Gist Settlement
Contributed by Gretchen Huffman
While the residents of this unique community reside in neighboring Highland County, the children attend the New Vienna school, so have earned inclusion in this history.
It was in 1808 that wealthy Englishman Samuel Gist wrote a will, seven years before his death, decreeing that his slaves on his estates in America should be emancipated; that his American estates be sold and the proceeds be held in trust for these slaves and for their heirs forever, by appointed trustees.
Traditional lore says that about 230 Gist beneficiaries were located in Erie County, near Sandusky, by Virginia or Ohio trustees. They were dissatisfied because of the climate, the malaria, and the mosquitoes and after 12 years, they were relocated in Brown, Adams, and Highland counties. Finally, after many litigations over mixed-up titles, the care of the beneficiaries and their land problems were turned over to the Common Pleas Court.
There are no stores in the settlement and most trading is done in Hillsboro or in New Vienna. The residents are descendants of those who chose the names of Smith, Rollins and Turner. Oddly enough, none retained the name of their benefactor, Gist.
Wealthy Englishman's will provided for freed slaves
reprinted from the Wilmington News Journal, February 14, 2001
As a chilling wind pushed leaves through Gist Settlement Cemetery, a sense of history paraded itself among the ancestors entombed there.
Day. Good. Williams. Robinson.
These are just a sampling of names on the crumbling, bleached headstones in this tiny community's graveyard. Nestled among rich farmland in northwest Highland County, Gist Settlement is a 207-acre, tradition filled property battling Father Time.
Only five families currently live on the grounds. At one time, there were as many as 25 families inhabiting the land. Junk cars and trailers can be found on some parcels. A schoolhouse and church are past landmarks of this once-thriving, still-proud culture. Kids who live at Gist Settlement now go through the East Clinton School District. Paul Turner farms over 100 acres. Charles Peacock runs an automobile salvage lot adjacent to the cemetery.
The rest of the land is vacant, except for the lifetime of memories buried with the descendants of freed slaves.
"I have great appreciation for what my ancestors endured," said Paul Turner. "Without them, I wouldn't be here. I appreciate my ancestors, I really do."
Samuel Gist was born in 1723 in Bristol, England. He was an orphan early in life but eventually married his employer's widow. Wealth, therefore, came quickly and easily for Gist. He continued to amass his fortune by trading with America. He owned land in Virginia and "employed" quite a number of slaves.
In newspaper reports at both the Clinton County and Highland County Historical societies, the number of Gist slaves varied. As many as 1,000 had been reported but other figures are in the 350 to 250 range.
Regardless of the number, Gist had written in his 28-age will that all slaves in his holdings at the time of his death be freed and land in a "free" state be purchased for their use. A trust fund was also established for the slaves.
"I especially request trustees and their descendants to attend to the comfort and happiness of my slaves and their offspring," Gist wrote in his will.
Gist died in 1815. Executors of his estate began purchasing land for the slaves around 1830. More than 2,000 acres of land in Ohio was purchased for the slaves. Slaves who were relocated to the Gist Settlement in Erie County reportedly left that area because of malaria. They went back to Virginia before returning to Ohio, this time in Highland County.
The land was to be "tax free" for slaves and their descendants, Gist wrote.
The trust fund instituted by Gist was reportedly to be used to pay the taxes and improve the land for the slaves. That trust was a misguided fortune believed to have run out in the mid-1800s.
According to an April 1879 issue of the Highland Weekly News, a Mr. Hugh Pugh, secretary of the Cincinnati Relief Union, was "making strenuous efforts in behalf of the heirs" to make sure they received "Mr. Gist's princely fortune of five or six million dollars."
However, Pugh hit a snag along the way. Mr. Bristow Essex, an heir to one of the original Gist slaves, gave a letter to the Highland Weekly News from Pugh dated March 25th (1879 we assume) in which Pugh says he "expects to find in the possession of the British Government the money which Mr. Gist bequeathed to his slaves."
Later in the same letter, though, Pugh said while Mrs. Martin Pearks, the second daughter of Gist, was still alive, the British government, in 1822, paid the whole amount left in trust for the slaves to Mr. Josiah Soldick of Bristol, England. The amount was believed to be four million dollars, the Highland Weekly News reported.
The article goes on to say Mr. Soldick is not identified nor is it stated what right he had to receive the money.