Samuel Munson Van Cleave was born on 25. Feb. 1770 at Rowan County, North Carolina. He was the son of
Benjamin Samuel Van Cleave and
Ruth L. Monson. Samuel Munson Van Cleave married
Elizabeth Wood, daughter of
Abijah Wood and
Mary Jane Moreson, c 1793 at Shelby County, Kentucky. Samuel Munson Van Cleave married
Sarah (Unknown) on 31. Dec. 1823 at Shelby County, Kentucky. Samuel Munson Van Cleave died a 25. Aug. 1843 at Montgomery County, Indiana. Source: copied from a manuscript loaned by R.S. Harvey, Sept. 21, 1944 HJVC
Samuel Van Cleave, son of Benjamin and Ruth (Monson) Van Cleave was born in
Rowan County, North Carolina, 5 Feb 1770, and moved with his parents to
Kentucky about 1778 or 1779. He married, about 1791 to Elizabeth Wood,
daughter of Alijah and Mary (Mereson) Wood. He married a second time on 31 Dec
1823, in Shelby County, Kentucky to Sarah Garner, by whom he had two children.
Sarah Garner was born in 1784 and died at Blakesburg, Iowa 6 Apr 1859.
Samuel was a cabinet maker by trade and a lieutenent in the Shelby County
Militia in 1806.
About three years after his first marriage, while assisting his father in
building a shop, he and Thomas Mahuren went into the woods to cut poles to
weight the roof. As they went, they rapped on trees with the handle of their
axes and the noise attracted the attention of some Indians, who surrounded
them. Mahuren said he would die before be would be captured. He locked his
hands around a sapling and when the Indians failed to pull him loose, they
killed him with their tomahawks, and scalped him. Samuel ran, but was soon
captured and taken to the shores of Lake Michigan, at St. Joseph, on the St.
Joseph River, where he was kept prisoner of the Indians for 18 months.
The Indians took him to a silver mine, and the silver they chipped off
with their tomahawks was pure enough that they made brooches and rings from it
just as it came from the mine. The Indians adopted him into their tribe. The
squaws thought they could get some help out of their prisoner in hoeing corn.
He pretended that he did not know how to hoe corn and hoed up every hill of
corn he could get in reach of. The squaws became digusted with him, and chased
him out of the corn patch to the great delight of the bucks. One reason that
he was not killed was the Indians had a flint-lock gun that would not work and
he fixed it for them. Of course, this pleased them.
After he had lived with the Indians for some time, he met a man named
Scott, who had been captured with his wife in Ohio. The Indians would not
allow Scott and his wife to talk to each other, but Van Cleave could talk to
both. There being no chance for all of them to get away, they planned for the
men to escape and to get Mrs. Scott away later by treaty. Van Cleave was
permitted to go hunting and he hid some ammunition whenever he could, preparing
to escape. When they had gained the confidence of the Indians, they were
allowed to hunt unattended.
The Warriors all went to a treaty. This was their chance. The two men
went hunting but did not return as usual, they had gathered their ammunition
and started on their long journey back to the settlements, traveling by night
and hiding by day. They had to kill the dog they had with them for food, as it
was dangerous to shoot game on account of being discovered by the Indians. One
morning when it got light, they discovered that they hid under an uprooted tree
near an Indian camp. Another time they were hid under a tree when an Indian
dog passed by (the same Indians that had them as prisoners, on their way home
from the treaty). The dog smelled the tree the men were hid under but the
Indians did not discover them. When they got near the settlement, they shot a
steer and had a good meal of roast beef, as they were almost starved.
They finally reached the Ohio River, near Cincinnati, where Scott turned
eastward in search of his home and Van Cleave crossed the river and turned
westward in search of his family, which he found at his father's home. They
had been three weeks in getting home after their escape.
Samuel Van Cleave was an energetic, industrious man, and accumulated some
property, but was excessively fond of revelry, and professed to be a Deist.
This greatly grieved his pious parents, but he continued his wild career until
about 1809. In that year, while building a brick residence for himself, he
talked much about a big ball which he intended to give as soon as the house was
finished. One day, having just finished laying a course of bricks, he started
to dance back to the other end of the scaffold, when he seemed to hear a voice
repeating distinctly in his ear the words, "Thou fool, this day shall thy soul
be required of thee." He came down from the scaffold, trembling like
Belshazzar. He sent for his parents and friends, expecting to die that night.
He was so overwhelmed with his sense of wickedness that he refused to eat or
drink for several days. His friends became alarmed, but finally he found peace
and joy in a vivid sense of pardon through Jesus Christ. He was baptized in
April 1810 in the Fox Run Baptist Church. After a short probation he was
ordained to the full work of the Ministry, being the first Minister raised up
in the Fox Run Baptist Church.
After preaching a few years in Shelby County and adjoining Counties, he
removed to Putnam County, Indiana, and later to Montgomery County, where he
entered forty acres of land on Indian Creek, five miles north-west of Waveland,
and built a griss mill and a saw mill, and lived there the remainder of his
life.
On 25 Aug 1843, while returning from a preaching appointment he was
overtaken by a violent storm, just west of the town of Crawfordsville. He was
riding a spirited young horse, which became frightened and dashed suddenly
under a tree that had fallen and lodged over the road. Mr. Van Cleave was
hurled violently to the ground. When his friends found him his neck was
disjointed and he lived but a few hours, long enough for him to place his
affairs in the hands of his son, Cyrus Van Cleave.