"In 1797 Nathan Cory moved from Kentucky to Ohio
and located at what was called 'The Station' (probably
Anderson's Station) about four miles from where Chillicothe
now stands. He stayed there and cleared land for
three years. He next moved on to the North Fork of
Paint Creek to a piece of land which he had purchased
near an old Indian town named Old Town and later
Frankfort. Here he passed the remainder of his days.
The exact location of this first home near Frankfort was
about two hundred yards south of the Cory run on the
farm later owned by his son Noah Cory and his son
Oliver A. Cory. I understand that this house was about
on a north and. south line running from the Oliver A.
Cory farm house to the Lot Acton farm house. No trace
of the home site now remains. He owned all the lands
which were later broken up into the farms of Noah and
Israel, his sons. Israel received the Lot Acton farm and
Noah the farms which he later gave to William Noah
Cory, Oliver A. Cory and Lucretia A. Cory, his children.
(Mrs. Reed L. Cory now owns (1941) the old Noah Cory
farm and B. Frank Cory the William Noah Cory farm
home.)
Nathan Cory's life was a life of hardship. At the
time of his coming to Ohio it was little less than a wilderness,
where the redman wooed his dusky mate and followed
his beaten war paths and where the wild inhabifants
of the forest roamed in unbounded freedom. Here,
he with others, endured all the privations and sufferings
of frontier life that they might subdue the wilderness
and make it a fruitful field where they and their families
could enjoy the peace and comforts of life. In moving
from Virginia to Kentucky he came down the Ohio River
with several other families, 27 persons in all, in a piroque
(hollowed out log) sixty feet Jong. During the journey
the river froze up around them and at one time they had
no provisions to subsist on save one small turkey hen, the
game having all shifted to other localities.
Nathan stayed in Kentucky seven years. He was by
profession a hair-sieve maker. In coming to Ohio he sent
his family with other families by water to Portsmouth,
whil he and six other men came through by land, bringing
the horses. They met their families, who were going
by water with the other party, near Cincinnati and made
a w inter camp, later described. On the trip by land they
came across a huge buffalo bull, which they attacked
with their seven dogs. They each fired seven shots before
the beast was brought to the ground. Neither men nor
dogs were injured though sometim('s the dogs were
tossed many feet in the air. When turned on its back,
Nathan Cory coul<l just chin it at the brisket. The hide
was taken off and it required all of them to drag it and
two packhorses to carry it. The drippings of the marrow
bones on a johnny cake furnished them with a good
supper. When he reached "'l'he Station" his worldly
possessions consisted of a wife, six children, a little pony
thirteen hands high and one dollar in money which he
spent for a sack of salt. (I suppose "The Station" refened
to is probably Anderson's Station, but it may have
been some other old trading post.)
He was for many years a Deacon in the Baptist
Church after which he was ordained an Elder, which
position he filled until his death. When the Church divided
he took sides with what are now called the New
School Baptists.
For twelve years he was afflicted with the rheumatjsm
and sciatic pains and was obliged to use one and
two canes in walking. After much persuasion he was
induced to annoint with a salve made of hog's lard into
which a live warty toad had been thrown and rendered.
This effected a permanent cure where all other remedies
had failed.
He was married three times, having a family of
twelve children by his first wife and none by his other
two.
He was a humble Christian delighting in peace with
his neighbors and during his life was much given to
hospitality."
In addition to the above biography by William N.
Cory, many stories are told of his early struggles with
the Indians and the wilderness, one of which I will relate
as told me by my father, Joseph B. Cory:
A stranger from the East one time came through
this section of the country with some choice tobacco seed.
He said the tobacco was not of a large variety but very
finely flavored. He persuaded Na than Cory that it would
be very profitable to raise and sell some of this tobacco
so Nathan bought some of it and he and his sons cleared
off from three to five acres of choice paw-paw land and
they planted and tended the tobacco crop. They spent
the summer and fall tending the tobacco crop and even
hired an expert to help, cure it. Nathan Cory was a man
of varied accomplishments, being at some times a preacher,
a cooper and a farmer. When the tobacco was cured
and ready for market he built a large hogshead himself
out of oak staves and bound it with hoops of wood about
four inches wide. The nearest tobacco market was at
Portsmouth on the Ohio River about 75 miles. So he and
two or three of his sons took their guns and a horse and
rolled and pushed the hogshead of tobacco all the way
to Portsmouth. It was necessary to build new hoops two
or three times on the way. VVhen they got to Portsmouth
they found that their tobacco had moulded a little and
they only received ten dollars for the whole lot. This
sum represented their entire summer's work.
The State Centennial History of Ohio, published by
S. A. Brant in 1902, says on P. 256, Vol. 11 that Rev.
Nathan Cory was the first Baptist preacher in Concord
Township. His church stood on the site of the old Baptist
graveyard just south of Frankfort and was organized in
1800.
