USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 62
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This is the largest mound in this vicinity, and in the country. Its present elevation is about thirty-nine feet, with a circumference of six hundred and twenty-five feet at base. It has been cultivated for the last thirty years, with the exception of the last two years, and is now overgrown with blackberry bushes. It was at one time covered with forest trees. A large oak on its top had a diameter of four feet : this I have from reliable authority. It has not been explored ; the proprie- tor desires to let the dead rest, as he expresses it.
9. Recrossing Little Dry run nearly half a mile north of east, we come upon two low mounds, near the Batavia turnpike-one five feet high and the other three and a half above the general level.
IO. North of these, across the turnpike on the estate of William Edwards, is a scattered group of four mounds, but nearly in a line from east to west, with an average distance from each other of two hundred feet. The east- ernmost of the four is in the first bottom of the Big Dry run, and but a few yards west of that stream. It is ex- cellently preserved, very regular in its form, eight feet high, and about eighty feet in diameter at the base. Upon an elevation of thirty to forty feet above the level upon which this mound stands-that is, upon the second terrace or bottom of the Miami valley-are the other three mounds. The two in the centre of the group are each about four feet in height ; the fourth, or westernmost, is ten feet high, and has a circumference about the same as that of the mound at the foot of this terrace. The smaller tumuli were once, very likely, as high as this; but they have been plowed over annually for a long time.
II. Two miles northeast of this group, almost in the northeastern corner of the township, on the farm of Michael Turner, is another very interesting series of ancient works, consisting of one large and one smaller enclosure and four mounds. The large enclosure, north and west of the Cincinnati & Eastern railroad, which, together with a small stream, passes between this and the other members of the group, is designated as No. 1 upon Dr. Charles L. Metz's chart of the pre-historic monu- ments of the Little Miami valley; the smaller enclosure, about a fifth of a mile north of east of the other, and the northernmost of the four works east of the Cincin- nati & Eastern track, as No. 2; the two mounds next south of this, in order, as Nos. 3 and 4; and the emi- nence east of No. 3 as No. 5. This explanation will render intelligible the following description, which is ex- tracted from Dr. Metz's article accompanying the chart, in the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural His- tory, for October, 1878:
No. I is the largest and most interesting work in the Miami valley. An extract from an article by T. C. Dale, or Day, on the antiquities of the Miami valley, published in the November number of the Monthly Chronicle, in 1839, is as follows: "The site of this stupendous fortifi- cation, if we may socall it, is a few rods to the right of the road lead-
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
ing from Newtown to Milford, and about midway between them. It is situated on a ridge of land that juts out from the third bottom of the Little Miami, and reaches within three hundred yards of its bed. From the top of the ridge to low-water mark is probably one hundred feet. It terminates with quite a sharp point and its sides are very abrupt, bearing evident marks of having once been swept by some stream of water, probably the Miami. It forms an extremity of an immense bend, curving into what is now called the third bottom, but which is evidently of alluvial formation. Its probable height is forty feet, and its length about a quarter of a mile before it expands out and forms the third alluvial bottom. About one hundred and fifty yards from the extreme point of this ridge the ancient workmen have cut a ditch directly through it. It is thirty feet in depth; its length, a semi- circular curve, is five hundred feet; and its width at the top is eighty feet, having a level base of forty feet.
At the time of its formation it was probably cut to the base of the ridge, but the washing of the rains has filled it up to its present height. Forty feet from the western side of the ditch is placed the low circular wall of the fort, which describes in its circumference an area of about four acres. The wall is probably three feet in mean height, and is composed of the usual brick clay, occasionally intermixed with small flat river stone. It keeps at an exact distance from the top of the ditch, but approaches nearer to the edge of the ridge. The form of the fort is a perfect circle, and is two hundred yards in diameter. Its western side is defended with a ditch, cut through the ridge in the same manner as the one on the eastern side. Its width and depth are the same, but its length is greater by two hundred feet, as the ridge is that much wider than where the other is cut through. The wall of the fort keeps exactly the same distance from the top of this ditch as of the other, viz., forty feet. Its curve is exactly the opposite of that of the other, so as to form two segments of a circle. At the southeastern side of the fort there is an opening in the wall thirty-six yards wide; and opposite this opening is one of the most marked features of this wonderful monument. A causeway extends out from the ridge about three hundred feet in length and one hundred feet in width, with a gradual descent to the alluvial bottom at its base.
The material of its construction is evidently a portion of the earth excavated from the ditches. Its easy ascent and breadth would induce the belief that it was formed to facilitate the entrance of some ponder- ous vehicle or machines into the fort. To defend this entrance they raised a mound of earth seven feet high, forty wide, and seventy-five long. It is placed about one hundred feet from the mouth of the causeway, and is so sitnated that its garrison could sweep it to its base. The whole area of the fort, the wall and causeway is covered with large forest trees; but there is not a tree growing in either of the ditches, and there are but a few low underbrush on their side.
At present the circular wall is almost leveled, but can be readily traced by the color of the soil and the large number of flat river-stones. The ditches can be easily recognized. The mound is still prominent. It measures now in height five and one-half feet, diameter twenty-five yards, circumference seventy-five yards. The causeway is cut through by the Cincinnati & Eastern railroad, the forest cut away, and the soil cultivated annually.
No. 2 of this group is a large, circular embankment, with a diame- ter of about one hundred and twenty-five yards. The material form- ing the embankment is evidently taken from within the enclosure. This work is a perfect circle, with an opening or gateway thirty feet wide to the south. It is about three hundred yards distant from the first work of this group.
Two hundred yards to the south of this circle are two mounds, No .* 4 on chart being the larger. It has a circumference at base of two hundred and fifty feet and an elevation of twelve feet. One hundred and fifty yards east of these mounds is another of very regular shape (Group D, No. 5, on chart); height, four feet, circumferenee one hun- dred and fifty feet.
Members of the Madisonville Scientific and Literary society have done much excellent work in the survey and description of the works in this part of Anderson town- ship; and to the chart and accompanying article of Dr Metz, of that society, we acknowledge invaluable aid in preparing the above notice.
THE ORIGINAL LAND OWNERS.
Anderson township, as already intimated, is distin- guished above all other townships as the one subdivision
of Hamilton county which lies on the Virginia military tract, reserved between the Little Miami and Scioto, for land bounties to the soldiers of the Virginia line, serving in the war of the Revolution, on Continental estab- lishment. The history of this reservation, with many interesting facts pertaining thereto, will be found in the chapter on land titles, in the first division of this work. The following memoranda indicate the original owners of the respective surveys noted in that part of the Mili- tary tract which is now Anderson township:
No. 395. Bennett Tompkins, one thousand six hun- dred and sixty-six and two-thirds acres.
No. 410. Major John Crittenden, one thousand acres. He was the father of John J. Crittenden, the Kentucky statesman, and was an officer in the Revolutionary war, settling afterwards in Woodford county, Kentucky. His tract was one of the finest in the Little Miami valley; and yet, so little was the value of land esteemed in those days, that he traded the whole thousand acres of splendid bottom and hill land to Major John Harris, of Manni- cantown, near Richmond, Virginia, for a mosquito bar. Harris in his turn sold it to Dr. Turpin, of the same place, for a pair of blooded mares; and Turpin made a present of it to his son Philip, who settled it, and devel- oped it into a rich estate, which is still held by his de- scendents.
No. 427. John Anderson, seven hundred and fifty acres.
No. 500. Holt Richardson, five hundred acres.
No. 535. Robert Blair, William Cassel, John Dem- sey, Benjamin Gray, John Halfpenny, Daniel Sahon, one thousand acres; also John Green and James Giles.
No. 536. John Steele, six hundred and sixty-six and . two-thirds acres.
No. 552. Robert Powells, six hundred acres.
No. 608. Abram Hites, one thousand acres.
No. 609. Joseph Egglestone, one thousand acres.
No. 618. Robert Morrow, two thousand acres.
No. 620. Theodore Bland, one thousand three hun-
dred and thirty-three and one-third acres.
No. 624. A. Singleton, five hundred and fifteen acres.
No. 637. William Taylor, one thousand acres.
No. 706. Jacob Fears, James Friggin, James McDon-
ald, James Payton, one thousand acres ; John Brown, two hundred acres.
No. 916. William Moore, one hundred and sixty acres.
No. 1, 115. William Mosileye, one thousand acres.
No. 1,126. John Parke, one thousand acres; James Pendleton, one thousand acres.
No. 1,581. General James Taylor, five hundred and fifty acres. This gentleman was the well-known Newport pioneer, father of the venerable Colonel James Taylor, who still resides upon the old place on the Kentucky shore, and retains large landed interests in Anderson township. We here acknowledge much indebtedness to him in the preparation of this work. General Taylor became possessor, first and last, of a very large share of the lands in the township, most of which he re-sold.
No. 1,618. Hites and Robinson.
No. 1,674. Edward Stevens, one thousand acres.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
No. 1,677. Colonel Richard Clough Anderson, four hundred and fifty-four acres. He was the chief surveyor of the Military district, appointed to that office by the State of Virginia. He resided ten miles south of Louis- ville, where he kept the office for many years, and until it was removed to Chillicothe, in this State. He was father of the late Hon. L. Anderson, of Cincinnati, and Marshall P. Anderson, of Circleville, also a well-known citizen, more recently deceased. The township takes its name from Colonel Anderson.
No. 1,679. Edward Clark, four hundred acres.
No. 1,680. Joseph Neville, two hundred acres.
No. 1,682. John Mead, four hundred and thirty-four acres.
No. 1,775. General George Washington, President of the United States, nine hundred and ninety-seven acres. A very appropriate number for the greatest of Revolutionary heroes to hold. It was in the year 1775 that he took command of the Continental armies, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. His was the triangular tract next the present Clermont county line, the northeast- ernmost survey in the township, the point of it resting on the Batavia turnpike, but a little way from the mouth of the East fork of the Little Miami.
No. 2,204. Nathaniel Wilson, four hundred acres.
No. 2,276. General Nathaniel Massie, six hundred acres. This owner was one of the most active and enter- prising surveyors in the Military district, and the founder of the earliest towns within its borders-Manchester in 1794, and Chillicothe in 1796.
No. 3,393. John Nancarrons, two hundred and seventy acres.
No. 3,394. P. Higgins, ninety acres.
No. 3,817. John Hains, two hundred and fifty acres. No. 4,243. Frank Taylor.
No. 6,532. John English, two hundred and fifty acres.
No. 8,903. George C. Lights.
COVALT'S STATION.
.
The first settlers upon the present soil of Anderson township were probably Abram or Abraham Covalt and companions, who pushed up the Little Miami in 1790 or 1791, and established a station on Round Bottom to protect themselves, about twelve miles from the mouth of the river, as it runs. This was known as Covalt's Station, and was considered important enough in 1791 to secure a garrison of twenty soldiers from Fort Washing- ton. In the absence of the soldiers, however, Mr. Covalt, while hunting with two others, was attacked by the Indians, killed and scalped near the station. Wood was sent to Columbia village, and a relief party started out at once ; but without much effect. Mr. Daniel Doty was of this party, and left some interesting notes of the affair. He then .saw for the first time a scalped man, and was naturally much shocked. He records that "when a person is killed and scalped by the Indians, the eyebrows fall down over the eyeballs and give them a fearful look."
The following account of the killing of Covalt is
derived from the narrative of Thomas Fitzwater, a de- scendent of William Fitzwater, who had personal knowl- edge of the affair. It is contained in the history of Clermont county :
Towards noon on the first day in which Buckingham, Fletcher, and Covalt started on their hunt, Covalt began to get very uneasy and to urge the others to return home, saying there might be Indians about. The other two told him there was no danger, but this did not satisfy him. The nearer night approached the more importunate he became, and the more he urged them to return. This uneasiness in Covalt's mind Buckingham always viewed as a had omen. His entreaties final- ly prevailed on the others and they consented to return. So they left the 'licks' in order to reach the station while it was yet daylight.
Arriving opposite to where Buckingham's mill now stands, while Covalt and Fletcher were walking close together, and Buckingham about three rods behind, suddenly three guns were fired about twenty yards distant. Buckingham looked forward and saw Covalt and Fletcher start to run down the Miami, and also saw three Indians jump over a log, yelling and screaming like demons. As Buckingham wheeled to run up the river he tried to throw off his blanket, but it hung over his shoulders like a powder-horn, as the strap passed over his head. When he did get it loose it took his hat with it. He ran up but a few poles, then took up the hill, the river and hill being elose together. As he went up the hill he looked back several times, but saw no one in pur- suit. When he arrived on the top he got his gun ready for emergency, then stopped, looked back, and listened. While thus standing he heard the Indians raise the yell down in the bottom, thirty or forty rods distant, then he knew they had caught one or both of the others. When he found the Indians were that distance from him, he knew that he could make tracks as fast as they could follow him. So he steered over the hills and came to the Miami, at what is now Quail's railroad bridge. Getting to the station he found that Fletcher had got there a few minutes before him. By this time it was night.
Fletcher's story of the affair was that he and Covalt ran together some distance, when Fletcher's feet became entangled in a grape-vine, and down he fell, where he laid perfectly still until the Indians passed him. One passed close to him, no doubt thinking he had fallen to rise no more. And they all kept on in hot pursuit of Covalt. As soon as they got out of sight Fletcher made his escape down the river. Next morning a party of men left the station to look for Covalt. Arrived at the place they found his body, his scalp, gun, tomahawk, powder-horn, blanket, knife, hat, and part of his. clothes gone, and an old broken rifle left near his body. The Indian traces showed that they had crossed and re-crossed at Indian ripple. They were not traced any farther.
Enoch Buckingham (one of this party) continned with his family at Columbia, from the spring of 1790 to 1795. Some time this spring they moved into a log cabin on the banks of the Miami, on the lower Buckingham farm.
A FORTIFIED STATION.
Probably as early as 1790, the eyes of some of the set- tlers, or newcomers to Columbia, were turned to the broad and fertile tracts in the valley east of the Little Miami, and a party of colonists soon attempted to make a home there. Their first settlement was opposite Turkey Bottom, at the foot of the hills on survey number five hundred and thirty-six, about a mile below the present site of Union ridge, on the land now owned by Colonel James Taylor. Here, for their protection against the Indians, as the custom then was, they built a small block-house, or stockade, which, from the principal man of the party, the father of the late John H. Gerard, ex- sheriff of Hamilton county, received the name of "Ge- rard's Station." Other settlers to be protected by it are said, by Colonel Taylor, to have been Joseph William- son, Stephen Betts, Stephen Davis, Major Stites, Captain Flinn, and others. He says that the block-house stood on the side of the hill near what is called Big spring, and not far from Flinn's ford across the Little Miami, which
247
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OIHO.
was on the principal land-route, in the early day, from Cincinnati and Columbia eastward. Stites and Flinn are reputed to have had at least one sharp fight with the red- skins at this station. Some traces of it were to be ob- served until quite recent times.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.
Anderson township was erected by the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, in 1793. It was then hounded by the Little Miami to the east fork, from the mouth of which a line was described to a point nine miles east, thence another due south to the Ohio, and from the point of intersection the Ohio formed the boun- dary to the place of beginning. It must have been after- wards enlarged, as settlements increased, since it is other- wise said* to have included all of Hamilton county between the Little Miami and the Elk river, or Eagle creek. So lately as 1803 it is officially described as "all that part of Hamilton county east of the Little Miami river," which then, however comprised only the present limits of the township, or about the same. The voters were then to meet at the house of Thomas Browne, in Newtown, and elect three justices of the peace.
In the latter part of 1799 two townships were set off from the eastern part of the large old township of Ander- son-Washington township, which included all the north- ern part of the present Clermont, and the south part of Warren county; and Deerfield township, which covered all the southern and central portions of Clermont and Brown counties to the aforesaid Eagle creek. The same year a county called Henry was set off by the territorial. legislature along the river next east of the present Ham- ilton, with Durhamstown (now Bethel) as the county seat, but the act was negatived by Governor St. Clair, who pocketed it with several other bills of similar char- acter, as he claimed that the legislature in passing them usurped his own prerogatives; the next year he, by proc- lamation, erected the desired new county in this direc- tion by the name of Clermont, when Anderson township and Hamilton county, on the southeast, were reduced to their present boundaries.
Anderson, as the fifth township created in the old Hamilton county, was directed by the court of quarter sessions to take for its cattle-brand the letter E. The first township officers were as follows:
John Garrard, clerk; Jesse Garrard, constable; Rich- ard Hall, overseer of roads; Joseph Frazee, Jacob Back- oven, overseers of the poor; Joseph Martin, Jonathan Garrard, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of damages.
We have the following notes of justices of the peace in later times :
1819, Jonathan Garrard; 1825, Jonathan Garrard, Wil- liam E. White, Richard Ayres; 1829, Jonathan Garrard, Clayton Webb; 1865, R. L. Wright, Abner Jones; 1866- 71, R. L. Wright, Abner Jones, A. Durham; 1872-6, R. L. Wright, Abner Jones, K. H. Van Rensselaer; 1877, Jones, Wright, Van Rensselaer, D. A. Garrett ; 1878-9, George W. Jones, George Jones, D. A. Garrett, August Crance; 1880, Jones, Jones, and Crance.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Immigrants to the Miami county did not turn so readily to the Military district as to the Symmes Purchase and the Congress lands, since the titles to the latter were considered better and more reliable, and less likely to involve litigation. As early as 1790, some white settlers are believed to have set down their stakes within the limits of the present Anderson township; and, as we have seen, a fortified station against the Indians probably existed upon Anderson soil that year. The first settle- ments, according to Colonel James Taylor, of Newport, were made upon Bennett Tompkins' survey at the mouth of the Little Miami; Crittenden's survey, settled by Philip Turpin, near the present Union bridge ; Powell's, Massie's, Richardson's, John Andersons', Bland's, and Moore's, and the surveys numbered one thousand five hundred and twelve and one thousand seven hundred and twenty- three. Besides those named in connection with Gerrard's station and Philip Turpin, who was among the earliest, there were Isaac Vail, John Grimes, the Edwardses, Corblys, Debolts, Johnsons, Clarks, and Durhams, whose families were upon the soil of Anderson during the closing decade of the last century or the opening one of this. Settlers were not numerous, nor their improve- ments large, for obvious seasons, until after the pacifi- cation of the Indian tribes in 1794, by Wayne's victory at the battle of the Fallen Timbers. Many memoranda of individual settlements in the early day will be found in the paragraphs below :
OTHER NOTES OF SETTLEMENT, ETC.
Mr. John Betts, grandfather of George·M. Betts, came to Anderson township at a very early day. He was of Irish descent, and emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio. John R. Betts, father of George M., was born in this township. For several years he was in the pork business in Cincinnati. His wife's name was Sarah S. Martin. She was a daughter of George Martin, who died in 1878, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. He was here when the old fort was at Columbia. His wife was a Rigdon. She was the first white child on the north side of the Little Miami river. Mr. John R. Betts had three children: George M., Elizabeth (Mrs. S. Burdsall), and Emma (Mrs. George Pike). The son is now superintend- ent of the Mount Washington Canning company, which cans from twelve to fifteen thousand cans of fruit and vegetables per year.
Aquila Durham was born in Maryland in May, 1779, and died in September, 1870, in his ninety-second year. He was the youngest of a family of eleven children, six of whom lived to be over eighty-five years of age. The family was noted for longevity. His father died at the age of ninety-six, and had six brothers and two sisters, each of whom lived to be over eighty. Their father came from Durham, England, in 1722, and settled in Maryland. Joshua Durham, father of the subject of this sketch, sold his estate and slaves in Maryland soon after the close of the Revolution, and started for the West. But, owing to the depreciation of the continental money, he and his family were obliged to remain in Pennsylvania
* History of Clermont county.
248
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
several years. They arrived in Cincinnati in June, 1797, only eight years after its settlement, and pushed right out into the wilderness to make a settlement, and built a cabin in the Miami bottoms, about ten miles from Cin- cinnati. Aquila was then eighteen years old. He helped his father open a clearing in the woods, and, being a skil- ful hunter, kept the family supplied with game. Many hardships were encountered; but they were so accustomed to them that they seemed rather to enjoy the dangers of the chase and the hard labor and privations they had to undergo. When General Harrison was governor of the Indiana Territory, with headquarters at Vincennes, Aquila kept him supplied with sheep and cattle, which had to be driven through the unbroken wilderness. Many thrilling adventures were experienced by his parties when on the road. Wild animals were troublesome at night, and the Indians were constantly on their path. In 1804 he was mar- ried to Harriet Thompson, daughter of Barnard Thomp- son, a Revolutionary soldier. They settled near his father's, and two years later moved upon the farm now owned by Thompson Durham. He lived on that farm for sixty-two years. They raised ten children, all of whom lived to be over forty-five years old. Seven of them still live. His wife died in 1868, after sixty-four years of married life. He voted in 1802 at the first election held in Ohio, and never missed an election as long as he lived. He attended the Cincinnati markets for almost sixty years, at first carrying his produce to market on hoseback, then in wagons to the river and thence in a boat. After roads were opened, he went through to the city in his wagon. Every Tues- day and Friday found him in the market. Many of the old citizens were his customers, and well remember him. It was his pride and boast that no one ever said he was not honest.
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