USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 25
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
from east to west being now from two and a half to three miles. Its width is not so great, though the upper part of the city extends northward more than a mile from the Ohio.
As soon as the Scribners were ready for the sale of lots, they issued the following in the form of a poster or hand-bill :
"NEW ALBANY.
"This town is just laid out, with spacious streets, public squares, markets, etc. It is situated on the bank of the Ohio river, al the crossing place from Louisville to Vincennes, about two miles below the falls, in the Indiana Territory, and affords a beautiful and commodious harbor. The beauty of the prospect is not surpassed by any in the western country. The bank adjoining the river is high, and not subject to in- undations. At the distance of six hundred and sixty feet back from the bank is a second rise of about twenty feet, from which there is an extensive view up and down the river. There is a sufficient number of excellent and never-failing springs for the supplying of any number of inhabitants.
"These advantages, together with that of the country around being dry and clear of any stagnant waters, being a sufficient distance below the Falls to avoid the fogs and any noxious exhalement arising therefrom in the warin season, and the winds generally blowing up the river at that time, are a sufficient reason to induce a belief of the healthfulness of the situation.
" The advantages New Albany has in point of trade are perhaps unrivaled by any town on the Ohio, as it is im- mediately below all the dangers which boats and ships are subject to in passing over the Falls, and is the only eligible situation for a depot for all the exports and imports of a great part of the territory, and may export and import while the river is low and the market good, as well as when the river is high.
,"From the vast quantity of excellent ship-timber, the great abundance of iron ore within a few miles, and the facility with which hemp is raised, it is presumed this will be one of the best ports in the United States for the building of vessels as well as the loading of them. The erection of a .
saw-mill to go by steam is contemplated this fall, and a grist- and flour-mill next summer.
" Lots will be sold at auction on the first Tuesday and Wednesday in November next. The terms of payment will be one-fourth ready money, and the remainder in three an- nual installments, to be secured by deed of trust or otherwise; one-fourth part of each payment to be paid into the hands of trustees (to be chosen by the purchasers) until such payments shall amount to $5,000, the interest of which to be applied to the use of schools in the town for the use of its inhabitants forever.
"Manufactories of iron, cotton, hemp, wool, etc., are much wanted, as is all kinds of mechanism. " THE PROPRIETORS.
" New Albany, July 8, 1813."
It will be seen by the above advertisement what inducement the Scribners were enabled to hold out to settlers in their town, and what their own ideas of its future was. The "sufficient number of excellent springs " proved more valu- able than they probably then supposed. This
spring water seems to lie underneath the entire city at a distance of twenty-five to thirty feet, and the water is pure and exhaustless. Without doubt, however, there were swamps and more or less malaria about New Albany, as in every new, uncleared, and uncultivated country. The Whitehill tract, now built over by beautiful residences and by business and manufacturing establishments, was at that time densely wooded and contained more or less swampy ground, which so remained for long years afterwards, to the great detriment of the health of the city. There were also spots of marshy ground to the north of the plat, some of which have not yet en- tirely disappeared. Like every other new place in the West, it was for many years an unhealthy town, but is now, and has been for years, per- haps as healthy a location as any on the river.
The circular, it will be noticed, sets forth the great advantages of the place as a trading point, and its brilliant prospects commercially. In this the proprietors did not exaggerate, and have not probably been greatly disappointed, as it grew rapidly into a manufacturing city, and still con- tinues such; but the circular indicates that the proprietors supposed that New Albany would become headquarters for much of the river trade below, as well as a great shipping point for pro- duce bound down the river, on account of being located below the falls. At the time the town was laid out but one steamboat, the "Orleans," had passed down the river, and although it was sup- posed the Ohio would become the great highway of commerce, it was also thought that the falls would be an insurmountable barrier, and that the commerce of the river would divide at this point, Louisville getting the up-river business, and New Albany all that below the falls. This beautiful air-castle, however, vanished with the completion of the Louisville and Portland canal, which passes around the falls, thus enabling the largest steamboats with their cargoes to pass in safety. The canal was not expected nor thought of when New Albany was laid out, hence there was much calculation on a great city that could never be realized. .
The quantity and quality of ship-timber found on the Silver hills caused New Albany to be- come an important ship-building point, as will be seen in another chapter.
According to announcement the sale of lots
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
took place on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of the following November. The deed, however, for the land upon which the town was platted was not made to the Scribners by John Paul until October 13, 1813.
The following extraccs are from the manu- script of William A. Scribner:
During the summer of 1813 they had a number of men hired to cut and clear the plat, build cabins, and grub under- growth, especially on the streets, and the proprietors began the building of a steam saw-mill, and afterward connected a grist-mill with it. This mill was on the lot where the foundry of Lent, South & Shipman now stands.
[The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis station has since occupied this site].
Of the other buildings, one among the first after the family residence was a large square cabin for a school-house on one of the four public squares of the town on each side of the in- tersection of State and Spring streets, not far from where the court-house now stands, which said building was also occu- pied frequently for a meeting-house uutil we could build a larger one.
The first public sale of lots in the town of New Albany took place on the 2d and 3d davs of November, by which time there were several log-cabin residences along down Main street from the one we occupied, reaching as far down, perhaps, as Lower Second street, and in the course of the summer quite a number of families had moved in.
The first lot sold at the above-mentioned sale was to William B. Summers, and the deed ap- pears by the records in the recorder's office to have been placed there November 15, 1813. It was lot number nine on Upper Main street, at the southeast corner of Upper Main and Pearl streets. Its size was sixty by one hundred and twenty feet, and the price paid for it was two hundred and fifty dollars, "lawful money of the United States." The lots next recorded are those of David Poor, six in number. These lots were located as follows: Lot two, on the north- west corner of State and Water streets; lot six, on the northeast corner of Water and Lower First streets ; lot two, Lower Market street, north side from the alley to the corner of Lower First street ; and lots two, four, and six, Lower First street, west side, from the Plummer property to the alley, between Main and Water streets. The price paid by Poor for these lots was seven hundred and twenty-five dollars. A considerable number of lots were disposed of at that time.
THE NEW ALBANY PIONEERS.
The following names appear among the earliest settlers of the town: Francis A. Hutcherson, from Kentucky, 1815; Stephen Seabrook and his two sons, 1814; Samuel Marsh, 1814; -
Hopson, 1812; - McCleary, 1812; James Crook, 1815; John Jones, 1816; James Mc- Afee, -; James R., Henry B., and Pleasant . S. Shields, 1817; David Hedden, 1817; Green H. Neil, 1817; Howell Wells, 1817; Matthew Robison, 1817; John Nicholson, 1810; Dr. Ashel Clapp, 1818; and John K. Graham. These are in addition to the Scribners, and those already mentioned. Of these, only David Hed- den and Daniel Seabrook, one of the sons of Stephen Seabrook, are now living. The latter resides on Main street, and is a fine specimen of the early pioneers of New Albany. He has seen nearly a century on earth, but yet meets his friends with a cordial shake of the hand, a smile, and a cheerful "good-day." His step is remark- ably firm for one of his age, his complexion clear, and eye bright, giving evidence of a well-spent life ; but his speech gives evidence of age.
The following is clipped from the New Albany Ledger as some of the early recollections of Daniel Seabrook:
August 26, 1814, New Albany, then a village of six log houses, received three emigrants whom the villagers welcomed with the greatest cordiality. These were Stephen Seabrook, Daniel Seabrook, and Samuel Marsh, Sr. They came over the mountains from New Jersey to Pittsburg, where they took passage on a flat-boat for Cincinnati. At Cincinnati they purchased a small skiff, and in this they descended the Ohio to Louisville. Stephen and Daniel Seabrook came over the falls in the skiff to New Albany, while Mr. Marsh walked down on the Indiana side from Jeffersonville, then a village six years old.
The next day after their arrival, Mr. Marsh and the Messrs. Seabrook purchased property. Mr. Marsh pur- chased two lots on Water street, running from Broadway eastward to the alley; the Seabrooks purchased the lot on Main street now occupied by Mr. Daniel Seabrook, and lying between West Second and Broadway. Upon this lot they built a residence, and on it Daniel Seabrook has resided con- tinuously for sixty-seven years.
When Mr. Seabrook arrived at New Albany, the village contained six log houses. The Scribners, the proprietors of the town, lived in a double cabin on the lot on Main street, between State and Pearl, now occupied by H. N. Devol's stove and tin-store. Work had been commenced that season on the present hotel building at the corner of Main and West First streets, by David Hale, which, when completed, was called "Hale's Tavern." This was the first frame house built in New Albany.
Mr. Seabrook worked at carpentering first, and afterward at boat-building. He worked upon the first steamboat built around the Falls of the Ohio. He prospered in his business, for he was industrious and frugal, and accumulated consider- able property. He says the first post-office in New Albany was established in 1814, and was kept in a cabin at the south- east corner of Main and State streets.
Daniel Seabrook is now in the ninety-second year of his
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
age. He is quite feeble, but cheerful and happy. He has seen a large and prosperous city grow up from the wilderness.
The writer of this further interviewed Mr. Sea- brook, and the following is the substance of what the veteran pioneer said regarding the early days of New Albany : The Seabrooks are from Monmouth county, New Jersey. Stephen and his two sons, Daniel and James, came here in 1814. James died in a few years after their ar- rival. The father bought a little property in the new town, and entered a quarter-section of land out on the Silver Hills, but did not stay long enough to becoine attached to the new country, and went back to his old home in New Jersey, where he staid until his death. His sons re- mained, but Daniel was soon left alone by the death of his brother. Daniel and James accom- panied their father, on his return journey, as far as Cincinnati, the journey being made on foot. Here they separated forever, and the two boys walked back to New Albany, where they rented a log cabin of the Scribners for two dollars per month, in which they lived until they could erecta cabin on the lots they had purchased. They built a hewed-log cabin down on the flat near the end of Lower Third street, which he says was the first of the kind in the place. There were five or six round-log cabins on Main street at the time, mostly built by the Scribners, for the temporary accommodation of the incoming settlers.
Joel Scribner was then building a double log house nearly opposite the stone bank on Main street. A little log building had been erected on the rear end of the same lot, in which the Scribners kept the post-office. The High Street house was being built at that time by David M. Hale, who married into the Scribner family, and when finished was known as "Hale's Tavern." Another cabin stood on Main street, on the op- posite side of the street from the Scribners, and a little further east. The man who lived in it kept a "doggery," and it was known as the "Lick." They were then engaged in cutting the timber out of Main street, and the stumps and logs were very thick, the latter being rolled to one side and piled upon either side of the road- way. Very little if any clearing had been done anywhere on the plat, except on Main street, and all the cabins on the plat stood on this street except a little one down by the river occu- pied by Stroud, the ferryman. The ferry landed
about where the upper ferry now lands, and con- sisted of a scow propelled by oars. The Scrib- ners afterward established a horse-ferry. It was constructed by fastening together two flat-boats or scows and laying a deck over both. They were placed far enough apart to admit a large wheel or propeller between them, in the center. This wheel was turned by horses working upon a tramp-wheel, such as was ordinarily used for grind- ing corn in those early days. John Nicholson, one of the earliest pioneers before mentioned, was the village wag. He could make more fun in the same space of time than any other man in the country. He happened on this ferry-boat one day, and finding on board a rather stolid- looking personage from some back county in Kentucky, he pretended that he was captain of the boat, and in conversation with the country- man ascertained that he was looking for some- thing to do, and offered him the position of "baller" on the ferry-boat. The man readily agreed for a stipulated price to occupy his time in bailing out the "captain's" leaky boat. The "captain" thereupon lifted the door or hatch that covered an opening between the two boats and set the young man to work with a pail to bail out the Ohio river. It is said the man worked some hours before he was made aware of the joke that had been played upon him.
Nicholson played a great many practical jokes, and was one Of the queer chaps of the village. When at a certain party all the young men were taken suddenly ill, it was generally believed that Nicholson had placed a little croton oil in the whiskey bottle, though cer- tainly nothing could be proven. He was an unmarried man for a good many years after he came to New Albany, but finally married at the age of forty. His wife had a hard time to get along, for John didn't believe in work; his constitution required an immense amount of rest. He could whittle store-boxes and tell stories with the best of them; kept a pack of hounds and several guns, and spent a great deal of time hunting, which, however, he never turned to any profit. His wife kept boarders down on the flat near the river. He came from Salt river, Ken- tucky, and was a stone-mason by trade, but sel- dom worked, remaining out in the woods often for several days at a time with his gun and dogs.
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
THE FIRST HOTEL.
Elihu Marsh, who had been here several years when Mr. Seabrook came, kept the first tavern in the new town, in a little log house on Main street, just east of the stone bank. Hale's tavern opened soon after.
In addition to the early settlers already named, Mr. Seabrook adds the following names: Elias Marsh, Mr. Genung, the blacksmith; Mr. Sproud, the ferryman; Henry Bogart, whose daughter, Mrs. Waring, yet resides in the city, and Benjamin Conner. Elias and Samuel Marsh were from Staten Island, and the former was the first blacksmith, and erected a hewed- log shop near where the Jeffersonville, Madison, & Indianapolis station now stands, in 1814, but before' he could get fairly to work he con- tracted the fever and ague from the malaria of the swampy bottom near the river. An Indian doctor came along, from whom he was induced to take some medicine, of which he died in about an hour. This was probably the first death in the town. Genung was the next blacksmith, and is well remembered by all the older settlers. He was a man of family, and lived on the bluff overlooking the river about the end of Upper Fifth or Upper Sixth street. Some of his descendants are yet living here.
Benjamin Conner had a family and lived in a cabın just north of the first plat of the town. His son Thomas became connected with the ferry, and in time accumulated considerable property out of the business. This family has been connected with the ferry from that time to the present, the name "Thomas Conner," ap- pearing on the steam ferry-boat now plying be- tween New Albany and Portland.
When Mr. Seabrook first came to the town he engaged in making oars and poles for propelling skiffs and flat-boats on the river. Considerable trading was then done with New Orleans by means of flat-boats or scows; no other means of transportation for heavy freight had been brought into use so far down the river. Parties would load a flat-boat with pork, flour, whisky, and the products of the chase, and transport the cargo to New Orleans for sale. These boats would carry fifty to seventy-five tons. After disposing of their cargo and boat in New Orleans, they would return on foot or by stage, or perhaps pur- chase a horse or mule to ride home. Sometimes
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the boat could not be sold or traded to advan- tage, and in such cases it was often brought back up the river by means of the poles and oars that Mr. Seabrook made. There was on each side of the flat-boat a board about a foot wide, called a "running board," upon which the men would walk in "poling" the boat. The poles were eighteen feet long, with a ball on the end to place against the shoulder in pushing the craft in coming up the river. The poleman would go to the bow and, standing on the running-board, strike the bottom of the river with one end of his pole, placing the other against his shoulder, and walk toward the stern, thus shoving the boat forward. When the water was too deep for poling, a party would go ahead with a skiff, carry- ing a line, which would be made fast to a tree on shore as far ahead as possible, and thus the boat would be drawn forward by this line. In this and various other ways the boat was slowly and toilfully worked back from New Orleans to New Albany, the journey often occupying three months or more. By keeping the boat closely to the shore, the pole could generally be used. This flat-boating, however, did not con- tinue many years before steamboats came into use and put an end, for the most part, to other neans of river transportation.
OTHER FIRST THINGS.
Mr. Seabrook thinks the first steamboat built here was the Ohio, constructed by Joseph Mc- Clarey for Captain Henry Shreve, in 1816. Roberts & Dehart built the second one the same year.
Paxson & Eastburn were about the first mer- chants, their store being on the corner of Main and Pearl streets.
The first brick house in the village was erected by Sproud, the ferryman, near the river. It was quite a small building, about fourteen feet square.
The Scribners built the first mill. It stood where the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapo- lis station now is.
Mr. Seabrook attended the first election held in the county. It was at Lewis' house, in the northern part of the township, and was a very exciting election, as the people were to decide whether they should have slavery in Indiana Territory. Everybody turned out at this election, Mr. Seabrook and several others going up in a
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canoe, to which they attached horses, there being snow on the ground. It was an excellent sub- stitute for a sleigh. (What Mr. Seabrook has to say about many other matters will be found in other chapters).
The first post-office stood on the lot on the south- east corner of State and Main streets, where Bently's office now is. In those early days they had but one mail a week, and that every Sunday morn- ing, when it stopped here on the way to Vincennes from Louisville. When the roads were bad, and they were generally bad in the days before the country was cleared and bridges made, the mail was carried on horseback, the carrier having two horses, one of which he rode, and the mail was carried on the other, which he drove before him with a single line.
The Scribner double log cabin was located where Judge Houk now lives, on Main street above Sixth, near where Dr. Sloan resides.
The first well dug in New Albany was on the corner of Pearl and Main streets. It was long since filled up, as it was in the way of grading the street.
The first hatter in the town was Isaac Brooks, who located here prior to 1818. This was a con- siderable business in an early day, but hats after a time began to be manufactured so extensively and cheaply that small manufacturers had to go out of the business, and such a thing as a hat- ter's shop has not been known here for more than a quarter of a century.
Mr. Hedden thinks Genung (before men- tioned) was the first blacksmith. His shop was on the northwest corner of Upper Main and Fourth streets.
THE FIRST CHILD.
It has been repeatedly asserted, orally and in print, that Mrs. Waring, daughter of Henry Bo- gert, one of the earliest settlers, was the first white child born in New Albany. This is a mis- take according to the testimony of the lady her- self, who is yet living, her dwelling being one of the oldest buildings in the city, and occupying the southwest corner of Lower First and Main streets. She says (if this be a matter of import- ance) that several children were born in the town before she was. Amongthem she mentions Maria Strong (now Vandeventer), who is living in Mo- bile, Alabama ; also Nancy Marsh. Mrs. Van- deventer is about six weeks older than Mrs.
Waring. The way the story became gen- erally circulated was from a remark made by some one at Mrs. Waring's wedding, to the effect that she was the first white child born, reared, educated and married in the new town. This list of accomplishments was soon abbrevi- ated in popular tradition to "born."
John Austin is said (as appears by a map of the county published in 1876) to have been the first white child born within the county limits. There is little doubt, however, that John Al- drich was the first, as is narrated elsewhere.
Harriet Scribner was born in New Albany in February, 1815, and was therefore among the first children born in the town.
Among the living pioneers, as before stated, is
DAVID HEDDEN,
who occupies a beautiful residence, one of the results of a long life of honest toil, upon the hill in the eastern part of the city. The house stands upon the spot where Epaphras Jones built his house, and around which he endeavored to build up the town of Providence. Mr. Hed- den has given much valuable information regard- ing the early days of New Albany, which is in- corporated in various historical chapters on this city. Among other items he states he had oc- casion in an early day to return to his old home in New Jersey, and set out for that place August 10, 1825, being compelled to make the trip by stage and river. Just before starting he met Abner Scribner on the street, and the latter in- formed him that he had an important message to send East. Abner was a little under the in- fluence of liquor, and said in a confidential way : "Do you know that they have made great im- provements in the East since we left there ? They say now their land there is very rich-much ahead of ours. Why, you remember when we left that country the honey-bees had to get down on their knees to reach the buckwheat blossoms, but they say they cannot now reach them by standing on tip-toe !" With this important mes- sage for his eastern friends Abner limped sol- emnly away without a smile. Mr. Hadden always considered Abner a little wild, but very smart. Joel, he says, was a very excellent man, but thinks Nathaniel was the business man of the brothers. Harvey Scribner, a son of Joel, succeeded his father as postmaster of the village,
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and Harvey was in turn succeeded by General Burnet. The latter received his title from his connection with the militia. He is still living in California.
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