How Pike County got its Name
Rev. Bull Ponders the Question after reading comments (By Rev. Earl R. Bull) June 1848, Waverly Watchman.
Ever since the Columbus dispatch of April 20th, 1968, carried a picture of the resting place of the General, in Sacket's Harbor, New York, I have been interested in pondering the question: "What was the reason the state named this county after the discover of Pike's Peak?"
Most of the original settlers of this section were from Virginia and Pennsylvania, and we do not wonder that Piketon was platted as "Jefferson" in 1814, because it was that year friends in New York, Boston, and Baltimore presented the beloved son of Virginia with the sum of $18,000. a "pure and unsolicited offering of love." Then he was in the White House when Ohio was admitted into the Union in 1803.
Zebulon Pike served in the War of the Revolution, and his son, Zebulon M. Pike, aspired to military life. In the eastern states he rose from cadet-ship to higher grades, regularly. Jefferson's comprehensive plan for the Northwest Territory naturally, attracted to James Wilkinson, Governor of Louisiana, in (1805), Pike as suitable explorer of the Mississippi. In the next year Pike was ordered to scout the Upper Arkansas River and New Spain. This ended in his discovery of the peak which bears his name in the mountains of Colorado. But it was his failing like Wolfe, to fall asleep in death in the arms of victory at York (now Toronto) which awoke America. The British standard used for his dying pillow made him his fatal wounds. He accomplished a great mission with only 1500 troops, and his power of organization, and administration, indicated that a great general was in the making.
Therefore it was fitting that in 1815, this section take as its namesake the hero of 1813 at York. And he, was one of Jefferson's heroes.
As a young officer he obtained a furlough at Cincinnati, and took a "matrimonial expedition." On this, he married the daughter of John Brown, of Kentucky. His daughter, Clarissa Hoarlowe, married John Cleve Symmes Harrison, son of President William Henry Harrison, who defeated the British, in Canada, in the year, 1813, and served in the Ohio Senate.
So, I conclude that the name "Pike" might have been chosen because of the high regard for Jefferson; the halo which gathered around a brilliant explorer; and his journey to Ohio, and its results.
At least, in every part of America, his name is commemorated. Then states gave his name to counties, and twenty townships, received his name. Forts, ships, villages and creeks are known by his name. There is a "Pike Island" in the Minnesota River, and Pike mountain, as well. Then finally, the lofty sentinel in Rocky Mountains, which was named after this son of New Jersey after he had discovered it.
In 1813, the death of Pike was on every tongue, and the manner of his death sent a cry of horror through the country, and tempered the joy of victory. "It was not," said General Whiting, "until after the capture of Fort George that the explosion which caused his death ceased to haunt, like a dreadful spectra, the American Army."
The sons of Jefferson's State of Virginia, chose the logical name. Wherever the sons of Virginia went, the spirit of Jefferson marched with them.
I wonder if any other reason can be suggested for the choice of our name?
Copyright © 2003, 2004 by
Pike Co. Genealogy Society a Chapter of O.G.S.
P. O. Box 224, Waverly, Ohio 45690