USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Historical Sketches and Eary Reminiscences of Hamilton County, Ohio > Part 8
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
The footprints of the children had been seen and followed for some distance down a small ravine, leading from the settlement into the Millcreek valley, but soon the tracks turned upon the high ground, after which all traces of them were lost, and, what appeared stranger still, the children had not been seen by anyone, although quite a number of cabins must have been near the range of their travels.
One of the neighbors, named Ralph Auten, had proposed in the outset to put his dog, a fine noble looking blood hound, and said to have been a very sagacious animal, on the track of the children, but this was objected to upon the supposition that should
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
Price, 50 Cents.
PART IV.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES AND
EARLY REMINISCENCES
OF
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
INCLUDING
A BRIEF HISTORY OF A FEW OF THE EARLY CHURCHES AND OF THE SETTLEMENT
OF THE TOWNS
READING, MONTGOMERY, CARTHAGE, SPRINGDALE, SHARON, MOUNT HEALTHY, AND LOCKLAND.
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF THE
MILLCREEK VALLEY,
BY
J. G. OLDEN.
STAT TORICAL
TY
CINCINNATI, O H. WATKIN, PRINTER, 119 FIFTH STREET, BET. VINE AND RACE, 1882.
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
Price, 50 Cents.
PART IV.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
AND
EARLY REMINISCENCES OF
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
INCLUDING
A BRIEF HISTORY OF A FEW OF THE EARLY CHURCHES AND OF THE SETTLEMENT
OF THE TOWNS
READING, MONTGOMERY, CARTHAGE, SPRINGDALE, SHARON, MOUNT HEALTHY, AND LOCKLAND.
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF THE
MILLCREEK VALLEY.
BY
J. G. OLDEN.
IS TORICAL
TY
CINCINNATI, O H. WATKIN, PRINTER, 119 FIFTH STREET, BET. VINE AND RACE, 1882.
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
131
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
the dog find the children he might attack or at least frighten them seriously, and so the project was abandoned. Notwithstanding the protest of his neighbors, however, Mr. Auten, on resuming the search in the evening, took with him his dog.
A second night was spent in the forest, guns were again discharged and fires were kindled, but still the horns hung silent by the side of the hunters, and a pall of grief over the cabin of Daniel Wolverton.
On the approach of morning Auten and his com- rade found themselves on the hills east of Reading, near the present site of Mount Notre Dame. The dog had been absent for sometime, but now returned and manifested a strange and unusual anxiety. He turned upon his master a sagacious look, and uttering a few whimpering barks, ran again into the forest, but soon returned to repeat his former expressions. The men followed, and had gone but a few hundred yards when they observed the dog leap upon the trunk of a fallen tree, and there sat uttering his plaintive whimperings. On reaching the tree there the men discovered the children lying huddled together, their legs partly covered with leaves.
The signal blast was promptly given, which was taken up and responded to by others, and soon the monotone notes of the dinner horn sounded and reverberated through the forest, along the hills and in the valley, until the glad tidings reached the
Digitized by Google
!
132
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS. '
home of the distressed parents, bringing to their hearts for a moment a thrill of joy. These moments of gladness were brief, however, as a second thought saddened their hopes with alternate fears. The children had been found, there was little doubt, but, oh! the momentous question, whether alive or dead, none could answer.
1
The suspense that followed for an hour or more was intense and painful, not only to the father and mother of the little ones, but also to the multitude that had assembled to await the return of the suc- cessful party, and partake of the joy or sympathize in the grief of the parents. Finally Auten and his party returned and restored to the arms of the mother her babes, alive, and, though suffering some- what from fatigue and the effects of hunger, com- paratively well.
When found the children were in a state of partial stupor, though they did not seem to have suffered greatly from hunger. The men gave them water and they were somewhat revived, but they still appeared timid and nervous, and it was sometime before Auten and his comrade could gain their con- fidence; but on arriving home and receiving the proper care and nourishment they soon fully re- covered.
The little girl could give but an imperfect account of their adventure. The first night she said they
Digitized by Google
133
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
walked until they became very tired, all the time expecting to reach home; at last the little boy stopped and could go no further. They sat down under a tree and they both cried until they fell asleep. When they awoke it was daylight and they set out again for home. They ate some acorns and nuts and drank at a little stream.
They again became tired and sat down by the fallen tree where they were found. The little boy complained of being cold and she gathered leaves and put around him. At one time she heard people calling and saw them pass but was too weak to answer. After this she remembered nothing more.
This completes the history of the different stations established in the Miami country prior to the treaty of Greeneville, August 3, 1795. The details con- nected with many of them are meagre and incom- plete, especially so as to those remote from the neighborhood within the limits prescribed for this work.
Each one of these settlements has a history of its own, which, by more diligent research and greater labor than the writer has been able to bestow, could be amplified with facts and incidents that would greatly increase its interest and enhance its value.
Digitized by Google
ROADS.
CHAPTER VI.
ROADS are among the first wants of the settlers of a new country, and form perhaps the most impor- tant element in developing its resources. They are indeed, after procuring sustenance, of the first necessity.
The pioneers who settled the interior of the Miami Valley were compelled to procure their few supplies, such as salt, powder, lead, and other necessaries, from Cincinnati. There they also found sale for the surplus products of their lands, and the furs and other peltry obtained in the forest. The only means of travel and transportation for the first few years was by pack - horses, along a mere bridle -path through the wilderness. There were many deer- paths through the woods, running in almost every direction ; also a number of Indian trails, as they were termed, extending north and south through the Miami country, the greater number terminating on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Licking river.
Digitized by Google
135
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
These paths or traces were observed by the early settlers of Kentucky long before the white settle- ments were established north of the Ohio. There were three principal ones at least which were fol- lowed by the Indians in their incursions into Ken- tucky, and were sometimes called war-paths. Sub- sequently these traces were followed by the different military expeditions that were organized in the Ken- tucky settlements, and also by those afterwards fitted out by the government, and commanded successively by Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne.
The first expedition sent out from Kentucky was placed under Col. John Bowman, from Virginia, with Colonel, afterwards General, Benjamin Logan as second in command. The force consisted of about one hundred and sixty volunteers. They crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking, and followed the most easterly of these old Indian traces, which ran along the foot-hills east of the Millcreek valley to a point east of the present village of Sharonville ; thence in a north-easterly direction to the Little Miami river to a point since known as the mouth of Todd's Fork ; thence to the Indian village, then called Chillicothe, afterwards Old Town.
In the summer of 1780 Gen. George Rogers Clark, a brave and very able officer from Virginia, with a a force of Kentucky pioneers and woodsmen, num- bering about one thousand one hundred, marched
Digitized by Google
136
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
against Old Chillicothe and the Pickaway towns. He followed the general course taken by Bowman. Si- mon Kenton was with the expedition as guide. They carried along a brass twelve pounder, and had necessarily to make their own road, or widen the old trace. This was also the route followed afterwards by Gen. Harmer, at least as far as Old Chillicothe. Again, in 1782, Gen. Clark marched against the In- dian towns on the headwaters of the Wabash and the Great Miami. Simon Kenton was with this ex- pedition also. They probably pursued the same route as taken in 1780 .*
GEN. HARMAR'S ROUTE.
On the 30th of September, 1790, General Harmar moved from Fort Washington up the little rayine that runs into Deercreek, near what is now the head of Sycamore street, in Cincinnati; thence through the present village of Mt. Auburn, and along the general course of what is now the Reading turnpike, to the little stream since known as Ross run, where he encamped for the night, in what is now Section 4, Millcreek township, and near where the Four-mile tavern was afterwards built. The following day he
* For a detailed account of these expeditions, see Western Adventures, by John H. McClung. Also John McDonald's Sketches, pages 243-246.
Digitized by Google
137
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
moved forward, still on Gen. Clark's trace, now the Reading turnpike, passing near where the school- house now stands in Reading; thence on to the little run east of where Sharonville now is, where he en- camped for the night.
GEN. ST. CLAIR'S ROUTE.
Gen. St. Clair left Ludlow's station, now Cummins- ville, on the 17th day of September, 1791, and moved along the hills west of the Millcreek valley, near where the Mt. Pleasant and Hamilton turnpike was afterwards constructed, and where the villages of College Hill and Mt. Healthy now are, on to the Miami river, where he built Fort Hamilton. This was the most westerly of the three old Indian traces before mentioned.
.
GEN. WAYNE'S ROUTE.
Gen. Wayne left Camp Hobson's Choice, at Cin- cinnati, on the 7th day of October, 1793, and followed the general course of the old trace running along the Millcreek valley, and which had been previously opened as a great road as far as White's station. He camped for the night on the grounds lately occupied as a race course, and known as the Buckeye Club grounds, near the present village of Elmwood. The following day he passed through White's station, and along what is now Wayne avenue, in Rockland;
Digitized by Google
:
-
138
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
thence through Tucker's station, and where the town of Springdale now is, to Fort Hamilton, where he encamped the second night.
The settlers began to open and improve these old traces, or Indian trails, at a very early period. Even in 1792, when the war was at its height, they opened and, to some extent, improved the road from Cin- cinnati to White's station. We learn, from the notes of the survey, that it commenced "at the north-east corner of the meeting house in Cincin- nati." It followed the present course of Main street to its intersection with what is still known as the Hamilton road; thence to Ludlow's station, on to White's station ; and for many years this was the main entrance to the city from the north.
These three military roads were all made public highways, and along their general course turnpikes have since been constructed, which are now among the principal avenues leading into the city.
The following copies of petitions to the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, will better show the importance attached to the subject of road making, and the interest taken in such improvements by the early settlers, than could be presented in any other form, and, it is thought, will be the more ac- ceptable to the general reader from being full and complete copies, especially as it insures the preser- vation of the names of the petitioners.
Digitized by Google
139
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
There were a number of road petitions presented to the court as early as 1791-2, but the writer has not been able to procure any of an earlier date than 1794.
"Petition for a road from the forks of the old Fort Hamil- ton Road, below White's and Griffing's stations, to Pleasant Valley station :
" Pleasant Valley Station, Hamilton County, United States Territory, north-west of the River Ohio.
"To the Honorable, the Judges and Justices of the Peace, at Cincinnati, in said County, holding Court in and for the same, in August term, A. D. 1794.
"WHEREAS, in the session of May last, a petition was presented to this Court, praying for a road to be laid from Mount Pleasant, by Griffing's station, to this place, which petition was granted by this Court, and Mr. John Wal- lace and Henry Tucker appointed to survey and lay the same, which is by them neglected, and that, to the great damage and inconvenience of the people of this station, and likewise to the teamsters on the Hamilton road. We therefore, your petitioners, pray that your exertions herein may put an end to our inconveniency, for we are not able to pass to or from our station without a trespass.
"Our prayer is that our Court will order a road, to begin at the forks of the road south of White's and Griffing's, to pass by Griffing's, by McCashen's, by D. Seward's, and by our station. We have spared no pains to view out suitable grounds for said road, have surveyed the same, and also the old road from the parting to the conjunction, and find the ground more eligible, and about one mile shorter, than the old road. And that Mr. Henry Weaver, Luke Foster, and James Seward, Jr., be appointed to survey
i
Digitized by y Google
140
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
and lay out the same road; and your petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray, etc.
LUKE FOSTER. LOT FRENCH. SAMUEL LEE.
JAS. SEWARD, JR.
SAMUEL SEWARD. LIBEUS MARSHALL.
JAMES MCCABE. FREDERICK DUEY. JOHN MCCASHEN.
ASA HINKLE. DANIEL SEWARD. AMOS MANANARING.
CALEB BOYLSTON. JAMES McCASHEN. JONATHAN HIGGINS.
MINY VOORHEES. GAL. HUTCHINGS. MICHAEL BROKAW.
RUBEN WHETSTONE. ROBERT KLACK.
EPHRAIM SIMPSON.
ROBERT GRIFFING. JAMES CALDWELL. THOMAS GAVIN.
ZEBULON FOSTER."
"Counter petition to a road by Griffing's station to Pleas- ant Valley station :
"To the Honorable, the Judges and Justices of the Court of General Quarter Session of the Peace, for the County of Hamilton, in November term, in the year of Christ one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four.
" WHEREAS, at August term last past, a petition, to your Honors (and granted), praying a road to be laid out from the forks of the great road already opened from Cincinnati to Fort Hamilton, where the same separates between John Ludlow's, Esq., and Capt. Jacob White's, to Griffing's station; thence past McCashen's; thence past D. Seward's; thence to Pleasant Valley station to great road aforesaid.
" Now we, your Honor's petitioners, humbly showeth, that a great road is already (by order of Court) laid out from Cincinnati to Fort Hamilton, on eligible ground, and as straight a direction as can be expected, and is well opened and bridged, and in all respects convenient for the public. And, as the aforesaid prayed, past Griffing's, etc., would run parallel to the other for six miles, and, in some places, on bad ground, especially across the points that descend to
Digitized b Google
141
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
Millcreek, and running within a small distance of the other road, at most not more than half a mile, and in many places not more than one-quarter; and should the same be opened, it could only be calculated for the interest and convenience of three or four discontended individuals, at an immense expense to the country, without public ben- efit, and a great grievance to the inhabitants of the country, especially on the inhabitants who live adjacent to the said road (so prayed for), and also extremely incon- venient to those inhabitants who must be called out to work on said road, at the distance from ten to sixteen miles, the inconvenience is too obvious to require ex- planation.
" Your Honor's petitioners need not add or set forth, but only call up to your recollection the disturbed situation of the inhabitants of those small stations (contiguous to said road, and on whom the opening of the same would fall heavy), from the encroachments of the common enemy, and the inhabitants of that part of the country; how apparently unable are the inhabitants of those stations to secure safety to themselves,' their wifes, their children, and property, from the inroads and depredations of the Indians.
" This itself is grievous, but how much more additionally so if they should be called out to work on this unnecessary road, and leave defenseless women, children, and property an easy prey to a subtle and a watchful foe. We, there- fore, pray your Honors to reject the said proposed high- way, and dismiss the petition praying for the same.
JACOB WHITE. SAMUEL SEWARD. ANDREW PRYOR.
SHADRICK HUDSON. LEWIS WINANS. JOHN WINANS.
HENRY TAYLOR. SAMUEL DUNN. JAMES WALLACE.
DANIEL VORHIS. DANIEL BANTA. JAMES BURNS.
JAS. CUNNINGHAM. ABIJAH WARD. JOSEPH McHENDRY. 1
ENOCH McHENDRY. DAN'L SHEWMAKER."
Digitized by y Google
142
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
"To the Honorable, the Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, for the County of Hamilton, of November term, 1794:
"Your Honors, having granted a petition, praying a road to be laid out, beginning at John Ludlow's, Esq., at Mount Pleasant; and thence to Griffing's station, on Mill- creek ; thence the nearest and best way until it joins the great road, between Tucker's station and Fort Hamilton. And, your Honors, having authorized us (whose names are hereto subscribed) to survey and lay out said road, and to make return thereof, to August term, last past. We do now beg leave, respectfully, to inform your Honors, that it was in some measure impossible to traverse those woods to lay out said road, considering our exposed situation to the common enemy. And we also think such a road at present altogether unnecessary, a grievous hardship to us and the country, and calculated alone to gratify three or four capricious and discontended individuals, such as may be found in every society of men, whose only object in procuring said road is to make the country serve their own private interest. It is for those and such like reasons that we have not surveyed and laid out said road, agreea- ble to said order, for nothing less could have obliged us not to have complied with your Honor's request."
"To the Honorable, the Justices of Sessions."
" JOHN WALLACE. JOHN VANCE. HENRY TUCKER.
" Filed November 22, 1794,-Petition to alter a road from White's station to Runyan's improvement.
"To the Honorable Court of Hamilton County, November term, 1794.
"Your petitioners are of opinion that the road, which
Digitized by by Google
143
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
was surveyed and laid out from Cincinnati, on certain directions, to White's station, and as far as Runyan's im- provement, will admit of considerable amendment from White's station to Runyan's improvement: Therefore pray your Honors to appoint three men to re-survey said road from White's station to Runyan's cabins, making such alterations and amendments as the ground will admit. And we, your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall, etc.
JOHN WALLACE. JOHN VANCE. JACOB WHITE.
JAMES WALLACE. JOHN BECKET. JAS. CUNNINGHAM.
DANIEL VOORHIS. DAVID FLINN. HENRY TAYLOR.
DANIEL BANTA. JAMES BURNS. SAMUEL SEWARD."
"John Wallace, appointed surveyer, John Vance and Henry Taylor, assistants."
"Petition to the Court, from the inhabitants of Millcreek, filed February 19, 1795.
" To the Honorable, the Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, now sitting in Cin- cinnati, in their Session of February, 1795.
" WHEREAS, it is customary for the Honorable, the Justi- ces of the Court of Sessions aforesaid, in their sessions in February, to appoint supervisors of highways in the County aforesaid, and, as the supervisor who has acted or served as such in the neighborhood of White's and Griffin's sta- tions, on Millcreek, for the session last past, has not demeaned himself in that office to the general satisfaction of the inhabitants there most concerned: We, the sub- scribers, therefore pray your Honors to appoint some person who will endeaver to act more satisfactory for the future, to-wit: Such as John Ludlow, Isaac Martin, or
Digitized by Google
144
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
persons of such character, and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever acknowledge, etc.
LUKE FOSTER. LOT FRENCH. DANIEL GRIFFING.
JAMES SEWARD.
ZEBULON FOSTER.
LIBEUS MARSHALL.
THOMAS GAVIN. JAS. McCASHEN. JOSEPH LUMMIS.
JNO. McCASHEN, JR. ROBERT GRIFFING.
B. ORCULT.
JOHN SEWARD, SEN. SAMUEL LEE.
WM. B. BRAUNER.
" Petition for a road from half a mile south of Wallace's Run to the third or military range.
To the Honorable, the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, for the County of Hamilton, at May term, 1795.
" Your petitioners humbly showeth, that a highway or great road, beginning half a mile south of Wallace's Run, on the great road leading from Cincinnati to that place; thence by the nearest and best way to pass Beagle's station and through Taylor's and Gondie's stations, to the north line of the third or military range, is necessary for public convenience. We, therefore, pray your Honors to grant, that a highway or great road be laid out and opened, as above mentioned, from half a mile south of Wallace's Run to the said third military range, and your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall pray, etc.
WILLIAM BEDELL. DENNIS LINLY.
ABIJAH DAVIS. CALEB MULFORD.
DANIAL VORHIS. JAMES BEDELL.
JAMES NORRIS. JACOB VORHIS.
JOHN SHAW. PATRICK SHAW. JONATHAN HIGGINS. ILHA CORVIRY.
THOMAS HUMPHRIES. JOHN CLARK.
ROBERT MCCASKEY. JONATHAN DAVIS.
DANIEL BANTA.
JOHN SHAW.
JOSEPH VANDALAH.
WILLIAM MILLER.
SAMUEL GOLLOHAR.
Digitized by Google
-
EARLY. WHITE SETTLEMENTS. 145
JOSEPH VANCE. JOHN VANCE. GEO. GILLESPIE, SEN.
THOMAS GILLESPIE. JOHN CUMMINS. GEORGE BABCOCK. DAVID KIRKWOOD."
" June 6, 1797,-Proceedings to be certified up to the General Court."
The following names appear to a counter petition or remonstrance to the foregoing proposed road:
JOHN TAYLOR. JONATHAN DONNEL. DANIEL GRIFFING.
JAMES McCASHEN. SAMUEL THOMPSON. JAMES THOMPSON.
ABR. RICHARDSON. JAMES DREW. DANIEL TURRELL.
JOHN STEWART. JOHN BECKETT. DANIEL LONG.
ALEX. M. CONALL. SAM'L MCCULLOUGH. JOHN TUCKER.
ZEBULON FOSTER. HENRY TUCKER. JOSEPH MEMAKEN.
DAVID LORDRY. STEPHEN JESSUP. ROBT. MERCER.
THOS. HIGGINS. MOSES YOUNG. ANDREW PARK.
CULBERTSON PARK. B. MCCULLOUGH.
SAMUEL ROBISON.
JOSIAH MOTT. JACOB RYNEARSON.
THEBE PIECK.
THOMAS PIECK. GEORGE LANDORCE."
A petition for altering the road from White's to Runyan's station was filed in the Court, during the session held in November, 1795, and signed by the following named persons :
JAS. CUNNINGHAM. SAMUEL LEE. WILLIAM MATHERS.
STEPHEN FLINN. Jos. WILLIAMSON. WILLIAM HAYS.
JOHN CLASSON. CULBERTSON PARK. JOHN BECKETT.
JOHN MARTIN. JOSEPH MCKNIGHT. JAMES MATHERS.
JOHN McCHESNEY. GEORGE GILLESPIE. SAMUEL SERVORT. JAMES MCCASHEN. JOHN WINANS."
" Henry Weaver, surveyor; Joseph Williamson and James Cunningham, assistants."
Digitized by Google
146
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
The first efforts at road making, by the early set- tlers, were made by cutting away the timber and un- derbrush along the route previously surveyed, making a trace ten feet wide. This trace they afterwards widened and otherwise improved as necessity re- quired. Over the marshy places they constructed what was termed corduroys. This was done by laying timbers or small trees, cut twelve to fourteen feet long, across the road-bed. In many places these causeways extended a half mile or more, and, with a few log culverts and bridges over the small streams, and a very small amount of grading and ditching, constituted the road making of early times. In fact, these were the only roads in use up to the year 1833. The subject of turnpikes was agitated as early as 1817. During that year a joint stock com- pany was incorporated, styled "The Cincinnati and Hamilton Turnpike Company;" the object being to construct a turnpike from the north end of Main street, in Cincinnati, to McHenry's ford, on Millcreek, and thence to Hamilton in the nearest and best course. The capital stock was to be $100,000, divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each. And the same year another company was incorporated, styling itself "The Cincinnati and Dayton Turnpike Com- pany." It had the privilege granted of making a turnpike from Cincinnati, through Franklin, to Day- ton, commencing at a bridge east of Hunt's tan-yard,
Digitized by Google
147
EARLY WHITE SETTLEMENTS.
and to follow the state road to Dayton, through the town of Franklin. The capital stock was $100,000, with privilege of increasing to $300,000. Its charter required that the work should commence in one year from the passage of the act, and be completed within eight years, and, failing, should forfeit its charter.
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.