Clark County, Ohio

History and Genealogy



French Settlement in Ohio


From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908


Ohio was bardly in the track of either the French priest, trader, or explorer, yet at an early date a settlement was made on Lake Erie. In 1749 Celeron De Bienville, a French explorer, acting under the order of the governor-in-chief of New France to drive hack intruders, made an exploration into the central part of this state. He had under him a chaplain, ahout 30 soldiers, as many Indians, and ahout 100 Canadians. This expedition crossed over from Canada and embarked on the muddy waters of the Ohio, and down to the mouth of the Great Miami, thence making his way up that stream as far as Piqua. He burned his canoes, and crossed over on ponies to the other side of the water, and thence returned to Montreal. He planted several plates of lead at the mouth of various rivers, among others the Kanawa, Muskingum and Great Miami, signifying a renewal of possession of the country. One of these plates was found at Marietta in 1798 by some boys on the west bank of the Muskingum and one at Kanawa in 1846, by a boy playing on the margin of the river.

The following is a translation of the inscription on the plate: "In the year 1749, reign of Louis XV, King of France, we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment by Monseiur the Marquis of Gallisoniere. commander-in-chief of New France to establish tranquility in certain Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate at the confluence of the Toradakoin, this twenty-ninth of July, near the river Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession which we have taken of the said river, and all its tributaries; inasmuch as the preceding Kings of France have enjoyed it, and maintained it by their arms and treaties; especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix La Chapelle."

This explorer visited the town which was called Pickawillany, which was situated in the northern part of Miami county about nine miles southwest of Sidney. This place was considered as the first trading post of English occupation in Ohio. It was destroyed by the French and Indians in 1752. Just when the town or trading post of Pickawillany was established is not definitely known, but it was sometime prior to the first French expedition. It is said that at one time it contained 400 Indian families, and was the residence of the principal chief of the Miami confederacy.

About seventeen years, after the destruction of Pickawillany, a French trader by the name of Loramie established a store about fifteen miles north of the site of Pickawillany. and this place became a prominent spot in history, and a prominent point in the boundaries of the Greenville treaty, and also in giving the boundaries of early counties.

"Whether or not there was ever a French settlement in this county rests only in tradition, but tradition has it, and has some probabilities to support its truthfulness, that not far from the ancient Indian village of Piqua in this county there was a French trading post.







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