NJHUNTER-L Archives

Archiver > NJHUNTER > 2004-01 > 1074519480


From: "Walker, Linda" <>
Subject: RE: [NJHUNTER] Hunterdon.Migrants-- Cincinnati
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:38:00 -0500


Hi Roz and Sylvia,

Thank you for the link to the article on Redstone. From what I know of our local (Cincinnati) history, there were three hopping off points as the settlers came down the Ohio from Redstone - Columbia (east of what is now downtown Cincinnati) at the mouth of the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers, North Bend (west of Cincinnati at the mouth of the Big Miami and Ohio Rivers) and Cincinnati (originally called Losantiville). Columbia was the first - Gerard's Station was there and it was situated in a valley. I do know there were Indians there - my father had a very large collection of arrowheads he'd found and told me stories he'd heard as a boy about the Indians. Also that area floods and artifacts come to the surface from time to time - from as far back as the Hopewell and Adena tribes. There is a small cemetary (most of what was Columbia is now Lunken Airport) with headstones of many of the first settlers who stayed and lived in Columbia. My ancestor, Absolom Smith, stayed there two!
years before going upriver to Clermont Co. Down the street from my house is the Miller-Leuser log cabin that was built @1792. Most of the settlers to this area came to claim land given to them as Rev. War payment. Over the years, Columbia and North Bend became less important as there was Fort Washington at the Cincinnati landing where eventually the city was built. As far as I know, the early settlement was mainly on the Ohio side of the river as they seemed to follow the rivers up to the more northern and eastern counties (Warren, Butler, Clinton, Clermont and Brown) My ex-husband's family (Walker) settled in Lewis/Mason Co. Kentucky and I do know there was some crossover there - to Portsmouth Ohio - I have no idea where they started out!

A question I have - where did the Hunterdon folks originate from? I thought I'd read somewhere that there was a Quaker settlement in PA and that they'd come to Hunterdon in the early 1700's. There seems to have been a lot of Smiths in the area - we're a prolific bunch!

Linda Smith Walker
Cincinnati

Sylvia/Linda,

Our ancestors seemed to have had similar migration patterns... There were
BELLIS (BELLESFELTs) in Symmes Purchase (Cincinnati) circa 1790 but they
were from Somerset Co NJ; and BELLIS were in Mercer/Garrard Co. KY as early
as 1782, from Hunterdon Co NJ. I too have wondered whether the NJ folks
tried KY first and then moved to Cincinnati, or vice-versa. Seems to me,
the KY folk would have preferred coming down the Shenandoah Valley, but then
again, the Ohio River seems like it'd be "faster", but I'm not sure it would
have been safer (from the Indians). Many of the early pioneers to KY (circa
1782) were there with George Rogers Clark, who himself went to Redstone to
recruit soldiers to fight with him. This webpage lists some of the people
living in the Redstone area in 1772, many of whom end up in northern KY:
http://www.genealogymagazine.com/sompenin17.html

Linda, where in Virginia did your ancestor move prior to going to Red Stone?

Roz BELLIS
Alexandria, VA


-----Original Message-----
From: Walker, Linda [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 5:38 AM
To:
Subject: RE: [NJHUNTER] Hunterdon.Migrants.


Hello Sylvia,

Just happened to read your email - I am in Cincinnati - a descendant of
Absolom Smith who was born in Amwell, Hunterdon Co. and fought in the
Revolution. Here is his abbreviated story for what it's worth . . .
According to his Rev. War pension testimony (in his own words), he left NJ
after the war, moved to Virginia and then to Red Stone Old Fort PA. and from
there in @1798 to Columbia (outside of Cincinnati where Lunken Airport now
is) where he lived for three years. He then moved to Clermont Co. Ohio where
he claimed his land. He had a brother, John, who settled in Butler Co.
Apparently Red Stone Old Fort was a place where they built the flatboats
used to come down the Ohio River. Columbia was the settlement of choice
before Cincinnati.

As for the name Sutton - there is a Sutton Avenue in Mt. Washington and a
log cabin still standing (rehabbed and the logs now visible) just off that
street. If I remember correctly, it was the log cabin of a John or a David
Sutton (can't remember which!) - who may be a relation to yours - built
around 1798.

Linda Smith Walker
Cincinnati




-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 8:21 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [NJHUNTER] Hunterdon.Migrants.


I have Sutton's who migrated about 1795 to Deerfield, (now South Lebanon)
Warren County, Ohio (originally Hamilton County until 1803). On General
David
Sutton's tombstone it states that he was a native of Hunterdon County, NJ.
He
would have been born about 1766 and at the time of his death was married to
a
woman named Mary. This was the David Sutton who was the first Clerk of
Courts
of Warren County, Ohio and led troops in the War of 1812. He was part of
the
migration that settled in the Symmes Purchase area of Southwest Ohio. My
question is: Did he come directly from NJ to Ohio or did he live in Northern
Kentucky for a time before crossing the Ohio River to settle? Needless to
say,
tracing the "David Sutton" name is quite a challenge since there were so
many of
them.
Sylvia Outland
Lebanon, Ohio





==== NJHUNTER Mailing List ====
Visit the Updated Hunterdon County GenWeb page at:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter

==============================
Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration
Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more.
http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237


This thread: