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James Naylor

Some information from Ruth Naylor Chandler

"Evans and Stivers, in their History of Adams County (1900) relate that James naylor moved his wife and children on two horses over the Alleghenies.  His wife and children were on one horse and he led the other with their goods, to a place some 40 miles west of Pittsburgh.  In 1792, he and a neighbor named Mehaffey and a boy named David Young, built a flat-boat and with their effects floated down the Ohio River.  They landed at Limestone (Maysville) Kentucky, after a three day's voyage on high water, although the trip usually took from six to nine days.

He located at Washington, now in Mason County, Kentucky, where he remained from 1792 t0 1796.  In 1796, in his middle 50's he moved to Gift Ridge, in Adams County, Ohio.

Gift Ridge is the name given to that portion of the highlands of what is now Monroe township, just north of and adjacent to the 1,000 acres of land originally owned by Nathaniel Massie on which he built the famous "Buckeye Station", said to be the oldest house still standing in the State of Ohio.  The "Buckeye Station" land was bounded for half a mile by the Ohio River and on the east and west by the valleys of two small tributaries of the Ohio River, Donaldson's Creek and Elison's Run.  To secure his choice location from the Indians, Massie took up the entire Gift Ridge to the north of it for four or five miles, with military warrants, and gave the land to those who would settle on it and thus placed a cordon between his property and the Indians.  Massie had been sent into Ohio in 1790 to seek additional land for the Commonwealth of Virginia to pay off promised land grants to Revolutionary War soldiers.  Each settler was given 100 acres of land; thus "Gift Ridge" received its name.  This was about 1792.

"Nobody seems to know whether James received a grant as a veteran or whether he bought another soldier's land.  The first record I could find of his buying land showed that he bought 50 acres from Nathaniel Massie in 1804.  At any rate he lived the rest of his life on the "Old Naylor Farm" on Gift Ridge, died and was buried there in the Naylor graveyard, where his tombstone still stands.   He died in 1825 aged 83 years 11 months.

"The first court held in Adams county convened at Manchester on September 12, 1797.  The grand jury, the first one in the County, was comprised of prominent settlers including James Naylor."

"One of the members of the Naylor family wrote that a deed is recorded on Page 247, Volume 4, of the Adams County Records, showing that James Naylor purchased a 150 acre farm on Gift Ridge from Nathaniel Masse for the sum of $1500.00 and that on page 209, Volume 10, is the record of a law suit in dispute between Massie and James Naylor over the farm, which Naylor won."

"...A newspaper clipping mentions that James Naylor, 1810, was assessed a tax of $1.50 on the 150 acre farm.  This was before the formation of Monroe"

"A deed in Volume II, Page 21, of the Adams County records, according  to one of the Naylor descendants, shows that James and his wife, Margaret, deeded the farm to the four sons --  Benjamin, Samuel, David, and James Parker.  Samuel subsequently acquired the undivided interests of his three brothers.

"Certain family notes record his death in 1825, at the age of 83 years, 11 months, which makes his year of birth either in 1741 or 1742.  A rough field stone into which the letter "J" has been drudely scratched, was pointed out as marking his grave in the old Naylor buring ground on the Gift Ridge farm."

" David Naylor's line was chronicled by his great grand daughter, Ruth Naylor Chandler.  From his family Bible she learned that David was bor in Adams Co., OH.  The Adams County D.A.R. gave Ruth the addresses of five descendants of Samuel Naylor and she corresponded with at least one of them.  This is where she learned about David's brothers and sister and their father, James.

Wright, Mrs. John C. (1945) column "The Countryside" in The Hoosier State: Interview with James P. Naylor (1862-1948) and his son Fred Naylor (b. 1893).  James P. is a son of Lewis T. Naylor (1825-1903) and a grandson of Benjamin Parker Naylor (1793-1859)

"When the Naylor's first came to Indiana, and settled in Eugene Township, the spot where the farm is now, was covered with a dense growth of white oak and Bur oak timber, so they started a sawmill.  James Naylor, now 83 years old, says he was one of the ten children in his father's family and his earliest recollection as a child was working in the woods helping cute the trees.  The work kept them constantly busy for tow reasons.  They were anxious to clear the land so they could start planting and they needed the money the wood would bring in.

There was no town at Cayuga at the time but the Naylor's hauled the sawed lags to a loading station on the rail road about five miles north of Cayuga.  The oak logs were very large, Mr. Naylor recalled and added that some of them measured seven feet in diameter.  Most of the logs, however, were four to five feet in width.

There were many log cabins on the land at the time, Mr. Naylor said.  When a couple wished to get married, the whole community get together and built them a new log house in a day.  A piece of land containing 80 to 100 acres would have several lag houses on it.

The woods were full of wild game a fuel was plentiful.   The log houses were built rather close together, along the edge of a hollow or raving where the springs were flowing an abundance of fresh water.  However those were about the only conveniences the pioneers had.

Ass the land was cleared, the Naylor's cut rails to build fences to keep in the roving cattle and hogs from the growing crops.  The hogs running free through the woods would feed on the acorns and when fall came, they would be almost fat enough for market, Mr. Naylor told.  The hogs were then fed  a small amount of corn and driven to the Eugene Pork Packing House.  The cattle were branded with an "N", the letter indicating they belonged to the Naylor family an d were turned loose to hunt their own food until time to take them to market.

While Mr. Naylor was still a lad, he cleared a patch of land and raised a wagon load of wheat which he remembers was his pride and joy.  This he hauled to Danville, ILL, with a till, where he was given $1.40 a bushel for it.

At an early age [22 yr.], Mr. Naylor married Sarah Ellen Humrichouse, daughter of the prominent Eli Humrichouse.  Mrs. Naylor brought to the farm some additional acres through her heritage.  In their early married life, the two worked long, hard hours getting their land cleared of trees and stumps.  Not only did they want their land cleared, but by that time several families had settle in what is now the town of Cayuga, and need the wood for fuel.  The farmers cut and hauled cord wood into town where it sold for only $1.50 a cord.

Their three sons now farm the land.  Jessie and his wife, Pauline Belser Naylor live in the house which was the old Humrichouse homestead.   Fred and his wife Elizabeth English Naylor live with the parents at the old Humrichouse homestead.  Fred and his wife  live in a pretty white bungalow built on the south part of the farm. [farm on Rt. 234 near the Illinois state line]

This was James Naylor's firsthand recollections are of the period just after the Civil War.

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