USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 65
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'How came you to think of it ?" I inquired.
" I felt as though something must be done at onec. We were in great peril, unarmed, totally defenceless, and from an incident of a few evenings previous it flashed upon me to try my false teeth. We three Friends com- missioners were in a tepee in an Indian village preparing to retire for the night. The place was crowded with squaws and their children gazing in wonder when one of us took out his teeth to clean, whereupon the whole crowd grunted 'ugh ! ugh !' and rushed out panic- strieken."
It is the unknown that especially frightens savages, which has a further illustration in an anecdote told of a party of English circus men in Asia Minor, who, discerning a body of wild Arabs riding down upon them with hos- tile intent, their long spears at charge, com- menced turning summersaults from the backs of their horses, and then looking at them from under and between their legs, when the Arabs turned and fled.
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About three miles southwest of Waynesville, near the Little Miami, stood, on April 29, 1836, a small log-house, and on that day joy was under its roof, for there a boy babe was born. The father was a Quaker, an Abolitionist ; had be- gun as a surveyor, then a teacher, and finally a farmer. This new comer was to grow, and finally, when the Quaker father had passed away, to thus write of him as-
"His eye in pity's tears Would often saintly swim ;
' He did to others as he would That they should do to him.
" At rural toils, he strove ; In beauty, joy he sought.
His solace was in children's words, And wise men's pondered thought."
Of the mother he also wrote, " She was of Scottish descent, a practical, energetic lady, and handsome." Of course she was. To every dutiful lad his mother's face is handsome. Such were the parents of WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE, LL.D., sometimes called the Teacher Poet. He was born early enough to have a part in the Harrison campaign of 1840. His father, an old-time Whig, who had named him, after Gen. Harrison, William Henry, took him to a mass-meeting in a grove near Lebanon, and introduced him to the general, who patted him on the head, and though but four years old he remembers that interview, for long after that memorable day he wore a Tippecanoe medal with a portrait of Harrison, and on the other side a log-cabin, and the other boys called him "Tip," much to his disgust.
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When the Mexican war broke out he was ten years old, and the air was satu- rated with anecdotes of Tom Corwin, and even the small boys of Warren county could feel the force of that great orator's eloquence, and enjoy the ludicrous comi- cality of his grotesque faces. The universal talk cansed by Corwin's great speech against the Mexican war infused even the children of that period, for it was, Venable writes, "very violent talk." He says : " I was going to school at Ridgeville, and I remember some of the boys stained their hands and faces blood-red with poko- berry juice, and then cried out, 'If I were a Mexican, as I am an American, I would welcome the American soldiers with bloody hands to hospitable graves.' Several of the big boys of the Ridgeville school, Lew Staley, Amos Kelsey and Joe Githens, enlisted and went to Mexico in 1846. One day some of us 'little shavers' fancied we heard ominons booming sounds of a cannon far away, and having vagne ideas of distances we fancied that a battle was going on at Monterey, and wondered whether Joe Githens would be killed."
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468
WARREN COUNTY.
When a lad of but seven, although of very delicate constitution, he was active in body and alert in mind. It was his delight to ramble along "Newman's Run" and the "Big Woods," hunting squirrels, fishing, and gathering wild flowers and May berries ; or in winter, tracking rabbits or sliding over the "Old Swimming Hole." Inheriting from his father a love for books, he soon learned to read. The first that attracted him were those of travel and adventure, as "Robbins' Journal," "Lewis & Clark's Journal " and " Bruce's Travels." Although the school duties were irksome he was a faithful scholar, and " decidedly enjoyed the company of the pretty girls, with one or an- other of whom he was forever in love." Thus early with him began, as some one has called it, "the most wisely ordained, inspir- ing humbug of life."
At the age of seventeen he became a school- teacher to earn money to continue his educa- tion, and began, Nov., 1854, in a little, mis- erable old school-house at Sugar Grove, near Waynesville ; compensation, sixty eents a day. Then for several years he was a teacher and student in Alfred Holbrook's noted Nor- mal Academy at Lebanon. From 1862 to 1886, twenty-four years, he was a professor of natural science in Chickering's famous in- stitute in Cincinnati, and on the death of the latter remained for five additional years its principal and proprietor.
Mr. Venable's educational and literary career began early, and he has achieved a fine repu- tation as a teacher, writer and lecturer. His quick eye for character, his delicious humor and swift imagination, and his dramatic in- stinet of scene and situation make him an interesting story-teller, whether in speaking or in writing, as witness his "Thomas Tad- more," a narrative leeture of the humor and pathos of boy life, with which he has de- lighted hundreds of audiences. A late writer says of him :
Possessing decided executive ability, he organized in Cincinnati the Society for Politi- cal Education, of which he was the first president. In the winter of 1882-3 he formed and led a model afternoon "School in Popular Science and History," in which fifteen emi- nent lecturers took part, and which was pa- tronized by many ladies and gentlemen. In 1881 Mr. Venable was elected a member of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. In June, 1886, the Chio University bestowed upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
Prof. Venable is the author of a " History of the United States," pronounced by The Nation " the best of its class ; " and of two volumes of poems, "June on the Miami," and " Melodies of the Heart." The poem by which he first became generally known, "The Teacher's Dream," has been praised by Longfellow, Holmes, Garfield and other noted men, and is popular with teachers everywhere. It is far surpassed in poetical merit by many of the author's later pieces. A New England critic writes of his recent
volume : "It seems to me I have never yet read a book of verses which satisfied me more, and I am sure I have read from no minor poet on either side of the ocean so many sat- Isfactory strains. Such equal strength in love, patriotism, religion and humor is rarely found.
Another says his " Melodies of the Heart". is as a little open chest, "filled with sim- plicity, beauty, melody, purity; pathos and humor, the whole perfumed with love."
Mr. Venable has just issued from the press of Robert Clarke & Co. "Beginning of Lit- erary Culture in the Ohio Valley," a work of singular value and interest.
The "Teacher Poet" is happily married to a woman in every way worthy of him. The marriage was a love-match not without its romance. A very pleasant glimpse of the Venable home at Mount Tusculum is given by the Hon. Coates Kinney, the author of the far-famed lyric, "Rain on the Roof : "
"Mr. Venable has a poet's home and a poet's wife-a talented woman who appreci- ates him and inspires him with her loving. admiration. Just cast of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami Railroad, there is a picturesque- suburb named (by some admirers of Cicero). Tusculum. Leaving the station, climbing the up-hill street of the town, turning into. the wood, passing down through a glen, winding about, and again climbing by stone. steps up gentle slopes, across rustie plank bridges, under overhanging trees, and you come to the poet's home-a commodions country house almost on top of the hill. look- ing down over all the landscape of slopes, and glens, and ravines, and woods that you have just come through.
"This is the poet's home ; and a delight- ful home it is, full of love and poetry and children. Venable is, in the city, a man of business and bustle in the daytime, but a dreamer here on the hills at night. An evening with him there in his cozy library, overlooking the brown ravine, is a rest and. refreshment not soon to be forgotten."
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THE TEACHER'S DREAM.
The weary teacher sat alone While twilight gathered on ; And not a sound was heard around ; The boys and girls were gone.
The weary teacher sat alone, Ummerved and pale was he ;
Bowed 'neath a yoke of care, he spoke In sad soliloquy :
"Another round, another round Of labor thrown away, Another chain of toil and pain Dragged through a tedious day.
" ()f no avail is constant zeal, Love's sacrifice is loss, The hopes of morn, so golden, turn Each evening into dross.
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WARREN COUNTY.
" I squander on a barren field My strength, my life, my all ; The seeds I sow will never grow, "They perish where they fall."'
Hle sighed, and low upon his hands His aching brow he pressed ; And o'er his frame ere long there came A soothing sense of rest.
And then he lifted up his face, But started back aghast- The room by strange and sudden change Assumed proportions vast.
It seemed a senate hall, and one Addressed a listening throng ; -
Each burning word all bosoms stirred, Applause rose loud and long.
The 'wildered teacher thought he knew The speaker's voice and look,
"And for his name," said he, "the same Is in my record book."
The stately senate hall dissolved, A church rose in its place, Wherein there stood a man of God, Dispensing words of grace.
And though he heard the solemn voice, And saw the beard of gray, The teacher's thought was strangely wrought, "My yearning heart to-day
" Wept for this youth, whose wayward will Against persuasion strove, Compelling force, love's last resource, To stablish laws of love."
The church, a phantasm, vanished soon : What saw the teacher then ? In classie gloom of alcoved room An author plied his pen.
" My idlest lad," the teacher said, Filled with a new surprise-
"Shall I behold his name enrolled Among the great and wise ?"
The vision of a cottage home The teacher now descried ;
A mother's face illumed the place Her influence sanctified.
"A miracle ! a miracle ! 'This matron well I know Was but a wild and careless child Not half an hour ago.
" And when she to her children speaks Of duty's golden rule,
Her lips repeat, in accents sweet, My words to her at school."
The scene was changed again, and, lo ! The school-house rude and old ;
Upon the wall did darkness fall ; The evening air was cold.
"A dream," the sleeper, waking, said, Then paced along the floor, And, whistling low and soft and slow, Hle locked the school-house door.
And, walking home, his heart was full Of peace and trust and love and praise, And, singing slow and soft and low, He munnured, "After many days." 1
LET'S SHAKE.
You thought you would take me, you say, by surprise !
You rascal ! I knew you the moment my eyes Lighted on your old back, Bill, I couldn't mistake
Your voice nor your motions. How are you ? Let's shake !
You are a friend that sticks to his friend, Living or dying, world without end ; Through flood and through fire I'd go for your sake. Give us your hand here, old fellow, Let's shake !
Don't it beat all ? Now why did you wire Me not to expect you, you measureless liar ? Come up to my den, and by jolly, we'll make A night of it talking of old times- Let's shake !
How have you been ? Let me look in your face ; Have you won, have you lost, in life's dusty race ? Have you knocked the persimmons and taken the cake ?
No? Here is my wallet-we'll share it- Let's shake !
Here is my heart-it is truer than gold ; Hotter it grows as the world waxes cold ; Come, tell me your troubles, and let me par- take Your inmost perplexities, William- Let's shake!
Tell me your sorrows, and talk of your joys ; Don't you remember the days we were boys? What has become of Sam, Tom, Joe and Jake ? Shake to their memory, brother, Let's shake!
Say, are you married, or are you in love ? Speak out, for you know we are like hand and glove ;
I used to think you and Belle Esmond would wed.
Yes, yes, as I wrote you, the baby is dead; I thought for a while that my wife's heart must break ; Your hand, dear old comrade-don't mind me,
Let's shake !
God bless you ! I'm awfully glad you are herc.
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WARREN COUNTY.
You must not make fun of this womanish tear ; "Iwas only a baby, scarce two Aprils old, But, Billy, I tell you, they do get a hold Of the heart strings, these babies, and since ours went,
Why, somehow or other, we're not quite content
With this planet ; but when all the worry and strife
Are over, I hope we may strike a new life Up yonder, where hearts never hunger nor ache,
You'll give me the grip there, old fellow, We'll shake ! 3
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WAYNESVILLE is nine miles northeast of Lebanon, on the Little Miami river, and a measured half mile from Corwin Station on the P. C. & St. L. R. R. Newspapers : Miami Gazette, neutral, T. J. Brown, editor and publisher ; News, Republican, Drew Sweet, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Methodist Epis- copal ; 1 Episcopal ; 1 Christian ; 2 Friends' meeting houses. Banks : (T. H. Harris) J. J. Mosher, cashier ; Waynesville National, S. S. Haines, president ; W. H. Allen, cashier. Population, 1880, 793. School census, 1888, 237. Wm, M. Harford, school superintendent.
Waynesville was laid out in February, 1796, by Samuel Highway, an emi- grant from England, and Dr. Evan Banes. More than a year later Highway hired two wagons, a guide and three or four woodmen to cut a road from Colum- . . bia to the projected town, there to make the first settlement. The wagons were three or four days on the journey, arriving at the site of the new town March 8, 1797. Francis Baily, a young Englishman, was with the party, and gives an interesting account of the founding of Waynesville in his "Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parts of North America in 1796 and 1797." While the sound of the axe was heard felling the trees for the first residences, Baily and Dr. Banes went hunting and killed one bear and two or three deer, and saw a great number of wild turkeys. Francis Baily later became a celebrated astronomer, and Presi- dent of the "Royal Astronomical Society."
Rev. James Smith visited Waynesville October 11, 1797, and found fourteen families settled there. He says: " We lodged with a Mr. Highway, an emigrant -- > from England, who with a number of his country people suffered inconceivable hardships in getting to this country. It was curious to see their elegant furniture and silver plate glittering in a small, smoky cabin." A large number of the . early settlers in this vicinity were Friends.
MORROW is ten miles southeast of Lebanon, on the Little Miami river, at the junction of the Little Miami and the C. & M. V. divisions of the P. C. & St. L. Ř. R.
Morrow was laid out by Wm. H. Clement and others when the Little Miami 1 R. R. was completed to the mouth of Todd's Fork in 1844, and was named in honor of Gov. Morrow, then president of the railroad.
Churches : 1 Catholic ; 1 Methodist; 1 Presbyterian. Bank : Morrow (A. N. & Theo. Couden), E. C. Dunham, cashier. Population, 1880, 946. - School census, 1888, 385 ; O. W. Martin, superintendent schools.
HARVEYSBURG is twelve miles northeast of Lebanon. It was laid out by William Harvey in 1828. Near the town are " the fifty springs" of mineral waters.
Churches : 1 United Brethren ; 1 Methodist Episcopal ; 1 Colored Methodist ... Episcopal ; 1 Baptist ; 1 Orthodox Friends ; 1 Hieksite Friends. Population, 1880, 539. School eensus, 1888, 196.
SPRINGBORO is eight miles north of Lebanon. Population, 1880, 553. Seliool census, 1888, 188.
Springboro was laid out by Jonathan Wright in 1815, and took its name from one of the finest springs in the State, the water of which has been utilized in running a flouring-mill and woollen factory.
RIDGEVILLE was laid out in 1815 by Fergus MeLean, father of Justice John McLean, and is situated on oneof the most elevated ridges on the line of the I. & N. R. R., in the north part of the county.
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WARREN COUNTY.
471
BUTLERVILLE was laid out by Abram B. Butler in 1838.
MURDOCH was named from the distinguished actor and reader, who resided there about twenty-five years. It is on the line of the L. M. R. R., in the southeast corner of the county.
MASON is eight miles southwest of Lebanon, on the C. L. & N. R. R. Popu- lation, 1880, 431. School census, 1888, 178. It was laid out in 1815 by Major William Mason, and first called Palmyra.
MAINEVILLE is nine miles south of Lebanon. Population, 1880, 324. School census, 1888, 132. It was first called Yankeetown, being founded by emigrants from Maine, the first of whom, Dr. John Cottle, came in 1818.
FOSTER'S CROSSINGS is ten miles southeast of Lebanon, on the L. M. R. R., and long famous as a point for the raising of sweet potatoes of a superior qual- ity ; and
KINGS MILLS, near it, also on the railroad and river, where gunpowder is largely manufactured.
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472
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
WASHINGTON.
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WASHINGTON COUNTY was formed July 26, 1788, by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, being the FIRST COUNTY formed within the limits of Ohio.
The surface is generally hilly and broken, excepting the broad strips of alluvial land on the Ohio and Muskingum. In the middle and western part are extensive tracts of fertile land. The uplands near the large streams are commonly broken, but well adapted to pasturage. The principal products are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, dairy produce, fruit and wool.
Its original boundaries were as follows : "Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie ; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga river ; thence up the said river to the portage between it and the. Tusca- rawas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down that branch to the forks, at the cross- ing place above Fort Laurens ; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnese town to Sandusky ; thence south to the Scioto river, and thence with that river to the mouth, and thence up the Ohio river to the place of beginning." This area comprised more than the eastern half of the now State of Ohio.
Arca about 650 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 106,805; in pasture, 137,758 ; woodland, 81,026 ; lying waste, 10,562; produced in wheat, 322,846 bushels; rye, 3,415; buckwheat, 643; oats, 216,603; corn, 564,769 ; broom-corn, 8,475 lbs. brush ; meadow hay, 19,776 tons; clover hay, 3,599; potatoes, 120,664 bushels; tobacco, 314,475 lbs .; butter, 681,224 ; cheese, 4,815 ; sorghum, 14,032 gallons ; maple sugar, 1,043 lbs .; honey, 6,837 ; eggs, 916,793 dozen ; grapes, 22,040 lbs. ; wine, 882 gallons ; sweet potatoes, 26,439 bushels ; apples, 9,726 ; peaches, 3,946 ; pears, 926 ; wool, 445,771 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 7,825. Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888 : Coal, 2,432 tons, employ- ing 15 miners. School census, 1888, 14,140 ; teachers, 394.
Miles of railroad track, 88.
TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.
1840.
1880.
TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.
1840.
1880.
Adams,
791
1,856
Ludlow,
539
1,375
Aurelius,
886
999
Marietta,
2,689
8,830
Barlow,
880
1,200
Muskingum,
Belpre,
1,296
2,636
Newport,
1,678
2,548
Decatur,
439
1,504
Palmer,
591
Dunham,
900
Roxbury,
1,225
Fairfield,
731
Salem,
881
1,638
Fearing,
1,019
1,275
Union,
888
Grand View,
514
2,663
Warren,
931
1,903
Independence,
335
1,792
Waterford,
1,166
2,128
Jolly,
582
.
Watertown,
1,128
1,894
Lawrence,
571
2,335
Wesley,
991
1,482
Liberty,
515
1,614
Population of Washington in 1820 was 10,425 ; 1830, 11,731 ; 1840, 20,694; 1860, 36,268 ; 1880, 43,244: of whom 35,103 were born in Ohio; 1,549, Pennsylvania ; 1,115, Virginia ; 319, New York; 100, Indiana ; 75, Kentucky ; 2,002, German Empire; 515, Ireland ; 216, England and Wales; 177, Scot- land; 36 British America; 31, France; and 5, Norway and Sweden. Census, 1890, 42,380.
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473
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
This county was the first settled in Ohio and under the auspices of the New England Ohio Company. Its earliest settlers were from New England, the descendants of whom constitute the largest part of its present population.
THE ERECTION OF FORT HARMAR.
In the autumn of 1785 a detachment of United States troops, under the com- mand of Maj. John Doughty, commenced the erection, and the next year com-s pleted Fort Harmar, on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio. It was named in honor of Col. Josiah Harmar, to whose regiment Maj. Doughty was attached. It was the first military post erected by Americans within the limits of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, built in 1778, near the
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FORT HARMAR.
present Bolivar, Tuscarawas county. The outlines of the fort formed a regular pentagon, embracing within the area about three-quarters of an acre. Its walls were formed of large horizontal timbers, and the bastions of large upright timbers, of about fourteen feet in height, fastened to each other by strips of timber tree-nailed into each picket. In its rear Maj. Doughty laid out fine gardens. It continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, when they were ordered to Cincinnati. A company under Captain Haskell continued to make the fort their head-quarters during the Indian war, sending out oc- casionally small detachments to assist the colonists at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford, in guarding their garrisons against the Indians. The barracks and houses not needed for the accommodation of the troops were occupied by the inhabitants living at Marietta, on the opposite side of the Muskinguni.
In the autumn of 1787 the directors of the Ohio Company organized in New England, preparatory to a settlement. Upon the 23d of November they made arrangements for a party of 47 men to set forward under the superintendence of Gen. Rufus Putnam ; and not long after, in the course of the winter, they started on their toilsome journey. Some of these, as well as most of those who followed then to the colony, had served in the war of the revolution, either as officers or soldiers, being men who had spent the prime of their lives in the struggle for liberty.
" During the winter of 1787-8 these men were pressing on over the Allegha- nies by the old Indian path which had been opened into Braddock's road, and which has since been followed by the national turnpike from Cumberland west- ward. Through the dreary winter days they trudged on, and by April were all
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WASHINGTON COUNTY.
gathered on the Yohiogany, where boats had been built, and started for the Mus- kingum. On the seventh of April they landed at the spot chosen, and became the founders of Ohio, unless we regard as such the Moravian missionaries.
"As St. Clair, who had been appointed governor the preceding October, had not yet arrived, it became necessary to erect a temporary government for their internal security ; for which purpose a set of laws was passed, and published by being nailed to a tree in the village, and Return Jonathan Meigs was appointed to ad- minister them. It is a strong evidence of the good habits of the people of the colony that during three months but one difference occurred, and that was com- promised. Indeed, a better set of men altogether could scarce have been selected for the purpose than Putnam's little band. Washington might well say, 'no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which was first commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property and strength, will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.'
"On the second of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, for the purpose of naming the new-born city and its public squares. As the settlement had been merely ' The Muskingum,' the name Marietta was now formally given to it, in honor of Marie Antoinette.
" On the fourth of July an oration was delivered by James M. Varnum, who, with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong, had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory, on the 16th of October, 1787. Five days later the governor arrived and the colony began to assume form. The ordinance of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the northwest territory, under "the first of which the whole power was in the hands of the governor and three judges, and this form was at once organized upon the governor's arrival. The first law, which was 'for regulating and establishing the militia,' was published upon the 25th of July ; and the next day appeared the governor's proclamation, erecting all the country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto river into the county of Washington.
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