History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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The first picture of Cincinnati, so far as known, was made this year, and has since been repeatedly printed .* It marks the dwellings or places of business of Major Ruffin; Charles Vattier, corner of Broadway and Front; James Smith, first door west of Vattier; Major Zeigler, Second street, east of Sycamore; Griffin Yeatman's, north- east corner of Front and Sycamore; Martin Baum's, just opposite; Colonel Gibson, northeast corner Front and Main; Colonel Ludlow, opposite corner; Joel Williams, north side of Water, near Main ; Samuel Burt, a log house, northwest corner Walnut and Front, and two little cabins west of him; and Dr. Allison ("Peach Grove"), on the

*A large painting of Cincinnati in 1800 has recently been made by Mr. A. B. Swing, a local artist, from careful studies of the subject, and exhibited in one of the picture stores on Main street.

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

hill near Fort Washington. The Fort and Artificers' Yard, the Presbyterian church, the Green Tree hotel, on Front street, about midway between Main and Wal- nut, and another hotel on a street corner, are all the pub- lic buildings that are shown in the picture, which obvi- ously does not represent buildings enough for the nine hundred inhabitants, more or less, there must have been here at that time.

About the middle of 1802, the first school for young ladies was opened in the place by a Mrs. Williams, in the house of Mr. Newman, a saddler.

Some time this year Ethan Stone paid Joel Williams two hundred and twenty dollars for lots eighty-nine, ninety and ninety-one, being one hundred and fifty feet on Vine by two hundred on Fourth street. Thirty-seven years thereafter, in 1839, the larger part of the same property was sold for one hundred and fifty dollars the front foot.

A well-known citizen publicly advertises that "the part- nership between the subscriber and his wife, Alice, has been dissolved by mutual consent. Another remark in the notice provokes the retort next week, from his wife, that she "has never yet stood in need of his credit."

The commerce of the village begins to look up. From the sixteenth of February to the sixteenth of May, ex- ports of flour amounted to four thousand four hundred and fifty-seven barrels.

The known arrivals of 1802 are Ethan Stone, Samuel Perry and William Pierson.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THREE.

The annals of this twelve-month are brief, but not wholly devoid of interest. Early in the year incendiary fires occurred, as many as three in rapid succession. The citizens were thoroughly alarmed, and a night-watch was organized and maintained for some time. One man was arrested and imprisoned on suspicion; but nothing was proved against him, and the real incendiary remained undisclosed. 'The garrison was removed this year from Fort Washington to Newport Barracks; and to this change, possibly, may be attributed the infrequency of incendiary fires in Cincinnati thereafter. The occasional feuds between soldier and citizen may have had some- thing to do with them before that.

On the sixteenth of June the Miami Exporting Com- pany's bank was opened-the first banking institution in town.

Some notable arrivals occurred; as of Christopher and Robert Cary, grandfather and father of the celebrated Cary sisters. They came from New Hampshire, remained in Cincinnati several years and then removed to a farm near Mount Pleasant, now Mount Healthy, on the Ham- ilton road, where their descendants and other relatives are now to be found in some number. On New Year's day came Thomas and Thankful Carter, grandparents of Judge A. G. W. Carter, with their promising family of five boys and three girls. The judge's maternal grand- father, the Rev. Adam Hurdus, founder of the New Church or Swedenborgianism in the west came from England with his family to Cincinnati April 4, 1806.

Judge A. H. Dunlevy, in an address to the Cincinnati Pioneer association, April 7, 1875, gives the following picture of the Queen City of this year :

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FOUR.

Cincinnati was then a very small place. The hotel where I put up was near the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets, and was kept by one James Conn, or rather by his wife, who was the most efficient of the family. . From the customers of this hotel, I think it was considered the best then in Cincinnati. But at this time the forest trees stood on the south, east, and north of this hotel property. Directly south, across Fifth street, Tom Dugan, an old bachelor who left a large property in Cincinnati, had a rough-iron store; and there were very few buildings of any size south along Main street, until the corner of Main and Fourth, where, on the north side, James Ferguson had the best store, I think, then in Cincinnati. The only access to the Ohio, where wagons could descend, was at the foot of Main street; and this consisted simply of a wide road cut diagonally down the steep bank of the river. In high water there was no other levee than this road. In low water, however, there was a wide beach; but this could only be reached by this road. It may be there was a similar approach to the river at the foot of Broadway; but if so, I did not see it. All north of Fifth street, with the exception of one or two houses, was in woods or inclosed lots, without other improvements. In coming to Cincinnati from Lebanon, miles of the route were in the woods, out of sight of any improvements; and from Cumminsville, then only a tav- ern, kept by one Cummins (John, I think), there were but two resi- dences on the road until you came near to Conn's hotel. One of these was the residence of Mr. Cary-I think father of General Samuel Cary, of Hamilton county, as well known.

In May a very useful and honored resident, William McMillan, one of the first colonists of Losantiville, died, greatly lamented by his fellow-citizens. His life and public services will be further noticed in our chapter on the Bar of Cincinnati. Mr. Cist wrote of him in Cincin- nati in 1841 :

There can be no doubt that Mr. McMillan was the master spirit of the place at that day, and a man who would have been a distinguished member of society anywhere. It is impossible to contemplate his char- acter and career without being deeply impressed with his great superi- ority over every one around him, even of the influential men of the day ; and there were men of as high character and abilities in Cincinnati in those days as at present. He was lost to the community at the age of forty-four, just in the meridian of his course, and left vacant an orbit of usefulness and influence in the community in which no one since has been found worthy to move.

A town meeting was held this year, to consider the adoption of measures for a general vaccination of the in- habitants of the village.

On the fourth of December was issued the first num- ber of Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury, edited and published by the Rev. John W. Browne.

A large number of immigrants are registered for this year. Among them, in the fall, was Colonel Stephen McFarland, father of the venerable Isaac B. McFarland, still living in Cincinnati, and Mr. John McFarland and a sister, of Madisonville. General Findlay, who knew him in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, had written for him. His wife and children came the next year. H. M., Jacob, and Andrew H. Ernst came this year with their father, Zachariah Ernst. The family became quite prom- inent here. Jacob was a printer and author, writing books on Masonry, etc., while Andrew wrote treatises on gardening and arboriculture. Ernst station, on the Cincin- nati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, is named from the family. Other arrivals were Peaton S. Symmes, Benja- min Smith, P. A. Sprigman, George P. Torrence (long presiding judge of the court of common pleas), Jonathan

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Pancoast, Robert Richardson, James Perry, Peter M. Nicoll, Adam Moore, William Moody, Benjamin Mason, Casper Hopple, Andrew Johnston, Ephraim Carter, James Crawford, William Crippen, and Henry Craven.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIVE.

The village now had twenty-five merchants and grocers, fifteen joiners and cabinet-makers, twelve bricklayers, eleven inn-keepers, nine attorneys, eight physicians, eight blacksmiths, seven shoemakers, five saddlers, seven tail- ors, five bakers, three each of tobacconists, silversmiths, and tanners, four hatters, two each of printers, brewers, tinners, and coppersmiths, and one book-binder. Its population was nine hundred and sixty, housed and doing business in one hundred and seventy-two buildings. Jesse Hunt, on Second street, near Eastern row; Aaron Goforth, on Walnut, below Fourth; Andrew Lemon, on Water street; and Joel Williams, also on Water street, had the only stone buildings in town; while the six brick buildings were the Miami bank building, on Front, near Main; Elmore Williams', on Main and Fifth streets; Nim- mo's, on Main, near Fourth; Judge Burnet's, Vine, near Fourth, where the Burnet house now is; and two others; to which was presently added the Rev. John W. Browne's Liberty Hall office, at the east end of the lower market house. Fifty-three log cabins were still remaining, and there were a little more than twice as many (one hundred and nine) frame buildings.

Mr. E. D. Mansfield, long afterwards recalling his Per- sonal Memories of the coming of his father and family here, said:

We arrived at Cincinnati, I think, the last part of October, 1805. But what was Cincinnati then? One of the dirtiest little villages you ever saw. Of course I was not diiven around to see its splendors; but the principal street or settlement was Front street-and that I saw. The chief houses at that time were on Front street, from Broadway to Sycamore. They were two-story frame houses, painted white. One was that of General Findlay, receiver of the land office,

. and subsequently member of Congress for the Cincin- nati district.

Mr. Josiah Espy, who made a tour this year through Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indian Territory, and published a journal of his travels, came here September 4th, and stayed two days, making the following note of the place:

Cincinnati is a remarkably sprightly, thriving town, on the northwest bank of the Ohio river, opposite the mouth of the river Licking, and containing, from appearance, about two hundred dwelling houses- many of these elegant brick buildings. The site of the town embraces both the first and second banks of the river, the second bank being, I suppose, about two hundred feet above the level of the water.

In March a great freshet occurred in the Ohio, over- flowing everything on the lower levels, and sweeping away houses, stock, and other property.

May 8th, General John S. Gano was appointed clerk of the courts for Hamilton county. This is noteworthy simply as the beginning of a very long and useful career for the Ganos in this capacity, lasting far down the century.

In the same month, on the fifteenth instant, came Aaron Burr to this village, en route for New Orleans, while his expedition was preparing and he was meditating his ambitious, if not treasonable, projects. He does not seem to have done much mischief here, except to involve in trouble United States Senator John Smith, through

the evident friendship of the two and Smth's hospitality to Burr while here.

The Republicans of that time (the political ancestors of the present Democracy) held the Fourth of July cele- bration by themselves this year, at a bower in front of the court house. Judge Symmes was president, Matthew Nimmo vice-president, and Thomas Rawlins orator of the day. The light dragoons, Lieutenant Eimore Wil- liams commanding, made a street parade for this section of the Cincinnati patriots. Others went with Captain Smith's company of light infantry to the Beechen grove, in the western part of the town, where there was a din- ner, succeeded by nineteen toasts. Some of the toasts were quite unique. Captain McFarland volunteered one as follows: "A hard-pulling horse, a porcupine saddle, a cobweb pair of breeches, and a long journey, to the enemies of America."

The Cincinnati Thespians held their meetings during a part of this year in the loft of a stable in rear of General Findlay's place, on the site of the old Spencer house.

On the eleventh of December an ordinance was passed by the town council for the establishment of a sort of night-watch, without pay.

This year came John M. Wozencraft, a Welshman from Baltimore, who remained here for a time, and after- wards died in South Carolina on his way to England. The arrival from the same city of forty to fifty families, with about as many unmarried men, chiefly mechanics, gave to the town, says the directory of 1819, the first spring of anything like improvement.

Joseph Coppin, the aged president of the Cincinnati Pioneer association for this year 1880-I, came to the town of Cincinnati December 16th. He is, doubtless, the oldest man living, who was a resident of the city at that time. Mr. Coppin was born in Norwich, England, April 8, 1791, and was brought, when a boy, to this country by his father, who settled in New York city. Young Coppin walked in the funeral procession organized in that city in December, 1799, to do honor to the memory of Washing- ton, then just deceased. He afterwards marched in the processions that followed to tomb the remains of Alex- ander Hamilton, slain by Burr in 1804, and of Major David Zeigler, a native of Prussia, and commandant of Fort Washington, who died and was buried in Cincinnati in September, 1811. He was a boy in his fifteenth year when brought to this place, and remembers distinctly the Cincinnati of that day. He worked as a boat-joiner upon the first barges that were built here for the New Or- leans trade, and as a house-carpenter labored upon the famous "Bazaar" built by the Trollopes in 1828-9. The aged pioneer is spending the evening of his days tran- quilly at Pleasant Ridge, in this county.

By far the most distinguished arrivals of this year, or of the decade, were those of General Jared Mansfield and his family, which included a son, then a little boy of four years, Edward D. Mansfield, who became one of the most useful men of his time, and died only last year- October 27, 1880, at his "Yamoyden" farm near Morrow, thirty miles from Cincinnati. General Mansfield was of

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

English stock, and immediately from an old New Hamp- shire family; a graduate of Yale college, and thorough scientist for his day; a teacher in his native State, and at the Friends' academy, in Philadelphia; author of a learned work comprising essays on mathematical topics; appointed surveyor-general of the United States by Pres- ident Jefferson in 1803, particularly to establish correct meridian lines, which had given previous surveyors much trouble; resident at Marietta 1803-5, and at or near Cincinnati (at Ludlow's station, and at Bates' place, near the present workhouse, afterwards called Mount Comfort), 1805-12; wrote a series of papers signed "Regulus," op- posing the schemes of Burr; established three principal meridians in Ohio and Indiana; returned to West Point as an instructor 1814-28, and remained at the east until his death.

Edward D. Mansfield was also born in New Hamp- shire; was educated here, in New Hampshire, and Cheshire, Connecticut, and at the Military academy, from which he was graduated the fourth of his class, and the youngest graduate in the history of West Point. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the engineer corps, but, at the instance of his mother, resigned to become a lawyer. He first prepared regularly for college, entered the junior class at Princeton, and was graduated with the first honor. After a course at the Litchfield Law school he was admitted to the bar, and returned to Cincinnati the same year, where, or near which city, he thenceforth remained. He practiced law but a short time, however, and gave his time mostly to journalism and other literary pursuits. He was author of the Political Grammar, still published as a text-book for schools; of a work on Amer- can Education; of Personal Memories,. a life of Dr. Drake, and many other books and reports, and pamph- lets of addresses, lectures, etc. He was the first and only commissioner of statistics for the State, and filled the place admirably. While a young lawyer here he had for a time as a partner Professor O. M. Mitchel, founder of the Cincinnati observatory. In 1835 he was professor of constitutional law and history in the Cincinnati college, and was then also editor of the Cincinnati Chronicle. He subsequently filled many other stations of usefulness, and continued his intellectual activity almost to the day of his lamented death.

The arrival of General Mansfield and family was pleas- antly chronicled nearly forty years afterwards, by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, of Marietta, in a history of an early voyage on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with historical sketches of the different points along them, etc., etc., contributed to the American Pioneer for March, 1842. Dr. Hildreth says:

General Mansfield possessed a high order of talents, especially as a mathematician, with every qualification necessary to conduct the de- partment under his control with honor to himself and advantage to his country. To a handsome personal appearance was added the most bland and pleasant address, rendering him a very desirable companion.

Among the sailing vessels built at Marietta between the years 1801 and 1805, was a beautiful little seventy- ton schooner called the Nonpareil, constructed by Cap- tain Jonathan Devoll, one of the carliest shipwrights on the Ohio, for himself and sons, and Mr. Richard Greenc.

In the spring of 1805 she was finished and loaded for a voyage down the Mississippi, and General Mansfield de- termined to take passage upon her with his family-a son, a nephew, and a servant girl-for his new station at Cincinnati, which would be "more central and nearer to the new tracts of government lands ordered to be sur- veyed in Ohio and the adjacent western territory."

The vessel left Marietta April 2 1st. Dr. Hildreth thus records the arrival at Cincinnati, and gives a rapid but vivid picture of the town as it then appeared:

The Nonpareil now unmoorcd and put out into the stream, proposing to stop at Cincinnati to land General Mansfield and family. The dis- tance between the two towns was one hundred and sixty miles. New settlements and improvements were springing up along the bank of the river every few miles; and the busy hum of civilization was heard where silence had reigned for ages, except when broken by the scream of the panther, the howl of the wolf, or the yell of the savage. In this dis- tance there are now no less than twelve towns, some of which are of considerable importance. They reached Cincinnati after a voyage of seventeen days, being protracted to this unusual length by adverse winds, a low stage of water, and the frequent stops of General Mans- ficld on business relating to his department, especially that of deter- mining the meridian and latitude of certain points on the Ohio river.

It was now the eighth of May; the peach and the apple had shed their blossoms, and the trces of the forest were clad in their summer dress. Cincinnati, in 1805, contained a population of nine hundred and fifty souls. The enlivening notes of the fife and drum at 1eveille were no longer heard, and the loud booming of the morning gun, as it rolled its echoes along the hills and the winding shores of the river, had ceased to awaken the inhabitants from their slumbers. Cincinnati had been from its foundation until within a short period the headquarters of the different armies engaged in the Indian wars; and the continual ar- rival and departure of the troops, the landing of boats and detach- ments of pack-horses with provisions, had given to this little village all the life and activity of a large city. Peace was now restored; and the enlivening hum of commerce was beginning to be heard on the land- ings, while the bustle and hurry of hundreds of immigrants thronged the strects as they took their departure for the rich valleys of the Miami, the intended home of many a weary pilgrim from the Atlantic States. The log houses werc beginning to disappear-brick and frame buildings were supplying their placcs. Large warehouses had arisen near the water for the storing of groceries and merchandise, brought up in barges and keel-boats from the far distant city of New Orleans.

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIX.

This was a transition year, or rather the beginning of a transition-period, for the little place. Says Mr. Mansfield, in his biography of Dr. Drake (it will be observed that he was writing about 1855):

Cincinnati was then cmerging out of a village existence into that, not of a city, but of a town, In 1806 it was but a small and dirty county- town. But about that time commenced a carcer of growth and success which is unequalled in history. Such success, notwithstanding all natural advances, is always due as much to the mind and energy of its citizens as to all physical causes. If we look to the young men then aasociated with Dr. Drake and to the older citizens whom I have all ready mentioned, it will be found that no young place in America has gathered to itself a greater amount of personal energy and intellectual ability. I have named among the pioncers the St. Clairs, Symmeses, Burnets, Ganos, Findlays, Goforths and Oliver M. Spencer. In the class of young men, about 1806-7-8, were John MeLean, now supreme judge; Thomas S. Jessup, now quartermaster-general; Joseph G. Tot- ten, now general of engineers; Ethan A. Brown, afterwards governor, judge and canal commissioner; George Cutler, now colonel in the army; Mr. Sill, since member of congress from Erie, Pennsylvania; Joseph Crane, afterwards judge; Judge Torrence, Dr. Drake, Nicholas Long- worth, Peyton S. Symmes, David Wade, Samuel Perry, Joseph Pierce, a poet of decided talent; Mr. Armstrong and John F. Mansfield .*

The last two died early-the former, a young man of great ability, and the latter of distinguished scientific attainments and high promise.

" Mr. Mansfield's foot-note: " 1 do not pretend to give a list of all the prom- inent young men at that time, but only those of whom I have some knowledge.'

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Such a circle of young men would grace any rising town, and impart to its mind and character a tone of energy and a spirit of ambition.

During the year this part of the country was visited and partly explored, after a fashion, by an Englishman named Thomas Ashe, who chose to palm himself off during his travels among the western barbarians as a Frenchman named D'Arville. He pottered around somewhat among the antiquities of the Ohio valley, pro- mulgated the highly probable theory that the earthworks then still remaining in Cincinnati were the ruins of an ancient city, and after his return to the Old World, be- sides publishing a ponderous account of his travels in America, in three volumes, he issued a smaller volume entitled, "Memoirs of Mammoth and various extraordi- nary and stupendous Bones, of Incognita or Nonde- script Animals found in the vicinity of the Ohio, Wabash, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage and Red rivers, etc. Published for the information of the Ladies and Gentle- men whose taste and love of science tempt them to visit the Liverpool Museum." He was helped to this latter publication by the indiscretion of that fine gentleman of the old school, Dr. William Goforth, of Cincinnati, who intrusted the fellow with a large collection, in ten boxes, which the doctor had made, with great trouble and at some expense, from the Big Bone Lick, in Kentucky. Ashe was to take them abroad and exhibit them through Europe and the United Kingdom, and send the owner a specified share of the profits. Instead he coolly sold them to the Liverpool museum for a round sum, after exhibiting them in London, and is said to have made a fortune out of them and his book. He never accounted for a penny to Dr. Goforth, who must have felt the loss seriously, as he was not a man of large means.

Mr. Ashe is regarded as very poor authority in scien- tific speculation or statement of fact; yet his narrative is undoubtedly correct in parts, and where he had no object to accomplish in telling a falsehood, it is probable he can be believed. The following is his view of Cincin- nati in 1806:

The town consists of about three hundred houses, frame and log, built on two plains, the higher and the lower, each of which commands a fine view of the opposite shore, the mouth of Licking, the town of Newport, and the Ohio waters for a considerable way both up and down. The public buildings consist of a court house, prison, and two places of worship; and two printing-presses are established, which issue papers once a week. Cincinnati is also the line of communication with the chain of forts extended from Fort Washington to the west- ward, and is the principal town in what is called Symmes' Purchase. The garrison end of the town is now in a state of ruin. A land office for the sale of Congress lands at two dollars per acre is held in the town, and made no less than seventeen thousand contracts the last year with persons both from Europe and all parts of the United States. So very great and extensive is the character of the portion of the State of which this town is the fort and capital, that it absorbs the whole repu- tation of the country, deprives it of its topographical name, and is distinguished by that of the "Miamis." In Holland, Germany, Ire- land, and the remote parts of America, persons intending to emigrate declare that they will go to the "Miamis."

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 14

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666