabin. Little did these folks think that right then and there they were building the first cabin in what is now Clark County. The cabin must have been a rude affair compared with our houses of the present, and there were none of those 'modern conveniences' so desired by the present-day tenant. There is evidence that the cabin was built hastily, as Paul well knew that, there were Indians in the vicinity and it was his desire to protect his family from their probable attacks.
"A stockade was constructed about the cabin, just at the base of a small hill which extends either way from the point where the cabin was built.
"The next thing in order was to clean a small patch of ground on which corn and some vegetables could be raised. The first winter was spent in clearing a plot of ground which lay immediately north of the cabin and between the forks of the creek. When spring came, every day saw Mr. Paul and his family earnestly working in this truck patch to provide supplies for the long winter that was to follow.
"One day in the summer of 1790, when the family was thus engaged in the patch north of their cabin, there was a sudden war hoop came piercing from the woods nearby and a small band of Indians could be seen hurrying from tree to tree making their way toward the cabin. Instantly the Paul family started for the cabin to make ready for defense, but no sooner had they started than a half-dozen of the screaming Indians in full war paint cut off their escape, all the time firing into the terror-stricken little family. In quick succession the father, mother and three of the children were pierced by the bullets of the Redmen and fell mortally wounded to the ground. The son, John, picked up his father and started to drag him to the cabin, but the father gasped to him, 'Save yourself, I am dying, you can't help me.'
"In the excitement of the moment and their haste to secure the scalps of the white settlers and get back into cover, the Indians did not notice John and his sister, and they made their escape to the cabin. A moment later, however, there was a crash from one of the port-holes in the cabin from John's trusty musket and one of the Indians who was engaged in scalping the father and mother fell dead. Another flash, a whiff of smoke and the second Indian fell mortally wovmded beside the bodies of their slaughtered victims. This so terrified the remainder of the Indians that they withdrew to the woods a short distance away, carrying the bodies of their dead members with them, but leaving the bodies of the Paul family, five in all, laying on the ground minus their scalps.
"For two long days following this attack, John and his sister remained at the port-holes in the cabin, rifles in hand, ready to pierce the heart of the first Redskin who would dare to show his face from the neighboring woodland. On the third day, there having been no further signs of an attack, the sister and brother ventured out where lay the bodies of the loved ones and buried them on the spot where they met death.
"John and his sister continued to live in the cabin, and oftentimes saw the Indians skulking along the creek nearby, but they were never molested by an organized band after this time. Mr. Suddoth stated that it was no uncommon occurrence for John Paul to be riding about his farm on horseback and to shoot an Indian when he saw one, as Mr. Paul was regarded as one of the trustiest shots with a rifle with whom the Indians had ever contended. It is said that Paul often came riding up to the door of his cabin with tbe body of an Indian thrown cross-wise on the saddle, his heart pierced by one of John's rifle bullets. 'There's another of them damn Redskins,' was the remark, it is said, he would make when bringing home his trophy.
"That this account of the massacre of the Paul family is the most authentic so far recorded cannot be doubted, as the details are more complete and compare very favorably with existing circumstances in later years. The point where the cabin was erected and where the subsequent massacre took place is near the forks, of Honey Creek, about one mile northwest of New Carlisle. A brick house has been erected on the spot and the farm is owned by Fissel Brothers, nurserymen, of this place. Near the cabin was a spring and today the spring still sends out its bubbling stream as it did years ago, though the ground round about it has become neglected and has the appearance of a swamp. Mr. Carson, who lives on the farm, says he finds many Indian arrows and other relics as he plows in the fields around the slope of the hill, serving as further evidence that this spot was no strange location to the Redmen who loved to fish and hunt along the stream.
"At the Centennial celebration in Warren County a few years ago a contest was conducted and a prize offered for the best authentic account of the family that raised the first corn in the Miami valley. It was here shown that John Paul, the subject of this sketch, produced the first corn in the Miami valley as early as 1792.
"Mr. Paul, Jr., was also one of the founders of the Honey Creek Presbyterian church. That he was a remarkable character and was the first pioneer settler of Clark County is beyond dispute. Mr. Suddoth, to whom the writer is indebted for much of the information contained in this interesting sketch, was also regarded as a man of his word and the story he related is beyond question one of the important connecting links in the early history of Clark County."