USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 88
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This mansion is said to have been then the most spa- cious and commodious in the State. It was destroyed, however, in March, 1811, as was believed by the torch of the incendiary; and with it a large number of papers relating to his transactions in the Purchase, including the certificates of the original proprietors of Cincinnati, upon which the judge had executed deeds to the pur- chasers of lots, and the loss of which was irreparable. Of some of the papers duplicates were in existence; but the destruction of his files gave the judge infinite trouble, and aided to embarrass and embitter his closing years. Suspicion of the incendiarism rested upon a man named Hart, residing near North Bend, who was known to be a violent enemy of Judge Symmes-simply, it is said, be- cause of the judge's refusal or neglect to vote for him when a candidate for justice of the peace. Hart was
arrested, indicted, and tried; but, although the evidence against him seemed strong, and most of the North Bend people believed in his guilt, he was acquitted by the jury. The judge died in Cincinnati in 1814. His will may be found, with other related matter, in our annals of the city for that year. His remains were brought back to North Bend, in accordance with his wish, and buried in the cemetery, about a mile southeast of his former residence. The inscription on the tablet in the brickwork above his grave is as follows :
Here rest the remains of John Cleves Symmes, who, at the foot of these hills, made the first settlement between the Miami rivers. Born on Long Island, in the State of New York, July 21, A. D., 1742. Died at Cincinnati, February 26, A. D. 1814.
One of Judge Symmes' sons-in-law, as before men- tioned, was the distinguished general and afterward Pres- ident of the United States, William Henry Harrison. He also came, after his marriage with Miss Annie Symmes, to reside in North Bend, which is now only known to the world at large as the place of his residence and burial. The famous "log cabin" of the Presidential campaign of 1840 was located here; but that, as usually pictured in the newspapers and on banners and transpar- encies at that time, was a myth, originating, it is said, in the sneer of a writer for a Baltimore Democratic paper at the general as a dweller in a log cabin. A part of the Harrison mansion was, indeed, originally built of logs; but a large frame structure was subsequently added, and the whole clapboarded and painted white, making a com- fortable, and for the time a quite superb mansion. It has long since disappeared, except the excavation for a cellar; and some remains of the flower garden and other improvements may still be traced upon the grounds, which have been abandoned since the fire. The large farm formerly cultivated by the general in the vicinity has also passed to other hands, and his descendants have disappeared from the region, except a granddaughter, Mrs. Betty Eaton, daughter of the Hon. John Scott Harrison, who resides with her little family half a mile from the village, on heights commanding, probably, the finest view in Hamilton county, extending into three river valleys and three States.
Harrison married Miss Symmes in November, 1795. The tradition goes that the father opposed the match, and that the young couple were obliged to slip away from her home to the residence of Dr. Stephenwood, one of the justices of the peace for the county, near the subse- quent site of Cleves, where they were married without the presence of the father. The tomb of the general and ex-President, as is well known, is on the heights back of North Bend, west of the tunnel formerly used by the Whitewater canal and now used by the Indianapolis railroad. It is a plain mausoleum of brick work, suita- bly inscribed. For a time it fell into neglect, and be- came somewhat dilapidated; but has been restored of late years, and is now in good repair.
Among other notable early settlers was Brice Virgin, who was made a captain in the militia in 1790, among the first appointments by Governor St. Clair, upon the erection of Hamilton county. He afterwards removed to Princeton, Butler county, where he died.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
Among the early ministers who preached to the peo- ple at North Bend, were the Revs. John Tanner, of Turner's Station (now Petersburgh), Kentucky, and Lewis Dewees, also of Kentucky, who officiated from time to time during the years 1792 to 1804. Each of these was a Baptist, as was also the celebrated Rev. and Senator John Smith, of Columbia and Cincinnati. The Rev. James Kemper, Presbyterian, also sometimes came out from Cincinnati and preached. About 1804 Rev. M. Oglesby, of the Methodist Episcopal church, preached here, and afterwards Rev. John Langdon, of the same. In the early day, the male worshippers here, as at Columbia and Cincinnati, always went to church armed.
North Bend village proper, has had no large growth, and is now simply a moderate cluster of houses at the original site. A large town plat, however, known by the same name, has been laid out for more than three miles along the river, with a width of about two-thirds of a mile west of North Bend station, and over two miles east of it-that is, three sections wide, and extending back from the river something more than half a mile at the station to very nearly two miles on the eastern boun- dary, which intersects the river half a mile above the mouth of Muddy creek. The site thus comprises one thousand four hundred and forty-eight acres. Several railway stations-as Shuts, named from the Hon. John Cleves Shut, son of Payton Shut, and grandson of Judge Symmes, whose decendants live here; also Dev- ins's and Griffiths' stations, are within the North Bend corporation. The certificate of its incorporation, for special purposes was filed with the secretary of State, August 25, 1874. The village had four hundred and twelve inhabitants by the last census.
SUGAR CAMP SETTLEMENT.
A little colony bearing this name is remarked in the Ohio Historical Collections as having been founded about the same time as North Bend, three miles down the river froin that place and two miles from the Indiana line, upon the farm of W. H. Harrison, jr. It had at one time about thirty houses, but afterwards became ex- tinct. The block-house built in the early day for the protection of the settlers was still standing in 1847, but was much dilapidated and did not last a great while longer. A figure of it as it then appeared is given in the collections.
CLEVES.
This place standing upon or very near the large tract covered by the "City of Miami" plat, a mile north of the present North Bend station and on the Great Miami river, was originally called Clevestown, and bore that, as well as it bears its present name, in honor of the ma- ternal branch of the Symmes family, from whom the judge and many others derived in part their given names. It was laid out by General Harrison in 1818, the re- corded plat bearing date November 7th of that year. In 1830 it had one hundred and ten inhabitants; fifty years later, by the tenth census, it had eight hundred and thirty-six. Notwithstanding its comparatively light pop-
ulation, it has a large corporate limit, including nearly an entire section, or five hundred and ninety-five acres. It was incorporated for general purposes March 17, 1875.
The post office at this point has done duty at times during the decadence of North Bend, for both that place and its own. Under the presidency of General Harrison Mr. J. M. Runyan was postmaster. His successors were Thomas Archer, James Carlin, George Cassady, Mr. Crofoot, and Charles Ruffen, the last named of whom now holds the post.
The most notable event in the history of Cleves was the anti-slavery agitation of nearly forty years ago, which resulted in serious disturbances at this place. The fol- lowing account of them appears in the Life of Senator Thomas Morris, formerly of Hamilton and then of Cler- mont county, by his son B. F. Morris :
Cleves, in Hamilton county, Ohio, was the scene of violent resist- ance to free discussion. In the spring of 1843 the pastor of the Presbyterian church, Rev. Mr. Scofield, and a majority of his flock called a meeting for free discussion on slavery. Samuel Lewis, Jon- athan Blanchard, now president of the Galesburgh college, Illinois, and Thomas Morris, whose manly voice for freedom, integrity of prin- ciples, and firmness of character, have enrolled his name among the early champions of free speech and free soil, were the speakers.
A mob was organized and a riot threatened. A number ef students from Lane seminary went down with the speakers. Landing at North Bend they passed the mansion and tomb of the lamented General Har- rison, on their way to the church. The doors of the meeting-house were barred against the friends of freedom. Prominent and influential men were with the rabble that prevented the convention from occupy- ing the meeting-house. The convention, thus forbid to enter the house, occupied the road in front. Rev. S. Lewis, an able and faithful laborer in the cause of freedom, recently gone to an honored grave, kneeled on the ground and offered a most solemn and impressive prayer. For a moment the rioters were palsied in their nefarious operation. One of them often said, "That prayer I shall never for- get." An infidel was converted, and "the wrath of man was thus made to praise God," and advance the cause of freedom.
At the invitation of Richard Hughes, a ruling elder in the Presby- terian church of Berea, a mile distant from Cleves, the convention met at that church and held its sessions two days. The impression of that convention abides to this day; fires were kindled that are burning brighter and brighter.
The Cleves rioters, not satisfied with driving the convention from the village, smashed the windows of the meeting-house, mobbed the house of the pastor, threw his buggy into the canal, and shaved the tail of his horse. The perpetrators of these deeds of darkness chose the covert hour of night for their mob performances. They were of the baser sort in the community, but were instigated and backed by quite a number of those of reputation. These mob scenes created an era in the history of that region and will be long remembered.
A more detailed and very interesting narative of the same transaction is given in the life of Samuel Lewis, who was also of the party of visitors and speakers at the meeting, a biography also written by a son :
Mr. Lewis was again at work in the spring and summer of 1843 laboring and speaking in behalf of the liberty party and of the slave. A meeting was appointed in Cleves, one and a half miles north of North Bend, and care was taken to ask and receive consent of the elders and trustees of the Presbyterian church; and notice was accordingly given. Judge Short and Dr. Thornton, relatives of the family of General Harri- son, as well as J. Scott Harrison, son of General Harrison, and now mem- ber of Congress from that district, took umbrage at the project of an anti-slavery meeting so near their homes and expressed themselves in the strongest terms against the sitting of the convention in that place. The consequence was that a violent excitement soon prevailed in the vicinity, and threats of violence were made by vicious and irresponsible persons.
As it was understood that these threats would not influence the with- drawal of the appointment, a public meeting was called at which it was
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
resolved that for the purpose of maintaining peace and good order dur- ing the present excited state of the community, a committee of seven be appointed by the chair, whose duty it shall be to repair to the church on the seventh instant, and quietly and peacefully remonstrate with those who may present themselves as Abolitionists against the use of the church for the dissemination of their doctrines.
The seventh being come, some fifty persons went down from Cincin- nati to meet those who might assemble. Mr. Lewis was early on the spot from another direction. When he arrived there, some time before the coming of the city delegation, he was advised by a personal friend by no means to venture to show himself at the church, as he could not do so without danger of extreme personal violence. He replied that "the danger he spoke of was the very reason why he should be there; that when there was no difficulty and danger in proclaiming the prin- ciples of freedom he would then leave the work to others and rest in the comforts of the family and home, with which God had blessed him."
As the anti-slavery men presently came up the street toward the door of the church, Mr. J. Scott Harrison stood forward in the crowd (and such a crowd ! made up of boys and half-grown men, with a few of those who did not advocate the doctrines of the Washingtonians), that awaited us at the door of the house, and stated "that he was there in behalf of a committee appointed by a meeting of the citizens of Miami township, to protest against that church being occupied by the conven- tion;" giving as a reason that " the citizens of Miami township were be- lieved to be generally opposed to the doctrines of the Abolitionists, not one in seven favored their incendiary doctrines, and they did not wish their peace disturbed by them; and if they attempted to hold a meet- ing there for the dissemination of these doctrines they could not be re- sponsible for the consequences. But they prayed that the proceedings might not end in violence."
Mr. Lewis then followed him in a short and earnest address, and with visible effect. He said "he was there among others to advocate no principles but those of the gospel of Christ and the American declara- tion of rights. He defied him to find in the crowd six men who were opposed to us who could tell what Abolitionism was; and, as to threats of violence, if violence was threatened, there were men present who, if they were disposed to do so, could prevent it; that they, and they alone, would be held responsible by God, and an enlightened public, for any violence which might occur. He appealed to them, as one liv- ing in their midst, whose person and habits of life they well knew, and asked them whether it had come to this, that American citizens could no longer peaceably assemble and present their veiws to each other without being met at the threshold and threatened with violence, and for no other reason than that they were a minority, only one in seven!" Mr. Harrison, who withered sensibly under his earnest pathos and strong good sense, said that, if there were any persons present who had power to prevent meditated violence, he prayed Almighty God that they might exercise that power.
Rev. J. Blanchard, after a few moments more of conversation, pro- posed that the people present should say, by dividing to the right and left, whether they would have the discussion or not. This he recom- mended as a peace measure, as in no ways declaring the right to prevent a minority from discussion. The people divided as requested, and a clear majority appeared in favor of the discussion, Mr. J. Scott Harri- son not voting at all. The free discussion party, of course, embraced all the men of good sense, and all the ladies present, one of whom, a pious old resident of the place, quietly remarked : "Ah, well, I heard tell of the separation of the sheep from the goats, but I never expected to live to see it."
The left hand multitude were indeed a most forlorn-looking set. Long, lank boys, crooked, and sallow, and thin, most of them carrying clubs, with here and there a rusty musket, their cheeks distended with tobacco and their mouth resembling the closely drawn pouch of the opossum, enameled brown with the juice of the same-their rags and their rage together gave them quite a unique and comical appearance, which fully justified the Scriptural allusion of the pious old lady.
Mr. Lewis called to the chairman to stand forward and see how the vote stood. Mr. J. Scott Harrison answered from a distance that he had done his duty and could do nothing more, and made off as rapidly as he was able. His associates, of whom he was evidently ashamed, remained behind to disturb the meeting ; and the meeting itself, being invited to another place a short distance off, they repaired thither and held their convention. First, however, they sang "How firm a founda- tion," etc., and then Mr. Lewis led in prayer in the open street. That prayer, offered as it was in the very face of men of blood and violence, whose clubs were ready to be drawn over his head, and whose brows were lowering with the rage that maddened them, that very prayer led more than half a score to truth and liberty. Even the hymn rang in the ears of Mr. J. Scott Harrison for months, according to his own contes- sion. More than forty persons avowed themselves liberty men, with the venerable Judge Matson at their head.
FERN BANK,
a place of suburban residence, laid out on the north side of the railways, in the southwest part of section one, be- tween Riverdale and Short's station, just outside the lim- its of North Bend corporation.
GRAVEL PIT,
a station now little used, on the Ohio & Mississippi rail- road, about two and a half miles southwest of North Bend, near Fort Hill, named from the extensive deposit of gravel here opened for the ballasting of the railway tracks. It was the scene of stirring times at one period during the war. In the early part of September, 1862, during the so-called siege of Cincinnati by Generals Kir- by Smith and Heath, a battalion of Squirrel Hunters was ordered here to guard a ford across the Ohio-it be- ing a season of very low water-against the possible crossing of a force of rebel cavalry. The Squirrel Hunt- ers remained until the sixteenth of September, when they were relieved by the Nineteenth Michigan infantry, a new regiment, which had just been ordered to the field. It encamped at first between the station and the river, and then on the higher ground above the station for two or three weeks, without special incident, and then re- turned to Cincinnati and advanced into Kentucky.
POPULATION.
Miami township had two thousand three hundred and seventeen inhabitants by the census of 1880; one thou- sand five hundred and forty-nine by that of 1830, just fifty years before.
MILL CREEK.'
GEOGRAPHY AND BEGINNINGS.
The present township of Mill Creek is bounded on the south by the city of Cincinnati, on the east by Columbia township, on the north by Springfield township, and on the west by Green township. It is named from the stream which flows through it from northeast to southwest, almost bisecting the township. The Indian name of this creek was Mah-pet-e-wa. The shape of the township would be a regular parallelogram, six sec- tions long by four broad, but for a little more than a quarter section, still belonging to Mill Creek township, projected by the Avondale corporation south of the north line of the city, between Corryville and Woodburn, and for the projection of the city into the township, in its turn, about two miles and a half, by the annexation of Cumminsville. The present acreage of Mill Creek, originally very nearly an entire surveyed township, is but eleven thousand, seven hundred and ninety nine, of which almost one-third is covered by village sites, leaving but eight thousand and ninety-seven acres in strictly rural districts.
Previous to 1810 the inhabitants of this territory were partly under the jurisdiction of Cincinnati and Springfield townships; but in 1809, upon the petition of the com- missioners of Hamilton county, Mill Creek township was set off upon that part of the Symmes purchase known as fractional range two, township three. A glance at the Symmes plat shows that this township then contained nearly thirty-six sections (square miles), the fractional sections being numbers one and seven on the Ohio river. Its southern line was on the parallel along which now runs Liberty street, Cincinnati.
The first election for township officers was ordered by the county commissioners for February, 1810, at the house of Peter Mays. Since then Cincinnati has encroached up- on the southern part of the township, taking into the city two rows of sections (twelve square miles). Cummins- ville has also been taken into the corporation of Cincin- nati, so that Mill Creek township proper now contains something less than twenty-two square miles.
The surface of Mill Creek township is hilly in the western part, the level lands lying along the creek and to the east upon low hills. Of the grand old forests, be- neath whose shade the Indians roamed in freedom, not more than a thousand acres remain, the rest having been long since cleared away to give place to the farms, gardens, and busy corporations which cover the land.
Soon after the organization of Hamilton county, in January, 1790, so great was the influx of pioneers and adventurers from abroad, that Cincinnati, cramped in by the towering hills, as the village was, could give neither employment nor subsistence to the people, and it became a practical question with many, whether to remain and starve in sight of Fort Washington or fight their way to the north, through woods, wolves, and Indians. Many chose the latter alternative, and the rapidity with which the pioneers extended themselves north from Cincinnati to the Great Miami is easily accounted for.
The campaigns of Harmar in 1790, of St. Clair in 1791, and of Wayne in 1794, were all planned in Cin- cinnati, and the expeditions were composed, to some ex- tent, of men from Columbia, Cincinnati, and North Bend, together with many from Kentucky. The soldiers went on foot and on horseback. The right wing of the armies extended as far east as the present Lebanon pike, while the centre and left wings moved north on the present Hamilton pike, reaching towards the west to Mill creek and to the foot of the hills beyond. Upon these expeditions those who were fortunate enough to return had ample opportunity to acquaint themselves with the lay of farm lands, the supply of water for mill purposes, the location of springs and stone quarries, the best sites for buildings, natural means of defence; and also the shortest and safest communication with the parent settlements. So strongly did the beauty and ad- vantages of the Mill Creek valley impress the early sur- veyors, the hunters, and the soldiers, that within three years from the first landing at Columbia in 1788, Lud- low's station and mill, at the second crossing of Mill creek, with White's and Caldwell's block-houses and mills at Carthage, offered both protection and subsistence to all who were pushing towards the present sites of Hamilton and Dayton.
A good notion, as to the rapid settlement of the town- ships north of those on the Ohio, may be gained from a few statements. In June, 1790, a force of one hundred and forty men landed at Cincinnati and commenced the erection of Fort Washington on the spot afterwards made classic by the bazaar of Mistress Trollope. In December of the same year General Harmar came with more troops, increasing the garrison to four hundred and forty, and these, with the "eleven families and twenty- four batchelors," made up the population of the village. In 1798 (October 29th) Governor St. Clair gave notice to James Smith, sheriff of the county, requiring the free male inhabitants of the townships to meet and elect representatives to serve in the territorial assembly. This
*The material for this chapter has been supplied very largely through the intelligent industry of Thomas M. Dill, esq., of Carthage, and much of it is given in his own words.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
election was held on the third Monday in December of the same year, when four hundred and fifty-six voters were enrolled.
In the governor's proclamation he states that "suffi- cient proof has been given me that there is a much greater number than five thousand free male inhabitants" in the district. In the following year the population had increased so much as to entitle the people to two more representatives, and an election was held September 12, 1799, at which five hundred and thirty-six votes were cast. From 1800 to 1805 Cincinnati's population in- creased two hundred, while near twenty-five thousand immigrants passed on into the upper counties.
In 1840 the population of Mill Creek township was six thousand two hundred and forty-nine, and forty years later, at present date, it is but one thousand two hundred and thirty-five.
Previous to 1810 the history of the people who inhab- ited Mill Creek township is inseparable from that of Cin- cinnati. Before the sales of lands by Judge Symmes, in what is now Mill Creek township, adventurers would slip out from Cincinnati, put up rude cabins, clear little patches of ground, make war on wolves and wildcats and maintain a precarious existence until driven back to shelter under Fort Washington. These hunters and squatters frequently entered parts of sections as "actual volunteer settlers," and sometimes laid claim to the For- feit Corners by right of occupancy. As early as 1795 purchasers from Symmes would find their deeds scoffed at by prior claimants, who had manufactured titles by starvation, peril, and perhaps blood-letting, which titles were assigned from one to another, until claim and pos- session were determined and given by the courts of law. Abstracts of title in the Miami purchase date back to the first sales by John Cleves Symmes, but from 1788 until final purchasers received their deeds, perfected in full possession. Beyond the purchasers of the original Symmes sections in range two, township three, were many men and women who labored, suffered, and died in obscurity. Their lives were unwritten, and now, when the laborer's spade or ploughman's share turns out their skeletons, our inquiries start, but no answer will ever come to tell us who they were.
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