USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > Early Dayton; with important facts and incidents from the founding of the city of Dayton, Ohio, to the hundredth anniversary, 1796-1896, > Part 11
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In April, 1809, Dr. Wood opened, in Reid's Inn, the first drug- store established here, advertising in the Repertory "medicines in the small" for sale. The first political convention held in Montgomery County convened September 6 of this year at the Court-house, David Reid, moderator ; Benjamin Van Cleve, clerk. Six hundred votes were cast at the election, and the following ticket was elected : State Legislature, Joseph H. Crane, Mont- gomery County, David Purviance, Preble County ; sheriff, Jerome Holt ; coroner, David Squier ; commissioner, John Folkerth.
Both Indians and wild animals were still troublesome in 1810. The Montgomery County commissioners paid thirty dollars in reward for wolf-scalps this year, and twenty-two dollars in 18II. There were two thousand four hundred Indians in Ohio in 1810; five hundred and fifty-nine lived at Wapakoneta, and many were now encamped at Greenville. Dayton people were very anxious, for Tecumseh and his brother, "the Prophet," were uniting the Indians in the West and South in a league against the whites, which two years later was useful to the British.
The town was slowly improving. The population in 1810 was three hundred and eighty-three. This year the Select Council provided for new sidewalks along Monument Avenue, then Water Street, from Main to Mill Street; on First, from Ludlow to St. Clair, except the south side of First, between Jefferson and St. Clair, and on Main, from Monument Avenue to Third Street. The ordinance directed the walks to be "laid with stones or brick, or to be completely graveled, and a ditch dug along the outer edge." People were forbidden, "except when it was abso- lutely necessary," to drive over the walks, and fines collected for infringing this law were to be appropriated for paving street- crossings. This ordinance caused general rejoicing, both among townspeople and visitors from the country, as is stated in the Ohio Centinel, a weekly newspaper eleven by nine inches in size,-a four-column folio,-which, on the 26tli of July, suc-
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ceeded the Repertory. Isaac G. Burnett, a man of talent and education, was the editor and publisher till 1813, when it was discontinued from want of patronage, most of the men being away with the army, and the women too busy with farm and domestic work to have time for reading. It was a very good paper, and the editorials are still interesting reading to any one who cares for our early history. It contained the official and legal announcements for the whole Northwest Territory, and had a large circulation as far as Detroit and Chicago. It was "Republican " in principle, but was far from being exclusively political. Its motto was, "With slight shades of difference, we have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles."
In 18II a comet was visible, and there were severe shocks of earthquakes throughout the Ohio Valley front 1811 to 1812. It was at this date that New Madrid, on the Mississippi, was entirely destroyed by earthquake. The superstitious were ter- rified by these "signs and portents" in sky and earth, regarding them as ominous of public or private misfortune. The Ohio Cen- tinel gives graphic accounts of the shocks felt here on December 16 and 17, 18II ; January 23 and 27, and February 13, 1812. While the alarming shocks were occurring at Dayton, the news- papers were filled with frightful descriptions of the catastrophe at New Madrid and startling earthquake news from other quar- ters, and it is no wonder that citizens read these reports with awe and dread, feeling that it was not improbable that a similar fate was in store for them. This year of disaster made a deep and never-forgotten impression. In illustration of the force of the earthquake on the 16th and 17th of December, when the earth was in a continual tremor, a pioneer grandmother used to relate an anecdote of a flighty little woman, who, partly for the purpose of asserting her own courage, of which, in fact, she had not a particle, and partly from a spirit of mischief and desire to shock her awestruck friends, threw herself laughingly on the ground, exclaiming : "How delightfully the world rocks! I like the . motion." The poor, frightened lady probably thought it better philosophy to laugh than to cry ; but the village gossips consid- ered such conduct very unbecoming, and proof positive that she was an atheist.
The revenue of Montgomery County for 1811-12 was $1,748.87 ; the expenditures, $968.60.
In 1812 William Huffman came to Dayton from New Jersey.
1809-1812 III
He was for many years successfully engaged in business as a merchant and speculator in real estate. His stone house, the first stone residence built in Dayton, and which, according to pioneer habits, was both dwelling and store, stood on Jefferson and Third streets, on the site of the Beckel House. He and his wife lived to be very aged. Their son, William P. Huffman, deceased, was an enterprising citizen, doing much to build up the town. There were four daughters : Mary Ann, married Rev. David Winters ; Catharine, Morris Seely ; Eliza J., Alexan- der Sinims; Lydia A., first, William H. Merriam, second, John Harries. Grandchildren : William H. Simms, Mrs. Ziba Craw- ford, William, Frank, George, Torrence, and Annie Huffman, Mrs. E. J. Barney, Mrs. J. R. Hedges, Mrs. C. F. Drury.
In January, 1812, the Government began to raise troops for the war with Great Britain. While the Ohio militia were encamped in Dayton, the rendezvous for the troops, D. C. Cooper employed them to dig a mill-race. The army also brought work and busi- ness of other kinds to town. Early in 1812 Joseph Peirce wrote to his brother-in-law, James Steele, who had gone east to buy goods : "Business quite as good as could be expected. Gro- ceries, especially coffee, are scarce in town. I think eight or ten barrels would not be too much for us, if they can be purchased cheap. A good assortment of muslins to sell at twenty-five cents would be desirable, and if L. Pascson can furnish you with them as cheap for four months as for cash, I would purchase pretty largely." Soon after, he wrote to another relative that he had been so over- whelmed with business since the arrival of the troops that he had not had time to attend to his private correspondence.
Horatio G. Phillips was one of the several merchants who laid the foundations of large fortunes in 1812. He was a native of New Jersey, and the son of Captain Jonathan and Mary Forman Phillips. He was born in 1783. His father was an officer in the Revolutionary army. In 1803 H. G. Phillips and a party of friends canie west to seek a new home. At Cincinnati, on his return from a visit to Natchez, Mississippi, where he had had some thought of settling, he met D. C. Cooper, a New Jersey ac- quaintance, and at his invitation came to Dayton in the winter of 1804-05. At the close of the year 1805 he made the long, lonely journey on horseback, without a companion, to Phila- delphia. Having purchased goods in that city, he went to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where, on April 10, 1806, he was mar-
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ried to Miss Eliza Smith Houston. The journey to Ohio was made on horseback to Pittsburg, thence by flatboat to Cincinnati, and from the latter place to Dayton in a wagon. Their home till 1812 was a two-story log house on the southwest corner of First and Jefferson streets. His store was in his dwelling. In 1809 he took his wife and their infant daughter back to New Jersey on a visit to the old home. They traveled on horseback, a lead-horse carrying their baggage. J. N. C. Schenck, of Franklin, Charles Russell Greene, and other merchants, going east for goods, trav- eled with them, all the men of the party being armed with rifles, as roaming bands of Indians made the journey through the woods dangerous. There were now occasional taverns, where a night could be spent in primitive style.
In 1812 Mr. Phillips built a two-story brick store and a resi- dence on the southeast corner of Main and Second streets. Dayton was at this period the thoroughfare of all regiments and wagons bound for the seat of war, and the army brought a great deal of trade to Mr. Phillips and other business men. Troops were always stationed here, and their purchases added largely to the profits of our merchants. In 1812-13 Mr. Houston, whom Mr. Phillips sent to Philadelphia to purchase goods, bought more largely than the latter intended, and fearing the stock could not all be disposed of here, he opened a store at Troy, with Mr. Houston in charge. Fortunately, the war created a demand for pork, whisky, flour, and grain, taken in exchange for merchan- dise, and he accumulated a large amount of these articles at Troy and Dayton, which he sold at good prices at those towns, or at the forts between New Lexington and Urbana. In 1815 he opened a third store in Greenville, under the control of Easton Morris. He was actively engaged in business for many years, and retired in his old age. He was one of the founders of the first Dayton bank, and was interested in woolen mills at Hole's Creek. In 1830, in partnership with Alexander Grimes and Moses Smith, he laid out the town of Alexandersville. In 1843 or 1844 he, with others, purchased from John Kneisley the water-power afterwards owned by the Dayton Hydraulic Com- pany. His partners were Daniel Beckel, J. D. Phillips, and S. D. Edgar. He was an ardent advocate of the building of turnpikes. The Phillips House, built in 1850, was named in his honor. In 1831 Mrs. Phillips died. "By her death society lost one of its most hospitable and gifted members and the church a liberal
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giver and an earnest, unselfish worker." In 1836 Mr. Phillips married Mrs. C. P. Irwin, who survived him many years. By his first marriage he had three children who lived to grow up: Elizabeth, deceased, who married John G. Worthington, and with her son and daughter lived in Washington ; Jonathan Dickinson, born December 31, 1812, married Luciana Z. Greene, and died in 1871, his wife dying in 1881 ; Mariana Louisa, born March 30, 1814, married, first, Robert A. Thruston, and, second, John G. Lowe.
J. D. Phillips was a man of culture and taste, and very gener- ous and public-spirited. When he gave anything to his native city,-and his gifts were large and frequent,-it was, if possible, beautiful as well as appropriate and useful. He was one of the founders of, and a very liberal contributor to, the Public Library, and the extent of his gifts in that and other directions was known only to a few intimate friends. He was a warm friend of the Public Library, and (about 1849) proposed to construct a room on the second floor of his new building especially adapted to the use of the library, and lease it to the association on very favorable terms. The proposition was accepted, and a room forty by sixty feet, with lofty ceiling, supported through the center by Corinthian columns, was prepared. This room was elegantly furnished by special subscription, at a cost of over two thousand dollars. It is safe to say that at that day there was no library- room in Ohio outside of Cincinnati that could compare with it in beauty and convenience. The room was finished in white and gold. A pair of handsome, large, revolving globes, in tall stands, and other ornamental and useful articles were, in addition to liis contribution to the general fund, given by Mr. Phillips. He was very hospitable, and loved, for his own enjoyment as well as for the honor of the town, to entertain at his residence distinguished guests during their stay in Dayton. His elegant, large ball-room was the scene of many a brilliant reception.
Mrs. John G. Lowe has, through a long life, been noted for generosity and active interest in benevolent and religious work, following the example of her motlier, who was a leader in every undertaking for the benefit of the community. During the War of 1812 Mrs. Phillips took sick and wounded soldiers, who were brought here from the battlefield, into her own liome, and nursed them till they were well, and was one of the band of ladies wlio constantly forwarded provisions and clothes to soldiers at the front. Her daughter, Mrs. Lowe, was one of the founders and 8
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hardest workers in the Dayton Sanitary Association, which met daily to cut out and make garments and pack boxes of food and comforts for our men serving in the army during the Civil War. Mrs. Lowe has seven children living: General Gates P. Thruston, Mrs. G. W. Houk, Mrs. Charles Newbold, Henry C. Lowe, Houston Lowe, Mrs. Fowler Stoddard, Mrs. Thomas Gaddis. A son and daughter, Dickinson P. and Jeannette J. Thruston, died in early manhood and womanhood.
J. D. Phillips had one son, Horace,-who married Miss Nannie Pease, and lives in Seattle,-and four daughters, Mrs. A. McD. McCook, deceased, Mrs. J. P. Davies, Mrs. J. Harrison Hall, and Miss Sophia Phillips.
In 1812 Obadiah B. Conover settled in Dayton. Mr. Conover, who came from New Jersey, was for some years engaged in blacksmithing and the manufacture of wagons, plows, and other farming implements. About 1820 he opened a store on the southeast corner of Main and Third streets, the property still belonging to his descendants, though the pioneer building has given way to a modern business house. He was much inter- ested and very useful in city and educational affairs, and in church and in Sunday-school work. He married a daughter of John Miller, who came to Dayton in 1799. Some of the char- acteristics of the grandfather have been inherited by sons and grandsons, from whom schools, libraries, and other public matters have received intelligent and constant attention. Mr. and Mrs. Conover had seven children, all, as well as their descendants, influential citizens. Three sons, Harvey, Wilbur, and Obadiah, were men of superior talent and liberal education, who made themselves felt, the first two in Dayton, and the third in Madison, Wisconsin. The sons, and one of the daughters, Martha, who married Collins Wight, a prominent business man, are deceased. The second daughter, Harriet, married Colonel Hiram Strong, who was a gallant officer, and died in 1863 from wounds received in the battle of Chickamauga. Obadiah B. Con- over has many grandchildren : Charles, Harvey, Lawrence, and . Wilbur Conover, Mrs. W. A. Phelps, and Mrs. Emma Brown, children of Harvey Conover; Frank Conover, Hugh D. Conover, deceased, and Mrs. Mary C. Grundy, deceased, children of Wilbur Conover ; Harry C. Wight, deceased, and Mrs. R. A. Rogers, children of Mrs. Wight; Mrs. Hannah Frank and Mrs. W. B. Gebhart, daughters of Mrs. Strong.
GAZETTE OFFICE.
BOOK BINDERY, BIN
From a water-color painting by John W. Van Cleve, in possession of Miss Martha Holt.
Copyright, 1895, by Miss. Martha Holt.
A VIEW OF THE EAST SIDE OF MAIN STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, IN 1855.
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CHAPTER VII
1812-1816
DR. JOHN STEELE-1812 and 1813 Years of Excitement-Dread of Indians- Colonel Johnston's Control of the Indians-Madison Orders Out Ohio Militia-Battalion Muster at Dayton -Militia Bivouac Without Tents at Cooper Park-Governor Meigs Arrives-Issues a Call to Citizens for Blankets-General Gano and General Cass Arrive-Three Regiments of Infantry Formed-Captain William Van Cleve-General Hull Arrives- Governor Meigs Surrenders Command to General Hull-The Governor and General Review the Troops-The Three Regiments March Across Mad River to Camp Meigs-Leave Camp Meigs for Detroit-Munger's Brigade Ordered Here to Garrison the Town-Hull's Surrender-Conster- nation of the People-Handbills Issued at Dayton Calling for Volunteers -Captain Steele's Company-Kentucky Troops Arrive Here-Harrison Calls for Volunteers and Horses-Dayton Ladies Make One Thousand Eight Hundred Shirts for Soldiers-Expedition Against Indians Near Muncietown-Defeated Soldiers Bring Wounded to Dayton-Hospital on Court-House Corner-War-Jerome Holt- War Ended-Dayton Compa- nies Welcomed Home-First Dayton Bank -Ohio Centinel-Stone Jail -- Mr. Forrer's Reminiscences of Dayton in 1814-First Methodist Church - William Hamer-Aaron Baker-Ohio Republican-Ohio Watchman-Medi- cal Societies-Dr. Job Haines-Female Charitable and Bible Society -First Market-House-Moral Society -Associated Bachelors-First Theater.
IN 1812 Dr. John Steele settled in Dayton. He was born near Lexington, Kentucky, and was graduated from the famous Lex- ington college, Transylvania University, of which his father, Robert Steele, was one of the founders. From college he went to the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in which the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rusk was professor, to attend medical lectures. Having received his diploma as a physician, he decided to make his home at Dayton, where his brother James had lived for several years. Soon after his arrival a military hospital, a frame building, was erected on the northwest corner of Main and Third streets,-the Court-house lot,-for the use of sick and wounded soldiers of the War of 1812, Dayton, as already stated, being a depot of supplies and a rendezvous for troops. Dr. Steele was placed in charge as physician and sur- geon. During his residence in Dayton, while always ready to
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serve the public, he confined himself principally to the duties of his profession, in which he was very successful, and won a high reputation. Even to the present day many families remember his knowledge and skill as doctor and surgeon with gratitude, and speak of him with love and respect. He was remarkable for dry humor and wit, and his old patients recall and repeat his witty sayings with a relish heightened by the memory of the relief they brought amid the despondency and pain of the sick- room. Like his brother James, and like their grandfather and father before them, he was a very religious man, and long an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was identified from its organization with the Third Street Presbyterian Church, and "only members of that church can know the respect and love in which he was held." He served as member and president of the City Council, was member and president of the Montgomery County Medical Society, a founder of and large contributor to the Library Association, an original stockholder in Woodland Cemetery Association, and prominently connected with all the benevolent and religious societies of his day. "With his name," writes a friend, "is associated all that is honorable, noble, and elevated in human nature." He was married twice, his first wife dying young. In 1823 he married Miss Cornelia King, of Morristown, New Jersey, who survived him twenty-five years. They had ten children: Augusta; Caroline, married W. F. Conily; Dr. Henry K., beloved in Dayton and Denver for the professional skill and delightful social qualities characteristic of his father, married Mary Frances Dunlevy ; Clara, married R. W. Steele; James, married Sally Curd; Charlotte, married W. H. Harrison ; Samuel, married Annie Mills ; Cornelia, John, and William. Mrs. R. W. Steele, Mrs. W. H. Harrison, and Miss Cornelia Steele alone survive. Grandchildren: R. W. Steele, Miss Harriet D. Steele, Mrs. William Spalding, children of Dr. Henry K. Steele; Charlotte H. Steele, daughter of Mrs. R. W. Steele; Cornelia H. Steele, daughter of James Steele. Dr. John Steele died in 1854, aged sixty-three.
The years 1812 and 1813 were full of excitement and dread in Dayton. Fear of the Indians, large numbers of whom were friendly to Great Britain, rendered the war with that country especially menacing to the people of Ohio. There were two thousand Indians-Shawnees, Ottawas, Wyandots, Senecas, Delawares, and Muncies-in the State. Blockhouses were built
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in Montgomery County as a refuge for settlers of Preble, Darke. and Miami counties, who were considered in great danger. A hundred of them fled from their homes, and their flight increased the alarm of people in less exposed regions. Scouting parties of Miami County militia were constantly on duty north and west of Piqua. These companies were usually ordered to kill every Indian, and squaws and children were made prisoners. News was continually coming during the spring that men had been killed and scalped and found murdered in the woods ; that white inhabitants were flying before the savages in every direc- tion. On the roth of May it was reported here that an Indian trader by the name of Conner, who resided at Fort Defiance, had been advised by friendly Indians to move in from the frontier, and also that the Prophet was rebuilding his town, and was as strong as ever ; that he was seventy miles from Greenville, and would reach that place in about six weeks. On the 14th of May six Indians and a squaw were captured near Troy, and on the 15th five or six whites, while planting corn near Greenville, were attacked by Indians and one of them wounded. Our people knew that if the Prophet took any of the neighboring towns it would not be many hours before he arrived at Dayton. Colonel Johnston, by order of Governor Meigs, was holding a council of Shawnee chiefs from Wapakoneta at Piqua, and great anxiety as to the result of this conference was felt. The Indians decided for peace, but though Colonel Johnston, who, from long employ- ment among them as a Government agent, understood them as few white men did, and had wonderful influence over them, believed their professions of friendship, the citizens of Ohio generally had no faith in their promises.
All through the war Colonel Johnston acted as mediator and peacemaker between the tribes and the whites, especially endeav- oring to keep faith with the friendly Shawnees, and at the same time to defend Indians and citizens from each other. He pursued this noble course successfully, in spite of much opposition from his own people, by means of appeals through the newspapers, and various proclamations and stringent regulations. Soon after one of Colonel Johnston's appeals for a just and humane treatment of the Indians was printed, an article filled withi abuse of him and the Shawnees was published in the Ohio Centinel. It was claimed that while he was assuring the people that the Indians would not be troublesome in any way, he directed them to bring him the
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ears of all the swine they had killed. The settlers insisted that the order would not have been issued if there had been no ground for complaints against the savages. Colonel Johnston's only object in publishing this order was to prove the innocence of his wards, if possible, or, if he failed in this, to provide some means of deciding what would be a full compensation for hogs that had been lost by their owners. The frontiersman could not, as a rule, believe an Indian less cruel and treacherous or more worthy of consideration than the wild beasts which he shot whenever he had an opportunity. Even the more intelligent and humane inhabitants of Ohio largely shared this distrust and contempt of Indians ; and Indians professedly friendly did many things which confirmed the evil opinion the whites had of them.
President Madison ordered out one thousand two hundred Ohio militia in April, 1812, for one year's service, and Governor Meigs directed the major-generals of the Western and Middle divisions to report with their commands at Dayton on the 29th of the month. Major David Reid ordered the officers of the First Battalion, of which he was in command, to assemble for a battalion muster on the second Tuesday in April, at the usual parade-ground in Dayton, armed and equipped as the law required. At this muster orders were read, and also the bill for enrolling volunteers, passed by Congress on the 20th of February. On such occasions crowds of people gathered to enjoy the parade, and it was supposed that the patriotism and enthusiasm of spectators would be roused on the 14th of April, and that many recruits would be obtained. "It was expected," the editor of the Ohio Centinel writes, "that a sufficient number would volunteer to obviate the necessity of a draft, but only twenty stepped forward at the call of their coun- try." The editor expresses his disappointment at this result in strong terms. Citizens had hardly had time as yet to realize that hostilities had really begun. The war excitement soon rose to fever-heat, and the Centinel never again reproved Daytonians for lack of patriotism. A company of Rangers was raised by Gen- eral Munger at this date in this neighborhood, to be marched to Detroit. Governor Meigs came to Dayton on the 20th of April to inspect them. The company was partly composed of drafted men.
The uniform of the soldiers of 1812 was a blue coat, with scarlet collar and cuffs, and a cocked hat, with a cockade and white feather. The Governor appointed the 30th of April as a
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CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 1857-1893.
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day of fasting and prayer, and appropriate religious services were held at the Dayton Court-house.
When, on May I, the first companies of militia reached Day- ton, though the Governor's order making this the rendezvous of troops had been published a month before, no arrangements had been made for their comfort. Till the middle of May they had neither tents nor camp equipage, and very few blankets. A number bivouacked without shelter on the commons now Cooper Park. Twelve companies, containing eight hundred men, were here by May 7, and eight or ten more arrived in a few days. As the town could not afford room for all these men, some camped a little south of Dayton.
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