FOOTNOTES:
[134] Captain Nathan Ellis with five brothers embarked at Brownsville in 1795, and floating down the Ohio, stopped at Maysville. Finding the Kentucky lands well occupied they crossed to the Ohio shore and Nathan Ellis established the ferry bearing his name. The title of the town was later changed to Aberdeen in honor of his native place. On the organization of Adams County, Ellis was appointed justice of the peace, which office he filled until his death in 1819.—Ed.
[135] Cuming was following the road known as Zane’s Trace, laid out across Ohio from Wheeling to Maysville in 1796. From Ellis’s Ferry it passed northeast through Adams County, up Brush Creek, through the southwestern corner of Highland County, to Byrington and through Perry Township in Pike County, down the valley of Paint Creek to Chillicothe.
William Leedom (Leadham) kept a tavern where Bentonville, Adams County, now stands.—Ed.
[136] The Indian captivity of Andrew Ellison is a well-known tale of Ohio pioneer life. Authorities differ in details; we follow the tradition handed down in the family. Andrew Ellison, born in 1755, came to Kentucky as a young man, and in 1790 accompanied Massie into Ohio, settling near Manchester. One day in 1793, while at work on his farm, he was surprised and captured by a band of Indians. Pursuit failing to overtake them, Ellison was carried to the Chillicothe towns where in running the gauntlet he was severely beaten. Later being taken to Detroit, he was ransomed for a blanket by an English officer, and being supplied with food and clothing walked back across the state of Ohio, arriving at his home in the early autumn. Four years later, he took up a large tract of land on Brushy Creek, building thereon a stone house—one of the best in the state at that time.—Ed.