USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 7
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21
MURDERS BY THE INDIANS.
was closed at the instant they reached it. In his retreat, he was badly wounded by an arrow in the back. Had this been the ouly penalty of his temerity, he might have blessed his patron saint; but the loss of a favorite child, sacrificed by his rashness and folly, rested on his memory, and inflicted a punishment as bitter as malice itself could invent or desire to impose.
Fort Jefferson, the post farthest out in advance, being forty-four miles distant from Fort Hamilton, it was deemed proper to have an intermediate post between them, to serve as a place of security, and guard the safety of the com- munication between them. Accordingly, a site was se- lected about three quarters of a mile west of where the town of Eaton now is, and General Wilkinson sent Major / John S. Gano, belonging to the militia of the Territory, with a party of men, to erect the fort, which was accom- plished, and completed early in the Spring of 1792, and named Fort St. Clair.
In the Fall of that year, a second battle was fought. almost under the cover of the guns of Fort St. Clair, be- tween a corps of riflemen and a body of Indians.
Early in the Summer of 1791, A. W. Prior, in com- pany with two others, set out on a trip to convey provis- ious from Cincinnati to Fort Hamilton. On their way they enemraped at Pleasant Run, four miles from Hamil- ton, on lands lately owned by Aaron L. Schenck, where the Indians fired upon them and killed Prior, the other two men making their eseape to Fort Hamilton.
In the year 1791, an express on its way from Fort Hamilton to Fort Washington was waylaid by the In- dians and killed and scalped two miles and a half south of Hamilton, on the Springdale pike, on the canal, near H. L. Mondy's farm-house. The Indian was concealed behind a forked white oak tree, near the northwest corner of the ministerial section, which tree is standing at the present time.
Some time in the year 1791, a brigade of wagons, transporting provisions from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, guarded by a detachment of thirty or forty men, under the command of a lieutenant, was attacked by the Indians with a galling fire about six miles south of Hamilton, near what was formerly called the long bridge, and near where Mr. Edwards now lives. The es- cort, with a few horsemen who were in company, charged upon the Indians and made them retreat. They, how- ever, had eight men killed in the skirmish and killed two or three of the Indians.
In 1794 Colonel Robert Elliott, contractor for supply- ing the United States Army, while traveling with his servant from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, was waylaid by the Jadians and killed at the big hill, south of where Thomas Fleming formerly lived, aud wer the line between the counties of Batler and Hamilton. It is now known as Fountain Hill farm. When Colonel Elliott was shot and fell from his horse, the servant ipade his escape, riding full speed, Elliott's horse fol-
lowing him, and both arrived safe at Fort Hamilton. The colonel, being somewhat advanced in life, wore a wig. The savage who shot him, in haste to take his scalp. drew his knife, and seized him by the hair. To his astomsh- ment, the scalp came off at the first touch. The wretch exclaimed in broken English, " Dam lie" In a few; min- utes the surprise of the party was over, and they minide themselves merry at the expense of their comrade. Some of the Indians, who were present when Elliott was killed. communicated these facts to some of the officers at the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, and described the manner in which they amused themselves with the wig after their surprise was over. On the next day, a party of niên from Fort Hamilton, with a coffin, and taking the very- ant with them, went to where Elliott had been killed, found the body, put it in the coffin, and proceeded on their way to Fort Washington. When they had gone a mile or two on their way from where they found the lody, about a miile south of Springdale, where Mr. Sorter lately lived, they were fired upon by : party of Indians. The servant, who was then riding the same horse from which Elliott had been killed the day before (which was a spotted horse of rather an uncommon appearance), Was shot dead at the first fire. The remainder of the party then retreated, leaving the body of Elliott, which the In- dians took, and broke open the coffin. The party, hoy- ever, soon rallied, retook the body. and carried it to Cin- cinnati, together with that of the servant, and buried then side by side in the Presbyterian cemetery. Several years afterwards, Captain Elliott, of the United States, Navy, son of the colonel, erected over his remains a neat monument with an appropriate inscription.
Early one morning, in the Summer of 1794, a soldier was dispatched as an express from Fort Hamilion to Greenville. He was tomahawked and sealped near where Captain Delbrac formerly lived, close by the brick mill, at a small branch in the upper part of Rossville. Al- though the deed was committed within sight of the car- rison, they knew nothing of it until informed by Colonel Matthew Hneston, who, the previous night, had lodged at & camp nine miles from Hamilton. and came. to the fort about nine o'clock in the morning. When os his way. he discovered the body of the soldier, the blood flowing yet warm from the wounds ; a sow and pigs were drinking the blood. The Indians, fearing to alarm: the garrison, must have concealed themselves in the grass and bushes at the side of the path, and suddenly sprong out and caught the horse of the express as he attempted to pass.
In the year 1794, an escort of dragoons, who were guarding a party conveying corn and other provisions from Fort Washington to Hamilton, were attacked at che lig hill near the south line of Buder Conats. Right men were killed and several wounded. The Italian tool and burnt the corn and carried away the house.
in 1794 the Indians killed and scalped two pack horse-
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
men, who were on their way to Hamilton, at Bloody Run, south of Carthage. Some wagoners, who were in `company, made their escape to Fort Washington.
In 1794 a brigade of wagons, londed with provisions and other stores, were sent from Fort Hamilton to supply the garrison at Greenville, convoyed by an escort com- manded by Captain Lowry. On their way they were attacked and defeated by the Indians near where the town of Eaton now stands. Captain Lowry, Lieutenant Boyd, and eighteen privates were killed. The Indians took all the horses, shot the oxen, and left them and the wagons on the ground.
At the place where St. Clair's trace crossed Seven Mile Creek, in Milford Township, near the south line of section twenty-four, there was camping ground on each side of the creek. In the month of December. 1794, when there was snow on the ground, eight pack-horsemen encamped one night in the bottom on the west side of the creek. Early the next morning they were fired upon by a party of Indians. Seven of the men were killed, and one made his escape to Fort Hamilton. A party of men went out from the fort the same day and buried the bodies of the men killed. They lie in the bottom on the west side of the creek, on land formerly owned by Major William Robison. The place of their interment is still known and pointed out by persons residing in the neigh- borhood.
These were the last murders of that period committed by the Indians in this part of the country.
SYMMES'S PURCHASE.
Ix the year 1787 John Cleves Symmes, who was at that time Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey. vis- ited the Western country, descended the Ohio River to the falls, and conceived the plan of forming a company to buy a large tract of land between the Miami Riv- ers, which, on his return home, he proposed to a number of his friends. They agreed to join with him in the purchase, and take lindtel interests if a plan could be devised which would be just and equitable. A plin was accordingly drawn up by Mr. Symmes, which met the approbation of his associates.
The company was formed, consisting principally of officers of the Revolutionary army and other wealthy and influential citizens of New Jersey. However, the bene- fits of the contract were not confined exclusively to the. company. The public at large were invited to partici- . gate, and every person who ches might become an asse- viste. and take as naich lund at first vost as they could pay for. John Cleves Syannes then submitted a propo- sition to Congress, dated at the city of New York, on the 29th day of August, 1787, to purchase for himself
and his associates all the land lying between the Miami Rivers, south of a line drawn lue west from the western termination of the northern boundary line of the Ohio Company's purchase, made by Mesers. Sargent aud Cut- ler, ou the same terms as the grant made to that com- pany, excepting only, that instead of two townships for the site of a university, one only might be assigned for the benefit of an academy. The probable expectation of Mr. Symmes, and also of the Congress of the United States, at the time, was that the boundaries designated in his petition would inchide about one million of acres of land. But the geography of the country being theu imperfectly known, subsequent surveyors have a-cer- tained that a parallel of latitude extending due west from the northern boundary line of the Ohio company's purchase would pass several miles south of Dayton, and would not include more than half a million of acres. On the application of Mr. Symmes the Congress of the United States, on the 2d day of October, 1787, made an order that the petition and proposals of John Cleves Symmes should be referred to the Board of Treasury to take order thereon.
The treasury board seems to have assented to the proposals of Mr. Symmes, and made an agreement with him for the sale of the traets of land mentioned in his petition. However, no specific written contract appears to have been executed at the time, except the petition of Mr. Symmes and the order made thereon. The condi- tions of the contract appears to have been that the tract of land should be surveyed by the geographer of the United States,% and the contents ascertaincd. Mir. Symmes and his associates were to lay off the tract into townships of six miles square, and sections of one- mile square, according to the land ordinance of the 20th of May, 1785. Section No. 16, in each township, wa: given for the support of public schools; section No. 29 for the purposes of religion : and sections Nos. 8, 11, and 26 in each township were reserved by Congress for future disposition. Also, Que complete township was given fr the purpose of an academy or college, to be laid off by the purchasers as nearly opposite to the mouth of Lick- ing River as an entire township could be found! eligible- in point of soil and situation, to be applied to the in, tended object by the Legislature of the State. The price of the land was to be two-thirds of a dollar per acre, and Mr. Symmes at the time paid into the treasury the sum of $82,198 on account of the purchase money. the principal part of which was selvaned by his associates.
On the 25th of November, 1785, John Cleves Synes published his "Terms of Sale and Seulement of Miami Lands," addressed to the public, and had one thousand
"Thomas Hutchins was geographter of the United States; however, he went out of office in 1799, and no other was selected until Ruins Putnam was appointed surveys con- real of the United States in 1796.
23
STAMMES'S PURCHASE.
copies of them printed in small pamphlet form at Tren- ton, New Jersey, and distributed among the people. The plan, as laid down in the pamphlet, stated distinetly the interest which Mr. Symmes was to have in the contract. Hle reserved for his own use and benefit the entire town- ship lying lowest down in the point of land formed by the Ohio and Miami Rivers, and the three fractional parts of townships which might lie northwest and south- west between such entire township and the waters of the Ohio and Great Miami, estimated to contain about forty thousand acres of land. He engaged to pay for this land himself, and lay out a handsome town plat thereon, with eligible streets, and lots of sixty feet front and rear, and one hundred and twenty feet deep, every other lot of which was to be given freely to any person who should first apply for the same. Lot number one to be retained, and lot number two to be given away, and thus, alternately, throughout the town, upon condition that the person so applying for and accepting of a lot or lots should build a house or cabin on each lot so given, within two years after the date of the first pay- ment made to the treasury board, and occupy the same by keeping some family therein for the first three years after building. And every person who should accept a towo lot should have the privilege of cutting on the proprietor's land adjacent as much timber for building as le should need during the term of three years from the time when he first began to build on his lot.
Mr. Symmes's associates consented that he should hold and dispose of this tract of land for his own bencfit. They had the privilege of selecting as much of the resi- due of the purchase as they saw proper, and the com- munity at large were invited to become associates, and to locate as much of the lands as they desired at the contract price. To induce them to do so without loss of time, it was stated that after the first day of May, 1788, the price of the land would be one dollar per acre, and after the first of November, thence following, the price would he still further increased as the settlement of the country would justify. It was, however, expressly stipu- lated that all money received above the original price should be applied towards the making of roads and bridges in the purchase.
It was also stipulated that a register should be ap- pointed to superintend the locations and sales of the lands, and to receive and apply the surplus money for the purposes designated. This stipulation, however, was never fulfilled. Mr. Symmies aeted as register himself, and received all moneys paid, as well after as before the augmentation of the price.
It was also stipulated in the terms of sale and settle- Bient that every purchaser of a section of quarter see- . tive which he might have located, if it could be done with siety, must continue sach settlement and improvement, or live in the country in some station of defense for seven veutr's, unless sneereded by other- who should supply his
place. Persons failing to comply with these terms were to forfeit the one-sixth part of caen tract, to be taken off in a square at the north-east corner of the section or quarter section, which should revert to the register for the time being, in trast, so far as to authorize him to grant to any volunteer settler who should first make . application to the register therefor previous to any ser- tlement being made thereon by the proprietor or some person for him, upon condition, however, that such vol- unteer settler should immediately procced to make an improvement on the land, and continue his settlement or live in some station in the country for defense, ais re- quired of the proprietor or first locator. And after seven years' occupancy by the volunteer settler he was entitled to receive a deed from the register for the one- sixth part of the tract so forfeited, without any charge except the fee of one-third of a dollar to the register for making the deed.
The plan was well calculated to hasten the settlement of the country, and appears to be founded on justice and propriety, as it was no more than reasonable that those who became the owners of the soil should in some way contrib- ute to the defense of the country by personal service or by some other person for them. The difficulty of first open- ing and making roads in a new country, covered with a dense forest, is a heavy tax on the first settlers. to which the owners of the land ought all to contribute; hence. the justice of the measure, that those who failed to aid in the settlement and defense of the country should for- feit a part of their land to those who underwent the orig- inal dangers and hardships. The settlement of one family on the forfeited sixth part of a section would, in reality, make the remainder of the tract of more valne than oth- erwise the whole would have been in a wilderness.
Many non-residents who purchased land from Mr. Synunes failed to comply with the terms of sale and set- tlement, and consequently forfeited a sixth part of their land, which, as the country began to be settled, was soon ocenpied by volunteer settlers. Hence many of the title> to land in the Miami purchase are derived from that source.
Early in the Summer of 1788 Judge Sommes, in company with a number of families, set out from New Jersey for the Western country to commence a settlement on his purchase. The contract not having been finally elosed with him by written agreement, Coagress, on learning that fact, and recollecting certain statements which had recently been made in some of the public prints of the day on the subject of Western lands, be- came alarmed. They considered it probable that the object of Judge Symmes was to get possession of the land he proposed to purchase, and then set them at de- france. Under that impresion a resolution was ofred in Congress ordering Colonel Harmar, who was then stationed with his regiment at Fort MeIntosh, at the mouth of Beaver, thirty miles below Pittsburg, to di-
24
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
tress him, directing the expense to be paid out of the ) then selling at about twenty-five cents for a dollar. As money deposited by Mr. Symmes on his purchase, and the remainder of the sum to be returned to him. For- tunately, Dr. Elias Boudinot and General Jonathan Day- ton. two of his associates, were in Congress at the time, and were enabled to make such explanations as induced a withdrawal of the resolution. They immediately dis- patched a messenger after Mr. Symmes, who found him at Pittsburg. To remedy the difficulty he executed a power of attorney, dated the 10th day of August, 1788, to Jonathan Dayton and Daniel Marsh, two of his asso- ciates, authorizing them to close the contract in such form as they might think proper. The messenger re- turned to New York with the document, and Mr. Symmes proceeded to the Miami country.
As soon as the agents received the letter of attorney .they consulted with the associates, and on their advice prepared and executed a contract of three parte, bearing date the 15th of October, 1783, between the commis- sioners of the Board of Treasury of the first part, Jona- than Dayton and Daniel Marsh of the second part, and John Cleves Symmes and his associates of the third part, for the purchase of "all that certain tract or parcel of land situate and being in the Western country adjoining to the Ohio River; beginning on the bank of the same river, at a point exactly twenty miles distant along the several courses of the same, from the place where the great river Miami enters itself into the said river Ohio by the several courses thereof to the said Great Miami River; thenee up the said river Miami, along the several courses thereof to a place from whence a line drawn dne east will intersect a line drawn from the place of begin- ning aferesiid, parallel with the general course of the Miami River, so as to include one million of aeres within those lines and the said rivers."
The price of the land was two-thirds of a dollar per acre, one-seventh part of which was payable in United States military land warrants, and the residue in gold or silver, or certificates of debt due from the United States, not including interest, for which new certificates or indents were to be issued. The sum of $82,198 having already been paid into the treasury by Mr. Symumnes, a further payment of 882,198 was required to be paid within one month from the time the geographer or some other person authorized by the United States should sur- vey and mark the boundary lines of the whole tract, aud return a map of it to the Board of Treasury, the resi- due of the purchase money to be paid in six semi-annual installments, and on the payment of each installment a patent was to issue for a proportionate quantity of lan:l. The contract contains a provision that if Judge Symmes and his associates should fail to perform the condition of the contract it should inure to the benefit of JJonathan Dayton, Daniel Marsh, and their associates, who cove- nanted, in that case, to perform it for themselves.
The certificates of debt of the United States were
the contract authorized one-seventh of each installment to be paid in military land warrants, General Dayton was appointed to receive thein. A sufficient quantity of those warrants having been put into his hands to cover a range of townships, the third entire range was set apart for that purpose, and afterwards, on the thirtieth day of October, 1794, a deed of conveyance was made by Judge Symmes to General Dayton, in trust for the owners of the warrants. From that circumstance it ob- tained the name of the military range. In this range the township of Hamilton is situated. A map of the country was made by Jadge Symmes, as accurately as it could be expected to be drawn before an actual survey. It was laid off into ranges of six miles wide, extending from the Great Miami River to the Little Miami River, and numbered from south to north. Two fractional ranges, however, adjoin the Ohio River, lying south of the first entire range. Each range is divided into town- ships of six miles square, and numbered from west to cast, commencing at the Great Miami River. Each township is subdivided into thirty-six sections of one mile square, and numbered from south to north, begin- ning at the southeast corner of the township.
In the Fall of 1788 or early part of the Winter. Judge Symmes employed thirteen surveyors to lay out and subdivide the country into townships and sections as required by his contract. He directed Israel La How, one of his surveyors, in whom he had most confiilence, to begin at a point as far south as he could discover in the most southerly bend of land on the bank of the Obio River, between the Miami Rivers, and rur a meridian or north line from the bank of the Ohio River six miles north, and monument the line of termination. He was further instructed by Judge Symmes to survey or run a due west line from the point where the meridian of six miles terminated to the Great Miami River, and also a due east line to the Little Miami River, and to graduate this line into mile distances, set stakes and monuments, and mark trees at each mile along this base or first east and west line for corners of sections. This was called the base line. It is the line running east and west, three miles north of the ohl corporation-line of the city of Cincinnati, and passing on the south side of Cumminsville. Agreeably to Judge Symmes's in- structions, Israel Ludlow commenced at a point on the Ohio, aboat four miles below Cincinnati, and can a me- ridian line six miles north and monumented the termi- nation of the six miles. The point of termination is the corner of sections Nos. 3, 4, 9, 10 in town two of the second fractional range, about half a mile north-east of Cheviot, Green Township, Hamilton County, The line run from the Ohio River was called the first meridian. and was extended by Ah. Leddlow until it Prach the Great Miami River between two and three miles below the town of Hamilton. The surveyors were then directed
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SYMVES'S PURCHASE.
to commence cach at a stake or corner made on their base line, and to survey and run meridian lines accord- ing to the magnetic needle, fifteen miles north from the base line, and set stakes and mark trees at the termination of each mile as corvers to sections. The east and west lines of the sections were not run by Judge Symmes's surveyors, but were left open to be run by those who might purchase the land. At the termination of the fifteen miles from the base line, the third or mili- tary range commenced, which Judge Symmes said be- longed solely to the military gentlemen, and that hrc had no right to interfere in the survey of that range. A line was run north from the termination of the fifteen miles, six miles across the third range, without marking or making corners, and then an cast and west line was run from the Great Miami to the Little Miami Rivers, and graduated into mile distances, and corners established as on the first base line. This formed the south boundary of the fourth range, where the lands of Judge Symmes recommenced, to which the several surveyors were di- rected to repair and continue their surveys north in the same inanner they had done from the first base line. On reaching about one mile north of the sixth range it was discovered that, in consequence of hilly ground or inac- curacies in chaining, the stakes set as corners for sections did not correspond with each other on a due east and west line; hence a correction was made by running another east and west line from one river to the other, from which they commenced their surveys anew, and continued to move on, laying out the country into town- ships and sections for about thirty miles north of where the town of Dayton now is. This plan of laying out the country without closing the survey of sections by run- ning east and west lines to connect the survey, it will be per- ceived, was readily subject to great inaccuracy. Hence, scarcely two sections in the purchase could be found of the same shape and contents. This now is particularly noticeable in the townships of Fairfield and Union. One surveyor might pass over level ground and hi: cbain-car- riers measure correctly ; another might have to pass over rough, hilly ground, or his chain-carriers might be care- less, and measure inaccurately or make mistakes.
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