GIST SETTLEMENT MARKER TO BE PLACED AUGUST 14TH AT NOON. THIS IS THE FINAL OF 3 MARKERS COMMEMORATING THE 1819 ARRIVAL OF OVER 350 FREED SLAVES WHO WERE GIVEN 2500 ACRES OF LAND IN BROWN COUNTY.

The Gist Settlements, Samuel Gist, a wealthy Englishman, made his fortune in America. He started out as an indentured servant. Mr. Gist established the Gist Settlements in 1810 near Ripley Ohio. The catalyst for his action was a desire to free slaves from his estranged daughter, Mary Anderson, an heiress and wealthy Virginia and Dismal Swamp planter. The legal war culminated when Mr. Gist threatened, in his will, to bequeath Mary a mere shilling if she did not honor his wishes and emancipate her slaves. In addition to emancipation, Gist stipulated that settlements include churches and schools. He ordered that each slave be given a plot of land. His will was met with political resistance which prompted Samuel Gist to wage the most publicized legal war against slavery prior to Lincoln's Emanci