The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 28

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214

USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county > Part 28

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With the destruction of this army, all frontier settlements were exposed to the savages, who now rushed on, flushed with victory. The rapid retreat was continued. to Fort Washington, which place they reached November 8.

WILKINSON'S EXPEDITION.

In December, Gen. James Wilkinson was placed in 'command, and, in Jan- uary, 1792, started an expedition to the scene of "St. Clair's Defeat," arriving there February 1, in a deep snow. By the General's orders, fatigue parties were detailed to bury the dead and gather up Government property that had not been destroyed, On the 3d, the troops returned to Fort Jefferson.

Fort St. Clair, one mile west ( f Eaton, was erected in the winter of 1791-92 Forts Hamilton, St. Clair and Jefferson were garrisoned with troops sent from Fort Washington, and, at different times during the year 1792, were attacked by the Indians, who kept up active hostilities against the whites.

Monday night, November 6, Maj. Adair, who was returning from Fort Jeffer son with 100 Kentuckians, repulsed 250 Indians who attacked him near Fort St. Clair.

MAD ANTHONY.

Gen. Anthony Wayne, an officer of the Revolution, was, in 1792, designatec by President Washington to succeed St. Clair in command of the Western Army In June, he arrived at Pittsburgh and began the organization of his troops through summer and fall this preparation continued, and in the spring of 1793 with his army, he came down the Ohio in boats, and went into camp at the mouth of Mill Creek.

Jours July E, Shutx

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Several months were given to drill and organization, while Peace Commis- sioners at "Grand Glaize " and the Maumee Rapids were endeavoring to make permanent peace, in which they failed, and on August 17, the meeting was broken up, of which fact Gen. Wayne was immediately notified. October 7, he, with an army of 3,600, marched from Fort Washington up Mill Creek Valley, passed Forts Hamilton and St. Clair. On the morning of the 17th, the rear guard, consisting of ninety-one men, was attacked and defeated at a point half way between Fort St. Clair and Fort Jefferson. In December, Gen. Wayne Quilt Fort Greenville, on the ground on which the town of Greenville now stands, and placed his troops in winter quarters. Near the close of the month, he sent a detachment twenty-two miles to the front to build Fort Recovery on the field of St. Clair's defeat, which was immediately strongly garrisoned.

The army worked hard all winter, drilling, practice-firing and preparing for the coming campaign. All outposts were in constant danger, were fre- quently attacked, but without loss to the Americans. June 30, 1794, Fort Re- covery was attacked by a force of 1,500 Indians and British, who, after a two- days' fight, were driven off. They were found to be on the way to the Little Miami River, expecting to camp at Old Chillicothe. July 26, Gen. Wayne re- ceived a re-enforcement of 1,600 mounted Kentuckians, and on the 28th moved forward with his whole army. August 8, he built Fort Defiance at the junction of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers. August 13, a flag of truce was sent to the Indians, offering peace. On the 16th, it returned, asking for delay, to which the General did not reply, but marched on, reaching the Maumee at the rapids on the 20th, and fought his celebrated battle of the Fallen Timbers, in which he defeated the Indians in sight of the British Fort Miami. The troops camped on the battle-field for three days, and by easy marches reached Fort Defiance August 27, where they remained till September 14, when they marched to the junction of St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Rivers, and built Fort Wayne, according to the plans given Gen. St. Clair in 1791. A garrison was left at the fort. Octo- ber 28, the army started on the return march to Fort Greenville, and went into winter quarters November 2.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

CHAPTER V.

WAYNE'S TREATY-SQUATTERS-PURCHASE OF LANDS AT MOUTH OF MAD RIVER- SURVEYING PARTIES-DAYTON PLATTED-DRAWING LOTS-FORMATION OF COL, ONY-FIRST SETTLERS-THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS-ARRIVAL BY RIVER-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-TOPOGRAPHICAL-DAYTON TOWNSHIP -- TA! ASSESSMENT, 1798-TOWNSHIP AFFAIRS TO 1803-OHIO BECOMES A STATE- THE NAME-STATE BOUNDARIES-MONTGOMERY COUNTY-GENERAL RICHARI MONTGOMERY-THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS-ENUMERATION.

D' URING the winter of 1794-95, constant efforts were made to assembl Indian chieftains of the tribes, in council, to make treaties that would insure permanent peace. Gen. Wayne and his aids were seven months in ar ranging the treaties. July 3, 1795, they were finally agreed to, and were signed upon the 3d of August, thus securing to the United States, clear titles to th Ohio Valley lands, from the source of the Ohio River to the mouth of the Wa bash. The news of the completion of the treaty assured to the pioneers perfec. safety in opening settlements.

People from New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky were wild with impatience at the delay in opening the land offices; hundred were pushing into the woods, locating "tomahawk rights," and "squatte claims." August 20, the following named gentlemen, Arthur St. Clair, Gov ernor of the Territory; Jonathan Dayton, then a citizen of New Jersey, an afterward a United States Senator from that State: Gen. James Wilkinson, o Wayne's army; and Col. Israel Ludlow, from Morris County, New Jersey, cor tracted with Judge Symmes for the purchase and settlement of the seventh an eighth ranges, between Mad River and the Little Miami.

On Monday, September 21, two parties of surveyors left Cincinnati to ru the bounderies of the purchase, and to locate a road. Daniel C. Cooper, c Long Hill, N. J., had charge of one party; John Dunlap had the other. The camped the first night at Voorhees' Station, about nine miles out of Cincinnat The next morning they separated, Cooper and his party to locate and mark road, partially cutting out the underbrush from Fort Hamilton, up the east ban of the Miami River to the mouth of Mad River. On this road were afterwar built the towns of Middletown, Franklin and Miamisburg. Capt. John Dunla with his party were to run the boundaries of the seventh and eighth ranges be tween the Miami Rivers. They followed Gen. Harmar's old trail for ten mile to Turtle Creek, where they left a Mr. Bedell, who had come along to sett about six miles west of the present site of Lebanon, and about a mile south ( where the Shaker village now is. He at once erected a block-house, known { Bedell's Station. It was at that time the frontier settlement of the Mian Valley.

The night of the 23d, Capt. Dunlap reached the line that he had located 1788, between the third and fourth ranges of townships. The 24th and 25t he run north eighteen miles, to the south line of the seventh range, and the west to the Miami River, where they camped for the night. Their pack-hors, were stolen by the Indians that night, and failing to recover them the next da the party were compelled, on the 27th, to carry their luggage to the mouth ( the Mad River. Here a small party of Indians were in camp about thirty rod

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

pove the mouth of the river. Both parties were suspicious, but soon a better eling prevailed, the whites exchanging flour, salt and tobacco, for jerked veni- n. One of the Indians bantering Benjamin Van Cleve for a dicker, he gave te Indian a large knife, scabbard and belt, for one of less value with a worsted elt, getting a deer skin to boot.

Cooper and his party came into camp before night, starting back the next torning to make some changes along the road. Dunlap's party went down the ig Miami to the south boundary of the seventh range, then turned east through e timber nine miles, to Big Beaver Creek, and north, October 1, to Muddy un, a tributary of Mad River. Jonathan Mercer, the pack-horse man, and William Gahagan, the hunter, were sent to the mouth of the creek to make imp and cook supper. When the party came up in the evening, they found lat the Indians had been ahead of them, stealing nearly all the provisions and reatening the lives of the cooks. This party, in which were Capt. John unlap, Benjamin Van Cleve, William Gahagan, David Lowry, Jonathan Don- el, Jonathan Mercer, and others, remained there in camp for several days, and the 4th of the month, came down to the mouth of the Mad River, stopping ily to eat the last of the meat, then pushing on down Cooper's road to Hole's reek, where they camped for the night, marching next day thirty-four miles, Cunningham's Station, where they ate a hearty supper of mush and milk and ent in to Cincinnati on the 6th.

A party of Kentuckians had accompanied Cooper to view the country. On londay, the 28th, they were up near the mouth of the Stillwater. Thick vines nd high weeds preventing their seeing the land, they gave it up as a bad job, nd returned to Kentucky.

On the 1st of November, the surveyors came again to Mad River to lay out Le town, which was done by Israel Ludlow, on Wednesday, November 4, 1795. he town was called Dayton, for Mr. Dayton, of New Jersey, one of the propri- ors. With the party were a number who came to see the country, and locate, it proved favorable. The next day, after the town was laid out, here on the bot, those present for themselves, and for others who desired to settle with the lony, drew lots for location, each man to have one in-lot and one out-lot as latted, with the privilege of purchasing 160 acres of land at the rate of a rench crown per acre.

During the winter, a colony of forty-six men was formed at Cincinnati, to ttle at Dayton and in the vicinity. Several of the more venturesome started at nce; some of them stopped at the Big Prairie, near Middletown; two on Clear reek; several families at Hole's Creek, where the following spring they built e stockade that was afterward known as Hole's Station. In the winter, or arly in the spring, David Lowry and Jonathan Donnel located on land that hey had selected up Mad River at the old Piqua town; one man ventured up > the forks of Mad River, and another went over to Honey Creek. Several ad come up to the mouth of Mad River, prospecting, then returned for their amilies.

Although forty-six were on the list, at the time of starting, but nineteen ful- lled their engagements. Their names were Samuel Thompson, Benjamin Van leve, William Van Cleve, William Gahagan, James McClure, John McClure, Geo. ewcom, William Newcom, Abraham Grassmire, John Davis, William Hamer, olomon Hamer, Thomas Hamer, Solomon Goss, Thomas Davis, John Dorough, Villiam Chenoweth, James Morris and Daniel Ferrell. They left Cincinnati 1 March, 1796, in three parties. William Hamer, with a party, started first, ut were delayed on the way. George Newcom, with the largest party of the free, started overland, the same day that Samuel Thompson left by boat with is party.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

With Hamer were his wife, Mary, two sons, Solomon and Thomas, four daughters, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah and Polly, and Jonathan and Edward Mer cer. Mr. Hamer owned a pair of horses and a wagon, and in this way emi- grated to his new home. It was a long, cold journey through the woods, up the narrow trace, only partially cut out by Cooper the preceding fall. With New- com were his wife and his brother, William; Thomas Davis and family; Wil- liam Chenoweth and family; William Van Cleve, James Morris, John Dorough and family: Daniel Ferrell and family; Solomon Goss and family; John Davis and Abraham Grassmire.

With Thompson were his wife, Catharine, their daughter, Sarah, then two years old, their baby, Matthew, then three months old, and Mrs. Thompson's daughter, Mary Van Cleve, then nine years old; Benjamin Van Cleve; the widow McClure, her two sons, James and John, and two daughters, Kate and Ann, and William Gahagan. William Van Cleve was to drive Mr. Thompson's cow overland, in the herd of cattle belonging to the other party.

These two larger parties, with Newcom and Thompson as leaders, started from Cincinnati on Monday, March 21, 1796. Thompson's party came in a large pirogue, down the Ohio River to the Miami, and up that stream to Day- ton. The pirogue was a long narrow boat, sharp at bow and stern, and of light draft: running boards extended the length of the boat on each side for the man who poled the boat to walk on. She was decked to protect the women and chil- dren, household goods, clothing, provisions, tools, etc. The trip from Cincinnati to the Miami was made in one day, the boat landing at the bend above the mouth of the Miami to land the women, who walked across the peninsula, boarding the boat after she came into the Miami. A short distance above they camped for the night, resuming the voyage early in the morning, making eight or ten miles each day.

The second night on the Miami, they stopped seventeen miles from the Ohio River, at Dunlap's Station. One man would steer the boat as she was propelled up stream with poles. In passing over rapids, or rounding a point, where the current was swift, a long line was fastened to the boat, the other end being fastened up stream to a tree. Then the crew would haul away on the line, thus slowly working the boat against the current to where the line was made fast. This plan of stemming the rapids was called "cordelling."

From Dunlap's they made Hamilton in one day, then were a week on the river from there to Dayton, camping on the river bank at night, landing at the head of St. Clair street Friday, April 1, 1796. The flight of wild geese to the north that spring was enormous. The boat party had them to eat every day. with eggs gathered from the nests of the forest.

The large party of settlers, who, the day the boat left, started to come over land, were about two weeks on the way. All their stores and property werc carried on pack-horses, rigged out with pack-saddles, large creels on each side, in which to pack the stuff. These creels or crates were made of hickory withes! and in them were stored bedding, clothing, pots, skillets, stores and provisions, plow-irons, and other tools and implements. The children, too small to walk were fastened in the creels so that their heads only appeared above:

Hardy as were the pioneers, from a long life in the wilderness, they found the journey of sixty miles over an unbroken road, long and weary; while some would lead the horses, others drove the cattle. With the trusty rifle, game ir plenty was shot in the forests, and with the hatchet and ax they made camp af night, and thus they followed the narrow trace.

Cows and younger cattle were driven along, the milk was used morning and evening, and carried in canteens for use during the day. The greatest difficulty was met in crossing the creeks, not only in getting the women and children

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

ver, but in keeping the freight from getting wet. The road, as far as Fort amilton, had been used so much by the army that it was comparatively in a od condition, so that the trials of the journey did not really begin until they ad started into the narrow rough trace that led to Dayton. Small streams were ossed by felling timbers over them for foot bridges. To cross the larger 'eeks, such as Dick's Creek, Clear Creek and Hole's Creek, it was necessary to instruct rafts to carry over men, women, children and the freight, while horses id cattle had to swim. The nights were cold. It had rained hard with a little it of snow. The hastily-constructed camps afforded but little protection. A ot would be cleared of wet leaves; for the fire, if possible, dry leaves and sticks ere gathered from under logs or out of hollow trees, and the fire kindled by rub- ng together pieces of punk or rotten wood. For a bed, blankets were spread 1 a lot of brush and old bushes; thus through such hardships did mothers and ttle ones bear up cheerfully, sleeping in the open air, getting up cold and un- freshed for an early start into another day of fatigue. They were detained r awhile at the Big Prairie, just below where Middletown now is, then halted ; Hole's Creek, arriving here within a week after the other parties. Jonathan id Edward Mercer, with all of their worldly goods in the paniers of a single ck-horse, kept on up Mad River eight miles, and located Mercer's Station on nd that is now in Bath Township, Greene County. They were the first two hites to settle in the territory now witbin the boundaries of that county. heir's was an exposed position, and twice within the next two years, the ivages forced the abandonment of the station. Others settled a little higher p, at Cribb's Station, in the forks of Mad River. All of the settlements were hoyed by the Indians stealing horses and pilfering generally.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

William Hamer was born in Maryland about the year 1750; with his wife, [ary, and children, he moved West, in the spring of 1792, coming down the hio to Cincinnati in a flat-boat, built by himself and son Solomon. At Cin- nnati, they used the boat lumber to build a cabin for the family to live in; is cabin they occupied until they started to Dayton, in March, 1796. Being local Methodist preacher, and thinking that in the Symmes purchase, as in ie settlement of the Ohio Company at Marietta, Section 29 would be contrib- ted by the proprietors, for religious purposes, he located on that section, up [ad River about three miles. He was mistaken, however, and afterward had pay $2 per acre like the rest of the settlers. With the help of his son Solo- ton, and William Gahagan, he built his cabin on the top of the hill, just south f where the C., C., C. & I. and the T., D. & B. Railroads now cross the Spring- eld pike. For fifty years afterward, that hill was known far and wide as [amer's Hill. Solomon was, at that time, sixteen years old; Nancy afterward tarried William Gahagan; Elizabeth married William C. Lowry; Thomas was x years old. Sarah Hamer was married in November, 1801, to David Lowry, ho lived up Mad River, near the mouth of Donnel's Creek, and was one of the arliest settlers in Mad River Valley; she died, in August, 1810. Polly mar- ed Joseph Culbertson, of Miami County. Dayton Hamer was born December 1796, at his father's cabin on Hamer's Hill, and was the first child born in le Dayton settlement ; he married Catherine Haney, moved to Illinois, then to alifornia, where he died many years ago. William Hamer, Jr., married [annah Culbertson, and moved to Indiana; Susan Hamer married rider; Ruth married Abram Wagoner; Ellen died single. Mary, wife of Villiam Hamer, died at their home, Hamer's Hill, August 9, 1825, aged sixty- aree years. William Hamer met with an accident on his way to Cincinnati, in le summer of 1827, and died from the effects of it shortly afterward.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Col. George Newcom was an Irishman, born in the old country and came to America, with his parents, in 1775. The family settled in Delaware, but af. terward moved to the vicinity of Middletown, Penn. In Washington County, Penn., he married Mary Henderson, who was a native of the State. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born at Cincinnati, May 13, 1794, and died there before the colony started to Mad River. The next child, John W., was born at the Samuel Dick farm, near Hamilton, September 9, 1797; married Martha Grimes, November 21, 1820, and died July 7, 1836; his wife died April 11, 1867; they had five children, all of whom are dead but the youngest, Martha A., who is the wife of John E. Greer, of Dayton. Jane, daughter of Col. George and Mary Newcom, was born at her father's tavern, at the corner of Main and Water streets, in Dayton, April 14, 1800. May 20, 1819, she married Nathaniel Wil- son, and lived all of her life on Main street, in Dayton; had nine children, four of them yet living- Clinton, Mary J. Hunt, a widow, Elizabeth Bowen, a widow, and Susan, the wife of Josiah Gebhart; Mrs. Wilson died at the resi- dence of her daughter, Mrs. Gebhart, April 5, 1874. Col. George Newcom was a soldier in Wayne's army, and also served in 1812; he was the first Sheriff of this county was afterward State Senator, then member of the Lower House, and filled many other positions of trust in the county. His wife, Mary, died April 3, 1834; June 22, 1836, he married Elizabeth Bowen, who died October 29, 1850. Col. Newcom died, February 25, 1853, aged eighty-two years.

Wiiliam Newcom was about twenty years old when he came to the Dayton settlement. He married Miss Charlotte Nolan, of Kentucky, who, after his death, married John Baker, and, surviving him, married Henry Row. William Newcom was a soldier in the war of 1812, and finally died from the effects of hardships and exposure that he, with others, experienced.

Benjamin Van Cleve was the son of John Van Cleve, who was the son of Benjamin and Rachel Van Cleve. John Van Cleve was born at New Brunswick, N. J., May 16, 1749; was a soldier in the revolution, serving in his father's company. He married Catharine Benham, and, in 1785, settled in Washington County, Penn. In December, 1789, he, with his family, started for the North- west Territory, and landed at Losanteville, January 3, 1790. June 1, 1791, he was stabbed in five places, killed and scalped by the Indians, in an outlot at Cincinnati. John and Catharine Van Cleve had six children. Benjamin was born in Monmouth County, N. J., February 24, 1773; Ann was born at the same place, July 30, 1775, married Col. Jerome Holt,'at Cincinnati, and in 1797, set- tled with him in Van Buren Township, in this county, and died in March, 1858; William was born in Monmouth County, N. J., in 1777; Margaret, born at the home place, in Monmouth County, in February, 1779, married - Reeder, at Cincinnati, and died, in September, 1858; Mary, born in Washing- ton County, Penn., February 10, 1787; Amy, born in Washington County, Penn., in July, 1789, married Isaac Shields, and died in Preble County, Ohio. Catharine, the mother of these children, married Samuel Thompson, at Cincin- nati, by whom she had two children, Sarah and Matthew, before they moved to Dayton. Benjamin Van Cleve, the subject of this sketch, was an upright and worthy man; when his father was killed by the Indians, in 1791, although but eighteen years old, he took upon himself the care and support of his mother and family. He served in the campaigns of St. Clair, Wilkinson and Wayne-was a bearer of important dispatches to Washington, New York and return; was in Dunlap's surveying party in this Mad River country, immediately after Wayne's treaty with the Indians; was here again, with Col. Ludlow, to lay out Dayton, and came as a settler with the first colony, in the spring of 1796. He taught the first school, in the Dayton block-house, in 1799; he served as Clerk of the Court from the organization of the county until his death, in 1821, and was

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

he first Postmaster appointed in Dayton, serving in that capacity from 1804 until the date of his death. In the language of his friend and associate, Col. John Johnson, " God never made a better man than was Benjamin Van Cleve." August 28, 1800, he married Mary Whitten, daughter of John and Phoebe Whitten; they had five children. John Whitten Van Cleve, born in Dayton June 27, 1801, died September 6, 1858; William James, born October 10, 1803, lied October 30, 1808; Henrietta Maria, born November 16, 1805, married Samuel B. Dover, September 21, 1824; surviving him, she married Joseph Bond, November 4, 1858, and died, May 18, 1879; Mary Cornelia, born December 2, 1807, married James Andrews, November 20, 1827, and died February 19, 1878; Sarah Sophia, born November 24, 1809, married David C. Baker, Feb- :uary 11, 1830, died October 18, 1839. Mary Van Cleve, the mother of these children, was born February 17, 1782, and died December 28, 1810. March 10, 1812, Benjamin Van Cleve married Mary Tamplin, an English lady, but at that time living in Champaign County, Ohio. Benjamin Van Cleve died Novem- ber 29, 1821; his second wife, Mary, by whom he had no children, died De- cember 19, 1825.

Capt. William Van Cleve, brother of Benjamin, son of John and Catha- rine, was born near Monmouth, N. J., in 1777, and was not quite twenty years old when he came to Dayton. Although he lived in town for two or three years, he began at once to improve his farm, which was south of Dayton. His first wife was Effie Westfall, by whom he had several children. In 1812, Capt. Van Cleve responded promptly with his company of Dayton Riflemen, to the first call for troops, and in June they were ordered to the front. After the war, he kept a tavern just south of town, at the junction of Warren and Jefferson streets, and died there in 1828.

Aunt Polly, Mary Van Cleve Swaynie, daughter of John and Catharine Van Cleve, was born in Washington County, Penn., February 10, 1787. Why she is called Aunt Polly we do not know, but that is the name by which she is best known now. She was born five months before the Northwest Territory was formed; she is nine years older than Dayton, fifteen years older than the State of Ohio, and sixteen years older than Montgomery County. She. with her par- ents, landed at Losanteville the day the name was changed to Cincinnati; six years later, March, 1796. she left there in the pirogue with the party who came up the Miami River, landing at the head of St. Clair street, Dayton, April 1, 1796, and has lived in Dayton ever since. She attended school in 1799 and 1800, at the block-house that stood in Main street at the river bank, and can tell of events happening in every stage of the county's progress, from the little cluster of cabins of the last century, to the county's improved and substantial condition of to-day. She was married, to John McClain, in 1804, and by him had ten. children, four of whom are still living; a daughter, Mrs. Jane Swaynie, who lives with her, and three sons, who have moved away from the county. Her husband died, and on December 12, 1826, she married Robert Swaynie; they had no children. Mrs. Swaynie has been a widow for many years; her res- idence is No. 247 Bainbridge street, Dayton, where, for the past twenty years or more, her relatives and friends have assembled to celebrate, with her, each recurring anniversary of her birth. Aunt Polly is in reasonably good health, although, of course, her mind is not so active as formerly.

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 28

Author: W.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1214

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214