Record Of The Hester Family


Generation 3

Page 2



No. 4

The following account of Matthias Hester, second son of John Lawrence Hester, was prepared by his eldest son, Rev. Geo. Knight Hester, and furnished from the original manuscript for this publication by Hon. M. C. Hester, of Los Angeles, Cal., son of Rev. Geo. K. Hester:

"My father, Matthias Hester, was born in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, July 4, 1767. He emigrated to America A.D. 1771.
"His education was in the German language. He was brought up under Protestant instruction and was received into the Lutheran Church in his youth. After undergoing a regular catechetical training, but being thrown by circumstances far from the watch-care of his church, he lost, to a great extent, his moral and religious character. In the autumn of 1809 he was powerfully arrested by divine truth under the preaching of Rev. Pain from the words, 'Why stand ye here all the day idle?' Shortly afterwards he joined the M. E. Church, although he had been for years a violent persecutor of that denomination. He retained his membership in the Methodist Church until the day of his death, which occurred on the 22nd of November, 1823.
"From the flattering description then given of the fertility and richness of Kentucky, father was induced to emigrate to that state. When he was a little over nineteen years of age, he left the family residence, then near Uniontown, Fayette county, Pa., for the far west. He first stopped near the present site of Lexington, and then went on to the neighborhood of Louisville. He remained in Kentucky about two years and then returned to pennsylvania on a visit to his friends with whom he continued nearly one year. But he found Kentucky such a rich and beautiful country that he resolved to return and make it his permanent residence. Accordingly he again wended his way back through formidable difficulties to his adopted state. His passage was by water. In descending the Ohio river in those times it was no rare occurrence to meet with attacks from Indians who were prowling along its shores for the purpose of murdering and plundering all the whites that might fall into their power. While floating carelessly one day down the Ohio river, near the mouth of the kentucky river (the portion of the country in which these attacks were the most frequent and fatal), their boats neared the Ohio shore. A white man presented himself on the shore, wearing a three-cocked hat, and called to them to land tht he may barter some of his bear meat with them for flour. Part of the company were disposed to comply with his request. Father, suspecting it was a stratagem to decoy them into danger, immediately sprang to the helm and threw the boat in such a direction as led the savages to believe that danger was apprehended by those on board. This white villain quickly concealed himself behind a tree and a volley of rifle balls was poured in upon those on the boat. Fortunately, none were injured, although twenty-nine bullets were afterwards found buried in the sides of the boat. One struck just above the head of my father, he having stooped down on seeing an Indian leveling his piece to fire.
"They pases the remainder of the distance unmolested until they reached Louisville. There he remained for some time, engaged in teaming for a citizen of that place. In this employment he was called on with another teamster to remove two families from what was called the 'Pond Settlement' about five miles below Louisville, to Shelbyville, Kentucky. At the end of their first day's drive they arrived at what was called 'Benny Hughes' Station' on the road from Louisville to Shelbyville. Early the next morning they proceeded on their course and when about half a mile from the station they were fired on by a party of Indians who had concealed themselves near the side of the woods. Tow of the company were wounded,--father and a Mr. Leatherman, the head of one of the moving families. Leatherman's horse ran with him and threw him into a sink hole, where he remained undiscovered by the Indians. His wound, being only a slight one in the hip, was not deemed serious and no surgical means were resorted to in its care. He succeeded in having it healed up outwardly, but in about two years afterwards it mortified and killed him.
"Father was shot with a rifle ball above the left eye from a distance of only four paces. He was in the act of turning to the right, which doubtless prevented the bullet from striking him in the center of his forehead. However, it broke his skull, but as it was a glancing shot the ball did not touch the brain. He instantly sprang over the off horse and fell in the act. As he arose to his feelt he saw two Indians approaching him, one passing before his team, the other aroind the read part of his wagon. His only possible chance of escape was to gain a thick grove of timber and brush which lay to his right. The loss of the balance of his person from the wound in his head and the obstruction of his sight by the streaming blood, prevented him from pursuing the course he desired and caused him to fall repeatedly to the earth. I often heard him say that if he had not been wounded he would not have been afraid of their catching him, as he was very fleet of foot. Even in his wounded and bleeding condition, he ran about 170 yards, although falling three times in that distance, before they overtook him.
"The last time he fell, which was in a small ravine, his pursuers were so close upon him that he saw he could not possibly escape. He instatntly concluded that he would feign himself dead and receive without a struggle all their butchery. The first Indian that came up drew his tomahawk to sink it into his head, but giving a glancing stroke, it only chipped up the skull bone. The second that came up saluted him in the same manner, but as he struck with his Indian axe he slipped and fell, which caused him to fail in his intended purpose. But this stroke also broke the skull. They then proceeded to remove the scalp from the back part of his head. This operation was very painful, being done with no kind of mercy. A few nights previous to his starting on this trip, father had had a peculiar and ominous dream, which was that he had lost his whole team from some disastrous circumstances. This dream was repeated in all its particularrs three times in the same night, and every time he awoke from it he found himself in a state of perspiration. Regarding this dream as a kind of presentiment and fearing that some calamity would befall him on the journey he was about to make, he had the barber, the day before he started, to cut off his hair close to his head, remarking to him at the time that if he should fall into the hands of the Indians he did not want them to have the convenience of his long hair in taking his scalp.
"Some time during this bloody tragedy, the Indians speared father in the back with some sharp instrument. He often said he believed it was thrown at him while he was running, for during the whole of the scene after they came upon him he had the entire presence of his mind and he felt certain they did not plunge it into his body then. This wound affected him more severely than all the others together. It caused him to bleed inwardly and the blood settled in his side. It was not observed until several days afterwards, and when observed threatened fatal results, but by skillful bleeding and frequent and profuse sweatings, the dangerous symptoms were removed. He thought this wound impaired his breathing organs, for when in after life he inhaled dust into his lungs, he labored under the same difficulties in breathing as persons with asthma, which was not the case with him before. He never fully recovered from the effects of this wound and it was finally the cause of his death thirty years afterwards.
"As soon as the Indians had completed their butchery of father, they returned back to the wagons and began cutting and destroying the contents. After they had destroyed to the utmost of their ability all they could not carry off, they became perfectly quiet and remained so for some minutes. Father, supposing they had left, arose front his prostration on the ground and sat up, leaning upon one of his hands. In a little while he heard them returning to him and he immediately threw himself back in the same position in which they had left him. They approached within a few paces of him, but seeming to regard him as dead, they returned to the wagons. In a few moments the rattling of chains and the thundering of the horses' feet indicated that they had taken their departure. Each one selected a route for himself to avoid forming a trail that might be readily followed.
"When the attack had begun the families fled back to the station and gave the alarm. The inmates rallied to repel the savages and to witness the destruction of life and property. After hunting some time they found the wounded. My father, having bled profusely, presented a shocking spectacle. His body had become so feverish from the loss of blood and his terrible sufferings that he was almost perishing with thirst. The only way they had to get him water was to carry it in their hats. They attempted to convey him back to the station by placing him on a horse and supporting him by another person riding behind him on the same animal, but he Soon fainted and had to be taken down. They seemed to be at a loss for a plan to carry hilm. Father suggested one himself, but they would not listen to him as they thought it impossible for one in his condition to be sane. This intimation of the unsoundness of his mind displeased father. To prove to them that he still retained his mental powers, he referred them to a certain spot on the route he had run from the Indians, where he had dropped his wagon whip. They went to the place and found the whip as he had stated. Then they adopted the plan suggested by him, which was for four men to carry him upon a sheet fastened to two poles. When he was brought to the house of the family residing at the station, the mistress of the house protested against admitting him and positively forbade his remaining. Father became so indignant at her inhuman course that he gathered up his outer garment, which had been removed on account of its bloody condition, staggered out of her house and sat down on a piece of timber in the yard, preferring to be sheltered only by the spreading heavens rather than remain under the roof of one so destitute of human sympathy. It was with much difficulty he was afterwards prevailed upon to re-enter her dwelling.
"A physician was sent for, who arrived sometime in the night. This was Dr. Knight, who lived about six miles west of Shelbyville and who had been a surgeon in Col. Crawford's regiment. He had been taken prisoner by the Indians with Col. Crawford at the time of the latter's defeat. The account of his captivity: and escape is detailed in Indian history. The doctor declared he could do nothing for father unless he could have him at his own house. On the next morning, arrangements were made to convey him to the doctor's residence, a distance of fourteen miles through the woods. He was carried upon what was called a 'horse litter,' which was made of a sheet fastened to two poles, one end of the poles attached to the horses' hames and the other borne by two men. In this way he was jolted through the woods and brush until he was placed under the immediate care of this humane physician and his family. There he remained for fifteen months. Had it not been for the most skillful medical treatment of Dr. Knight and the kind and attentive nursing of his family, he never could have recovered from this brutal butchery. The Knight family became so endeared to father on account of this attention, that when i was born, which was on the 26th of September, 1794, he gave Mrs. Knight, near whom my parents resided at the time, the privilege of naming me; hence, I bear the name of George Knight. This name has become a family name with the Hesters, almost every child and grandchild of my father having the name of Knight in his family. "Eighteen months after father was wounded and before he was entirely well, he was married to Miss Susannah Huckleberry, to whom he was engaged before his injury. Some time after his marriage, being pressed in pecuniary matters, he was obliged to go to a place called Man's Lick, ten or fifteen miles distant from his residence, to labor for salt for family use. This was the plan usually adopted in those days to procure that article. While engaged in hauling wood he suddenly discovered the glitter of two guns under the rays of the sun, moving slowly along an oak tree that had recently fallen. Behind this the two savages had concealed themselves and were seeking the most eligible position to level their rifles at father. He instantly sprang between his horses, cut their hames strings and mounting one, rode off at the top of their speed, in a quartering course to avoid receiving a shot in his back. He gave the alarm to his fellow-laborers and succeeded with them in reaching the furnaces in safety. Having made such a narrow escape from falling into the hands of the Indians a second time, he resolved to leave the place and so returned to his family.
"A treaty of peace having been concluded with the hostile tribes, father purchased a tract of land in the Illinois or Clark grant adjacent to the present site of Charleston, Ind., and the same on which I now reside, and removed to it in 1799.
"A French store was established about a mile and a half south from his residence, which the Indians frequented for the purpose of trade. They passed near his house and would frequently call and ask shelter for the night. On one occasion two came with a jug of whiskey and demanded lodging. Father never had much love for the Indians after the barbarous treatment he had received from them. On this occasion he refused to permit the two savages to stay under his roof. At this refusal they seemed to become quite indignant. They called for a fire and erected a camp near his barn. Fearing they might burn his barn, he went out and invited them into his house. They accepted the invitation but did not seem to forget their first rejection. Their displeasure increased with their intoxication. They spent the greater part of the night in drinking and conversing together, occasionally singing Indian songs. One of them, who could talk very good English, would frequently interrupt my father by calling to him, 'White man, you sleep?' He seemed to take particular pleasure in relating in English the deeds of daring barbarity he had committed in the time of the wars. He told how on one occasion he had taken no regular rest or sleep for five days and nights in succession, being constantly engaged in destroying the property and murdering the people of the settlements on the frontiers of Kentucky. Their actions alarmed my father, and he arose from his bed and awakened me, then about thirteen years old, and sent me to a near neighbor's, Mr. Naylor, for some one to come and stay with us through the remainder of the night. The Naylor family were all sick at the time, but I succeeded in getting a Mr. Charles Beggs, who was there for the purpose of waiting on the sick, to go home with me. While I was gone father had discovered one of their large butcher knives lying on the floor by their side. To lessen their means of doing harm should they attempt it, he had concealed this knife in an opening between the puncheons of the floor and the wall. When Mr. Beggs came in he requested one of the Indians to let him have his tomahawk, which was granted. A few minutes afterwards, the one that had lost his knife began to feel for it about his person and on the floor. Not finding it he immediately became furious, sprang to his feet, violently wrenched the tomahawk out of Mr. Beggs hands and turned upon my father with it drawn back as though he would hew him down, exclaiming with almost every breath, 'Me bad man ! Me bad man ! Me kill you !' My father retreated backwards towards the other end of the room where he generally kept his axes intending to watch his opportunity to secure one with which to defend himself. But discovering that the axes were not in their usual place he found it necessary to resort to mild means to allay the fury of his savage antagonist. The other Indian, although so drunk he could not arise to his feet, seemed to be trying to pacify his infuriated fellow, bu the augry one snapped bac his Indian answers in a manner that seemed to say, 'I'll do as I please.' Father spoke to him kindly, calling him 'Brother' and other soft names, and finally succeeded in getting him quieted. During all this time Mr. Beggs stood almost motionless by the side of the fire. A gun-barrel which was used for a firepoker, stood close by his hand with which he could have dealt an effectual blow on the back of the savage's head, but he was too badly frightened to think of defending himself or my father either. We conjectured that when the Indian missed his knife and saw that Mr. Beggs, who had been brought in at a late hour of the night, had possession of his tomahawk, he suspected that an attack was premeditated upon them by my father.
"Though nearly seventy years have elapsed since I witnessed this scene, it is impressed upon my memory with the vividness of yesterday. I have never seen so much of the savage depicted in the countenance of any being as was manifested by this Indian. He was a very large, well-proportioned man and his whole appearance bespoke the viciousness as well as the courage of a wild beast."

Extracts from the will of the late Matthias Hester dated November 21, 1823:
A life estate was given to his wife Susannah. He gave to his son David the choice of two yearling colts and saddle and bridle, and to each of the younger sons on their arriving at the age of twenty-one years, a good young horse and saddle and bridle, and to each of his daughters, who are now unmarried, at their coming to the age of eighteen years, one cow, one bed and bedding and a spinning wheel.

Matthias Hester



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