Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 30

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020

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to April 1, 1799, whose lands were not included in his patent, were given a preference over all other purchasers at $2.00 an acre, and in 1801, this right of permission was extended to all per- sons who had purchased prior to January 1, 1800. From time to time thereafter, Congress made provisions so liberal that it is thought that practically all were able to complete their pay- ments from the produce of their farms and at length their titles were made good.

THE "COLLEGE TOWNSHIP."

Judge Burnet in -his "Notes" gives a chapter to the discussion of the Symmes' contract in which he gives in detail the complications that arose from the uncertainty as to the boundaries. Much of the uncertainty was the result of care- lessness and the indiscriminate location of lands and also because of the imperfections of the sur- vey. This sale of lands scattered through many sections and the selling of an undivided moiety on March 2, 1788, of Symmes' entire personal reservation to Boudinot had much to do with the controversy about the "College Township." No register was appointed, but Symmes received the moneys and applied them entirely to pay- ments for lands instead of applying a portion to the improvement of roads and the erection of bridges. The provisions concerning the im-

provements of the lands by the erection of build- ings were not complied with which led to a num- ber of attempted forfeitures which however failed by reason of the prejudice of the courts and juries against forfeitures. The Indian wars made it impossible to make the necessary surveys and the plan adopted for surveying the lands which was to be done by the purchasers at their own ex- pense was not successful.

"The principal surveyor was directed to run a line east and west, from one Miami River to the other, sufficiently north to avoid the bends of the Ohio, for a base line, on which he was directed to plant a stake at the termination of each mile. The assistant surveyors were then instructed to run meridian lines by the compass, froni each of those stakes, and to plant a stake at the termina- tion of each mile, for a section corner. The pur- chasers were then left to complete the survey, by running east and west lines, at their own ex- pense, to connect those corners. By that defec- tive plan of survey, scarcely two sections couldl be found in the Purchase, of the same shape, or of equal contents : some were too wide, others too narrow, and it may be doubted if there be one in

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the whole Purchase, the corresponding corners of which, either on the north, or the south side, are on the same east and west line. In some in- stances, the corner on one meridian was found to be ten, twenty, and sometimes thirty rods, either north or south of the corresponding corner, on the other meridian." ( Burnet's Notes, p. 418.)

Symmes afterwards tried to remedy this con- fusion by ordering a re-survey which would have changed every original corner in the purchase. The Supreme Court of the State, however, con- firmed the original survey as having been made under proper authority and therefore as being conclusive.

The burning of Symmes' mansion house about the year 1811, supposed to have been caused by an incendiary, consumed a large number of the papers, the maps and books of entry relating to the surveys and sales of lands. Fortunately others had copies of many of the important doc- uments. The long delay between the taking out of warrants and the issue of deeds resulted in many fraudulent transfers. All these matters served to plague Judge Symmes and render his last years unhappy as is shown by the bitter words of his will.

The matter of the "College Township" can be discussed briefly. The original ordinance for sales of public lands authorized the granting of college lands to the purchasers of two million acres and in Symmes' original pamphlet a "Col- lege Township" located as nearly opposite the Licking River as a suitable entire township could be found was provided for and was selected in good faith. When the contract was made re- ducing the quantity one half Symmes necessarily forfeited his claim to a "College Township" and he thereupon offered for sale the lots in the one which he had reserved for that purpose. When the bill of 1792 was passed and the patent in 1794 issued it contained a provision as follows :

"It is hereby declared, that one complete town- ship or tract of land, of six miles square, to be located, with the approbation of the Governor, for the time being, of the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, and in the manner, and within the term of five years aforesaid, as nearly as may be, in the centre of the tract of land herein before granted, hath been, and is granted, and shall be holden, in trust, to and for the sole and exclusive intent and purpose, of erecting and establishing therein, an Academy and other public schools, and seminaries of learning; and endowing and

supporting the same, and to and for no other use, intent or purpose whatever."

At that time there was not an entire township in the purchase undisposed of. When the first Territorial Legislature was appointed in 1799, Symmes attempted a settlement of the matter by offering the second township of the second frac- tional range for this purpose. This is now known as Green township and part of it including the village of Westwood is now in the city of Cin- cinnati. Upon examination the conveyance to Boudinot of an undivided part of Symmes' re- serve townships "was discovered as well as the fact that a few other sales had been made. The offer was thereupon rejected upon the advice of Governor St. Clair. It was repeated a number of times and finally in 1802 and 1803 the offer was made to Congress who also were obliged to reject it. Symmes regarded the sale to Boudinot as vague and conditional ; he claimed that Boudi- not had not lived up to the conditions on his own part and claimed further that if this were not true that Boudinot would have recourse against Symmes personally as his agreement was not sufficient to pass the title to the land. The United States Court of Pennsylvania decided in favor of Boudinot in 1802 and directed Symmes to perform his contract specifically. As to the other purchasers, it is supposed that Symmes ex- pected to refund to them their purchase money but he was not in a position to do so. In 1802 and 1803 Congress passed a law vesting in the Legislature of Ohio a township of land in lieu of the township already granted for the purpose of establishing a college or academy. In April, 1803, Jacob White, Jeremiah Morrow and Will- iam Ludlow were selected by the Legislature as commissioners . to locate the college lands, 36 sections in number. By reason of the number of sales already made in the Miami purchase, it be- came necessary to locate these sections west of the Great Miami River without the limits of the purchase where they are now held by the Miami University. The Miami University was created by the Legislature by an act of February, 1809, which provided for the fixing of the permanent seat of the University. The towns of Cincinnati, Dayton and Lebanon were considered and finally Lebanon in Warren County was selected, but at the next session of the Legislature an act was passed establishing the University on the land belonging to it. As a result of these proceedings Miami University was established at Oxford.

CHAPTER XII.

THE SETTLEMENT AT COLUMBIA.

THE LANDING OF STITES-THE BLOCKHOUSE-THE FIRST SETTLERS-FARMING AND HUNTING -- THE FIRST CHURCH-THE FIRST SCHOOL-JUDGE GOFORTH'S DIARY-THE VISIT OF BAILY.

After the return of the explorers to Limestone, the various parties made preparations for their final departure to their new homes north of the Ohio. The first to start was the party of Capt. Benjamin Stites. Stites with his son Benjamin spent more than two months in sawing out lum- ber for cabins and making all the arrangements necessary for erecting immediate proper shelter for his colonists. One cause of the delay had been the lack of sufficient military escort ; another was the daily expectation of the conclusion of the treaty of Fort Harmar with the Indians. His nephew, Nehemiah, was shot while at. work in the woods. Stites by far the most adventurous of the colonists concluded however that he would. delay no longer. Rumors were brought into Limestone by a party of Kentucky hunters, tell- ing of five hundred Indian warriors who were stationed at the mouth of the Little Miami, ready to resist the invading white men, who might at- tempt to effect a landing there. This rumor has been charged by some writers to the jealousy of the Kentuckians. In fact, however, there were a few Shawanees encamped a little distance up the Miami, when Captain Stites' boats put ashore. They were very friendly, however, and so peace- able in their conduct that Stites sent reassuring word to Symmes and Patterson, who tarried at Limestone.

THE LANDING OF STITES.

On the 16th day of November, Stites' party left Limestone for the unknown land of the Ohio, and for two days their flat-boat floated on the bosom of the river until just before daybreak on

the morning of the 18th of November, 1788, they approached the mouth of the Little Miami. Three men were sent forward in a canoe as scouts to see if there were any Indians there encamped. Their instructions were that if they found signs of hostility to signal to those in the flat-boat, to keep near the Kentucky shore and pass on with- out landing. If no Indians were seen there, they were to land their canoe and this would be a sig- nal to the flat-boats to land also. The canoe cautiously approached the shore in the dusky morning light and after a few moments' recon- naissance its occupants found there was none to oppose them. The prow of the canoe was turned toward the shore and it struck the land about three-quarters of a mile below the Miami. Heze- kiah Stites, a brother of Capt. Benjamin Stites, immediately jumped ashore and by so doing es- tablished his claim to be the first settler who land- ed on the site of Columbia, and as Columbia is now' a part of the city of Cincinnati, the first set- tler of the Queen City of the West. The point of their landing was a little below the mouth of the Miami, at a spot nearly in front of where sub- sequently was the residence of Athan Stites. The party, according to Rev. Ezra Ferris "after making fast the boats, ascended the steep bank and cleared away the underbrush in the midst of a pawpaw thicket, when the women and children sat down. They next * placed senti- * nels at a small distance from the thicket, and having first united in a song of praise to Al- miglity God. *

* * mpon their bended knees they offered thanks for the past, and prayer for future protection." This group included Stites,

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John S. Gano, Thomas C. Wade, Edmund Bux- ton and Greenbright Bailey and wife.

As. Mr. Venable well says: "This devout and pious scene in the pawpaw thicket near the shore of the Ohio, furnishes a study for some Cincin- nati artist to immortalize in a painting."

THE BLOCKHOUSE.

Stites was not only a courageous man, but a provident one, and he at once proceeded to the erection of two or three blockhouses, which known as Fort Miami together with the adjoin- ing cabins formed the nucleus of Columbia, now the oldest part of Cincinnati, and the oldest white settlement in Hamilton County or in the Miami purchase. The first blockhouse is said to have been erected about at the spot of landing. Its lo- cation in section 29, township five, has been fully identified by Robert Ralston Jones, in his valu- able monograph on Fort Washington.

Mr. Jones says :

"It stood on the bank of the Ohio River, at a point about one-half mile below the mouth of the Little Miami. The blockhouse was

about eighteen feet wide and twenty-four feet long, built of large round logs. It survived the rav- ages of time until April 25, 1838, when it was undermined during a time of flood by the swells from passing steamers."

By permission of Mr. Jones, the statement of Thomas Gregory, with reference to this block- house, is here copied :

"Near the edge of the high river bank on the Ohio side of the river, at a point about one- half mile below the mouth of the Little Miami. River, there stood a blockhouse which in 1832 was occupied by a family named Hart, but owned by Athan Stites, a son of Hezekiah Stites and nephew of Captain Benjamin Stites who were among the first settlers of Columbia in 1788.

"This blockhouse was occupied in 1832 as a dwelling house, by a family consisting of two young women, Catherine and Mary Hart, and their brother, Jacob, a lad of about iny. own age (nine years). The oldest daughter afterward married Athan Stites. One day in the year 1832 one of the young women alluded to ( Catherine) crossed the river in a boat and coming to my father's house requested as a favor that I might be allowed to come and live at their house (the blockhouse) so as to be company for their young brother Jacob.

"My father granted the request and I accord-

ingly went to live with the family in the block- house, remaining there about three years.

"During those three years, say 1832-1834 in- clusive, I lived in the blockhouse and have a clear idea of its size and location, in part from the fact that a brick house of Athan Stites, which is still standing, was built at some time within the three years I mention, and this brick house was constructed facing the river at a point about 100 feet back of the blockhouse and had its west- ern end at about the center of the blockhouse. "I am led to remember the relative position of the brick house, and the blockhouse in which I lived, from the circumstance .that with the other lad, Jacob Hart, 1 assisted in carrying brick to the mason who was employed to build the house. We each piled up a few bricks on a short board and thus carried them to where lie was at work.

"The blockhouse was about eighteen feet wide and twenty-four feet long with the gable end to- wards the Ohio River and very close to the edge of the bank.

"The building was constructed of round logs about the size of a man's body, unhewed, but notchied together at the corners. It contained two rooms divided by a rough partition of split logs, afterwards changed to a board partition, and above the first story was a high garret or attic. The roof was covered with split logs se- cured by wooden pins, afterwards replaced by clap-boards. There was a puncheon floor, later removed for a more modern substitute. The at- tic projected over the lower story and was pro- vided with port or loop holes for rifles. A large stone chimney stood in the middle of the gable end farthest from the river. This chimney was built outside of the logwork, but the fireplace opened into the lower room. This fireplace was large enough to take in logs about four feet in length and at night it furnished our light, for lamps of any kind were very scarce.

"The front of the house, facing the Ohio River, had a window and door in the lower story and a small window in the attic. There was a window opening on each side of the house in the back room and another small window in the attic facing away from the river. The door was a heavy one secured by a bar, and the win- dows were protected by solid plank shutters.

"Early in the spring of 1838 during a high stage of the river, two steamboats were passing the blockhouse at about the same time, and the swells from these boats caused the bank to cave away and the old blockhouse to fall into the river.

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"The day on which this accident occurred was the same as that on which the boilers of the Steamer 'Moselle' exploded, at Fulton, April 25, 1838.

"The above is a true statement, as I remem- ber the events of the old blockhouse, which was said to have been built soon after the landing of Benjamin Stites and his brother Hezekiah, with other settlers, just below the Little Miami River, on November 18, 1788."

A part of the men stood guard over the settle- ment while . others worked on the blockhouse. On November 24th, the first blockhouse was com- pleted and the women and children with their goods were moved into it.

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

In the Directory of 1819, the statement is made that the original article of agreement for commencing the undertaking with Stites "was signed by about thirty persons, some of whom retracted their engagement on account of a rumor which was circulated by the Kentuckians, that a large body of Indians had encamped at the place of their destination. Most of them, how- ever, adhered to their resolution; and on the 16th of November, 26 persons descended the river to the mouth of the Little Miami, where they arrived on the 18th. After some precau- tion taken to avoid a sudden attack from the In- dians, the party landed and immediately com- menced the erection of a blockhouse at the place now called Columbia. A part of the number stood guard, while the rest worked upon the building, which in a few days was sufficiently prepared for their reception. Three other blockhouses were soon after erected near the first, forming a square stockade fort. This was the second settlement on the Ohio, and the first between the Miamis. In a few weeks several of the party were dispatched to inform Mr. Symmes of the success of their adventure. He immediately sent on six soldiers, under the command of a sergeant, who built a small blockhouse a little below the one erected by the inhabitants."

In a note, the 26 persons referred to are given as follows : "Major Benjamin Stites, Hez. Stites, Elijah Stites, John S. Gano, James H. Bailey, Dan. Shoemaker, Owen Davis, thirce women, and a number of small children and sev- eral other persons, whose names are not known."

In a work published by Robert Clarke, in 1870, the following appear as the names of the early settlers of Columbia : "James 11. Baily, Zephiu Ball, Jonas Bowman, Edmund Buxton, W. Cole-

man, Benjamin Davis, David Davis, Owen Davis, Samuel Davis, Francis Dunlevy, Hugh Dunn, Isaac Ferris, John Ferris, James Flinn, Gabriel Foster, Luke Foster, John S. Gano, William Go- forth, Daniel Griffin, Joseph Grose, John Hardin, Cornelius Hurley, David Jennings, Henry Jen- nings, Levi Jennings, Ezekiel Larned, John Mc- Culloch, John Manning, James Matthews, Aaron Mercer, Elijah Mills, Ichabod B. Miller, Patrick Moore, William Moore, John Morris, Newell, John Phillips, Jonathan Pitman, Benjamin F. Randolph, James Seward, Benjamin Stites, Thomas C. Wade, John Webb, Wickersham."

On July 4, 1889, the landing at Columbia was celebrated by the dedication of the monument erected to the memory of the first boat load of pioneers, who landed there a little over a hun- dred years before. On one side of the freestone pedestal is engraved, "To the Pioneers Landing Near this Spot, November 18, 1788." On the obverse side of this monument. is the following ·inscription : "To the first boat load of pioneers landing near this spot-Major Benjamin Stites, Mrs. Benjamin Stites, Ben Stites, Jr., Rachel Stites, Ann W. Stites, Greenbright Bailey, Mrs. Greenbright Bailey, Jas. F. Bailey, Reasom Bailey, Abel Cook, Jacob Mills, Jonathan Stites, Ephraim Kibby, John S. Gano, Mrs. Mary S. Gano, Thos. C. Wade, Hezekiah Stites, Elijah Stites, Edmund Buxton, Daniel Shoemaker, - Hempstead, Evan Shelby, Allen Woodruff, Hampton Woodruff, Joseph Cox, Benjamin Cox."

.Another list adds the name of Ignatius Ross to the early settlers,

Judge Burnet, commenting upon this settle- ment, mentions the names of Colonel Spencer, Major Gano, Judge Goforth, Francis Dunlevy, Major Kibby, Rev. John Smith, Judge Foster, Colonel Brown, Mr. Hubbell, Captain Flinn, Jacob White and John Reily, and says :

"They were all men of energy and enterprise, and were more numerous than either of the parties who commenced their settlements below them on the Ohio. Their village was also more flourishing, and for two or three years contained a larger number of inhabitants than any other in the Miami purchase. This superiority, how- ever, did not continue, as will appear from the sequel." (Notes on the Northwestern Terri- tory, p. 46.)

FARMING AND HUNTING.

After a blockhouse had been completed by Stites' party and everything arranged as well as

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possible for the protection of the women and children, the settlers proceeded to erect log cab- ins for their families. The boats in which they had come down from Limestone were broken up and were used for doors and floors in these rough buildings. They were in considerable dis- tress however for supplies. The Indians troubled them but little as they were then gathered at Fort Harmar, negotiating their treaty with the whites. Wild game was to be had for the shoot- ing, and the river was full of fish of fine quality, but their bread stuffs and salt soon gave out and they were obliged to resort to such substitutes during the winter as they could devise from the various roots of the native plants which grew about them particularly the roots of the bear- grass. The women and children were in the habit of visiting Turkey Bottom for these roots, which they boiled, washed and dried on smooth boards and finally pounded into a species of flour, which served as a tolerable substitute for making various baking preparations. Few fam- ilies, however, had milk and still fewer bacon for a season or two.

As the spring opened up and they were able to do a little planting, the prospects of the set- tlers grew brighter. The fine bottoms of the Little Miami, particularly Turkey Bottom, were worked by the men, half keeping guard with rifles, while the other half worked.

"Turkey Bottom, one and a half miles above the mouth of the Little Miami, was a clearing of 640 acres made ready to the hands of the whites when they commenced the settlement of the country. The Indians had cultivated it for a length of years up to the period of Major Stites" settlement, although part of this extensive field had been suffered to grow up by neglect in honey and black locust, which became literally, as well as figuratively, 'thorns in the sides,' to the early settlers. This ground was leased by Stites to six of the settlers for five years and with a clear- ing of Elijah Stites and other settlers of six acres more, furnished the entire supply of corn, for that settlement and Cincinnati, for that sea- son. Nothing could surpass the fertility of the soil, which was as mellow as an ash heap. Ben- jamin Randolph 'planted an acre, which he had no time to hoe, being obliged to leave the settle- ment for New Jersey. When he returned lie found an hundred bushels of corn ready for husk- ing.

"Seed corn, and even corn for homony, and in the form of meal was brought out of the Ken-

tucky settlements, down the Licking, and occa- sionally from a distance as great as Lexington." (Cist's Miscellany, Vol. I, p. 100.)

The valley of the Little Miami, two miles wide at its lower termination, contained but little for- est, and the low and level surface of Turkey Bot- tom and the surrounding meadows were fre- quented both in winter and summer by numer- ous flocks of wild poultry. The circular used by Joel Barlow and the agents of the Scioto Com- pany to promote emigration from France, de- scribed the Ohio country generally. The ad- vantages offered agriculturists were described as follows :

"In all parts the soil is deep, rich, producing in abundance wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, bar- ley, oats, flax, hemp, tobacco, indigo, the tree that furnishes the food for the silk worm, the grape-vine, cotton. The tobacco is of a quality much superior to that of Virginia, and the crops of wheat are much more abundant here than in any other part of America. The ordinary crop of corn is from sixty to eighty English bushels per acre. The bottom lands are especially adapt- cd to the production of all the commodities we have just enumerated. There where the vast plains, which are met with in this territory, are intersected with little brooks, the land is suitable for the culture of rice, and it grows here abun- dantly. Hops also are produced spontaneously in this territory, and there are also the same peaches, plums, pears, melons, and in general all the fruits which are produced in the temperate zone."

In addition to these advantages for agricul- turists the following claim was made :

"There is no country more abounding in game than this. The stag, fallow deer, elk, buffalo and bears fill the woods and are nourished on these great and beautiful plains, which are encountered in all parts of these countries, an unanswerable proof of the fertility of the soil; wild turkeys. geese, ducks, swans, teal, pheasants, partridges, and so forth, are here found in greater abundance than our domestic fowls in all the older settle- ments of America. The rivers are well stocked with fish of different kinds, and several of these fish are of an exquisite quality. In general they are large, the cat-fish ( poisson-chat ) lias an ex- cellent flavor and weighs from twenty to eighty pounds.

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 30

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020