USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 9
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98
Manufacturies, were of course, very limited. The block for crushing corn was succeeded by the hand mill, and that was succeeded by a mill operated by horsepower, and this again by a mill operated by water power. The first mili turned by water power in the Miami valley, north of the fourth range of town- ships, is said to have been a small tub mill, built by William Hamer to grind corn. If there was such a mill owned or operated by him, it probably stood near his place, three miles up Mad river. Without doubt, the first mills within the limits of Dayton proper, were built by Mr. Cooper at the head of Mill street. That street received its name in 1795 because of the obvious ease with which mills could there be placed. While Mr. Cooper was not in any of the three par- ties first arriving in 1796, he complied with the conditions for receiving dona- tion lots and received as his donation in-lot number one, at the southwest corner of Mill and Water streets. If Mrs. McClure lived at first on this lot, it was with Mr. Cooper's consent and perhaps with his assistance in erecting the cabin. Mr. Cooper then bought from others such donation out-lots as were necessary for constructing a mill race. John F. Edgar, whose father, Robert Edgar, assisted in erecting mills for Mr. Cooper, says: "In 1800, Mr. Cooper built a grist and sawmill. The gristmill foundation was in the bed of the present canal. The sawmill was just north of the gristmill and was run by the same water-wheel." The gristmill, at least, if not the sawmill, in some rude form was in operation in 1798, and probably in 1797. In 1798, Cooper paid tax for his mills. The gristmill was, of course, simply a "corn cracker." The sawmill is not to be confounded with the sawmill later built, where the corner of Sears and First streets now is. The gulley running south to the foot of Ludlow street was used, if not at first certainly later, as the tail race. In 1799, D. C. Cooper began to operate a small distillery on his farm now within the southern limits of Dayton, the location being on Rubicon creek. Soon afterward, he built a sawmill near Main
77
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
street and a "corn cracker" near Brown street, the power for both being supplied by Rubicon creek. The sawmill was equipped with a paddle-wheel. The "corn cracker" was a tub mill. For the tub mill, four posts were set in the ground about four feet apart, two on each side of the creek. The posts stood four feet above the ground, and on top of them was a puncheon floor, and on that a small pair of buhrs were set. To the perpendicular shaft the "runner was attached, the shaft passing through the bed stone, and at the lower end was the horizontal tub wheel. Four forks were planted to hold the poles on which was laid the clap- board roof to keep the rain out of the hopper. The sides of the mill were not enclosed." This little mill had the trade from along the upper Miami and from up Mad river as far as Springfield. Soon afterward, possibly in 1800, a small overshot mill was built on McReynold's creek in Mad river township. Millers made their own buhrs out of limestone or granite boulders.
When Mr. Cooper had his mills on his farm well under way, he leased the mills in the village to Mr. Edgar on terms shown in the following contract :
"Article of agreement made and concluded on this eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, between Daniel C. Cooper, of the county of Hamilton and territory northwest of the Ohio, and Robert Edgar, of the county and territory aforesaid,
"Witnesseth that the said Cooper, for the consideration hereafter mentioned, hath demised, granted, and to farm let, and doth hereby grant and to farm let, unto the said Edgar, his gristmill and sawmill at Dayton, to have and to hold the said premises until the first day of April next, and the said Edgar doth agree on his part to take special care of said mills, and to make use of all possible industry, and to render monthly a just and true account of the profits of each mill: to give the said Cooper two-thirds of the profits of the gristmill and an equal share of the profits of the sawmill, and the said Edgar doth further agree to saw the said Cooper's logs in such stuff as he may want on the following terms, to wit : two-inch plank and under at sixteen pence half-penny, and all plank above two inches thick and scantling at one-quarter of a dollar per hundred, measuring scantling side and edge, and plank side only; and the said Cooper doth agree to pay the said Edgar in cash for the above sawing, or in plank, at the rate of one dollar per hundred for inch oak plank, and others in propor- tion to the selling price; and the said Cooper doth agree to find files, tallow, and grease for the said mills, and in consideration of which the said Edgar doth agree to finish the roof of the sawmill and inclose the gristmill so as to make it com- fortable for this season, set the bolt agowing by water, etc., etc., the said Cooper finding the materials; and for the faithful performance of the above we do bind ourselves, our heirs, our executors and administrators, firmly each unto the other in the penal sum of five hundred dollars : as witness our hands and seals the day and date above written.
"Witness, Paul Butler.
D. C. Cooper, Robert Edgar."
Mr. Cooper was so occupied with his Rubicon farm and mills that he could well afford to turn over the management of his Dayton Mills to another per- son. While operating the mills, Mr. Edgar lived in Mr. Cooper's house, at the corner of Mill and Water streets.
78
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
SOCIAL EVENTS.
The first wedding in the Dayton settlement, as far as records show, was the marriage of Benjamin Van Cleve to Mary Whitten, daughter of John and Phebe Whitten living within what is now Wayne township. The marriage took place at the home of the bride's parents, August 28, 1800. The marriage portion of the bride was a few household and kitchen utensils, a bed, a cow and a heifer, a ewe and two lambs, a sow and pigs, a saddle and a spinning wheel. Other cases are given in which the bride's portion and likewise the groom's possessions were much less. The first persons born in the Dayton settlement were Dayton Hamer, December 19, 1796, Jane Newcom, April 14, 1800, and Mary Westfall, October 22, 1801. The last named died in Minneapolis, April 13, 1903.
NEIGHBORING SETTLEMENTS.
Thus far we have kept as closely as possible to the people of the immediate Dayton settlement. But they had their neighbors, near and far, some of them upon the field earlier than themselves. The land immediately north of Mad river was sold by Judge Symmes to Short and Turner about the time when the seventh and eighth ranges east of the Miami and Mad rivers were sold to St. Clair, Wilkinson, Dayton and Ludlow, and land still farther north was sold by him to St. Clair, Short and others, about the same time. In the diary of Benjamin Van Cleve in the possession of Mrs. McKnight, under date of April I, 1796, the following statement is given as to the nearby settlements: "Dur- ing the preceding winter, two or three settlers had arrived here; several families had settled at Hole's station, where Miamisburg now is ; a few persons had set- tled at Big Prairie or Clear creek (below Middletown), * * * This spring a set- tlement was made by Jonathan Mercer eight miles up Mad river; another was made at the forks (of Mad river), called Cribb's station; another at the mouth of Honey creek (Livingston on the Miami, thirteen miles above Dayton), and another at the old Piqua on the Miami." In 1799, John Humphries and Simon Kenton, the famous Indian fighter, piloted from Kentucky a company of six families to a point near the site of Springfield, where they located. Kenton settled a number of miles to the north. David Lowry and Jonathan Donnel settled in 1796 on Donnel's creek, three miles below the site of Springfield. Demint's settlement may be said to have occupied the site of Springfield.
In Green county, five and one-half miles west of Xenia on the Big Beaver creek, near the Dayton road, was an important neighbor of Dayton. Here Owen Davis had a largely patronized gristmill. Here was also a log house built by Benjamin Whiteman, in which the first court in Green county was held. On the Little Beaver, two miles east of the present Montgomery county line, was also a settlement in which Dayton people were interested.
In the present county of Preble in the neighborhood of New Lexington, was a settlement spoken of as "on the Twin," with which Dayton people were well acquainted.
If we should add the Germantown and Lebanon settlements and the Staun- ton settlement near the present site of Troy, in connection with the places named
79
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
above, we should have the names of the most prominent neighbors, regarded in the early days as near neighbors, with which the Dayton settlement had to do in manifold social and business ways.
ROADS.
There were bridle paths, in some cases the remnant of old trails, or rude winding roads connecting Dayton with neighboring settlements. The road to Cincinnati, leading out over the fair-ground hill, was the first real road. As early as 1797, a road was cut from Dayton up the east side of the Miami to Livingstone, thirteen miles above the month of Mad river. A little later, when Staunton was settled, it was extended and called the Staunton road. It crossed Mad river by a ford between where the Webster and Keowee street bridges now are. In 1802, a road extended from Dayton to Lebanon and Deerfield. The Miami was crossed by two much-used fords. The first was at the foot of First street. West of the river the road led out to where River street is and thence to all points north and west. The second was at the foot of Sixth street, a little below where the railroad bridge now is. One branch of the road west of this ford led to Gunckel's mill, where Germantown was later platted, and another branch led to Eaton. Somewhat later a road was cut from this ford south as far as Hole's creek, connecting there with the road to Cincinnati. At certain times these roads were good but often they were bad. Freight from Cincinnati by wagon or pack-horse cost two dollars and a half per hundred. Exchange was so difficult that the pioneers sought to meet their own wants in every way possible or uncomplainingly did without many of the commonest comforts.
FIRST BOAT.
The pioneers expected much of boats upon the Miami river as a means of sending to market their surplus products. At places the river was spread over wide bottoms. Here and there it was clogged by fallen trees. Yet in the spring time during high waters, it furnished a highway of no little impor- tance. The first boat of any size to navigate its waters was a flat-boat built by Daniel Lowry on the bank of Donnel's creek and partly loaded there and then in the spring of 1800, floated down Mad river to the head of Wilkinson street in Dayton, where it completed its cargo of grain, pelts and five hundred venison hams. The cargo was destined for New Orleans, where it was successfully marketed. The boat was sold and the return made on horseback.
An easier way of disposing of grain was to turn it into whiskey. The latter, if not sold at home, could readily be transported and sold abroad.
HAMILTON COUNTY.
The political status of the Dayton settlement while within the limits of Hamilton county is a matter of interest. Hamilton county, as already stated, at first included the land between the Miamis to the northern limit of the Symmes' purchase. In 1792, the land between the Little Miami and the Scioto was included and the northern limit was extended to the Great Lakes. In 1796,
80
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Wayne county was formed, cutting off the northern part of Hamilton county at the Indian boundary line, passing through Loramie. June 22, 1798, the west- ern boundary was extended from the Great Miami to the Indian boundary line, running from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery. In 1800, the present state line became the western boundary.
DAYTON TOWNSHIP.
In the the winter of 1796-7, soon after the Dayton settlement was formed, Dayton township was formed. The name Dayton was properly given because, next to Symmes, Honorable Jonathan Dayton was the most prominent man on the side of the proprietors, within the limits of the Symmes' purchase. In negotiations, as a promoter within congress, and as an active participant in affairs within the purchase itself, he had a prominent part. Dayton township was bounded as follows: "Beginning at a point on the east bank of the Big Miami, where it was intersected by the north line of the fifth range of townships ; thence up that river in all its meanderings to the Indian boundary-line, at a point where said river crossed the said Indian boundary-line, in section eighteen, township two, in the fourteenth range of townships, between the Miamis; thence along said line to Ludlow's line, and down that line to the southeast corner of section five, township six, in the eighth range of townships between the Miamis, where was a branch of the Little Miami river ; thence down the river to the north line of the fifth range of townships; thence west with said line to the place of beginning."
Within these liberal dimensions, several present counties and large portions of other counties were embraced. In brief, the township embraced all of the territory between the Miamis from an east and west line through the middle of Washington and Miami township to the Indian boundary line. Likewise that part of Hamilton county between the Little Miami and the Scioto, east of the boundaries named, was in a loose way attached to Dayton township. The commissioners of Hamilton county, June 10, 1797, appointed officers for Day- ton township as follows: assessor, James Brady, and collector, John Kitchell. The last named failing to qualify, Colonel Morrill was appointed to serve in his place. Cyrus Osborn was made constable. The fees received will show some- thing of the duties required and performed. The following entries will be of interest.
To Stephen Wood, Treasurer of the County of Hamilton:
Sir-You will pay James Brady five dollars and twenty cents, out of the first monies that come into your hands, the same being his perquisites in full as assessor for the township of Dayton for the year 1797, and this shall be your warrant for so doing.
(Signed) William McMillan, Robert Benham, Commissioners.
November 24th, 1797.
To Stephen Wood, Treasurer of Hamilton County:
Sir-You will pay Cyrus Osborn, Constable of Dayton township, one dollar and ninety cents, which by law he is entitled to for his trouble and attention in
81
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
executing and returning the commissioners' warrant for ascertaining the tax- able property for the present year ; and also fifty cents for one quire of paper used in the aforesaid business.
(Signed) William McMillan, Robert Benham, Commissioners.
Cincinnati, November 24th, 1797.
In 1798, the officers of Dayton township were D. C. Cooper, assessor ; George Newcom, collector, and James Thompson, constable. The rates, or valuation for taxation gives us an insight into primitive conditions. The following rates were fixed by the commissioners: Single men with no property, one dollar ; cleared land, per acre, twenty dollars ; cattle, per head, sixteen dollars; horses, one hundred and seventy-five dollars; cabins, twenty dollars; houses, six hun- dred dollars ; gristmills and sawmills, each six hundred dollars. The follow- ing list of tax-payers and assessments in Dayton township for the year 1798, gives us our fullest introduction to the people at the time immediately following the Dayton settlement :
LIST OF TAX PAYERS AND ASSESSMENTS IN DAYTON TOWNSHIP IN 1798.
George Allexander $1.12
George Adams 1.33
Thomas Arnett .62
Benjamin Archer
1.33
John Barnett
1.25
Paul Butler .80
Loriam Belcher
1.25
George Boos (living at Dayton)
.. 25
John Beatey (living near Cribb's Station)
1.25 Patrick Broderick .94
Samuel Beck 2.20
John Bailey -57
Andrew Baily 1.00
John Childers (living at Smith's Town) 1.07 John Casey 1.00 Daniel Cox 1.00
Daniel C. Cooper (including Vallentine Oyer, his miller )
6.25
William Chapman
2.25
William Chenorth
1.00
James Collier 1.33
William Cancannon
.371/2
John Devor .82
Thomas Davis
1.40
Peter Davis (living at Dayton) 1.00
James Drew (living at Hole's Station) 1.00
Jonathan Donalds
1.37
Owen Davis (including Owen Batman, his hireling) 2.80
Thomas Denny (including James Pachston) 4.25
82
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
James Demit (including Christopher Kailey) 2.35
John Duncan .87
Philip Espetro -75
Nicholas Espetro
.70
Henry Etcheson
I.1212
Robert Edgar
1.33
John Ellis
.40
John Ewing
3.50
Daniel Ferrell
.57
Daniel Flinn
1.20
Benjamin Flinn
I.0712
William Gahagan
I.12
Henry Garrett (Smith's Town)
1.071/2
Smith Gregg
1.36
Benjamin Guinn (living with James Miller)
1.00
James Galloway, Sr.
2.50
James Galloway, Jr.
1.32
Benjamin Hamlet (Smith's Town)
1.071/2
David Huston
1.371/2
John Huston
1.30
William Hole
1.73
William Hamer
2.40
Edward Harlin 1.00
Zachariah Hole
.. 87
Daniel Hole, Sr.
.371/2
Richard Hudson
1.03
John Hillyard
1.90
John Haggin 3.00
Moses Harlin
3.50
Jerome Holt
1.00
William Holmes (including John Teeds)
1.65
Samuel Holmes (Cribb's Station)
1.00
Simon Hughlock (Beaver Creek)
I.07
Boston Hoblet
.75
Alexander Huston
1.13
John Hole (including Arial Coy)
2.54
Thomas John
1.50
John Jackson 1.00
.90
Leonard Leuchman
1.06
William Loe
.70
Jeremiah Ludlow
1.00
John Laelley .371/2
William Lamb (including Michael Woods and John Woods ) 3.31
Nathan Lamb
3.20
Andrew Lock 1.371/2
David Lowrey, Jr. 1.37
Soloman Kelley
83
David Lowrey, Sr. .55
James McDonald (including Jacob Shin) 2.30
Jonathan Mercer .40
James Miller, Esq. 1.55
Edward Mercer 1.00
James Morris
1.30
James McClure
1.00
Widow McClure
.80
David Morris
1.37
Adam McPerson (Little Miami) 1.80
Richard Mason
.80
John McCab (including his son)
2.30
James Miller
.74
William Maxwell (including his negro)
2.12
Joseph Mooney
1.12
John McNight
.371/2
John McGrew
2.05
Thomas Newport
2.00
Benjamin Nap
.50
George Newcom (including M. Bourget)
2.69
Chisley Nap
1.30
John Nap
1.00
Daniel Nap
1.00
Usual Osborn
.371/2
John Penticost
.371/2
William Peney
.50
John Paul
1.12
James Paul
1.00
William Paul
-75
Matthias Parsons
.50
John Quick
.63
James Robe
1.06
Thomas Rich
1.871/2
Jonathan Rollins 1.00
Abraham Richardson 1.80
Patric Rock (including his son) 2.50
William Robbins .92
Benjamin Robbins
1.30
Charles Sincks
-75
Jacob Sincks .371/2
Anthony Shevalier .90
.75
Richard Sunderlin
.75
William Sunderlin .75
James Small 1.00
Alexander Sampson (living with James Thompson) 1.37
Benjamin Furman (including Aslam Eniswirt) 3.75
Henry Stumm
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
84
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Samuel Thompson 1.75
James Thompson (including James McCoy) 3.75
John Vance 1.90
Joseph Vance
1.70
Joseph Vandalagh
1.00
William Van Asdall
.90
Jobe Westfall
-75
Andrew Westfall
-75
George Westfall
1.12
Peter Washington (living with Daniel Flinn)
1.00
John Welch
1.50
Joseph Layton
1.00
Moses Young
.3712
George Kirkendall
.56
Total
$186.661/2
D. C. Cooper, Assessor of Dayton Township.
His fees for this assessment were seven dollars and twenty-one cents.
Some of the persons named may have been west of the Great Miami and others may have been east of the Little Miami, the extension of the township moving westward with the extension of the county in that direction. Cer- tain it is that in 1801, Dayton township included territory to the east and to the west of the Miamis.
The northwest territory was, according to the ordinance of 1787, to have a representative assembly whenever the inhabitants numbered five thousand. In October, 1798, Governor St. Clair declared that that number existed and fixed the third Monday in December as the date for holding an election. The representatives elected from Hamilton county were William Goforth, Wil- liam McMillan, John Smith, John Ludlow, Robert Benham, Aaron Caldwell and Isaac Martin. Jacob Burnet and James Findlay were appointed members of the legislative council from Hamilton county. The territorial legislature met in Cincinnati, February 4, 1799.
The officers appointed for Dayton township in 1799 were Samuel Thompson. constable, John McGrew, assessor, and John Ewing, collector. A new office was created for Dayton township, that of justice of the peace, to which D. C. Cooper was appointed. His docket, beginning October 4, 1799, and closing March 15, 1803, is the earliest local official record in existence. The first case was a suit brought by Abram Richardson against George Kirkendall for $8.00. Judg- ment was entered with costs amounting to thirty-three cents, divided as follows: summons, ten cents; entering judgment, ten cents; subpoena, thirteen cents. Another case was a suit brought by Andrew Lock against John Riggs. The record shows judgment in full rendered for the plaintiff amounting to two dollars and fifty cents ; costs, capias, ten cents; subpoena, ten cents ; judgement, twenty cents ; swearing witness, six cents ; constable's fee, fifty cents. The dis-
James Westfall
1.30
William Westfall (including two of his sons)
5.40
85
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
position to litigate, so common in all new communities, was shown by the fact that from 1799 to 1803, when Montgomery county was formed, the number of cases tried by the first local justice of the peace was one hundred and eighteen.
The assessments for Dayton township for 1799 were two hundred thirty- three dollars and seventy-two cents, of which the amount collected was two hundred and twenty-four dollars and sixty-four cents.
In 1800, Jerome Holt was appointed constable of Dayton township and was directed to "list the free male inhabitants of twenty-one years of age and older" for which service he was paid nineteen dollars and fifty cents. The rates of taxation for this year were, for houses, mills and other buildings, forty cents on each one hundred dollars of valuation; horses, forty cents each; cattle, ten cents ; young or single men, fifty cents to two dollars ; bond servants, one dollar.
In 1801, Benjamin Van Cleve was appointed county surveyor and lister for Dayton township. The following is his entry in his diary as to the duties per- formed: "1801 .- This year I took in the returns of taxable property in Dayton township, which was all the Miami country from the fifth range upwards. The number of free males over twenty-one years old from the south line of the town- ship to the heads of Mad river and the Great Miami was three hundred and eighty-two; west of the Great Miami, twenty-eight; east of the Little Miami, less than twenty." For his services, Mr. Van Cleve received twenty-nine dol- lars and fifty cents. The taxes for the township that year were five hundred seventy-six dollars and sixty-two and one-half cents. As the population was increasing rapidly, it was ordered by the general court that a more complete organization of Dayton township should be effected as indicated by the follow- ing order of the court:
Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio. Hamilton County.
The United States to Jerome Holt, of Dayton township, greeting: You are hereby required to give notice to the inhabitants of said township, in three of the most public places thereof, at least ten days before the first Monday in April next, that they may and shall convene on said day at the house of George Newcom, in the township aforesaid, and then and there proceed to elect by ballot a chairman, town clerk, three or more trustees or managers, two or more overseers of the poor, three fence viewers, two appraisers of houses, lister of taxable property, a sufficient number of supervisors of roads, and one or more constables, agreeable to a law entitled an act to establish and regulate town meetings. And of this warrant make due return.
By Order of the Court:
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed the seal of our same court of general quarter sessions of the peace, at Cincinnati, this second day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1802. JOHN S. GANO, Clerk. (Seal.)
The officers elected served till the organization of Montgomery county the following year. Their names, however, are not known as no records have been handed down.
86
DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
LAND TITLES.
Notice has already been taken of the resurvey in 1802, of land between the Miamis north of the Symmes' patent. We have also noticed that on the basis of an earlier survey and of contracts made with land proprietors, a large amount of land between the Miamis within the limits of Montgomery county was set- tled between 1795 and 1801. Though the government refused to accept an additional payment from Symmes in the winter of 1796-97, he continued to advertise and sell land till after 1800. On complaint of the people, who feared the loss of what they had paid for land and expended in improvements, congress March 2, 1799, passed a preemption act, securing to those who had a written contract with Symmes before April 1, 1799, the privilege of purchasing the land thus contracted for at two dollars per acre. Few took advantage of this act. March 3, 1801, the privilege was given to all who had written contracts prior to January 1, 1800. In 1802, 1803, and in 1804, the time for complying with these acts was extended. Very complicated were the claims rising under these preemption privileges.
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.