USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 82
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was the scene of the only hanging in the county as described by the Xenia Torchlight in its first issue following the execution.
The hour of the execution finally arrived-three o'clock in the after- noon. At the appointed hour the prisoner was led out from the jail by the sheriff and a minister. Ransbottom walked alone, with a firm step, cool and apparently indifferent to his fate. He stepped up on the scaffold, stood beside the rope, quietly and without any trace of emotion, folded his hands across his breast and waited for the sheriff to do his duty. When asked if he had anything to say, he reverently said: "Oh, Lord! have mercy on me! Oh, my poor mother! My poor wife! My poor children!" The sheriff then adjusted the rope about his neck and stepped back in order to be ready to spring the trap, but before doing so, asked the prisoner whether he had anything more to say. "Yes, will you see that I am buried up yonder (pointing north toward Champaign county) ?" queried the man in a strangely calm voice. The sheriff, who had his grave already dug just outside the edge of Xenia, was a little flustered, but he managed to reply, "I'll see that you are buried decently." The black cap was then pulled over his head. He folded his arms carefully over his breast-and waited. He did not have to wait but a few seconds. The sheriff pulled the trap, the wretched creature dropped with a thud, the attendant physician held his watch the legal time, the rope was cut and the first and last execution Greene county has ever had was at an end. He had died without a struggle, the local paper saying that not a muscle moved after he dropped.
INSPIRATION OF "SHERIDAN'S RIDE."
It is a matter of local interest to know that the man who proved the inspiration for the composition of the famous war poem, "Sheridan's Ride," was born and reared in Greene county and that the stirring poem was writ- ten in that Greene county man's house at Cincinnati. In "Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio" (Vol. II, p. 392) it is noted that "this famous poem beginning with-
'Up from the South at break of day, Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,'
"was a great factor in spreading the fame of Sheridan, and goes linked with it to posterity, together with the name of T. Buchanan Read, the poet- painter, who wrote it for James E. Murdoch, the elocutionist. Read died, May II, 1872, in New York, while Murdoch is still [1888] living in Cin- cincinnati, where he is greatly respected, and at the advanced age of eighty years."
The history of its production is thus given in the Cincinnati Commer- cial Gazette of July 17, 1887, by Henry W. Teetor :
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*Sheridan's Ride" was composed Monday, November 1, 1864, in the front room of a three-story brick building, yet standing, and now known as No. 49 West Eighth street, then occupied by Cyrus Garrett, Esq., brother-in-law of Mr. Read.
The simple story of the composition of the famous ode is this: The evening of that day had been set apart for the Murdoch ovation, which took place at Pike's Opera House. Mr. E. D. Grafton, the eminent artist, had met Garrett upon Fourth street in the morning and handed him Harper's Weekly, containing the picture of "Sheridan's Ride to the Front." After a word of conversation in regard to the illustration, Garrett took the picture to his residence and soon after the subject of the celebrated ride, as sketched, came up. The following is Mr. Murdoch's account of that conversation, as told upon the stage by way of prelude to reading the poem: "During the morning a friend with whom I was conversing happened to pick up the last issue of Harper's Weekly, on the title page of which was a picture of Sheridan. "There's a poem in that picture,' said my friend. 'Suppose I have one written for you to read tonight?' 'But,' I replied, 'I shall not have time to look it over and catch its inner meaning and beauties, and besides I am not in the habit of reading a poem at night written in the morning.'"
That friend was Cyrus Garrett, who had previously familiarly said to his brother-in- law, "Buck, there is a poem in that picture." To which Read replied, "Do you suppose that I can write a poem to order, just as you go to Sprague's and order a coat?" After this Read and Murdoch parted-Read to his room and Murdoch to his musings.
When Read retired to his room, he said to his wife: "Hattie, do not let me be inter- rupted. I am not to be called even if the house takes fire." During his seclusion, Read called for a cup of strong tea and then resumed his pen. About noon his work was done. The poem was given to his wife, to copy, while Read at once left home and, going to the studio of his friend, said, "Grafton, I have just written something fresh-hot from the oven-and left Murdoch committing it for a recitation tonight."
Concerning the reception of that poem, as inimitably interpreted by Murdoch, the Commercial's report was, "Peal after peal of enthusiasm punctuated the last three glowing verses. So long and loud was the applause that Mr. Murdoch was called to the footlights, and Mr. Read only escaped the congratulations of the audience by refusing to respond, as he could not adequately do, he seemed to think, to the clamorous utterances of his name."
Cyrus Garrett, who has thus above been set out as the inspirational source of the poem "Sheridan's Ride," was born in Greene county and was reared here in the household of his maternal grandfather, Matthew Quinn, who came up here with his family from Kentucky in 1803, a member of the considerable colony of Seceders (Associate Presbyterians) that settled in that year on Massies creek and formed the nucleus of the numerous congre- gation to which the Rev. Robert Armstrong, the man who named Xenia, later ministered so faithfully. Matthew Quinn was born in Ireland, a son of Nicholas Quinn, and was educated at Dublin for the ministry, but did not follow that profession; instead, coming when twenty-three years of age, in company with his brother Nicholas, to the United States. He was married in Pennsylvania and after a sometime residence there moved to Kentucky, remaining there until he came up here with his family in 1803 and estab- lished his home on the southwest quarter of section 5, township 3, range 7 (now and long since known as the Routzong farm), where he and his wife Mary spent the remainder of their lives and where, as it is narrated, "they reared, in the fear of God and in the highest respect of their neighbors, a (49)
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large family. Matthew Quinn, as became his large talents, liberal educa- tion and fine culture, straightway became a man of much influence in the rapidly forming community. He was a devoted Christian gentleman and morning and night led his family before the Throne of Grace, thus bringing them up in the full nuture and admonition of the Lord. He died in 1836, leaving the legacy of a good name as a priceless heritage to his family." It might properly be added to this little sidelight on this pioneer that he was buried on his farm and that his grave is still there carefully guarded against agricultural intrusion, the family which has been in possession of the place for many years having thoughtfully cared for it.
Matthew Quinn was the father of ten children, Samuel, John, Amos, Hervey, Elias, Matthew, Rosenna, Nancy, Letty and Ann, the latter of whom married Robert Dow and was the mother of Judge Duncan Dow, formerly one of the most familiar figures in public life in Ohio. Samuel Quinn married one of the Hopping girls and moved to Monmouth, Illinois. He had four children. John Quinn married Mary Nash and had four chil- dren. In 1849 he started overland for California and died on the plains in Arizona. Amos Quinn, who was for seven years sheriff of Greene county and in 1835 representative in the Legislature from this district, married Jane Goe and had three children, Elias, who became a lumber dealer at Xenia, Sarah and Alice, the latter of whom, widow of the late John B. Lucas, is still living. Amos Quinn was regarded as one of the leaders of his genera- tion in Greene county and is referred to as "a brilliant gentleman, his own cultured father having been his teacher." Hervey Quinn married one of the Humphrey girls and had several children. Elias Quinn died unmarried and Matthew Quinn died in youth. Rosenna Quinn married David Garrett and lived to be past ninety years of age, her last days being spent in the home of her daughter, Frances, wife of the Rev. Gilbert Small, at Idaville, Indi- ana. She was the mother of four children. Nancy Quinn married Henry Heffley and had four children and Letty Quinn was the mother of Cyrus Garrett, mentioned above and in connection with whose association with the writing of "Sheridan's Ride" this pioneer "sidelight" is presented.
AN UNPUBLISHED POEM OF READ'S.
The association between Cyrus Garrett and his brilliant brother-in-law, Thomas Buchanan Read, was ever of the closest. Garrett became a wealthy manufacturer at Cincinnati, head of the firm of Garrett & Cottman, whose plows had a wide celebrity in their day, and by reason of the Reads residing with him his home was for years a sort of a rendezvous for the literary and artistic "lights" of that city. Read's greatest poem, that wonderful epic of "the crossing," the Western emigration period, entitled "The New Pastoral,"
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was dedicated to Cyrus Garrett and upon the occasion of the latter's twenty- second wedding anniversary Read read a poem which he had written espe- cially for that event. The same later was printed for private circulation and Mrs. Lucas, who often visited in the home of her cousin Cyrus at Cincin- nati and was an intimate friend of the poet, still has a copy of the poem, which does not appear in the general works of the author and which is there- fore here presented for the first time to the public eye under the title :
IMPROMPTU LINES.
In the days when the Gods had the rule of the earth, Young Mercury, glowing with mischief and mirth, Stole away from bright Venus her beautiful son; Then as swift as his feathery sandals could run, Sought the forge where stout Vulcan with earth-shaking blows Was shaping those red bolts which Jupiter throws; And cried "I have brought you the bravest of fellows That ever was known to take hold of a bellows." So speaking, he held little Cupid out kickin' By the wings, as a market-man holds out a chicken, And he and the smith went to bandying jargon, Each striving with each for the best of the bargain. . At last it was finished-and what do you guess He gave for the urchin ?- he couldn't do less- (Though Mercury thought it couldn't be stupider)- A bundle of bolts just finished for Jupiter ! Then the kid-napper stating what haste he was under, Took a drink, and made off with his armload of thunder ! While poor little Cupid went dismally skulkin' Through the dust and the cinders that lay round Vulcan. Again roared the bellows :- half ready to melt,
The white iron hissed and came down with a pelt On the terrible anvil, and shed such a blaze Of fire-works, Cupid was lost in a-maze, And stood all a-droop, more in fright than in pain, Like a storm-beaten chanticleer out in the rain. Just then there was seen coming down the highway, A lady, attired-it needs not to say In what fashion, at least not as now in our day- Her dress was becoming, be sure, for, between us, She came in the guise of no other than Venus! When Vulcan beheld her, entranced at the sight, (The smiths to the ladies are always polite) He invited her in and was sorry to trace The shadow of pain over-veiling her face; But e'er she could tell what was grieving her so, She heard from the corner the twang of a bow; Through his heart the stout smith felt the swift arrow flee, And drop't like a poor stricken ox on his knee! Cried Venus, indignant, "You murdering young urchin, It is you I have been all the morning a searchin'! If but once I can catch you, you worst of wild minions, I'll strip every pen-feather out of your pinions !
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Will you dare aim at me with your impudent dart ?" .- He dared !- and the swift arrow slaughtered her heart! And the bright Queen of Beauty, just there at the stith, Fell a captive for life in the arms of the smith !
While Cupid with laughter shook out his bright pinions, --- And the smith-shops henceforth were his favorite dominions. Fair Flora and Ceres, missing Venus and Cupid,
Thought life on Olympus was getting quite stupid, And even the Muses and all of the Graces Declared it was growing the dullest of places- So, down they all hurried, and crowded their bulk in The great sparkling workshop of jolly old Vulcan ; And there on the anvil they pledged a great vow
That the thing they most prized in the world was a plow! And declared none but Venus, so lovely and winnin',
Should mate with a blacksmith, and tend to his linen.
So Venus and Vulcan took up their abode In a cottage adjacent, that stood by the road ;
She gave up her loves and her doves, so bewitchin',
And sewed on the buttons and looked to the kitchen.
-.
He gave up his toil for the thundering God, And turned all his bolts into shares for the sod. Now many a plow that was shaped by his hand, Turns up the subsoil of our beautiful land;
From the lakes to the gulf, far as sight can pursue, There travels the "Rover," in color true blue, Preferred by all nations, the Dutch and the Scot-man,
Especially when warranted "Garrett & Cottman."
Cincinnati, April 6, 1859.
-T. BUCHANAN READ.
SOME PRICES IN GREENE COUNTY IN 1818.
When the sparseness of the population of Greene county in the first ten years of its existence, the scarcity of money, the high price of manu- factured articles and the accompanying low price paid for the produce of the settlers are taken into consideration it is not a matter of wonder that the pioneer household was self-sufficient. The pioneer grew his own wool, and the good housewife and her daughters washed it, carded it, spun and wove it into cloth. Then she turned tailor and made it into garments for the entire household. The farmer grew his own flax, which in turn was made into garments ready to wear without its leaving the farm. The set- tler raised his own hogs for his meat and lard, boiled down the sugar sap for his own sugar, ground his own corn for "johnny cakes," distilled his own whisky and made his own shoes. The means of transportation were so clumsy that manufactured articles from the factories in the East could be obtained only at great expense and effort. Therefore this new county of Greene offered but few inducements to the enterprising merchant. There is much talk about the high cost of living now, but the cost of manufactured commodities then was much higher than now and the amount the settler re- ceived for his produce was almost paltry.
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That the prices of one hundred years ago are at great variance with those of today may be readily seen from a study of the following prices as copied from a local newspaper of 1818: Coffee, 4334c lb .; tea, $2.24 lb .; sugar, 16 2/3c 1b .; salt, 6c 1b .; calico, 561/2c yd .; dimity, 75c yd. ; flannel, 62c yd .; muslin, 50c to $1.00 yd. ; linen, 62c yd. ; silk, $2.00 yd .; cravats, 75c each ; bandana handkerchiefs, $1.25 each; ribbon, 25c yd .; shoes, $1.25 pr .; suspenders, $1.00 pr .; candles, 25c 1b .; copperas, 25c 1b .; lead, 12c 1b. ; brooms. 301/2c each; coffee mills, $1.25 each ; augurs, $4.33 each; bridle bits, $3.00 each ; brass kettles, $3.00 each; shovels, $1.75 each ; spades, $1.75 each ; sheep shearers, 621/2c pr .; flax seed, 50c cwt .; butter, 121/2c 1b .; eggs, 61/2c doz.
THE FIRST PIANO MANUFACTURED IN GREENE COUNTY.
There are few people living in Greene county today who know that pianos were once manufactured in Xenia, but in the days before the Civil War they were made in the town by the grandfather of J. Thorb Charters, now a jeweler of the city and president of the city commission. The great- great-grandfather of Mr. Charters, John by name, came from Scotland with his wife and two sons to America in 1784 and located in New York City. One of these two sons was George, then a lad of nine, who, at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to the firm of Dodds & Claus, New York, to learn the "art and mystery" of the manufacture of musical instruments. He served an apprenticeship of six years from 1791, the original agreement between him and his employers now being in the hands of his great-grand- son, J. Thorb Charters. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he went into business for himself in the manufacture of piano-fortes, later having a part- ner in the business.
Subsequently George Charters decided to settle in Cincinnati. He was then married and had a number of children, but this did not deter him from making the long and hazardous trip. The family went overland to Pitts- burgh, then took a raft for Cincinnati, arriving there sometime in the '20S .. Here George Charters began the manufacture of pianos and had the honor of making the first piano in the state of Ohio, and undoubtedly the first one west of the Alleghanies. He was there for a number of years, not more than ten probably, when he decided to locate in Greene county, Ohio. He was moved to this action largely because he wanted to rear his children in a Presbyterian community, and there was no church of his faith then in Cin- cinnati.
The year 1833 found him with his large family located in Greene county on what is now known as the Duck farm near Bellbrook. It seems that he devoted all of his time to farming as long as he lived on the farm, but the desire to follow the trade for which he had been trained induced
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him to locate in Xenia after a few years. Here he at once began the manu- facture of pianos, this being probably in the latter part of the '3os or fore part of the '40s. It is not known how many pianos he manufactured, but it was evident that in such a newly settled community and with so many people with religious objections to the use of the piano he could not find a sale for many of them.
George Charters had a son John, who, naturally, as might be expected, learned the trade. But it appears that John had also learned the trade of a jeweler in New York City. John, however, worked with his father making pianos, and after his father's death continued the business for a time. Dur- ing the time he was making pianos himself he made the one which is now in the home of his grandson, J. Thorb Charters. This piano has his name inlaid in the case and bears evidence to the skill and craftsmanship of its builder. John Charters eventually quit the piano business and became inter- ested in the making of daguerreotype pictures. He had more than a smat- tering of chemistry, and the making of this primitive picture necessitated a considerable knowledge of chemistry, a fact which lead John Charters into the business. There was a man in Xenia in the fore part of the '50s who had just introduced the people of the town to the daguerreotype, but his knowledge of chemistry was so deficient that he was forced to call on Charters for assistance. Charters showed such skill in the making of the pictures that he soon decided to buy out the artist then in the city and go into the business for himself. This he did and for a number of years he was the only daguerreotype artist in the town. Before this time he had been in the jewelry business, but this he sold and devoted all of his time to his new vocation-the making of daguerreotypes. His son, John, the father of J. Thorb Charters, followed his father in the jewelry business, establishing himself in this business in Xenia in 1854.
Since the days of the grandfather of J. Thorb Charters there have been no pianos made in Xenia, but the piano made back in the '50s shows that its builder was indeed an artist of the first class. The piano is now nearly sev- enty years old, but it shows no flaw in its workmanship to this day.
OPENING OF GREENE STREET.
It is said that the love of money is the root of all evil. But it would be hard to get any citizen of Greene county to admit that Greene street in Xenia is an evil, and yet it was a desire on the part of the county commis- sioners to get money for the use of the county which led directly to the setting off of a part of the public square as a street. The commissioners first tried to sell a part of the square, and when they were baffled in this direction they resorted to leasing parts of the public square for fifteen-year periods.
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In 1835 the commissioners needed money, and needed it badly. They had just completed a couple of years previously a two-story, six-room office building on the square, and in 1835 were in the midst of the erection of a new jail. Money they must have and here follows a curious effort on their part to get it. They conceived the idea (it would be uncharitable to say that it was conceived in sin) of leasing for a period of ninety-nine years, three separate lots : one lot on the southeast corner of the square, 2212 by 68 feet ; a lot immediately back of the aforesaid lot, 40 by 100 feet, the rear of this second lot abutting the alley on the south side of the jail lot; finally, a lot 40 by 170 feet on Detroit street, beginning 80 feet from the southwest cor- ner of the square. At this time, 1835, the county was already leasing to the town of Xenia, a strip of 80 feet wide on the north side of the square for a market house and yard, an engine house, public scales, and a public wood- ward.
But in order that there might be access to the lots on the east side of the square the commissioners were forced to provide a street or alley along that side-hence came about the street known today as Greene. At the time the surveyor was laying off the square the commissioners had him to stake off a strip two poles-thirty-three feet-in width along the east side of the square. This strip, by an order of the commissioners, dated March 20, 1835, and recorded on their records the following day, became Greene street. The full record on the street is set forth in the following language from their records :
The Commissioners of Greene County for the purpose and with a view to promote and subserve the interest of the County of Greene and public at large have and do hereby lay out off of the east end of the ground in the Town of Xenia, known and designated as the Public Square, a space of ground thirty-three feet in width, running from Main to Third Street in said town, and bounded on the east by the lots of James Gowdy and Mrs. Williams, said space of thirty-three feet in width to remain forever open and free as one of the public streets of the said town, and it is ordered that a copy of this order be re- corded in the Office of the Recorder of the County, and that the Auditor of the County have a copy thereof published in the newspapers of Xenia for three weeks in succession .- The aforesaid street to be known by the name of Greene Street.
James Gowdy was one of the purchasers of lots on the square in 1817, but was not allowed to keep them. It is evident that he was very much interested in having the commissioners set aside a street between his lots and the public square; he may even have appeared before them personally and urged the action which they finally took. But so anxious was he to have the street laid out and maintained that on May 21, 1835, the day the street was set aside, he entered into an agreement whereby he agreed to donate to the county three hundred dollars for its use, the county to return the money to him or his heirs in case it decided to close the street. The money has undoubtedly been spent along time ago. This interesting agreement between the commissioners and Gowdy was as follows :
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This is to certify that I have this day made a donation of three hundred dollars to the Commissioners of Greene County, viz., John Fudge, Timothy G. Bates & Ryan Gowdy, and their successors in office, to be used for the benefit of said County so long as a street or alley of thirty-three feet wide, extending from Chillicothe Street to Third Street on the east end of the Public Ground in the Town of Xenia is kept open for a public highway, to be used as other streets and alleys are used in said Town. It is expressly understood that should the above strip of ground at any time be closed or converted to any other use than that of a public street or alley, then the above sum of three hundred dollars is to be returned to me, or my heirs, without interest or damage to the County. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of March, 1835. JAMES GOWDY.
Witness-W. Richards.
And thus was born Greene street, which today is lined with prosperous business houses, and at one time was probably the busiest thoroughfare in the city. With the opening of the street in 1835 the commissioners hoped to get some of the business men of the city to bid on the lease of the lots on the east side of the square. They ordered one lot, the one at the corner of Main and the newly laid out Greene, offered at public auction on May 25, 1835. The lessee was to have the lot for ninety-nine years, was to erect certain kind of buildings thereon, and to pay an annual sum for the first twenty years, the same to be determined by the bidding on the day of the auction. At the expiration of the first twenty years, the land and buildings were to be revalued and a new rental agreed upon. The day for the sale of lease arrived-but no prospective lessees arrived. Evidently the business men of the town would rather erect their buildings on land to which they could get a title in fee simple. No further efforts were made to lease any part of the public square, excepting, of course, the part leased to the city of Xenia, its lease running up to the time of the Civil War.
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