USA > Ohio > Clinton County > The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 1 > Part 32
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"A meeting of the Commissioners of Clinton County, present Joseph Doan, Mahlon Haworth and Samuel Ruble, Commissioners; date, June 4, 1817, allowance, 53: 'Walter Dillon, for conveying notico to the surveyor of Greene County to run off eloven square miles from the county of Warren, and three square miles and eighteen acres from the county of Highland to become a part of the county of Clinton, agrecably to an act entitled, An act to attach part of the county of Butler to the county of Warren, and for other purposes, and an act amondatory of said act. Order issued, $1.75.'
"Meeting of Commissioners October 21, 1817, prosent Joseph Doan and Samuel Ruble, Commissioners. The Commissioners proceeded to adjust de- mands against the county and allowed voucher No. 96. ' No. 96, Moses Col- lier, Surveyor of Groene County, for making a survey of three square miles and eighteen acres from the county of Highland to become a part of Clinton, nine days at $2, and two chain and one axman eight days at $1, and Justices' certificate, 25 cents. Allowed. Order issued, $42.25.'
"Act of February 19, 1810, Section 2, contains this provision, that ‘after March 1 next (1810), said county shall be vested with all the privileges and
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ammunities [immunities] of a separate and distinct county: Provided, That the Sheriff's, Coroners, Constablos, Collectors, and all the other township officers in the counties aforesaid shall continue to perform their respective duties as prescribed by law, within said county of Clinton, before said division; and suits at law which were or may be pending at the time of said division shall be adjusted in the same manner as if the division had not taken place.' .
"Section 3 required the legal voters residing in Clinton County to assemble on the first Monday in March noxt ensuing, in their respective townships, and elect their several county officers, who should hold their offices until the next annual meeting.
"Section 4. By this section the place of holding the courts of the county was established at the house of Jesse Hughes, two miles southeast of Wilmning- ton, until a permanent soat of justice should be established in said county as directed by law. And this act was made to take effect and to be in force from and after March 1, 1810."
LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
We have before us two versions of the history of locating the seat of jus- tice for Clinton County, one by Dr. Jones, and the other compiled from the notes of Judge Harlan. In many things they agree, and in some they do not. Judge Harlan has gone more fully into details, and quotes considerably from tho records, beyond which we cannot go for reliable information-they are al- ways the best authority.
After speaking of the erection of the county, Dr. Jones writes: "In this new county it soon became an exciting question as to where the county seat should be located and established. As is usual in such cases, the people of the county were much interested in the decision of the question. As to the best point to locate the town, there were three parties urging their claims. One of the parties was in favor of locating the county seat on or near Todd's Fork of the Little Miami River; another favored some point on Cowan's Creek, and the third party contended that the 'ocation should be made on the branches of Lytle's Creek. After hearing the many reasons given for pre- ference of place, the advocates for locating on the branches of Lytle's Creek offered some solid reasons in favor of their locality. David Faulkner and Jo- seph Doan made donations of land, provided that the county seat should be located thereon. George McManis, James Birdsall and Henry Babb, Com- missioners, accepted Faulkner's and Doan's donations, and located the county seat on the branches of Lytle's Creek. Surveyor Wright ran off the lots and made the plat of the town, which was recorded on the second day of August, 1810. Robert Eachus, then an Acting Justice of the Peace, took the acknowl- edgment of James McManis, who held the deed for the lands in trust, with power under his appointment to make title to the lots and pay the amount re- ceived therofor into the county treasury for county purposes. Lots Nos. 58 and 73 were given by the donors for the use and benefit of the people. Jo- seph Doan, one of the donors, reserved two town lots for his own use, benefit and profit."
There are several points of difference between the foregoing and the Har- lan account, and we furnish the latter entire, deeming it very reliable:
" Clinton County having been established, it became necessary to select a
county seat or place for holding the several .courts of the county.
By the act
of March 28, 1803, it was provided that, 'For each new county established dur- ing the present or any future session of the Legislature, three Commissioners shall be appointed by resolution of both Houses of the Legislature, whose duty it shall be to examine and determine what part of said county so established is
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
the most eligible for holding the several courts within the county; and that it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State immediately to notify the persons of their several appointments.'
"Upon the passage of the act creating the county of Clinton, both branches of the Legislature, by a joint resolution, appointed three Commis- sioners to examine and determine what part of said county was most eligible for the seat of justice. One of these Commisioners was John Pollock, several times elected to the House of Representatives from Clermont County, and Speaker for the same body for the sessions of 1812-13, 1813-14, 1814-15; Mr. Stewart, either of Ross or Pickaway County, is supposed to have been a second. Whom the third was, the writer of these notes has not the means of knowing.
"These Commissioners, having been notified by the Secretary of State, proceeded, as required by the statute, to give twenty days' notice to the in- habitants of the new county of the time, place and purport of their meeting, by posting up a notice of their appointment in three of the most public places in the county, and, having taken the oath required by the statuto in such cases, proceeded to examine and select the most proper place, in their opinion, for said seat of justice as near the center of the county as possible, paying regard to the situation, extent of population, and quality of the land, together with the general convenience and interest of the inhabitants of the county. The examination resulted in the selection of the prosont county soat, and the report thereof was made to the court of Common Ploas next holden in and for the county.
"This was an extra session of the court for the transaction of official bus- iness, hold at the home of Jesse Hughes, Sr. Present, Poter Burr, Jesso Hughes and Thomas Hinkson; Warren Sabin, Clerk pro tem. This report of the Commissioners was filed in the court May 16, 1810, and opened as shown by the minutos of the court.
"On its appearing that no town had been proviously laid out at the place agreed upon, it became the duty of the court, undor the law, to appoint a Di- rector, whose duty it was, after giving surety for the faithful performance of his work, to purchase the land for the use and behoof of the county, to lay it off into lots, streets and alleys, under the regulations prescribed by the court, to dispose of the lots either at public or private sale as the court might think proper, and to make conveyances for the same in feo simple to the purchaser. The person selected to fill this office of Director was James McManis, a resi- dent of the neighborhood in which Clarksville has since been laid out. He was a brother of George McManis, one of the first three County Commission- ers, who, soon after, on the resignation of Peter. Burr, one of the Associate Judges, was appointed to fill the vacancy.
"It is believed that no offers to donate lands, goods or money were made to the Commissioners for the use of the county on condition that a different site for the county seat would be selected from the one proposed. Indeed, if there was any competition, or any sharp or excited controversy about the loca- tion of the county soat, no record or tradition of it has been preserved. Two concurrent offers to donate land for the use of the county were made the Com- missioners on the condition that the county seat be established on the site se- lected, namely, sixty acres, one lot of fifty acres, by David Faulkner, and an- other of ten acres by Joseph Doan. Both offers were accepted. The lands thus offered lay partly in David Faulkner's tract of 350 acres, and partly in Joseph Doan's tract of 357 acres-tracts which lay side by side, and were parts of Gon. Posey's survey, No. 1,057.
"But the question in regard to the county seat was not yet settled. There
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IHISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
was still existing an unpleasant uncertainty in regard to it. It appears quite plain that the donors of the land sought to be acquired, and those having charge of the location of the county seat, had met with some cause for dis- couragement. It might have been about the character of the conveyances to be made, as, for example, whether upon some contingency occurring in future, the land should or should not revert back to the donors or their heirs. Be this as it may, on June 20, the court ordered that 'except David Faulkner and Jo- seph Doan come forward and make a good and sufficient title in fee simple for their respective donations, within fifteen days, then and and in that case the court order the Director to proceed to give notice to the Commissioners to se- lect the next most eligible place for the seat of justice for the aforesaid county.' What effect this order had, if any, cannot be ascertained, after such a lapse of time, with much certainty. But this much is shown by the minutes of the court for the day next succeeding the one on which this order was made. . 'Deed executed by David Faulkner to the Director of the county, agreeably to Jaw' (June 21, 1810). Joseph Doan had previously, on the 7th of June, con- voyed the title for his donation to the county.
"At a term of the Court of Common Pleas, on June 21, 1810, present Jesso Hughes, Thomas Hinkson and George McManis, Associate Judges, and Warren Sabin, Clerk pro tem., the court ordered that the Director proceed to lay out the town for the county seat, and, after advertising the sale in the Chillicothe and Lebanon newspapers so long as he might think necessary, to sell every odd-numbered lot at a credit; one-third in six, one-third in twelve, and one-third in eighteen months, by the purchaser giving bond with approved security.
" Accordingly, Mr. McManis proceeded to lay out the town, and, by August 2, 1810, had ready a plat representing the lots regularly numbered and the streets properly named; and, on the 5th and 7th of the same month one-balf the lots were sold to the highest bidders for the same. The sale was largely attended and competition ran high. The name given the town on the official plat, was Clinton, from Gen. George Clinton, of New York, for whom the county had been named. The deeds for these lots frequently, if not generally, bore date early in September. The first doed was dated September 3. The highest price paid for any lot was $100, for No. 71, extending from Main street north to the alley, with the right of the lot on the east side of South street; bought by William Ferguson. The lowest price paid was for lot No. 82, on Sugartree street, late the property of Mrs. Louisa Ashcraft, but now of the railroad company. It was sold to Isaiah Morris on time for $4.123. No. 57, next to the court house on the west, now improved by William Preston and used for business rooms, was sold for $60. John Cox bought Lot No. 59, the old hotel property of Warren Sabin, where James Henry's grocery store now is, for $84. The Buckeye property was sold to Mahlon Haworth for $60. The corner lot on which William Hibben so long resided was bought for $36. The lot on the southeast corner of South and Locust streets (Lot No. 69) was bought by Jesse and David Hughes. William Polk bought Lot No. 17, dated September 3, 1810, for $6. Absalom Haworth, Lot 179, South street, dated September 3, 1810. Joseph Doan, Lot No. 28, for $35, dated December 5, 1810. William Hobson bought Lots Nos. 6 and 11, August 7, 1810.
"On September 10, 1810, the court ordered the name of the town to be changed from 'Clinton ' to 'Armenia.' On December 31, the name was again changed by the court, on request of the donors, to Mount Pleasant. (The name is written Mount Vernon, but the Vernon is marked out with a pen and Pleasant is written after it.) But this last name was not more satisfactory than the others had been, and on February 10, 1811, the Court of Common
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Pleas, which had charge of the matter, mado an order that the county seat be called Wilmington, from cities of the samo namo in Delaware and North Caro- lina, from which States emigrants had come to this locality, and that the name be not altered again without a Legislative act."
TOWNSHIPS FIRST ERECTED AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT SUBDIVISIONS.
The first division of Clinton County into townships occurred at a meeting of the Commissioners of the county held April 6, 1810. At this meeting were present George MeManis, James Birdsall and Honry Babb, Commissioners. It was "Ordered, That all that part of Clinton County east of the old boundary lino of Warren County shall be one township known by the name of Richland; and all that part of said Clinton County that is within the old boundary line of Warren and north of Lytle's Creek, and from the mouth of said creek west to the west boundary of Clinton County, shall be known by the namo of Chester Township; and all that part of the aforesaid county that lies south of Lytlo's Creek and south of the south boundary line of Chester and west of Richland, shall be set off in a separate township known by the name of Vernon." (I Com. Record, p. 1).
Two additional townships-Union and Greene-were created August 21, 1813, and the first election for township officers in each was held on the second Tuesday in October following. Clark Township was formed from Greene and Vornon July 14, 1817, and Liberty Township was erected at the same date. The remaining townships of the county were organized at the following dates: Marion, August, 1830; Washington, June, 1835; Wayne, March, 1837; Jeffer- son, March, 1839; Adams, May, 1849; Wilson, August, 1850.
'COURT HOUSES AND JAILS.
Concerning the first court house built in the county, Dr. A. Jones, of Wil- mington, has the following to say:
" In 1812, the people of Clinton County consonted to be taxed to raise funds to build a court house. The Commissioners of the county, vested with power to act in the caso, were Mahlon Haworth, Joseph Doan and Henry Babb. They contracted with Jacob Halo to furnish the material and build a brick structuro forty foot square. The brick work was done by Mr. Halo and his son William. The wood work was sub-let to Mr. Sayres, of Lebanon, Ohio. The court house was completed in 1813, and stood for thirty-five or forty years (sce account of new building), a specimen not of the finest order, but at least a substantial structure. When it became necessary to remove the old court house to build a new one on the same ground, it required great effort to throw the old building down. Many inhabitants of the county and town recollect the old court room. The seats for the Judges were elovated six or eight feet above the floor; a few seats were furnished for the attorneys inside of the bar, with some standing room outside, and there was a large space without the bar for clients and visitors. The floor was of brick, and not a soltiary chair was there for those in attendance at court. In 1814, at the first court held in the now court room, the following officers were present: Hon. Francis Dunlavy, President Judge; Jesse Hughes, George McManis, Thomas Hinkson, his asso- ciates; Jonathan Harlan, Sheriff; Peter Burr, Clerk."
Mrs. Harlan has furnished us with the descriptive plan of the building, as given to those bidding for its erection and the furnishing of the materials, as follows:
"'To be built of brick on a foundation of stone, sunk in the ground one foot and rising above the ground one foot; to be forty feet square outside of the walls; to be two stories high; the lower story floor to be laid part with
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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
brick and part with inch plank, well seasoned, jointed, planed and grooved. The ground story to be fifteon foot high, and the walls eighteen inches thick; the second story to be ten feet high, with walls thirteen and a half inches thick. Cornice to be of brick; to have two chimneys in the upper story, both built in the north end, two and a half foot in the back. To have two doors, ono fronting cach street, four feet wide; nine windows, each of twenty-four lights, ono of which to be placed above the Judge's bench; eight windows abovo, each of twenty-four lights; all the windows to be filled with glass eight by ton. To have a cupola ten foot square and seventeen feet high above the roof of the house, with a square roof, a spiro weather boarded, the boards to bo planed and painted white, the roof painted brown. The doors to be paneled doors. The building to be made of good materials and in a workmanlike man- nor; and to be completed in two years from the day of sale. The payments to bo $250 in advance; one-fourth of tho residuo in six months, one-fourth in twelve months, one fourth in eighteen months, and ono-fourth in two years from the dato of salo.
"'Jacob Hale bid $1,742, and no person bidding lower, the building of the court house was publicly cried off and sold to the said Jacob Hale for the sum so as aforesaid bid. This was Friday, March 27, 1812, according to the record. The Commissioners had held a consultation on the 18th of February preceding, and then determined to build a court-house forty feet square and two stories high. And thereupon the said Jacob Hale, together with James Birdsall and Samuel Cox, who are approved by the Commissioners as sure- ties, executed bond for the performance of the building aforesaid.'
" On March 5, 1816, the Commissioners entered into an agreement with Henry Vanderburgh for performing certain work on the court house, 'that is to say, to make Venetian blinds for the cupola of the court house, which is to be done in a workmanlike manner; ono to be hung with hinges, the others nailed fast-all to be painted greon; the work to be finished in a good and substantial and workmanlike manner. The said Henry Vanderburgh to fur- nish all the materials and finish the same against the fifth day of May, next.' The price for the work and material was fixed at $28, part to be paid in ad vance, and the residuo on the completion of the work."
The old court house did good service for twenty-six years, and outlived its usefulness. At the March (1837) session of the County Commissioners, the Auditor was directed to have published in the Democrat and Herald a notice that "Sealed proposals will be received on or before 12 o'clock of the first Monday of April next, for delivering 100,000 or more good merchantable brick in the kiln within half a milo of the center stone of the town of Wil- mington, on or before the 1st day of November noxt." At an extra session, in April following, Elisha Doan offered to "burn 150,000 good merchantable brick," otc., at $4.25 por thousand, and his proposal was accepted and a sum of money paid him in advance. John and Joshua Haynes hauled stone from the quarry for the foundations of the new building in December, 1837. Doan's kiln of brick was not ready at the time specified, and he was given further timo. On the 2d of January, 1838, it was examined by men appointed for that purpose, and as they found the brick to be not merchantable, the Com- missionors rejected thom, compelled Doan to pay back the $100 he had been advanced, besides some contingent oxponses, and canceled the contract with him.
January 13, 1838, a plan for the new court house was received and ac- cepted by the Commissioners. It was drawn by John B. Posey, a member of the Board. Notice for sealed proposals for doing brick and carpenter work on the new building was ordered published in the Democrat and Herald, and on
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the 12th of February, 1838, they were opened and read. The contract for the carpenter and joiner work, and all except brick and mason work was awarded to John Bush for $11,000; that for the brick and mason work and plastering to Thomas and Alfred Shockley and William and Joshua Noble for $11, 146. John B. Posey was appointed Superintendent of the construction of the new building, and on the 7th of March, 1838, the old court house was sold to George Fallis and John B. Posey for $240. May 17, 1838, the Commissioners met and " proceeded to lay off the foundation of the new court house, and agreed to enlarge said building five feet in width, making said building fifty feet wide." The new structure was painted by Samuel Peele. The final set- tlement with the brick and mason work contractors was made December 24, 1839, and that with J. H. Bush, carpenter work, ote., March 3, 1840. The offices in the new building were occupied in December, 1839. Some changes were made in the original plan of the building, owing to the inability of the contractors to got a portion of tho materials in time, and this made the cost something loss than it would have been otherwise. Additional expenses were incurred for numerous other items, and tho total cost of the building. with outside wall (or fonce), stone steps on south sido, etc., was in the neighbor- hood of $22,000. It is still in use, and is a massivo and imposing structure. The front is at the east side, on South street, where is a portico supported by heavy columns. The building has been in use very nearly forty-three years. A bell weighing 500 pounds, purchased at Cincinnati, of G. W. Coffin, for $150, was placed on the court house in May, 1846. At the sixth meeting of the County Commissioners, held September 22, 1810, the following "plan of the common jail for the county of Clinton" was presented and recorded :*
' Twenty by eighteen feet; a wall of good stone two feet thick, sunk two feet below the surface of the earth; the first floor one foot thick of hewed jointed timber, to extend with tho extremity of the above named wall; the first story to be nino feet high from the first floor, of a wall of hewed timber, two thicknesses of nino inches each, thicknesses laid close- a space of six inches wide between the aforesaid two thicknesses, on each side and end of the first story, to be filled completely with stone to average one foot square each; the aforesaid first story taken up, the first wall dove-tailed at each corner, and the iuside wall taken up, half dove-tailed at each corner, and laid close. Four windows in the aforesaid first story, one foot square cach; one bar of iron, two inches one way and one inch the other, let sufficiently into the wood, placed in each light, crossed with another bar of iron one inch square, running through the upright bar. The second floor, of timber, one foot thick, hewed and jointed close, extending with the outside of the first story; a door in the center of the last-named floor, three by two feet, the shutter two inchos thick, of white oak plank one inch thick, spiked strongly together, and hung with iron hinges one inch in diameter each; three straps of iron on each side of the shutter, one inch and a half wide and a quarter of an inch thick, riveted strongly thereon, with a strong and sufficient.prison lock. etc. The second story, soven feet high from the second floor, of a wall of hewed and jointed timber eight inches thick, extending with the extremity of the first story, taken up, dove-tailed at cach corner, and laid close; a sufficient number of join eight by four inches; the third floor, of ono-and-a-half-inch . plank, spikod strongly to the join and jointed close; a petition [partition] of two-inch plank in the second story, running crossways of the building, suffi- ciently socurod; a sufficiont door in said petition wall, with a common prison lock thereon; a good and sufficiont joint shingle roof, and the gable end suffi- ciently weather-boarded; three nine-light windows in the second story, each
*See Volume I, Commissioner's Record, in the office of Auditor, Clinton County.
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secured with three bars of iron, each bar half an inch one way, and an inch and a half the other, crossed with three bars of iron to each light, three-fourths of an inch square. A common-sized door in the second story, sufficiently cased and hung, and a common prison lock thereon; a sufficient set of stops loading from the ground to a platform three feet square at the above-named door, the platform and stops sufficiently hand-railed. All to be completed in a masterly and workman-like manner."
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