The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 31

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

USA > Ohio > Warren County > The History of Warren County, Ohio > Part 31

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RAILWAYS.

The first railroad in the Ohio Valley passed through Warren County. As early as 1832, the project was devised of forming a railroad line connecting the lakes and the Ohio River, and passing through the intermediate country between the two great State canals. For this purpose the Legislature granted & charter incorporating the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and authorized it to construct a railroad from Sandusky City, on Lake Erie, to Springfield, in the Mad River Valley. Subsequently, the Little Miami Railroad Company was incorporated and authorized to construct a railroad along the valley of the Little Miami River, extending to Cincinnati on the south, and connecting with the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad at Springfield, on the north, thus forming a railway route across the State.

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The act incorporating the Little Miami Railroad Company was passed March 11, 1836. The capital stock authorized was $750,000, and the following- named persons were appointed Commissioners for receiving subscriptions: Robert Buchanan, George W. Neff, Charles Schultz, of Cincinnati; William Lewis, of Fulton; Mathias Kugler, of Hamilton County: John Emery, of Mil- ford; Jeremiah Morrow, M. Roosa, Thomas Smith, John M. Hadden, of Warren County; Allen Wright, of Lebanon; John Hadley, of Clinton County; James Galloway, Jr., R. D. Frosham, of Xenia; Bennett Lewis, of Clifton; John Hivling, Joseph Kyle, of Greene County; Peter A. Sprigman, James Boyle, Charles Anthony, of Springfield; John T. Stewart and Rowland Brown, of Clark County.

Stock books were opened and the subscriptions of individual stock were liberally made. The city of Cincinnati became a subscriber to the amount of $200,000. Some counties through which the road passed made liberal dona tions, and the right of way was in many cases donated to the company by the land-owners. But the company met with great difficulties and discouragementa The road was built amid the doubts of many of the feasibility of railroads, the opposition of some and the most depressing financial embarrassments of the company. The State first promised assistance and afterward withdrew ite proffered aid. Subscriptions by farmers were paid in cattle and other live stock, which were disposed of by the company often at a sacrifice to meet the more pressing demands of creditors. With no money in the treasury, there were judgments against the company, executions in the hands of the Sheriff levies on the machinery and tools of the company, the road and fixtures in the hands of a trustee. The laborers with the shovel and pick surrounded the house of the Treasurer, William Lewis, of Fulton, demanding pay. But the courage of the President, Gov. Morrow, never gave way. He gave his time and energie for the success of the road and refused to accept compensation for his services Laboring with a comparatively empty treasury, the company succeeded in push ing forward the work slowly. The work of construction was commenced ir 1837; in December, 1841, the road was completed from Fulton to Milford, : distance of fifteen miles; some months later the road was completed to Foster's Crossings; in July, 1844, the first cars were seen in Deerfield; five month more, and they had reached the mouth of Todd's Fork; in August, 1845, the road was completed to Xenia, and, on the 10th of August, 1846, ten years after the road was chartered, the first train reached Springfield; and two years later, the Mad River & Lake Erie road united with the Little Miami at Springfield making an uninterrupted railroad communication from the Ohio to the lake.

In the Cincinnati Gazette of December 15, 1841, was published the fol lowing account of the first grand excursion on the first railroad to Cincinnati "Fifteen miles of this road were opened yesterday. The company had in vited the City Council and a large number of citizens to make a trip upon it and a delightful one it was. The day, it is true, was overcast, but the excite ment of the occasion, the conviction that now a work was commenced which would bind the extremes of the State together and give a new impulse to it prosperity, made all hearts glad and rendered the trip joyous in the extreme "No accident whatever occurred during the excursion. At 11 o'clock wi left the bridge at Fulton, and in an hour and a half were at Milford. W. were delayed some time at the first ascent, in consequence of the earth falling upon the track, but this only served to try and prove the power of the engine for, notwithstanding the obstruction, it bore us safely through on an ascent o 125 feet to the mile. At Milford, we tarried near an hour, and while there such of the citizens of that flourishing town as chose, were taken on a shor excursion, while those of us who had gone up, rested awhile on terra firma

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After this, we started on our return home, and reached Fulton in a little over an hour in safety.

" We have not time to go into detail, or to speak at length of this railroad. We cannot forbear, however, to thank those who, through good and evil re- port, persevered in urging this enterprise forward. They have acted nobly and well; and the day is not far distant when all will admit, as we believe, that this is one of the most important works which have been undertaken for Cin- cinnati and Ohio.

" We felt strongly, as we were whirled along at rapid pace, what a change a few years had caused in this glorious West. There were men with us who could tell the tales of Indian warfare, of the hardships of our pioneer fathers, of the isolated condition of the new settlement, with all its dangers and difficulties and trials, and yet iu their day they have lived to see the power of science turning this wilderness into a garden, and bringing distant points together as if they were one neighborhood. All honor to the enterprise and energy of that people who can work such wonderful changes.

"The names of the engine and cars were appropriate. It was the blending of State and National affection. The engine was called Gov. Morrow, remind- ing us of Ohio, and of what self-energy can accomplish; while the name of James Madison, inscribed on the leading car, enforced the doctrine taught by his life-that State enterprise could only succeed while the people of a State were united together in harmony and affection."

After the trial trip in December, 1841, the road between Cincinnati and Mil- ford was open to traffic, and daily trips were made, but it was two years later be- fore any report of the operations was made. In December, 1843, the first annual report to the stockholders was made by Jeremiah Morrow, President of the company. At this time, twenty-eight miles of road were in daily use, and the company owned one locomotive, two passenger cars, eight freight cars and three hand cars; 11,271 passengers were carried during the year, and the Presi- dent reported that, with the machinery on hand, it was impossible to run the train regularly or do the business offered.

When the road was located along the bank of the Little Miami, it was be- lieved that the numerous flour-mills along that stream would furnish an im- portant part of the freight to be carried. The methods of constructing and operating a railroad at that time were far different from those now followed, and railroad travel was far less safe and comfortable than it is at the present time. The Little Miami was first constructed with wooden rails laid with strap iron. In 1844, the President congratulated the company that, in the last con- tracts for iron, the size had been increased to a width of two and one-half in- ches by a thickness of seven-eighths of an inch. Some miles of the road were first laid with poplar rails, which proved unfit for the purpose, and soon were taken up and replaced with white-oak rails. About 1848, the old flat-bar iron was removed and replaced with the heavy T-rail. Notwithstanding all the difficulties under which the road was operated, the President, in his second annual report, when but thirty miles were in use, said that the doubts of the advantages of railroad transportation had been already dispelled by the con- vincing evidence of facts. The price of all marketable commodities along the line had been increased, and, in a great measure, equalized, and wheat had, for some time, commanded the same price at every point on the road as in Cincin- nati.

The Little Miami became an important railway. It became known as one of the safest and best managed railroads in the United States. It was long under the able superintendence of W. H. Clement. In 1869, the entire road was leased to the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Company for

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ninety-nine years, renewable forever, at an annual rental of $480,000-eight per cent of its capital stock.

Very different was the history of the second railroad built to Cincinnati, the Great Miami, or Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, which also touched our county. It was constructed in a little more than one year after it was put under contract. In one month a cash subscription was obtained for it in Cincinnati of three-quarters of a million of dollars, and its bonds sold at par from the start. For, when this road was commenced, in 1848, the practicability of rail- roads was fully settled.

The Hillsboro & Cincinnati Railroad Company was chartered in 1846, and, a few years after, had its road completed from Hillsboro to Loveland-a distance of thirty-seven miles. In 1861, this road was purchased by the Mari- etta & Cincinnati Railroad Company. Ten and one-half miles of this line are in Warren County.

The Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville Railroad Company was char- tered in 1851. The road was opened for traffic in July, 1856. The line ex- tended from Zanesville to Morrow, about ten miles of which are in Warren County. In 1870, this road was purchased by the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railway Company.

The Cincinnati & Springfield Railway Company was projected in 1870, for the purpose of building a road to form, in connection with other railroads already constructed, a trunk line from Cincinnati to the Eastern cities. The sum of $265,000 was subscribed and offered as a donation to this company to secure the location of the road through Lebanon, but without success. The road was built through Dayton and Franklin. Only about four and one-half miles of this road are in Warren County.

The Cincinnati Northern Railway Company, having, in 1879, purchased at judicial sale, the uncompleted road of the Miami Valley Narrow Gauge Railway Company from Cincinnati to Waynesville, for $61,000, constructed 8 three-feet gauge road, and commenced the running of one train daily between Lebanon and Norwood, on May 30, 1881.

The Toledo, Delphos & Burlington Railroad was completed to the junc- tion with the Cincinnati Northern, December 20, 1881.

There are now within the county limits seven railroads and eighty-five miles of track, exclusive of sidings and double track.

POST OFFICES.

There were no post offices within the limits of Warren County for more than eight years after the settlements were commenced. Cincinnati was for several years the post office for the whole Miami Valley. At the beginning of the present century, letters were advertised as remaining in the post office at Cincinnati addressed as follows: "John Bigger, Fourth Range; " " Thomas Espy, Little Miami; " " John Wallace, School Master, Turtle Creek; " " Moses Crane, Fourth Range; " others were addressed " Bailey's Station, " " Below the Big Miami," " Duck Creek, " " Big Prairie," etc.

Within two years after the organization of the State Government, four post offices were established in Warren County, viz .: at Waynesville, Deerfield, Franklin and Lebanon. Ten years then elapsed before any others were estab- lished. In 1812, Montgomery, in Hamilton County, was made a post office, and it accommodated a portion of the people of Warren living in the south- western part of the county.

The first mail between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh was carried in a canoe, in February, 1794. A line of row-boats was established in that year between those points, with relays at different stations, to carry the mail. The first

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mails to post offices in Warren County were carried by a post-rider. The route was from Cincinnati to Lebanon, Xenia, Urbana, thence across to Piqua, and down through Dayton, Franklin and Hamilton to Cincinnati, taking a week to make the trip. The people thought themselves fortunate in having a weekly mail for some years. The mail was carried by post-riders until about the year 1825, when stage lines were started with the mails.

There are persons still living who can remember when the postage on a letter, which must be written on a single sheet of paper, between Cincinnati and New Orleans, was 25 cents, and the freight on a barrel of flour between the same points was sometimes below that figure. Most men at that time would have regarded our present mail facilities an impossibility, and especially would the prediction that letters would one day be carried from Maine to California .for three cents have been regarded as a Utopian dream.

The following complete list of all the post offices in Warren County, dates of their establishment and names of the first Postmasters, was prepared by George W. Frost, of the Pension Office, from the books of the Post Office De- partment at Washington:

Waynesville, April 1, 1804, Samuel Heighway, Jr.

Deerfield, January 1, 1805, Ephraim Kibbey.

Franklin, April 1, 1805, John N. C. Schenck.

Lebanon, April 1, 1805, William Ferguson.

Ridgeville, October 1, 1816, John Blair.

Springboro, March 3, 1821, John Pennington. Gainesboro, January 18, 1822, Jacob Reeder.

Twenty Mile Stand, September 28, 1824, Samuel Clendenen.

Hopkinsville, February 25, 1825, James Hopkins.

Roachester, September 13, 1825, Oliver Cook; discontinued July 16, 1853. Kirkwood, July 27, 1829, William N. Kirkwood; changed to Mason, 1835.

Mill Grove, January 9, 1832, James S. Duvall; discontinued 1845.

Rossburg, January 19, 1833, Jefferson Stevens; changed to Butlerville, 1838.

Mason (in place of Kirkwood), April 25, 1835, Mason Seward.

Edwardsville, December 20, 1833, Thomas Adams.

Red Lion, February 2, 1834, John S. Todd.

Level, February 30, 1834, Thomas Adams.

Butlerville (in place of Rossburg), December 17, 1838, Jefferson Stevens. Harveysburg, August 3, 1839, Robert E. Lefetra.

Brown's Store, August 31, 1841, Samuel Brown; discontinued 1858. Mount Holly, March 8, 1843, Samuel Hill; discontinued 1863. Morrow, November 5, 1845, Warren Morrison.

Oregon, February 8, 1846, William H. Hamilton.

Fort Ancient, May 28, 1846, Thomas C. Nelson.

Dallasburg, August 22, 1848, William Wene; changed to Cozaddale, 1871.

Liberty Hall, October 25, 1848, David L. Brown; discontinued August 12, 1851.

Dunlevy, January 17, 1850, B. A. Stokes.

Scottsville, July 8, 1852, John C. Bercaw; discontinued 1855. Maineville, January 14, 1854, James Ford.

Pleasant Plain, June 29, 1857, Peter C. Spurling. Foster's Crossings, October 27, 1859, Joseph T. Matthews. Murdoch, May 4, 1866, William H. Walker.

Pence's Mills, June 21, 1867, Edward M. Pence; discontinued 1872. South Lebanon (in place of Deerfieldville), July 28, 1871, John Cooper.

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Pekin, December 8, 1874, David W. Earnhart. Socialville, May 1, 1878, Abel Conover. Camp Hagerman, May 9, 1879, John B. Jack.

THE BENCH AND THE BAR.

Biographies of some of the most distinguished members of the legal pro- fession in Warren County will be found elsewhere in this work. It is proposed in this place to narrate, with some regard to chronological order, some facts concerning the bench and the bar of the county not elsewhere recorded. The sketch must necessarily be imperfect.

The legal business of the earliest pioneers of the county for eight years after its first settlement was transacted at Cincinnati. In 1796, there were nine practicing attorneys at Cincinnati, all of whom, except two, became con- firmed drunkards, and descended to premature graves. Many of the early law- yers of Cincinnati who continued long in the practice attended the courts at Lebanon after the organization of Warren County. Judge Jacob Burnet says: " It was always my opinion that there was a fair proportion of genius and talent among the early members of the bar. Some of them, it is true, were uneducated, and had to acquire their legal knowledge, after they assumed the profession. These were not numerous, but were noisy and officious, and, for some time, were able to procure a considerable amount of practice. This may be accounted for, in part, by the fact that the docket contained a large number of actions for slander, and assault and battery, and indictments for larceny, libels and the like, which generally originated among the followers of the army, who were numerous, consisting of pack-horsemen, bullock-drivers, boat- man and artificers, who were not always very discriminating in the selection of counsel."

The attorney who prosecuted pleas in behalf of the State was appointed by the Supreme Court. Daniel Symmes, of Cincinnati, a nephew of Judge John Cleves Symmes, was appointed to discharge that duty at the first term of the Court of Common Pleas in Warren County, and prepared the indictments returned by the Grand Jury at that term. The sum of $20 was the usual al- lowance at that time for prosecuting pleas in behalf of the State at each term. Daniel Symmes served as Prosecuting Attorney in this county for a single term. He soon after became Speaker of the State Senate, and, in 1805, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Arthur St. Clair, Jr., also of Cincinnati, succeeded Daniel Symmes as Prosecuting Attorney in the courts of Warren County, and held the same posi- tion in some of the adjoining counties. He is said to have appeared in court with a cocked hat and a sword. He was a son of the Territorial Governor, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, and was a gentleman of culture and a lawyer of ability. Al- though he was not a resident of Warren County, yet, as he was for several years conspicuous in the administration of justice in this county, the following facts concerning him, communicated by Judge Burnet to the Western Law Journul in 1843, are here quoted:

"Arthur St. Clair was a native of Pennsylvania. He had been well edu- cated, and was, moreover, a regular bred lawyer. Immediately after he came to Cincinnati, his father appointed him Attorney General for the Northwestern Territory, the duties of which office he performed acceptably to all concerned till it was abolished by the formation of a State Government. His manners were polished, his deportment popular, his talents highly respectable, and he supported an honorable standing at the bar. He was distinguished for great candor, which, it was supposed, he sometimes carried unnecessarily far. In 1799, he was a competitor with Gen. Harrison, then Secretary of the Territory,

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for the appointment of delegate to Congress, but failed to succeed by a single vote. Having acquired an independent fortune, principally by the rise of prop- erty, he retired from the bar. Unfortunately, he had been intemperate, and consequently more liable to be imposed on. His acquaintances, taking advan- tage of this circumstance, and of the natural kindness of his disposition, ob- tained his indorsements to an amount which eventually absorbed his estate, and consigned a helpless widow and family of children to poverty and want."

It is worthy of note that Francis Dunlevy, the first President Judge of the circuit which embraced Cincinnati and the southwestern third of the State, was not a regularly educated lawyer, nor was he admitted to the bar until after his retirement from the bench. He was, however, a classical scholar, and had served as a member of the convention which formed the State Constitution, and of the Territorial and State Legislatures. He practiced law some years after his retirement from the bench.

Joshua Collett, the first resident lawyer of the county, had studied law in Martinsburg, Va. He came to Lebanon soon after the organization of the county.

Richard S. Thomas commenced the practice at Lebanon in 1804 or 1805. He represented the Warren District in the State Senate in 1806, 1807 and 1808. In 1809, he received, in the joint session of the Legislature, twenty-nine votes for United States Senator, but was defeated by Alexander Campbell, who re- ceived thirty-eight votes. Mr. Thomas moved from Lebanon to the West about 1810. He became a Circuit Judge in Illinois.

John McLean was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1807, and com- menced practice at Lebanon. His public life soon took him from the bar. He was elected to Congress in 1812, and ibecame Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1816.

William McLean, a brother of John, was an early lawyer at Lebanon. He removed from Lebanon to Piqua, and was elected to Congress from Miami County, serving from 1823 to 1829. About the year 1829, he returned to Leb- anon, and again practiced his profession.

Thomas Freeman came to the Lebanon bar from Cincinnati about 1809. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and practiced law with success in the Miami Circuit. His professional career was short. He died in 1818 from injuries received on being thrown from a horse, in the thirty-ninth year of his age.

Jacob D. Miller, a promising lawyer at Lebanon, died in early manhood, while representing Warren County in the State Senate, in the year 1827.

Thomas R. Ross who had studied law at Philadelphia, commenced practice in Lebanon in 1810, and was first elected to Congress in 1818. Phineas Ross, a brother of Thomas, was also a prominent early lawyer at Lebanon. He served for some time as Cashier of the Lebanon Miami Banking Company.

Jacoby Hallack was for twenty years a practicing member of the bar, and for several terms a member of the Legislature.

Thomas Corwin and A. H. Dunlevy came to the bar in 1817, and George J. Smith in 1820. Benjamin Collett was one of the brightest lights of the Lebanon bar. Judge R. B. Harlan thus writes of him: "In my view, Ben Collett is entitled to be placed as a lawyer above all the lawyers of my acquaintance. If men have a natural genius for anything in particular, he had for the law. Appar- ently a slow thinker, he was the most ready man in the discussion of legal subjects that I ever listened to, and when he had closed an argument upon a legal question, nothing remained to be said on that side of the subject. His superiority on law questions over all his cotemporaries practicing at our bar was universally conceded. He had such a thorough knowledge of every branch

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of the law as to easily make himself master of any question respecting it. He himself attributed his knowledge of the law to his having studied principles instead of mere cases. His earnest advice to young lawyers was to study the great principles on which the law is founded. His whole soul was in his pro- fession. The books he read were mostly law books. He was a man of excel- lent temper. I never saw him out of humor, or heard him use discourteous language to court or bar, party or witness." This talented lawyer fell a vic- tim to intemperance, and was cut off in the prime of life. He died June 24, 1831, aged thirty-eight years.

For twenty-five years after the organization of the county, not more than six members of the bar residing in Lebanon appear to have been engaged in active practice at any one time. The foregoing list, brief as it seems, is be- lieved to contain the name of every attorney in the county who made a reputa- tion at the bar or was engaged in the practice of law for any considerable time previous to 1825. There were doubtless others who became members of the bar and opened offices in the county and afterward retired to other fields of labor or removed to other localities.

In 1830, attorneys and physicians were subject to a tax of five mills on each dollar of their annual income. The records of the County Commissioners con- tain a list of the attorneys practicing in Warren County that year. At that time, John McLean was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Joshua Collet, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio; and George J. Smith, President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The following is the list of practicing attorneys: Thomas R. Ross, Phineas Ross, Benjamin Collett, Thomas Corwin, Francis Dunlevy, A. H. Dunlevy, William McLean and Jacoby Mal- lack. The sum of $750 is placed opposite each name as the income from the practice of law for the year, excepting those of Thomas Corwin and Jacoby Hallack, the income for the former being placed at $1,000, and that of the lat- ter at $500. As the figures were merely estimates by the Commissioners, and not returns made by the attorneys themselves, they lose much of their value as evidences of the real profits of the profession fifty years ago.

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 31

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