USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 80
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89
"We had plenty of snow, but no pleasure sleighs; so the old pioneers thought that they must have a ride, and they procured a large canoe or pirogue, with a skiff attached behind and seated for the ladies. To this pirogue-sleigh were hitched ten horses, with ten boy-riders to guide them, the American flag flying, two fid- dlers, two flute-players, and Dr. Stall as cap- tain. They did not forget to pass the 'old black Betty,' filled with good old peach brandy, among the old pioneers, and wine for the lady pioncers -God bless them ! And here they went it, merrily singing 'Gee-o, Dobbin ; Dobbin, gee-o!' When the riding ended, both old and young pioneers wound up the sport with a ball-linsey woolsey dresses in place of silk on ladies, many buck- skin suits on pioneer men, and moccasins on their feet in place of shoes."
Possibly this scene is the subject of the re- markable sketch printed by Dr. A. E. Jones, showing the amusements of the early aristocracy
of the city. (Early Days of Cincinnati, opp. p. 70. )
MRS. YOUNG.
Mr. Coppin's description, however, is borne out to some extent by a letter of Mrs. Barbara Young, the widow of Philip Young, to the Pio- neer Association. She came to Cincinnati with her husband as a young bride in 1811.
The party came down the river in the custo- mary flat-boat. When they landed, Dr. Daniel Drake came aboard, took them on shore and escorted them to the Columbian Inn, kept by Mrs. Willis, near the corner of Columbia and Main streets. This hotel at that time, says Mrs. Young, was quite a fashionable place and a great many citizens of the pioneer race boarded there. "I well remember while we were boarding at this house how we were all awoke by the distant sound of thunder, the shaking of the houses and the terror of the villagers frightened out of their wits at what was afterwards dis- covered to be an earthquake. Cincinnati at this time was a small town of four thousand or five thousand inhabitants. Front street was the only one then called a business street, built up of log houses with here and there a frame one, from Broadway to Walnut street. Where the best part of the city now is (1816) was a forest with a clearing here and there with a few log cabins scattered about. The most refined and wealthy, or nearly all, wore what was called homespun or Kentucky jeans, and the linsey woolsey of the country. Few wore broadcloth, linen or cotton goods. Every kind of imported goods such as silks, dry goods, coffee, tea and so on was very high, while flour, corn and other products and game and meats of all kinds cost but a trifle. This great difference in prices was owing to the difficulties of trans- portation. This was before the time of steam- boats."
FLINT.
Whatever may be the fact as to the dress of this period, there seems to be no doubt as to the cordiality of the inhabitants. It was about this time that Timothy Flint came to live in Cincin- nati and in his "Recollections" he speaks with enthusiasm of his reception in this town sixteen hundred miles from the sea: "In no part of the old Continent that I have visited are strangers treated with more attention, politeness, and re- spect than in Cincinnati; and where, indeed, can an Englishman forget that he is not at home,
464
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
except in the United States? In most other regions he must forego many early habits, preju- dices, and propensities, and accommodate him- self to others, perhaps diametrically opposite; he must disguise or conceal his religious or political opinions; must forget his native lan- guage and acquire fluency in another before he can make even his wants known or his wishes understood; but here the same language and fashion as in his own prevail in every State; indeed, it is necessary for him to declare him- self a foreigner, to be known as such, and I have always found this declaration a passport to increased attention and kindness; for every man in this land of freedom enjoys his opinions unmolested. Not having the slightest intention of stopping at any town on my way to New York, I was without any introductions; but this deficiency by no means prevented my re- ceiving the usual benefit of the hospitality of the inhabitants, which was such as to induce us at first to remain a few days, and ultimately, prob- ably, to end our lives with them." (Flint's Recollections of the Last Ten Years, p. 59.)
The language of the traveler, John Palmer, is very much to the same effect. The manners of most of the mhabitants he found social and refined. Many cultivated the fine arts, painting, engraving and music. The dress of the inhabitants he tells us was much 'in the English fashion. In sum- mer many of both sexes wore domestic or home manufactured ginghams, and straw hats. Gen- tlemen, and many tradesmen, wore superfine cloth coats ; blue and black were the prevailing colors. The ladies dressed elegantly in muslin, short- waisted gowns, vandyked frill or ruffle round the neck, and an English cottage or French straw hat. When about their household concerns, they wore a large, long, peaked hat, to defend their features from the swarthing influence of the sun and air.
LONGWORTHI.
Mr. Longworth tells us that all the town came to see the first carpet laid down west of the mountains. Deacon Wade, who wore a wool hat during the week and a fur hat to church on Sundays, rejoiced in an ingrain carpet, window curtains and fine rush-seat chairs in the parlor. "A traveller from' New York was standing at his door one afternoon gazing on the beautiful sunset that filled the sky with purple, crimson and gold, and upon the beautiful river flowing by amid hills clothed with the native forest in its fullest green. Turning to the Deacon he
broke forth in a rhapsody of admiration on the grandeur of the view before him and said that at New York city we have no views to compare with this. 'Are you fond of beautiful parlors and furniture,' said the Deacon, and flung open the front door of his parlor and pointing to his red and yellow carpet, bright curtains and painted chairs, he said, 'Have you parlors in your city superior to this?'" Mr. Longworth boarded with Deacon Wade at that time and paid the high board of two dollars a week. At that time he tells us that mutton sold in the market for 10 cents a hind quarter and the butchers after ten o'clock cut off the tallow and threw the quarters at each other's heads. Corn was 12 cents a bushel.
The writer of the "Recollections of Cincin- nati, 1817-1821," already quoted, gives some impressions of the social life of the town at the time of his residence. He tells us that the prom- inent men of the city included Judge Burnet, General Findlay, Doctor Drake, Martim Baum, Jesse Hunt, David Kilgour, John H. Piatt, Gen- eral Gano, General Lytle, Judge Brown, Judge Burke, James Keys, Hugh Glenn, Judge Tor- rence, Nicholas Longworth, Mr. Irving, Sam- uel Perry and Joseph Perry, Arthur St. Clair, Jr., Oliver M. Spencer, Mr. Riddle, Will- iam Barr, Colonel Davis, Mr. Stone, Mr. Vance, Col. William Piatt, Mr. Oliver, and Thomas Sloo, Jr. He met Bishop Chase at the table of Mr. Burnet. "He was then comparatively young, with an agreeable countenance, and a stout, portly person and none of the supercili- ous air of a bishop about him. He had no ob- jection to a good dinner or a glass of wine. His address was dignified, but easy; his manners stately but pleasing. He had been accustomed to good society, was even fond of a joke, and would have been witty had he dared, and came nearer the writer's idea of a well-bred and well-fed English bishop than any dignitary of the church he had yet seen." He dined at Mr. Kilgour's and the impression made upon him at that time seems to have been a marked one. "Talk . of the back woods! said I my- self, after dining with Mr. Kilgour,-by the beard of Jupiter I have never seen anything cast of the mountains to be compared with the luxuries of that table! The costly dinner service, -the splendid cut glass,-the rich wines,-the sumptuous dinner itself ! Talk to me no more of the back woods, said I-these people live in the style of princes. I did not, however, like my friend St. Clair, after a great dinner at Find-
465
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
lay's, mistake my longitude in the dark, and walk off the bank into the river! But I marched off most heroically, over the stones, and through the puddles, repeating to myself at every step-talk to me no more about the back woods! - talk to me no more about the back woods! always em- phasizing the last two words-and before I reached home, setting the line to music, and re- peating it, like the chorus of an old ballad. I never after looked at the keen eye, the tall form, or hard hickory features of my friend Kilgour, without thinking of that dinner!"
DR. DRAKE.
Probably no better account of this as . well as all other aspects of the life of the settlement can be given than that of Dr. Drake. In his "Picture of Cincinnati" he gives the following statement of the state of society at that time (1815) :
"This cannot, of course, be pourtrayed with the same facility and exactncss as in older com- munities. The people of the Miami country, may in part be characterized, as industrious, frugal, temperate, patriotic and religious; with as much intelligence, and more enterprise, than the families from which they were detached.
"In Cincinnati the population is more com- pounded, and the constant addition of emi- grants from numerous countries, in varying pro- portions, must for many years render nugatory all attempts at a faithful portraiture. There is no State in the Union which has not enriched our town with some of its more enterprising or restless citizens ; nor a kingdom of the west of Europe whose adventurous or desperate exiles are not commingled with us. To Kentucky, and the states .north of Virginia-to England, Irc- land, Germany, Scotland, France and Holland, we are most indebted.
"Among such a variety, but few points of co- incidence are to be expected. Those which at present can be perceived, are industry, temper- ance, morality, and love of gain. With a popu- lation governed by such habits and principles, the town must necessarily advance in improve- ments at a rapid rate. This, in turn, excites emulation, and precludes the idleness which generates prodigality and vice. Wealth is more- over pretty equally distributed, and the prohi- bition of slavery diffuses labor-while the dis- proportionate immigration of young men, with the facility of obtaining sustenance, leads to fre- quent and hasty marriages, and places many females in the situation of matrons, who would
of necessity be servants in older countries. The rich being thus compelled to labor, find but little time for indulgence in luxury and extravagance ; their ostentation is restricted, and industry is made to become a characteristic virtue.
"It need scarcely be added, that we have as yet no epidemic amusements among us. Cards were fashionable in town for several years after the Indian war that succeeded its settlement ; but it seems they have been since banished from the genteeler circles, and are harbored only in the vulgar grog shop or the nocturnal gaming room. Dancing is not infrequent among the wealthier classes; but is never carried to excess. Theatrical exhibitions, both by amateurs and itinerants, have occurred at intervals for a dozen years; and a society of young townsmen have lately erected a temporary wooden playhouse, in which they have themselves performed. But as the tendency of their institution to encourage strollers and engross time, has been deprecated by the more religious portion of our citizens ; and as the members have failed to realize their anticipations, with regard to the accumulation of a fund for the relief of indigence, they will be likely soon to relinquish the pursuit, and leave their stage and its trappings to some future votaries of Thespis. During the winter, select parties are frequently assembled; at which the current amusements are social converse, singing and recitation-the latter of which has been lately predominant. Juvenile plays and divers- ions are sometimes resorted to; which are gen- erally such as promote a rational exercise of the mental faculties. Sleigh riding and skating are rarely enjoyed, on account of the lightness and instability of the snow and ice. Sailing for pleasure on the Ohio is but seldom practiced ; and riding out of town for recreation, on horse- back or in carriages, is rather uncommon, for want of better roads. Evening walks are more habitual, in which the river bank and adjacent hills-the Columbian garden-and the mound, at the weest end, are the principal resorts." ( Pic- ture of Cincinnati, p. 166.)
INVITATIONS.
In the collection of the Historical and Philo- sophical Society of Ohio at Cincinnati are a number of invitations, cards and other souvenirs which reflect upon the social life of that time. The names attached to the following are of sufficient public interest to warrant their being included here :
466
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
The honor of Miss Goforth's Company is requested at a Tea party to be given at Mr. Yeatman's on Tuesday the 27th Inst. (next Tuesday).
A. BURT
O. M. SPENCER Managers.
The honor of Mrs. Findlay's company is solicited at a Ball, on Friday evening the 4th inst. at 7 o'clock, P. M. at Griffin Yeatman's Hotel.
D. ZIEGLER E. STONE E. CUTLER N. LONGWORTH
Managers.
July Ist, 1806.
INDEPENDENCE BALL.
The honor of Mrs. S ---- 's company is solicited at a Ball to be held at the Columbian Inn, on Friday even- ing next, at 7 o'clock, in the commemoration of the Birthday of American Independence.
MANAGERS.
FRANCIS CARR, I. C. SCOTT.
P. A. SPRIGMAN,
N. LONGWORTII,
T. C. BAKER, W. IRWIN, JR.
June 30, 1812.
The advertisements of these cotillions are a regular feature of the newspapers. They seem to have been held for many years at the hotels. of the town. For instance, on April . 1, 1816, appears the notice that the Cincinnati Cotillion Assembly will hold their next party at General Wingate's hotel. Two weeks later appears the advertisement :
A CARD.
"Come and trip as you go On the light fantastic toe."
The ladies of Cincinnati are respectfully informed that the last party of the
CINCINNATI COTILLION ASSEMBLY
will be held This Evening, at the Hotel; where it is hoped they will gratify the Subscribers by affording them the honor of a general attendance.
The Gentlemen will be good enough to leave their names at the Bar, when the tickets are obtained- which will greatly add in the settlement of the club. L. W. Managers.
P. S. S.
Monday Morning, April 15, 1816.
The writer of "Recollections of Cincinnati, 1817-1821," tells us that at that time the hotel life was an important feature of the town. The hotel at which many of the most prominent citizens lived fronted the river and was a spa- cious buikling for those days. It was well kept and for two-thirds of the year full to over- flowing. At the time of his arrival there were fifty to one hundred at the table daily and among other things that attracted his attention was the great quantity of liquors placed upon
the dinner table and the small quantity that was actually drank-not one in twenty touching or meddling with the matter at all. A princip:il topic of conversation in all places was the pub- lic lands, the price and the quality, the choice of location, tracts, quarter sections, entries and the like.
This writer also gives vivid pen pictures of Judge Burnet, General Findlay, Martin Baum, John H. Piatt, James Keys, Thomas Sloo, Jr., Nicholas Longworth and Hugh Glenn and Will- iam M. Worthington.
The reviewer of Dr. Drake's book in the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gasette of April 1, 1816, comments at length on the Doctor's re- marks on the state of society.
"An exact portrait of the manners and customs of this place, would, it is true, be almost a hopeless undertaking. But we are made out, so far as our author is conversant, to be, on the whole, a very moral and religious people. This opinion, however, as he says, is predicated .on what appears only on the surface. He has never joined in the midnight orgies of our bacchana- lian revellers; nor probed the bosoms of our abandoned profligates. Of these we are un- qualified, even ourselves, to speak .-- But in so new a spot, 'whose. citizens are made up of all nations, and colors, and tongues, it can scarce- ly be supposed that the very cream of human nature should be accumulated,-or at best, that some unseemly dregs should not have come in to defile the mixture. These, however, as the Doctor implies, sink for the most part to the bot- tom; and can therefore but partially be given to the world, without diving into the lower regions of society, where they are to be found.
"With respect to Cards, we are not sure that our author is entirely accurate ;- tho they have happily fallen into much greater opprobrium than formerly. Nor are we certain that our 'fair towns-women' never carry the amusements of the Ballroom to excess. We confess indeed we should shrink at the idea of becoming respon- sible for all the vexatious colds that are taken thro the medium of that polite accomplishment. One reason, we believe, why public Balls have not been more frequent, is the general dread. among all but striplings, to assume the office of manager :- and what is not a little to the discredit of our beaux, we are gravely informed that it is the difficulty of collecting the club that has for the most part created the aversion. This, we would fain hope, is an exaggerated charge ; -but we believe it is too true, that an unwar-
467
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
rantable delay in these matters, docs full often occur. The want of a suitable room, however, is a principal impediment.
"The 'frequent and hasty marriages' men- tioned by the Doctor have very happily occurred this winter, and confirm his statement; and, in- dlecd they have lately happened in such quick and gallant succession as almost to warrant a confi- dence in the effects which have been so long at- tributed to the reversing rights of leap year !- In the article of sleighriding, too, we have far exceeded the stated limits,-as during our late Christmas holidays, the horses & sliding vehicles of our citizens were in almost continual requisi- tion; and so great was the furor for this fas- cinating amusement, that the rate of 30 dol- lars per diem was allowed for their use."
ST. CECILIA SOCIETY AND SOCIAL READING PARTY.
The reviewer tells us also of two new organ- izations which counted very much in a social way. These were the St. Cecilia Society and the Social Reading Party. The first of these was devoted to the delightful strains of the piano and the improvement and practice of its fair votaries in the 'witching powers of song. There seem to have been churlish critics who looked much upon the expertness and modula- tions of the voice and fingers but "there are enow left in the world who will always be cap- able of feeling and admiring the influence of music." It was thought that the St. Cecilian band was calculated to attune the soul to social sympathy and unite in harmonious concord the families at whose houses the meetings were al- ternatcly held. The Reading Party was com- posed in the main of ladies, although there were enough gentlemen to divide up the offices equally between the sexes. Its purpose was the promo- tion of literary taste as well as social relaxation. One of the principal subjects of study was Eng- lish grammar and cach entertainment closed with a recitation. The reviewer also ventures to comment upon the subject which still excites the criticism of many of the male persuasion : "Amid all these agreeable emotions, however, with re- gard to the most interesting part of creation we cannot (and at the same time 'trust we have good consciences') pass over without a protest against the fashionable, and ofttimes torturing bondage which so many of them are content to endure. We need hardly add that we allude to the health and shape destroying use of the Corsets, which have, like the yellow fever, been imported into America; and which with the
similar tendency are only unequal in the num- ber of their victims. What a pity that almost deities in shape, and only short of angels in perfection, should be content to disfigure the per- son and destroy the life created by Omnipotence -merely to pay homage to the changing idol, Fashion !
"Scarcely a month passes over, without waft- ing to us the news of some tight-laced damsel who was constrained to faint; or some hopeless votary who has untimely expircd, at the shrine of the infernal Demon of Corsets."
The prevailing love of gain was also a sub- ject of reprobation in those carly days as at present. Another grievance was the lack of good servants and the matrons were told they . must be content to labor on, because no adequate assistance could be had. The writer hastens to disarm any suspicion that he is advocating slav- cry and concludes (the same old story) "but we yct think that with a little more humility on the part of the maid, and a little more gentleness on the part of the mistress, the present unpopu- larity of the office of domestic assistant might in some measure be reduced."
AMATEUR THEATRICALS.
Still furnished considerable of the amusement for the people and we hear that in June, 1808, a special performance was given by the Thespians for the benefit of the fire company. Dr. Drake's prowess as an actor has been already referred to. The Harmonical Society furnished many of the amateurs and formed a brass band for the or- chestra of the entertainments. Other actors be- sides those already mentioned were Ethan A. Brown, General Findlay, the attorneys Rawlins and Wade as well as Nicholas Longworth. The receipts were to be given for the Public Library but were finally used for building the Lower Market.
Mr. Longworth describes the carlier drama of pioneer days as follows: "Then an ambitious band of Thespians on a stage in Griffin Yeat- inan's stable occasionally acted plays for the benefit of the public and their own glorification and amusement. Our leading citizens were ac- tors in men's and women's attire. Griffin Yeat- man's tavern sign was a square in compass. [ performed the part of Mungo in those days and recollect two lines of a prologue :
'To call in customers we make a rumpus,
You can't mistake the sign its Yeatman's square and compass.'
"This is the performance of The Poor Gentle-
468
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI
man' at the opening of which General Findlay delivered an address. Major Ziegler dressed in cock hat and knee breeches with sword in hand was the doorkeeper."
This was in 1806. Arthur St. Clair, Jr., in his testimony in the Vattier case in 1807 mentions a series of three performances by a Mr. Smith in Vattier's stable in August, 1805. Afterwards he with several others formed the Thespian Corps which performed several times till Christ- mas or the beginning of the year 1806. The room over Vattier's stable was the most spacious one in town and it was during a Thespian perform- ance in this loft that General Findlay's office was robbed. It was usual with the people of taste, said St. Clair, to frequent the theatre on play nights.
THE SIIELLBARK THEATRE.
In 1814 the Shellbark Theatre so-called, which was a circus enclosure on Main below Fourth, was the scene of action. Among the performers at this time were Griffin Taylor, E. Webb, Jos- eph Thomas, William Douglas, Calvin Fletcher, John F. Stall, Thomas Henderson, Nathaniel Sloo, Abijah Ferguson, Junius and John H. James, Samuel Findlay, the two Hurduses, the Bensons, and Mr. Hepburn. Joseph Hurdus was also in charge of the scenery. The music was furnished by Cazelles and Doane, with Zeumer at the bassoon; C. Thomas, clarionet ; Samuel Best, violin ; Joseph and Samuel Harrison, bass drum. Benjamin Drake was president and Pey- ton S. Symmes, secretary.
Something more permanent in the way of amusement seems to have been desired and fin- ally on December 13, 1814, Liberty Hall con- tained the following notice: "All persons who are favorable to the establishment of a THE- ATRE in this place are requested to meet at the Columbian Inn on Thursday evening next, the 15th inst., at seven o'clock. The members of the Cincinnati Thespian Society are also particu- larly requested to attend."
As a result of this meeting, a small frame theatre on the south side of Columbia between Main and Sycamore streets was erected at the point where subsequently stood the old Columbia Street Theatre. The early performances were furnished by the Thespians and the proceeds were devoted to charitable entertainments. So worldly an undertaking as this aroused the op- position of Rev. Joshua L. Wilson, who felt that the spirit of evil was responsible for so much levity. Theatrical performances he regarded as
immoral and he started a sort of a crusade against the theatre which aroused much feeling and was the occasion of many communications to the papers. The Thespians and their friends were very indignant at the Reverend Doctor's monopoly of morality and they held strongly to their rights. At the Fourth of July celebration among the toasts was the following: "The Cin- cinvati Theatre-May it not, like the walls of Jericho, fall at the sound of Joshua's horn."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.