Individual Details

soruce: Pat alpaschen@netnitco.net Barent and Zachariah

http://www.oxfordchamber.org/dewitt.html

Built in the wildemess about 1805, the loghouse of Zachariah Price DeWitt is now the oldest remaining structure in Oxford Township. It also is the last of a string of pioneer homesteads established alongthe FourMile (Tallawanda) Creekbefore Oxford Township, thetown of Oxford, or Miami University even existed.

It stands on the east bank of the creek about five hundred yards north of Route 73. It is on Miami University land, leased to the Oxford Museum Association, which in 1973 took on its restoration to preserve this rare example of early 19th-century log construction.

Faced with an estimate of at least $10,000 for full restoration, the Museum Association applied for an initial state grant of $5,000. Since the agency in charge of such restoration required "proof of progress," the task was defined by phases. A grant of $2,000 enabled a start on Phase One, which was halting further deterioration by reconstructing the fieldstone foundation, re-installing plate logs, and re-roofing with wood shingles. Additional money was raised in a fund drive, mostly from Association members and others interested in local history.

Phase One was completed. Phase Two was replacement of the doorjambs, doors, window frames and chinking between logs, plus repair of chimneys and fireplaces by taking them down and rebuilding them entirely. Aided by a second grant from the same agency, this work was completed, and interior flooring was added.

Special pattems were made to be examples for rebuilding the door and window frames to the style that originated in the early construction of the house. (It had been modernized and altered somewhat, but the structure is original and a true restoration was undertaken.)

Finish work still remains to be completed, including a simple narrow stairway. The structure then can be put into use either as a museum or in some adapted-use situation with stipulation that no structural changes be made.

The term "DeWitt Cabin" often used for the structure is a misnomer. The structure was truly a house from the beginning, with shutter-protected glass windows, solid wood flooring, two ample fireplaces, separation into four rooms. Early in its existence it acquired beaded wall paneling, a walnut chair rail in the west room, and a portico sheltering its heavy front door. Floors were of thick ash, the ceilings of tulip poplar, the walls of daub. The rafters were pegged together, not nailed. For many years, weatherboards covered the house; these were removed in restoration.

Zachariah Price DeWitt was born of a Dutch family in New Jersey April 24,1768. He and brothers Jacob and Peter made their way to Kentucky in the 1780s, settling in Nelson County, around Bardstown. Zachariah and Elizabeth Teets, who had been born in Pennsylvania April 14,1774, were married on March 11, 1790. It has been written that they "then settled down in a log cabin near their families and started raising corn, hogs, and eventually, nine children." Nevertheless, somehow during these years Zachariah gained a reputation as a hunter and Indian fighter. It is believed he may have been among Kentuckians who marched up Western Ohio in 1794 with Mad Anthony Wayne. The admission of Ohio as a state March 1, 1803, attracted Kentuckians to cheap, newly-available land. By 1805 Zachariah and Elizabeth DeWitt, with seven children, had found their way through almost-uncharted country to the spot where Zachariah built this house on the Four Mile.

The Ohio General Assembly on February 17,1809, approved a charter for The Miami University; this complied with terms of the Symmes Purchase, though Oxford Township and the Village of Oxford were not established until later, and the full functioning of the University still awaited funds, buildings, faculty and students for thirteen more years.

Others who were homesteading in that valley along the Four Mile in those years included Zachariah DeWitt's brothers Jacob and Peter; Capt. Sam Beeler, his son Col. Sam Beeler, Jr., and his son-in-law Joel Collins; schoolmaster Eleazer Hoag, perhaps his nearest neighbor; Daniel Kyger, Col. Matthew Hueston, John Slack, "Buffalo Bob" Taylor, James Adams, Nathan Horner, Thomas White and others. Some were poachers, somebought title to their land when the trustees of Miami University placed it on sale. Some became leading citizens, some moved on.

Zachariah Price became an important member of the pioneer farming community. He established a sawmill on the Four Mile. He built several houses in Oxford, including the initial portion of what would become the building still housing Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the corner of High street and Campus avenue in Oxford. He was village treasurer when he accepted a captaincy in the War of 1812, took command of a company of Butler County riflemen, and marched them to Detroit to assist General Duncan McArthur. He became a pillar in the Baptist church, was co-owner of the Mansion House Hotel, and in 1822 became a founder and secretary of the Masonic Lodge. A Whig, he supported William Henry Harrison for President; a memorable reception at the Mansion House was part of Oxford's celebration of Harrison's election.

According to legend which seems fairly authentic, Zachariah DeWitt's wife Elizabeth was scalped by an Indian who was attempting to kidnap her from near this home. The story goes that as she fled, he grabbed her long hair, circled its roots with a knife, and ran off with the scalplock. It is said that Zachariah returned home a few minutes later, applied bear grease and arnica to her wound, set off in pursuit, found the Indian sitting in a nearby thicket admiring his trophy, and shot him dead.

Mrs. DeWitt is said to have worn a black sunbonnet for the rest of her life, to cover the scar of her scalping. When a campaign was launched some century and a half later to raise money to restoretheDeWittLogHouse, donors were given Black Bonnet Club membership cards.

There's another story that Indians attempted to carry off one of the DeWitt babies. As she started to follow them, Mrs. DeWitt heard faint cries from the well and there was the infant floating on the water, its billowing gown keeping it afloat.

Elizabeth DeWitt died in 1843, at age 69, reputedly some 15 years after the scalping. Zachariah spent his last eight years with a son Israel and two teen-aged children of his deceased daughter Betsey. He died April 12, 1851. Zachariah, Elizabeth and several other members of the DeWitt family are buried in Darrtown Cemetery off ShoUenbarger road southwest of Darrtown, about two miles from the DeWitt Log House.

Birth	14 Apr 1774	Pennsylvania, United States
Marriage	11 Mar 1790	Nelson, Kentucky, United States - Zachariah Price "Zach" DeWitt
Census (family)	1820	Oxford Township, Butler, Ohio, United States - Zachariah Price "Zach" DeWitt
Death	14 Aug 1843	Butler, Ohio, United States
Alt name		Elizabeth Tuts
Burial		Darrtown Cemetery, Butler, Ohio, United States

Spouse	Zachariah Price "Zach" DeWitt (1768 - 1851)
Child	Israel DeWitt (1805 - 1889)
Child	Zachariah T. DeWitt (1809 - 1870)
Child	Michael DeWitt (1811 - 1818)

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