Kenton, Simon

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Simon (1755-1836), an American backwoodsman. He was a native of Virginia. At the age of sixteen, believing that he had killed a young man in an affray, he fled over the mountains to Kentucky and joined Boone. Later he heard that his opponent was living. He then went back and brought over his father's family. He was a true shot with a rifle, a runner of endurance and speed, and a skillful Indian fighter. The stories of his marvelous escapes rival those of Boone himself. At one time he was taken prisoner. The Indians had a fire built to roast him at the stake. They decided to have him run the gauntlet first between two long rows of warriors, who stood ready to strike and slash him. He succeeding in breaking through the line and in escaping through the forest. He was foremost in the Indian warfare of the Ohio Valley until the region was set at peace by Wayne's victory in 1794. He had no faculty for the management of business. In his old age he fell into poverty and neglect. The title to his land was in doubt. He appeared in person before the legislature of Kentucky. The members, belonging to a younger generation, were disposed at first to smile at his ragged appearance, but, on being reminded of his services, treated him with respect, cleared the title to his property, and saw to it that he was granted a pension of $20 a month by Congress. He died in Logan County, Ohio. The town of Kenton on the Scioto was named in his honor. Kent's Hole or Cave, a large cavern in the limestone rock near Torquay, Devonshire, England. It extends into the limestone cliff a distance of about 600 feet, and is from three to eighteen feet in height. The floor is covered with stalagmite formations, in the clay beneath which antiquarians have found a remarkable collection of flint implements and of the bones of the prehistoric cave bear , hyena, etc.