USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Historical Sketches and Eary Reminiscences of Hamilton County, Ohio > Part 4
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It would now appear that the Indians were left entirely unrestrained, and the settlements in a more perilous condition than before ; but it should be borne in mind that General St. Clair, on his outward march, had built and garrisoned Fort Hamilton, where the town of Hamilton now is, and Fort Jef- ferson, a few miles south of the present town of Greenville, in Darke county, and that, during the following winter, Col. Jas. Wilkinson, then in com- mand of Fort Washington, sent Major John S. Gano, who built and garrisoned Fort St. Clair, a short distance west of the present town of Eaton, in Preble county. These rude and hastily constructed works,
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imperfect and weakly manned as they were, afforded great protection to the settlements, especially to those established in the interior; and during the two fol- lowing years, though hostile bands of savages were constantly prowling around the settlements, none of them were abandoned; in fact, several new ones were established, and these fearless pioneers pursued their work of clearing up farms in the wilderness.
Henry Runyan and James Cunningham, each at the head of a few families, established settlements in 1792, the former about a mile and a half above the present village of Sharonville, and the latter about the same distance north of where Reading now is. Runyan's Station was on the farm now owned and occupied by Frank Cunningham. Near the spring, east of the Dayton turnpike, stood the old station house. Cunningham's was on the west bank of Millcreek, in section 28, Sycamore township, near the old residence lately occupied by Frank Cunning- ham, one of the sons of James, the pioneer.
About the same time a community was organized at Columbia, consisting of Henry Tucker, John Tucker, Luke and Zebulon Foster, Henry Weaver, Jonathan Pittman,* and James McCashen. They entered upon what is now section 4 in Springfield township, and commenced the erection of a block
* Jonathan Pittman was the grandfather of Ephriam J. Pittman, of Lockland.
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house, at a point about a mile and a half north-west of where Lockland now is, on the east of the old Hamilton road. The old station house stood on the east side of the road, immediately opposite the late residence of Manning Tucker, now owned by Mr. Horace Bugher. Israel Ludlow built a station house the same, or perhaps the previous year, where Cum- minsville now is. The block house stood exactly where Knowlton street now intersects the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton railroad, and a little south of the Christian church. A Mr. Abner Boston had a cabin near the station, where he and his family lived for a number of years.
Early in the spring of 1794, Abraham Voorhees, with his five sons, Miney, Abraham, Garret, John, and Jacob, and his sons-in-law, Thomas Higgins and John Rynearson, with their families, settled upon what is now section 33, in Sycamore township. They built a large cabin, answering the double pur- pose of shelter and defense, at a point on the west bank of Millcreek, a few hundred yards east of Mrs. Buck's present residence in Lockland. This old house was torn away in 1817, by Thomas Shepherd, who then owned the place, and the logs sold to Ad- rian Hageman, who used a portion of them in the erection of a house on lot No. 49, next south of where the new Catholic church stands, in Reading. This house is still standing; it was weatherboarded many
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years ago, and is now occupied by John O'Neal, the constable.
The overwhelming defeat of Governor St. Clair has already been noted, with some of its immediate effects upon the Miami settlements. But it would seem necessary, to a full and clear understanding of the feeling which that event awakened throughout the territory, that a brief statement should be made of what had transpired in and around the settlements further up the Ohio.
Under the auspices of the Ohio Company, several settlements had been planted outside of Marietta.
As early as 1789, stations were established at Belpre, on the Ohio, at Waterford, and at Wolf creek, up the Muskingum. And in the fall of 1790, thirty-six men, from Marietta, settled at a point known as Big Bottom, now in Morgan county. They built two cabins and a small station house. During the following winter, while preparing supper, they were surprised by a body of Indians, and a massacre followed.
It seems that a part of the company were absent. Twelve of the number were mercilessly murdered, a lad, named Philip Stacy, taken prisoner, and but two escaped. This broke up the settlement, and no further attempts were made to re-occupy it until after the peace of 1795.
Although the strong fortifications and the cautious
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foresight of the settlers at Marietta, Belpre, and other stations in that section of country, prevented such schocking scenes as that which was enacted at Big Bottom, yet those settlements did not escape entirely from savage aggressions.
A man by the name of Warth was murdered near Fort Harmar; Captain Rodgers was killed and scalped near Marietta; Daniel Cravens, a lad of sixteen, was taken prisoner near Waterford; Major Goodale was captured near Belpre, and afterwards killed ; a Mr. Waterman was killed near Waterford ; and Return J. Meigs, afterwards governor of Ohio, was chased by savages, and made his escape into Fort Harmar by his fleetness, after a personal rencounter with one of them.
In 1790-91, some thirty families, from Kentucky, with Col. Nathaniel Massie at their head, established a settlement on the Ohio, now known as Manchester, in Adams county. They built a number of cabins, laid out the town of Manchester, and completely enclosed it with strong pickets, placed firmly in the ground, and erected a block-house at each angle. This strong and formidable stockade seems to have de- terred the Indians, and saved the settlement from general attack. But they, too, received a share of savage cruelties, as several of their number were killed while straggling alone in the woods. Such was the already discouraging condition of the settle-
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ments when the news of St. Clair's defeat fell as a cloud of dismay upon them. The people had fondly hoped that this campaign would put an end to hostilities, and that they would be permitted to proceed in peace with their work of clearing up their farms. But when the news of this unfortunate disaster became known, it cast a gloom over every cabin in the territory. Some of the more timid and irresolute gave up in despair, left their claims, and returned to their homes in the east. A large majority, however, with a heroism worthy of remem- brance, resolved to remain in the settlements, and defend their homes and families, if need be, at the sacrifice of their lives. Had the Indians promptly followed up the advantage gained by the defeat of St. Clair, with a combined movement of their forces upon the despairing and almost panic-stricken settle- ments, it would be difficult to calculate the evil results that would have followed; but, fortunately, they chose their usual mode of warfare, and from this on, during the three following years, they in- fested the country with their predatory bands, plund- ering and destroying property, waylaying, killing or capturing small companies and defenseless in- dividuals.
It was on the 7th day of July, 1792, that Oliver M. Spencer was borne into captivity. He was then a mere lad of eleven years, and when taken was in
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the company of Mr. Clayton, Jacob Light, and Mrs. Mary Coleman .*
Clayton and Light, it appears, had procured a small canoe, in which they proposed rowing up the river from Cincinnati to Columbia, about eight miles. They took in the boat with them Mrs. Coleman, young Spencer, and a soldier belonging to Fort Washington. It was about two o'clock in the after- noon when they started. The soldier was intoxicated, and kept swaying from side to side, giving the other passengers uneasiness lest the canoe should capsize. When they had arrived a short distance above the mouth of Deercreek, the drunken man gave a sudden lurch and went overboard. Fortunately,
* Mrs. Coleman was the wife of Nenaid Coleman, then living at Columbia, and who, it is said, built the first grist mill in the Miami country. The mill was constructed upon two flat boats, the machinery in one, and the grain, meal, etc., in the other, with the water wheel between the two boats, and driven by the current of the river. This mill, though it did the work very imperfectly, was a great improvement over the hand mills then in use, and supplied the wants of the settlements until better mills were erected on the Little Miami river. Mrs. Coleman, at the time of the occurrence above related, was fifty years of age. She afterwards, with her husband and other members of her family, moved to Versailles, Indiana, where she died in 1832, at the advanced age of ninety years. One of her sons, Jesse Coleman, settled a short distance south of Montgomery, in Sycamore township, on section 2; subsequently he moved to the neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge, where he died but a few years ago.
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the water was shallow, and he succeeded in reaching the shore, where they left him among the willows. Young Spencer, who could not swim, felt uneasy in the boat, and at his own request was put on shore also, where he walked along the beach, keeping company and conversing with the parties in the canoe. The boat was propelled by Mr. Light with a pole, keep- ing it near the shore to avoid the strong current of the river. Clayton sat in the stern with a paddle, which he used alternately as a rudder and an oar, while Mrs. Coleman sat in the middle.
In this way they had proceeded about a mile, when they were fired upon by two Indians, who were concealed in the bushes near the river bank. Clayton was seriously wounded and fell into the water on the shore side. The other ball struck the pole in the hands of Light, and, glancing, lodged in his left arm. Wounded as he was, and to avoid being captured, he sprang into the river, and with one arm made a desperate effort to swim to the Kentucky shore. But finding that, in his crippled condition, he should fail, and seeing no more of the Indians, he turned back, and with great difficulty reached the Ohio side, much exhausted. After resting for a time on the bank he proceeded on his way back to Cincinnati, where he arrived without being further molested.
Mrs. Coleman, seeing the Indians approach
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the bank, jumped into the river also, preferring a watery grave rather than death at the hands of savages, but, by a strange and marvelous incident, her life was saved. Her under-clothing spread out upon the water and kept her from sinking, while she floated with the current. Finding herself near- ing the shore, she paddled with her hands, and finally landed a short distance above Deercreek, having floated nearly a mile. She lost no time in returning to Cincinnati. In crossing Deercreek, which was a very narrow stream, with a swift current at that season of the year, she did so by holding on to the willows that grew from one of its banks until she caught those overreaching from the other.
The Indians, after discharging their guns, rushed out from the bushes, one of whom captured young Spencer, while the other caught hold of the unfor- tunate Clayton, who was struggling in the water, dragged him to the shore, there dispatched him with a tomahawk, and took his scalp. They proba- bly would have reloaded their guns and fired again upon Light and Mrs. Coleman, but the first dis- charge had attracted a number of persons to the Kentucky shore, and fearing further alarm, and perhaps supposing that Light and Mrs. Coleman would be drowned, they took their young prisoner and hastily retreated into the woods.
Spencer was taken to the Maumee villages, where
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he was held for about eight months, when he was given up by the Indians, on receiving a ransom of one hundred and twenty-five dollar, paid by his father.
These and other like atrocities had become fre- quent, and were continued until the fall of 1793, when General Wayne marched upon the Maumee towns. He left Camp-Hobson's-Choice on the 7th day of October, and before the close of the year built Fort Greenville. The following year he defeated the Indians in a severe conflict on St. Clair's battle- ground, and there built Fort Recovery. On the 20th of August, 1794, in a general engagement at the rapids of the Maumee, he put the enemy to general route, and drove them under the protecting guns of the British fort, which was built at the foot of the rapids after the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and in gross violation of its provisions.
Though defeated in each engagement with Gene- ral Wayne, the Indians did not readily yield sub- mission ; and not until he had built several forts in their territory, and laid waste their entire country, did they sue for peace.
At a council held at Fort Greenville, August 3d, 1795, conditions were agreed upon, and were faithfully kept for many years.
The announcement of peace produced a thrill of joy throughout the country, and inspired the almost dispairing frontiersman with new hope and energy.
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For six years, "security and the procurring of sus- tenence had been almost their sole object," but now peaceful and better days had come, and they went for- ward in their work with renewed vigor.
" The station-houses that had served them so well during hostilities," says Judge Burnet, "were now abandoned as military stations, and each family went out upon its own land and built a separate cabin as a permanent future home." Neighbor assisted neigh- bor in the erection of their dwellings, until, in a few years, the forest became dotted with these monu- ments of their handiwork, the earth yielded to their industry, and their labor found ample reward.
These cabins were built entirely of wood, no iron whatever entering into their construction. The axe, hatchet, auger, the frower, the broad-axe and saw, were the only tools brought into use. The walls were formed of rough logs, ingeniously capped at the corners, the openings chinked with blocks of wood and daubed with common clay mortar; clap- boards, rived from the oak, and held in place by weight-poles, formed the roof; roughly hewn slabs, called puncheons, served for floors. The doors were made by pinning clapboards to a rude framework, and were hung upon wooden hinges; chimneys were made either of stone, or slats of wood laid up with clay mixed with straw-a species of mortar then called cat and clay.
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The furniture of the first settlers consisted of such rude articles as the mechanism and ingenuity of the woodsman, prompted by necessity, could invent and construct ; even their plates and dishes, we are told, were generally of wood, and "fortunate indeed were those who could boast of pewter plates, earthen cups, and iron forks." The material and style of their costume corresponded well with their houses and furniture. The homespun hunting-shirt, deer- skin breeches and moccasins of the men; the linsey- woolsey petticoat and short gown of the women, was the mode of fashion. Not a single article of foreign manufacture was in use; and "the stranger who made his appearance clothed in a pair of boots, a fine hat, or a coat with buttons in front, subjected himself to the gaze, if not the scoffs and ridicule, of the whole neighborhood." With the exception of maple-sugar and molasses, luxuries were absolutely unknown, unless rum and whisky may be regarded as such, which, though they commanded high prices, flowed too plentifully throughout the settlements. Sugar was seldom made, and was only brought into use at a wedding, or to "sweeten the dram of a new comer." Flour commanded such high prices that when ob- tained it was laid away for sickness, or only used upon extra occasions. Corn (in the earliest days ground into meal by means of the hand-mill, or pounded in an iron mortar) was the only breadstuff in common
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use. And salt, which was indispensable, was pro- cured with great difficulty, and at prices varying from three to ten dollars a bushel. The salt-gourd, there- fore, was considered the great treasure of the kitchen.
The manners of the early settlers were friendly and familiar. They addressed each other by their christian names only, and their homes and tables were open and free to all. The table of the settler was considered bountifully supplied when the good housewife could spread before her lord and guest a smoking Indian pome, fried venison, and a cup of milk.
The duties of the women were to "spin the flax and wool, weave the cloth, make the garments, milk, and prepare the food. The men built the houses, procured subsistence and the materials for clothing, cleared the lands, raised the crops, hunted the wild animal, and pursued the Indian."
Such were the homes and the mode of living of our early pioneers.
" An' bruidly chiels an' clever hizzies, Were bred in sic a way as this is."
There was little money in circulation during the early settlements, and it consisted chiefly of Conti- nental certificates, which became depreciated to such extent that thirteen dollars of this currency was barely equivalent to one Spanish milled dollar.
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Judge Symmes paid the government two-thirds of a dollar per acre for the land included in his purchase, but he paid in Continental money. He was willing and even anxious to sell at thirty cents per acre or less, provided payment was made in coin.
The skins of wild animals, such as the deer, fox, and raccoon, had a fixed value all through the set- tlements in Kentucky and the north-west, and served as a medium of trade and exchange. A deer skin was worth and represented a dollar; a fox skin, one-third of a dollar; a coon skin, one-fourth of a dollar, and these passed almost as readily as the silver coin. The buffalo and bear skins had a more uncertain value, and were less used as a medium of trade.
From what has already been related, it will be seen that from 1788 the governor and judges of the territory held legislative sessions, and passed and published laws for the government of the people. And they continued to be the sole law-making power until 1798, when it was ascertained that the territory contained five thousand free male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years, being the number re- quisite to entitle the people to a representative ter- ritorial legislature, and one delegate in congress.
In 1799 the territorial legislature was organized, and the first session held at Chillicothe in September of that year. William H. Harrison, who at that
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time was Secretary of the territory, was chosen as delegate to congress. The elective franchise had been limited by congress to the free male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years, who were free holders in fee simple of at least fifty acres of land in the district where they resided.
It will be observed that during the period of ten years, extending from 1788 to 1798, about twenty thousand people had settled in the territory, and so rapid had been the improvements that the whole Miami country, from the Ohio up to Mad river, was settled, and the wilderness dotted over with farms.
The treaty of Greeneville, giving promise of peace and security to the settlers of the territory, induced a large emigration from over the mountains.
All the states, even Kentucky, contributed to swell the tide, and people the new country.
In this great increase of population the town of Cincinnati did not share proportionally. This was attributable to the fact, that the large majority of the emigrants were farmers, seeking cheap and fertile lands, and, consequently, located up the rich valleys and along the small streams in the interior.
In 1793 Cincinnati contained about five hundred inhabitants and one hundred and four houses, of which ninety-four were log cabins, and ten frame buildings. In the year 1800, while the interior settlements had almost quadrupled in numbers each
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year, Cincinnati still remained a small village, with seven hundred and fifty inhabitants, and about one hundred and sixty houses. Even in 1810 it was yet a small town, but little larger than the present village of Lockland. From that time forward, how- ever, its growth was regular and rapid.
CHAPTER VI .- STATIONS.
The settlements established during the Indian hostilities were called "Stations." A number of families joined together and formed a community or settlement, and, for mutual protection, built their cabins in close proximity, so that all could be in- closed within a strong picket fence or stockade. The fences were built by planting logs firmly in the ground, having the upper ends pointed or picketed.
Each of these communities generally erected a block-house also, which they called the "station: house." These block houses were built of heavy logs, and, when regularly constructed, were two stories high, the upper story projecting from "three to five feet on all sides beyond the lower." Openings or port- holes were made, looking both outward and down- ward, so that the occupants could easily discover and fire upon an approaching foe, or shoot any one who might attempt an entrance below. In times
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of danger all the families belonging to the settlement fled to the station-house. The lower story afforded protection to the women and children, while the men carried on their defense in the upper. These stations, therefore, were rudely constructed military works, that served and protected these frontiersmen through gloomy years of protracted war.
At the time these stations were established in the interior, it would have been certain death for a single family to have lived alone, or at any considerable distance away from the block-houses. Even with this protection, depredations were common, and murders so frequent in the Miami valley, that the people of Kentucky gave it the name of "the slaughter-house."
COVALT'S STATION.
It is quite difficult, if not impossible, at this day, to determine with certainty which among several of the stations that were established in the interior of the Symmes' purchase takes precedence as to time of construction. That distinction has been claimed for Dunlap's, Covalt's, Gerard's, Clemens', and Lud- low's. Without engaging in the controversy, or claiming any special information upon the question, the writer, from all accounts he has thus far obtained, is disposed to place Covalt's station first in chronolo- gical order.
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Abraham Covalt was a native of Egg Harbor, New Jersey. He was born in 1740, and was married in 1763 to Miss Lois Pendleton, of Bound Brook, New Jersey. Soon after his marriage he moved to Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where he resided until some time after the close of the revolutionary war, having served as captain of a company in the continental army. He came to the Miami country soon after the settlement was effected at Columbia, perhaps during the fall of 1789, where he remained but a few days, when, in company with several other families, who came on with him from Pennsylvania, he moved out upon a tract of land he had previously purchased at Round Bottom, on the east side of the Little Miami river, about a half mile below the present town of Milford, where he proceeded to erect a block-house, and establish what was then called a station or colony .*
* The descendents of Capt. Colvalt claim that he moved to the Miami country, and established his colony in January, 1788, or about ten months prior to the settlement of Columbia by Capt. Stites, and three months before the Ohio Company settled Marietta. But this, like all family traditions, should be received cautiously, and only accepted upon being fully confirmed, espe- cially so in this case, as the statement conflicts with all other historical accounts of the first settlements of the county.
It is alleged also that Capt. Covalt built the first grist-mill in the Miami valley, having brought the mill-stones with him from Pennsylvania, in January, 1788, and that he was killed by the Indians in March, 1789. Thus it would appear that the mill.
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Besides Capt. Covalt and his family, there were several other families and individuals belonging to the settlement, among whom were Joseph Hinkle, a blacksmith from Redstone, Pennsylvania, Robert Mckinney, William Beasley, Richard Fletcher, Z. Hinkle, J. Hutchins, Abel Cook, Capt. Hall, and Benjamin Riggs. The two last named were called Indian hunters.
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