Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 50

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

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In 1792, Moses Pryor and John Reily (Riley) had settled upon a tract of land to the south of White's Station. Pryor's tract included what was afterwards the County Infirmary farm, and Reily's land lay to the west, upon the site of the present village of Carthage. They cleared up the land, built a cabin and dug a well. In the fall Pryor made. a contract to carry government stores and provisions from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, associating with him two oth- ers, one of whom was David Flinn of White's Station. One morning when they reached Little stream, four miles south of Fort Hamilton, since known as Pleasant Run, they were fired upon by a body of Indians who were concealed in the woods. Pryor was killed and the two other men made their escape. That night Mrs. Pryor, while awaiting her husband's return to supper, was informed of his death. Being unable to continue the work on her husband's farm, she and her two children went to reside with the family of her brother-in-law at White's Station.

BLOODY RUN.

The defeat of Lieutenant Lowery, followed by the attack on White's Station, had alarmed the citizens of Cincinnati and the neighborhood, and for a time no party went out any distance without escorts of soldiers. In the spring of 1794, John Ludlow, a brother of Israel Ludlow, moved his family out in the country to what was known afterwards as Ludlow's Grove. John Lutllow and his family had come from Buffalo to Cincinnati

in November, 1789, and lived at first in a double- roomed log cabin at the northwest corner of Front and Main streets. He was elected sheriff of the county in the following year.

At Ludlow's place was what was called the second crossing of Mill creek, as Wayne's army crossed here on its way to the third crossing, which was at White's Station, above Carthage. In Ludlow's party was not only his own family, but his brother, Israel, with a company of militia. Others in the party were Capt. Jacob White, a lawyer; Thomas Goudy (Gowdy or Gauty), Sarah Freeman and Abby Cochran, all riding on horseback, and accompanied by several wagons ; this party was returning to White's Station, two miles above Ludlow's place. The party reached Ludlow's farm in safety, and began unloading the wagons. .

Captain .White and his party, including Goudy and the two young women, who were really out for the pleasure of the ride, pushed on ahead, taking the great highway running from Fort' Washington to Fort Hamilton. When they proceeded a little more than a half mile, to the point now known as Bloody Run, they heard a volley of musketry a short distance up the road. The character of the firing showed that it was not from hunters, but probably from Indians. The whole party became alarmed, and despite the efforts of Captain White, who was anxious to push forward to the assistance of any per- son that might be attacked, they turned the road at full speed for Ludlow's cabin, where a halt was made by all excepting Goudy and the two young women, who kept up their flight to Cin- cinnati. Immediately behind them came two men on horseback; they were pack horsemen in the government service. They stated that while their party, which included four, were stopping at a stream beyond to water their horses they were suddenly fired upon by a small band of Indians concealed by the roadside. One of the , number was killed instantly, another was se- verely wounded, and the third struck, but with- out any serious result. Captain White imme- diately organized a pursuing party which fol- lowed the Indians, but was not able to overtake them .. They found, however, lying in the run, the body of the man who was killed. He had been tomahawked and scalped. This body was buried near the spot. The soldier who had been so severely wounded had been able to escape further injury from the Indians. He was found

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and sent to Ludlow's Station, where he died after a few days, at the house of Abner Boston.

As late as 1857, while building a bridge over Bloody Run, Solomon Burkhalter came upon the remains of the man buried there 63 years before. The body was reinterred deeper in the earth be- neath the abutment of the bridge.

GRIFFIN'S STATION.

This station was about a half mile west of White's Station, where the ' Carthage and Springfield pike crosses Mill creek, and within the village of Hartwell. Lieut. Daniel Griffin entered a warrant for this location in the regis- ter's office on July 23, 1792. No settlement, however, was made here, in all probability, until the fall of 1793. No one is supposed to have been residing here as early as the attack on White's Station (October 19, 1793). The sta- tions were less than a half mile apart, and it is not unnatural to suppose that had there been a party at Griffin's, it would have gone to the as- sistance of their neighbors. Among the early settlers were Robert Griffin, Daniel and Jacob Vorhees, Daniel Seward, James McCashen and Robert Caldwell and two sons, Samuel and James.

CAMPBELL'S STATION

Was founded during the summer and fall of 1793 by John Campbell, seven or eight miles southeast of Dunlap's, on the east bank of the Great Miami, opposite the present village of Miamitown, ih what is now Colerain township. Mr. Olden, in his interesting book of "Early Reminiscences," now unfortunately so rare, says : "The settlers around the station were few in number ; no preparations for defense were made ; , and, having been established late in the period of Indian hostilities, no depredations were com- mitted in the neighborhood, consequently no important historical events are attached to it."

NELSON'S STATION.

Another station of which mention is made is Nelson's Station, a little west of. Madisonville. A party of Indian horse thieves were pursued from this station, and one was shot and left by liis companions. The body was buried on the spot, from which fact the place has been called Indian Hill.

TUCKER'S AND PLEASANT VALLEY STATIONS.

This station was organized in 1792 by a party from Columbia. They selected section four of the third township and the first entire

range now in Springfield township, and began the erection of a blockhouse on the east side of the Hamilton road, known in early days as Wayne's trace. A quarrel divided the party, and subsequently the fear of the Indians led to the abandonment of the settlement. The controversy was settled during the following winter, and as a result two settlements were made about the central point on the line between sections four and ten on the west bank of Mill creek, near what is known as Station Spring. This was known as Pleasant Valley Station.

The Indians neyer molested either Tucker's or Pleasant Valley Station. One morning, how- ever, during the winter one of the residents named Mahan, hearing what he thought was the call of turkeys, started out to hunt them. He ran into an Indian ambush, but turned and ran for his life. The Indians did not fire, for fear of alarming the station. They were unable to overtake him, however. Mahan's exertions were so great that upon arriving at the station he swooned from exhaustion, and laid for hours in a complete stupor. This was followed by a fever, during which for several days his life was despaired of.

GERARD'S STATION.

In 1790 some of the settlers of Columbia, in- cluding some new comers, allowed their eyes to rest longingly upon the land to the cast of the Little Miami without the limits of the Miami purchase. They finally effected a settlement op- posite Turkey Bottom at the foot of the hills on survey No. 536, about a mile below what was afterwards Union Ridge, on the land subse- quently owned by Col. James Taylor. They built a small blockhouse, or stockade, which they called, after their leader, John H. Gerard, by the name of Gerard's Station.

Colonel Taylor describes the blockhouse as standing on the side of a hill near what is now Big Spring, and not far from Flinn's fort, across the Miami. This was on the principal road from Cincinnati and Columbia to the East. Among the settlers who were at the point were Joseph Wil- liamson, Steven Betts, Stephen Davis, Major Stites and Captain Flinn. The survey of 666 2-3 acres on which this station was located seems to have been originally owned by John Steel. For inany years a hewed-log house. built in 1805 by Josiah and Samuel Holley near the site of this station, claimed the honor of being the oldest house in the township.

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It was to Gerard's Station that the people of Covalt's Station withdrew after their guard of regulars and their fighting men had gone north with St. Clair. The summer of 1792, which was an unusually early one, however, attracted many of the settlers back to their clearings.

VOORIIEES' STATION.

This station was situated near the present towns of Lockland and Reading. It was simply a large, strong log cabin, used for both residence purposes and as a place of defense. It is constantly referred to, however, under the name of Voorhees' Station. Mr. Olden says that this cabin was on the west side of the east fork of Mill creek. This station was not estab- lished until the spring of 1794, and in the fall of that year Abraham Voorhees, with his two sons-in-law and their families, and his five sons, moved into it. It was upon the land of Abra- ham Voorhees that the village of Reading was laid out in 1798. It was first called Voorhees Town, but subsequently its name was changed. The story is told by Mr. Olden of an incident which occurred a little south of this point in the autumn of 1794. William Moore, who lived at Covalt's Station, on the Little Miami, was hunting in the neighborhood of the Great Lick, as it was called, about one and one-half miles east of White's Station. He had killed a deer and had skinned it and prepared it for packing. While in the act of washing his hands in the stream near by, he indulged in singing a little Indian song, which he had learned while a cap- tive among the Shawances. To his great alarm he was suddenly joined in the song by some one else singing in the Indian tongue. He sprang to his feet and ran to the woods to the west, followed closely by the Indians. They did not fire at him, as it was apparent they desired to capture him alive. In advance of the others was a small Indian who was very swift of foot. The Indian seemed to be gaining on Moore, when they came to a large fallen tree, which was about four feet in diameter. Moore vaulted the tree, but the Indian had to go around, which gave

Moore sufficient advantage to enable him to reach White's Station in safety.

RUNYAN'S STATION

Was in Sycamore township, about one and one- half miles north of Reading. Here Henry Run- yanı, "near the spring east of the Dayton turn pike," built his station house on the west half of section 19, 14 miles from the Ohio, and was so thoroughly hid in the wilderness that the In- dians who prowled frequently within a few hun- dred yards of the place never seemed to discover it. This location was made in 1790. In 1792 Runyan removed to the place, and remained there permanently.

M'FARLAND'S STATION.

This station was settled in Columbia township, near the site of the present village of Pleas- ant Ridge, in the spring of 1795. This has been called the last fortified station erected in Hamilton County. The peace of Greenville, which occurred about this time, made it unneces- sary for any further fortifications to be built. This station was without any experiences with the Indians.

MERCERSBURGII.

Another settlement to the east of the Miami oc- cupied the site of what is now Newtown. Capt. Aaron Mercer, an Irishman by birth, but a Vir- ginian by adoption, left Winchester, Virginia, in 1790, seeking a home in the West. Ile reached Columbia just as the troops belonging to that station were returning from the Harmar expedition. He stayed there for two years, but in 1792 lie purchased a tract on the east side of the Little Miami, three miles above Gerard's Station on the first elevated land of the valley. Here, on General Massie's survey, was built a little town with a clearing and a log fortress, which was called Mercersburgh, in honor of the leader of the party and of his brother, the celebrated Hugh Mercer. This point was one of the important relief stations and harbors of refuge during the continuance of the Indian wars.

CHAPTER XX.

LOSANTIVILLE-THE NAME AND THE TOWN.

THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE NAME-THE FIRST YEAR OF THE SETTLEMENT -- INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE SETTLERS.

THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE NAME.

One of the favorite subjects of controversy in the early days of the history of our city was the question of its name during the first year of the settlement, that is from the date of the landing, December 28, 1788, until the early days of Jan- uary, 1790.

On January 2, 1790, according to the "Jour- nal" of the Secretary of the Northwest Territory, Winthrop Sargent, Governor St. Clair ar- rived at Losantiville. On that day he prepared a proclamation`organizing the county of Hamil- ton, which proclamation was not issued until the 4th. There is no reference in this proclamation to the village at all. On the following day, January 5, 1790, having made appointments of justices of the peace and other officers, he issued his proclamation, directing the holding of the courts of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace "at the town of Cincinnati." This is the first official record in which the name Cincinnati ap- pears, and it is therefore, in all probability, the first day in the history of the settlement when the name which it now bears was properly ap- plied to it. The history of Cincinnati under its present name began without question as early as January 5, 1790, and certainly at no earlier date than the 3rd or 4th.

The name which the settlement bore prior to this time was a hybrid, invented, we are told, by the Kentucky pedagogue, John Filson. It is made up of the Latin word os, meaning mouth, the Latin anti, for opposite, and the French form ville of the Latin villa, for town, to which is prefixed the letter "L," which could serve as the French particle, or as the initial let-

ter of the word Licking. In other words, it was the city opposite the mouth, and if "L" is under- stood to stand for Licking, the name is still more descriptive, the city opposite the mouth of the Licking. This name has given exercise to the wit of many so-called humorists, and has been much ridiculed. One suggestion is that the words should be read in the order in which its various parts appear ; in other words, the Lick- ing mouth opposite the town, or using "L" as the particle, the mouth opposite the town. No one who is familiar with the formation or ar- rangement of words, in either Latin or French, would be guilty of such a criticism as this. The word is certainly descriptive, and apart from the objection that it is made up of words of differ- ent languages, not combined according to the regular rules of word-building, seems unobjec- tionable. Professor Venable suggests that it is no more absurd than the name which succeeded it, which is either a gentive singular or a nomi- native plural; this latter worried Symmes. Writ- ing to Dayton, June 19, 1791, he says :

"Having mentioned Cincinnata, I beg, sir, you will inquire of the literati in Jersey whether Cin- cinnata or Cincinnati be most proper. The de- sign I had in giving that name to the place was in honor of the order of the Cincinnati, and to denote the chief place of their residence; and, so far as my little acquaintance with cases and genders extends, I think the name of a town should terminate in the feminine gender where it is not perfectly neuter. Cincinnati is the title of the order of kniglithood, and can not, I think, be the place where the knights of the order dwell. I have frequent combats in this country

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on the subject, because most men spell the place with ti, when I always do with ta. Please to set ine right if I am wrong. You have your With- erspoons and Smiths, and indeed abound in char- acters in whose decision I shall fully acquiesce."

Apparently the Witherspoons and Smiths did not agree with the Judge for he subsequently writes the name "ti." This letter is of interest however by reason of the statement that Symmes and not St. Clair or Ludlow had the honor of se- lecting the name.

His reasoning certainly seems correct. There is no known explanation which really explains the name finally adopted. Of course its origin is a many times told tale. The letter just quoted states explicitly that Symmes gave the name to the place. As soon as St. Clair had been re- ceived at Fort Washington, he sent a messenger for the Judge at North Bend and their meeting took place on January 3rd, at which time the names are supposed to have been agreed upon. Harmar had named the fort Fort Washington ; on January 4th Hamilton County was named after the Secretary of the Treasury and compan- ion in arms of all the party. The coupling of two names so prominent among the soldiers nat- urally suggested the organization which had been recently formned by the officers. It is not un- reasonable that St. Clair would permit Symmes, the one most interested, to select the name of both the county and the city nor is it unnatural that Symmes, whose greatest desire at that time was to secure the protection and cooperation of both the military and civil governments, should be politic enough to suggest the name of the so- ciety of which St. Clair had just been appointed president for the State of Pennsylvania. Human nature was very much the same in those days as it is now. It is easy to see that the change of the name was not so much due to any dissatisfaction with Losantiville, the pedantic name of the dead and gone school teacher which though descrip- tive and not in any sense cacophonous would add nothing to the general interest in the settlement, as to the desire to pay a compliment to a promin- ent and most influential official and through him to a body of men of the very highest standing in the land, from whose ranks it was hoped many emigrants could be drawn.

At the conclusion of active hostilities while negotiations for peace were pending, the officers of the American Army freed from the duties of the field of battle decided upon a society which should perpetuate the memory of their long struggle. On May 10, 1783, the Society of the

Cincinnati was founded and the constitution of the order drawn up by a committee of which General Knox was chairman. On May 13th the representatives of the army met at the quarters of Baron de Steuben who presided on the occa- sion and the constitution was accepted and ap- proved. The fundamental purposes of the so- ciety were "to preserve inviolate those exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which they had fought and bled and without which the high rank of a rational being is a curse instead `of blessing, * *

* promote and cherish be- tween the respective States that union and Na- tional honor so essentially necessary to their hap- piness and the future dignity of the American Empire, and to render permanent the cordial af- fection subsisting among the officers."

Washington was chosen the first president- general of the order and held the position until his death. General Knox was the first secretary- general. State societies were formed and Maj .- Gen. Arthur St. Clair was elected president of the society for the State of Pennsylvania. The constitution of the society provided that the eld- est masculine descendant of an original member should be entitled to wear the insignia of the order and enjoy the privileges of the society. Some opposition to the order was mani- fested at first because of the belief that it would tend to establish a hereditary order of nobility, but events proved that this fear was without justification. The name of course is taken, as is shown on the badge of the society, from Cincinnatus who left his plow to take up the chief magistracy of his country in a time of need and who after he succeeded in saving his country returned to the quiet pursuits of agriculture. The motto of the society is Om- nia relinquit servare rem publicam. (He gave up all to serve his country.)

As to the matter of sound, each person can take his choice between Losantiville and Cincin- nati; neither had any special application to the location to which it was applied. The first was a mere geographic description, the second a cheap compliment which it was hoped would be productive of great results but the hope was vain. All the settlements in the West drew front the ranks of the Revolutionary soldiers who had sacrificed so much during the war but Cincin- nati did not get any larger proportion than other settlements in the Territory. The name Miami, as has been suggested, would have been peculiar- ly appropriate to the city located in this locality and no less pleasant in sound.

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In the early part of the last century it so hap- pened that two men who had given more atten- tion to the history of this settlement than almost any others then living saw fit to adopt the view that the name Losantiville had never been ap- plied to the settlement opposite the mouth of the Licking. Their view in brief was that this name, selected by Filson, died with him and that when the town was finally laid out by Ludlow it was immediately given the name Cincinnati. H. B. Teetor in his little sketch of the life of Colonel Ludlow accredits the suggestion of the name Cincinnati to him. He fails to cite a single item of evidence however in support of this state- ment and there is no ground for the claim in Ludlow's behalf, regardless of the fact whether the name Cincinnati was given in 1789 or 1790.

The four citations made by Mr. Teetor do it is true use the word Cincinnati; they are from the chancery case of the city against Williams, so many times referred to. Ludlow testified as to his landing in the month of January, 1789, to lay out the town of Cincinnati and form a set- tlement here. Patterson testified that he landed in January, 1789, for the purpose of laying off the town of Cincinnati. McMillan was one of the number who formed the settlement of Cin- cinnati, December 28, 1788, and a few days after a plan of the town of Cincinnati was drafted by Ludlow. Denman testified that Ludlow was appointed as his agent to lay out the town of Cincinnati and that the town was laid out in the year 1789. It was upon this evidence too that Judge Burnet relies in the long letter which will be quoted hereafter. It is apparent from an examination of the depositions that the question of the name of the town was not raised. The important point was the correctness of the plat offered by Ludlow. Judge Burnet was himself the counsel for the city and for Ludlow's heirs, and the only significance, if any, that he attached to the matter of name arose from the fact that Williams' claim involved the lack of authority on the part of Ludlow to represent the proprietors. ' Burnet, in his anxiety to dispose of Filson's in- terest and to establish that of Ludlow, was will- ing enough incidentally to let the hair go withi the hide and the name and plat disappear with the title. As will be apparent hereafter, the .Judge was nothing if not a partisan. He was most decided in his opinions and judgments. and did not believe in anything half way, to quote the language of Judge Wright. He was therefore perfectly sincere in his belief as stated in his "Notes" and in the letter hereafter quoted that 1

the general belief that the original name of the town was Losantiville was incorrect. Trained lawyer as he was, had he had before him the evi- dences that are now accessible to us he would never have made such a statement. The weight of the name of Charles Cist has been added, as well, to that of Burnet. Cist with all his inde- fatigability and fairness suffered from the lack of materials and was really persuaded by the great weight of Burnet's name and authority and a few stories received from very old pioneers at the time of their lives when their recollections of so remote a period and of such trifling details must have been obscured.

As the subject is one of great interest, the whole statement of the controversy as presented by Mr. Cist in his "Cincinnati in 1859" can be reprinted here. It is introduced by a letter to Dr. Daniel Drake. It seems unfortunate that Cist did not pursue the matter with Drake and examine the twenty documentary evidences re- ferred to; still we have almost as many which may have been the same that were in the posses- sion of Dr. Drake.

"CINCINNATI, January 2, 1841.

"Dear Sir-My brother informs me that you called last evening to inquire of me whether Į have seen any authentic evidence that Cincinnati was originally named Losantiville. As I shall embark in the mail-packet this morning, at ten o'clock, for Louisville, you cannot have an oppor- tunity of seeing me, and I, therefore, drop you a line, to say that I have in my possession more than twenty documentary evidences that such was the fact.

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 50

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