The following excerpts from this collection of historical records entitled, "Ohio County and Family Histories, 1780-1910, all mention Peter Mottice: 1. Page 470, while discussing early roads in Sandy Twp. shortly after 1806:
"[Bezaleel] Wells opened the first road or trail from the Ohio River to Canton, which trail or road, as it soon because, passed through the whole length of Sandy Township, and this was the first "white man's trail" from the Ohio river that crossed the old Indian or Tuscarawas trail, which at this point, ran in a westerly course along the valley of the Sandy. As the means were not at hand for making roads along the sids of the hills, they went straight over them, and as the hill at the place where Waynesburg now stands was too steep for safe descent, the party retuned to what is known as the old Fox farm, now the property of Mr. Gustavus Dieringer, and turned west, through the old Beatty, Beery, and Elsass farms, and passed through the plains on the east line of Capt. James Downing's farm, and then passed on to the old Mottice farm, now owned by Creighton Rodgers, Esq. on the present road from Waynesburg to Canton. . . " " . . . A man named Joseph Handlon, who entered the land now oned by James Boyd, laid out a town in the plains, near whre Mr. James Boyd's house now stands. He called the town Hamburg, but he seems to have been mistaken as to the needs of the times, for the town is no more. In 1814, Handlon had the "Bethlehem road", as this first road was called, straightened from the old Fox farm through to Peter Mottice's land."
A little further down the page mentions the arrival of Peter Mottice to the area. Capt. James Downing, a Revolutionary War veteran and Indian scout, made the first settlement in the Sandy Valley in 1805:
"Early after Capt. Downing and his friends came Peter Mottice, Beatty, Hibbits, Reeves, William Knotts, Van Meters, Handlon, Brown, Creightons, etc."
2. These excerpts are from pages 475 and 476, and describe the circumstances surrounding the tavern that Peter Mottice owned and operated:
"Peter Mottice kept the earliest regular tavern in the township on his farm, now the property of J. Creighton Rogers, Esq., two miles north of Waynesburgh (sic). Mr. Mottice kept this tavern as early as 1813, and perhaps a year before, but Capt. John Beatty, now of Carrollton, was sent to Mottice's tavern in 1813 with a sack of oats to sell, and he says the house was crowded with travelers. Mr. Mottice kept this place until 1829, when he sold it and a quarter section of land to Robert Hamilton, who moved from New York City in 1830, and kept the tavern for several years, and then moved to Waynesburgh (sic), where he continued in the business, and was one of the most popular landlords in Ohio, as well as one of the most widely known. . . . The Hamilton house is still the property of Mr. Hamilton's children."
3. Page 477, political offices held by Peter Mottice:
"Sandy Township has not been lacking in political preferment, and as the years have rolled away, several of her citizens have been chosen to fill positions of honor and trust. Of the first grand jury ever called in the county, Peter Mottice was an honored member . . . Peter Mottice, [County] Commissioner, 1825 to 1829 . . . Amongst those who served as Justices of the Peace in Sandy Township are the following: (When known, the number of years of service is given.) James Hewitt, first in office; Peter Mottice, at least 24 years . . ."
4. Page 480, religion:
"The honor of the first preaching is claimed by both the Lutheran and Presbyterian people, but it is likely that Lyman Potter, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church, preached the first sermon to a white congregation, although Elisha McCurdy was a missionary among the Wyandot and Shawnee Indians some years before white settlement. Lyman Potter baptized James Hewitt, of Waynesburg, at the house of Peter Mottice, while he was yet an infant, about 1810."
{Note: I'm not clear on the identity of this James Hewitt. He almost certainly cannot be the Justice of the Peace who preceded Peter Mottice if born around 1810. According to John Hewitt's will in 1817 (of which Peter Mottice was an executor), John had a brother James but surely he would not have been an infant a mere 7 years prior. In the will, there is no mention of another James Hewitt.}