USA > Ohio > Brown County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 1 > Part 35
USA > Ohio > Clermont County > History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, from the earliest historical times down to the present, V. 1 > Part 35
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Others, however, came back with other views. When but nineteen years old, Abraham Lincoln helped to guide a flat boat to New Orleans, and did the same again three years later. Six years later, or in 1837, Thomas Morris saw some trading wagons loaded with slave children in Washington, which so unnerved him that he was not able to do his part in Con- gress that day. But he became so nerved two years later that he made his famous prophecy in the Senate that the slave would yet go free. About the same time or a little sooner, Boerstler Huber named for his uncle, Captain Jacob Boerstler, killed at the battle of Brownstown. after learning to tan with · his father, Jacob, went on a flat boat to New Orleans, where he sought work at his trade, but was met with the answer, "No, I bought a tanner yesterday." Stung by the insult, "Boss" Huber, as he was appropriately called, came back to the tan yard at Williamsburg and assumed the position of General Passenger Agent of the Underground railroad by the Old Boone Trail to or rather from Xenia. For, after Ohio had be- come populous and the Blue Grass region of Kentucky had grown opulent in slaves who longed for freedom, the fugitives turned north and guided by the same stars that watched over Lytle, took his course to the unknown land of their hope. As sympathy met them and covered their course with a man- tle of charity, even as the epic goddess protected her Trojan son, popular fancy combined all hidden paths of light into one comprehensive idea and jocosely named it the "Underground railroad."
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How that road passed under or over or around or through the difficult barrier between slavery and freedom was a careful- ly shared secret. Anyone aiding a fugitive slave was liable to crushing legal penalties, and also much personal violence from the southern masters, who put such opponents in one class as the most pernicious of thieves. Still, to the honor of humanity, there were men for the need, who dared the risks with no possible reward but an approving conscience, at last the finest of all praise. That there were men of su- perior intelligence who told the shadow fearing men the way to safety is certain. But how the fleeing were taught to find passes here and there throughout the length of the Potomac and the Ohio is still left unrevealed. How friends were known and enemies avoided ; how safety was preserved and perils were shunned ; in short, how the precious directions of freedom were gained and kept sacred by the lowly in spite of all the leagued oppression, has no sufficient explanation. The fugitives and their friends both practiced silence and circumspection. The runaways fled from the Flag of the Free and went, eyes north, to what the white people about them called the Land of Tyranny beyond the lakes.
The lines of flight across the river front of Brown and Clermont apparently did not include the western side of Cler- mont, but the influence of the Fees and Sargents was felt in the southeastern part of Clermont, whence the travel by night was through or by Felicity, Bethel and Williamsburg, as straight northward as was safe either on the old Xenia road or by parallel paths. The eastern line went from Ripley by Red Oak and Russellville to Sardinia. The terminal of both lines was the Quaker association in Clinton, where safety was quite well assured. Over those two lines much valuable "property" escaped from the benevolent bondage of the Kentucky Blue Grass region. The promoters of such violations of "vested rights" were most heartily hated across the river as innovaters of immemorial, not rights, but wrongs. They were not only hated in Kentucky, where repeated rewards were offered for their capture dead or alive, but they suffered much obloquy at home. In the end, however, no one was more scorned and pitied than the "nigger hounds," the name given to those at home who joined in the pursuit of a fugitive or who gave in-
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formation against their neighbors in such relation. And, at last, it is safe to say that no memory has more respect in their sphere than is paid to those who worked on mercy's side. The most widely known was the Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, whose house on the hill above was a landmark for the fugi- tives far along the Kentucky shore and served also as a land- mark in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to guide the flight of "Eliza." Rankin's nine sons were conductors on the "Underground." He himself was mobbed for daring to question the rights of slavery at Winchester, by an invasion of the room where he was speaking. He was also egged at Williamsburg, after a speech at the first brick school house. It should be told as a mark of a great change that his assailant died of disease in the Union army. James Gilliland, Jesse Lockhart and Robert B. Dobbins, pastors of the Presbyterian churches respectively at Red Oak, Russellville and Sardinia, Dr. Bearce, at Decatur, and Dr. Wm. Beck, of Sardinia, were all actively philanthropic in their influence. The Rev. John B. Mahan was abducted to Mason county, Kentucky, on the charge of aiding the escape of slaves, although he had never been in that State. That trial was one of the arrogant acts of the slave power that angered the north for the utter destruction of slavery. Ex U S. Sen- ator Dr. Alexander Campbell was also a most determined op- ponent.
When caution required, the "passengers" were changed from one line to another, for the "agents" of both were in full accord. Robert E. Fee at Moscow, was one of the most alert of the "Directors." A light from one of his windows shone all of every night as a beacon to those wandering on the Kentucky hills. His doors were barred, and his family, girls and all, slept with loaded firearms in ready reach. His house was surrounded again and again by violent slave hunters. But with him as with all others near the river, policy required that no runaways should be found on the premises. Every arrival was hurried back into the interior as far as Bethel, if possible, where a strong resistance could be made. At Bethel the con- ductors were Isaac H. Brown, Benjamin Rice, Richard Mace and the Rileys, with an obscure but safe hiding place with the Vanosdols looking upon a retreat to the Elklick Hills. Of all, none was bolder or more aggressive than "Boss"
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Huber. A guess at the number of fugitives "entertained" has no reliable base. A truthful man told me after the war that he had helped Huber to take food to seventeen at one time who had come in on both lines and had been detained by a storm. Another stated, in a very conservative form, that Huber had forwarded not less but many more than three hundred fugi- tives. His "engineer" or wagon master was Mark Sims, a mu- latto, who was killed in full U. S. uniform at the battle of Sail- or's Creek, Virginia. After Huber's death, the burden of the management fell upon Dr. L. T. Pease, for some five or six years. The last excursion over the road, and the only one seen by myself, was in the summer of 1860, when four stalwart young men went north armed with fine double-barreled shot guns, taken on account from their masters for several years' otherwise unrequitted toil. The transaction seemed fair and ju- dicious then, and it seems now that they were smelling the battle, not so far off.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
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OTHER FORMS OF SOCIAL EXPANSION.
The Early Days of Masonry in Old Clermont-Clermont So- cial Lodge No. 29, Free and Accepted Masons-The First Fraternal Organization between the Little Miami and the Scioto-The Lodge now Ranks as No. 9 in all Fraternity North and West of the Ohio-"Refreshments"-The First Two-Story Hall and the First Brick School House Between Cincinnati and Chillicothe-Other . Lodges-Early Schools Depended Upon Individual Effort-Subscription Schools- Select Schools - Academies - Seminaries - Presbyterian Schools-The Quail Trap Academy-Union Schools- Teachers' Institutes-Clermont's Share in the Institution of Graduation from the Common Schools-General Lytle's Donation of the Origin of St. Martin's-The Catholic Church-Organization of New Townships-The Founding of Towns-Steam Boats-Stage Lines-Wagon Trains on the Pikes-Droves-Practical Emancipation not Popular- The Early Case.
The people thus advancing in spiritual, material, financial and moral ways were also undertaking a special form of social progress. First allotted by others, and then carried to fuller treatment as a self-imposed task, and whether worth the while or not, that social progress has been the subject of much earn- est investigation on my part. The topic was first assigned as a contribution to Rockey and Bancroft's History of Clermont County. Twenty-five years later a request for an anniversary address was answered by what was published in the Clermont Sun in May and June, 1905, under the title of "The Early Days of Masonry in Old Clermont." At first thought, such a title may appear a narrow and even bigoted view of what is now a broad condition. But when the reader reflects that this in- cluded all that was known or practiced in fraternal ways by the first and second generations of Brown and Clermont, the facts will widen for the construction of what has followed.
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Then at the behest of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Ohio, a history of one of its most ancient Lodges was undertaken, which, after many months, grew into a volume too large for any satisfactory condensation for these pages. That volume contains sketches and memoranda of quite five hundred people, from Milford to Ripley, in which the most notice is appropri- ately given to those of the most remote times. This indexed work, though unpublished, through a semi-public quality must eventually have some archaelogic interest; and this mention will at least place its existence on record. For the book is kept by the Lodge in a fireproof vault, and is likely to sur- vive many inundations and conflagrations.
It must suffice, then, to say that in all the vast space be- tween the Little Miami and the Scioto the beginning of fra- ternal societies was planted in the county seat of Old Clermont in the old stone court house on Thursday, June 1, 1815, by the institution of Clermont Social Lodge, No. 29, Free and Accept- ed Masons. Although the original number, 29, is still retained, through the changes of almost a hundred years, this old Lodge, in point of continuous operation, has reached the rank of No. 9, in all that is north and west of the Ohio river. The Lodge was organized by Amos Haines, Master; William Waters, Senior Warden; Obadiah Smith, Junior Warden; George Ely, Senior Deacon; Robert Haines, Junior Deacon ; Jacob Huber, Secretary, and Thomas S. Foote, Treasurer. The first appli- cant for membership was Colonel Mills Stephenson of Ripley. In four years the roll was adorned with sixty names; and in all the county, another sixty men more superior could not have been found.
The meetings were held in the jury room, or second floor of the court house. Tradition and record both declare that the spirit was in full accord with the name-Social Lodge. "When met after long rides over the lonesome trails, the hours were happier after hunger was appeased. Few regular meetings, or any other kind, happened in the old jury room without 're- freshments,' simple as cakes with a cup-o'-kindness; and, from the charges rendered, often more extensive-rude per- haps, but always a plenty. Jerked venison was even cheaper , than beef dried by the big chimneys that imparted a flavor unknown in the days of 'smoke paint.' A wild turkey was
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sometimes found on-the way and brought to the tavern ovens by those who came to court and 'stayed over.' Genuine country cured ham was always obtainable.
"The beverage, generally, was some water and enough whisky. The water is mentioned with economy, because it came from a long hidden well near the northeast corner of the court house, that may some day be rediscovered, and, in the rarity of such purity, may have its sparkling treasure sold in sanitary bottles at a greater price than was paid for the spirits that flavored the punch sweetened with maple sugar and sprinkled with spices. Or, some other times, the compound was a creamy milk, mixed with beaten eggs and thickening rum made seductive with tree sugar, the most delicious of all re- galing sweets. It is idle to deny or ignore that such things were. It was the custom of that time. Pleasure lulled wisdom into silence; but, after awhile, the discerning sensed the dan- ger, and seeing that their liberty was a stumbling block to the weak, they resolutely resolved to refrain from what made their brothers to offend. This became manifest in frequent mo- tions to dispense with refreshments for the occasion; and finally it was resolved that henceforth no beverage but water should be brought into the Lodge. And thus, so far as found, Clermont Social Lodge became the first abstaining society in Brown and Clermont counties. But the name of Social con- tinues and should last as long as the blood in the heart and the sap in the tree retain their energy."
Delighted with prosperity they resolved to have a home. . That resolution resulted in a two-story brick building oddly located on an alley at the east or back of In Lot No. 265, that once held Adam Snider's home. The building was the combined enterprise of the Masonic fraternity and a popular subscription for a school house.
The first floor was for the school and the upper room for the Masonic Hall, which was "consecrated" by "Brother Rev. William Burke," Monday, December 27, 1819. About the same date the school left the log room made notable by William B. Christie, and the people at the county seat rejoiced in the pos- session of the first brick school house between Cincinnati and Chillicothe, and also the first brick hall. But such success in- spired emulation. One year later, Lodge No. 54 was organ-
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ized at Milford, and in another year Lodge No. 61 was organ- ized at Bethel. These were followed in the next year, 1822 by No. 71; and No. 72 at Ripley and Georgetown. And thus, · Free Masonry, as the model, was established where the Lodges, Chapters, Camps and Councils of many orders have prospered with much harmony and in large degree.
The school below the first Masonic Hall, and in fact, the first hall of any sort except the court house, was a "subscrip- tion school." There was no other kind until the State gave some aid in 1826. In some five years from that start, public opinion had so advanced that women could be employed as teachers receiving public money for pay. With the schools of our time, so largely taught by women, people are slow to be- lieve that the condition has such recent origin. Yet, our boast- ful public schools have grown almost within memory. The fos- tering legislation seemed slow to gain, but in the end, the total has far exceeded the utmost expectation at the beginning. While more general advantage was slowly coming, the schools were a question of individual effort. The teaching was rudi- mentary and little of that. The log school house was replaced with frame and brick structures as the villages gained import- ance, but the oldest type was to be seen on the country roads after the Mexican war, and a few lasted into the dates of the Civil War. The impulse to build larger has resulted in our present convenience through gradual changes. The meth- ods of instruction have also changed to conform to plans that promise the greatest benefit to the largest number. Still there are a few that kindly remember the more personal teaching that prevailed in the "Select Schools," the "Latin Schools," the Academies," and the "Seminaries," that lived wherever an impressive, earnest and generally competent person could gather a class and find a vacant room. The most noted of these for long continuance, large attendance and excellent instruc- tion was founded at Clermontville in 1839 by Rev. Daniel Parker and wife, and continued by their lovable and accom- plished son, Professor James K. Parker, and his wife, until closed on account of their age, in 1892. The story of that fine institution includes names that have become a part of our na- tional history, but nothing in the relation would be more per- suasive of its merit than the deep and abiding respect that
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those worthy teachers have in the memory of their students. The Rev. John Rankin long conducted a most notable school at Ripley, on what was then deemed very radical plans. The - Latin School, under Rev. James Gilliland, has been noted on another page. The Presbyterian preachers of that time were generally expected to furnish instruction, as well as doctrine. At one time, Rev. Ludwell Gaines, in a log house that was popularly known as "The Quail Trap Academy," in Goshen township, taught a class of seventeen young men, who each and all reached fine legal, medical and clerical distinction. That instruction was not accidental, but continued through several terms. For several years after 1849, Rev. Luke Ains- worth Spofford, aided by his daughter Lizzie, taught one of those "Presbyterian Schools" in Williamsburg, of which the quality may be judged from the fact that one of his sons be- came a supreme judge of Tennessee, another a United States Senator from Louisiana, and another was the world famous Ainsworth Spofford, Librarian of the Congressional Library. But all that class of schools was gradually but surely set aside by the State on February 21, 1849, by the act known as the Akron Law, which instituted the "Union Schools," that with slight change of legislation have passed into the "High Schools" of today.
The school room in the first Masonic Hall at Williamsburg was the scene of the early school life of the famous Professor David Swing, whence he went to a college course at Oxford that fitted him for a distinguished part in liberal movements Although not understood then, as seen now, the time was ripe for more method in educational affairs. The chief direction of the movement fell to the teachers, of whom some met in 1848 in the home of Dr. A. V. Hopkins at Amelia. After several not quite successful attempts, the first real Institute was held on April 10, 1850, at Bantam. The names of those who brought about this happy meeting form a list of singular merit. They were Professor and Mrs. J. K. Parker, of Clermont Academy ; John Hancock, later State School Commissioner; Henry V. Kerr, later State Librarian; George P. Jenkins, then conduct- ing May Seminary at Bantam and, later, president of Moores College ; Charles Robb, the Poet ; L. French, J. C. Morris, John Ferguson, Ira McCollum, C. W. Page, Harris Smethurst,
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Miss Carrie Dudley, Miss Mary E. Bannister, and Miss Fair- field, all exceptionally successful teachers, who not only put their work in high favor at home, but also furnished an exam- ple for the teachers in Brown, that has had similar felicity.
To my mind, the proudest day in the history of the Cler- mont County Teachers' Institute and of the Clermont County Board of School Examiners, all combined in harmonious action, yet reached and not likely to be exceeded, was attained on Saturday, June 4, 1892, when the as yet experimental scheme of graduation from the Common Schools was forever settled by the example of Clermont county, which on that day gave a well earned diploma to each of one hundred seventy-four pu- pils who had been encouraged to strive for the reward. It is to be hoped that no one will grudge the place in this history to record that those diplomas were given from my hand with a deep and abiding conviction that the ceremony was the logi- cal, but long needed completion of the scheme of public in- struction, from the first step to the kindergarten, to the last day in the university. And all the pride cherished in the per- formance was brightened, when reports confirmed that Cler- mont county alone had furnished quite one-seventh of the pu- pils graduated in all Ohio, on that crucial day. The story of that Revolution in Clermont was told and commented upon in the educational journals of the time and talked of as a new departure. Now, twenty years later, the plan is all but uni- versally approved and adopted.
While the social qualities of fraternal organizations were coming into action, the moral influence of the Catholic faith appeared upon the scene. And that appearance was due to the ever recurring interposition of General William Lytle, in the affairs of Old Clermont. Those for the first time learning his share in early events of lasting importance to the region, may question the choice of incidents or be disposed to think that his work has been unduly magnified. The narration of events should include their reason as well as their effects. While liv- ing in Cincinnati with the high esteem of all, Lytle met his neighbors with open hands for every call that promised a bet- ter citizenship. His gifts abroad do not belong to this work, except that in 1823, he deeded a tract of two hundred acres of land to the authorities of the Catholic Church in Cincinnati
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for educational purposes. That tract of great natural beauty is now the site of the widely admired institution known as St. Martin's in Brown county. How St. Martin's came to be the chosen home of the Ursuline Convent, how a seminary had prospered and ceased, how the present magnificent academy for girls and young women has grown in beauty and reputation is far too long a story for this page. It is all better told in descriptions of the institution that can be had for the asking. For those of the faith, much is learned from the fact that Arch- bishop Purcell chose the place for his peaceful age. St. Aloysius' Academy for small boys is also a part of a general educational plan. Around this educational center is a popu- lation in a sympathy that sustains several churches and the in- . fluence extends to various churches in both Brown and Cler- mont. While admiring the scenic effects, one cannot refrain from wondering at the results wrought from the generosity of the man who brought the locality into such wonderful prominence.
Every sub-division of the ancient domain, whether for towns or townships, is significant of the increasing demands of the civilization that was subjecting the forest to the plow. Hunt- ington, Byrd and Eagle townships, with much larger limits than now had been taken from Adams to give ample form to the much larger part taken from Old Clermont for the crea- tion of Brown county. But the demand for a more restricted local government came first in Clermont, where the new town- ships organized were: Franklin, May 5, 1818; Wayne, March 15, 1819, and Goshen on the next day. Then the new author- ities of Brown granted the townships of Franklin and Wash- ington on December 2, 1822, and the townships of Jackson and Pike in June, 1823, and Sterling in 1824. Monroe was in- stituted June 9, 1825. Then Scott followed in 1828. and Jack- son in Clermont, June 3, 1834, and Green. December 2, 1834. The last township laid in Clermont was Pierce, on December 8, 1852, and the finish in Brown was made in June. 1853. by the formation of Jefferson. Each of the modern townships was formed from some of the adjoining and sometimes pro- testing older organizations. But the custom of sixty years has reconciled all difference of opinion about conditions that prom- ise to last always.
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Few rural sections remote from over mastering municipal control have a better convenience of village and hamlet centers that have grown according to the needs of the country around. No other places in the region have the quality of adventure that pertains to young Lytle's determination to fix a place for settlers, rather than trust settlers to fix a place for him. And no other settlement was undertaken in the lofty spirit that brought Obed Denham to Bethel. Elsewhere, with few ex- ceptions, the paper towns were seemingly commercial plans that often went "aglee." After Williamsburg and Bethel, and within the limits of Brown county, the next town was De- catur, in 1802, intended to profit by the travel between Mays- · ville and Chillicothe, but the travel failed, and Decatur or "St. Clairsville," as it was first named, languished. The fine water power and ford at Broad Ripple induced the platting of Milford in 1806, but it was nothing but a milling station, until the State bridge and the turnpikes and then the railroad and then the traction lines brought the supremacy that, after a hundred years, now seems assured. A hope was seen for a town at Neville as far back as 1808, that a hundred years have not redeemed. Farther east, White Haven was laid out in a double sense in 1804. to be succeeded a dozen years later by Higginsport. The stir of the War of '12 seems to have incited a general desire for towns. Neville was revived in 1812, and Point Pleasant was announced, and Ripley took form. New Richmond was projected in 1814, and "Beautiful Allisonia," a year later. 1816 was the beginning of Aberdeen, Moscow, Chilo, and Goshen. Russellville and Felicity were started in 1817, Palestine in 1818, and Georgetown in 1819. Woodville was considered in 1828, Sardinia in 1833, Carlisle in 1834, Bos- ton in 1836, Arnheim and Edenton in 1837, with Newtonville and Hamersville in 1838. In 1850. Mt. Orab began to be men- tioned, and Paxton's was changed to Loveland. Amelia, With- amsville, Mt. Carmel and Fayetteville grew without a date, and most of the smaller places also had the same tranquil lot. The history of these towns has been detailed for other pages by actual residents, and from the talk of the actual, but no longer active pioneers. It is futile to search for more.
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