USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 11
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B. Dover ; Mary Cornelia, born December 2, 1807, married James Andrews ; Sarah Sophia, born November 24, 1809, married David C. Baker. His wife died December 28, 1810, and March 10, 1812, he married Miss Mary Tamplin. Of him, his friend and associate, Colonel John Johnston said: "God never made a better man than was Benjamin Van Cleve." He was an active member in the Presbyterian church.
WILLIAM VAN CLEVE was nineteen years of age when he came to Dayton. He lived in Dayton a few years. He later purchased a quarter section of land a short distance southeast of Dayton. He married Effie Westfall, by whom he had several children. His wife died and he married a second time. On the death of his second wife, he again married. His life to 1812 was that of a far- mer. In the War of 1812 he raised in Dayton a company of riflemen, and in June was ordered to guard supply trains and to protect the frontier. After the war he kept a tavern at the junction of Warren and Jefferson streets, where he died in 1828.
ROBERT EDGAR, JEROME HOLT and D. C. COOPER came to Dayton as perman- ent residents in 1796 only a few weeks or months after the coming of the first settlers, all of them having been at the place of settlement with surveying par- ties the preceding year. They may, therefore, well be called first settlers.
ROBERT EDGAR was born at Staunton, Vinginia, February 8, 1770. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. About 1780, his father moved, with his family, to the location of Wheeling, Virginia, where in 1792 he was killed by the Indians. Shortly afterward Robert Edgar, with his brother, Andrew, and sister, Nancy, came down the Ohio river to Cincinnati. In 1795 he was a chain carrier in the party of D. C. Cooper in marking out the road to Mad river. When he came to Dayton in the spring or summer of 1796, he complied with the conditions for receiving a donation in-lot and a donation out-lot. He was soon employed in building the two-story house of hewed logs for George Newcom, which after receiving an addition in 1798-99, became Newcom's tavern. September 17, 1798, he married Mrs. Margaret Gillespie Kirkwood and moved into a cabin that he had erected on the north bank of Mad river. As this was a favorite camping place for the Indians in making visits to the settlement, the family were much in peril and subject to much annoyance from the Indians. A horse's back was their ferry in crossing Mad river. As he was a mechanic, up to 1800, he was constantly employed by Mr. Cooper in getting out timber and building head-gates and mills. The mills were in the village and on Rubicon creek near where the Cash Register works now are. In 1799, he built the tub-mill or "corn cracker" on Rubicon creek for Mr. Cooper. Before this, he may have assisted in building the distillery near the same place. When in 1801 he leased Cooper's mills in the village, he moved into a house at the corner of Water and Mill streets, belonging to Cooper.
He early purchased land a part of which became the Edgar plat on Wayne avenue, and began farming. Later he purchased a quarter-section on which he opened up a fine stone-quarry. Mr. Edgar served in the War of 1812. Mrs. Edgar at home baked bread or hard tack for the army. After the war he returned to his farm. When the canal was being built, he constructed the bridges at Third and Fifth streets. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar living past childhood
DANIEL C. COOPER
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were: Jane Allen, born November 24, 1800, married Augustus George; Robert A., born October 10, 1803, married Catherine Iddings; Samuel D., born March 26, 1806, married Minerva A. Jones ; Mary, born April 8, 1811, married Stephen Johnston; John F., born October 29, 1814, married Effie A. Rogers. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar were zealous Christian workers, being members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Edgar died December 19, 1838, and Mrs. Edgar died November 25, 1844.
COLONEL JEROME HOLT was born February 21, 1763. He was the brother-in- law of Benjamin Van Cleve, having married his sister, Ann. In 1797, he settled on a farm near Dayton. In 1800 he was appointed constable of Dayton town- ship and from 1808 to 181I was sheriff of Montgomery county. He was colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Militia from 1810 to 1812. Colonel Holt died in Wayne township December 28, 1840.
DANIEL C. COOPER, more than any other man, deserves the credit of being the founder and truest benefactor of Dayton. He was born in Morris county, New Jersey, Noveniber 20, 1773. He was educated for a surveyor. An account of his surveying the road to Dayton in 1795 has already been given. Immediately after the first settlers arrived, he became a member of the community and was given a place under Israel Ludlow as a deputy agent for the proprietors. For two years he was a member of the Ohio house of representatives and for four years he was a member of the Ohio senate. When about twenty years old, he came to the west to look after the land interests of Jonathan Dayton. When the proprietors failed in their undertaking, he became titular owner of the town plat. The clearest statement as to Mr. Cooper's right to enter this plat and other lands in his own name is the following declaration from Benjamin Van Cleve's diary : "Mr. Ludlow, who was one of the proprietors, and agent for them, informed me that they relinquished their claims on account of the rising price; and that they could not afford to give two dollars per acre and he made this known to the com- missioners as well as to the settlers and aided them in supporting their claims." In 1801, he married Mrs. Sophia Greene Burnet, of Cincinnati. Only one of his children, D. Z. Cooper, grew up to maturity. From 1799 to 1803, he was justice of the peace. By liberal donations of land, he secured the location of the seat of government for Montgomery county at Dayton. He also liberally set apart lands for a park and for churches and for various public uses. He built mills and was active in the commercial enterprises of the town. In many ways he was con- nected with the administration of village affairs. He served on the town council many years and was six years its president. He was actively connected with the Presbyterian church. In 1798, he opened up the farm south of Dayton, which he sold to Robert Patterson in 1803. This became his home on his marriage in 1801. Here he built mills on Rubicon creek. In 1805 he built an "elegant mansion of hewn logs" lined inside with cherry boards. In 1818, he began to build a large brick house at the southeast corner of First and Wilkinson streets, but did not live to finish it. He died July 13, 1818. According to some accounts his death was caused by overexertion in carrying on a wheelbarrow the bell to be placed in the new Presbyterian church. The contemporary accounts, however, say nothing of this circumstance. Dr. Job Haines in his diary says: "Mr. D. C. Cooper, after a severe illness of about six weeks, died about midnight between the 13th and
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14th inst." A published account at the time ascribed his death to a "pulmonary disease." Probably the overexertion referred to, which may have occurred some weeks before his death, may have hastened that event. We shall yet have many occasions to take note of Mr. Cooper's part in the development of Dayton. His estate, which, at his death, included a large part of the site of Dayton, was some- what involved, but under the management of efficient trustees and with the in- creasing prosperity of the community, soon came to be very valuable. Mrs. Sophia Greene Cooper was a beautiful and talented woman. Her first husband, Mr. Burnet, was a young lawyer of Cincinnati. . After the death of Mr. Cooper, she married General Fielding Lowry. She died May 17, 1826.
DANIEL ZIEGLER COOPER, the only one of the six children of Daniel C. Cooper who grew up to maturity, was born November 8, 1812. He graduated from Prince- ton College, married Miss Letitia Smith in Philadelphia, and died in Dayton December 4, 1836. His widow married a Mr. Backus, a man of wealth, and the estate was managed by E. W. Davies and Alexander Grimes as trustees and con- tributed much to the progress of Dayton.
CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.
In taking a general view of the first settlers and those that immediately fol- lowed them, we notice the presence of a large proportion of New Jersey people. Judge Symmes, on his application for a grant of land, says that the application is "on behalf of citizens of the United States westward of Connecticut." The company of purchasers represented by Judge Symmes was called the "East Jersey Company." In other connections the name "New Jersey Society," was used. The settlers at Marietta were New Englanders. The settlers along the Miamis were like them in a measure and helped to make Ohio New England in type. Yet they had a character of their own. The people of New Jersey, along with their English blood had "a tincture of Swedish and Hollander blood." They were noted for their industry, inventiveness and frugality. The Pilgrim and the Quaker, the Dutch, the German and the Scotch-Irish were largely fused under the in- fluence of the War of the Revolution. Nicholas Longworth, who early came from New Jersey to Cincinnati, where he amassed a large fortune, was accus- tomed to say in answer to the question as to the condition of thrift, "the first con- dition is that one must have been born in New Jersey." People from Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, some of them halting for a time in Kentucky, early made their appearance. The Scotch-Irish, a persistent and public-spirited peopis, were from first to last a large proportion of those coming to make their home in the territory of the Miamis.
Many of the settlers had been soldiers in the Revolutionary war, or the In- dian wars and were thus well prepared to brave the dangers of frontier life. The proportion of educated and cultured people was much in excess of what would have been expected. This was true for Ohio in general. The early governors were college-trained men. The tradition of education, and of religion as well, gave to the new settlements an impression that they have not yet lost.
CHAPTER II.
THE FOUNDING CONTINUED 1803 TO 1810.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY-GENERAL MONTGOMERY-LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT- THE TOWN-THE PUBLIC GROUNDS-FIRST COURTS-PLACE OF HOLDING COURT AFTER 1803-FIRST JAIL-FIRST COURT HOUSE-SOME EVENTS IN 1805-TOWN CHARTER-ACTS OF COUNCIL-SCHOOLS-VILLAGE FUNDS-VILLAGE GROWTH- TAVERNS-THE PRESS-MARRIAGES AND DEATHS-CEMETERIES-ROADS, FORDS AND FERRIES -- RIVER TRAFFIC-POST OFFICE-SKETCHES OF PIONEERS-FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION-FIRST POLITICAL CONVENTION-PIONEER CUSTOMS- CONDITIONS IN 1810.
Ohio became a state on the convening of the first state legislature, March I, 1803. The Miami country was then the most thickly populated part of the state. With the exception of the unsettled boundary between Ohio and what came to be Michigan, the boundaries were practically the same at the beginning as now.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
March 24, 1803, the legislature enacted a law by which seven new counties were formed, four of them being formed from Hamilton and Ross counties- Butler, Warren, Montgomery and Greene. Section 3 of the act reads as follows : "And be it further enacted: That all that part of the county of Hamilton, in- cluded within the following boundaries, viz., beginning on the state line at the northwest corner of the county of Butler; thence east with the lines of Butler and Warren, to the east line of Section No. 16, in the third township and fifth range; thence north eighteen miles; thence east two miles; thence north to the state line; thence, with the same, to the west boundary of the state; thence south with said boundary, to the beginning shall compose a third new county, called and known by the name of Montgomery."
It will be noticed that these limits include all of the western part of the state north of the north line of Butler county and west of the west line of Warren county, yet no territory north of the north line of the eighth range, a line two and one-half miles south of the present north boundary of the county, was to be taxed for the purpose of erecting county buildings. This restriction indicated what the north line of the county was expected finally to be. General St. Clair's opposition to the formation of new counties was the chief thing in hastening the organization of the state. The people near the Little Miami river desired the west line of what came to be Greene county to be the great Miami river, probably with
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a view to the county seat's being located at Owen Davis' mill on Beaver creek five miles west of Xenia. As it was, Montgomery county was deprived of two tiers of sections on the east border of the county south of Wayne township that should have belonged to it.
GENERAL MONTGOMERY.
General Richard Montgomery, for whom the county was named, was born in Ireland December 2, 1736. In 1754, he obtained a commission in the British army, and three years later came with his regiment to America, rendering honor- able service for a period of six years, after which he returned to England. Nine years later, he left the army and came to America, settling in New York. He was a delegate to the provincial congress of 1775, and was soon afterward commis- sioned by congress as one of the brigadier generals of the colonial army. In the invasion of Canada in 1775, he was second to General Schuyler in command, and on the retirement of the latter on account of sickness, became chief commander of the invading army. He successively captured Chambly, St. Johns and Mon- treal. In December he effected a juncture with Arnold before Quebec. In the assault of the town, December 31st, General Montgomery leading his troops was killed at the first fire of the British artillery. The Americans were compelled to retire, but the bravery, patriotism and superior military talents of General Mont- gomery will ever be recognized and honored. New York claimed his body and erected to his memory a suitable monument. It has been suggested that the name Montgomery was given to the county at the instance of Dr. John Hole, a pioneer settler in Washington township, who as an army surgeon was with the army of General Montgomery at Montreal. In 1807, Miami county was carved out of Montgomery county. Carved is probably the right word, as by an over- sight of the legislature, the territory north of Miami county, which county at the first extended north to the Indian boundary line, was still left attached to Mont- gomery county, and technically thus remained till January 7, 1812, when the anomaly was removed. Preble county was formed from Montgomery county in 1808 and Darke county from Miami county in 1809. The relation between the people of Montgomery county and the territory and people set off to form these new counties was very close. Eaton and New Lexington and also one or two towns to the north have their plats recorded in Montgomery county.
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT.
The state legislature named the house of George Newcom in the town of Dayton as the temporary place for the convening of the courts, and appointed Ichabod B. Halsey, Bladen Ashby and William McClelland, as commissioners to locate the county seats of Greene and Montgomery counties. The law did not permit such commissioners to be residents or landholders in the counties in which the county seats were to be established. For Montgomery county they fixed upon Dayton as the permanent county seat.
Our familiar friend, Judge Symmes, again appears at this point in a letter under date of July 14, 1802, to one of the commissioners, Ichabod B. Halsey, of
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Warren county, urging the advantages of Dayton as the place for the county seat. He wrote, "Beyond all doubt, Dayton is the point of land best accommo- dated by natural advantages for the erection of buildings either public or private. It is equally commodious in point of navigation with any other spot on the bank of the Great Miami, and it may fairly be said to be the best because just below the juncture of Mad river and the southwest branch with the Miami." He then refers to the sites offered for mills and the fertility of the surrounding lands. He points further to a special inducement. He says, "General Dayton has informed me that he intends building a handsome academy in the town and furnishing the same with a good bell, which you know on court days may be used for the con- venience of the court and suitors, and all attendants may thereby know the time of meeting." He adds, "I cannot say what private donations will be made for public buildings, but as Mr. Short (his son-in-law) owns considerable tracts of land adjoining the mouth of Mad river and along the west bank thereof, I am inclined to believe that he will contribute considerably thereto, if the courthouse be built at Dayton." It is not known whether Short made a donation or not, but a promise of a donation was made by D. C. Cooper, no doubt including grounds for county buildings and other inducements. In the place of these various consid- erations, the county commissioners accepted in 1805 a donation by him of two lots for county buildings, thirty-four lots to be sold for the benefit of the county and still other lots to be held or used for the benefit of the town, sixty-one lots in all. Four lots were for churches, two for an academy, eleven for public grounds and eight for a burying ground. These conditions some of them in a modified form, were faithfully carried out by Mr. Cooper and indicate the wise foresight of Mr. Cooper and of the commissioners as well.
THE TOWN.
When Dayton became the county seat, the entire population is said to have consisted of seven or eight men, six women and eight children, a total of twenty- one or twenty-two persons. The men, women and children in the village proper have been placed at sixteen in 1796, and twenty-three in 1799. The men in 1803 were George Newcom, his father, if still living, Samuel Thompson, John Welsh, Paul D. Butler, George Westfall, Thomas Arnett and William Gahagan. Benjamin Van Cleve, D. C. Cooper and Robert Edgar were living on their farms near the village. These figures take no account of the growing population in the country about Dayton. The chief reason for the absence of growth was the failure or uncertainty of the titles to the land which were not entirely fixed and confirmed till 1813. The distraction and hindering could scarcely have been greater. Day- ton as a village was well nigh strangled in its cradle. However, with Dayton's becoming the county seat, conditions began to improve.
THE PUBLIC GROUNDS.
The plan of Benjamin Stites and others, formulated in 1789, for establishing a town at the mouth of Mad river contemplated that it would be a county seat, and provided for grounds for public buildings. Ludlow's plat of 1795 must have
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had the same prospect in view. Cooper's plat, bearing date September 5, 1803, was drawn up at the precise time when the negotiations were being conducted with reference to making Dayton the county seat for Montgomery county, and in it lots numbered 131 and 132 at the northwest corner of Main and Third streets were designated "for the courthouse." June 27, 1805, when final agreements were reached between the county commissioners and Cooper, these lots were expressly designated for a courthouse and jail. A year before that, the jail was built on this ground. The plan finally agreed upon, contemplated a Presbyterian church on the. northeast corner of Main and Third, two churches on lots on the southeast corner, and an academy on the southwest corner, thus establishing at the begin- ning an actual "civic center."
THE FIRST COURTS.
The act of the legislature creating Montgomery county, passed March 24, 1803, went into effect May Ist, and was followed by the convening of the com- mon pleas court July 27, 1803. Honorable Francis Dunlevy, of Lebanon, presi- dent of the first judicial district, opened the court with Benjamin Archer and. John Ewing, both of Washington township, and Isaac Spinning, who lived on a farm four miles up Mad river, as associate judges. Benjamin Van Cleve was clerk pro tem ; Daniel Symmes, of Cincinnati, was prosecutor pro tem, and George Newcom was sheriff. Much dignity was given to the opening of the court. When the judges and officers had taken their places, the sheriff proclaimed: "O yez, this court is declared open for the administration of even-handed justice, without respect of persons ; none to be punished without a trial by their peers and in pur- suance of the laws and evidence in the case." After the naming of the judges and officers, the clerk made the following record: "Came a grand jury, to-wit, John McCabe, foreman, and present for assault and batteries Jeremiah York, Peter Sunderland and Benjamin Scott." The trial of these cases did not take place at this term of court. Another case was the suit of James Cannon against James Thompson for damages of two hundred and fifty dollars with Isaac G. Burnet, counsel for plaintiff, and D. Symmes, counsel for defendant. Plaintiff ruled to put in bail and case continued.
Joseph Wilson was appointed surveyor for the county.
An item relating to who might practice as attorneys is as follows: "Ordered that all persons heretofore admitted to practice as attorneys and councillors-at- law in any court of record in the now state of Ohio, late the Territorial Govern- ment, and also Joshua Collett, Esq., be permitted to practice in this court until the close of the next term, and no longer, unless such attorneys or councillors pro- duce to the court the vouchers required by the statutes of the state relating to the admission and practice of attorneys and councillors-at-law into courts of record within this state." The court was in session but one day.
The county business in 1803, was mainly in the hands of the associate judges, the law providing for county commissioners not being enacted till the next year. The next day after the first session of court, Judge Dunlevy, the state prose- cutor, and the lawyers mounted their horses and took their departure. The con- vening of the first court in the county was made the occasion of a general gather-
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ing of the population of the county for frolic and social enjoyment. Newcom's tavern furnished the room for the session of the court and also the large room in which judges and lawyers found their sleeping place. One room of the house or a dry well on the lot, or the corn crib, served as the jail. In the case of the Indians, sometimes tying was resorted to. The sessions of the courts in 1803 were held in Newcom's tavern. The second term of court met in November, 1803. Two assault and battery cases claimed the attention of the court. One defendant pleaded guilty and the other was found guilty. Each was fined six dollars and costs. Four cases that were entered were withdrawn. Letters of administration were granted in two cases. Rev. Jacob Miller, a Dunkard minister, and Rev. William Robinson, a Presbyterian minister, were granted license to perform the rites of marriage.
The attorneys who produced the necessary certificates and were authorized to practice in the courts of the county were Arthur St. Clair, Jacob Burnet, Ezra Fitz Freeman, William Curry and Joshua Collett. George F. Tennery was ad- mitted to practice. In 1804, on examination he was regularly admitted to practice by the supreme court. Probably Isaac G. Burnet was the first local attorney. He was present at the first session of the court but may not at that time have been a resident of Dayton. R. S. Thomas was admitted to practice the following year. D. Symmes and E. Stone frequently were employed to conduct cases in the local courts. Most of the attorneys named resided at Cincinnati or nearer county- seat towns. The supreme court convened in Dayton in September, 1804, but held no session in 1805.
PLACE OF HOLDING COURT AFTER 1803.
In June, 1804, the county commissioners held their first session. The minutes of the county commissioners for their second session, held in August, 1804, con- tain this item: "To Hugh McCullum for the rent of the rooms in which the courts are held -. " The sessions for the common pleas court that year were in June and November. The conclusion from these statements is that the sessions of the courts and of the county commissioners for that year were held at Mc- Cullum's house. This conclusion is confirmed by a further act of the commis- sioners at the same session, namely, they entered into a contract with Hugh Mc- Cullum "for his house or so much thereof as would be wanted for the purpose of holding courts the ensuing year." The record says: "McCullum bound him- self in an article to build a good and convenient chimney and fireplace to the room where the courts have heretofore been held against the first of November next, and to furnish court with a sufficiency of firewood, candles, benches, etc., during the said term of one year from the date hereof." The cost for the year was to be an amount "not exceeding twenty-five dollars." The "house of Hugh McCullum" has interest to us because it was the house used for all county pur- poses. Further, when Dayton received its charter in 1805, one of the provisions of the same was that the select council should meet in the place where the courts were held. The house may have been altogether occupied for public purposes as it is sometimes called the "court house," though generally the "house of Hugh McCullum." The house has generally been confused with the large brick tavern
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