USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 71
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There is six acres of farm No. 9, and one acre of farm No. 8 to be charged to W. H. Moore. April 11th, 1820, the trustees met at the house of James Wood, in order to settle with him as treasurer, and made some progress therein, and agreed to meet again on the 14th at Madison, to finish said settlement. 14th. The trustees met at Madi- son, proceeded with the settlement with Wood, but could not finish it, and agreed to meet the next day at 8 o'clock A. M.
Wm. Butler furnished half a quire of paper.
For the following interesting reminiscences of Madison- ville matters, we are again indebted to Mr. Nelson's work on Suburban Homes:
Following closely after the record of town officers is the record of leases, showing that the accruing rents were to be applied to school purposes. These leases were drawn for ninety-nine years, the first being from John Jones, Felix Crossman, and William Armstrong, on behalf of the town, to William and John Armstrong. Three years ago [in 1871] the last of these leases were canceled and surrendered to the State, and deeds exchanged; and while we were in the office a question arose as to what disposition should be made of a sum of money received the same day on account of one of said leases.
Town lots were laid out on the roth of April, 1809. The first elec- tion in the township was held in the old homestead now owned and occupied by Eli Muchmore, then the property of his grandfather, Eli S. Muchmore. When Mr. Muchmore landed in Cincinnati, he had sufficient means to purchase the whole tract upon which it now stands; but fearing it would be a sickly place, he chose to purchase a tier of sections in adjoining townships.
Madison was at one time noted for the number of its distilleries, which used to attract large gatherings from the surrounding country, and be the occasion of much jollity and dissipation. Men would spend their time in gaming, and with outdoor manly and unmanly sports, until the affair would break up in a general Donnybrook fair. Traces of the distilleries seem to have disappeared, which was accounted for on the ground that, as soon as transportation for grain and pork was opened up, the corn that had been shipped in the compact form of whiskey brought higher prices in bulk and in pork.
Vestiges of the tanning business remain, one of which we noticed on a piece of ground recently purchased by Colonel White.
Madison was also the home of several men who became distinguished members of the body politic. Among them we may mention Dr. Alex- ander Duncan, a well-known member of congress, who disappointed his democratic friends by stepping over to free soil. One who made his mark and his money in the insurance business, when there was money in it, was Louis Clason, who was well known in Cincinnati. Madison was also the early home of James Whitcomb, who was after- ward governor of Indiana. Old citizens tell some amusing stories about the youth of this intrepid lawyer and statesman. One of these relates to his love for and devotion to piscatory pursuits, which were so strong as to render him oblivions to the condition of his toilet. Linen would frequently display itself where it was impossible for one so abstracted to be conscious of it, and where its obtrusion was sure to excite the laughter of bystanders; but that circumstance did not interfere with his success as an amateur sportsman and an enterprising vender of fresh fish. He made money enough to buy himself books, and enable him to attend school; worked hard and studied harder; was a keen lawyer and active politician; and so literally raised himself from pennry to the highest office of the State. He afterward became a member of the United States senate, where sickness overtook him, and he died.
Contemporaneous with the history of Madison is that of the history of some of the surviving citizens, from one of whom, William Moore, we received much valuable information. Mr. Moore is eighty-seven years of age, and bids fairly to approximate to the century. He is a lively and intelligent conversationist, and retains dates and events with re- markable tenacity. When examining the records we found him gener- ally accurate, and noticed that he could repeat verbatim the long forms and awkward phraseology of the early leases. He came from Virginia and made Madison his home in 1811, when there were about twenty buildings in the town. At one time he kept a tavern, at another a coun- try store; then he managed successively a brickyard and a nursery. He also seems to have made the circuit of all the town and township offices, from constable to magistrate. As clerk, the books show that he made creditable records; as a citizen, his record seems quite as clear and cred- itable.
The oldest citizen is Samuel Earhart, who was born January 22, 1784 Next to him is Esquire Isaac Giffin, born August 24, 1785. Mrs. Hat- tie Ward is the same age as Mr. Moore. Mrs. Duncan, Ayres Brain- ble, Colonel I. F. Waring, and Timothy Maphet, are all respectively about seventy-five years of age.
During a pleasant interview with Mr. Bramble many interesting facts were elicited regarding the early settlements, and some anecdotes, of which we can give only a few. Mr. Bramble's father and family, with three other families, emigrated from Barnsville, Fayette county, Penn- sylvania, in 1806, taking with them in their boat of twelve by twenty- four, a horse, a cow, and a "big black dog." The entire wealth of the company was represented in one hundred dollars of Spanish silver coin; and that was the property of Mr. Bramble. They arrived in safety near the mouth of the Little Miami, but the broken character of the land and the sickly hue of the settlers discouraged Mr. Bramble for the time being, so he waited by the river side for a passing keel-boat to take him back to his old home. While waiting in a state of uncertainty, a prop- osition was made to him to settle near the present site of Madison, which he accepted. Houses being scarce, he was obliged to take up his residence for the first six months in an unfinished log church, which was without doors and windows. That year a heavy snow-storm was experienced about the first of October, which compelled him to seek more comfortable quarters. It was an early winter, but 1806 was re- markable for strange freaks of nature. That year, February the 7th proved to be the coldest day ever experienced in this latitude. Old set- tlers talk of it as "cold Friday," in contradistinction to ordinary cold winter days; and in 1806 was the great eclipse. Mr. Bramble distinctly remembers his being present at the raising of the first log house in Madison, which took place in 1809, when he was ten years of age. The building was afterwards used as a hotel, and was kept by Colonel Wil- liam Perry, from Kentucky, an enterprising citizen, who seldom al- lowed himself to be sober. The following year, 1810, was remarkable for the tide of immigration that set in from the adjoining State, Ken- tucky. Thousands of the colored inhabitants, black and brown, ahan- . doned their homes, swam the river, and landed on the fertile bottoms of the Ohio. They came unarmed, without sword or spear, musket or ammunition, or other munitions of war than those bestowed upon them by nature. Immediately on landing they dispersed among the woods, prepared themselves log cabins or built more temporary struc- tures, and set up housekeeping. Nothing could be more peaceable than their intentions. No class of citizens could have been more active, industrions, frugal, or cleanly in their habits. But, though as a class
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
they were conceded to be productive, in political economy they were ranked as non-producers, and accordingly were doomed to suffer per- secution. Then every white man was a Granger. Middlemen had not yet found their way out west; so war was immediately declared against the intruders, and every man, woman, and child arrayed themselves against these unarmed and inoffensive immigrants. War to the knife, bitter, relentless, exterminating war was waged, and speedily raged. From the township the war sentiment extended to the county; from the county to the State; until the legislature actually passed a law for the extinction of the races, black and brown, indiscriminately. Every atrocity was then practiced and encouraged; and scalping commanded a high premium.
In 1811, the payment of taxes in squirrel pelts was legalized, In 18II was also the great earthquake, which rent the foundations of the first frame house built in Madison-one erected by Paddy McCollum, a man of note at the time. Whether the earthquake had anything to do with the act of legislature and subsequent slaughter, our informant did not say.
As might be expected, the schools of that day were not conducted with the highest degree of efficiency. Mr. Bramble's teacher was an Irishman named John Wallace, who was intoxicated half his time, and would play ball with the boys half the balance. In proof of that Mr. Bramble said he attended school five winters before he got out of his "Abs."
Mr. Bramble was both a farmer and a trader in his boyhood, and sold corn and potatoes at ten cents a bushel in Cincinnati. Then property was equally cheap. School section sixteen was under lease to farmers and others, and the lease of a tract of forty acres of it was sold in 1810 for a ploughshare, then for a barrel of whiskey, and afterwards to Mr. Bramble for sixty dollars.
One of the early incidents of the settlement was the killing of two of the citizens bv the Indians-a brother of Captain Giffin; and a father and son named Paul were out in search for hogs when discovered by the Indians, who gave chase, overtook Giffin and shot him, and afterwards shot the elder Paul. Young Paul could have made his escape with little trouble, as the station was near; but, anxious to save his father, he stopped in shelter of the trees, and with his rifle kept the Indians at bay as long as his father's strength held out. The latter finding escape hopeless sent his son off, and resigned himself to his fate.
Another incident of a later date took place east of Madison, when the victim was an Indian. West of Madison was a station known as Nel- son's, where were horses pasturing. A party of Indians on their way toward the hills rode off with some of these, one of which was hoppled. Nelson and others of the fort made pursuit, but failed in overtaking any except the one on the hoppled horse, whom Nelson shot when near the site of the present residence of Esquire Clason. There the Indian was buried, and the circumstance turned to account by naming the place Indian hill. Esquire Clason says that many years afterward the grave was discovered by accident, and the jawbone secured as a relic in his family. Judging from the relic, he says, the Indian must have been a giant in proportions.
One of the few mechanics of the place was Jeremiah Brand, a plow- maker, and the best in the county. Brand was an industrious, honest workman, and a good citizen; and, even for the times, primitive in his habits and his wardrobe. He never wore shoes, and so contrived his nether garment that a single button sufficed to maintain it in its proper position. That button was alike remarkable for its size, brilliancy, and conspicuity. In Brand's time a local law was enacted requiring every man attending meeting to bring his musket and ammunition, or pay a fine of one dollar. This was pretty hard on poor Brand, who was per- fectly innocent of the use of firearms. What did he want with a mus- ket, when he was as fleet-footed as an Indian? But he went to meeting -was duly fined in his dollar, and as duly absented himself therefrom until the author of the objectionable law remitted his fine. Brand died in 1856.
MADISONVILLE.
Madisonville, or rather Madison, as it was originally called, was laid out upon the north part of school section No. 16, in fractional range two, township four, as soon as the lands, under the old system of leases, were made available. A considerable settlement had already gath- ered upon and about the spot; and when, January 27, 1809, the legislature passed an act providing for the dis- position of the school sections, the people of this local-
ity lost little time in proceeding to act thereon. The record of the survey of the town is dated March 30, 1809. John Jones, esq., William Armstrong, and Felix Christman, were chosen trustees for the purpose of plat- ting the village and disposing of the lots; and Moses Morrison was their clerk. Joseph Reeder, Joseph Clark, and Ezekiel Lamard, were appointed to fix the valuation of the ground. William Darling was surveyor; Jeremiah Brand and Joseph Ward, senior chain carriers; and Na- thaniel Ross, senior marker.
The plat of Madisonville was not recorded until May 27, 1829. The village was incorporated under the old law, about ten years afterwards-March 16, 1839; and under the present State constitution, a certificate of in- corporation was filed with the secretary of State, Febru- ary II, 1876.
The growth of the town was naturally slow, in its early day, under the circumstances of its inland position and the absence of means of rapid transit to the city; and it had but two hundred and eighty-five inhabitants, or a little more than one-tenth the population of the entire township in 1830. In 1841 it received notice in the State Gazette as containing four hundred inhabitants, with one hundred dwellings, five stores, one brick meet- ing-house, a two-story school-house, a brick seminary or academy, and a daily mail. Its largest growth has been received since the completion of the Marietta & Cin- cinnati railroad in 1866, which induced a considerable emigration from the city to a place possessing so many superior advantages for suburban residence. It is fifteen miles from the Madisonville station to the depot of this road in Cincinnati.
The first church organized here was of the Methodist Episcopal faith, and the Madison circuit was organized at least as long ago as 1820. In that year Elder Henry Baker and Rev. William H. Raper were appointed to it; in 1821 Elder A. Wiley and William P. Quinn; the next year, James Jones and James Murray; the next, J. Stew- art and Nehemiah B. Griffith; and the next, Elder John F. Wright and Thomas Hewson. Those were days of rapid rotation in the Methodist ministry. A new church was built by the Madisonville society in 1857, forty by sixty feet, with four hundred sittings, and costing ten thousand dollars. It was long the only Protestant church building in town. A parsonage has since been added, worth about five thousand dollars.
The Catholic church is built upon the addition made to the town by its former pastor, the Rev. Father A. Walburg, who reserved a lot for it and a parochial school, and also bore the major part of the expense of its construction-about fourteen thousand dollars. It is known as St. Anthony's church, and the congregation is now ministered to by the Rev. H. Stoppelman.
Other and generally prosperous societies in Madison- ville are the Literary and Musical association, the Young Folks' Benevolent society, for literary and social culture, and to provide for the poor; the Free and Accepted Masons, and the Odd Fellows, who are strong here, and own a property of an estimated value of fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. The most notable institution, how-
35
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
ever, is the Literary and Scientific society, which, as in- dicated above, is really doing quite remarkable work in the department of archaeology. April 1, 1879, the work upon ancient remains in the ancient cemetery near Lin- wood, which had previously been done somewhat irregu- larly by individuals, was systematically undertaken by this society. The expense of investigation is now shared by the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, and the collections made are divided between the societies. The late Professor E. B. Andrews, who was proficient in these matters, expressed the view that the discoveries in this cemetery would direct attention to a new line of in- vestigation, and that explorations for the remains of these prehistoric people would not in the future be con- fined to opening mounds. The officers of the society in 1880 were: H. B. Whetsel, president; S. F. Coving- ton, vice-president; E. A. Conkling, treasurer; Charles F. Low, secretary ; Charles L. Metz, M. D., superintend- ent.
Madisonville was incorporated as a village in the year 1876. The first officers were Louis W. Clason, mayor; Calvin Fay, clerk; George J. Settle, marshal; Timothy Maphet, W. W. Peabody, Michael Buckel, William Settle, James Julien, and Louis Cornwelle, councilmen. The place had one thousand two hundred and forty- seven inhabitants by the census of 1880.
MONTAUK.
This village is eligibly situated at the bridge connect- ing the station on the Little Miami railroad nearest to Milford, Clermont county, with Milford. It is in the northeast corner of fractional section twenty-three, on the Little Miami river and railroad, and within half a mile of Camden City. It was laid out in 1840, while the railroad was in progress, by Messrs. Joseph Long- worth, Larz Anderson, R. M. Shoemaker, and L. E. Brewster.
MOUNT LOOKOUT.
This is a pleasant suburban locality, just at the north- west corner of the city, where the Observatory of the University of Cincinnati is situated, on the road from Walnut Hills, Woodburn, and O'Bryanville to the Red Bank station. The Mt. Lookout building association, for the improvement and development of this suburb, was incorporated June 10, 1871. It has a fine pleasure- park, owned by a private company; and a new Method- ist Episcopal church was put up in the vicinity, in the fall and early winter of 1880, and dedicated December 5th of that year, with services by Bishops Wiley and Warren.
NORWOOD.
This beautiful and noted suburb was formerly known in part as Sharpsburgh. It is on the Montgomery turn- pike, and the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, in the northwest part of section thirty-tour, near the west line of the township. Some of the ground near, as that upon which the celebrated mound is situated (Norwood Heights), is among the most elevated in the county. It was projected in 1870 by some well-known residents and Cincinnatians-Colonel P. P. Lane, Judge James
Mccullough, S. H. Parvin, the well-known advertising agent, Samuel Bolles, and Moses Buxton. Eighty-two acres were laid off in spacious and elegant building tracts of one to six acres; and the quarter of an acre containing the mound was sacredly reserved, after the praiseworthy precedent set to all who appreciate the value of all such interesting relics of antiquity, by the colonists of Marietta.
For many years Judge McCullough was accustomed, with the annual recurrence of Independence day, to in- vite large parties to the free use of his house and beauti- ful grounds at Norwood, serving them also a generous and gratuitous collation.
OAKLEY.
This place, a mile and a half south-southwest of Nor- wood, and something less from the northwest corner of Cincinnati, being just a mile from the Observatory, be- gan to be considered a suburb of considerable impor- tance by 1867, soon after the completion of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad. It was not regularly laid out, however, until-1870, when Mr. Theodore Drake had the place surveyed and platted. It is beautifully situated upon the railroad named, upon the margin of the great interior valley mentioned in our description of the town- ship, and is also conveniently reached by the Madison .
pike, being only five miles from the county court house, in the city. Its site was formerly owned by Anthony Brown, who sold it to Paul Shuster. Among its flour- ishing institutions have been the Literary and Musical society, and the Oakley Coterie. By the census of 1880 the village had two hundred inhabitants.
PLAINVILLE
is a popular country village and suburb of Cincinnati, on fractional section three, almost due north of Newton, in Anderson township, with which it is connected by a sub- stantial wagon and foot bridge, an excellent road, and a plank sidewalk about a mile long. It is also on the Lit- tle Miami river, the railroad along the same, and the Cincinnati and Wooster turnpike. It was laid out in 1853, by Edward P. Cranch, Nelson Cross, and A. R. Spofford. By the tenth census it had two hundred peo- ple.
PLEASANT RIDGE.
This is the northernmost village in the township, except Madeira station, from which it is distant, straight across the country, about four miles. It is on the south side of section thirty, a mile from the northern township line and a mile and a half from the western. The Montgom- ery pike intersects it about two miles northeast of Nor- wood and five miles from Montgomery ; and it is also in- tersected by the old Columbia and Reading road, thus making an important "cross-roads of the village. It be- came a post office as early as 1832. The characteris- tics of the place, physical and other, are well indicated by its name.
This is an ancient neighborhood for white settlement. In 1791 or '92 one of the Columbia pioneers named Ferris, father of A. W. Ferris, of Montgomery station, cut his way through the woods from Columbia to this
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
vicinity, where he encamped in the primeval forest until he could build a cabin and block-house. He paid two dollars an acre for the land he bought here. Among other early settlers was James C. Wood, of New Jersey, who planted his stakes at the homestead afterward occu- pied by his son. John C., W. R., and W. W. Wood, after the death of Jaines C. Wood, made a subdivision of the estate.
Pleasant Ridge was made a place of rendezvous dur- ing the Mexican war for the troops enlisted from that place, Montgomery, Newton, and other places. Some even from Cincinnati joined in the assemblies, parades and drills there.
The church history of this town has some points of interest. The Presbyterian society was formed about the time of the resignation of Rev. James Kemper from the pastorate of the Cincinnati and Columbia churches, Oct- ober 7, 1796, and the division of the Columbia branch into the Duck Creek and Round Bottom churches. The Pleasant Ridge church was originally the former, and re- tained its euphonious designation until 1818, when the name was exchanged for that now borne. The Rev. Mr. Kemper, the pioneer preacher in Cincinnati, was the first settled pastor here, serving the people faithfully about ten years. The Rev. Daniel Hayden then labored with this people, and was ordained and installed pastor of this and the Hopewell churches November 17, 1810, which he served till his death, August 27, 1835. The Rev. Dr. J. G. Montfort, in his historical discourse on Presbyteri- anism North of the Ohio, says of this minister:
.
Mr. Hayden was a plain and modest man, with a distinct utterance and great fluency, though his voice lacked melody and sweetness. He was a man of eminent ability. Dr. Wilson esteemed him as one of the ablest men of the church, and so he was generally regarded.
His successors were: Rev. Samuel J. Miller, seven years; Rev. Edward Wright, ten years; Rev. J. K. Burch one year; Rev. Samuel Hair, five years; Rev. Simeon Brown (as stated supply), two years; J. P. Vandyke, four years; James McKee, four years ; and Rev. I .. A. Aldrich.
At first the society worshipped in a log building, to which a frame addition was made. This house was lo- cated south of the present site of Pleasant Ridge, and upon Duck creek. The presbytery of Transylvania, under whose jurisdiction the church was, had forbidden it to build nearer than five miles from Cincinnati. Then came, in the fullness of time, a substantial brick house, thirty-six by fifty, built by Bartholomew Fowler and Wil- liam Baxter. This was occupied by the Presbyterians and at times by other denominations about forty years, or until 1870, when it gave way to the present handsome structure, which was dedicated September 12, 1870. The venerable General James Sampson, who had been a mem- ber of the church nearly fifty years, served as master of ceremonies on this interesting occasion. The Pleasant Ridge church is the oldest now surviving in the Miami country, except the First Presbyterian of Cincinnati.
It may be here remarked that the other fragment of the Columbia church, that at Round Bottom, was minis- tered to during its earliest years by the Rev. Mr. Kem- per, who divided his labors between this and the Duck
Creek church for some years. In October, 1801, how- ever, he seems to have been preaching at Duck Creek and Sycamore (afterwards Hopewell), near Montgomery, and not at Round Bottom. But little is known of the subsequent history of this church, which finally disap- pears from the church records in 1849.
The Baptist people of Pleasant Ridge had originally their membership in the old Duck Creek Baptist church, the pioneer Protestant church of the Northwest Territory. The society here was organized in 1856, and built its present meeting-honse three years afterwards, at a cost of three thousand five hundred dollars. It has the only church bell in the village. The Rev. B. F. Harmon, now of Mount Washington, ministered to the church here for many years. The Methodist Episcopal church was also built in 1859, at a cost of three thousand dollars.
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