USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 33
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Mr. Cist says : "I have not been able to learn the price at which the proprietors held the in and out-lots, not comprehended in the thirty of each thus made a granting to the first thirty
settlers. That it must have been a low figure may be readily inferred from the fact in pay- ment of a balance, less than one hundred dollars due by the proprietors to Ludlow for surveying fees, lie preferred taking 120 acres, seven miles from the town, to four out-lots and an entire square, of which Pearl street is now the center, worth now, as nakcd ground, more than two million dollars." (Cist, Cincinnati in 1859, p. 15.)
The price of the lots generally is said in one account to have been two dollars on the lower level and four dollars above, but this price must have risen very quickly for in the list collected by Robert Clarke from the record of Colonel Lud- low referred to hereafter the lowest prices given run usually at 25 and 30 shillings up to as high as 80 shillings, which was paid by Enos Terry for a lot on the southwest corner of Sixth and Main and also by Seth Cutter for a lot on the northwest corner of Fourth and; Sycamore. Jolin Riddle paid this same amount for an inside lot on the north side of Front between Plum and Elm streets while a lot on the west side of Vine just south of Seventh appears to have been pur- chased by Elijah Davis for 75 shillings. Dr. Drake in his "Picture of Cincinnati" (page 131) says: "For several years after the settlement of this place the lots along the principal streets were sold for less than $100.00 cach. They gradually increased in price until the year 1805, when from a sudden influx of population they arose for a short time with rapidity. Their advancement was then slower, until 1811; since which the rate of increase has been so high, that for a year past the lots in Main, from Front to Third streets, have sold at $200.00 per foot measuring on the front line; from thence to Sixth at $100.00; in Broadway, Front and Mar- ket streets, from 80 to 120; and on the others, from 50 to 10, according to local advantages. Out-lots, and land adjoining to the town plat bring from 500 to 1,000 dollars per acrc."
William Wiseman in his narrative given by Mr. Cist states that after the defeat of St. Clair "such was the panic among the inhabitants of Cincinnati, that I could have bought the best lots in the city at five dollars each, but I did not think proper to make the investment." (Cist, Cincinnati in 1859, p. 102.)
Some of the settlers preferred not to be lim- ited to the lots covered by the drawings and de- clined to take them, trusting to make a better bargain when the lots were thrown open to sell at low prices.
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
191
Major Ferguson, who was killed at the time of St. Clair's defeat in 1791, had bought just prior to his departure lot 13 on the south- west corner of Fourth and Broadway, a hundred feet by two hundred for $II. Numerous illus- trations of the low prices of the lots originally will be given later.
Denman's letter to Patterson of February I, 1789, enjoins him "to pay the greatest attention to the laying out of the Town at the mouth of Licking River and see that we have a good choice in the Lots, and if possible get the best and most pleasantly situated ones .- In case you should not see Mr. Ludlow's letter, I would wish you to have as many lots as you Judge necessary of about ten Acres each laid out back of the Town where you shall think proper, and let any persons occupy the same for a number of years (suppose twelve or Fourteen) on a small yearly Rent of about six pense a lot, by which means we may likely have a considerable part of our lands cleared & improved." (Con- cerning the Fore-Fathers, p. 397.)
Many stories are told as to the rise of value in city property. Cist records that one-half of lot 76, the lot originally drawn by Lindsay, was sold to A. and J. Hunt, on the 30th of Septem- ber, 1796, at $4, and comments that this prop- erty at the time of his writing in 1859 "if even stripped of its present improvements would now sell for more than one thousand dollars per front foot or fifty thousand dollars for the half lot." Patterson sold his interest to Freeman in 1794 at eight silver dollars per acre.
. Either value would be incomprehensible at the present time. In May, 1789, a large number of other lots were given away to new comers on the same terms and conditions as applied to the first donation. The list as preserved of this donation reads as follows :
No. of Lot.
Robert Caldwell
83, 84
John Cutter
92
Seth Cutter
89
James Millan
94 Levi Woodward
33, 34
Thaddeus Bruen 32
Nathaniel Rolstein 30
William Rolstein 65 Jonathan Fitts 61
William Cammel 85
Abraham Garrison 86
Francis Kennedy 151
Luther Kitchel 80
John Cummings
106
Robert Benham
17, 62, 63
Joshua Findlar
37
Henry Betchel, Junr.
57
Joseph Kelly
I13
Isaac Bates 60
James Campbel 154
Doctor John Hole.
227
Jabish Philips
91
Captain Furguson
13
Lieutenant Ford
10
Elijah Martin
David Logan
Samuel Kennedy
II2
Mr. Wick-Malign Baker
138
Cobus Lindsicourt.
114
William McMillan, Esqr.
27
Same (Outiot)
53 88
John Ellis-George Adams
129
Capt. Pratt
9
Capt. Ford
II
John Covert
85
Enock McHendry
67
James Dument 108
116
Joel Williams
126
Joseph McHendry
79
James Cunningham 128
Samuel Kitchel 209, 205
Col. Robert Paterson 127
There are some variations from this list as given by different authorities. According to some accounts, lots 33, 83 and 209 were not in- cluded in the donation. Lot 65 was drawn by Rev. James Kemper and lot 61 by Peyton Cook and Winters.
In this donation the entire stretch from the southeast corner of Third and Main to the north- east corner of Pearl and Main, fell to Robert Caldwell. Elijah Martin received lot 82, at the southeast corner of Pearl and Main. The north- east corner of Second and Main was assigned to Luther Kitchel; the northeast corner of Third and Main to William Campbell and John Covert. North of them came Abraham Garrison. The southeast corner of Fourth and Main streets was assigned to Henry Reed. On Sycamore, at the northwest corner of Third, lot 60 fell to Isaac Bates, north of him came Jonathan Fitts (or Peyton Cook and Winters), then Robert Benham, who had two lots, extending to the corner of Fourth street, as well as lot 17 at the southwest corner of Fifth and Broadway. Many of the settlers did not come into the immediate neighborhood of the blocks first chosen, as was shown by the fact that lot 263, at the south- west corner of Fourth and Race streets, was chosen by David Logan, but in the main the streets along the lower level were filled up first.
82 263
Henry Reed
John Terry, Senr:
192
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
This drawing included among others lots more or less scattered, running up the west side of Broadway from Third to Fourth and the south- west corner of Fifth and Broadway; a lot on the east side of Sycamore between Third and Fourth ; the west side of Sycamore from Third to Fifth; the east side of Main to above Fifth street and the west side of Main almost to the corner of Fifth street; the east side of Walnut between Front and Second and the southeast corner of Fourth and Walnut.
An examination of the records shows that very few of those who were fortunate enough to draw lots in these distributions ever availed themselves of their good fortune. Most of them either abandoned their lots or assigned them to some other persons who finally received deeds for them. Of the original thirty participants in the drawing, Isaac Freeman and Scott Traverse seem to be the only ones who eventually took deeds for their in-lots. Of the large number who participated in the second drawing, almost fifty, about 20 per cent took deeds for their in-lots or parts of them. These included Robert Caldwell, John Cutter, Seth Cutter, Abraham Garrison, Dr. John Hole, Jabesh Phillips, Robert Benham, George Adams, Joel Williams and Samuel Kitchel. (See Deed Books in Recorder's Of- fice. )
Symmes was not able to give deeds until after · the patent of 1794 so that many transfers had been made in the meantime.
Robert Clarke has collected a list of original purchasers, mostly during the year of 1789. In addition to those already mentioned, the follow- ing are included in this list :
Dr. Adams,
Peyton Cook,
John Adams,
Daniel C. Cooper,
Henry Atchison,
John Coulson,
Stephen Barns,
Joseph Cutter,
Daniel Bates,
Matthew Danalds,
William Beazley,
Edward Darling,
William Bedell,
Jonathan Davis,
Thomas Black,
Elijah Davis,
James Blackburn,
William Devin,
John Blanchard,
William Dillan,
Truman Bostwick,
William Dorrough,
Thomas Brown,
Russell Farnum,
Brunton & Dougherty,
Elijah Finley, Benjamin Flinn,
Moses Burd, James Burns,
Jacob Fowler,
Garret Cavender, John Check,
Samuel Freeman, Adam Funk,
Thomas Coehran,
John Gaston,
Uriah Gates,
James Goald,
Jolın Murfey,
Archibald Gray, George Greves, John Griffin, Joel Hamblen,
Hezekiah Hardesty,
Uriah Hardesty,
William Harris,
James Harway,
Thomas Persons,
William Hedger, - Heooleson, Robert Hinds,
Daniel Hole,
Darius Hole,
Jacob Reeder,
William Hole,
Stephen Reeder,
Zachariah Hole,
Thomas Richards,
Edward Holland,
John Riddle,
Jerum Holt, .
Abraham Ritchison,
Israel Hunt,
Nehemiah Hunt,
Nicholas Johnston,
Jonathan Ross,
David Joice,
John Ross,
Nicholas Jones,
John Ross, Jr.,
John Kearsey (or Kear- ney),
Moses Ross, William Ross,
William Kelly,
William Rusk,
Rev .. James Kemper,
Lieutenant Kingsbury,
Bethuel Kitchell,.
David Scott,
Daniel Kitchell,
James Scott, Obediah Scott,
John Lore,
James Lowrey,
John Seaman,
John Ludlow,
Jonas Seaman,
James Lyon,
Niles Shaw,
Daniel McClure,
Casper Sheets,
George McClure,
Ziba Stibbins.
John McClure,
Captain Strong,
Mary McClure,
Dennis Sullivan,
William McClure,
Jacob Tapping,
William McCoy,
Henry Taylor,
James McKnight,
Enos Terry,
Henry Mclaughlin,
Robert Terry,
John Mclaughlin,
John Tharp,
James Marshall,
Judge George Turner,
Isaac Martin,
Benjamin Valentine,
Margaret Martin,
. Benjamin Van Cleve, John Van Cleve, Jacob Van Doran,
Jonathan Mercer,
John Van Eton,
James Miller,
Cornelius Van Nuys,
Moses Miller, James Wallace,
Jacob Mills, Jacob Warwick,
Alexander Moore,
David Welch,
Robert Moore,
Samuel Whiteside,
Dr. Morrel,
John Wiant,
Jesse Mott,
- Winters,
Capt. John Munn,
Amos Wood.
George Murfey,
THE SETTLEMENT OF NORTH BEND.
The third settlement in the Miami purchase, and the one made by Symmes himself, was that at North Bend. The territory covered by this settlement has never become a part of the city
Ephraim Coleman, James Colwell,
William Gowen,
Mr. Neilson, George Niece, Christopher Noon, Darius C. Orcutt,
Andrew Parks, Culbertson Parks, Presley Peck,
Matthew Pierson, Samuel Pierson, Enos Potter, James Pursley,
Reuben Rood, Asa Root,
Col. Winthrop Sargent,
Levi Sayre,
Samuel Martin,
Luke Mellen,
BBU
OHIO'S FIRST PRESIDENT
THE JAMES A. GARFIELD STATUE.
THE WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON STATUE.
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
195
of Cincinnati, but its early history is so inti- mately connected with the history of the other two settlements, which are now incorporated within the city limits, that no adequate idea of the conditions of the early days can be obtained without an account of this third of the Hamilton County settlements.
Judge Symmes, it will be remembered, had reserved for himself in his terms of sale and settlement, published at Trenton, the privilege of locating and paying for the entire township nearest the juntion of the Ohio and Great Miami rivers, as well as the several fractional townships west and south between that one and the rivers ; here he purposed founding a city which he ex- pected to become the metropolis of the Miami purchase. He did not make his start from Limestone for some time after the other two parties had begun their settlements. He and his party had remained in that, village for over six months, and in the expectation that he would be detained until spring, he had taken a house for himself and family. He was waiting for as- sistance, in the shape of troops, which he ex- pected would be sent to him by General Harmar, and also for news of the conclusion of the treaty with the Indians.
He sent down a few surveyors to Miami, in order to traverse the two Miamis as far, up as they could, and implies in one of his letters that these surveyors came down at the time Stites made his journey to Columbia. He says, how- ever : "I tarried myself at Limestone, where I' had provided a tolerable house of my own, and in which I supposed the coming Spring would find me; as I could get no encouragement from Governor St. Clair, of a favorable conclusion of the treaty, nor from General Harmar of any assistance of troops."
.
On the 12th of. December, however, Captain Kearsey, with 45 soldiers arrived at Limestone, having been ordered down the Ohio to protect Ludlow in surveying that river to Scioto. From Scioto his directions were to go to Miami if the settlement should be begun there and with his soldiers to protect that settlement throughout the winter.
These troops added to the party already at Limestone were "of much more detriment than use," as the soldiers brought with them a very short supply of provisions. General Harmar, it seems, had some expectations of having pro- visions supplied to the soldiers from the falls of the Ohio, and had sent a letter to Symmes, instructing the contractor coming up the Ohio
to take the necessary steps for supplying the soldiers at the Miami, where they were ex- pected to winter, but this arrangement failed. As a result, when Kearsey arrived at Lime- stone, Symmes was put to the alternative either of letting him go down to the falls or of fur- nishing him and his people with provisions throughout the winter. He still hoped that when General Harmar discovered the failure of sup- plies he would receive some assistance from that quarter, and for this reason he detained Kearsey and his soldiers and took upon him- self the burden of supplying him.
He speaks of this task as almost impracticable at that season of the year, as the roads were scarcely passable and as the amazing emigra- tion into Kentucky had stripped the country all around Limestone of provisions of all kinds. Flour had to be brought down the Ohio from the Monongahela, and this was done with great difficulty, as the ice was running down the river considerably. Symmes had provided about three thousand weight of flour and fifteen hundred of pork for his own family and to assist the survey- ors when assistance was needed, but these stores he was obliged to share with Kearsey.
A sergeant with 18 men, who was despatched to the assistance of Stites and the surveyors, was furnished at once with fifty days' rations. About two weeks later some settlers passed down the river, desirous of locating at the Old Fort at Miami, and another sergeant with 12 men had to be detached as an escort for them. This took more of Symmes' stores. One of the set- tlers, however, assured him that he was well supplied with flour and corn and "as for meat, I knew no place where that article of the wild kind could be procured with more ease and plenty than at Miami."
This last named detachment had a hard time; the weather grew intensely cold and the Ohio froze to such a point that it was feared that the boats would become frozen in the river before they reached Miami. They got as far as Co- lumbia, where they made a short stop, expecting to proceed to the Old Fort at once, but the float- ing ice came down upon their boats, injuring them severely and drowning much of the stock and destroying most of the provisions. This misfortune terminated the expedition.
THE FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH THE INDIANS.
In the meantime Stites kept sending messages to Symines, informing him of the frequent visits of Indians to the blockhouse and of their great
196
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
desire to sec Symmes, who they understood was coming to live in the Miami country. They made great professions of peace and friendship, even prior to the treaty of Muskingum.
Symmes, in his letter to Dayton, of May 18, 1789, describes the measures which the Indians took to introduce themselves at the blockhouse as a little dangerous and singular. "They had first espied Captain Stites' boats lying at the bank of the river, opposite the blockhouse, as they have since informed me. On holding a council at their hunting camp, which was about six miles northwest of the Ohio, they concluded to introduce themselves to our acquaintance rather as friends than as enemies. To this they were wholly encouraged by the lenity which had been shown by me to one of their camps on the Great Miami, in September last, which ad- venture I have already communicated. They had with them a white man by the name of George, who was a good interpreter of their language; he had been ten or twelve years a prisoner with them, yet spoke the English lan- guage very well. George was therefore sent down to the blockhouse, as near as he and one Indian dare to go, and hallooed to our people, who were at work at their fortifications. George called out, in English, for some of them to come to him; but those who heard him supposed. him to be one of their own party, and paid no regard to George's call. At length, one answered, in a blackguarding manner, asking him why he did not come to them, if he had anything to say? This induced George and his companion to retreat again to their camp. The next step was in this sort : six of them, armed and mounted on horse- back, made towards the blockhouse, in order to take a prisoner. They soon fell in with the fresh trace of three of the surveyor's hands, who were out a hunting. They rode down the trail, and came up with the three men, who first fled at the sight of the Indians, but soon found it im- possible to escape; when they prepared to make resistance, Robert Hamson and Joseph Cox, of Sussex County, New Jersey, were two of them. On Hamson's presenting his rifle at the foremost Indian, the Indian took off his cap, trailing his gun, and holding out his right hand: while George called to the white men not to fire upon them, for they were friends, and did not wish to hurt them; begging to be led by them to the blockhouse. This was agreed to, and the whole nine came in together to Captain Stites. This was so unexpected a visit from the Indians that the people at the blockhouse were much at a loss
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in what point of view to consider it. Some thought the Indians came in only as spies, to view their strength; others thought more favorably, and believed the Indians sincere in their peaceable professions. A few days' acquaintance discard- ed the fears of the former, and the white and red people began to form a sociable neighborhood : our hunters frequently taking shelter for the night at the Indian camps; and the Indians, with their squaws, spending whole days and nights at the blockhouse, regaling themselves with whis- key. This important piece of information Cap- tain Stites' communicated, as I before observed, to me at Limestone, by two messengers sent on foot up the banks of the Ohio."
SYMMES' PROCLAMATION TO THE INDIANS.
Captain Stites kept giving the Indians further information as to the intentions of Symmes, but finally they became so impatient that they charged Stites with telling them falsehoods in his repre- sentations as to Symmes' coming and to the ef- feet that he would supply them with articles of trading. Symmes was still waiting for the boat load of flour which he had ordered, or for some supplies which he had hoped would come from ·Harmar, but these repeated and urgent messages decided him to make a start for fear that if his journey were longer delayed the friendly ac- tions of the savages might turn to hostility. He was further encouraged by the successful landing of the Patterson and Ludlow party, opposite the mouth of the Lieking. Before starting from Limestone, on January 3, 1789, he despatched a letter of friendship to his new Indian neighbors, his brethren of the Miami (Cist's Miscellany, Vol. II, p. 61) :
"Brothers of the Wyandots and Shawanese ! Hearken to your brother, who is coming to live at the Great Miami. He was on the Great Mi- ami last summer, while the Deer was yet red, and met with one of your camps; he did no harm to anything which you had in your camp ; he held back his young men from hurting you or your horses, and would not let them take your skins or meat, though your brothers were very hungry. All this he did, because he was your brother, and would live in peace with the Red people. If the Red people will live in friendship with him, and his young men who came from the great Salt ocean, to plant corn and built Cabins on the land between the Great and Little Miami, then the White and Red people shall all be brothers and live together, and we will buy your Furs and
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
197
Skins, and sell you Blankets and Rifles, and Pow- der and Lead and Rum, and everything that our Red Brothers may want in hunting and in their towns.
"Brothers! A treaty is holding at Muskin- gum, Great men from the thirteen fires are there, to meet the Chiefs and head men of all the na- tions of the Red people. May the Great Spirit direct all their councils for peace! But the great nien and the wise men of the Red and White people cannot keep peace and friendship long, unless we, who are their sons and warriors, will also bury the hatchet and live in peace.
"Brothers ! I send you a string of white beads, and write to you with my own hand, that you may believe what I say. I am your brother, and will be kind to you while you remain in peace. ·Farewell !
"JNO. C. SYMMES."
"January the 3d, 1789."
Mr. Cist, on several occasions, comments on the similarity of this letter to the letter written by Penn, over a hundred years before, to the In- dians of his own purchase as well as upon the dissimilarity of the two letters, in this,-Penn in his letter says "nor will I ever allow any of my people to sell rumme to make your people drunk," while Symmes expressly offers to sell rum as well as rifles, powder and lead.
THE LANDING AT NORTH BEND.
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The latter part of January brought a great rise in the river which swept out the ice and cleared the river for his boats and he concluded to make a start. On the 29th day of January, 1789, after collecting with much difficulty a small supply of flour and salt, he embarked with his family and furniture, taking with them Captain Kearsey and the remainder of his soldiers. The river was higher at this time by several feet than had been known since the white people came to Kentucky, and Symmes embarked with the bow of his boat even with the high bank on which his house was built. These boats, as were the other boats used by the settlers, were flat- boats made of green oak, planed and fastened with wooden pins to a frame of timber and caulked with tow or any pliant substance that could be procured. They were known as Ken- tucky boats, and their materials were usually used for the construction of houses after the landing. When the party reached Columbia they found the place under water ; but one house
on a high spot of ground had escaped the del- uge. The soldiers had been driven into the lofts of their blockhouses and had been compelled finally to trust themselves to a boat. Symmes and his party staid but one night and proceeded to Losantiville. The water at that point had be- gun to ebb, although the town had not suffered from the rise. On the 2nd of February, he land- ed at the point afterwards known as North Bend. His original idea had been of course to go down to the Old Fort, at the junction of the two rivers. He explained however, that from the time of his arrival at this point, in September of the previous year, he had remained in a great degree ignorant of the character of the ground at the site of the fort. He had been but once on the spot, and as he expected to return so soon, did not fully in- form himself as to tlie lay of the land. Through- out the winter, however, he had been told that the point was frequently covered with water and as he found Columbia under water, he thought it best for the present at least not to go down as far as Old Fort until he had informed himself whether the ground was eligible for a town or not. Several other considerations moved him in this respect. One was that he would be nearer to the surveyors, who would not be required to walk the extra ten miles down the neck of land on which the Fort stood, and back again. The other, which in reality was the principal consid- eration, was this,-from the river elevated as he was in his boat by the height of the water, he could see that the river hills appear to fall away in such a manner that no considerable rise ap- peared between the Ohio and the Great Miami. Knowing that the distance across the neck did not exceed a mile, he thought it possible to find a good tract of ground extending from river to river, on which the city might be built with more propriety, than if crowded so far down in the point. For these reasons he made his first lodg- ment in the most northerly bend of the river, where the distance is the least and the land the lowest over toward the Miami, and where at the time of his arrival he says, "the banks were in- viting from their secure appearance from the then fresh in the Ohio."
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