History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 58

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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A messenger conveyed the necessary papers and charter from the Grand lodge to Brother Paul at Wheeling, and from thence he journeyed "down the river, down the Ohio," to Cincinnati, where he was kindly received by the expectant brothers. After much anxious inquiry and solicitations, and many emphatic refusals, (for the order as well as the brothers were both almost unknown), a room for meeting purposes was rented in the second story of the old Johnson row, on Fifth street, be- tween Walnut and Vine-recently supplanted by the beautiful Johnston building-the necessary paraphernalia and furniture of the plainest de- scription and scantiest quantity were purchased.

The organizers of the project in all these months of waiting had not been idle, and they had found a number of other Odd Fellows in the city, who were anxious to unite with the new lodge. Accordingly, on the night of December 23, 1830, within a block of this room, the brethren assembled to meet Brother Paul, and then and there was in- stituted Ohio lodge, No. I.

The story goes that when the cards of the brothers present were de- manded at the meeting, the respected chairman of the meeting solemnly presented his, which, upon examination, turned out to be the Declaration of Independence. This document, splendid as it is, hardly answered the purpose, and the lodge kindly waited until a trip could be made to his home by Brother Thomas and the needed card pro- cured.

The Knights of Pythias have fifteen lodges and one uniformed division in the city, and a membership of fif- teen hundred. Cincinnati leads the great cities of the west in the local strength of this order.

The Ancient Order of Good Fellows, established in Cincinnati about 1859, has also about fifteen lodges, with a membership of eleven to twelve hundred, mostly Ger- mans. The sick benefit of this order is five dollars a week.

The Sons of Temperance had recently five divisions, and the Order of Good Templars six lodges in the city. The Templars of Honor are also represented. There are a number of open temperance societies, chief among which is the Woman's Christian Temperance union, which has public meetings every Sunday afternoon, at its hall on Sixth street.

The Ancient Order of United Workmen has about twenty-five lodges-in Cincinnati. It is a mutual benefit and life insurance association. The Workingmen's Be- nevolent association, like this, includes members of all trades, and was organized here in 1857.

The Independent Order of Foresters is an organiza- tion of similar character ; but its benefits are not confined to workingmen. It had seven courts (or lodges) here in 1879.

The Druids meet in "Groves," of which at least six have been founded in the city. It is also a mutual ben- efit secret order.

The United and Improved Orders of Red Men, and many other societies of the kind, are also amply repre- sented here. Most of them are beneficiary organizations.

MORAL REFORM SOCIETIES.

The principal of these, besides the temperance socie- ties, is the Ohio State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Animals, which was organized in Cincinnati May, 1873, and has since had headquarters here. It was re-organized in 1875, under the new State law to prevent cruelty to animals and children. Over two thousand cases of cruelty have been investigated by it, and more than four thousand dollars collected in fines. In the year 1880 six hundred and sixty-three cases of cruelty to animals were investigated, and nearly as many arrests were made. In the matter of cruelty to children, two hundred and forty complaints were received, all of which were investigated; forty-two cases were prosecuted, and thirty convictions secured; one hundred and sixty- six children were placed in the Home or other institu- tions, and forty-five were returned to their parents. Receipts of the year, one thousand four hundred and thirty dollars and ninety-seven cents; expenditures, one thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and twenty-eight cents. No salaries are paid, except to the officer who does the police work of the society. Dr. A. T. Keckeler is its president. The society publishes a monthly paper called the Humane Appeal.

The Western Society for the Suppression of Vice has also an office in Cincinnati. Its object, says Mr. King, is "the enforcement of all laws for the suppression of the trade in and circulation of obscene printed matter and pictures and articles of indecent and immoral use."

THE OHIO HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL, SOCIETY.

This is wholly a Cincinnati society, and its collections represent much history and little philosophy, notwith- standing its comprehensive geographical and other des-

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

ignation. A Cincinnati Historical society was organized in 1844, with Rev. James H. Perkins as president, and E. D. Mansfield and many other leading citizens as members. Five years after, it was consolidated with the first named organization, which was formed at Columbus in 1831, incorporated February 11, of the same year, and met annually with good results for eighteen years. It was before this society at Columbus that General Har- rison delivered his famous address on the Aborigines in the Valley of the Ohio, which was published in several forms. In 1849 it was removed to Cincinnati, where it flourished for several years, made valuable collections of books and relics, and published some volumes of Trans- actions. It fell into neglect, however, for several years, and much of its property became dispersed and lost. In May, 1868, steps were taken towards its revival; and it was re-organized in December of that year. The remains of its collection were removed from the Public library to the Literary club rooms in the Apollo building, at the "northwest corner of Vine and Fifth streets; but the cost of removal and other expenses brought the society, which then had less than fifty members, about two hundred and fifty dollars in debt. This was cleared presently, however; and in two or three years it had one thousand dollars invested in bank stock. In 1871 another removal was made -- this time to the fourth story of the College building on Walnut street, where it has since remained. March 31, 1871, the library and other collections were there opened to the public, to which their use has been free- tendered for all legitimate purposes. Its materials have been found invaluable in the preparation of this History, several hundred books, pamphlets, etc., having been con- sulted in the compilation of these pages. It has a library of about seven thousand volumes, and thirty thousand pamphlets, besides an interesting museum of historical curiosities. Its early presidents were: Benjamin Tappan, 1831-6; Ebenezer Lane, 1836-8; Jacob Burnet, 1838- 40; John C. Wright, 1841-4. General M. F. Force has been president since the re-organization; Julius Dexter, first librarian, and now secretary; Miss Elizabeth H. Appleton has been librarian since 1874. Among the pub- lications of the society, besides its early volumes of Trans- actions, are Dr. S. P. Hildreth's two books on Pioneer History and Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio; also Judge Burnet's large volume of Notes on the Early Settlement of the North- western Territory. Some years ago Mr. George T. Wil- liamson presented to it Lord Kingsborough's massive and costly work on Mexican Antiquities ; and when the New England society was disbanded its literary collection went to the shelves of the Historical society. After it ceased to publish volumes of Transactions, its proceed- ings were published for several years in the Cincinnatus, a monthly periodical issued at College Hill, and which was selected as the organ of the society.

THE CINCINNATI PIONEER ASSOCIATION.

This society was organized on the twenty-third day of November, 1856, at the Dennison house, by a consider- able number of representatives of the old families of the

city and county-"men and women," as they have been described in an address by one of them, "of worth and service in building up business and manufactures." Its object was "to promote a social feeling favorable to the early emigrants," and to perpetuate the memories of the past. Persons who were in this State prior to Indepen- dence day, 1812, were entitled to become members sim- ply on the payment of one dollar. This provision was subsequently modified so as to admit those who were in Ohio before July 4, 1815, on payment of two dollars. The society, for many years, observed annually, in a so- cial way, and with fitting sentiments and speeches, the twenty-eighth day of December, as the birthday of the city; the seventh of April, the birthday of the State; and the Fourth of July, as the birthday of the Federal union. Some other pleasant reminiscences were given by Mr. John D. Caldwell, secretary of the association, at its cel- bration, in 1874, of the eighty-sixth anniversary of the settlement of the Northwest territory:

We had an excursion to Columbus, at the dedication of the new State-house, to Cleveland by facilities furnished by the railroads, and a formal reception and entertainment by the Forest City municipal au- thorities. Through the courtesies of Messrs. Sherwood and Pierce, the association was conveyed on the magnificent steamer United States, and were most hospitably feted at Louisville, Kentucky, by its citizens and council. We were, by the courtesy of our public-spirited citizen, Hon. George H. Pendleton, in control of the Kentucky Central railroad, conveyed to Lexington, Kentucky, where true Southern hospitality was extended to us. We were royally provided for in a railroad excursion to Marietta, the pilgrim home of the buckeye pioneers, and there we renewed our earnest devotion to the memory of the brave and good of auld lang syne days, who made Washington county a brilliant example as the pioneer county of the territory and State. Courtesies were ex- tended to the association in a visit to the State fair, at Springfield; and the trip we made to the Soldiers' home, near Dayton, wili long be remembered as the reunion of the Montgomery, Butler, and Hamilton county pioneers.

On our lists of the living or dead are names of the worthiest in war or peace-Territorial, State, and National-who have been identified with the Miami valley. We buried the daughter of John Cleves Symmes, the patentee of the whole Miami purchase, and wife of General William Henry Harrison, whose name as defender of the homes of the West is dearer to us than even his national fame as President of the United States. We still have on our rolls the name of Hon. John Scott Har- rison, son of these sainted worthies.

The name of the father of General Grant is inscribed on the roll of our deceased members. Our list included those of the family of Ben- jamin Stites, also of General John Stites Gano, who were pioneer set- tlers and proprietors of Columbia ; and of the Pattersons and Israel Ludlow, proprietors of the town-site of Cincinnati. We had enrolled with us the names of Governor Tod, Governor Thomas Corwin, Gov- ernor Brownlow, of Tennessee, and some of the families of Governors Tiffin, Trimble, Looker, Brown and Dennison.

Governors Hayes and Noyes have been hearty co-operators with us in several meetings, and only imperative public business prevented Gov- ernor William Allen from being with us to-day.

The early newspapers have all been represented ; the first paper in the Northwest Territory, the Centinel, by the son of William Maxwell; by Joseph Carpenter, of the Spy and Freeman's Journal; Samuel J. Browne, of the old Liberty Hall, also of the Emporium; William J. Ferris, S. S. L'Hommedien, Sacket Reynolds, William B. Stratton, E. D. Mansfield, and William D. Gallagher, of the Cincinnati Gazette; and S. S. Smith, of the Independent Press.

Of the five hundred and forty members enrolled, one-third have passed away ; three hundred and sixty survive, many of them aged and feeble. The kindest remembrances and cordial sympathies are extended to those unable to be present.

Six of the presidents of this association are numbered with the one hundred and eighty members dead, namely : William Perry, Nicholas Longworth, Colonel John Johnston (a pioneer Indian factor and agent, one of the noble in fidelity of public men), Stephen Wheeler, Samuel J. Browne, and Daniel Gano.

M. S. Cappelen

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Ten of our past presiding officers still survive,-the venerable John Whetstone, very feeble; William B. Dodson, blind for several years, Jacob Hoffner, Eden B. Reeder, John Ludlow, Robert Buchanan, Thomas Henry Yeatman, Joseph S. Ross, Rees E. Price, Judge D. K. Este.

The Hon. Stephen S. L'Hommedieu, who died thir- teen months thereafter (in May, 1875), was president of the association at this reunion. He was succeeded by the Hon. Edward D. Mansfield, who had for his associ- ate officers Isaac McFarland, vice president; Adolphus Carnes, treasurer; J. M. Clark, corresponding secretary ; John D. Caldwell, recording secretary; William Moody, sergeant-at-arms; executive committee, W. B. Dennis, J. K. Coolidge, Hiram DeCamp, J. M. Clark, H. M. Bates. The society has not manifested much vitality of late, and for some years almost ceased to hold reunions or other meetings. Its recording secretary, Mr. Caldwell, pub- lished in 1873-75 several numbers of an interesting and valuable periodical called the American Pioneer; but was not encouraged pecuniarily to continue it, and it presently ceased to exist.

January 23, 1858, Mr. Joseph Coppin, one of the old- est pioneers in the association, moved a resolution for a committee to confer with the trustees of Spring Grove cemetery, in order to secure a lot therein for the burial of members of the society. The result was the gift of a beautiful lot, oval in shape, its diameters being sixty and ninety feet, respectively, with a gravelled walk around it, and in plain view of Spring Grove avenue and the Cin- cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad. Here it is pro- posed to erect a pioneer monument, which has been de- signed by Mr. Coppin, with appropriate emblems and stat- ues thereon. The model for this monument was exhib- ited by Mr. Coppin at the industrial exposition of 1880. Its construction and erection await the raising of an ade- quate subscription and final adoption by the society.

The presidents of the society, of late years, have been David K. Este, Isaac McFarland, Jeremiah M. Clark, Nicholas Goshorn, Joseph Coppin, and James F. Cun- ningham (present incumbent.)

THE GERMAN PIONEER ASSOCIATION.

May 11 and 12, 1868, a notice appeared in the Cin- cinnati papers, calling for a meeting of the Germans at Geyer's assembly-room, to organize a pioneer society. The meeting was held May 12th, and an organization effected, with Dr. Joseph H. Pulte, founder of the medi- cal college bearing his name, for president; Joseph Sie- fert, vice-president ; Christopher von Leggern, secretary. The committee on constitution were Messrs. F. H. Rowekamp, Joseph A. Hermann, Dr. J. H. Pulte, Joseph Sie, Nicholas Pfau, and Nicholas Hoeffer. Their report was received and adopted May 26. A committee was appointed to nominate officers, upon whose report, June 2d, the nominees were elected: President, C. F. Hansel- mann; vice-president, Joseph Darr; secretary, F. X. Dengler; treasurer, George Klotter; executive commit- tee, General Augustus Moor, Nicholas Hoeffer, Joseph Sie, Nicholas Pfau, and John Geyer. About a year later the publication of Der Deutsch Pionier (the German Pio- necr) was begun; and twelve noble volumes of that

magazine are now in print. It is devoted to the history and biography of the German pioneers, not only in Cincinnati, but in all North America; and has been mainly under the editorial care of Herr H. A. Ratter- mann, the accomplished secretary of the German-Ameri- can insurance company, and one of the best local histo- rians in Cincinnati. The periodical is a financial as well as literary success, and the society is every way in good condition. It meets monthly, and observes the twenty- sixth day of May as the anniversary of its formation. Through its efforts much valuable matter relating to the Teutonic element in Cincinnati has been rescued from oblivion, and permanently preserved in the pages of the Pionier.

THE CINCINNATI HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

A meeting of persons interested in horticulture and kindred subjects was held at the house of Robert Bu- chanan, in Cincinnati, February 14, 1843, with reference to the formation of a society to promote these interests. There were present at this meeting Mr. Buchanan, Messrs. A. H. Ernst, M. Flagg, S. C. Parkhurst, J. B. Russell, Henry Probasco, George Graham, John Locke, V. C. Marshall, and Thomas Winter. Mr. Ernst was made chairman of the meeting, Mr. Russell secretary, and Messrs. Buchanan, Flagg and Russell a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws. The report of this committee, at a meeting shortly after, was accepted and adopted; and under it the following named gentlemen were elected officers or committeemen :

President, Robert Buchanan; first vice-president, Dr. Melzer Flagg; second vice-president, Andrew H. Ernst ; third vice-president, L. G. Brigham; treasurer, S. C. Parkhurst; corresponding secretary, John B. Russell; recording secretary, J. G. Anthony; council, Elisha Brigham, George Graham, George W. Neff, Jacob Hoff- ner, Thomas Winter, William Smith, John Sayers. Standing Committees: On the character of fruits, and their synonyms-Messrs. Ernst, Flagg, Smith, Sayers, and Stephen Mosher. On Flowers-Messrs. Buchanan, Hoffner, Gabriel Sleath and S. S. Jackson. Vegetables- Messrs. Neff, Russell, E. B. Reeder, Charles W. Elliott, and John Frazer. Entomology, as connected with in- sect depredations on fruit and shade trees-John P. Foote, J. A. Warder, Charles Cheney, Charles W. Elliot, E. J. Hooper, Daniel Gano, William Price, James H. Perkins, Dr. N. B. Shaler, and Messrs. Buchanan, Flagg, Anthony and Graham. A committee on library was afterwards added.

It will be seen from the composition of the commit- tees, by those who remember the several residences of these gentlemen at that time, that, while the society, in its name and the residence of those who held the orig- inal meeting, seemed to be local in its character, it com- prised, to some extent, the county of Hamilton in its scene of operations. This idea has since been embodied in various ways; so that the association, although still re- taining a local name, is to most intents and purposes a county society.

During the remainder of 1843, the year of organiza- tion, the new society met on Saturdays, with occasional

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

interruptions, in a lower room on Third street, between Vine and Walnut, once occupied as the post office. The interest in the organization continued and deepened; and a charter was presently (February 27, 1845) obtained from the general assembly, which named Messrs. Bu- chanan, Neff, Frazer, Samuel Medary, Parkhurst, Ewing, Governor Reuben Wood, Ernst, Flagg, S. S. Smith, Hoff- ner, Graham, Jackson, Sayers, Russell and Elliott, with their associates and successors, as corporators of the "Cincinnati Horticultural Society, for the purpose of en- couraging and improving the science and practice of horticulture and promoting the amelioration of the vari- ous species of trees, fruits, plants, and vegetables, and the introduction of new species and varieties, and for no other purpose whatever." The society was authorized to purchase and hold any property that might be suitable to its purposes ; and might use any of its real estate for a cemetery or for the erection of tombs or monuments.

Mr. Charles Cist, writing in 1851, says of the society :

The number of its members increased very fast, and a great interest in its objects was created. A correspondence was opened with distin- guished horticulturalists in different parts of the Union; new fruits were thus brought to light, and seeds and scions of superior varieties were exchanged and disseminated. The exhibitions of flowers in the spring, and of fruits, vegetables, and American wine in the autumn, were crowded with visitors, and a great impulse thus given to the cul- ture of fruits and flowers.

From this humble beginning it has prospered beyond the fondest an- ticipations of its most ardent friends, and now, in the eighth year, numbers ncar seven hundred members. Its receipts for the past year were over one thousand nine hundred dollars, and expenditures. near one thousand eight hundred dollars, about one thousand two hundred dollars being paid out in premiums for fruit and flowers, and horticul- tural designs and decorations.

That the society has been productive of much good, there can be no doubt; the great improvement in our fruit and flower market, which we notice every year, is the strongest evidence of its utility, while the growing taste for the beautiful and innocent pursuits of horticulture gives pleasing occupation and a delightful hobby to the leisure hours of many an amateur in our city and vicinity, affording at the same time an extensive and liberal market for the nurseryman and florist.

The semi-annual exhibitions of this society, particularly the autumnal, have been rich and varied, and highly creditable to our infant western institutions. Gentlemen from the east have acknowledged that our exhibitions compare favorably with the best of those across the moun- tains, and in many fruits even excel them.

Strong efforts are now being made to erect a horticultural hall upon so enlarged a scale and in a style which shall be a credit to the society and an ornament to the city; and from the liberal encouragement already met with, the object will, no doubt, be accomplished. Long may our citizens continue to cultivate a taste for those useful and en- nobling pursuits, so eminently calculated to mend the manners and improve the heart.

One interesting practical result of the society's opera- tions was early noticed in the improvement of the straw- berry, especially in size. Specimens of five to five and one-quarter inches in circumference were frequently ex- hibited by its members, and in one or two cases berries were shown that measured five and three-quarters.

Notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which the society was organized and maintained for a time, the interest in it finally fell off; and for about fifteen years it was com- paratively quiescent. Meetings were resumed in 1869, and the society was reorganized January 18, 1879. The standing committees are now but two-one on fruits, flowers, and vegetables, of seven members, and one on forestry, of three members. Membership is open

to any person, on payment of one dollar; but honorary and corresponding members are elected only from non- residents of Cincinnati, who are distinguished for their practical skill and attainments in horticulture. The officers for 1880 were: Dr. A. E. Heighway, president ; Stanley Hatch, vice-president; Frederick P. Wolcott, recording secretary and treasurer; Mortimer Whitehead, corresponding secretary ; Miss Lemmie Wolf, librarian; George W. Trowbridge, M. Whitehead, J. T. Harrison, council; G. W. Trowbridge, S. S. Jackson, S. Hatch, Francis Pentland, E. C. Ellis, W. T. Keller, Lewis Finch, fruit, flower, and vegetable committee; Dr. John A. Warder, Professor Leue, Hermann Haerlin, forestry committee.

The society has not yet built a horticultural hall of its own, but has one in hopeful prospect. Its meetings are held weekly, on Saturdays, in the office of the Grange Bulletin, No. 148 West Fourth street. A library of about five hundred volumes has been collected.

The Young Men's Gymnastic association was formed in the summer of 1853, by a number of members of Barrett's gymnasium, then on Third street, near Broad- way. They secured rooms in the Apollo building, on the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets, supplied them abundantly with apparatus, and awakened much enthu- siasm in the local public, especially among the boys and young men, in the success of their enterprise. Two years after organization a system of free bathing was in- troduced, and five years thereafter, in May, 1860, the society moved its gymnasium into better rooms in a new structure called the Commercial building, on the corner of Fourth and Race streets. The membership largely increased, and the depression of the war years, so fatal to many other societies, was safely passed by this associa- tion. Indeed, in 1864 subscriptions were obtained for nearly the entire amount necessary to erect a building purposely for the gymnasium. The plan was abandoned, however ; but disappointment was relieved a few years after by removal to the elegant edifice on Fourth street, between Vine and Race, called the Lawrence building, admirably suited for the purposes of the association. A satisfactory lease was negotiated, and in March, 1869, the rooms were opened with much eclat and a large in- crease in membership. There the society has since re- mained, constituting one of the notable institutions of the city.

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 58

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