farm and one day when they were hoeing corn they killed five
rattlesnakes, not until Mr. Hecox had been bitten by one.
They had to go up the Muskingum river four miles above
Marietta to a floating mill in summer; in winter they lived
on boiled corn and turnips. Their meat was venison. The
nearest neighbor was Mr. Humphrey, who lived on what is
known as Waterman's hill. Another neighbor was Mr. Sut-
ton, a trapper. In 1803 they moved to the middle branch of
Shade river, to No. 4, in Troy township. They moved with
an ox sled and two yoke of oxen, the first team that ever went
through Tupper's Plains. David Daily drove the hogs, and
as they tired out he had to camp in the woods with them to
keep the wolves from killing them. David Daily was a Revo-
lutionary soldier. Nathan Burris was the first family to
settle on the middle branch of Shade river, one mile above
where Levi Stedman built his first mill. Solomon Burris, an
uncle to Nathan Burris, lived there. Mr. Longworth and Mr.
Stone settled on Congress land, and Jacob Cowdery settled
on the middle branch, at the mouth of the west branch of
Shade river, above Stedman's mill. Levi Stedman and Peter
Grow lived in Gallia county, half a mile below the line be-
tween the two counties. Afterward they got one section an-
nexed to Athens county, which then ran no farther than the
Orange township line, with the exception of one section which
belonged to Gallia county. This line runs east to the Ohio
river, near the mouth of a small stream called Indian run.
Samuel Branch came next with his family and located on the
east side of the middle branch of Shade river, and Ezra Hoyt
came about the same time. Jacob Rice settled on the west
side of the west branch in 1806. Mr. Kingsbury took land on
the first fork of the west branch of Shade river, which is known
as Kingsbury, after the name of the first settler. He was a
brother-in-law to Levi Stedman. The first organization of
militia was in 1805. Thurman Hecox was elected captain
