Gist Settlement of Freedmen in Ohio

Gist Settlements, Free People of Color in Early Ohio

Samuel Gist (1723-1815) started off life in Manchester, York, England as an orphan and indentured servant. He died as an owner of vast lands and many slaves. In his will he freed his Virginia slaves and arranged for them to have land purchased for them in Ohio. Gist is buried in Gloucestershire, England. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Samuel_Gist_(1)

Legal matters quickly became very complicated and have not been resolved to this day.

Land was sold in Virginia to purchased land in Ohio. Gist owned land in: Amherst, Virginia Goochland, Virginia Hanover, Virginia Henrico, Virginia More lands in Virginia? Wormington, Gloucestershire, England

Eventually a number of formerly enslaved people relocated to Adams, Highland, Clinton, Warren, and Brown Counties, of Ohio. Some may have been in Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio at one point in time, but reports vary on this account.

Some free persons of color relocated from Virginia to at least these locations: Manchester, Adams, Ohio Eagle, Brown, Ohio Franklin, Brown, Ohio Georgetown, Brown, Ohio Ripley, Brown, Ohio Scott, Brown, Ohio Leesburg, Clinton, Ohio New Vienna. Clinton, Ohio / extending into Highland, Ohio Sabina, Clinton, Ohio Hillsboro, Highland, Ohio Darktown, Penn, Highland, Ohio Penn, Highland, Ohio, previously the township of Fairfield, Highland, Ohio Samantha, Highland, Ohio Five Points, Warren, Ohio

There is at least one cemetery bearing the name Gist: Gist Settlement Cemetery, Penn, Highland, Ohio.

At this point most descendants have been integrated into American culture but a few descendants still remain on the land allotted to their ancestors. Most descendants had left the settlements by the time that World War II ended.

Surnames Include: Anderson, Baker. Buford, Carey, Clough, Cluff, Cumberland, Davis, Day, Ellis, Essex, Good, Gist, Gest, Giss, Guest, Guist, Hailstock, Hariss, Hudson, Hodsgon, Hutson, Johnson, Johnston, Lawson, Mitchell, Robinson, Rollins, Toller, Toler, & Turner.

Alternate spellings of Gist are Gest, Guist, Guest, Geust, or Jest. Gest seems to be used most often circa 1840-1900. Gist seems to be the spelling most sources use after about 1980.

Bibliography

Books Ayres, Elsie Johnson. Highland Pioneer Sketches and Family Genealogies. Skinner Publ. Springfield, Ohio. 1971. pp. 731-733.

Coldham, Peter Wilson. American Migrations 1765-1799. Genealogical Publishing Company. Baltimore, Maryland. 2000. pp. 558-559. Entry on Samuel Gist. Available on Ancestry.com with a slightly different title -- American (Loyalist) Migrations, 1765-1799.

Drummond, Barb. Midas of Manumission: The Orphan Samuel Gist and His Virginia Slaves. United Kingdom. 2018. On order at Dayton Metro Library.

Gerber, David. Black Ohio and the Color Line 1860-1915. University of Illinois Press. Urbana, Illinois. 1976. page 18.

History of Brown County, Ohio. Higginson Book Company. 1893. Available on Google Books. http://books.google.com/books/about/The_History_of_Brown_County_Ohio.html?id=udUyAQAAMAAJ

Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio. 1848. page 71. Available on Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=XC4WAAAAYAAJ (Brown County).

Kessler, John. North from the Mountains: A Folk History of the Carmel Melungeon Settlement, Highland County, Ohio. Gist Settlers are NOT “Melungeons” and NOT “Longtowners” of Darke County. Mercer University Press. 2001.

McBride, David. Cemetery Inscriptions of Highland County Ohio. Hillsboro, Ohio. 1972.

Morgan, Violet. Folklore of Highland County. Greenfield, Ohio: Greenfield Printing and Publishing, 1946. pp. 123-126. Quillin, Frank U. Color Line in Ohio. Michigan University. 1913. reprinted by Negro Universities Press. New York. 1969. ISBN: 8371-1937-7, pp. 26-29. Schwarz, Philip. Migrants against Slavery: Virginians and the Nation. University Press of Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia. 2001. A chapter is devoted to the Gist Settlements. Excellent bibliography and footnotes encourage further study. Wright Paula Kitty. Gist’s Promised Land: The Little-Known Story of the Largest Relocation of Freed Slaves in U. S. History. Seaman, Ohio. 2013. Sugar Tree Ridge Publishing, ISBN: 9780615886480. Call # at Dayton Metro Library. Gen R 977.1845 W952G 2013.

Young, Paul. Brown County Books Series #2. Gist Settlement Book. Brown County Genealogical Society. Georgetown, Ohio. 1997.

Websites http://www.werelate.org We Relate. Search by name of the freed slave. Some information on Samuel Gist’s family is also listed. This is a genealogy wiki site. Please feel free to correct any errors I have made in adding data and to add more information.

http://www.aaggmv.org/ African American Genealogy Group of the Miami Valley.

https://www.knoxpages.com/2021/02/24/gist-settlement-was-established-by-freed-slaves-in-1820s/ Gist Settlement was established by freed slaves in 1820s

by Karen Robertson, The Ohio History Connection February 24, 2021

http://www.remarkableohio.org/HistoricalMarker.aspx?historicalMarkerId=978&fileId=7922 Remarkable Ohio. This website, sponsored by the Ohio Historical Society, Ohio Bicentennial Commission, and the P & G Fund, shows the historical marker on the Fairfield Township, Highland County, Ohio land, the Cartagenia Baptist Church, and a few other images.

http://paulakittywright.tripod.com/gistpromisedland/paul-turner.html

http://www.washingtonch.k12.oh.us/Senior_High/GIST_Pages/The%20Gist%20Settlement%20Archeological%20Project.htm

https://www.tiktok.com/@kelvinwashington36/video/7321511780843523374 https://www.tiktok.com/@kelvinwashington36/video/7321511780843523374 @kelvinwashington36

http://cases.justia.com/ohio/fourth-district-court-of-appeals/2016-15ca11-0.pdf?ts=1463519524 Legal case. Turner vs. Robinson, 2016-Ohio-2981 , Court of Appeals of Ohio Fourth Appellate District Highland County. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Gist_Settlements

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow5goyD2tpk A Walk-About Oral History Interview with Ms.Peggy Mills Warner. June 29, 2023. Gist Settlement property history in Ohio. Produced by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program University of Florida Program director Paul Ortiz, PhD https://oral.history.ufl.edu/ Video is almost 2 hours long.

The Highland County Gist Settlement (33Hi417): Archaeological Investigation into the Results of Manumission at a Settlement of Freedmen in Southern Ohio. Technical Report available in PDF format online. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313751286_The_Highland_County_Gist_Settlement_33Hi417_Archaeological_Investigation_into_the_Results_of_Manumission_at_a_Settlement_of_Freedmen_in_Southern_Ohio See also: ovacltd.com Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2467777/gist-settlement-cemetery/photo

Williams, Kevin. “The Gist Settlement for freed slaves leads to a legal fight 200 years later” al Jazeera America. 25 October 2015. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/10/25/legacy-slavery-corner-ohio.html

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

Abels, H. H. “Gist Settlement”. Dayton Daily News. 25 February 1951. Camerica section page 16. Current population is about 40 with 77 year old Samuel Turner as the unofficial leader.

Beyerlein, Tom. “Land to Use but Not Own. A Utopia on Hold. Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio. 7 February 1999. A1.

Curnutte, Mark. “It Was 1815 When Samuel Gist Died and the Slaves Were Set Free”. Cincinnati Enquirer. 15 Aug 1999. A6. Descendants of Nelson Anderson and Sarah Smith. Pastor Wilbur Page. Abraham Lincoln Anderson. Scott, Brown County, Ohio.

Curnutte, Mark. “Ledger of Family a Precious Record”. Cincinnati Enquirer. 15 Aug 1999. A6

Gilliland, Jeff. "$1,000 Reward for Stolen Marker". Wilmington News Journal. Wilmington, Clinton, Ohio, United States. 4 May 2013. “Gist Settlements in Brown, Adams and Highland Counties, Ohio”. Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal, volume 11, issue 2. Pages 55-56. Good, Charles. Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal. Volume 11, issue 2, page 59. Ivor Noel Hume and Alexander Halestock. Harris, Shana. “Gist Reunion May Evolve - A woman Hopes Descendants of the Slave Settlement Will Show up Sunday and Learn”. Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio. 1 August 1998. B2. Hunter, H. W. “Gist Settlement Cemetery in Highland County, Ohio”. Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal. Volume 11, issue 2, pages 55-56.

Kroeger, Robert. “Preserving rural history: A Highland County barn with three stories to tell”. Times Gazette (Hillsboro). 12 Feb 2016. http://www.timesgazette.com/news/5628/preserving-rural-history

Marcano, Ray. "Dream for Freed Slaves Goes Astray". Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States. 26 January 1986, page 1, column 1. Family Tree of Gist Settlement Residents, Descendants, as told by Lester Robinson.

Marcano, Ray. "Gist Settlement Resident Begins Paying off Delinquent Land Taxes". Dayton Daily News, Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio. 10 April 1987. page 3, column 3.

McKee, Merle. “Samuel Gist Benefactor to Unique Settlement”. Wilmington News-Journal. Wilmington, Ohio. 29 January 1976. Page 5-G. McNutt, Randy. “Family's history rises from slavery: Land carries legacy of freedom”. Cincinnati Enquirer. 15 Aug. 1999. A1+A6. Peggy Mills Warner. Dorothy Cobb Hiles. Earl Johnson. Fincastle, Brown County, Ohio. Mullins, C. E. Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal, volume 11, issue 2, page 62. Henry Turner.

“Transporting Free Negroes to Ohio. A Typical Colonization Convention”. Journal of Negro History. Volume 1. Number 3. page 302. July, 1916.

Trimble, D. B. (1956). Christopher Gist and the Indian Service in Virginia, 1757-1759. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 64(2), 143–165. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4246210

Turner, Virginia M. “Gist Settlement Keeps Alive Days of Long Ago”. Wilmington News Journal. Wilmington, Ohio. 25 July 1936, page 3. About 70 inhabitants in 1936.

Virginia Argus. Richmond Virginia. 17 November 1804, page 4. Legal notice about sale of property in Goochland, Virginia next to Samuel Gist’s property, good for grain and tobacco.

Woodson, Carter G. “Negroes of Cincinnati Prior to the Civil War”. Journal of Negro History. Volume 1. Number 1. page 1. January, 1916.

Newspaper Obituaries There are many more out there, but here are a few that specify burial in the Gist Settlement Cemetery of Highland County, Ohio. Obituary. Delbert Lee Turner. Dayton Daily News. 4 Jul 1991. D2. Obituary. Lester Robinson. Dayton Daily News. 17 Jan 1999. B6. Obituary. Helen K. Turner. Dayton Daily News. 27 Feb 1999. B2. Obituary. Thomas A. Robinson. Dayton Daily News. 10 Jan 2003. B7.

Shawna Woodard Information Services Librarian Dayton Metro Library 215 E Third St Dayton, OH 45402 swoodard @ daytonmetrolibrary.org history @ daytonmetrolibrary.org Feb 2023