USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics, Volume I > Part 2
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The conduct and exertions of the field and other officers of the Pennsylvania line, are rare instances of their gallantry and talents, &c.
Camp Cooper's Mills, 9th July, 1781.
Gen. Wayne's orders. It is with the highest pleasure that Gen. Wayne acknowledges the in- trepidity and fortitude with which the advance corps composed of between 7 and 800 men un- der his command attacked the whole British army on their own ground, and in their own en- campment, and from that emulation and firm- ness so conspicuous in every officer, and soldicr belonging to the cavalry, artillery, infantry and riflemen, the General is confident, that had the whole army been within supporting distance, victory would have inclined to our arms &c.
Head Qrs. Williamsburgh , 8th Sept. Here f ..!.
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lows the Gen. order of Lafayette.
"Oct. 20. 1781, The General congratulates the army upon the glorious result of yesterday, the generous proof which his christian majesty has given of his attachment to the cause of America must force conviction in the minds of the most decided among the enemy, relatively to the decisive good consequences of these alli- ances, and inspire every citizen of these States with sentiments of the most unalterable grati- tude."
He was at West Point 5th Aug., 1779.
Carlisle, 24th June, 1782. In Virginia 19th April, 1782.
Wyoming, 24th March, 1784, and up to 20th April, 1784.
Commands at Pitt, Dec., 1785 to March 1786.
On 15th Dec. . 1785, he is ordered to the com- mand of Fort Pitt, and remains till some time in 1786, when he is ordered to the command of Fort Finney Rapids of Ohio.
Commands at Fort Finney, Aug. 1786. Fort Hamilton, 1791, 2d and 3d.
A Genuine Scene with Abernethy.
About a year and a half before the death of Mr. Abernethy, a big fellow, a clerk in a brewer's establishment, went to consult that eminent man, when the following conversation took place between them :- The patient, who had a very crazy frame, but a sound under- standing, said, upon entering the parlor, and seeing a little odd looking man with the knees of his breeches loose, I want to speak to Dr. Abernethy. Doctor-I am no doctor; what brings you here ? I came for advice to be sure. You don't think I came to ask you how you do? Hah! muttered Abernethy, evidently pleased with meeting a congenial customer; no, I hope not ; but there's no use of your com- ing to me for advice-you won't take it. Yes I will. I'll be hang'd if you do. I'll be hang'd if I dont. What trade are you ?- A butcher, or a publican or a coster-monger? Not a bit of it; you're all wrong; I am a brewer's clerk .- What they call a broad cooper? I am a col- lecting clerk. Worse and worse, Nothing can satisfy fellows of your kind, you'll drink beer till you burst.
Show me your tongue. 'The patient imme- diately obeyed, by lolling a large yellow, furry tongue over his chin. Bad, said Mr : Aber- nethy, very bad. You were drunk last night? No, I wasn't. So much the worse, for the state of your tongue must then proceed from habitual drinking.
You are always drunk, and you don't know it. You drink what you fellows call " heavy wet!" No, I don't. I drink ale, because 1 wish to serve my employers. To serve your employers! Then you pay for what you drink ? No, I don't. I happen to be in one of the first houses in London. Then if you stay much longer with them, they will be one of the last. Here (pulling some of his specific pills out of a drawer,) take one of these every other nigh!, and diminish your ale from gallons to half-pints. But you won't remember what I say to you ?- Yes, I will. No, you won't. You have no | him- as for myself!"
memory. I have as good a memory as you .- I'll get off a hundred lines in Milton's Paradise Lost, with you any day. Aye. Pandemonium ? You are always dreaming of the devil and all his angels; isn't that it? No, it isn't; but I often feel a palpitation of the heart, or the head- ache, without being a bit lumpy. Nonsense! How can a fellow who lives upon ale, have either head or heart? You have stomach and guts enough. Really, sir, I get very much de- pressed, particularly when I can't get in the debts of the house. It is always cold morning with me then. Well, I advise you to take the pills, and take exercise, and have mercy upon your employers and yourself. Good morning. As the patient was walking out of the room, Mr. Abernethy said-Stay, where are you do- ing business? Over the water. Well, take a cab. Why so? You just said exercise ia good for me. Yes, but between thia and your place of business, there are twenty public houses, I am greatly afraid of the shortness of your me- mory. When shall I call again? Do as I tell you, and I never need see your face more. I'll come, if I don't improve, but I trust we shall never meet again this side of the grave. If ever we do, I hope you'll repeat the hundred lines from Milton, I'll be satisfied with that instead of a fee. There, (ringing the bell and whist- ling, ) that'll do, but give me another call.
French Police.
The French Police is very indifferent, except for political purposes, then it is unrivalled, and go in what circle of society one may. he never can be certain that any expressions he may drop against the powers that are, will not be duly communicated, and registered against him at the Quai de Jerusalem. One of the most popu- lar saloons of the fauxbourg St. Germain, is that of Madame Delamarque; it is a sort of neutral ground where men of all parties meet & converse freely on the prominent topics of the day .- Colonel Rattin, one of those worthiea who gain. ed their epaulets in the Spanish Legion, recent- ly obtained the entrce, but on hia first appear - ance the busy tongue of scandal whispered that he was a Mouchard; or, to speak more plainly, a public spy. The hostess perceived the sensation created by her new guest, and was indignant when she learned the cause. "He shall leave the house, " said she, "unless he gives a perfect explanation ;" and forthwith gave him an invi- tation to follow her to her boudoir, where she at once broached the matter. "Colonel, I do not wish to offend you, nor know how to express myself, but these people say you are sent here -by-the" "Go on, Madame, you excite my curiosity." "Oh, I really cannot believe it, but they say you are sent here by the Police." --- "Indeed, Madame, nothing can be truer. "- "And you have the effrontery to avow it?"- "Yes, Madame, I am sent here to ascertain-" "To ascertain! it is infamous." "Hear me. Madame, to ascertain if you earn the fifteen thou- sand francs which the Police pay you for spying your guests." "Ah ! you know it?" "Pshaw, Madame, is it not my business ? Madame De- lamarque re- entered her drawing-room some few minutes afterwards, leading by the hand the Colonel, upon whose countenance was painted wronged innocence. "Ladies and gentlemen," said she, "I have had a perfect explanation with the Colonel, and am happy to say that the report concerning him is groundless. I answer for
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Cincinnati -- Its Name and Plat. CINCINNATI, Oct. 5th. 1844.
DEAR SIR :-
At the close of a conversation which pass- ed between us a few weeks since respecting the original plan and name of the place, which is now familiarly called the Queen City of the West; you requested me to furnish you with such reminiscences in relation to that subject as ny early residence in the West might enable me to give.
You are aware that I was not among the first adventurers to the Miami Valley. When the settlement of it began I had not finished my education ; but I commenced my journey to join the little band of adventurers as soon as my professional studies were closed, which was in the Spring, after the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, had terminated the Indian war: of course the town had been laid out and the settlement of it commenced, before my arrival, It had, how- ever, made but little progress, either in popula- tion or improvement; though it contained a larger number of inhabitants than any other American Village in the territory, excepting Marietta; and if you take into the account, the officers and soldiers of the garrison, and others attached to the army, it very much exceeded the population of that place.
Most of the persons who saw the town laid out,and put up the first cabins erected in it, were here when I came, and were my earliest compan- ions and associates. Without professing an unusual share of curiosity, it is natural to sup- posc, that I learnt from them, correctly, the few and simple historical facts of the place which for good or ill, I had selected for life as my resi- dence. By way of comparison it may be said, that the facts connected with the recent location of the Cincinnati Observatory-the donation made by our distinguished fellow-citizen N. Longworth Esq-the ceremony of laying the corner stone of the edifice, by the venerable sage and patriot of Quincy, and the name of Mount Adams then publicly given to it, are not more distinctly known, as matters of history; than were the facts of the laying out, establish ing and naming of the town of Cincinnati. at the time to which I refer. They were a subject of enquiry by every stranger who came to the place, and every person in the village could recite them. There was but one version of the story, which was this, that M. Denman of New Jersey entered into a contract with Col. Robert Patterson of Lexington, and John Filson, a Sur- veyor in the employ of Judge Symmes, to lay out the land opposite the mouth of Licking river, then the exclusive property of M. Den- man. A plat of the contemplated town was made out and Losantiville agreed upon as its
name; but before any step was taken to carry that contract into effect, and before a chain had been stretched on the ground, Mr. Filson was killed by the Indians, not having done any thing to fulfil his part of the contract; in consequence of which it was forfeited, and the projected town fell through. This is all that was ever donc towards the establishment of a town by the name of Losantiville,yet as was natural the settlement then just beginning, was for some time, called by the intended name of the pro- jected town.
Early in the next season, Mr. Denman entered into a new contract with Col. Patterson and Israel Ludlow, to lay out a town on the same ground, but on a different plan from the one formerly agreed upon. To that town they gave the name of Cincinnati, and by that name it was surveyed and known in the fall of 1789.
I was informed by Judge Turner, one of the earliest adventurers to the West, that he had seen both plats, and that the general outline and plan of division were nearly the same in both, but that the first or Filson plat, to which the name of Losantiville was to have been given,set apart two entire blocks for the use of the town, and that it gave as a public common, all the ground between Front street and the river, ex- tending from Eastern Row to Western Row, then the extreme boundaries of the town plat: and it is impressed upon my mind, though I cannot say what caused that impression, that on the first or Filson plat, Front street was laid down near- er to the river, or made more southing in its course Westward, than we find it on the plat of Cincinnati. I was also informed that some of the names which had been selected for streets of the Losantiville plan, were given tostreets on the plan of Cincinnati, and that others were rejec- ted. This circumstance may account for a fact, which is no doubt remembered by many now living in the city, that after Joel Williams had become proprietor, by purchasing the right of Mr. Denman, and had determined to claim the public common, as private property, an unsuc- cessful effort was made to change the names of some of the streets on the genuine plat of Cin- cinnati by substituting' others, taken from the plat of Filson. That attempt created some tem porary difficulty in the minds of persons not cor- rectly informed, as to the true history of the town, and many took the precaution of inser- ting both the names in their deeds and con- tracts.
But independent of these facts, it must be ev- ident that the name of the town could not have been changed after the town had been establish- ed, named and surveyed. The territorial stat- ute of December, 1800, which I advocated and voted for in the Legislative Council, made it
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the duty of the proprietors of every town which had been laid out in the territory, before that time, to cause a true and correct map, or plat thereof to be recorded in the Recorder's office of the county in which it lay, within one year af- ter the passage of the act, under a heavy pen- alty.
The name of the town constitutes as impor- tant a part of the plat of it, as the names of the streets or the numbers of lots, and the title to property acquired in it, is affected as much by error, mistake or uncertainty, in the one, as in the other; it was therefore considered important for the security of property holders that a true record should be made of these matters, and of every thing else appertaining to the plat, precise- ly as they were when the town was established and the sale of the lots commenced. Hence, the law required a true and correct plat-in other words, the original plat, without change or vari- ation, to be recorded .
When the plan of Cincinnati was recorded by Israel Ludlow in 1801-the original proprietors were all living, he being one of them. It is therefore impossible to suppose, that he did not know what the original plat contained-or that he acted without authority-or that he would falsify the plat by placing on it any name other than the one originally given toit. I was inti- mately acquainted with Col. Ludlow who recor- ded the town plat,and was professionally consul- ted by him as to the requirements of the statute. He was very much annoyed by the interference of Joel Williams, a sub-proprietor, who insisted on making innovations, or changes in the origin- al plat, calculated to favor a claim he was set- ting up to the public common for landing. I gave it as my opinion that Mr. Williams not be- ing an original proprietor, or even a resident of the country when the town plat was formed and established,and having had no agency in the for- mation of the original plan of the town, could not be presumed to know what it was: and moreover, that the statute did not recognize him as having any other or greater authority to in- terfere in the matter, than any other individual who had become the purchaser of a single lot.
The result was, that each of those individuals prepared and lodged in the recorder's office, a plat of the town, affirming it to be a true copy from the original, unfortunately perhaps-cer- tainly without legal authority, the recorder pla- ced both plats on the record, but the communi- ty soon became satisfied, that the plat prepared and certified be Col. Ludlow, was alone to be relied on.
This, however, has no other bearing on the subject matter of our conversation, than arises from the fact, that each of them affirmed Cin- cinnati to be the true, original name of the cown.
The controversy between them continued for several months, and was marked with great warmth. On one occasion it terminated in a vi- olent personal conflict, in which the original plat of the town, made and agreed to by the pro- prietors at Limestone, in the winter of 1788-9, bearing on its face the name of Cincinnati, was torn in pieces; each party retaining a part of it. In this alteration Col. Ludlow took the ground, that Williams was an unauthorized intru- der, and that the statute made it his duty as an original proprietor, to record the plat, correctly and faithfully as it came from the pro- prietors; neither adding to, subtracting from or altering any thing, which was on it when it was agreed to and signed by the proprietors.
To show how firmly he adhered to that prin- ciple, I will mention one case. The ground bounded by Broadway, Front street, Main street and the River, had been publicly given, and set apart by the proprietors with his knowledge and concurrence as a common for the use of the town forever. This fact he knew and affirmed, but because the word common had not been written on the map within the lines enclosing that donation or elsewhere, he refused to insert it on the copy made for the recorder, and yet it is affirmed by implication that he deliberately made out, and placed on record a plat of the town, affirming it to be a true copy of the orig- inal, knowing that it contained a name altogeth- er different from the one which had been in the first instance adopted, and entered on the plat.
I will state farther, that at an early period, professional duty made it necessary for me to in- vestigate the facts connected with the origin and establishment of Cincinnati, which did not ex- tend to any other individual then or now living, and it so happened that the performance of that duty, was required at a time when the town was almost in its incipient state, and when all the original proprietors, and most of the first adven- turers and settlers were living within the village or in places casily accessible.
Without presuming to claim more of tact or industry than belongs to the profession general- ly, it may be presumed, considering the sources of correct information then within my reach, that I must at least, have ascertained the name of the place, the establishment and history of which I was investigating.
It has been already intimated, that Joel Wil- liams, soon after he purchased the proprietary right of Mr. Denman set up a claim to the com- mon before described, alleging it to be private property, reserved by the proprietors for future disposition. On the strength of that pretence, he erected a brick house on the north-west cor - ner of the tract in question. In consequence of this movement a number of the most public spir-
3 1833 02279 6210
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ited of our citizens, Martin Baum, Jesse Hunt and General Findley taking the lead, raised a fund by subscription, to defend and sustain the right of the town. I was employed to collect and perpetuate the testimony applicable to the case; and you will not hesitate to believe, that in executing that commission, my en- quiries were directed to the original proprie- tors and to such other persons as werd likely to have any knowledge of the facts, touching the laying out of the town, and the matters contained on the original plat. I men- tion this to show that there was something more than curiosity prompting me to this investiga- tion of the early history of the town, which ought to entitle it to credence.
Now let any person ask himself what descrip- tion of facts were likely to be disclosed in the course of such an examination, and the answer will be precisely such as were stated in the pre- ceding part of this letter, if they existed, although they could not have any bearing on the matter then in controversy. On the supposition that they did not exist, was there a sufficient motive to induce any body to fabricate them ? It would be difficult to assign a reason in favor of an af- firmative answer.
You will perceive, that to sustain the right of the town to the common, it was necessary to prove the correctness of the plat recorded by Ludlow, which affirmed Cincinnati to be the true, original, and only name of the town. In pursuing that enquiry, the facts came out that there had been a previous project for laying out a town, the name which was to have been Losant- iville, but that that project had fallen through .-- As that matter had no relation to the subject, I was specially investigating, it was not noticed in the depositions, but omitted as irrelevant.
Having said thus much on the subject of our conversation, I will state as information which may be interesting, if not useful, that in Nov. 1794, Samuel Freeman purchased the unsold in- terest of Robert Patterson in the town section and fraction-that in March 1795,Joel Williams purchased the unsold interest of Mr. Denman, and in Nov. 1803 he also purchased of Samuel Freeman the proprietary interest acquiring by his purchase from Col. Patterson, by which he owned and represented two shares, or equal third parts of the unsold lots and ground in the sec- tion and fraction.
You are no doubt, acquainted with the fact, that by an arrangement between Judge Symmes and the first proprietors of the town, he was to retain the title in trust for them, and to execute deeds to the purchasers of lots, on their produ- cing certificates of the respective purchases, signed by any twoof the proprietors. You have also, it is presumed, heard that all those certifi-
cates, of which no record has been preserved, were consumed in the conflagration of Judge Symmes' house. These facts connected with the sale of Freeman's entire proprietary right to Jo- el Williams, may possibly account for the link which is said to be wanting, in the chain of title to part of the ground, lying west of the town plat, now held under Joel Williams. That fatal fire may have consumed the documents required to make out a complete paper title.
This conjecture is in som e measure corrobora- ted by a reference to the peculiarities of Mr.Wil- liams, who had an active mind-was somewhat eccentric-possessed a vein of humor and could at times be very sarcastic. He was however quite illiterate and unusually careless, and having great confidence in Judge Symmes, he generally relied on him as a friend and adviser, though on one or two occasions, there was some serious misunderstanding between them. I was fre- quently engaged for him, in his legal controver- sies, and it so happened, that a paper required in his cause was found in the keeping of Judge Symmes. I have several times, when calling on him for papers, seen him open and examine the contents of his desk which gave me an opportu- nity of knowing, that even the most valuable of his papers were kept in a very careless and slov- enly manner, and I have often thought, that it would have been better for him, if all his papers had been in the safe keeping of a guardian or friend; and particularly so, as every person who had been apurchaser of a town property, was ex- posed more or less to the consequence of his carelessness ; resulting from the peculiar manner in which titles to property, within the town sec- tion or fraction, though beyond the limits of the town plat, were to be obtained. To illustrate my meaning-there have been cases in which non-residents have purchased lots, obtained their certificates, and left them in the hands of Judge Symmes, without calling for deeds after the bur- ning of the Judge's house, and the consequent destruction of their evidence of title, and other persons, by a fresh purchase, or otherwise, have become the legal owners of the same lots.
Very respectfully,
J. BURNET,
CHARLES CIST.
Early Brickmaking.
July 4, 1791. Received of the hands of Wm. McMillen. Esquire, one of the Justices of the Peace, in and for the county of Ham- ilton, the sum of sixteen dollars, in full of a fine, upon information at my own proper inst., levied against Reuben Read, of Cin- cinnati, Brickmaker, for selling spirituous liquor, contrary to an act of the Territory of the U. S. N. W. R. O.
By me, JOS. SAFFIN.
It would seem by the above, that brick were made here in less than two years, ab urbe condita.
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Gas an "Obsolete Idea,"
In the Advertiser of the 4th Sept. under the licad "IMPORTANT DISCOVERY," I announced the fact that a new species of light far surpassing the Drummond in intensity, was about to make its appearance in our city, and would be sub- mitted to the public inspection, so soon as the necessary letters patent were obtained for the discovery. It was stated that an hall light, of ordinary size for table use, had enabled print to be read at the distance of three hundred feet, the glass in this instance, being rendered semi- opaque by grinding. This had become necessa- ry to reduce the intensity of light, for practical purposes, the full brilliancy being equal to that of the sun at noon day. It was stated, also, that a tower 200 feet high or even less, would suffice to light the whole city, and that the tower when built could be lighted at an expense of three undred dollars. Fin ally, it was alleged that this discovery had been tested for the past five months. When I stated all this, I was perfectly aware that the account would etir up a vast amount of incredulity. As my friend Wesley Smead, the banker says, and the remark evinces profound knowledge of temporal matters, "In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith but by the wanl of it." Hence I was prepared to expect and even to justify the sceptical air with which many received the announcement, and the knowing look with which others quizzed me, for being sucked in, as they phrased it, to usher it forth to the community,
I have now the pleasure to say that all this is true, and that, as in the case of the Queen of Sheba, the half has not been told. At that time I was not at liberty to say more, but now state --
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