[WARREN COUNTY] — Listen to a remarkable 18th-century document: A Journal of Two Visits Made to Some Nations of Indians on the West Side of the River Ohio in the Years 1772 and 1773. The video narration of the journal written by the Reverend David Jones, offering modern viewers a rare glimpse into life in the Ohio Valley just before the American Revolution.
Jones, a Welsh Baptist minister, traveled west of the Ohio River in 1772 and 1773 to visit Native communities including the Shawnee and Delaware. His purpose was missionary in nature, but his journal became much more than a religious record. He carefully described towns, distances between settlements, river crossings, clothing, agriculture, and political leaders. For local historians, his observations provide valuable insight into what this region looked like more than 250 years ago.
But Jones’s journey unfolded during a time of intense land speculation and political maneuvering…