USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 39
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The first school was conducted by Na- thaniel Pinkeret in 1806. He opened a school in a log house on the northeast corner of Main and Market Streets. This building was not erected entirely for school purposes.
In 1813, at about where Shaffer's Feed Store is located on W. Main Street, Sam- uel Smith conducted a school, and the first building erected for religious services was directly across the street from Smith's school building, about opposite the drink- ing fountain on Center Street.
The first mill was eercted by Demint in 1803.
The first store was opened by a Mr. Stowe from Cincinnati. He brought with him a small stock of goods. The second store was opened by two Frenchmen in a cabin near the public square. Samuel Simmington may not have conducted the store in his frame house, for Pearson Spinning bought that property in 1812 and kept a store there for many years.
John D. Nichols kept the first book- store in 1830 and 1831. The postoffice was first established in 1804; others seem to think that a postoffice was not established until 1814. Robert Rennick was the first postmaster. The first date is the correct one, for we are informed elsewhere that in 1804 a mail route was established, which went from Cincinnati through Leb- anon, Xenia, Springfield and Urbana; thence to Piqua; thence down the Miami to Dayton, Franklin, Hamilton and Cin- cinnati. This was a weekly delivery. The first daily mail arrived in the city of Springfield in 1828 and came by four- horse coach. The first newspaper was established in the city of Springfield in 1817 and was called the "Farmer."
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The first bank was organized in the firewood in the door-yard, when a rifle- winter of 1846 and 1847 and was the pred- ecessor of the present Mad River Bank.
The first census was taken in 1820 and showed that there were 510 inhabitants of the city of Springfield.
James Shipman was the first tailor, Walter Smallwood the first blacksmith, and Cooper Ludlow the first shoemaker.
In 1803 a road was surveyed between Franklinton, a village near Columbus, to Dayton. This road was made to pass through what was then known as South Street, now Main Street, and did not pass through Columbia Street because of the extensive swamp lying at the east end of this street. The laying out of this road led to the building of the business por- tion of Springfield on Main Street and it became the main thoroughfare from the dians were led by Tecumseh, Round Head, vicinity of Columbus to Dayton.
The first wife of the founder, Demint, died in 1803 and was buried in the old graveyard on Columbia Street.
Maddox Fisher came from Kentucky in 1813 with $20,000 in money. He pur- chased twenty-five lots near the public square from Demint at $25 a lot.
Quite a number of mills were erected at an early date. (See Chapter on Mills.)
COUNCILS WITH INDIANS.
A notable event, which is recorded by all historians, is the following :
"One Myers was killed near Urbana by a party of wandering Indians, and a fam- ily named Elliott, living on Mad River, was visited by an Indian of Tecumseh's tribe, who demanded a butcherknife of them, was refused, and told to leave. Mrs. Elliott was soon after out getting
shot was heard and a ball whistled through the front of her sunbonnet and grazed the skin upon her throat. These acts, coupled with the gathering together of the Indians under the Shawnee brothers, induced a panic among the people of this and other counties. The bold and warlike organized into com- panies. The tavern of Foos was made a temporary stronghold, while many fam- ilies left in haste for their previous homes in Kentucky. The whites demanded the aggressors : the Indians denied knowledge of their committal, and it was left to a council to be held at Springfield. The commissioners for the whites were Gen- eral Benjamin Whiteman, Major Moore, Captain Ward, and two others. The In-
Black Fish, and other chiefs. The council took place in a maple-grove across the street from the tavern. The Indians had come in two bodies; the band of Tecumseh from towards Fort Wayne, and one from the north, some seventy in number, in charge of McPherson. Each party, un- friendly to the other, charged them with the deeds unlawful. McPherson's party, by request, had left their arms at a dis- tance, but Tecumseh and his braves re- fused to disarm themselves, the chief say- ing that in his tomahawk was his pipe, and it might be needed for a smoke.
"Just arrived from Pennsylvania was a tall, slim young man known as Dr. Richard Hunt. Anxious to conciliate, this person advanced and offered Tecumseh his dirty-looking clay pipe with short stem. The chief stepped proudly for- ward, received the offering carefully be- tween thumb and finger, looking with
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sparkling eye of contempt at it, eyed the owner a moment to his extreme discom- fiture, then flung the pipe, with a loud grunt, over his head and away from him. The Indians carried the point and re- tained their arms.
"Inquiry showed that the murder of Myers was an individual act. Speeches were made, hostilities disavowed, recon- ciliation effected, and quiet to the settle- ments, for the time, restored. The In- dians stayed three days in town and amused the settlers by feats of agility. Whiteman, above named, had long made the forest his home and the Indian his. acquaintance. A companion of Kenton and Boone, he had learned many savage dialects, and, at the council, conversed with Tecumseh in the Shawnee tongue with freedom."
EARLY CUSTOMS.
"In these days of ready-made clothing, close-fitting dresses, convenient and cost- ly furniture, excellent thoroughfares by rail and pike, hostility to the sale and use of liquors, fine houses and places of busi- ness, physicians on call, and car or hack to convey to or from desired localities, it is both curious and useful to revert in our history to the humble and arduous lives of the old pioneers, and therein learn a les- son for present needs. During these days of which we write, there was a condition of complete social equality; the exclusive- ness of caste and the claims of aristocracy were not known, and the broad line of distinction was run between the worst class and the people in general. Their occasions of fellowship and good will were the old raisings of log and bent, the
sharp contests for rapid execution of parts of the work at log-rollings, and sportive gatherings for corn-huskings. Their sports were shooting at a mark and exercises calling for muscular exertion, and races ran in competition prepared for races for life in contests with the savages. Rollicking amusements among the young were untrammeled and innocent. All sought for pleasurable enjoyment, and were happy in seeing others happy. Dress was common to rich or poor, the men went clad in hunting-shirts of linen made from self-raised and manufactured ma- terial, and Buckskin pants; the women dressed themselves in garments of their own handiwork,-these, according to new- ness, were common or holiday dresses. The bridal costume was a medium Amer- ican cotton check, which then cost a dol- lar per yard and took five yards for the pattern. Silks, satins, alpacas, and fancy goods were not in the market or posses- sion. The interior of a cabin was simple in the extreme. Over the broad fireplace, held by wooden hooks, rested the trusty rifle; bedsteads were often no more than forked sticks driven into the earthen floor, with cross-poles for the clapboards or the cord. For cooking there was a pot, kettle, and fryingpan. Upon the table, a few plates and dishes held the food. For seats, some had split-bottomed chairs, but stools and blocks were in general and sat- isfactory use. No mention have I made of carpets; this smooth, swept earth or puncheon floor were all that was needed. The battalion drills on muster-days, elec- tions, celebrations, and all public occa- sions were enlivened by free use of whis- key, pure from the home stills. Hunting, now regarded as a pastime, was to them a
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business to secure the winter's meat, and corn-pones formed part of every meal. Flour was purchasable at Chillicothe, Zanesville and at Cincinnati. Goods were high; they were hauled in wagons to Pitts- burg, floated down the Ohio to Cincinnati, and thence hauled or packed up. Tea re- tailed at $2 to $3 per pound; coffee at 75 cents; and salt brought $10. to $12 per hundred pounds; calico was $1 per yard; whiskey was $1 to $2 per gallon, and the Indians were excellent customers. Storekeepers are said to have given liquor free to encourage purchasers."
SLEEPY HOLLOW AND OLD VIRGINIA.
Many of us in this period of the his- tory of our city have no doubt wondered why the vicinity of the Court House went by the name of "Sleepy Hollow." It seems that in earlier times Mill Run made a natural division of the city. This stream, especially south of Columbia Street, ran through a miry bog, and cross- ing it was a matter of some difficulty. Perhaps the best crossing was on Colum- bia Street, as the surface there was closer to the rock than elsewhere and of a more substantial condition.
A number of enterprising Virginians became possessors of a good portion of the young city that was southwest of the stream. They built hotels, established schools and churches and considered themselves more enterprising than their neighbors on the other side of Mill Run, for which reason they soon gave to the latter locality the nickname of "Sleepy Hollow," and this name has continued at- tached to it until the present time, and with a good deal of aptness, for scarcely
any business has been conducted in the immediate surroundings of the original square laid out by Demint. At this date there is nothing on Columbia Street with- in two squares of the Court House, ex- cepting two livery stables, a carriage shop and a saloon. The people of "Sleepy Hollow" in turn designated that part west of Mill Run as "Old Virginia." This name has been lost as applied to that vicinity in the growth of the city.
EARLY SETTLERS.
From Mr. Martin's collection in a ' former work, we have gathered some use- ful information in regard to a number of the early settlers of Springfield. These sketches bear evidence of a painstaking effort to give a truthful narrative.
JAMES DEMINT.
Not much is known of the antecedents of James Demint. He came with Kenton and the others to the vicinity of Spring- field in 1799. In 1800 he built his log cabin north of the crystal waters of Buck Creek.
In 1801 he began a plat of the future city. About this time also he conducted a still. no doubt in the rude and limited fashion of the early pioneers. In 1804 he built his grist mill at the mouth of Mill Run. This was an enterprise of great importance in view of the growing crops, though the mill was but a rude af- fair, having a capacity of grinding twen- ty-five bushels of corn in every twenty- four hours. Before this there were no mills nearer than Lebanon.
In 1803 Demint's first wife died and he
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remarried. His widow afterwards became the wife of a teamster who lived for sev- eral years west of the city of Springfield on the Old Dayton Road, by the name of John Rust. Demint added two more plats to the city of Springfield. He was a large consumer of the products produced by his own industry, and frequently went away on prolonged sprees. He died suddenly about the year 1817, at the tavern of the widow Fitch in Urbana. This is the sum and substance of our knowledge of the founder of Springfield.
GRIFFITH Foos.
Griffith Foos is entitled to almost equal honors with Demint in the founding of the city, for without knowledge of Demint's having already built a habita- tion, he had conceived and acted upon the idea that it was a good place in which to make a settlement. Of better habits and with more industry than Demint, he supplied that energy and industry that were required to ensure to the embryo city a permanent existence. He came to Springfield in 1801 and immediately be- gan the erection of a house to be used as a tavern. It was the first tavern in the City of Springfield and the second house to be erected. So far as we know, it was located on the south side of Main Street, a little west of Spring. He opened it in June, 1801, and continued it until 1814.
Foos, in 1817, built an oil mill on Mill Run, about where the Foos Gas Engine works are now located. He died in this city in 1858. He was an uncle of Gus, Wm. and John Foos.
ROBERT RENNICK.
Robert Rennick was one of the party that originally came to Springfield with Demint and was a joint owner with Demint in the western part of Spring- field, and when the same was set-off in severalty he became possessed of that part west of what was then called Yellow Spring Street, now Plum. He built a mill in 1806 on Buck Creek, a short distance below where the spring is now located in Snyder Park. He was the first post- master.
JOHN DAUGHERTY.
This personage has been before re- ferred to as coming to Springfield about 1800 and making the first plat of this town. He was an active Virginian, quite an industrious, enterprising citizen, and held various offices. He died a few miles south of Springfield in 1832.
JOHN AMBLER.
John Ambler came to Springfield in 1808 and immediately engaged in the mak- ing of brick and the building of houses. In 1812 he was a merchant and kept a tavern nearly opposite the Mad River Na- tional Bank. He is credited with having huilt the first brick house in Springfield. This house is still standing and is oc- cupied by Mr. Davis, 142 W. Main Street. When Clark County was organized he be- came the first treasurer and kept his office in his residence on W. Main Street. He died shortly after his term of treasurer had expired. The mother of the late John Shipman was his daughter.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
COOPER LUDLOW.
Cooper Ludlow came to the vicinity of Springfield in 1805. He was a tanner by trade. In 1812 he moved to Springfield and kept a tavern on the corner of Main and Factory Streets. The late Dr. John Ludlow was a son by a first wife and the late Abraham Ludlow by his second wife. His residence for many years was where the high school building is now located.
WALTER SMALLWOOD.
This person came to the City of Spring- field in 1804, bringing his wife with him from Virginia, and purchased a lot on the south side of Main Street and erected a residence a short distance west of Center Street. They lived in this town until 1852, when they moved to Missouri, where he died in 1869.
PIERSON SPINNING.
This person came to Springfield from Dayton in 1812. He bought a frame house that Mr. Simington had erected and con- ducted therein a store until 1834. In 1827 he built a residence on the east side of Limestone Street, where Bennett & Young now have a printing office, south of the Citizens' Bank. He afterwards built the brick residence on the southwest corner of High & Gallagher Streets, now occupied hy Mrs. Dr. Titlow. He died in this city in 1857 in his seventy-first year. Some of his grandchildren are residents of the city at this time.
REV. SAUL HENKLE.
The first minister of the Methodist church to locate in Springfield was the Rev. Saul Henkle. He came here with his
wife in 1809. In 1827 he edited and pub- lished a religious paper called the "Gospel Trumpet." In 1830 he was elected county clerk. He died in 1837.
IRA PAIGE.
Ira Paige came to Springfield in 1814 and a short time thereafter established a woolen factory on the lower floor of Fisher's Mill on Mill Run. This was con- ducted by him for about fifteen years. He represented the county in the Lower House of the Legislature. He died in 1847 in his fifty-eighth year. His son Algeron lived south of Springfield upon the farm where his grandchildren still reside.
MADDOX FISHER.
Maddox Fisher came to Springfield from Kentucky in 1813. He is said to have brought a considerable sum of money with him and purchased twenty-five lots from Mr. Demint in the vicinity of the public square. In 1814, he built a cotton factory near where Mill Run empties into Buck Creek. He was prominent in mat- ters of a township character. He assisted in building the first court house, jail, and was perhaps the most distinguished lob- biest Springfield had in causing it to be chosen as a county seat, and in the estab- lishment of Clark County. In 1825 he built a residence on the lot where Dr. Rogers now lives. He served as post- master in 1824. In 1830 he erected the Fisher Block, afterward enlarged and re- built, on the southwest corner of Main and Limestone Streets, and now owned by his grandson, C. W. Fisher. He died in 1836 in his sixty-fifth year.
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OLIVER ARMSTRONG.
Oliver Armstrong was born in Benning- ton, Vt., in 1783 and came to Clark Coun- ty in 1814. He was prominent in city and county affairs for a number of years. Mrs. George Frankenberg, who is still re- siding in this city, is his daughter. She is now past eighty-three years of age. His son Cyrus was for twenty years treas- urer of the county.
Other early settlers here were Granny Icenberger, Joel Walker, Marifield Vic- tory, James Wallace, Dr. Needham, Elijah Beardsley and Major Christy. Sketches of Generals Mason and Anthony will be found in the article entitled "Bench and Bar" contained herein, and the lives of early physicians in the article treating on that profession. The roster of public officials of the county will likewise show the names of many who were prominent in city affairs during the early period, and so may be found in the history of the churches of the city more or less information about the ministry.
The following is a list of persons buried at Ferncliff who were born prior to 1800:
Name.
Birth. Death. Age.
John Bacon
Nativity. Connecticut
1797
1870
Adam Baker
Pennsylvania
1795
1863
68
James Barnett
Pennsylvania
1787
1861
64
Samuel Barnett
Pennsylvania
1791
1869
78
Henry Bechtle, Sr.
Maryland
1782
1839
57
Geo. H. Benson
Virginia
1787
1877
90
Wm. Berry
Virginia
1798
1879
81
George Brain
England
1784
1851
66
Dr. George Brown
Pennsylvania
1792
1871
79
Chas. Cavalier
63
Oliver Clark
Massachusetts
1795
1854
59
.John Dodsworth
England
1798
1880
83
James Foley, Sr.,
Virginia
1779
1863
84
John Foley
¥
1777
1845
68
James Humphreys
1791
1858
67
John Humphreys
Ireland
1764
1857
94
Richard W. Hunt
New Jersey
1790
1848
58
Michael Kaufman
Pennsylvania
1788
1872
84
Mary Keifer
Ohio
1796
1849
53
Jacob Kershner
Maryland
1777
1853
76
David King
Ohio
1799
1879
80
Frederick Kobelanz
Germany
1798
1880
82
Nutirity.
Birth. Death. Age.
John N. Kurtz
Pennsylvania
1792
1852
60
David Lowry
Pennsylvania
1767
1859
92
Jane Lowry
Virginia
1778
1867
88
Sampson Mason
New Jersey
1793
1869
96
Reuben Miller
Pennsylvania
1797
1879
82
Thomas Montjoy
Ireland
1797
1866
69
Nimrod Morgan
Kentucky
1793
1881
89
Edmond Ogden
England
1789
1868
79
Sarah Paige
New York
1799
1877
78
Baker W. Peck
New Jersey
1791
1873
81
Joseph Perry
Pennsylvania
1782
1852
70
Geo. Rabbitts
England
1797
1849
52
Rhoda Rabbitts
England
1786
1868
82
Daniel Raffensberger Pennsylvania
1796
1877
81
Richard Rogers
Pennsylvania
1799
1871
72
Rev. John Seys
Santa Cruz,Mex. 1799
1872
73
George Smith
England
1780
1861
81
Henry Snyder, Sr. Pennsylvania
1783
1869
86
John L. Snyder, Sr. Pennsylvania
1797
1867
70
Pierson Spinning
New Jersey
1786
1857
71
Jacob Thomas
Maryland
1796
1877
79
Joseph S. Wallace
Kentucky
1799
1876
77
Anna A. Warder
Pennsylvania
1784
1871
87
Rebecca Wertz
Pennsylvania
1796
1878
82
Rachel Werden
New Jersey
1784
1860
76
William Werden
Pennsylvania
1785
1869
84
Patrick Wiseley
1791
1881
90
Thomas H. Moore
Ireland
1792
1872
80
Thomas A. Morris
Bishop M.E. Ch. 1794
1874
80
Phoebe H. Petts
New Hampshire 1798
1877
79
CONDITION IN 1828.
Shortly after Springfield was incor- porated as a village (by act of Legisla- ture. January 23, 1827), the first complete census was taken of which we have any record. That enterprising paper, the Western Pioneer, in its issue of Septem- ber 28, 1828, said: "We have for the in- formation of our readers and our own gratification taken the pains to enumerate the population of our village. There are in Springfield 935 souls-6 blacksmith shops, with 15 hands; 4 wagon shops, with 13 hands; 4 shoemaker shops, with 9 hands ; 3 tanneries, with 8 hands ; 6 tailor shops, with 18 hands; 3 saddle shops, with 10 hands; 3 bakeries, with 5 hands; 2 hatter shops, with 6 hands; 3 cabinet shops, with 8 hands; 1 tin shop, with 4 hands; 3 cooper shops, with 10 hands; 2 chair shops, with 5 hands; 14 stores, with 32 hands; 4 groceries, with 4 hands; 1 paper mill. with 20 hands; 1 gun shop, with 3 hands."
1787
1850
Namc.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY
In addition the census showed 3 brick- yards, 27 carpenters, 1 clockmaker, 3 butcheries, 2 distilleries, 4 attorneys, 5 physicians, 2 sign and 1 portrait painter, and 1 extensive flour mill. Incidentally they mention 4 schools, a courthouse, brick jail, 3 churches, six print shops and "a post office at which 24 mails are re- ceived weekly in elegant four-horse coaches."
CONDITION IN 1832.
In 1832 the village had a population of 1,250. There were 180 dwelling houses. courthouse, clerk's office, jail, 4 churches, one paper mill, one grist mill and one carding and fulling mill, one brewery and one distillery, 16 dry goods stores, one book store, five groceries, 3 taverns, one printing office, by which was issued a weekly paper. There were five lawyers and six physicians. During the past 12 months (up to that date) there have been erected 51 buildings, three of which were brick, twenty-one one story in height, 16 two-story and one three-story. About this time quite an impetus was given to the growth of the town by the construc- tion of the National Road. When this road was built it was necessary to bridge Mill Run on Main Street and thus again Main Street had the advantage over Columbia in the facilities for intercourse between the different parts of the town, and the business element became perma- nently fixed on this street.
VILLAGE DAYS, 1834-1850.
Springfield became incorporated as a village in 1834, with Edward H. Cumming as president and James S. Halsey as re- corder.
This form of government was continued until 1850, when by an act of the legisla- ture, Springfield became a city of the sec- ond class. Within this period the village had a steady growth, and when it became a city its population was 5,109. During its village days not much evidence was given of its future greatness as a manu- facturing center. True, a number of mills of various kinds had been erected upon Mill Run and Buck Creek. Wittenberg College had been founded in 1845.
Jeremiah Warder had purchased the village of Lagonda in 1830. David West had began the manufacture of buggies in 1837; William Whiteley the making of plows in 1840. James Leffel began the foundry business in 1840 and James Driscoll the carriage business in 1847. The Pitts Threshing Machine was manu- factured here as early as 1842. These were practically all the manufacturing in- dustries, except mills, etc. (See mills.)
During the village period the first rail- roads entered the town and gave it a strong impetus toward its future impor- tance.
Perhaps more is due to James Leffel in this period than to any other one person. He built his foundry west of the city, near Buck Creek, in 1840. The Barnett Flour- ing Mills were commenced in 1841, large- ly through the instrumentality of Mr. Leffel.
A woolen mill was likewise started dur- ing this period, which afterwards became the property of Mr. Charles Rabbitts. Within this period, in 1840, the town was visited by quite a fire, which consumed the entire business block from Fisher's west to the Kizer Alley, and also the
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building located where the Cherry House now stands.
In 1849 Springfield was visited by that dread scourge, the cholera, which re- moved some of the most enterprising cit- izens.
While the National Road was opened in the year 1832 as a thoroughfare, it was of its greatest importance during the village days of Springfield, as by the building of this road Springfield became a point of importance on a great thoroughfare.
CONDITION IN 1850.
In 1850 Springfield had a population of 5,109, showing a substantial increase over previous years. On the 21st of March, by a special act of the legislature and upon a vote in favor of the same taken in the village, Springfield became a city.
The first mayor was James J. Hunt, and the councilmen were Alexander Ram- sey, John G. Filler, C. D. McMarshall and Martin Carey. The following is given as a summary of the condition at this time:
At this time the city contained twelve churches, one female seminary, one read- ing room and three large halls for ex- hibitions, lectures, etc .; eleven physicians and sixteen lawyers, two banking institu- tions, seven hotels, seventeen mercantile and three book stores, three drug stores, five iron and hardware stores, forty-three groceries, three bakeries, two dental of- fices, one daguerrean room, ten boot and shoe stores and shops, nine tailor shops, five saddle and harness shops, four stove and tin shops, three cabinet warerooms, four hat stores, three jeweler's stores, six wagon and carriage shops, several black- smith and cooper shops and several ware-
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