History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 6

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families > Part 6

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"By the same act (January 30, 1815), section 4, it was provided that three square miles and eighteen acres of the county of Highland should be and the same were attached to the county of Clinton: 'Beginning where the line run by the surveyor of Ross, as described in the foregoing section, crosses the East fork of the Little Miami river, and extending down the suid Fast fork until a line due west to the line of the county of Clermont, between the counties of Clermont and Highland, will include in the county of Clinton three square miles and eighteen acres of land, as aforesaid'; and the same was directed to be surveyed and laid off by the surveyor of Ross county, in the same way prescribed by the second section of the act to attach part of Highland county to the county of Clinton (February 4, 1813).

"In the month of October, 1817, Moses Collier, surveyor of Greene county, made a survey of the three square miles and eighteen acres of land off from the county of Highland to become a part of the county of Clinton; since which time this three square miles and eighteen acres of land have been a part of the territory of the county of Clinton, and the county Invested with her constitutional number of square miles.

"A meeting of the commissioners of Clinton county; present Joseph Doan, Mahlon Haworth and Samuel Ruble, commissioners; date, June 4, 1817, allowance No. 53: 'Walter Dillon, for conveying notice to the surveyor of Greene county to run off eleven miles from the county of Warren, and three square miles and eighteen acres from the county of Highland to become a part of the county of Clinton, agreeably to an act entitled, "An act to attach part of the county of Butler to the county of Warren, and for other pur- poses." and an act amendatory of sald act. Order issued, forty-two dollars and twenty- five centa.'

"Meeting of commissioners, October 21, 1817: present Joseph Doan and Samuel Ruble, commissioners. The commissioners proceeded to adjust demands against the county and allowed voucher No. 96. 'No. 96, Moses Collier, surveyor of Greene county, for making survey of three square miles and eighteen acres from the county of Highland to become part of Clinton; nine days at two dollars, and two chainmen and one axman eight days at one dollar, and justices' certificate, twenty-five cents. Allowed. Order issued, forty-two dollars and twenty-five cents.'

"Act of February 19, 1810, section 2, contains this provision, that 'after March 1 next (1810), said county shall be vested with all privileges and ammunities (immunities) of a separate and distinct township: Provided, that the sheriff's, coroners, constables, collectors, and all other township officers in the county aforesaid shall continue to per- form their respective duties as prescribed by law. within the said county of Clinton, before snid division ; and sults of law which were or may be pending at the time of said division shall be adjusted in the same manner as if the division had not taken place.'

CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

"Section 3 required tbe legal voters residing in Clinton county to assemble on the first Monday in March next ensuing, in their respective townsbips, and elect their several county officers, who should hold their offices until the next annual meeting.

"Section 4. By this section the place of holding the courts of the county was estab- lished at the house of Jesse Hughes, two miles southeast of Wilmington, until a per- manent seat of justice should be established In sald county as directed by law. And this act was made to take effect and to be in force from and after March 1, 1810."

LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.

Still quoting from the manuscript of the Inte Judge R. B. Harlan :

"Clinton county having been established, it became necessary to select a county sent or place for holding the courts of the county. By the act of March 28. 1803, It was provided that, 'For each new county established during the present or any future session of the Legislature, three commissioners shall be appointed by resolution of both houses of the Legislature, whose duty it shall be to examine and determine what part of said county so established is the most eligible for holding the several courts within the county ; and that it shall be the duty of the secretary of state to notify the persons of their several appointments."

"['pon the passage of the act creating the county of Clinton, both branches of the Legislature, by a joint resolution, appointed three commissioners to examine and deter- milne what part of said county was most eligible for the sent of justice. One of these commissioners was John Polloack, several times elected to the House of Representatives from Clermont county and speaker for the same body for the sessions of 1812-13, 1813-14, 1814-15; Mr. Stewart, either of Ross or Pickaway county, is supposed to have been a second. Who the third was, the writer of these notes has not the means of knowing.

"These commissioners, having been notified by the secretary of state, proceeded, as required by the statute, to give twenty days' notice to the inhabitants of the new county of the time, place and purport of their meeting, in the county, and, having taken the oath required by the statute in such cases, proceeded to examine and selected the most proper place, in their opinion, for the said sent of justice, as near the center of the county as possible, paying regard to the situation, extent of population, and quality of land. together with the general convenience and Interest of the inhabitants of the county. The examination resulted In the selection of the present county seat, and the report thereof was made to the court of common pleas next holden In and for the county.

"This was an extra session of the court for the transaction of official business, held at the house of Jesse Hughes, Sr. Present, Peter Burr, Jesse Hughes and Thomas Hink- son ; Warren Sabin, clerk pro tem. This report of the commissioners was filled in the court, May 16, 1810, and was opened, as shown by the minutes of the court.

"On its appearing that no town had been previously laid out at the place agreed upon, it became the duty of the court. under the law. to appoint a director whose duty it was, after giving surety for the faithful performance of his work, to purchase the land for the use and behoof of the county, to lay it off into lots, streets and alleys, under the regulations as prescribed by the court, to dispose of the lots either at private or public sale as the court might think proper. and to make conveyances for the mme in fee simple to the purchaser. The person selected for this office of director was James MeManis, a resident of the neighborhood in which Clarksville has since been Inid out. He was a brother of George MeManis, one of the first three county commissioners, who, soon after, on the resignation of Peter Burr, one of the associate Judges, was appointed to fill the vacancy.

"It is believed that no offers to donate land, goods or money were made to the commissioners for the use of the county on condition that a different site for the county seat would be selected from the one proposed. Indeed. if there was any compe-

CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

tition, or any sharp or excited controversy about the location of the county seat, no record or tradition of it has been preserved. Two concurrent offers to donate land for the use of the county were made the commissioners on the condition that the county seat be established on the site selected, namely, sixty acres, one lot of fifty acres, by David Faulkner, and another of ten acres by Joseph Doan. Both offers were accepted. The lands thus offered lay partly in David Faulkner's tract of three hundred and fifty acres, and partly in Joseph Doan's tract of three hundred and fifty-seven acres-tracts which lay side by side, and were parts of General Posey's survey, No. 1,057.

"But the question in regard to the county seat was not settled. There was still existing an unpleasant uncertainty in regard to it. It appears quite plain that the donors of the land sought to be acquired, and those having charge of the location of the county seat, bad met with some cause for discouragement. It might have been about the character of the conveyances to be made, as, for example, whether upon some contingency occurring in future, the land should or should not revert back to the donors or their heirs. Be this as it may, on June 20, the court ordered that 'except David Faulkner and Joseph Doan come forward and make a good and sufficient title in fee simple for their respective donations, within fifteen days, then and in that case the court order the director to proceed to give notice to the commissioners to select the next most eligible place for the seat of justice for the aforesaid county.' What effect this order had, if any, cannot be ascertained, after such a lapse of time, with much certainty. But this much is shown by the minutes of the court for the next day suc- ceeding the one on which this order was made: 'Deed executed by David Faulkner to the director of the county, agreeably 'to law' (June 21, 1810). Joseph Doan had previously, on the 7th of June, conveyed the title of his donation to the county.

"At a term of the court of common pleas, on June 21, 1810, present Jesse Hughes. Thomas Hinkson and George McMfanis, associate judges, and Warren Sabin, clerk pro tem., the court ordered that the director proceed to lay out the town for the county seat, and, after advertising the sale in the Chillicothe and Lebanon newspapers so long as he might think necessary, to sell every odd-numbered lot at a credit, one-third in six, one-third in twelve and one-third In eighteen months, by the purchaser giving bond with approved security.

"Accordingly, Mr. McManis proceeded to lay out the town, and, by August 2, 1810. had ready a plat representing the lots regularly numbered and the streets properly named, and, on the 5th and 7th of the same month, one-half of the lots were sold to the highest bidders for the same. The sale was largely attended and competition ran bigh. The name given the town on the official plat was Clinton, from Gen. George Clinton, of New York, for whom the county had been named. The deeds of these lots frequently, If not generally, bore date early in September. The first deed was dated September 3. The highest price paid for any lot was one hundred dollars, for No. 71, extending from Main street north to the alley, with the right of the lot on the east side of South street. bought by William Ferguson. The lowest price paid was for lot No. 82. on Sugartree street, now owned by the railroad company. It was sold to Isaiah Morris on time for four dollars and twelve and one-half cents. No. 57, next to the court house on the west, was sold for sixty dollars. John Cox bought lot No. 59. the old hotel property of Warren Sabin, where James Henry's grocery store now is, for eighty-four dollars. The Buckeye property was sold to Mahlos Haworth for sixty dollars. The corner lot on which William Hibben so long resided was bought for thirty-six dol- lars. The lot on the southeast corner of South and Locust streets (lot No. 69) was bought by Jesse and David Hughes. William Polk bought lot No. 17, dated September 3. for six dollars: Absalom Haworth, lot No. 179. South street, dated September 3, 1810; Joseph Doan, lot No. 28. for thirty-five dollars, dated December 5. 1810; William Hobson, lots Nos. 6 and 11. August 7. 1810.

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CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

"On September 10, 1810, the court ordered the name of the town to be changed from 'Clinton' to 'Armenia.' On December 31, the name was again changed by the court on request of the donors. to Mount Pleasant (the name is written Mount Ver- non, but the name is marked out with a pen and 'Pleasant' written after it). But this last name was not more satisfactory than the others had been, and, on February 10, 1811, the court of common pleas, which had charge of the matter, made an order that the county seat be called Wilmington, from citles of the name in Delaware and North Carolina, from which states emigrants had come to this locality, and that the name be not again altered without legislative act."

ERECTION OF TOWNSHIPS AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT SUBDIVISIONS.

The first division of Clinton county into townships occurred at a meeting of the commissioners of the county held on April 6, 1810. At this meeting were present George McManis, James Birdsall and Henry Babb, commissioners. It was "Ordered, that all that part of Clinton county east of the old boundary line of Warren county shall be one township known by the name of Richland; and all that part of said Clinton county that is within the old boundary line of Warren and north of Lytle's creek, and from the mouth of said creek west to the boundary line of Clinton county, shall be known by the name of Chester township; and all that part of the aforesaid county that les south of Lytle's creek and south of the south boundary line of Chester and west of Richland. shall be set off as a separate township known by the name of Vernon."

Two additional townships. Union and Green, were created on August 21. 1813. and the first election for township officers in each was held on the second Tuesday in October following. Clark township was formed from Green and Vernon on July 14. 1817. and Liberty township was erected on the same date. The remaining townships of the county were organized at the following dates: Marion. August. 1830; Washing- ton, June, 1835; Wayne, March, 1837; Jefferson, March, 1839; Adams, May. 1849; Wilson, August, 1850.

COURT HOUSES.

In 1812 the people of Clinton county consented to be taxed for the purpose of erecting a court house. The commissioners at this time were Mahlon Haworth, Joseph Doan and Henry Babb.

Again quoting from the notes of the Inte Judge R. R. Harlan, it is found that the court house was "to be bullt of brick on a stone foundation, Nunk in the ground one foot and rising above the ground one foot ; to be forty feet square outside of the wall; to be two stories high: the lower floor to be laid part with brick and part with Inch plank, well seasoned, jointed, planed and grooved. The ground story to be fifteen feet high, and the wall eighteen inches thick ; the second story to be ten feet high, with walls thirteen and a half inches thick. Cornice to be of brick ; to have two chimneys In the upper story. both built in the north end, two and a half feet In the back. To have two doors, one fronting each street, four feet wide: nine windows, each of twenty-four lights, one of which was to be placed above the judge's bench; eight windows aluwe, each of twenty-four lights; all the windows to be filled with glass eight by ten. To have a cupola ten feet square nul seventeen feet high above the roof of the house, with a square roof, a spire, weather-boarded, the boards to be planed and painted white. the roof painted brown. The doors to be paneled doors. The building to be made of good mate- rials and in a workmanlike manter, and to be completed in two years from the date of sutle. The payments to be two hundred and fifty dollars in advance: one-fourth of the residue in six months, one-fourth in twelve months, one-fourth in eighteen months, and one-fourth in two years from the date of sale.

"'Jacob Hale bid one thousand, seven hundred and forty-two dollars, and, no person building lower, the building of the court house was publicly cried off and sold to the

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CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

said Jacob Hale for the sum as aforesaid bid. This was Friday, March 27. 1812, according to the record. The commissioners bad held a consultation on the 18th of February preceding, and then determined to build a court house forty feet square and two stories high. And thereupon the said Jacob Hale, together with James Birdsall and Samuel Cox, who are approved by the commissioners as sureties, executed bond for the performance of the building aforesaid.'

"On March 5, 1816, the commissioners entered into an agreement with Henry Vanderburgh for performing certain work on the court house. 'that is to say, to make Venetian blinds for the cupola of the court house, which is to be done in a workmanlike mauner; one to be hung with hinges, the others nailed fast-all to be painted green ; the work to be finished in a good and substantial and workmanlike manner. The sald Henry Vanderburgh to furnish all materials and finish the same against the fifth day of May, next." The price for the work and material was fixed at twenty-eight dollars, part to be paid in advance, and the residue on the completion of the work."

This building did service for twenty-six years. At the March, 1837, session of the county commissioners, the auditor was directed to have published in the Democrat and Herald a notice that "Sealed proposals will be received on or before twelve o'clock of the first Monday of April next, for delivering one hundred thousand or more good merchant- able brick in the kiln within half a mlle of the center stone of the town of Wilmington, on or before the first day of November next." At an extra session in April following, Elisha Doan offered to "burn one hundred and fifty thousand good merchantable brick," etc., at four dollars and twenty-five cents per thousand, and his proposn! was accepted and a sum of money paid him in advance. John and Joshua Haynes hauled stone from the quarry for the foundations of the new building in December, 1837. Doan's kiln of brick was not ready at the time specified and he was given further time. On the Ond of January, 1838, it was examined by a man appointed for that purpose, and as they found the brick to be not merchantable. the commissioners rejected them. compelled Doan to pay back the one hundred dollars he had been advanced, besides some contingent expenses, and canceled the contract with him.

Plans for the new court house were received and accepted January 13, 1838. It was drawn by John B. Posey, a member of the board. Notice for sealed proposals for doing the brick and carpenter work on the new building was ordered published in the Democrat and Herald, and on the 12th of February, 1838, they were opened and read. The contract for the carpenter and joiner work, and all except brick and mason's work, was awarded to Jobn Bush for eleven thousand dollars; that for the brick and mason work and plastering to Thomas and Alfred Shockley and William and Joshun Noble for eleven thousand one hundred and forty six dollars. John B. Posey was appointed super- Intendent of construction of the new building, and on the 7th of March. 1838, the old court house was sold to George Fallis and John B. Posey for two hundred and forty dollars. On May 17, 1438. the commissioners met and "proceeded to lay off the founda- tion of the new court house, and agreed to enlarge sald building five feet In width, making said building fifty feet wide." The new structure was painted by Samuel Peple. The Anal settlement with the brick and mason work contractors was made December 24, 1839, and that with J. H. Bush, carpenter work, etc., March 3, 1840. The offices in the new building were occupied in December. 1539. Some changes were made In the original plan of the building, owing to the inability of the contractors to get a portion of the materials in time, and this made the cost something less than it would have been other- wise. Additional expenses were incurred for numerous other items, and the total cost of the building, with outside wall (or fence), stone steps on south side, etc., was in the neighborhood of twenty-two thousand dollars. This building is still in use. The front is to the east, on South street, where is a portico supported by heavy columns. A bell weighing five hundred pounds, purchased at Cincinnati. of G. W. Coffin, for one hundred

CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

and fifty dollars, was placed on the court house in May, 1846. The bullding has been in use for seventy-six years.

JAIL8.

At the sixth meeting of the county commissioners, held on September 22, 1810, the following plan for a county jail was presented, accepted and recorded: "Twenty by eighteen feet; a wall of good stone two feet thick, sunk two feet below the surface of the earth; the first floor one foot thick of hewed joint timber, to extend with the extremity of the above named wall; the first story to be nine feet high from the first floor, of a wall of hewed timber, two thicknesses of nine inches euch, thicknesses laid close-a space of six inches wide between the aforesaid thicknesses, on each side and end of the first story, to be filled completely with stone to average one foot square each in the aforesaid first story taken up, the first wall dove-talled at each corner, and the inside wall taken up, half dove-tailed at each corner, and laid close. Four windows in the aforesaid first story, one foot square each; one bar of iron, two inches one way and one Inch the other, let sufficiently into the wood, placed in each light, crossed with another bar of Iron one inch square, running through the upright bar. The second floor, of timber, one foot thick, hewed and jointed close, extending with the outside wall of the first story ; a door in the center of the last named floor, three by two feet, the shutter two inches thick, of white oak planks one inch thick, spiked strongly together, and hung with iron hinges one inch in diameter each; three straps of iron on each side of the shutter, one inch and a half wide and a quarter of an inch thick, extending with the extremity of the first story, taken up, dove-tailed on each corner, and laid close; a suffi- cient number of joined, eight by four inches; the third floor, of one and one-half inch plank, spiked strongly to the joint and jointed close; a pertition (partition) of two-inch plank in the second story, running crossways of the building, sufficiently secure; a suffi- cient door in said partition wall, with a common prison lock thereon; a good and suff- cient joint shingle roof, and the gable end sufficiently weatherboarded; three nine-inch light windows in the second story, each secured with three bars of Iron, each bar half an inch one way, and an inch and a half the other, crossed with three bars of iron to each light, three-fourths of an inch square. A common size door in the second story. sufficiently cased and hung, and a common prison lock thereon; a sufficient set of steps leading from the ground to a platform three feet square at the above named door, the platform and steps sufficiently hand-ralled. All to be completed in a masterly and workmanlike manner."

The record of the same day says: "Solomon Stanbury (also spelled Stanbrough on the records), undertakes the building of the aforesaid jail at the price of six hundred dollars. Enters Joseph Doan for security. Allowed fifty dollars advance. The work to be completed nine months from the above date, namely, 22d of September, 1810."

This jail stood on the east end of the lot occupied by the present jail building. Before the close of the War of 1812, a man by the name of Spencer, while confined in it for violation of the civil Inw, fighting and other misdemeanors, set fire to it, burst the lock and escaped, and let the building burn.

Nothing further is found on the commissioners' records concerning a jail until January 29, 1819, when, at a special meeting, the commissioners devised plans for a temporary jail building. On February 5, 1819, the contract for erecting the building was awarded to William Butler. The late Dr. A. Jones gives the following description of this jail : "In the construction of the new jail-house he (Butler) used unbewn and round beech logs, from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter, notched in so as to fit tightly, and so arranged that a crow-bar could not enter between them. The house had two high windows so provided that It was impossible to enter them from the outside. The building had two strong doors-one on the inside and one on the outside. The upper and lower floors were made of beech logs, fitted tightly. The floor was covered with two-

CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO.

inch oak plank, and the under side of the upper floor with the like quality of oak plank, well spiked on. This jail was named 'Fort Butler'-after the builder-and was the strongest and best fitted to retain prisoners and offenders of the law of all the jail-houses that have ever been constructed in Clinton county."

However, Fort Butler did not remain long in use. At the December session, 1821, of the commissioners, it was agreed to advertise for proposals for one hundred and fifty perch of stone, suitable for the erection of a stone jail, and, on the 5th of the following January (1822), the contract for furnishing them was awarded to George Haworth at seventy-four and a half cents a perch. The contract for the construction of the building was awarded on June 12, 1822, to Levi Shepard for five hundred and eight dollars. This jail was to be twenty by twenty-six feet, long way north and south, two stories high, walls of lower story three feet, and upper story two feet thick; lower story, six feet, and upper story, seven feet and four inches in the clear; the building to be completed by July 1, 1823. Jacob Doan and Samuel Myers furnished one hundred perch of stone, In addi- tion to the first hundred and fifty, and the irons of the old jail were sold to John A. Hays for nine dollars, sixty-two and a half cents. On August 1, 1823, the commis- sioners luspected and accepted the new jail. The contract for making and banging five iron doors in the building was awarded to John McElwain for one hundred and nine dollara.

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History of Clinton County, Ohio Its People, Industries, and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, Part 6

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1108

Author: Albert J. Brown (A.M.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1108