Machis Station

No. 56 Wm: Richey & Mason

John Machis, had a Machis’s Station, 6 ½ miles from Washington, on the road to Minerva, where a Mr. Worthington, Esqr., now lives.
Samuel Frazier, near Germantown. (was in this so: below?)
Capt. David Richey, with others in company, to the number of 90, came down from the Monongehala country, with a view of making tomahawk settlements and pre-emptions, as had been done on this side of the river. To be between the mouth of the big-Scioto and big Miami, expecting the same privileges on the Ohio side, that they had enjoyed on the Kentucky side. They came down in canoes, the fall after the battle of the Blue Licks. Oct. 1782. They had gotten through and were on the return, when they were fired on by some Indians. His gun he had stood by the side of a tree, with his ammunition and mocaasins hanging on it. The signal on their being fired on, was to take their canoes. When, in the hurry of the moment, another man snatched up his gun, & things, & took them off safely. Richey was deaf, & did not know of the movement in time; but when he came to look for his gun, it was gone, and he couldn’t find the other man’s. He was pursued by 2 Indians for 2 days. He had taken down to intercept a boat that was going down to Louisville on some business for one Capt. Nelson, aside from that of the company; but it had passed before he came. He then got over the Ohio, and came down till he met some—. [It ends there]

from the Draper Papers, 13CC208

Lyman C. Draper (1815-1891) collected information on America’s first frontier and its notable figures and events, such as Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clarke, and The Battle of King’s Mountain. Draper’s papers include a treasure trove of information on the frontier settlers of the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

The original papers are held at the Wisconsin Historical Society. They include thousands of handwritten letters of correspondence comprising nearly 500 volumes of information not available anywhere else about the pioneer settlers of the trans-Allegheny West.