USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 81
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position to which he was appointed. The court house was still unfinished at the time of his death, October 18, 1900.
Little was married October 19, 1865, to Barbara Jane Sheets. They had two children, George and Mary. His widow died in Xenia on May 30, 1902.
BENJAMIN WHITEMAN.
Benjamin Whiteman was a native of Philadelphia, born on March 12, 1769. When he was only a boy, he removed with his parents to Kentucky where he received some very valuable frontiersman experience. He was a member of General Harmar's expedition against the Shawnees and his trip up here undoubtedly influenced him to become a resident of this region later. He was married to Catherine Davis, a daughter of Owen Davis, in 1793. In the spring of 1799 he with his father-in-law came northward from Cin- cinnati and settled on Bever creek. After Greene county was organized, the General Assembly in the same year appointed Whiteman one of the three associate judges along with William Maxwell and James Barrett. He remained a resident of Beavercreek township until 1805 when he, with his father-in-law, Owen Davis, removed to the vicinity of Clifton after disposing of their possessions on Beaver creek. There Whitman built a large house which is standing to this day. His death occurred on July 1, 1852.
WILLIAM MAXWELL.
William Maxwell was a native of New Jersey. It is quite possible that he for a short time lived in Kentucky before he came across to Cincinnati. In that city, which was then only a cluster of a few log huts, he printed the first newspaper ever published in the Northwest Territory. Maxwell suc- ceeded Abner Dunn as the second postmaster at Cincinnati. In 1799 he with his family left the little village of Cincinnati and came north, settling on what is now known as the Maxwell farm in Beavercreek township, this county. He was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the First General Assembly of Ohio, which met at Chillicothe, March I, 1803, and he favored the law erecting Greene county. By an act of the Legislature he was appointed one of the first three associate judges of the county on April 6, 1803. He resigned his office of associate judge on December 7, 1803, was chosen sheriff of Greene county and served until 1807. He took an active interest in organizing the state militia and held the rank of major in 1805. On his farm in Beavercreek township, he devoted himself chiefly to cattle raising. His death occurred in 1809 and his grave is located on the old Maxwell farm, about one and one-half miles southeast of Alpha.
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JOHN PAUL.
The career of John Paul is closely connected with the early history of Greene county. Paul was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Novem- ber 12, 1758, a son of Michael and Ann (Parker) Paul. The family removed to Virginia when John was only a boy and later established themselves in Kentucky. In 1778, John Paul was with Gen. George Rogers Clark in the latter's expedition against the British posts in Illinois and Indiana. In 1794 Paul married Sarah Thomberry Grover, a sister of Josiah Grover, at Danville, Kentucky, and sometime in the winter of 1799 or the spring of 1800, he brought his family to this region and located on United States land on the present site of Trebeins Station, three miles northwest of the Little Miami river. On this river he established the first water-power grist- mill and saw-mill in the neighborhood. When the first constitutional con- vention of the state was called in 1802, John Paul was chosen as one of the delegates for what then was Hamilton county. When the state gov- ernment was established he was elected a member of the Senate in the first General Assembly of the state which met at Chillicothe on March I, 1803. After Greene county was erected John Paul was appointed clerk of the court of common pleas. He served in this capacity, as well as auditor and recorder, until he left the county in 1809. When the question of the establishment of the county seat of Greene county was uppermost Paul was aware that the commissioners were about to decide upon a site at the forks of Shawnee run and he journeyed to Cincinnati and bought two thousand acres of land covering that point, thus becoming proprietor of the new townsite of Xenia. He left Greene county in 1809, going to Indiana Territory and settling with his family on what became the site of Madison, thus becoming an important factor in the establishment of that city. He was the father-in-law of Gov. William Hendricks of Indiana. His death occurred at Madison on June 6, 1830.
FREE TO THE PEOPLE
CARNEGIE LIBRARY, XENIA.
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' ORPHANS' HOME, XENIA.
CHAPTER XLI.
SIDELIGHTS ON THE HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
In this chapter are set forth a number of miscellaneous facts which have come to the notice of the historian during his collection of the mate- rial for the history of the county. None of them is of sufficient importance or length to justify its being set forth separately and hence they are grouped in this one chapter.
AN INTERESTING LETTER OF 1809.
One of the interesting sidelights on Xenia and Greene county is dis- closed by a letter which was written in 1809 by Rev. James Towler, then postmaster of the village, to some Eastern friend, in which he sets forth some interesting facts about Xenia and the county in general. The letter follows :
Xenia, Ohio, May 8, 1809.
This town is the seat of justice of Greene county. It was laid out in the fall of 1803 by Joseph C. Vance, and contains at this time twenty-eight families and one hundred and fifty souls, a court house of brick, forty feet square, with a cupola. The town is washed by Shawnee creek, a branch of the Little Miami river, from whose mouth we are three miles, and fifty-five miles from Chillicothe. In the county are nine grist-mills, nine saw-mills, one fulling-mill and one nail factory. Never failing and excellent springs are numerous. The Yellow Springs, which are deemed a natural curiosity, are nine miles north of this place. It takes its name from a yellow and pale red sediment, which it emits from the water, and of which a large bank is found below the spring, over which the water has a fall of seventy feet into a hollow. It is believed the spring affords a sufficiency of water to turn a grist-mill the year round, and is said to be impregnated with copper, copperas and iron. It is considerably visited during the summer season, and affords relief for sore eyes, rheumatism, etc. It is diuretic, and the sediment when ground in oil, paints as well as Spanish brown. The falls of the Little Miami (which is about three miles distant, fall over a rock twelve feet perpendicular, and the whole distance, two hundred feet) are of considerable importance to this county. There are remains of artificial walls and mounds in several parts of the county.
Our trade is chiefly in hogs and cattle, which are purchased by drovers for the eastern markets and Detroit. There are two stores in town, which I consider a great evil, as they keep our neighborhood drained of cash. We have extensive prairies. Wolves have been bad on our sheep. Corn, wheat and rye are our principal crops. The soil is generally good and pretty equally divided between upland and bottom. The settlers are principally from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Kentucky. Religion, Methodist, Seceders and Baptist. The county is twenty miles long and twenty miles broad, and is about one hun- dred miles from Lake Erie.
OHIO SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ORPHANS HOME.
Greene county is justly proud of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home, which is located near the county seat. It has nearly completed half a century of its career and during these years has been the means of caring for
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thousands of orphans of the soldiers and sailors of the state. The agitation for a home for the orphaned children of Ohio soldiers and sailors began in 1869 and it was the city of Xenia that began the agitation. At first it was planned to establish such a home on a private basis, with the hope that the state would later take over its management. With this idea in view a number of Civil War soldiers and citizens of Xenia and from various parts of the state met in the city hall on June 31, 1869, to discuss plans for the establishment of a home for such children as had been orphaned by the Civil War, the state being fairly well represented. The chief address was made by Chaplain Collier, then acting as agent for the recently organ- ized Grand Army of the Republic, and he presented the matter in such a light that he aroused the citizens of Xenia to the point where they were willing to take immediate steps toward providing a home in Xenia. Two weeks later, July 13, a second meeting was held in Xenia which was still better attended, Governor Hayes, Congressman Winans, Captain Earnshaw and others addressing the people on the question. Before the meeting closed a subscription paper was started around the room and within a short time the sum of sixteen thousand dollars was pledged toward the establishment of the home. Three public-spirited citizens of Xenia, J. C. McMillen, Eli Millen and Lester Arnold, made individual subscriptions of one thousand dollars.
Once the project seemed assured the newspapers of Xenia took up the work and aroused the county to the need of such an institution. A com- mittee was appointed to look for suitable quarters for a home, and it was soon found. On the 21st and 22nd of the same month the annual con- vention of the Grand Army of the Republic was held at Sandusky, Ohio, nine delegates from Xenia being present. The question of the establish- ment of a home was thoroughly discussed, but no definite action was taken. The delegates from Xenia, however, secured the adoption of a resolution which provided for the acceptance of the real estate offered by Xenia, together with such funds as the county had pledged. In the fall of 1869 a board of control was created by the Grand Army of the Republic, consisting of the following: Gen. George B. Wright, Major M: S. Gunckel, Col. H. G. Armstrong, Eli Millen, Judge William White, Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes (wife of the governor), Mrs. H. L. Monroe and Mrs. Ann E. McMeans. They held a special meeting on October II, 1869, and agreed to accept the location offered by the citizens of Xenia. It must be remembered that the whole proposition thus far was a private venture, backed though it was by the Grand Army of the Republic, and that the state had so far had nothing to do with it. Of course, it was confidently expected that the General Assembly which met in January, 1870, would assist the project in some way,
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but those behind the movement were going ahead just as if the state was not going to assist.
During the fall of 1869 a number of orphaned children were being cared for in Xenia in the McMillen home on Main street, the board leasing the building and placing Mrs. Ann McMeans in charge. The board of control let the contract for the erection of four cottages to cost about $1,650 each. All this was done in the fall and early winter of 1869. The physical welfare of the children was placed in the hands of Dr. Joseph G. Kyle, of Xenia, while a committee was appointed to look after their spiritual wel- fare. This committee, composed of Th. Drees, John W. King, Daniel Mil- len, J. C. McMillen, A. Trader, W. Keller, A. H. Baughman, W. C. Hutchin- son and J. C. Cooper, met on January 3, 1870, and selected J. H. Cooper superintendent of a Sunday school which had its quarters in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association. During the month of January, 1870, there were eighty-one children being cared for in the city. During this month Mrs. McMeans resigned and Major McGunckel was placed in charge of the children. During the same month the following assistants were appointed: Mrs. Edington, Chicago, matron; Mrs. S. A. Brockaway, assistant matron; Della Johnson, Bellefontaine, teacher ; Miss Ensign, Berlin Heights, teacher ; Miss Buchanan, Clifton, head of the sewing department.
The children kept coming to Xenia in such numbers during the winter of 1869-70 that it became necessary to take immediate steps toward pro- viding more commodious quarters for them. Consequently, on January 23, 1870, it was decided to construct a large frame building for the com- bined purpose of a dormitory and dining room, and also provide for the erection of five additional cottages. On the day these contracts were let, the superintendent of the home reported that he now had about one hundred children under his charge and that as many more had applied for admission.
Meantime the General Assembly had convened and a bill had been intro- duced which provided that the state assume the management of the Home. The Legislature appointed a committee to visit Xenia and report on the situation and this committee returned to Columbus after its visit on February 28 with one unanimous opinion-that the care of the orphaned children of the soldiers and sailors of the state should be assumed by the state. Here is where politics stepped in and Xenia came very near losing the Home altogether, despite what the citizens of the city had already done, and despite the fact that the Home was now getting well established. It is not necessary to enter into a discussion of what happened in the Legislature, it being sufficient to state that when the bill passed, providing that the state should take over the management of the Home, it was specifically provided that the establishment should be at White Sulphur Springs instead of at
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Xenia. The friends of the Home then established at Xenia had actually contributed money and property to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, all of which they stood ready to turn over to the state. But their gift was rejected. The matter was discussed in the Legislature for several weeks before the bill became a law on April 14, 1870, but as it finally passed the Home was to be taken from Xenia and placed at White Sulphur Springs. At the latter place there was then the state reform and industrial school for girls, the state owning one hundred and eighty-nine acres at that place. There seemed to be nothing for Xenia to do but acquiesce.
But the matter did not settle itself as easily as the legislators may have thought it would. The governor, acting under the law, appointed a board of directors composed of R. P. Buckland, James Barnett, J. Warren Keifer, B. F. Coate, W. F. Force, J. S. Jones and H. G. Armstrong-none of them from Xenia. The board met on April 21, 1870, to organize and take the preliminary steps toward the removal of the Home from Xenia to White Sulphur Springs. It was found that there were at that time no fewer than one hundred and twenty-five children being cared for at Xenia and that imme- diate steps would have to be taken to provide for them. It was represented to the board that they had been practically dependent on volunteer dona- tions from the citizens of the state, and particularly from the people of Xenia and immediate vicinity. It was ordered by the board that it assume the control of the children at once, but leave them in their present home at Xenia until arrangements were made to care for them at White Sulphur Springs. On April 29, 1870, the board met at Delaware and inspected the property at the latter place, finding it then occupied by the reform and indus- trial school for girls. They soon came to the conclusion that the build- ings there were not in any way suitable for the housing of the children.
The situation at this point seemed to be in confusion. The Legislature had ordered the children to be removed to the new location, and yet on exami- nation it was seen that they could not be accommodated there. But the Legislature had said that they must go. It was at this juncture that the board of control of the reform and industrial school laid the matter before the attorney general of the state, asking him to pass on the law. In the meantime the management of the other institution had addressed the school, asking when it would be ready to turn over sufficient room to accommo- date the children at Xenia. No reply being received, and feeling that some- thing had to be done, and done at once, the board of the Orphans Home met at Delaware on May 13, 1870, and adopted the following resolution :
Whereas, In the opinion of the board, the White Sulphur Springs property will not accommodate comfortably and well, all the children of diseased and disabled soldiers and sailors of the class contemplated by the law of Ohio as orphans, to be provided for at a Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home; therefore,
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Resolved, That in view of the above opinion, the board will accept and receive, under the law of the state, by donation or bequest, a suitable tract of land, of the number of acres required by law, at a convenient and accessible point, with the necessary buildings and equipments thereon, for the accommodation of not less than two hundred and fifty orphans, and upon such acceptance, open, and establish a home for Ohio soldiers' and sailors' orphans, as is prescribed by law.
It is not necessary to discuss the legal aspect of the situation here, but it turned out later that the attorney general of the state decided that a strict interpretation of the law would keep the institution at White Sulphur Springs intact, and that therefore the location of the children's home at Xenia was within the intent of the law. At a meeting of the board of the Home in Xenia on May 25, 1870, the board of the reform and industrial school stated substantially these facts in a letter which they addressed to the board of the Home. Thus the matter was finally settled, and the Home was finally and legally located at Xenia. There were some legal obstructions to remove before the matter was finally settled, but the children continued to reside in Xenia and are there yet in 1918.
In the summer of 1870 the buildings which had been contracted for in the fore part of the year were completed and turned over to the state. During the summer Dr. I. D. Griswold was appointed superintendent, with his wife acting in the capacity of matron. When the buildings were for- mally turned over to the state on August 16, 1870, there were 123 children in the home, their average age being nine years. Nearly the same number were ordered admitted on this date, the board estimating that there were approxi- mately 800 children then in the state who were entitled to the privileges of the institution. The original act provided for the maintenance of only 250 children, but in 1871 the Legislature made another appropriation to take care of a larger number. The original amount of land was one hundred acres, but this amount has been increased from time to time until the Home now contains 360 acres.
The history of the institution from August 16, 1870, the day that the state took it over, down to the present year has been one of steady growth. New buildings have been added as they were needed, the state having always been a generous supporter of the institution. A system of practical educa- tion was early introduced, and the children taught some useful trade. When they leave the Home they are equipped to step out into the world and make their own way. On February 16, 1879, the administration and domestic buildings were destroyed by fire, the total loss being about $75,000. The Legislature at onee made appropriations to replace the buildings. None of the cottages was burned and no lives were lost. On April 27, 1884, a cyclone tore off the roofs from the hospital, laundry, and several other buildings; completely demolished the barn, wagon and tool sheds, and some
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other smaller buildings. It also removed a large portion of the east veranda of the main building. Of course, fences and trees were leveled completely. Only two employees were slightly injured, although there were about seven hundred and fifty men, women and children in the buildings at the time. The damage to the Home was repaired at a cost of about $7,500.
The number of children in the Home is constantly changing, the last report showing 694 in attendance-353 boys and 341 girls. The number has averaged about 700 the year around for several years, although at the close of the school year there is always quite a number who leave. The children are housed in two-story cottages, the single cottages providing quarters for about twenty and the double cottages about fifty children.
The buildings in 1918 include the following structures: The adminis- tration building, with a domestic building attached, the two forming an Egyptian cross; twenty single and twelve double cottages; nursery building of two stories with accommodations for fifty children; two school buildings; chapel with a seating capacity of 1,000; armory for use of cadets and special occasions; hospital and five hospital wards; and a miscellaneous group of buildings including a laundry, ice plant, storehouse, power house, mechanical building, industrial buildings, water pumping station, greenhouses, slaughter house and all the necessary farm buildings. The domestic building contains a dining room on the first floor wth seating accommodation for 1,000 people at a time, the second floor of this building being used as sleeping rooms for the employees, and also for a linen storehouse. All buildings are heated with hot water and lighted with electricity. The following trades are taught : Printing, electrical, machinist, plumbing, tailoring, shoemaking, baking, car- pentering, painting, tinning, plastering, blacksmithing, barbering, butchering, farming, gardening, laundering and flower culture.
The superintendents of the institution from the beginnng, wth the dates of their appointments, are as follows: Dr. L. D. Griswold, April 29, 1870; Dr. A. E. Jenner, May 15, 1874: Mrs. Adelia A. Nelson and James Hoyle, October 22, 1874; W. P. Kerr, November 17, 1874; Major William Shaw, March 29, 1876; Dr. George Keifer, July 20, 1878; N. R. Wyman, April 17, 1879; Major William Shaw, 1880; W. J. Alexander, August 15, 1884; Dr. C. B. Jones, March, 1885; Noah Thomas, November 1, 1886; Gen. Charles L. Young, April 1, 1890; David Lanning, May 16, 1895; Nelson A. Fulton, November 15, 1898: Gen. Charles L. Young, May 1, 1900; James L. Smith, August 12, 1904; E. D. Sawyer, February 22, 1909; Joseph P. Elton, July 15, 1910; J. S. Kimbrough, July 1, 1916; Joseph P. Elton, since July 16, 1917.
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FIRST AND LAST HANGING IN GREENE COUNTY.
There has never been but one legal execution in Greene county, and it has been so long ago that few people now living in the county remember it. The story may be briefly told. On the evening of Wednesday, June 20, 1849, Jesse Ransbottom killed his wife at the village of Fairfield. He was in the house waiting for her to return from a visit, and as soon as she stepped in the door, she saw that he meant to do her harm. Turning quickly she fled from the house, closely followed by the maddened husband. He caught her a short distance from the house and after a desperate struggle cut her throat from ear to ear. The murderer returned to the house and attempted to cut his own throat, but only succeeded in making a couple of harmless scratches across his throat, saying afterwards that "it hurt too bad."
Ransbottom was immediately arrested, making no attempt to escape. It was brought out at the subsequent trial that he was jealous of his wife. The trial was begun on October 18, 1849, with Judge Vance presiding. Joseph G. Gest was the prosecuting attorney and handled the state's case, while Ellsberry & Sexton appeared for the defendant. The prisoner pleaded not guilty and the following jury was then impaneled: Bennet Lewis, Peter Babb, Walter Perry, Nathan Plowman, William Baker, Michael Dough- erty, George Glotfelter, James A. Brown, Samuel W. McCoy, Abraham Ellis, John D. Burrell and David Puterbaugh. The jury heard the evidence of about twenty-five persons and returned a verdict of murder in the first degree. The judge sentenced the prisoner to death by hanging, making the date of execution January 25, 1850, thus giving the doomed man about three months to meditate on his sins.
After Ransbottom was sentenced there were repeated efforts made to have the governor commute the sentence. Ransbottom apparently believed that he was going to be released and it was not until the carpenters began to construct the scaffold under his jail window that he gave up hope. He watched the erection of the gallows with an intense interest. The jail then stood on the corner of the court house yard. The gallows had been sur- rounded by a high board fence, enclosing a piece of ground eighteen by thirteen feet. The fence was eighteen feet high, with the boards three feet in the ground, the enclosure facing Greene street. The ground within was covered with sawdust. In the exact center was driven a small stake, to which a rope was attached, the rope running over wheels placed in a beam over- head and thence down the side of the upright holding the beam. At the end of the rope was a heavy iron ball, about two feet from the ground. Thus
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