Brief History of Logan and Hocking County

Before the first white people arrived in the area that would become Hocking County, there were three Native American tribes living here; the Delaware's, the Shawnee's and the Wyandot's. Their picture carvings can still be seen on the walls of caves throughout the county. They planted crops such as beans, corn, and squash, and also lived on fish and wild game.

The Delaware's called themselves the "Lenne-lanape" or "real people." They migrated from the east coast. They were the ones who named the Hocking River (Hock-hocking River). Near the headwaters of the Hocking, is a place where the river rushes down a narrow gorge and tumbles over a falls into a wide channel. This spot reminded the Delaware’s of the shape of a bottle. The Delaware word "Hock-hocking" means "shaped like a bottle." Later white people changed the name to Hocking.

The Wyandotte's had once been part of the powerful Huron confederacy. They came to Ohio after being defeated by the Iroquois. They were very active in the Indian Wars in Ohio. Their principal chief was Tarhe, the Crane. After the defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, he served as top negotiator for the twelve Ohio tribes at the treaty of Greenville.

The Shawnee's originally came from the Carolinas. They built a powerful empire in the Scioto River Valley. Hunting was sometimes difficult. They had to travel a long way to find game. Their richest hunting ground was in southwestern Hocking County. The Shawnees traveled fifty miles on foot to bring food from the Hocking Hills to their towns along the Scioto River.

All three of these tribes fought against Mad Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The Treaty of Greenville contained the terms of their surrender. Reservation land by Treaty's in northern Ohio was completely lost by the mid 1880's. All three of these tribes were removed to Oklahoma, where their descendants live today.

Thomas Worthington lived in Chillicothe, Ohio. He was a leading political figure and land developer of his day. He recognized that the lower falls of the Hocking River would be an excellent mill site. He bought the land, platted a village, and where Falls Mill Bridge stands today, he built a water-powered mill and in 1816, Worthington named his new village "Logan" after the great Indian leader. Chief Logan, in turn, was named after a white man, James Logan, who was good friends with Shikellimus, chief of the Cayuga or Mingo tribe and Logan’s father.

Chief Logan, for whom the City of Logan was named, gained his prominence during Lord Dunmore's War, a prelude to the revolution. Logan was the son of a Cayuga chieftain, and was named for an English friend of his father. Just how he came to be chief of the Mingo's is not clearly explained; The Mingo Indians were a small tribe with only three small villages, all near the present site of Columbus. Logan was their most noted chief, wielding a great influence over the other Ohio tribes.

The massacre of several of Logan's relatives was a contributing cause of Dunmore's War, although some historians have openly suspected that Dunmore, a loyalist and bitter enemy of the colonist, seized the opportunity to create a clash between the Virginians and the Indians. There are even hints that there was an understanding between the English and the Ohio Indians. True or not, it may explain why Dunmore took his 1,500 men up the Hocking in1774, to the present site of Logan instead of meeting General Andrew Lewis and his men at the mouth of the Kanawha River, where the bloody battle of Point Pleasant was fought, "the most significant of any Indian battle in American history."

Logan did not attend the peace parley with Lord Dunmore near Circleville, sending word that he was a "warrior, not a counselor." He did deliver his famous message to John Gibson at that time. Among the famous scouts who traveled with Dunmore up the Hocking River to the falls, and then cut across country to the Shawnee country near Circleville, were Simon Kenton, Simon Girty, George Rogers Clark and Michael Cresap. They traveled with a flotilla of 100 canoes, keelboats, and pirogues all of which were left at the falls during the peace parley.

More about Chief Logan From the Ohio Historical Society

Chief Logan was born in Pennsylvania about 1725. His parents were Iroquois. The Iroquois living in the region of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio were known as the Mingo. His Indian name was Tachnechdorus. His more commonly known name of Logan probably resulted from the early friendship with William Penn's secretary, James Logan. Logan was friendly with the settlers who were moving into the region.

When Logan was about 45 years old in 1770, he moved his family to Ohio and became a leader among the Mingo people. His friendship with the settlers continued until 1774, when a group of settlers murdered his family. Logan sought revenge. He started to attack white settlements along the frontier. He fought against the British with the Shawnee chief Cornstalk in Lord Dunmore's War. After the Indian defeat at the Battle of Point Pleasant, Cornstalk knew that Indians must make peace with the white settlers. A meeting was held near Chillicothe, which Logan refused to attend. Instead, he sent a message that was read at the meeting.

 Logan stated: "I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat; if he ever came cold and naked he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is a friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relatives of Logan, not even sparing his wives and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in any living creature. This calls on me for revenge. I have sought it; I have killed many; I have grown glutted by my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at creature. This calls on me for revenge. I have sought it; I have killed many; I have grown glutted by my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor any thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? No one."

Colonel Cresap was later tried for the murders of Logan's family and was found innocent. Logan continued his raids on white settlements on the frontier. In 1780, Logan was murdered near Detroit. His nephew possibly murdered him. At the time of Logan's death, the former Mingo leader was a very bitter man because of his tragic personal losses and he was unable to keep the settlers from moving onto Indian lands.

In the early days of Hocking County, men drove the mules, cut the timber, and hunted for wild game, while women were relegated to the concerns of the home. Few women crossed over that line, with one notable exception. Susan Lyons was born in 1856. She married Cyrus Christ Buttermore and lived in a small house on the banks of the Hocking Canal on Laurel Run Road. Cyrus drove a mule for logging, worked in the mines, and farmed.

The boats that went through the locks right out her kitchen window fascinated Susan. One day, she thought to herself, "I could do that." So she convinced canal officials that she could be in charge of the locks. Several times a day, she interrupted her household chores to adjust the levers that allowed the boats to pass. She used a twenty-foot pole to help guide the boats through the narrow stonewalls. Susan died in 1936.

The original boundaries of Hocking county included: Green, Falls, Falls-Gore, Good Hope, Laurel, Salt Creek, Benton, Washington, Swan, Jackson, Eagle, the western half of Starr and Brown, southern 2/7 of Perry, and the southern 2/3 of Marion Townships.