USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cumminsville > History of Cumminsville, Ohio, 1792-1914 > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ACRES of BOOKS CINCINNATI
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01790 8143
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Souvenir~History of CUMMINSVILLE 1914
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HISTORY OF C
CUMMINSVILLE
1792-1914
ATION
OF
CORPO
MINSVILLE
CLERK
C
OHIO
Seal of the Village of Cumminsville 1865-1873
Ohio Book Store $ 20.00 1-3-68 Dr. 2540 Phone
1450893
Ohio Book Fre $20.00 7-3-68 Pm. 2540 There
Birdseye View of Cumminsville from Mt. Storm Park, 1900
Photo by H. W. Felter, M. D.
John A. Herbert
Dr. T. D. Megnire
A. G. Spaeth
Edgar Biggs
A. I. Murdock
August Heyn
1.7
FOREWORD
It
LISTORY has been defined as "A prose narrative of past events, having for its subject matter collective human life as true as human testimony will allow."
Biography, which plays such a prominent part through the following pages, inspires the adoption of the quotation because of its virtual truth. Leslie Stephan has said: "History depends upon biography for its material; it selects that part of every man's life which belongs to the public." With this in view, we have compiled this volume, and we dedicate it to the Northside Business Club and citizens of Cumminsville as a record of historical deeds in this community from its earliest days to the present time.
If errors should appear, we make apology by saying we have labored sincerely to gather reliable material and endeavored honestly to render a true account of available records.
The Committee.
Charles W. Snyder
Leo T. Folz.
Wm. F. Ray
Dr. Il. W. Felter
C. O. Dhonau
Souvenir "History of Cumminsville"
Engravings in this Souvenir by The Cincinnati Process Engraving Co. Printed and compiled by Raisbeck & Co., Printers.
HISTORY OF CUMMINSVILLE
EARLY HISTORY By August Heyn
Indians .- When the pioneers came to this valley they found the forest home of Indians bearing the tribal name of Miamis, signifying mother. Their territory extended from the Scioto to the Wabash, and from the Ohio to Lake Michigan. There were different tribes of the Miamis, but the Twightwees and the Pickawillanies were the two whose settlements were in the vicinity of Cumminsville. The most famous chief of the Miamis was Little Turtle (Me-che-eun-na-qua). He had been educated in a Jesuit School in Canada, and was remarkable for
GEN. ST. CLAIR From Elson's History of the U. S.
GEN. WAYNE From Elson's History of the U. S.
LITTLE TURTLE
his mental vigor and great common sense, as well as for his bravery and skill as a military leader. He commanded the Indians at the time of the expeditions of Generals Harrison and St. Clair in 1790 and 1791. and was also present at the fight at Fallen Timbers at the time of the Wayne expedition in 1794, but was not in command. He is sup- posed to have told the Indians not to go into action at this time, but to accept the proposition for peace. "We have beaten the enemy twice; we cannot expect always to do this. The Americans are led by
a man who never sleeps. I advise peace. " Little Turtle died at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, July 14, 1812.
The Old Wayne Road .- In 1792 a road was projected from Cin- cinnati up Mill Creek by Ludlow's Station, thence to White's Station at the third crossing of the Mill Creek, and on to Cunningham's, and thence to Runyan's improvement. But back of this is the fact that this old Wayne Road was at first an Indian trail. It seems to have been a tribal trait of the Miamis to pass down the valley over this beaten path to the Ohio, opposite the month of the Licking. thence crossing into Kentucky. After committing their depredations they would recross this war path with their prisoners and plunder.
We will not indulge the imagination in dwelling upon the scenes of suffering that may have been enacted along this now crowded thor- oughfare. Over it passed a portion of the army commanded by Gen- eral Clark in 1780, also the left wing of General Harmar's army in 1790. a portion of General St. Clair's in 1791. and that of General Wayne in 1793.
Over it passed the dead and mutilated body of Colonel Robert Elliott when borne mournfully back to Fort Washington.
We feel that all this privation and suffering and death were in some measure a needful sacrifice on the part of our forefathers in order that the blessings of Christian civilization might be seenred in themselves and their children.
First an Indian trail, narrow and trongh-shaped and tortnons; then a military road, over which the primitive goverment transported troops and stores in its long and bloody struggle to claim this garden from savage dominion-a rongh, rnde road along which the iron six- pounder floundered, and over which-
"In their ragged regimentals Marched the Old Continentals."
Then it broadened into a great highway along which today pours a continuons tide of humanity, but resounding no more to the tramp of mustering squadrons or the rumble and the grumble of artillery.
souvenir "History of Cumminsville"
Mill Creek Valley .- Mill Creek Valley comprises the following political divisions : That part of Cincinnati township lying immediately on each side of Mill Creek at its entrance into the Ohio River, Mill Creek Township, Springfield Township, and the western part of Sycamore Township. It extends from the Ohio River to the Great Miami River bed at Hamilton. In Judge Burnet's note on the Northwest Territory we read that : "Those who are acquainted with Mill Creek Valley know that it is connected with the Great Miami in the neighborhood of Ham- ilton, and that there is now a large pond near that place, about twenty miles from Cincinnati, from which, in wet seasons, the water passes through Pleasant Run into the Miami below Hamilton. and by Mill Creek into the Ohio at Cincinnati."
Geology of This Community .- Geologists claim that nothing but drift terraces that make the walls of the present course of the Big Miami shut out that stream from entering the Ohio River where the Mill Creek now enters it, and assert that there is the best reason for believing that the Great Miami at one time did pursue this valley, or ancient river bed, to the Ohio, and furthermore speak of it now as a deep and wide valley traversed by an insignificant stream, wholly in- adequate to account for the erosion of which it has availed itself.
MILL CREEK Photo by H. W. Felter, M. D.
There was a time, it is asserted, when there was no valley here, or rather no hills in Hamilton County. They are merely the isolated remnants of the old plateau which so long and so far have resisted the slow process of denudation. This valley is the result of that erosion.
Prof. Florien Giouque, passing through Mill Creek Valley, noticed the remarkable geological formation exposed by the cut made by the railroad just above the Maplewood depot in the southern part of Wyo- ming. He wrote a learned paper accounting for it on geological prin- ciples. He asserts that at one time this valley did not exist, that the country from the Little to the Big Miami was a dead level. This was when the earth was young, approaching maturity through the glacial period. He theorizes that an immense mountain of ice and snow found its way from far northern regions to the southward until its southern base reached to the Ohio River and perhaps beyond, and extended back as far as Glendale. This enormous weight ploughed out this valley, leaving the hills standing because of their being filled with stone, which resisted action while the soft intermediate earth yielded.
Under the action of the sun through the still lapse of ages this ice mountain finally melted, and the water running to the sea left a residuum of gravel and sand and soil.
From this sprang the forests and vegetation which shadowed the valley and enriched it with its deciduous leaves; then came the green pastures beside the still waters, and abounding game-in its pristine beauty, the whilom habitation of prehistoric man, who cast up the mute, mysterious mound, buried his dead, and departed forever; then the happy hunting ground of the Indian, who loved it as his wildwood home, and in defense of which many and many a warrior has died be- fore the white man forced his way across its verdant threshold.
Ye say they all have passed away, That noble race and brave ; That their light canoes have vanished
From off the crested wave; That 'mid the forests where they roamed There rings no hunter shout ;
But their names are on your waters, You may not wash it out.
Then came the pioneers and transformed it into farm lands. To- day it is an amphitheatre, where may be heard and seen the hum and crowd and shock of men in great civic tournament, which will be continued with increasing attractions-
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow To the last syllable of recorded time.
Millcreek or Maketewah is an ancient water course. The east branch brings us water from Butler County; the west in the
Souvenir "History of Cumminsville"
broken uplands of Colerain Township. These two branches beeome united in one stream at Hartwell, and then journey together to the Ohio River.
Maketewah is supposed to be the Indian name for Millcreek. Wm. D. Gallagher, the pioneer of Western poets, has immortalized this little stream in the following beautiful poem :
THE SPOTTED FAWN.
On Maketewah's flowery marge The red chief's wigwam stood. When first the white man's rifle rang
Loud through the echoing wood; The tomahawk and scalping knife Together lay at rest- For peace was in the forest shades, And in the red man's breast.
Oh, the Spotted Fawn! Oh, the Spotted Fawn! The light and the life of the forest shades With the red chief's child is gone.
By Maketewah's flowery marge The Spotted Fawn had birth, And grew as fair an Indian girl
As ever blessed the earth; She was the red chief's only child, And sought by many a brave. But to the gallant young White Cloud Her plighted troth she gave.
Oh, the Spotted Fawn, etc.
From Maketewah's flowery marge Her bridal song arose ; None dreaming, on that festal night, Of near encireling foes ; But through the forests, stealthily, The white men came in wrath.
And fiery deaths before them sped, And blood was in their path. Oh, the Spotted Fawn, etc.
On Maketewah's flowery marge Next morn no strife was seen; But a wail went up where the young Fawn's blood And White Cloud's dyed the green,
Photo by H. W. Felter. M. D.
MILL CREEK-"THE WILLOWS"
And burial in their own rude way The Indians gave them there. While a low and sweet-toned requiem The brooks sang, and the air. Oh, the Spotted Fawn! Oh. the Spotted Fawn! The light and life of the forest shades With the red chief's child is gone.
The Spotted Frog .- A parody on the "Spotted Fawn" soon ap- peared, which created a sensation and became the rage for a while. The authorship remained a long time a mystery. But now it is widely known that Lewis J. Cist. Esq., a literary pioneer of the West. is its gifted and distinguished author. We here insert it:
THE SPOTTED FROG.
On the muddy Mill Creek's marshy marge. When summer's heat was felt. Full many a burly bullfrog large And tender tadpole dwelt.
Souvenir "History of Cumminsville"
And there at noondays might be seen, Upon a rotted log, The bullfrog's brown and tadpole's green, And there the spotted frog. Oh, the spotted frog! Oh, the spotted frog! The light and life of Mill Creek's mud, Was the lovely spotted frog!
By stagnant Mill Creek's muddy marge The spotted frog had birth, And grew as fair and fat a frog As ever hopped on earth. She was the frog chief's only child. And sought by many a frog ; But only upon one she smiled, From that old rotted log. Oh, the Spotted Frog, ete.
From muddy Mill Creek's stagnant marge Her bridal song arose ; None dreaming, as they hopped about. Of near encircling focs ; But cruel boys, in search of sport, To Mill Creek came that day, And at the frogs, with sticks and stones, Began to blaze away! Oh, the Spotted Frog, etc.
On marshy Mill Creek's muddy marge, Next morn no frogs were seen ; But a mortal pile of sticks and stones Told where the fray had been ; And time rolled on, and other frogs Assembled 'round that log, But never Mill Creek's marshes saw Again that spotted frog. Oh, the spotted frog! Oh, the spotted frog! The light and life of Mill Creek's mud. Was the lovely spotted frog.
A Pioneer's Poem .- The following affectionate apostrophe to Mill Creek was written by one born upon its banks about one hundred years ago. Only communion with its waters in its earlier days could
have inspired such a pretty pastoral poem, a rural picture and story- the sentiment of which is both beautiful and ennobling. It is inserted here at this time that the present generation may have some idea that the dirty fetid stream of today is the martyr of the onward progress of civilization, and that it is to blame for its condition.
TO MILL CREEK.
Thou rude little stream, so modest in mien, And flowing so quietly by, No white-pebbled floor or rock-mantled shore, No cliffs mounting rugged and high.
No dark lurid dells, or deep hidden cells, My reverence or awe to inspire; No pomp or. display in coursing thy way, Nor aught for the world to admire.
Yet dearer to me than Niagara, Or all the bright rivers of earth ; For a spot I descry thy waters nearby, Marked out as the place of my birth.
Oh, the scenes lying near, to memory how dear; And incidents blended with thee ! The brooks and the rills, the valleys and hills, Have each a charmed legend for me.
'Twas there in the glades and deep forest shades My happiest moments were spent, Unburdened with care and free as the air, A rustic young monarch I went.
There I plucked the black haw and the yellow paw-paw, The mulberry, purple and red; The juicy wild plum and blue grapes that hung In clusters just over my head.
When the summer had come in verdure and bloom, With other young truants I ran Along the green banks with merry wild pranks, And oft in thy waters we swam.
We climbed for the nest of the robin redbreast, Threw stones at the blackbird and wren, We drove the young thrush from her nest in the bush, The chipmunk we chased to her den.
Souvenir "History of Cumminsville"
Unheeding the sign, with hook and the line, We angled thy waters for bass; Yet ever content if homeward we went With shiners enough for a mess.
At night's darkest hue, the coon to pursue, The hounds from the kennel we take; And away we all go with a wild "Tally-ho!" Through tanglewood, marshes and brake.
A bleak tempest-blast brings winter at last, And robes the earth over in snow; The rabbit we trail-we're trapping the quail, Or down the hill coasting we go.
Again, at a time in my youthful prime, With a witching young friend I strayed ; While roaming thy shores to pluck the wild flow'rs, Our secrets to each we betrayed.
'Twas there in the shade that the sycamore made, The red bird sang sweetly above, Through mystical charms that beauty adorns, My heart beat responsive to love.
Where the wild lilies grew and violets blue, And buttercups gaily arrayed. 'Mid the fragrant perfume of the may-apple bloom. Our vows to each other we made.
But, oh ! fleeting Time, with ruthless design, Had wrought many changes since then. His magical wand had swept the woodland And furrowed the faces of men.
Beneath the green sward in the old church yard Are silently lying at rest The dearest of friends, whose pale spectral hands, Wave back through the shadowy mist.
All passing away, my locks they are gray. And life is now ebbing with me; Yet remember, dear stream, in the land of my dream, I'll be singing bright peans to thee. -John G. Olden.
Cumminsville is one of the oldest and, outside of Columbia, the most historie suburb of Cincinnati. Figuring in its early history-in fact, the early history of Cincinnati-was one who, though well known to the pioneers of the Miami Valley, has not the place in the minds of the young that he deserves, in consideration of the prominent part he took in laying the foundations of Cincinnati and the adjacent cities of Hamilton and Dayton, and of his sterling public and private vir- tnes. This was Colonel Israel Ludlow, one of the three proprietors of the city. the man who, in the fall of 1789, commenced the survey of the town of Cincinnati. He was originally from New Jersey. as were so many of the first settlers, and was born at Little Head Farm near Morristown in 1765. About twenty years later he came to the valley of the Ohio to act as a surveyor. and was appointed by the United States Geographer to survey the Miami Purchase, and also the purchases. He accomplished this task by the spring of 1792, which, as finally recorded, came to be regarded as the authoritative for the lots of the early settlers.
THE LUDLOW MANSION Photo by Broekman.
Israel Ludlow .- When Israel Ludlow succeeded John Filson, who was also one of the original proprietors of Cincinnati, he elected to take as his portion, instead of city lots, a farm of 125 acres on the
Souvenir "History of Cumminsville
site of where Cumminsville now stands. On March 9, 1790, Israel Ludlow, with James Miller, Joseph and Enoch McHendry, Daniel Bates, Elijah Hardesty, Frederick Patchel, John Nobel Cummins, Jonathan Pierson, Enos Terrace and Thomas Goudy, formed the first settlement in the west half of Section 23 in the third township of the second frac- tional range.
The settlers erected a block house at the point where Knowlton Street now crosses the C. H. & D. R. R. This was the nearest secure military post north of Fort Washington in Cincinnati. This was on the bottom land of the Mill Creek Valley, and the level ground that stretched to the west and south was the very ground where General St. Clair organized his army and encamped after his defeat. Here, too, Mad Anthony Wayne came and encamped after his remarkable success as an Indian fighter.
After peace was established in 1795, Israel Ludlow built a house of hewed logs on the bank of the Mill Creek. It stood in the middle of a magnificent forest, many of the trees being almost perfect speci- mens of the willow, which at that time grew in the greatest profusion on this classic little stream. Of course, you must remember that the Mill Creek of that day was not the turgid, ill-smelling stream that now attracts our attention only by reason of its odor or, rather, smells.
THE LUDLOW MANSION (Rear)
Photo by Brockman.
Photo by H. W. Felter
ISRAEL LUDLOW'S MONUMENT IN SPRING GROVE
It was a beautiful little stream, filled with bass and salmon, to say nothing of the catfish and sunfish that were to be had for the mere asking. So charming was this stream in its early days that it fur- nished the theme for two or three poems that had a national fame.
Far and near, the Ludlow home was known for the unbounded hospitality of the General and Mrs. Ludlow. Among those of national fame who at one time or other found shelter and welcome beneath its roof may be mentioned John Cleves Symmes, General St. Clair, Mad Anthony Wayne, who was not mad; the first President Harrison, Lewis Cass, Salmon P. Chase, and some of the famous Indians who were at peace. Israel Ludlow, as a proprietor, laid out the town of Hamilton in 1794, and in 1795, together with Governor St. Clair, a Mr. Dayton and Wm. McMillan, he planned the town of Dayton. In 1796 he married Charlotte Chambers, of Chambersburg, Pa., when he built the home already mentioned. He died in 1804, after a brief illness, and was buried with Masonic honors in the First Presbyterian Church Graveyard on Fourth Street, near Main Street, in Cincinnati. His - wife and young children then moved to Cincinnati, where she lived for six years, until her marriage with Rev. David Riske. She then returned to the Cumminsville home, where she lived until 1820. In
Souvenir "History of Cumminsville"
view of the active part Israel Ludlow took in the settlement of this locality, it seems strange that the name was not so associated with the place that it might perpetually remind its population of the one who, amid this wilderness, had first built a home and given civili- zation a foothold.
Mrs. Israel Ludlow was a woman of fine education and many accomplishments, and so popular among the Indians as to receive from them the name of "Athapasca"-the good woman. Her letters are among the best descriptions we have of the life and conditions - of that time. Her second husband died in 1818, after which she lived in Cincinnati for a time, and afterwards among relatives in Franklin, where she died in 1821.
First Astronomical Observatory in the United States built in Cumminsville .- During the residenee of Mrs. Ludlow in Cincinnati, the farm was rented to General Jared Mansfield, Surveyor-General of the United States, who was then engaged in making a survey of the Northwest Territory. It is to General Mansfield that Cumminsville owes the distinction of having possessed the first astronomieal obser- vatory in the United States.
In 1802 President Jefferson became much annoyed by the fact that the survey of the Northwest Territory was being carried on upon incorrect premises-the accuracy of the survey, of course, upon the establishment of meridian lines with base lines as right angles. The then Surveyor-General was incompetent to determine these lines, and Mr. Jefferson appointed Gen. Mansfield, an instructor of mathematics at West Point, to succeed him. Astronomical instruments were neces- sary, and these Mr. Jefferson ordered from England. They consisted of a three-foot-long reflecting telescope mounted in the best manner with lever motion, a thirty-ineh portable transit which also did duty as a theodolite, and an astronomical pendulum clock, all of which are now preserved at the West Point Military Academy. Congress had made no appropriation for the purchase of these instruments, and President Jefferson paid for them from a contingent fund which was at his disposal. They were ordered in 1803, arrived in Cincinnati in 1806, and the telescope set up in the Ludlow House. It is a remark- able fact that with this limited apparatus, and a handful of assist- ants, General Mansfield succeeded in less than nine years in making a satisfactory survey of the territory now embraced by the States of Ohio, Indiana, and part of Michigan. General Mansfield was the father of E. D. Mausfield, a journalist and literary man of more than or- dinary ability, who, while not born here, was all his life closely identified with the development of the Queen City. Mr. Mansfield re- ceived part of his early education in a log school house opposite the present site of the House of Refuge in Camp Washington, his father
having moved in 1809 from Ludlow's Station to the Old Bates Place in Mt. Comfort,) as that section of the valley was then called.
Hutchinson-Cummins .- After the Revolutionary War, George Washington, President of the United States, sold to John Cleves Symes one million acres north of the Ohio River between the two Miamis, which was divided into townships six miles square (except along the river), and into sections one mile square in each township. where it could be done. Mill Creek Township is one such. In it is Section 28, bounded by Hoffner Street on the south, Fergus Street ou the east, Section 29 on the north, and Section 34 on the west. Two parties bought this seetion of John Cleves Symmes. That each might have an equal portion of hill and valley land they uniquely divided Section 28 from the northwest corner to the southeast corner, across the Mill Creek near the distillery. into two right-angled triangles. The southwest triangle is the one of most historic value, and that will be described. This southwest triangle was nearly all bought by Ezekiel Hutchinson in 1811, who also purchased land in Section 34 on the west and Section 22 on the east, owning altogether about four hundred
acres. (Near the northwest corner of the Blue Rock Road and the Hamilton Pike Hutchinson erected a commodious house and other buildings, installed a tavern for entertaining, planted a twenty-five- foot post, where he swung the sign of the "Hotel of the Golden Lamb." This tavern he built in 1811. A steady stream of pure water flowed down the bank near the roadside, where the teamsters fed and watered their horses, and where they also enjoyed the re- freshments of the dining room and the bar; and Ezekiel Hutchinson. for a time, prospered financially, for he kept a hospitable tavern, that the traveling public liberally patronized.
Another noted citizen here was David Cummins. He is men- tioned in Cineinati's histories as being the first child born in early Cineimati, in a humble log cabin ou Third Street. opposite the present Burnet House. There are two other persons who also claim this dis- tinetion-a Wm. Mooder and a danghter of Daniel and Susan Gano.
David Cummins came to this section of the county in 1817. and named this place Cumminsville. lle bought four aeres of the triangle east of the Hamilton Pike. sonth of the Blue Rock Road and west of the Carthage Pike (known then as the Wayne Trail), and considering it as a good location for a tammery, went into that business, digging vats, buying pelts, oak bark and other equipments. It was known in Cineinnati as the "Grid Iron Tannery.
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