several miles parallels the Sandusky, but as they near the north part of the township, the Sandusky veers to the northwest, passes through Tiffin and north to Fremont and Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie.

The Black Fork runs almost due north a distance of ten miles to Shelby and beyond, then turns abruptly to the east, leaves the south side of Holtz's grove, makes a graceful bend at Ganges, and after pursuing a tortuous course to the southeast, turns to the south after leaving the old site of the Indian village of Greentown, then glides slowly through Perrysville and Loudonville, and below the latter unites with the Clear Fork after a crooked course of 50 miles.

The output from the west end of the pond runs to the southwest for about a mile, then curves to the southeast, is called the Clear Fork, and after a journey of 35 miles, passing Bellville and Newville, finally unites with the Black Fork south of Loudonville, forming the Mohican river.

That the Black and the Clear Forks of the Mohican river have the same source is a fact that is but little known and was never before published.

The peculiar topography of the country enables the Black Fork to take a course northward towards the lake through a gap -Shafer's Hollow in the crest of the watershed, and the stream ripples cheerily along until its course is turned by an elevation, which changes not only its course but the color and character of the stream as well, for thereafter its waters become dark and seem sullen and sluggish. But the Clear Fork, as its name indicates is clear and sparkling, carrying health and good-cheer upon its bosom, while smiles seem to play upon the surface of its

waters.

The Craig neighborhood where these interesting water courses bubble up from gravelly depths, now has trolly line connections with both Crestline and Mansfield, and Shafer's Hollow, the gap in the "divide," has become a picnic resort.

The Palmer spring the source of the Sandusky river — is 123 feet above Crestline, and supplies the town with water through pipes.

Richland county is famous for high altitude. The chestnut ridge, three miles south of Bellville, has an elevation of 952 feet above the lake. The Sheckler hill on the old state road three miles north of Bellville, is 912 feet, while the hill, a mile north of Sheckler's, upon which the German Settlement church is situated, has an elevation of 932 feet, and the city of Mansfield, according to the profile of the old S., M. & N. Railroad, is 657 feet above the lake. The Pennsylvania roads mark it 592.

The local influence of this altitude upon the climate, with its isothermal lines and rain-shadings, might here be considered and reviewed, but are not strictly within the province of this article.

GENERAL JOSEPH KERR.

BY WM. E. GILMORE, CHILLICOTHE, OHIO.

[The following article from the pen of Mr. Gilmore appeared in the columns of The Daily Scioto Gazette of March 21, 1903. As this article presents the history of Senator Kerr, no where else to be found, it is thought sufficiently valuable to deserve permanent preservation and is therefore herewith republished. — E. O. R.]

At length my inquiries and correspondence, begun in 1886, for the purpose of recovering something of the personal history of General Joseph Kerr, a very early resident of Chillicothe, and in his day a very prominent and important one, has met with some success through the kind assistance of Mr. Henry Clay Carrel, an eminent architect, of 1123 Broadway, New York, who is a son of the well known Captain Hercules Carrel, formerly of. Cincinnati, and a great-grandson of General Kerr.

It has been strangely difficult to get information in regard to this notable person, owing to many peculiar causes. In the first place he himself was utterly indifferent as to whether his fellow citizens or any others knew anything about him or not. In the second place, while his correct name was Kerr, almost every person who knew him spelled and pronounced it Carr, and this fact gave infinite trouble to his descendants afterward, in proving up title to a large land grant, made by the Republic of Texas to soldiers of its revolutionary war with Mexico.

He was defeated in long litigation for that magnificent farm just east of this city, known as the Watts farm, and the defeat almost impoverished him, and greatly embittered him.

He had been unjustly treated, he thought, in large contracts for supplies to the army of the U. S., operating under General Hull. He had quarrelled with Gov. Thomas Worthington, to whose remnant of senatorial term he had been elected by the General Assembly of Ohio, and finally he, with his family, had made two or three changes of residence after leaving Chillicothe in 1824, and if he ever wrote a single letter back to any one here,

I never could hear of it, although I have made diligent search for such.

And so "his trail" was lost, and so completely lost, that even so intelligent, industrious and resourceful an investigator as Col.. W. A. Taylor, of Columbus, gave it up, and in his list of Ohio Statesmen, simply designates him as "the lost Ohio Senator."

Therefore, when I, this morning, received the documents which enable me to give the salient points of General Kerr's personal history, as herein given, from his great-grandson, Mr. H. C. Carrel, I was inclined to echo the old Greek's shout, "eureka! eureka!"

General Joseph Kerr was born of Scotch ancestry in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1765, and was married in that city, to Nancy Daugherty, a young lady of Irish descent, in 1788. He removed to Ohio with his young family "in the year 1792," according to the statements of his son, James D. Kerr, (who was still living on a part of the homestead farm, in Carrel Parish, near Lake Providence, Louisiana, in 1887-and I do not know how much later) "and settled on an highly improved and large tract of bottom land, one mile below Chillicothe on the Scioto river, but the title was disputed by a Virginian by the name of Watts, who, after 18 years of litigation, gained the land from my father."

This date, 1792, must be wrong, for it is four years earlier than the advent of Nathaniel Massie's party of original settlers in this valley, or the occupancy of this region by any white people. But certainly Kerr came very soon after Massie's party did, i. e., very soon after April 1st, 1796.

I can myself remember that a lane, which led from the northeastern part of this city, eastward to the race track on the Watts farm, was known as "Carr's Lane." The oldest powderhouse was located upon it, near its eastern end.

He was elected to the legislature as a representative from Ross county, in 1804. When Thomas Worthington resigned his place in the United States senate in 1814, to accept the governorship of Ohio, to which he had been elected, Mr. Kerr was elected to fill out the unexpired part of his term, which, however, only lasted from December 10th, 1814, to March 4th, 1815. At that

time he and Worthington were decidedly "at outs" with each other, and I never could understand how and why he was selected to succeed to Worthington's remnant of a senatorial term. It may be that it was as a peace-offering from the friends of the governor-elect in that General Assembly.

Senator Kerr held a commission as brigadier general of volunteers in 1812-1815, and is reported to have seen some service in the field, during the war, but I am not able to say what or how much it was.

In 1824, Kerr, with his family, left Ohio, intending to remove to Mexico, but stopped at Memphis, Mississippi, and having bought land near there, for a few seasons followed farming. But this location, not proving satisfactory, he moved further south and settled finally in Louisiana, a little below Lake Providence, in what is now known as Carrel Parish. Here his wife died in 1833, and he followed her to the grave in 1873.

Nine children had been born to General Kerr and his wife during their union. These were, in order of their births, named Aletha, Harriet, Chambers, Elie, Clara, Susan, Nathaniel, James and Joseph. I am unable to follow the story of these children beyond the fact that Elie was appointed a West Point cadet about 1816, and that Joseph and Nathaniel early enlisted in the Revolutionary army of Texas, and were both killed by the Mexicans. under Santa Anna, in the assault and capture of the Alamo.

Both Joseph and Nathaniel were born here in Chillicothe, as were also several of their brothers and sisters.

In consequence of the confusion which always existed between the names, Kerr and Carr, great trouble ensued in settling the identity of the two sons killed in the Alamo, and securing the land grants which the Republic of Texas gave to the personal representatives of her soldiers who were killed or died in that war. Testimony was taken in the case, here in Chillicothe, notably the depositions of Dr. William Waddle and of his mother, Mrs. Nancy Mann Waddle, and of Col. James McLandburg.