Simon Kenton was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, in 1755 and died in 1836 at age 81. He left his native country in early youth for a frontier life in the great northwest. Captured by Indians in 1778 and brought to Wapatomica, a Shawnee village near Zanesfield, he was compelled to run the gauntlet and later sentenced to death by burning at the stake, from which fate he was rescued by the intercession of his old friend Simon Girty. He served his country on the frontier as a spy, scout, and soldier during the Revolutionary War and in many Indian conflicts. Elected brigadier general of the militia, he also did valuable service in the War of 1812. He settled at Zanesfield early in the nineteenth century, later moving to his farm three miles north, where he died beloved by all who knew him.