The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 27

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081

USA > Ohio > Warren County > The History of Warren County, Ohio > Part 27

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).

An undergrowth of spice brush was spread over all the richer uplands of the county, almost as impenetrable as the cane brake of Kentucky, and, like the cane, it has disappeared with the encroachments of civilization. The spice bushes greatly retarded the work of the early surveyors. They were abundant on the plat of Lebanon long after the town had become a county seat. The flowers of the shrub appeared early in spring before the leaves, and were suc- ceeded by small clusters of berries, which, when ripe, in September, were of a bright crimson color. The berries are said to have been used sometimes in- stead of allspice. A decoction from the branches made a gently stimulating drink, sometimes used in low fevers, and the shrub was often called the fever- bush.

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Y. G. Kersey, 1.9.

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There was beauty as well as magnificence in the primeval forests. Under the branches of the giant trees grew shrubs and flowers, as perfect as if they had been cultivated by the skillful florist. There were wild lilies and roses. In the early spring were seen the bright green of the buckeye leaves, the pure white blossoms of the dogwood, the purple hue of the red-bud, and on the ground the many hues of more than a hundred species of wild flowers. A tall weed covered the fertile bottoms of the streams, growing thick as hemp and overtopping horse and rider.

The age of the gigantic denizens of our forests has probably been over- stated. Some writers have spoken of them as of many centuries' growth. There are probably very few trees now standing in the Miami Valley which had begun to grow before the discovery of America in 1492. The greatest portion of even our largest trees are probably less than three hundred years old. Our hardwood species probably attain a diameter of thirty inches in two and a half centuries. A limited number of species, or a single species having possession of a forest, it is thought, indicates that the forest has but recently sprung into existence, and at no distant period the ground was destitute of trees. The tendency of forests is toward a multiplication of the varieties of trees. The great number of species of trees would indicate that most portions of the Miami Valley have long been clothed with a forest covering.

STREAM8.

When this region was covered with forests, creeks which are now nearly dry half the year, were constant running streams. Mills built on streams like Turtle Creek, would run at least ten months in the year by water-power. It is worthy of notice in this connection that Judge Symmes, in giving informa- tion by his pamphlet, to those seeking homes in his purchase, assumed that the streams running into the Miamis would be the mill-streams, and that the two Miamis would be of most value for the purposes of navigation.

"The tract is said to be well watered with springs and rivulets, and sev- eral fine mill-streams falling from the dividing ridge into the two Miamis, which lie about thirty miles apart, and are both supposed to be navigable higher up in the country than the northern extent of this purchase, so that the interior farms will have navigation in the boating seasons within fifteen or eighteen miles at farthest." -- Symmes' Pamphlet, 1787.

And in fact, for many years, the Great Miami, before it was obstructed with dams, proved of much value for floating loaded flat-boats started for New Orleans, many boat loads of produce having been shipped from Franklin in this county. Little did Judge Symmes anticipate in 1787 that the Little Miami would furnish a mill-seat at every few miles of its course, and that even the Great Miami would be crossed with dams to furnish water-power for thriving cities and towns, and that, with the cultivation of the country and the destruction of the forests, not only would the smaller streams become al- most worthless as mill-streams, but even in the Miamis low water would be one of the greatest difficulties water-power mills and factories would have to contend against.

The clearness of the waters of the Little Miami, before the forests were cleared away and the country was cultivated, was noted in the journal of Rev. James Smith. He says it was no uncommon thing to see shoals of fish in the rivers. He stood, in 1797, in the yard of Rev. Francis McCormick's residence, about fifty yards from the Little Miami, and saw numbers of fish near the op- posite bank of the river, which was about one hundred yards wide. The same traveler afterward noted the clearness of the waters of Paint Creek, in which he saw a shoal of fish on the farther side, where it was one hundred yards wide.

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WILD ANIMALS.

The buffalo and elk, probably never numerous in this vicinity, had dis- appeared before the approach of the white man, but the bear, the deer, the wolf, the panther, the wildcat, the otter, the beaver, the porcupine, the wild turkey, the rattlesnake, racer, moccasin and copperhead of the fauna, which have now disappeared, remained in greater or less numbers for some years after the occupancy by the whites. The streams were infested with leeches. Swine were the chief means of the destruction of poisonous snakes from which the county has been almost entirely free for fifty years.

Wolves were so numerous and destructive to sheep that several acts were passed by the Territorial and State Legislatures providing premiums for kill- ing them. Considerable sums were allowed by the Commissioners of this county for wolf scalps, the bounty varying at different times from $2 to $2.50 for each wolf killed over six months old, and half these sums for those under six months. The wolf-killer, before receiving his bounty, was required by law to produce the scalp of each wolf killed, with the ears entire. The first law required the whole head of the wolf, with the ears entire, to be produced. He was also required to take an oath, which, in 1799, was of the following form:

I do solemly swear (or affirm) that the head now produced by me, is the head of a wild wolf, taken and killed by me in the county of within six miles of some one of the settlements within the same to the best of my knowledge, and that I have not wittingly or willingly spared the life of any bitch wolf, in my power to kill, with the design of in- creasing the breed, so help me God.

The same premium was offered for killing panthers as for killing wolves; but only two panther scalps were presented to the Commissioners in this county in the course of eight years; $20 for wolf scalps have been allowed in this county at a single meeting of the Commissioners.

Countless numbers of squirrels were to be found in the woods, and unceas- ing vigilance was required on the part of the settler to protect his corn-fields from their ravages. They sometimes passed over the country in droves, trav- eling in the same direction. These animals were a nuisance, and were too common to be regarded as valuable for food. The Legislature, in 1809, passed a singular act having the double object in view of destroying squirrels and providing the people with a currency. It was entitled "An Act to Encourage the Killing of Squirrels," passed and bearing date December 24, 1807. Its first section provided "that each and every person within this State, who is subject to a county tax, shall, in addition thereto, produce to the Clerk of the township in which he may reside such number of squirrel scalps as the Trust- ees, at their annual meeting, apportion to the currency levies, provided that it does not exceed one hundred nor less than ten." Each tax-payer, at the time his property was listed for taxation, was to be furnished with a list of the scalps he would be required to furnish. On failure or neglect to fur- nish the required scalps, the tax-payer was required to pay into the treasury of the township 3 cents for every scalp he was in default; and every person producing to the Township Clerk an excess of scalps over and above the num- ber apportioned to him was to receive 2 cents for each.

SECTION 6. That if any person shall produce to the Clerk of his proper township any number of squirrel scalps exceeding the number required of him by the first section of this act, such Clerk shall give to the person producing the same a certificate therefor, stating the number so produced in advance, which certificate, on being presented to the Treasurer of such township, shall be a sufficient warrant for him to pay to the person holding certificate the amount thereof, calculating the amount at the same rate prescribed in the second section of this act, out of any money paid into the treasury, under the pro- visions of the fourth section of this act, which certificate, with the receipt of the persons

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producing the same, shall be by such Treasurer filed in his office as a proper voucher a: his settlement with the Trustees of the township, so far as relates to moneys paid into such treasury, under the provisions of this act.

The certificates of the Township Clerk furnished the people with a cur- rency. They were secured by the faith of the township and were received by the merchant for goods and by the mechanic for work. The law, however, did not prove a great success and was soon repealed.

A. H. Dunlevy, who came to the vicinity of Lebanon when a boy, in 1797, thus speaks of the number of snakes:

"The high weeds in falling down formed fine harbors for snakes, which were as plenty as one could wish, consisting, mainly, of the black rattlesnake, the racer, the watersnake, and occasionally was found a moccasin snake, the most deadly of all. Near where we first lived was a camp of Gen. Harmar as he led his army toward the Maumee, in 1790. He had probably remained there for a week or ten days, as there were three or four graves there and some half acre or more cut off and the brush piled in heaps around the camp. These brush-heaps were decayed in 1798, but afforded fine harbors for snakes, and as the warm sun of spring came out, I think hundreds of them could be seen in an hour passing from one brush hexp to another in apparent merry play. I used there to amuse myself in watching their movements, and noting their peculiar colors; every kind of snake seemed to nestle together in these brush heaps. As an evidence of the number of snakes then existing in this new country, I will mention one fact. My father took me once with him to a neighbors, about half a mile distant, and, in going to and returning from that neighbor's, he killed seven rattlesnakes and gave me the rattles, and that with- out any particular search.

"Again, in the first settlements of the country, the water-courses were in- fested with leeches so numerous that the most active boy would not run across any part of Turtle Creek in summer barefooted and barelegged without having a number of leeches fasten upon his feet and legs; and if one would walk through slowly, they would cover the feet and legs until they were black. Soon, however, the blood would flow freely, giving the limbs a most disgusting appearance. To get rid of them was a task requiring hard scraping with a stick. Many of our cattle died of bloody murrain at that time, and I now have no doubt the disease was caused by drinking in these leeches in great numbers, though I do not now recollect that this was then supposed to be the cause of that sickness. But as the country settled, snakes and leeches disap- peared. There being no rocks to shelter either, hogs soon destroyed both, and, for fifty years, this section of country has been almost free from snakes, except the black snake, which is not poisonous."

The same writer thus describes the manner of hunting the bear as he himself had witnessed the sport:

"Of all the sports of hunting in early times, the bear-hunt was the most exciting. This usually occurred accidentally. I never knew a bear-hunt to be regularly organized. Some one in the neighborhood would accidentally discover a bear, and if at a time when the animal was fat and worth possessing, he gave the sound of a horn, known in the neighborhood as a signal of the discovery of a bear and the call for help to capture the prize. Instantly, almost, men on horseback, with rifles and dogs, were on hand. The sound of the horn indicated the course of the bear and thither the neighbors hastened. For hours, sometimes from morning till nightfall, the chase would continue. The dogs would keep on the track of the bear, but unless they could cause him to take to a tree, they could do nothing with him but to keep his trail and enable the hunters to follow. If they ventured to attack him, they were soon

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repulsed-sometimes killed on the spot. At last, after many hours chase, sometimes embracing an area of five or six miles circumference, the exhausted bear would take to a tree, around which the dogs quickly gathered, and, by their united noise, gave assurance to the hunters that bruin was at last treed. The signal-horn was sounded and the huuters were soon on the spot. If it was still light, the bear was soon brought down by the unerring rifle. If too dark to see, the tree was watched until morning, and then he was dispatched. The event ended with skinning the bear and cutting up the carcass into as many pieces as would give each hunter his portion, and usually sending a part to each family in the neighborhood. The flesh, though considered by most people a delicacy, I could never eat, but the sport of the bear-hunt had _no equal with me at that early day or at any time since."

Other kinds of game were abundant. For some years the red deer were as numerous as cattle to-day. Wild turkeys could be shot or entrapped in great numbers. When mast was abundant, a drove of more than one hundred wild turkeys, all large and fat, might be found in the near vicinity of the settlements, and when mast was scarce large numbers would sometimes come to the barn-yards for grain. The rivers abounded with fish. The white and yellow cat-fish, black bass, red-horse and carp could be drawn from the Little Miami by brush drags in wagon loads.

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CHAPTER V. EARLY SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

SCHOOLS and churches were established in Warren County almost as soon as a neighborhood of settlers had built their log cabins and begun their clear- ings. The early school and meeting-houses were rude log buildings, but the instruction was as lasting and the prayers were as fervent as in the most stately school building or cathedral of the cities. The first school in the county of which we have any record was taught by Francis Dunlevy, afterward first Pres- ident Judge of the Circuit of Southwestern Ohio, and was commenced in 1798, just west of the site of Lebanon. It was attended by youth from four or five miles around. Among the earliest pupils of this school was a black- eyed boy, who gave his age as four years and his name as Thomas Corwin.

Francis Dunlevy was a scholar with considerable attainments, both in lan- guages and mathematics. As early as 1792, he had opened at Columbia what was probably the first classical school between the Miamis. This school was conducted in connection with John Riley, afterward of Butler County, Ohio. Dunlevy taught the ancient languages and higher mathematics; Riley, the common English branches. This school was continued until 1794, when Wayne's victory over the Indians permitted many of the inhabitants of Colum- bia, who had hitherto been prevented from so doing, to occupy their lands up the country. By this means the place was almost depopulated, and the school was given up.

Mr. Dunlevy afterward taught school for a time at "The Island," as then called, some ten miles up the Little Miami, and in the year 1797 removed to the neighborhood of Lebanon, as now known, and opened a large school at a point half a mile west of the center of the present town. But Lebanon was not laid out until 1802, and when the school was opened the present site was entirely in the woods. Besides the common branches, the ancient languages and the higher mathematics were taught. The school was continued until the year 1801, when Mr. Dunlevy moved it to the northwest about two miles, where many of his former pupils attended. While there, he was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature, and was succeeded as teacher by David Spin- ning. A school was taught regularly in the same place until 1825.

Other schools were taught in the country around Lebanon at this early period, among which may be mentioned one conducted by Matthias Ross as early as 1801, 1802 or 1803, near the present site of Ridgeville; a large school taught by Thomas Newport, about one mile north of Lebanon, from 1805 for many years; and the first school at Deerfield, taught by the late Judge Ignatius Brown, about the year 1800.

The first school taught in Lebanon after it became a town, was conducted by Enos Williams, a pupil of Francis Dunlevy, in 1801, 1802 and 1803. The branches taught were reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography and English grammar.

The first schoolhouses were built of logs-not by taxation, nor subscrip- tions of money, but by the labor of the settlers. On a fixed day, the neigh- bors assembled at the chosen site and the work was done. The ample fire-place occupied nearly the whole of one end of the structure. The furniture was as rude and simple as the building. A hewed slab or puncheon, slanting from the walls, extended on three sides of the room as the writing desk for the whole

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school. The seats were of slabs, and without backs. The pupils sat with their faces to the wall, the teacher occupying the central part of the room.

While some of the early schools may be said to have been good schools. taught by intelligent teachers, others, and perhaps the majority, afforded but inferior facilities for learning. In some of them, the only text-books were Webster's spelling book, the New Testament or the English reader, and Pike's or Diebold's arithmetic. Grammar and geography were not generally taught. and arithmetic usually only as far as the rule of three. For years, it was customary, in indenturing an apprentice, to require the master. to provide for the education of the minor only so far as to teach him "to read, write and cipher as far as the rule of three." The examples for practice in the arith- metics were given almost exclusively in pounds, shillings and pence. More importance was attached to the spelling of all the words in the spelling book than those which are ordinarily used in writing, and spelling matches were common. The teacher wrote the copies for the writing lesson, and the making and mending quill pens was an essential part of the teacher's work.

Francis Glass. author of the Life of Washington in Latin, a man of rare attainments in the ancient languages, was for several years a teacher in differ- ent localities in Warren County. He was educated in Philadelphia, and came to the Miami country about 1817. J. N. Reynolds, who edited Glass' Life of Washington and secured its publication, gives, in the preface of that work. some account of the author. Glass was a poor man with a large family, and all his worldly goods and chattels could not have been sold for $30. The Life of Washington seems to have been commenced in Warren County, and com- pleted at Dayton. Reynolds was his pupil in the winter of 1823-24, in some part of Warren County, but its exact locality he does not give. The school- house " stood on the bank of a small stream in a thick grove of native oaks. The building was a low log cabin with a clapboard roof, but indifferently tight; all the light of heaven found in this cabin came through the apertures made on each side in the logs, and these were covered with oiled paper to keep out the cold air. while they admitted the dim rays." Here he had about forty pupils. only about half a dozen of whom were studying Latin and Greek. His book was published in 1835, by the Harper Brothers, after the death of the author, with the following title: "Georgii Washingtonii, America Septentri- onalis Civitatum Fæderatarum Præsidis Primi, Vita. Francisco Glass. A. M., Ohioensis."

The pioneer preachers on the Miamis were mounted rangers. The Meth- odist preachers were circuit-riders, and their circuits extended a hundred miles. The Presbyterian and Baptist ministers had several congregations or preach- ing stations under their charge, which were often at a great distance apart. All were expected to seek out and preach to the scattered members of their fold over a large territory. They traveled on horseback, with their capacious saddle-bags under them; but these seldom contained manuscript sermons; a sermon written out and read to a congregation would have been received with little favor.

The first preaching in a community was almost always at a private house. The first churches in Warren County were made of logs, hewed inside and out- side. They were larger and built with more care than the schoolhouses, and when the spaces between the logs were properly filled in with mortar, they proved to be comfortable rooms, cool in summer and warm in winter.

The itinerant clergy were important teachers among the early settlers. They lodged in their cabins and conversed with their families. Newspapers and periodicals of every kind were rare. Religious newspapers were then un- known. The preacher was usually a welcome guest.

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Baptist Church. - The Baptists established the first church between the Miamis, at Columbia, in 1790, and the first regularly organized church within the bounds of Warren County was the Clear Creek Baptist Church. It was or- ganized as early as 1797, and its first meeting-house was built that year. It stood about half a mile north of the site of Ridgeville. When a general con- ference meeting was held at Columbia, June 3, 1798, for the purpose of form- ing a Baptist association, the Clear Creek Church was one of the four churches represented, the other three being Columbia, Carpenter's Run and Miami Isl- and; and at the next meeting for the same purpose, held at Columbia October 20, 1798, the Clear Creek Church was represented by James Sutton, Ebenezer Osborn, Thomas Kelsey and Francis Dunlevy. The church at this time in- cluded in its membership the Baptists on Turtle Creek, and consisted of but twenty members. Thomas Kelsey was one of the first, the most active, and, for many years, the leading member of the Clear Creek Baptist Church. Nathaniel Blackford and Fergus McLean, father of Justice John McLean, were also early and prominent members of this church. It is worthy of remark here, that, while the father of John McLean was a Baptist and his wife a Pres- byterian, their distinguished son and his two brothers were all Methodists.

The Baptists in the Turtle Creek neighborhood were constituted a branch of the Clear Creek Church in 1798, and commenced the erection of a meeting- house about one mile east of the site of Lebanon. In 1800, the Miami Baptist Association held its regular annual meeting at Turtle Creek. John Smith, of Columbia, a Baptist preacher of fine abilities, then a member of the Territo- rial Legislature, and afterward one of the first United States Senators from Ohio, was the Moderator of this association. At this meeting, ten churches were represented, with a total membership of 291 persons. The Turtle Creek Church was organized into an independent church and admitted into the asso- ciation in 1803. At this time, it numbered forty-five members.

Other churches in Warren County, or near the borders of the county, were organized and admitted into the Miami Baptist Association as follows:

Middle Run Church, near the boundary line between Greene and Warren, 1800; members, 16; first Messergers, John Buckles, Daniel Wilson and Absa- lom Thomas.

Prairie Church, now Middletown, 1801; members, 11; first Messenger, Philip Sutton.

Sugar Creek Church, now Centerville, 1803; members, 12; first Messen- gers, David Price, Josiah Elam, Amos Wilson.

Muddy Creek Church, 1804; members, 8; first Messengers, J. Seward, T. T. Brown and R. Witham.

Bethel Church, 1810; members, 19; first Messenger, Josias Lambert.

Todd's Fork Church, 1811; members, 11; first Messengers, James Wil- kerson and James McManis.

When the second meeting of the Miami Baptist Association, at Turtle Creek, then called Lebanon, was held, in 1811, the association included twenty- six churches, with a membership of 1,012 persons.

Elder James Sutton was the first Baptist Pastor in Warren. He preached at Clear Creek in 1797. He was succeeded the following year by Elder Daniel Clark, who took charge of both the Clear Creek and Turtle Creek Churches.

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 27

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1081

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081