Addie Honors Sotha Hickman -Our Great-Great Grandfather!
Yes and many others we have
not mentioned. Levi Douglass was a step-brother to Sotha Hickman.
They came together to (West) Virginia in 1771. They were very close,
closer maybe than a lot of brothers! In memory of my husband's ancestor I
am going to post some of the material I have found regarding him. Sotha
was my husband's, Clifford Hickman, great-great-grandfather!
Sotha Hickman, was born June 10, 1748 on Sugar Land Bottom on the Potomac River,
near Rockville in the county of Montgomery, Maryland, according to his own sworn
declaration. He died in Harrison County, Virginia (Now West
Virginia) at his home on Elk Creek, called, "Quiet Dell" March 26,
1834. He was buried in the Haymond Cemetery, which is located on Zack's
Run, near his home. Sotha thought of this location as a quiet dell
and so that his how the town got it's name. Zack's Run was named
after his son Zachariah.
December of 1771, he came to the area of what is now Harrison County, West
Virginia, in the company of his stepbrother, Levi Douglass, and three others
with the intention of finding land for permanent settlements. They made
their camp on Ann Moores Run in Clark District, and remained all winter, as
there was a bountiful supply of game. They were fortunate to have the
friendship of an Indian who hunted with them.
In the spring of 1772 they selected lands on which to establish homes.
Sotha choose 400 acres overlooking Elk Creek, where Elk View Cemetery is now
located in Clarksburg, W. Va. The 400 acres adjoined that of Thomas Nutter, on
whose land Nutter's Fort was erected. Later Sotha acquired one
thousand acres on Elk Creek, by right of preemption included his settlement made
in 1773 and adjoining land of Matthew Nutter, which includes the present site of
Quiet Dell. He brought his family out from the east the following year,
and his son Arthur was born in Nutter's Fort on February 7, 1773. Sotha
boasted that this son was the first white child born in Harrison County that he
raised the first crop of corn and owned the first rooster.
Forts, blockhouses and stockades were very necessary for the survival of
settlers. There was danger and unrest because of the French and Indian
Wars. Later the British kept the Indians stirred up against the settlers.
A fort, such as Nutter's Fort, is described as the strongest structure, since it
combined the best features of blockhouses and stockades. It was
rectangular in shape, with sides composed partly of cabins, connected to each
other with palisades to form a stockade wall. The doors of the cabins
opened onto a common court. Heavy gates in the wall let the occupants out
or in. Some forts had two storied blockhouses at each corner with holes in
the top wall to be used to fire on the enemy in any direction. Stockade
and cabin walls also contained portholes. Settlers inside were generally
safe, as Indians did not often openly attack a fort, and seldom-captured one.
But they lay in wait on the outside and settlers were often attacked with
rifles, tomahawks and knives when they ventured outside.
As a rule from, winter until spring families could live in their cabins with
relative security. The woods without foliage made it difficult for Indians to
ambush. They were scantily dressed to face winter elements, and snow made
it easy for pioneers to tract them. However, at the return of spring the
Indians began their massacres, and settlers once more fled to the fort for the
summer. In order to cultivate their small crops close by the fort, they
left their sanctuary in companies, each man with a weapon. Inside the fort
women and children looked out through the openings at the valleys, hills, and
woods and longed to be in their homes. Nights could be monotonously long
and dreadful sounding, filled with the shrieks and cries of birds and animals,
and the voices of Indians answering one another.
It is understandable why Sotha, like other pioneers in the area, had little use
for Indians, and quite often Sotha expressed his feeling with "Dod
blast their yaller hides!" This is somewhat surprising
thought considering when he first came he seem to have an Indian friend that
helped him learn how to survive in this land.
The frontier exploits of Sotha Hickman, Levi Douglass and others are recounted
numerous times in various historical works. Once while Sotha and Levi
Douglass were captured on the Little Kanawah River, while trapping for beaver
and taken to their settlement on the Scioto River in Ohio. Here they were held
for the fate meted out to those who come into Indian hunting grounds. A
Great celebration was held, with much dancing and drinking, in preparation of
the usual execution of the white prisoners. They left an old man in charge
to guard the prisoners while they celebrated. The old Indian fell asleep,
and Sotha and Levi quietly armed and equipped themselves and fled. They
were fearful of being recaptured so they traveled only at night and had no food
for four days. They reached the Ohio River made a safe crossing and soon reached
the Hughes River familiar ground. Once there they had the good fortune to
kill a bear and they ate so much it made them sick. Some say that they!
were the first white discoverers of oil in West Virginia, for they drank
of the Indian or Rock oil found floating on the Hughes River. This induced
vomiting and did soothe their stomachs.
On another occasion Sotha was with a party fishing on the West Fork River.
He had caught a nice string of fish. He was carrying a fagot when he saw
two guns flash. He doused the fagot in the water as he prepared to flee.
However, Sotha stopped to grab up his catch before hurrying to the safety of the
fort.
Besides the massacres and destruction of crops by Indians, buffaloes also
destroyed crops. During the year 1773, after Sotha had settled with his
family, there were so many other settlers that the crops harvested the preceding
fall were about one third of what was needed to feed the people. There was
so much suffering among the inhabitants that the year 1773 was called "the
starving year."
Sotha and his family had good reason to fear the Indians one fall night in the
year 1779, because his dogs were barking, he knew Indians were in the vicinity.
He sighted them making fire with flint and steel. Sotha had a shed full of
flax that adjoined his cabin, and he feared the Indians were preparing to set
fire to it in order to burn the family out of the cabin. What a great
relief it was to see they were only interested in smoking! When morning
came he could hear shots on the other side of Elk creek at the Samuel Cottrill
farm so he fled with family to Nutter's Fort a mile away.
The last mischief of the Indians recorded in connection with Sotha was
perpetrated in he fall of 1779, at the house of Samuel Cottrill who resided on
the east side of Elk Creek, Sotha then lived on the opposite side, near the
present Elk View Cemetery. An Attempt was made to scalp a Cottrill nephew
who was feeding some swine. Sotha hear the "hallowing danger
warning" from Cottrills and prepared his home for safety from an attack.
When morning came, the women and children of the area were sent to the fort
again. Sotha choose a place to build his cabin that had a spring under it
and if I remember right was built on a bank like for protection.
After the many treaties, Sotha went, with others to Sandusky, Ohio to reclaim
members of their community who were held there for exchange. There were
many encounters with Indians, and many, all spine tingling, have been recorded
in various West Virginia History and Historical books and folk tales.
By the time of the Revolutionary War, Sotha was a seasoned, experienced
woodsman. He was skilled in hunting, tracking and detection of the
Indians. In a time when most men on the frontier were able woodsman, the
fact that he was chosen as a guide and Indian spy attest to his ability.
He entered the service of the government as a seasoned Indian fighter, well
informed in the ways of frontier warfare.
He enlisted under Captain William Lowther, as a private, and served as an Indian
spy. He served for fourteen months under Captain Lowther of the Virginia Line,
defending settlers against Indians and appears on a payroll record of Captain
William Lowther's Company of VA militia for 1774
Sotha is also credited with 132 days service in Lord Dunmore's Ohio expedition
in 1774. Captain Lowther's company was in the battle of Point
Pleasant in 1774, $40 a year.
He was employed to watch the frontier and protect it from invasion and
rampage by the combined Indian and British Canadian troops. The company
ranged the western frontier of the American colonies, from Fort Erie to the
southern points. He had witnessed, and seen the results of savage
brutality to women and children- his friends and neighbors had been killed or
were captured. He possessed an intense hatred of the Indians and his
efforts to hold off the Indians and English were tireless. The Allegheny
Front and Westward were his field. Sotha is referred to in some histories
as an Indian Spy. Other places Indian Scout. And was called upon
various times to help out in Indian uprisings. The book, Border Warfare, gives
several accounts of his endeavors.
After the Revolution and the Indian threats were over, Sotha returned to his
family in the Clarksburg Elk Creek Area. The country was becoming more
populated, the frontier was safe, and there was plenty of land for free.
Feeling that the Clarksburg area was becoming crowded, he moved south along Elk
Creek and built a large two-story log home. This is the area he named
Quiet Dell. This home still stood in 1971 being much changed. It was
large for its time being built of hewed logs with a large stone fireplace and
chimney. This house served the Hickman family for three more generations.
The two-story house was the second house built on the site. Sotha's
original cabin was a short distance to the east.
I was disappointed that we did not find time to search for the house to see if
it is still standing when Gary took to West Virginia for research in 1996.
Sotha did not own much land in his old age. His tax receipts show taxes
paid on 135 acres in 1818; 104 acres in 1825 and 144 acres in 1830.
He and Elizabeth deeded seventy five acres on Elk Creek to their son, Arthur,
(Harrison Co., W. Va., Deed Book #4, p. 599, Feb. 18, 1805.)
Sotha Hickman appeared on July 17, 1832 in open court of Harrison County, at age
eight four to apply for a Revolutionary War Pension. He received one at
the rate of $46.66 per annum. (Certificate #12525 - Act of June 7, 1832,
Virginia Agency.)
Sotha Hickman did not leave a will. Among things listed in an inventory of
his estate are two matching chairs and a clock. (Will book 3, p. 452-455).
Many frontier families did not own a clock. Elizabeth Davis Hickman died
in 1837.
Sotha Hickman died on March 26, 1834, at his home on Elk Creek, Quiet Dell,
Harrison County, Virginia, (now West Virginia), having outlived the men who came
with him in search of land for a settlement. His stepbrother, Levi
Douglass, 1750-1787, - (DAR Patriot Index). Said Sotha was "of a
companionable disposition" and a fine hunter and trapper. He is
buried in Haymond Cemetery, located a mile and a half south, of Quiet Dell, with
a marker indicating that he served in the American Revolution.
If you have bothered to read this through, I thank you and wish you all
the best.
Addie here