Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 31

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

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"One will find here provisions for several years, and the borders of each one of these rivers will serve for a long time in place of a market.

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When inhabitants shall come here from all parts of the world, nature will have provided for them, at least for one year, all they need, without the necessity of making any purchases." (Ohio Arch & Hist. Soc. Pub., Vol III, p. 90.)

It will be recollected that Christopher Gist, in his journal, recorded that the land "abounds with . turkeys, deer, elks, and most sources of game, particularly buffalos, thirty or forty of which are frequently seen feeding on one meadow, in short it wants nothing but cultivation to make it a most delightful country."

Despite these glowing descriptions, it can well be imagined that the early days of the settlement were times of great hardship. As Mr. Cist well says, writing in 1859, "it is hardly possible for those who now reside in Cincinnati, in the enjoy- ment of the comfort and luxury which money can purchase, and the plenty which pours in by wagons, steamboats, railways and canals, to real- ize the destitutions and privations of the first set- tlers before they had got their farms cleared and the cleared land under cultivation and fence.

"At that period the condition of the great thor- oughfares of the West -- of the route across the Alleghany Mountains especially-was such as to forbid the emigrants taking any articles but those of indispensable necessity ; for a six horse road wagon at a slow gait could not carry more than what would now be considered over a Macadam-

ized road a load for two horses. When the pio- neer westward had reached Red Stone or Wheel- ing, the difficulties of transportation were not much lessened. There were no wagon roads through the intermediate country, if the hostili- ties of the implacable savage had permitted tra- versing the route by land in safety ; and the fam- ily boats which carried the settlers down, were so incumbered with wagons, horses, cows, pigs, etc., as to have little room for anything else but a few articles of family housekeeping of the first neces- sity. On reaching their destination, cabins had to be erected, the land cleared and cultivated and the crop gathered in in the presence as it were of the relentless savage who watched every oppor- tunity of destroying the lives of the settlers, and breaking up the lodgments as fast as made. In the meantime supplies of food not yet raised on the improvement had to be obtained in the woods from hunting which in most cases was a constant exposure of life to Indian enemies." (Cincin- nati in 1859, pp. 121-122.)

In spite of these discouragements, however, Stites proceeded to lay out "the squares and streets for a great city, which he hoped would

eventually become the Queen of the West, but nature and destiny declared against him and the city never advanced beyond the plan. The vast corn fields of the wealthiest estates in the neigh- borhood are still haunted by the half obsolete name of Turkey Bottom; the East End of the great Cincinnati corporation, which is gradually creeping up the Little Miami wears the familiar name of Captain Stites' rude little hamlet. These are the most substantial memorials of his defeated ambition which survive about the place of his settlement." (Jewett.)

As already stated, a sergeant and 18 men were presently sent down by Symmes to Stites and af- terwards a sergeant and 12 men started from Limestone with a party of settlers for the Old Fort, at the mouth of the Great Miami, but these were turned back at Columbia by ice in the river which gorged it completely and damaged their boats. They returned discouraged but in safety to Limestone.

Stites' village was intended to occupy the plain between Crawfish creek and the mouth of the Little Miami, a distance fronting on the Ohio almost three miles. It was expected to go up the Miami about the same distance. It was in fact laid out for over a mile on the Ohio stretch- ing back for over three-fourths of a mile half way up the high hill at the northeast. It was platted in eighty blocks of lots each of half an acre and the rest in lots of four and five acres each. Nine hundred and forty-five in-lots are supposed to have been staked off by the surveyors. These lay on streets intersecting each other at right angles. The village at Columbia as was after- wards built does not conform in any way to the Stites plan. The modern Columbia lies below the original site which, strictly speaking, is not within the limits of Cincinnati.

THE FIRST CHURCH.

Columbia, as has been stated several times, was the largest settlement in the purchase during the early years and much was expected of its future development. Its buildings were better in ar- rangement and appearance than those of the other settlements and its population was made up of a people of very high character. By the close of 1790, about fifty cabins had been erected here. Wickerham's mill was the principal. one in the purchase. Here too was organized the first church in the purchase. The celebrated Bap- tist minister, Rev. David Jones, while visiting the Ohio country stopped at Columbia as early as December, 1780, and preached in one of the

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blockhouses of the fort the first sermon to the settlers. . Other ministers who visited the settle- ment were David Rice, a Presbyterian from Ken- tucky and Elder John Mason, a Virginia Bap- tist. Elder Stephen Gano visited his relatives in Columbia in March, 1790, and preached a number of sermons and finally organized the Baptist Church. There seems to be some dis- pute as to the exact date, authorities being di- vided between January 20 and March 31, 1790.

The meeting place was at the dwelling of Ben- jamin Davis and nine persons joined at the time : Benjamin Davis, Mary Davis, Jonah Reynolds, Amy Reynolds, John Ferris, Isaac Ferris, Eliza- beth Ferris, Thomas C. Wade and John S. Gano. Isaac Ferris was appointed deacon and Gano, clerk; Elizabeth Stites, Rhoda Stites and Sarah Ferris were "received upon experience," and were baptized in the river on Sunday, April 8th. Others soon joined the church increasing its number to 15. Elder Gano had been chosen pas- tor but he did not feel that his work in the East would permit him to accept the appointment ; he therefore returned to his home. Elder John Smith was thereupon chosen, although he did not take charge until the spring of 1791. Daniel Clark, a licentiate, served during his absence. Clark was ordained as a clergyman in September 1793. This was said to be the first ordination of a Protestant clergyman in the Northwest Ter- ritory.

Major Stites gave a lot in the northern part of Columbia and finally a frame structure, 36 by 30 feet, with gallery and a hip-roof was erected for a church. It was occupied in the spring of 1793 and stood until 1835 when it was torn down. At Columbia as well as at Cincinnati, the set- tlers who attended the meetings carried their firearms. This continued until after the time of Wayne's victory. At the conclusion of the serv- ices it was quite common practice for Colone! Spencer, the head of the militia, to address the meeting upon the importance of guarding care- fully the settlement. On one occasion two members brought into the church an Indian scalp which they had just taken.

In April, 1790, the Columbia church concluded "that in view of the entire destitution of preach- ing in Cincinnati, Brother Smith be allowed to spend half his time in that place." Elder Smith was one of the most prominent characters in the carly days of the Territory. He was of noble and commanding personal appearance and was possessed of very fine manners and admirable presence. He came originally from Virginia

and resided at Columbia until 1795. In that year he took charge of a church known as the Little Miami Island Church which was about eight miles northeast of Columbia. Subsequently Smith be- came interested in politics. He was a member of the first constitutional convention which or- ganized the State and one of the first members of the United States Senate from 1803 to 1808. He was chosen as a Jeffersonian Democrat and during the early part of his term he enjoyed the friendship of President Jefferson. He was sent in 1804 on a confidential mission to Louisiana and Florida to discover the attitude of the Span- ish officers there towards the United States. He became acquainted with Burr and when Burr passed through the neighborhood he entertained him. Subsequently his friendship for Burr was misconstrued and he was finally charged with treason. A motion was made in the Senate to expel him. This failed of passage by one vote. Smith resigned his seat in disgust and finally re- tired to Louisiana where he died in 1824. ( Bur- net's Notes, p. 94.)

THE FIRST SCHOOL.

The first school in the county was opened in Columbia, June 21, 1790, by John Reily who was joined the next year by Francis Dunlevy (Dunlavy ). Reily came from North Carolina and served under General Greene throughout the Revolutionary War. He was one of the first settlers at Columbia but removed in 1704 to Cin- cinnati where he became deputy clerk, a clerk of the Territorial Legislature and collector of the town. He moved to Hamilton in 1803 where he became the clerk of the Common Pleas Court and of the Supreme Court and also recorder of the county. lle died at the age of eighty-seven in 1850. (Burnet's Notes.)

His associate, Francis Dunlevy, was from Vir- ginia and served in the Indian wars and in the Revolutionary War. He was a member of Craw- ford's army at the time of his defeat near San- (lusky. He lived in Columbia until 1797 when he moved to Lebanon where he died in 1839. Ile was presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the First Circuit, which was located in Hamilton County, for a period of 16 years, and was a member of the first constitutional conven- tion and the first Legislature.

During the association of Reily and Dunlevy, " Reily taught the English studies and Dunlevy taught the classical department. The school was a subscription school and seems to have kept open throughout the year. The teacher was evi-

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dently boarded around among his patrons, for in his journal he records : "In the month of Au- gust boarded twelve days with Mr. Patrick Moore; in the month of September boarded twelve days with Hugh Dunn ; and in the month of December boarded with John McCulloch six days."

JUDGE GOFORTII'S DIARY.

Another very distinguished citizen of Colum- bia was Judge William Goforth whose name ap- pears frequently throughout this volume. He came early in 1789. Among the most interest- ing documents concerning the early history of this region is his diary which has been preserved for us by Mr. Cist.

EXTRACTS FROM MEMORANDUMS MADE BY JUDGE GOFORTH, IN HIS DAY-BOOK.

1789

Jan. 2 left our camp and put down the Ohio and on the 8th arrived at Limestone and thence to Washington which is in 38 degrees some min- utes North, and had at that time 119 horses.

Jan. 12th left Washington ( Mason County, Kentucky) on the 12th and arrived on the 18th at Miami (Columbia).

.Jan. 23 the first four horses were stolen-by the In- dians-

April 4 two of Mills' men were killed.

April 5 a bark canoe passed the town and five more horses were stolen.

April 16 Baily and party returned from pursuing after the Indians.

May 3 Met in the shade to worship.

May 11 A cat-fish was taken-four feet long, eight inch- es between the eyes, and weighed 58 pounds. Judge Symmes arrived on the 2nd of February, 1789, as he informed Major Stites at his own post.

April 21 traded with the first Indian.

April 28 Capt. Samondawat-an Indian, arrived and traded.

Aug. . 3 Named the Fort "Miami."

Aug. 5 Col. Henry Lee arrived and 53 volunteers.

Ang. 27 Went to North Bend with Col. Lec.

Sep. 3 Captain Fling retook the horses.

Sep. 25 Major Stites, old Mr. Bealer and myself took the depth of the Ohio River when we found there was 57 feet water in the channel, and that the river was 55 feet lower at that time than it was at that uncommonly high fresh last winter.

The water at the high flood was 112 fect. (Mr. Cist thinks this an error).

Oct. 9 Mr. White set ont for the Tiber.

Ang. 16 Major Doughty went down the river.

Dec. 28 Genl. Harmar passed this post down the River. 1790.

Jan. 2 The Governor passed this post down the River.

Jan. 3 received a line desiring my attendance with others.

Jan. 4 Attended his excellency when the Civil and Mil- itary officers were nominated.

Jan. 6 The officers were sworn in.

Jan. 13 Doctor David Johns preached.

Jan. 18 Doctor Gano and Thomas Sloo came here.

Jan. 20 The church was constituted-Baptist church at Columbia.

Jan. 21 Three persons were baptized.

Jan. 24 called a church meeting and took unanimous vote to call the Rev. Stephen Gano to the pas- toral charge of the church at Columbia.

April 15 General Harmar went on the campaign past this post.

April 19 The Governor went up the River.

Aug. 30 Worked at clearing the minister's lot.

Aug. 2 Mr. Sargent left this post to go up the River together with Judge Turner.

Sep. 12 The Mason county militia past this post on their way to headquarters.

Sep. 19 200 Militia from Pennsylvania past this post on their way to Cincinnati.

Sep. 23 The Governor went down to Cincinnati.

Sep. 25 Major Doughty and Judge Turner also.

Sep. 30 The main body of the troops marched. 1791.

Jan. 2 begun to thaw.

Mch. 1 Indians fired ,at Lt. Baily's boat.

Mch. 1 Mrs. Abel Cook was found dead in the Round Bottom.

Mch. 4 Mrs. Bowman was fired at in the night through a crack in the house.

Mch. 22 Mr. Strong returned from up the River ; had 24 men killed and wounded on the 19th March.

Mch. 27 Mr. Plasket arrived-the 24th in the morning fought the Indians just after daybreak, about 8 miles above Scioto-this the same battle men- tioned in Hubble's narrative.

July 7 Col. Spencer's son taken prisoner.

July 14 Francis Beadles, Jonathan Coleman, a soldier killed.

1792.

Jan. 7 In the evening Samuel Welch was taken.

Nov. 2 Last Monday night met at my house to consult on the expediency of founding an academy- Rev. John Smith, Major Gano, Mr. Dunlevy,- afterward Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and myself-Wednesday night met at Mr. Reily's school-house-Mr. Reily then the teacher was for many years Clerk of Butler Common Pleas and Supreme Court-to digest matters respecting the academy, the night being bad, and but few people attending postponed till next night which was ist of November, met at Mr. Reily's to appoint a committee.

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Dec. 6 Fall of snow 7 inches on a level. 1793. Sep. 24 The first and fourtn Sub-Legions march under General Wayne. The 27th or rather the 30th the army march. (Cist's Miscellany, Vol. I, p. 172.)

THE VISIT OF BAILY.

As late as 1794 soldiers were kept at Colum- bia there being as many as two hundred there at that time. Columbia was visited by a distin- guished Englishman, Francis Baily, afterwards a Fellow of the Royal Society, and president of the Royal Astronomical Society. His journal published in 1856 describes his visit as follows :

"Tuesday, February 28, 1797. This morning we dropped down the river about half mile to a convenient landing, and here we had a much better view of the town than we had where we lay last night. The houses lie very scattered along the bottom of a hill which is about one- eighth of a mile from the river. The town is laid out on a regular plan, but was never in a very flourishing state. The neighboring and well-settled country round and at Cincinnati pre- vents it from being a place of any great import- ance ; besides, it lies very low, and is often over- flowed from the river, which prevents any liouses being built immediately on the banks, as is cus- tomary in these new settlements. One-quarter of the land on which the town was intended to · be laid out is now under water.

"After breakfast we went ashore to view the town, and H. introduced me to Mr. Smith and Dr. Bean. The former gentleman is a man of very good property, which he has acquired in several different ways in this place: he is a farmer, a merchant, and a parson; all these oc- cupations, though seemingly so different, he carries on with the greatest regularity and with- out confusion. The latter is a man of good edu- cation and practices physic here, somewhat in the same manner as our country apothecaries in England do, for which he is dubbed doctor. As those gentlemen rank with the first in the place, a description of their habitations, manners, and society will serve, without any great variation, for that of the bulk of emigrants in a similar state of life.

"As Dr. Bean would insist upon our sleeping at his house, and in fact stopping with him dur- ing our residence here we accompanied him home. His house was built of logs, as all the houses in these new settlements are, and con- sisted of a ground floor containing two rooms, one of which was appropriated to lumber, the

other served all the purposes of parlor, bed room, shop, and everything else (though there was a little out-house where they occasionally cooked their victuals and also washed), and it did not appear as if it had been cleaned out this half-year. There were two windows to throw light into the room, but there had been so many of the panes of glass broken, whose places were supplied by old hats and pieces of paper, that it was very little benefited by the kind intention of the architect. I saw a few phials and gallipots on a shelf in one corner of the room, and near them a few books of different descriptions.

Such is the force of example that very few of the emigrants who come into this kind of half- savage, half-civilized, state of life, however neat and cleanly they might have been before, can have resolution to prevent themselves from fall- ing into that slovenly practice which everywhere surrounds them; and it is not till the first class of settlers are moved off, that any of these new countries are at all· desirable to a person brought up in different habits of life.

"At dinner-table I observed a table prepared in the middle of the room, with some knives and forks and pewter plates placed on it, but without any table-cloth ; and when the dinner was ready, two of his servants who were working out in the field were called in, and sat down at the same table and partook of the same provisions as our- selves.

"Our provisions consisted of some stewed pork and some beef, together with some wild sort of vegetable which had been gathered out in the woods, as it must be observed that in all these new settlements fresh provisions, both in meat and vegetables, are at some seasons very scarce, particularly at the time we were there. The in- habitants live a great deal upon deer and turkeys, which they shoot wild in the woods, and upon bacon, which they keep by them in case of need, and as to vegetables, they are seldom to be pro- cured, except in summer. The bread which is made here is chiefly of Indian meal ; it is a coarse kind of fare, but after a little use becomes not all unpleasant.

"When the time drew nigh for us to retire to rest, we were shown to one corner of the room where there was a ladder, up which we mounted into a dismal kind of a place without a window, but instead of these there were a number of crev- . ices between the logs, which had never been filled up, and in the room there were three beds, or rather three bedsteads, with a few blankets thrown over them.

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"I went to breakfast with Mr. Smith, and here I found things a little more in order, though far from that degrec of refinement and comfort to be met with in the more civilized parts of this country. This house bore the marks of indus- try and cleanliness, and we were regaled with tea and coffee and boiled chicken for our breakfast, attended with buckwheat cakes, which are com- mon in this part of the country.

"The farm of this gentleman consists of sev- eral acres of land adjoining his house, which he keeps in high cultivation-chiefly meadow ground-and from which he has realized a great deal of money. His warehouse was near .the water side. It consisted of but one room, where he brings down the river such articles of Euro- pean manufacture as are most in demand. There are but two or three other stores of the same kind in Columbia. The profits of this trade are generally one hundred per cent, and sufficiently compensate the trade for the trouble of a jour- ney once or twice a year to Philadelphia."

In 1810 John Cutler says of the village that it

had increased but little in the number of its in- habitants. "At present it is only a neat, pleasant village, consisting of about forty houses, built at some distance from cach other, on a rich bot- tom or interval. Nor is it probable, from its sit- uation, that it will ever become a place of much business."

Dr. Drake, writing in 1815 says, speaking of Columbia that it "in the year of 1789-90 had the largest settlement in the Miami country and was expected to flourish but the bayou which was formed across it from the Little Miami almost every year, and the occasional inundation of nearly the whole site had destroyed that expecta- tion and it is now inhabited chiefly by farmers." (Picture of Cincinnati, p. 37.)

In 1819 the Ohio State Gasetteer speaks of Columbia as containing but fifty houses. The later village lying down the river was incorpo- rated in 1868 and was annexed to the city of Cincinnati in 1873. At the census of 1870, just prior to the annexation, its population was 1, 165.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SETTLEMENT OF LOSANTIVILLE AND 'NORTH BEND.

THE LANDING AT YEATMAN'S COVE-THE SURVEY OF THE TOWN -- THE DONATION OF LOTS-THE RIVAL PLATS -- THE ORIGINAL PURCHASERS-THE FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH THE INDIANS-

SYMMES' PROCLAMATION TO THE INDIANS -- THE LANDING AT NORTH BEND-THE CITY OF MIAMI.

The reports sent back by Stites were sufficient- ly encouraging to induce Patterson's party, still at Limestone, to make a start for the tract pur- chased by Denman, opposite the mouth of the Licking.

THE LANDING AT YEATMAN'S COVE.

"About the last of December," says the Direc- tory of 1819, "Israel Ludlow, who after the death of Filson had become a joint proprietor with Denman and Patterson, of the site of Cin- cinnati, left Limestone with about twenty per- sons to commence a settlement on their purchase.

"Immediately on their arrival, Mr. Ludlow and his party erected three or four log cabins, the first of which was built on Front street, near the cor- ner of Front and Main streets. During the win- ter, Mr. Ludlow surveyed and laid out the town, then covered with a dense forest, marking the course of the streets on the trees. In addition to the small quantity of provision that the set- tiers brought with them, they found ample and easy means of subsistence from wild game and fish. The Indians, tho' unfriendly, committed no depredations for two or three months."

The names of the party are given in the Di- rectory of 1819, as follows :

"James Carpenter, William McMillan, John Vance, Robert Caldwell, Sylvester White, Sam.

Mooney, Henry Lindsay, Joseph Thornton, Noah Badgley, Thaddeus Bruen, Daniel Shoemaker, Ephraim Kirby, Thomas Gizzel, Wm. Connell, Joel Williams, Samuel Blackburn, Scott Tra- verse, John Porter, Fran. Hardisty, Matthew. Fowler and Evan Shelby."

This list strangely enough does not include the names of Ludlow and Patterson, who were unquestionably with the party. The other names usually included in the roll of founders, are those of Matthew Campbell, Captain Henry, Luther Kitchel, Elijah Martin and Isaac Tuttle. It is conjectured that Ephraim Kirby is Ephraim Kib- by, subsequently of Columbia, and also that the name of Daniel Shoemaker included here is that of the Columbia settler.

Kibby and Shoemaker drew lots at Losanti- ville, but were with Stites' party at Columbia and subsequently removed there. Tuttle, Henry and some of the others joined Symmes' number in February. Hardesty and others drifted away without making a permanent settlement here.

The exact date of the departure from Mays- ville is given in Symmes' letter to Dayton, writ- ten from North Bend, May 18, 1789:

"On the twenty-fourth of December last. colonel Patterson, of Lexington, who is con- cerned with Mr. Denman in the section at the mouth of Licking River, sailed from Limestone, in company with Mr. Tuttle, captain Henry, Mr. Ludlow, and about twelve others, in order to

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form a station and lay out a town opposite Lick- ing. They suffered much from the inclemency of the weather and floating ice, which filled the Ohio from shore to shore. Perseverance, how- ever, triumphing over difficulty, they landed safe on a most delightful high bank of the Ohio, where they founded the town of Losantiville, which populates considerably, but would have been much more important by this time, if colonel Patterson or Mr. Denman had resided in the town. Colonel Patterson tarried about one month at Losantiville, and returned to Lexing- ton."

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 31

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