History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Drury, Augustus Waldo, 1851-1935; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, pub
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 966

USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Came nine miles and a half through very brushy woods. Good land but great- est part poorly timbered. 25th. Finished this meridian and ran west one mile and-chains and fell in with the Great Miami, running nearly south. 26th. This morning our horse was gone and probably stolen by some In- dians, as he had been well secured. This day was very rainy, and we did nothing except hunt our horse to no purpose. 27th. We carried our bag- gage up to the mouth of Mad river and soon after Mr. Cooper and his party arrived. We found six Wyandot Indians here, who encamped about thirty perches above us on the bank of Mad river, which they called Chillicothe river. They were very friendly. They gave us two pieces of venison jerk and we, being scarce of provisions as well as themselves, would not give them much. However, we gave them some four and salt and a little tobacco. They wanted almost everything we had and more. One of them fancied my knife and gave me his knife and belt and a deer skin for mine. 28th. Some Kentucky land- jobbers that came with Cooper made a small tour of about two miles above the mouth (of Mad river) through the overflown and prairie land, and finding it not according to their expectations, returned for home. Mr. Cooper not having finished the road to his mind, concluded to return and finish it and leave us to perform the business. Meandered a small distance down the Miami. 29th. Came to our third mile stake on our line to the Little Miami. 30th. We came to a large creek afterward called Beaver creek, which we mistook for the Little Miami, and found the distance to be nine miles and ten chains east from our north meridian line. October Ist. Ran from our last stake north nine miles and a half through some very fine prairie and good wood land. Encamped on a very pretty creek. 2d. Struck Mad river, running nearly west, at ten miles and seventy chains. We had to offset to the east two miles and a half to get our distance-twelve miles north. Then meandered down the river. We sent our hunter (Wm. Gahagan) and pack-horse man (Jonathan Mercer) down below us to cook against we came, but, unluckily, they fell in with some Indians, who robbed them of nearly all our flour. 3d. We continued meandering nearly all this day, a prairie to our left. 4th. Came to the mouth and finished meander- ing the river. Came through prairie all this day. Rained very hard. We had to secure our field notes and I cut the bearings and distances on a large chip with my knife, not being able to keep paper dry about us. Came seven miles on our road homeward. 5th. Came to Cunningham's station and got our sup- per at Mr. Clawson's, having eat scarcely anything for six days. About the Ist of November, I came to the mouth of Mad river, where Captain Ludlow had a town laid off, called it Dayton after one of the proprietors, Mr. Dayton; of New Jersey, speaker of the House of Representatives in Congress. Engaged as a first settler to come in the spring and at a lottery drew donation lots.

"April 1, 1796. Landed at the mouth of Mad river after a passage of about ten days in company with Thompson, Gahagan and McClures. The nearest settle- ment to us 12 miles."

The diary from which the above extract is taken is the dairy in the possession of Mrs. Sophia Simpson, a grandaughter of Benjamin Van Cleve-here quoted because it is more circumstantial in what it relates than the one usually quoted.

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

The accounts are given from the same original notes, though the one quoted is earlier. From some reason, incidental, no doubt, the account does not include the names of Dayton and St. Clair along with those of Wilkinson and Ludlow. It will be noticed also that none of the eastern boundary on the Little Miami was sur- veyed, a small part of the adjacent southern and a larger part of the adjacent northern boundary likewise being omitted, doubtless because the measurements of the earlier survey were found to answer the purpose. The drawing of lots could not have been from the entire plat, but was rather from a selected part of the plat to the north and near the river. Even within this portion there seems to have been some liberty for individual choice.

It would hardly seem possible that in 1796, Cincinnati, a town of seven years and three months of age, would be ready to send out even a small swarm in search of a new hive. At that time, Cincinnati contained one hundred cabins, fifteen frame houses and six hundred inhabitants. But a larger transient population had been accumulating, awaiting the time when it might be safe to occupy the lands beyond the stations immediately adjacent to the Ohio river.

Forty-six men had agreed in the fall of 1795, to become settlers at the mouth of Mad river in the following spring. Some of these located at intervening points. Fifteen persons kept their engagements, four others joining them, and with those dependent on them, probably not less than sixty in all, in March, 1796, left Cincin- nati in three parties for their new home. Two parties went by land and one by water.

HAMER'S PARTY.

The party starting first, arriving however last, was lead by William Hamer. In the company, besides himself, were his his wife Mary, his children, Solomon, then nineteen years old and counted one of the nineteen men, Thomas, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah and Polly ; and Jonathan and Edward Mercer. Their household goods and farming outfit were carried in a wagon drawn by two horses. The Mercers carried their worldly possessions in the panniers of one horse. It has gen- erally been supposed that the party came by Hamilton and along the Great Miami, but in that case there should be some account of the other land party meeting or passing this party, and no such account has been handed down. A recent unveri- fied account states that the party came by the Little Miami. Jonathan Mercer had been with the surveyors who went over a part of this course the previous year. If the party took this course, they would have followed Harmar's old trace up Mill creek, then to Turtle creek, halting perhaps at Bedell's station, established the previous year, then crossing the Little Miami or going up the west side of the river to the site of Waynesville, from which place there was a trail leading to the mouth of Mad river. The party may have gone further up the river, on the west or east side, and crossed over the more level country to the place selected by Hamer east of the mouth of Mad river. Additional countenance is given to the view that the party took the general course here indicated by the fact that the Mer- cers had selected for their location land on Mad river, eight miles from its mouth, and thus would have a good motive for taking the eastern route.

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

NEWCOM'S PARTY.

The other party left Cincinnati Monday, March 21st, with Colonel George Newcom as its leader. Besides George Newcom, were his wife, Mary Henderson Newcom, his father, George Newcom, Sr., his brother, William Newcom, Thomas Davis and family, John Davis and family, William Chenoweth and family, John Dorough and family, Daniel Ferrell and family, Solomon Goss and family, William Van Cleve, James Morris and Abraham Grassmire. This was the largest of the three companies, including seven men with wives and five men without wives. Estimating the children in the six families outside of George Newcom's at three each, the total number in this party would be thirty-seven, making with the ten in the Hamer party and the thirteen in the third party, a total of sixty persons. I

The stores and miscellaneous property of this large company, and in some cases the children, were carried on pack-horses rigged out with pack-saddles with large creels or crates made out of hickory withes on each side. Some cattle driven along made an important part of the caravan. The road as far as Hamilton, laid out as a town two years before, was kept in fair condition by the military authori- ties. North of Hamilton, there was only a narrow, rough trace, partly cut out the year before by Cooper. To cross the larger creeks, such as Clear creek and Hole's creek, rafts were constructed to carry over men, women and children and the goods, while the horses and cattle had to swim. Trees were felled over smaller streams as foot bridges. The spring was cold and backward and marching and camping along the way were anything but comfortable. The company were de- tained a while at Big Prairie, where Middletown now is, and halted for a while at Hole's creek, near where Miamisburg now is situated. They arrived at their des- tination a few days after the party that came by water.

THOMPSON'S PARTY.

Special interest attaches to the party led by Samuel Thompson, coming by water. With him were his wife Catherine, their daughter Sarah, then two years old, their baby Matthew, three months old, Mrs. Thompson's daughter, Mary Van Cleve, nine years old, her son, Benjamin Van Cleve ; the widow McClure, her two sons James and John, and two daughters Kate and Ann; and William Ga- hagan. William Van Cleve went with the Newcom party to drive Mr. Thompson's cow. Some accounts reckon the sons of Mrs. McClure as men, thus making the number of men nineteen, the Mercers not being included since their place of set- tlement was at some distance from the Dayton settlement, yet they were interested in this settlement as shown by the fact that Jonathan Mercer was the owner of lots within the plat of Dayton. Some of the sons of Thomas Davis were prob- ably grown men. The pirogue in which the journey was made was built on the high bank of Sycamore Street in Cincinnati. It was a long narrow boat decked for protection against the weather. It had boards running along each side on which walked those who propelled the boat by setting their poles against the bottom of the river near the head of the boat and bringing the ends of the poles to their shoulders "walked slowly down the running board to the stern, returning at a quick pace to the bow for a new set." March 21st, the same time when the large land party departed, the boat left the shore amid the cheers and noisy farewells of

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

neighbors and friends. Benjamin Van Cleve and William Gahagan did the pro- pelling while someone else acted as steersman. Thirteen persons with their per- sonal belongings, provisions, and outfits for their new homes supplied no ordinary burden for so slight a craft and imposed no ordinary task on those who, by dint of muscular power, were to force the boat against a rapid current.

Less than a day was required for the boat to drop down the Ohio river to the bend where a narrow tongue of land jutting southward lies between the Ohio river and the Miami river. Here the women and children went ashore and walked across the land and took their places on the boat as it passed up the Miami. The first night was passed in camp six or seven miles up the Miami. The second night, the party camped at Dunlap's station, seventeen miles from the Ohio river. At the close of the next day they were at Hamilton. Thus far up the Miami they were in the region of outlying stations and beginning settlements. In the week that fol- lowed, they were journeying through a tenantless wilderness. Each night they se- cured their boat to a tree on the east bank of the river. They obtained game and eggs of wild birds in abundance. Great flocks of wild geese were within easy reach of their trusty rifles. The romance of their journey greatly lessened their sense of their many privations and hardships. In passing over rapids a long line was fastened up stream to a tree and on this the crew would haul, thus triumphing over the situation.

On Friday, April Ist, they arrived at the head of St. Clair street, near where the log cabin is. Tradition says that Mrs. Thompson was the first person to step ashore, though if children should be taken into account, that honor would prob- ably belong to her daughter, Mary Van Cleve. Two small companies of Indians were camped near when the boat arrived, but they were friendly and did not long remain. This party, three men and ten women and children, were the first to ar- rive, and had before them the task of winning from the wilderness homes, fields and the comforts and adornments of civilized life. The first requirement was to break up their pirogue, for they had come to stay, and to make with the lumber a tem- porary shelter. The following account given by Judge Symmes of his experience at North Bend likely indicates the method used in this case: "That afternoon we raised what is called in this country a camp, by sitting two forks of sapplings in the ground, a ridge-pole across and leaving boat boards which I had brought from Limestone, one end on the ground and the other against the ridge-pole, en- closing one end of the camp and leaving the other open to the weather for a door, where our fire was made to fence out the cold which was now very intense. In this hut I lived six weeks, before I was able to erect myself a log house and cover it so as to get into the same with my family and property." Some of the material of this rude inclosure may have been used later as part of a more permanent building.

FIRST NECESSITIES.

The Newcom party arriving a few days later, we can imagine the hurried ac- tivity, the quick consultations, the ringing of the axes, the burning of brush and waste timber as they cleared the river front and reared their rude cabins. Those who were to remain in the village had already drawn or selected their lots. The

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

cabins were all built of round logs and contained one room and a loft to which access was had by a ladder. The chimney was built on the outside with sticks and clay. The roof was of clapboards weighted with poles and the floor was formed of split timbers called puncheons. The door and window frames were fastened with wooden pins to the logs that had been severed for an opening. Paper oiled with bear's grease was used in the windows. A fireplace with unstinted capacity for consuming the superabundant wood of the forest furnished at once the heat for the sitting-room and the means for the simple operations of the kitchen. The bed- room and parlor required no extra accommodation. The river furnished for the most part the water supply, although there was a spring in the neighborhood of Wilkinson and Second streets, and later the first well was dug on the Newcom lot. All of the first cabins were on Water street, now Monument avenue, facing the river. Newcom's, at the southwest corner of Main and Water streets, was at first the farthest west and Mrs. McClure's, at the southwest corner of Mill and Water streets, was the farthest east. Thompson's was midway between Mill and St. Clair streets. Other cabins or shelters were so temporary that no knowledge has been handed down in regard to them.

As an inducement to become settlers, the proprietors had offered to donate an in-lot and an out-lot of ten acres simply on the conditions that these be cleared and that the receiver of the donation become an actual settler. In addition each settler had the privilege to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land at a French crown, or about one dollar and thirteen cents per acre. Later the privilege was extended so as to permit the purchasing of three hundred and twenty acres at one dollar and fifty cents per acre. The settlers were mostly practical farmers, and at once set to work to clear land and plant corn and a variety of vegetables. For this purpose they also utilized some of the small prairies. They were re- warded the first year with good crops. Wild fruits and the nuts of the forest added to their supplies and the variety of their fare. Deer, bears, squirrels, wild turkeys supplied an abundance of meat, while skins of animals were put to a large variety of uses. The pelts of a variety of animals in many ways served as cur- rency. For many years, maple sugar and maple syrup filled the demand for such articles. Corn was pounded in a bowl hollowed from a block, the finer material being sifted out and used as meal and the coarser being used as hominy. Mush and milk and cornpone were a large part of the diet. Eggs from the nests of wild turkeys, at the right season, were easily obtainable. The rivers were the source of an unfailing supply of fish.

The winter of 1796-7, as related by Drake and Atwater, was one of the coldest for many years, and was attended with a heavy fall of snow. The Dayton set- tlers, however, with plenty of wood for their large fireplaces, did not complain. The following winters up to and including the winter of 1800-I were also severe.

In 1798, Rev. John Kobler, a Methodist preacher who visited Dayton, de- scribes it as containing a few log houses and eight or ten families. When threat- ened with fever, he hastened southward, giving as a reason "to be sick at any of the houses in these parts would be choosing death, as it is next to impossible for a well man to get food or sustenance."

Curwen describes the Dayton of 1799 as consisting of nine houses-Newcom's tavern at the southwest corner of Water and Main streets, the house of John

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Williams, a farmer, at the southeast corner of Water and Wilkinson streets, the house of Paul D. Butler on Water street a little east of Main street, the cabin built by D. C. Cooper at the southeast corner of Water and Jefferson streets and later occupied by Jacob Brown, afterward the celebrated General Brown, unoccu- pied, however, in 1799, the cabin of Samuel Thompson on Water street east of St. Clair street, the cabin of Mrs. McClure at the southwest corner of Water and Mill streets, the cabin of George Westfall at the southeast corner of Main street and the alley between First and Water streets, the cabin of Thomas Arnett, a shoe- maker at the northwest corner of First and Ludlow streets, the cabin of John Welsh at the southeast corner of Fifth and Main streets. The cry of wolves was frequently heard in the evening and panthers were occasionally seen. Ague and other ills were common afflictions. The want of thrift in the community down to as late as 1803 appears in many ways. The chief reason for this condition of things will appear later.

On the farms about Dayton greater progress was made than was made in the village. Horses and cattle were brought in at the first. Hogs were introduced in 1799 and soon became numerous. They ran in the forest, fattened upon nuts and were fully able to protect themselves against the wolves. Sheep were intro- duced in 1800, and, while, for a long time, many were destroyed by wolves, their wool became a necessary material for furnishing the cabins and clothing the people.

The permanent settling in the community in the summer of 1796, of D. C. Cooper, Robert Edgar, and Jerome Holt was a matter of much importance to the community. The first two named had acquaintance with the country, hav- ing been connected with the early surveys. The last named was a brother-in- law of Benjamin Van Cleve. All should be reckoned with the first settlers.

NEWCOM'S TAVERN.

Mr. George Newcom, who was a man of sagacity and courage, desired as a house something better than his cabin of round logs. He accordingly, probably in the winter of 1796-97, employed Mr. Edgar to build for him a house of hewed logs that should be the "best house in Dayton." Robert Edgar was a millwright and was used to handling any kind of tools. The house was seven- teen feet, six inches, by eighteen feet, six inches, and two stories high. It had one room below and one room above and was built so exactly on the south- west corner of Water and Main streets that it was taken as permanently mark- ing the lines of both streets. Mr. Edgar was to receive seventy-five cents a day for his work, and for his board he was to supply Mr. Newcom every week a freshly killed deer, he to retain the skin. It is said that the cabin of round logs was joined to this house as a kitchen. This house would have been suffi- cient for Mr. Newcom, but he desired to have and conduct a tavern. He, there- fore, in the winter of 1798-99, more than doubled the size of his house by build- ing an extension to the south, twenty-two feet in length, in all respects similar to the original structure. Likewise, a bell was placed over the completed struc- ture. This was the famous Newcom tavern, the present log cabin of Van Cleve park, Dayton's most venerable, if not its only, relic. The bell now surmounting

OLD LOG TAVERN AS IT APPEARED IN 1798.

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

the cabin is the bell first purchased and used. From the first, this structure was the center of Dayton's life and activities. When constructed, it was chinked and plastered with lime and sand mortar. The lime was obtained by heating stones gathered from the river upon a pile of burning logs.

THE INDIANS.

For a number of years, small companies of Indians visited the settlement, usually camping upon the north bank of Mad river. For the most part they were a drunken, worthless and troublesome set. Stealing horses was a common oc- cupation with them. At one time by night, a company of Indians cherishing a grudge, gathered about the house of Samuel Thompson, making ugly demonstra- tions. As the only means of relief, the family took Mary Van Cleve, a girl of twelve years, and, making a way out for her by lifting a part of the puncheon floor, directed her to watch her opportunity and run to Newcom's tavern for help. In describing her terrified run, she said she ran a mile, though the distance was only two squares. A number of men returned with her, one of them car- rying her in his arms, and the Indians were compelled to withdraw.

Sometimes when the Indians were drunk or disorderly, they were bound by Colonel Newcom and placed in his corn crib. It is said that an Indian would not resent being bound, but that his undying revenge would follow the one who would lay on his back the lash. But in one instance, at least, this proved to be not true. An Indian woman once came to Colonel Newcom's tavern and told him how her husband had abused her. Colonel Newcom made little reply but the next time the Indian came in, he reached up and took down a whip from the wall and without making any remark, plied it vigorously to the Indian's back, the Indian being told the reason for the whipping. In a few days the Indian came in and presented Colonel Newcom with a saddle of venison. In 1799, there was wide-spread alarm in view of a threatened Indian uprising. In dif- ferent parts of the county means of defense were hurriedly provided. Block- houses were built and companies of militia were formed. The Dayton com- munity erected a block-house at the intersection of Water and Main streets, where the soldiers' monument now stands. The danger passing by, the block-house was used for purposes of peace rather than of war ..

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

In the winter of 1799-1800, Benjamin Van Cleve taught the first school in the new community, the block-house being used for that purpose. With his ready hand in providing copy, he was compelled to make up for the lack of text-books. In his diary he wrote: "On the first of September, I commenced teaching a small school. I had reserved time to gather my corn and kept school till the last of · October." Later, with the consent of his "employers," he went to Cincinnati on an invitation to assist the clerk of the house of representatives of the terri- torial legislature in keeping the minutes of that body. But conditions taking an unexpected turn, he retired after a short time and "kept school about three months longer."

DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY

The original settlers, though without churches and preachers, had been brought up under church influence, and had a deep and lasting regard for re- ligion. While William Hamer was a Methodist local preacher, he assumed no regular charge, but religious services were early held at his house. Rev. John Kobler, a Methodist minister, preached in Dayton in 1797, 1798 and 1799. In 1799, and during the following winter, the Presbyterians held regular meet- ings in the block-house. Previously they had held occasional meetings in one or another of the cabins. For their use a log meeting-house was erected in 1800 at the northeast corner of Main and Third streets.

STORES AND MILLS.

In the fall of 1800, Mr. George McDougal, of Detroit, brought some goods to Dayton and opened up in the second story of Newcom's tavern the first store. This was a great convenience to the people, as it enabled them to sell or ex- change their products and thus secure the things of which they were in need. He continued his store about three years. To collect his accounts, most of them small, he entered more than forty suits, in the court of D. C. Cooper, justice of the peace. The defendants generally confessed judgment and arranged to make payment.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Drury, Augustus Waldo, 1851-1935; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, pub Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 966

Author: Drury, Augustus Waldo, 1851-1935; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, pub
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 966