The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 29

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

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The Shakers at New Lebanon heard of the remarkable religious work in the forests of Kentucky and Ohio. They were naturally interested in any religious experience, accompanied with bodily exercises similar to their own re- ligious gymnastics. They began, too, to recall the fact that when Ann Lee was alive-she died in 1784-she one day uttered a prophecy, afterward pub- lished in the Shaker books and attested, as they say, by numbers of persons. As she walked the floor, singing a melodious song by Divine inspiration, her mind apparently abstracted from all the objects which surrounded her, she suddenly stopped, and, turning to the people in the room, she said: "I feel a special gift of God; I feel the power of God running all over me." Then, extending her hand toward the southwest, she added: ""The next opening of the Gospel will be in the Southwest; it will be at a great distance, and there will be a great work of God." And, turning to Eliphalet Slosson, she said: "You may live to see it; I shall not." And the Shakers began to ask them- selves the question, Is not this great revival in Kentucky and on Turtle Creek the beginning of the great work foretold by Mother Ann? They resolved to send missionaries to proclaim to the subjects of the revival the mystical creed in which they had found peace.

On the 22d of March, 1805, there arrived at Turtle Creek three strangers with broad-brimmed hats and a fashion of dress like that of the followers of George Fox, in England, a generation before. They were John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs and Issachar Bates, the first of the sect of Ann Lee ever seen west of the Alleghany Mountains. They had set out from New Lebanon, N. Y., on January 1, and had made a journey of 1,000 miles on foot. They had already visited Kentucky, but had not fully proclaimed their principles or objects. Nowhere did they find the conditions so favorable for carrying out the purposes of their mission as at Turtle Creek.

The Shaker missionaries at Turtle Creek went first to the house of Malcham Worley, where they remained over night. The next day they visited Richard McNemar, who says that this was the first means by which he knew that such a people as Shakers existed upon earth. He was soon to become a member and a leader in the sect. The next day was Sunday, and, by permission of McNemar, two of the strangers attended the Turtle Creek Church and occupied the pulpit. For the first time in that' log meeting-house was proclaimed the doctrine of a Dual God, male and female-a Father and a Mother of human- ity. The seed sown by the missionaries fell upon good ground. The frenzy

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and extravagance of the revival had well prepared the way for the new faith -a singular combination of Christianity, Spiritualism, Communism and Aceti- cism. The first convert was Malcham Worley, a man of liberal education, in- dependent fortune and unblemished character, but his excitable temperament had led him into such wild exercises during the revival that many doubted his sanity. The pastor soon followed and in a month a dozen families had em- braced Shakerism. Husbands and wives abandoned the family relation and gave all their property to the church. Some of the best men, honest, conscien- tious and benevolent, some of them intelligent, joined the community under the conviction that they were seeking salvation by renouncing the world and all its temptations. Their sincerity no one can question. Many who became members owned considerable tracts of land, which they consecrated to the use of the church, and the Shaker society at Union Village is to-day in possession of 4,000 acres of excellent land surrounding the spot where stood the Turtle Creek log church.

The missionaries were successful elsewhere. They established several communities both in Ohio and Kentucky. Four of the ministers who had been foremost in the revival work became their converts, and died in the Shaker faith, having passed in four years from the creed of Calvin and Knox to that of Ann Lee. The Shaker society at Union Village was regularly organ- ized May 25, 1805. In the month following, there were a number of converts at Eagle Creek, in Adams County, including Rev. John Dunlavy; in August, the work broke out in Kentucky, and, in the spring of 1806, at Beaver Creek, in Montgomery County, Ohio. The society at Union Village is the oldest and has always been the largest of the Shaker communities west of the Alleghanies.

Nearly all the members of the Turtle Creek Church, who resided in the im- mediate vicinity of Bedle's Station, became Shakers Their meetings were held for some time at the house of McNemar-the space between the two apartments of his double cabin being used for their dancing exercises. After- ward a floor was built near by, much like an early threshing-floor, on which their meetings were held until their first church was erected. The society at Union Village thus formed has existed for three-quarters of a century. It stands with its sister communities among the few examples of Communistic societies existing for more than one generation. All the adult persons who saw the remarkable scenes attending its origin have passed away, but some of their children, now old and infirm, are still alive and members of the commu- nity. A few white-haired Shakers remain who were baptized in their infancy into the membership of the Presbyterian Church by McNemar at the Turtle Creek log meeting-house.

Richard McNemar, who, by his gifts as a speaker and his scholarship, exercised so great an influence as a preacher on both sides of the Ohio River, continued in the faith of the Shakers, and a leader among them, until his death, in 1839. 1

Of late years, the society has not increased in numbers. They look with hope on the progress of modern Spiritualism. They say there is nothing new in its manifestations, for long before the era of table-turnings and spirit-rap- pings they had, as they continue to have, a living intercommunication with the world of Spirits.

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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.

CHAPTER VI. GENERAL PROGRESS.

CIVIL AND JUDICIAL.

THE act organizing Warren County took effect May 1, 1803. The Legisla- T ture had elected three Associate Judges and fixed a temporary seat of jus- tice. The first official business of the new county was transacted at a meeting of the Associate Judges-William James, Jacob D. Lowe and Ignatius Brown- at the house of Ephraim Hathaway, the temporary seat of justice, May 10, 1803, when the whole county was divided into four townships, and voting- places established in each as follows:

Deerfield, at the house of David Sutton.

Franklin, at the house of Edward Dearth.

Wayne, at the house of Thomas Goodwin.

Hamilton. at the house of James Maranda.

The boundaries of the four original townships will be readily understood when it is stated that the north boundary of the third range extended east of the Little Miami, separated Franklin and Wayne on the north from Deerfield und Hamilton on the south; the section line which passes through Ridgeville was the boundary between Franklin and Wayne, and the Little Miami divided Deerfield from Hamilton. The whole territory included within the present boundaries of the county, exclusive of that part west of the Great Miami which then belonged to Butler, was therefore divided into four townships, nearly equal in size. Lebanon was in Deerfield Township.

The first election in the county after its organization was held on Tuesday, June 7, 1803, between the hours of 10 and 4, at which time George Harlan was elected Sheriff, and Andrew Lytle, Coroner. Three Justices of the Peace were elected at the same time in each township, except in Hamilton, to which bnt two had been assigned by the Associate Judges. All the county offices the first year, except those of Coroner and Sheriff, were filled by appointment. Silas Hurin was the first Treasurer; David Sutton, the first Clerk; Michael H. Johnson, the first Recorder; Allen Wright, the first Surveyor; and Daniel Symmes, of Cincinnati, the first Prosecuting Attorney. The first County Com- missioners were elected on the first Monday in April, 1804, on which day Mat- thias Corwin, William James and Robert Benham were chosen. Their first meeting was held June 11, 1804.

On June 21, 1803, a special election was held in the new State for the purpose of electing the first Representative in Congress, the State being enti- tled to only one Representative. On that day, a citizen of Warren County, Jeremiah Morrow, was elected; and for ten years he continued the sole Repre- sentative of Ohio in the Lower House of Congress.

The first Court of Common Pleas was held at the house of Ephraim Hatha- way, in Lebanon, beginning on the third Tuesday of August, 1803, Francis Dunlevy, President Judge. The following-named persons were impaneled and sworn as Grand Jurors, constituting the first Grand Jury of the county:

William C. Schenck, foreman; Richard Cunningham, Jacob Covert, James McManis, Robert McCain, Enos Williams, Andrew Alexander, Samuel Hollo- way, William Jay, Ichabod B. Halsey, James McCashen, Edward Dearth, Eli- jah Reeder, Samuel Kelly, Abia Martin, John Griffen.

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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.

Several indictments for assault and battery, and one or two for affray, were found. No cases, either civil or criminal, seem to have been tried until the next term, which convened on the third Tuesday of December, 1803, when two cases, one civil and one criminal, were tried. In the criminal case, the de- fendant was found guilty of assault and battery. In the civil case, the plain- tiff was a woman, and gained her case. There were seven cases on the civil docket, six of which were dismissed or continued. At this time, Joshua Collett was the only attorney residing in Lebanon. His name appears as attorney for the defendant in the only civil case which was tried. The names of Jacob Bur- net and Arthur St. Clair, attorneys from Cincinnati, also appear in the records of the proceedings at this term. The following are the names of jurors impan- eled at this term, constituting the first petit jury of the county: Ichabod Cor- win, James Stewart, James Caldwell, James Bartlett, John Dennis, Francis Bedle, Thomas Lucas, Alexander Van Pelt, Samuel Manning, John Osborn, Peter Sellers and Cornelius Vorhees.

The Supreme Court was then held in every county. The first session of the Supreme Court in Warren County was held October 6, 1803, Judges Hunt- ington and Sprigg on the bench. No cases were tried. Francis Gowdy and James Montgomery were admitted to practice.

The Supreme Court then had original criminal jurisdiction concurrent with the Court of Common Pleas, and the Judges then spent half their time on horseback, and a part of the othe. half in trying cases of assault and battery and other petty offenses. At the November term, 1805, of the Supreme Court, a defendant was arraigned on an indictment for stealing from Ephraim Hatha- way, the tavern-keeper at Lebanon, one pocket-book, one Spanish milled dol- lar and one cut eighth part of a Spanish milled dollar, of the value of 116 cents. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to " be whipped on his naked back three stripes."

The cut money referred to in this indictment was used on account of the scarcity of small coin. A cut eighth part of a dollar passed for 12} cents. A dollar was often cut into " five quarters," or five pieces, each passing for 25 cents.

Public whipping was then inflicted under the laws of this as well as other States. It disappeared early in the legislation of Ohio; yet many emigrants from States where it was practiced seemed to think that whipping was the nat- ural and peculiarly appropriate penalty for stealing ; and the first reported speech of Thomas Corwin was made while representing Warren County in the Ohio Legislature, and was an earnest and successful protest against the re-in- statement of the whipping-post.

The Associate Judges met at various times for the transaction of business while the President Judge was absent holding court in other counties. The official business relating to probate and testamentary matters. the granting of letters of administration and the appointment of guardians was performed chiefly by the Associate Judges. For the first year, they also discharged the duties which afterward devolved upon the County Commissioners. Granting licenses was an important part of the county business. On the first day the As- sociate Judges met, four licenses for taverns were granted, viz., to Thomas Good- win, Edward Dearth, David Sutton and Elijah Reeder. Within four years, there were granted licenses for thirty different taverns in the county. The sums charged for tavern licenses at this time varied from $4 to $10 per year; $10 was the fee fixed for license for one year to retail merchandise, but the merchants seem to have been far less numerous than the tavern-keepera The only ferry licensed was at Franklin. .

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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.

The following is the first financial exhibit of the county made by the County Commissioners in October, 1804:

On settlement with Treasurer $123 50

County levy for 1804. 820 97

Third part of State tax. 177 69

Probable amount due from licenses 100 00

1222 16

Demands against the county.

408 23

Contingent expenses for the year. 500 00

908 23

Balance in favor of the county. 313 93

On the 17th of June, 1805, the Commissioners ordered that " a tax be laid according to law, viz .: 30 cents on horses; 10 cents on cattle; 50 cents on each $100 value of mansion houses and town lots." A memorandum accompanying this order gives the return of the Listers of Taxable Property: Horses, 1, 767; cattle, 2, 154; lots and mansion houses valued at $19,801-the whole tax income amounting to $845.50, which was exclusive of the license tax and some other sources of revenue.

On June 26, 1805, it was ordered that the allowance for wolf and panther scalps be, for all under the age of six months, $1, and for all over the age of six months, $2.

The official business for the entire county transacted by the first county officers did not equal in amount that of one of the smaller townships at the present day. For several years after the organization of the county, all the records of the courts, County Commissioners and County Recorder could have been made by a single clerk.

The first letters of administration were granted June 8, 1803, to Hannah Hicks and Joseph Robertson, to administer on the estate of David Hicks, de- ceased. Michael H. Johnson, Philip Coleman and Thomas Watson were ap- pointed appraisers of the estate of the decedent.

The first will recorded was that of Robert Ross. It was executed Septem- ber 20, 1803, and probated December 21, 1803. One small octavo volume con- tains the record of all the wills probated from 1803 until 1825.

The first marriage license was granted July 4, 1803, to James Armstrong, who was " of lawful age," and Ebby Ligget, who had " the consent of her par- ents.'

The first deed recorded at Lebanon was executed by Thomas Paxton and Martha Paxton, his wife, to Daniel Artel-the family name of his descendants is Ertel -- for 110 acres on the east side of the Little Miami, in what is now Hamilton Township. The deed was dated January 18, 1799; the consideration was " 120 pounds lawful money of this Territory," and the grantee is stated to be in actual possession. For the first four years of the county's history, the number of deeds and mortgages recorded averaged 140 annually. At the pres- ent time, the number annually recorded exceeds 1, 200.

From 1795, when John Cleves Symmes began the execution of deeds for lands between the Miami Rivers until 1803, conveyances of lands in Warren County were recorded at Cincinnati, the whole number not exceeding 250 for the eight years.

The first deed recorded at Cincinnati for lands in Warren County was from John C. Symmes and wife to Moses Kitchel, of Morris County, N. J., for Section 18, Township 4, Range 2, in what is now Deerfield Township. It was dated April 10, 1795, and the consideration for the 640 acres was $426, "in certificates of debts due from the United States."

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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.

It was not until 1851 that the conveyances of Warren County lands re- corded at Cincinnati were transcribed and placed in the Recorder's office at Leb- anon.

SEAT OF JUSTICE.

The towns of Lebanon, Deerfield, Franklin and Waynesville all contested for the seat of justice. Lebanon and Deerfield, however, were the principal contestants. Deerfield was the older and the more important place. Lebanon had the advantage of a more central location. One of the two or three houses on the town plat of Lebanon was designated in the act creating the county as the temporary seat of justice. On the 15th of April, 1803, the Legislature, by a joint resolution, appointed James Barret, John Brownlee and Cornelius Snider, Commissioners, under the act of March 28, 1803, to locate the seat of justice in Warren County. These Commissioners were non-residents of the county, and owned no real estate within its limits. They were required by law to give twenty days' notice to the inhabitants of the county of the time and place of their meeting, and then to " proceed to examine and select the most proper place as the seat of justice, as near the center of the county as possible, paying regard to situation, extent of population and quality of the land, to- gether with the general convenience and interest of the inhabitants." They were required to make a report to the next Court of Common Pleas, but no re- port from the Commissioners for Warren County is found in the records of the courts. Tradition says that two of the Commissioners were in favor of Leba- non, and one in favor of Deerfield. Whatever may have been their report, the contest was not finally settled until nearly two years later. The proprietors of Lebanon made offers of liberal donations of the proceeds of the sale of lots for the erection of county buildings in order to secure the seat of justice. What offers were made by the advocates of other towns is unknown. The contest was finally settled in favor of Lebanon by a special act of the Legislature. The act " establishing a seat of justice for the county of Warren" bears the date of Febru- ary 11, 1805. At the time of the passage of this act, the county was represented in the House of Representatives by Matthias Corwin and Peter Burr, and in the Senate by William C. Schenck and John Bigger. The House of Representa- tives was nearly equally divided on the passage of this act, and a motion to re- ject the bill was lost by the casting vote of the Speaker.

COUNTY BUILDINGS.

First Jail. - Before the seat of justice was permanently located, the County Commissioners did not feel justified in erecting any permanent public build- ings. At their first meeting, however, June 11, 1804, they decided to erect a temporary jail, and agreed upon the plan of the building. On September 14, the contract for its construction was let to John Tharp for $275, and on the 30th of November, 1804, the Commissioners accepted the building completed.

. This, the first county building of Warren County, stood on the northwest lot of the public square of Lebanon. It was constructed of logs, hewed one foot square and notched so as to lie close together. The floor was made of the same kind of timber. The building was 24x16 feet on the outside, and two stories high. Eighteen months later, a log house, sixteen feet square, for the use of the jailer, was built in front of the jail, by Benjamin Sayres, at a cost of $75. The jail was not a secure one, and on March 5, 1807, it was determined to in- close the building with " a wall or picket, for the better securing of prisoners." Notice of the letting of the contract for this work was ordered to be given in the Western Star. This notice, for which John McLean afterward received $1, appears to have been the first county official advertisement inserted in that pa- per. On the 3d of April, however, the order for the "wall or picket " to sur-

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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.

round the jail was annulled, and the Commissioners decided to construct a new jail.

First Court House .- - The seat of justice having been permanently estab- lished by a special act of the Legislature, passed February 11, 1805, the Com- missioners, at their meeting in March. 1805, received the donations of the pro- prietors of the town for the purpose of erecting a court house. The original owners of the land on which the town was laid out, in order to secure the seat of justice, had agreed to donate each alternate lot on the original plat to aid in the erection of county buildings, and the act of the Legislature establishing the seat of justice authorized the Commissioners to accept all subscriptions and ob- ligations, whether given for money, property or labor, in behalf of the county, and to receive, from time to time, from any persons, voluntary contributions for the completion of county public buildings. On March 16, the proprietors of the town came before the Commissioners and delivered into their hands for the use of the county, notes on various individuals, aggregating as follows:

Ichabod Corwin, $425.75; Silas Hurin, $292.55; Ephraim Hathaway, $457; five lots donated and sold afterward for $66.50; total, $1,241.80.

On March 25. 1805, the Commissioners agreed upon a plan for a court house. The building was to be constructed of brick, and to be thirty-six feet square and two stories high-the first story twelve feet high, the second ten feet high. The floor was to be constructed of tile or brick twelve inches square and four inches thick. There were to be eight windows in each story, with black walnut frames, twenty-four glasses in each window of the lower story, and twenty in the upper story; a fire-place five and one-half feet wide in the lower story, and two fireplaces four and one-half feet wide in the upper story. Two summers were to extend through the house, and an upright post to be placed in the middle of each summer. The building was to be ornamented with a handsome gutter cornice. The contract for the erection of the building was let, April 27, 1805. to Samuel McCray, at $1,450: and on January 3, 1806, the house was accepted from the contractor. Six years later, a cupola was placed on the house.

This plain building was one of the first brick structures in Warren County. It stood on the northeast lot of the public square, and was the court house of the county for about thirty years. The lower floor was the court room. The upper story was divided into three compartments, and occupied by the county officers. The contract for finishing the lower story was awarded, in March, 1806, to John Abbott, at $660.

Second Jail .- In October, 1807, the Commissioners contracted with Daniel Roe to erect a jail, which was built on the southwest lot of the public square. It was a stone building, and cost $990. It was forty-five feet long, twenty feet wide and one story high. It contained two apartments-one designed for im- prisoned debtors, and the other for criminals, and a dungeon twenty feet square under the room for criminals. This was the county prison for nearly twenty years, but in the latter years of its use it was not a secure jail. Prisoners dug out an exit under the foundations. It is related of one character who was fre- quently incarcerated that it was his habit to remain in the jail during the day, but. after the jailer retired at night, he would make his way home and return to the jail before it was daylight. Sometimes he was tardy in returning, and would meet the jailer, to whom he would say, "I'm a little late this morning, but I guess I'm in time to put in a whole day."

Third Jail .- David Bone, in September, 1820, contracted to erect the third county prison. It was built on the lot on which the present court house stands, and northeast of the court house. It was a two-story brick building, and cost about $4,000. The front rooms were the jailer's residence. In the

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rear were two cells in the lower story, and two in tho upper story. Each cell was lined with logs, and over the logs were fastened two-inch planks. Under one of the cells was a small, underground dungeon. This jail was not completed until 1828.

Before the erection of this county prison, the question of removing the county buildings from the public square to what was then the eastern limit of the town was agitated, and, as is usual in such cases, two factions were formed. The removal party was victorious, and ground for the county buildings on East and Silver streets was donated to the county, one of the conditions named in the deed being that " the next court house and jail of Warren County shall be erected on said lots." The jail just described was built on the new site, and for several years the jail and court house were five squares apart.

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 29

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