The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 30

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 30

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April 30, 1802, the Enabling Act of Congress, for the formation of the State of Ohio, was approved by the President. Under this act, the first Constitutional Convention of the State was assembled at Chillicothe, on the 1st of Novem- ber, 1802; and on the 29th day of the same month, the Convention, having completed its labors, the constitution, as adopted, was signed by the members, and the Convention adjourned.

February 19, 1803, the act of Congress, "To provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States, within the State of Ohio," was approved by the President. By this act, Ohio was admitted into the Union.

Ohio is the "Pennsylvania Dutch" way of spelling the Indian name given to the great river that divided the Indian lands of the north from the lands in possession of the southern tribes. The language of the Wyandots was similar to that of all the Northwestern tribes; that of the Delawares and Shawnees. who were carpet-baggers in Ohio, differed each from the other and from that of the tribes of the West. The Shawnees called the Ohio River, Kisilakep Sepe, the Eagle River; the name given it by the Delawares was Whinguy Sepung, the Big Stream.

The Wyandots, who were possessors of the soil north of the Ohio, and whose hunting-grounds were in the Kentucky lands, and who had control of the

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

vast regions of the west for a hundred years before the Delawares or Sha nees came here, gave the name to the river, and it therefore should stand preference to all other names. The Ohio State was named from the Ohio Ri er, and what is said of one applies to the other.

The Wyandots had named the river, Ohezuh, great, grand and fair to low upon. The earliest French explorers called it fair and beautiful. La Bed Riviere, the same meaning as the Indian name Ohezuh-the beautiful rive After the French occupation of the valley, following the Indian pronunciatid of the name of the river, they call it Oho, then Ohecho.

The Pennsylvanians, in their early treaties with the Iroquois, got the nar Oheeo, and spelling it in their Dutch way exactly as it was pronounced, the " was substituted for the double "ee," thus: Oh-ee-o. became Oh-i-o. It was n so spelled or pronounced until a short time before the middle of the last ce tury; after 1744, when attention began to be drawn toward the West. Virgi ians gave the accent that has ever since prevailed.

STATE BOUNDARIES.

In no one of the many histories of Ohio has an accurate description of tl State boundary lines been given; most of the writers have been content to say th Ohio is bounded on the east by Pennsylvania; on the south by the Ohio River; ( the West by Indiana; and on the north by Michigan and Lake Erie.

From the best accounts of surveys, we find the eastern boundary line begin at a point on the north bank of the Ohio River, just below the month Beaver Creek; thence running north, in a direct line, to the northern boundar line of the United States in Lake Erie. The Ohio River, from Beaver Cree to the mouth of the Big Miami, forms the southern boundary line. The weste; line begins at a point on the west bank of the Big Miami River at its junctic with the Ohio River, and extends north to a point, from which a line extend due east would intersect Lake Erie, northwest of the Maumee Bay. T] northern boundary of Ohio, is a line drawn due east, from the point located above, to its intersection with the northern boundary line of the United Stat in Lake Erie; thence with said northern boundary line to its intersection wi the eastern boundary line of Ohio.

There was serious trouble between Ohio settlers and, the Territorial office of Michigan, as to the location of the line between that Territory and the Sta of Ohio. At one time, the Michigan militia drove the settlers off their land but the matter was adjusted by Congress refusing to admit Michigan into th Union unless the line was established as Ohio claimed.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The first Legislature met at Chillicothe on Tuesday, March 1, 1803. Go St. Clair had become unpopular in many ways, and most of all because of h refusal, while Governor of the Territory, to organize new counties in the par of the Territory most thickly settled.

March 24, 1803, the Legislature enacted a law for the division of Hamiltd and Ross Counties, and by that act, Montgomery, Warren, Butler and Greer Counties were created. Section 3 of the act reads as follows: " And be it fu ther enacted: That all that part of the county of Hamilton, included within tl following boundaries, viz., beginning on the State line at the northwest corn of the county of Butler; thence east with the lines of Butler and Warren, 11 the east line of Section No. 16, in the third township and fifth range; then north eighteen miles; thence east two miles; thence north to the State lin thence, with the same, to the west boundary of the State; thence south, wit said boundary, to the beginning shall compose a third new county, called an

Henry JBecker

RANDOLPH , TP.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

known by the name of Montgomery." Section 6, of the same act, fixed the temporary seat of justice, " Where court should be held at the house of George Newcom, in the town of Dayton." Section 8 fixed May 1, 1803, as the day the act should take effect.

GEN. RICHARD MONTGOMERY.

The county was named in honor of Gen. Richard Montgomery, who was killed, in the assault on Quebec, December 31, 1775. Gen. Montgomery, son of Thomas Montgomery, was born in Ireland, in 1736, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1754, he obtained a commission in the British army and three years later came, with his regiment, to America, where he dis- inguished himself in the service, and returned to England, in 1763; remained here for nine years, when he left the army, and again came to America. He settled and married in New York, was a delegate to the provincial convention of 1775, and soon afterward was commissioned by Congress as one of the Brigade Generals of the Colonial army. In the invasion of Canada (1775), he was placed second in command of the division under Schuyler, and assumed com- nand of the division when Schuyler returned, sick, to Albany. Montgomery advanced rapidly, and before December had successively captured Chambly, St. Johns and Montreal. In December, he effected a junction with Arnold, before Quebec. The assault on the town was made the night of December 31. The surprise was complete, but, unfortunately for the Americans, Montgomery, who vas gallantly leading his division, was, with two of his aids, killed at the first ire. His gallant conduct and noble character were eulogized in the British Parliament, and the American Congress passed resolutions of respect and vener- ation for the young hero, and erected a monument, in his honor, in front of St. Paul's Church, Broadway, New York City, to which place his remains were transferred with great ceremony, in 1818.

THE ORIGINAL TOWNSHIPS.

Shortly after the law took effect, by which Montgomery County was formed, the Associate Judges of the County Court, established the four original townships of the county-Washington, German, Dayton and Elizabeth Townships. Wash- ington Township included the territory in the southeast corner of the county, from the Greene County line west to the Miami River, and from the Warren County line north about seven miles, nearly the present north line of the town- ship. German Township included all of the territory west of the Miami River to the State line, and from the Butler County line north to a line running west from the Miami River to the State line, parallel to and two or three miles south of the present south line of Miami County. Dayton Township was all of the territory east of the Miami River to the Greene County line, and north of Washington Township to a line near to and parallel to the north line of the eighth range of townships. Elizabeth Township was all of that part of the county north of German and Dayton Townships.

At the time Montgomery County was formed, the enumeration showed 526 white male inhabitants, over twenty-one years of age, within its limits; in Greene County, 446; in Warren, 854; in Butler, 836; in the State, 15,314.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

CHAPTER VI.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS-EMIGRANT SETTLERS-IN THE CLEARINGS-CABINS AN CABIN LIFE-THE SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS-TOMAHAWK RIGHTS-DISCOUE AGED SQUATTERS-ORDER OF TOWNSHIP SETTLEMENTS-FARMING-FOOD- CABIN AFFAIRS-STOCK-SUGAR CAMPS-MILLS-LOG ROLLINGS-WEDDING;

TI HE settlements then on the Miami, at the mouth of Mad River and below. an those up the Mad River Valley, on lands that are now in Montgomery Greene and Clark Counties, were made late in the winter of 1795-96, an early in the spring following. The men who had, fortunately, been connecte with the surveying parties the summer before, had the choice of lands-nota bly, D. C. Cooper, Capt. John Dunlap, Benjamin Van Cleve, Jonathan Mercer David Lowry, Jonathan Donnel and William Gahagan. These choice tracts o lands were secured by the surveyors for themselves, or for some member of th party, by establishing lines and corners of the desired tracts, then incorporatin the field notes of such special surveys, with the notes of the general survey, thu giving correct description of the chosen tract, for proper entry at the Goverr ment Land Office.

THE EMIGRANT SETTLERS.

Later in the year, yet closely crowding in the wake of the pioneer colony came the steady stream of emigrant settlers as re-enforcements to the little ban of brave sprits who first ventured into the task of clearing the dense woods ( the hills and valleys of the Miami. Some located in the bottom lands aroun Hole's Creek, others below, at Hole's Station; several selected their lands a shor distance up Mad River, near the Hamer tract, and two or three families vent ured up the Miami just above Dayton. Roving bands of Indians forced ther all to keep within rallying distance of the larger settlement, at the mouth d Mad River.

Temporary protection was first to be provided. The men were all exper. enced woodsmen. Surrounded by the dangers of frontier life, they could. rel upon their own skill, experience and resources, for safety and a maintenance i their new forest homes; with poles, against a bank or log, they built half-faced or three-sided huts, open in front to face the fire, and roofed with bark or skin as shelter for the families, while the men were clearing away for the cabin siter Their situation was not specially uncomfortable; and, although wearied wit the anxieties and dangers of border warfare, and their means of subsistance ez hausted by the delay at Cincinnati; they hoped now to be able to settle dow and provide for their families.

IN THE CLEARINGS.

The men were on guard night and day. By night and by day, at the cabil or in the clearings, the trusty rifle was ready for instant use. When the cabi site was selected, all timber within rifle range was cut down, to deprive prow ing Indians of shelter and temptation for a shot at the settler or his family While the men were thus at work, felling the timber, the women, too, were bus with axes, grubbing out thickets and digging holes, here and there, whereve possible between the roots and stumps, to plant corn and potatoes. The me were in the clearings before day, and, by the light of the blazing brush-fire;

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

borked until late at night. The ax was the important implement; with it the ckwoodsmen built the cabins, cleared the land, grubbed out the roots and fimps, cut the wood. blazed and opened the roads, marked his corners, split. e rails and built bridges.

CABINS AND CABIN LIFE.

After the huts were made as comfortable as possible. logs were gotten out or the cabins, that were generally put up one and a half stories high. When lis much had been accomplished, neighbors would join in hauling logs, poles, ncheons and clapboards. on bobs and drags, to the cabin sites, and in " rais- An Puncheons were split for the floors; doors were cut out of the logs on e side of the cabins, and clapboard doors were hung upon wooden hinges, stened with a wooden latch.

"The latchstring always hung out." The roof is of clapboards, held down by weight-poles. The chimney was built of cks and mud. The upper floor was laid with loose clapboards, and a short -

Ider was used to go up and down. Wooden pins were used to fasten the nbers-nails or spikes were not to be had. The beds were constructed by iving two stakes betweer the floor puncheons. poles were placed in the forks d one end between the cracks of the logs; across these poles clapboards were id for the bottom of the bed, and dried grass and pelts spread over it. Tables re made of a split slab, with four legs set in auger-holes; three-legged pols and benches were made in the same manner; pins were driven in the ills, on which clapboards rested for shelves or mantels. Clothing was hung pegs around the cabin, and the rifle, powder-horn and shot pouch hung bon buck-horns over the chimney-piece. This, the primitive log cabin, omy and comfortable, the home of the pioneers of the Miami Valley-the st buildings erected by the whites anywhere in this region. Windows were t needed until winter. As the cabins were not chinked and daubed, plenty light came in between the logs and by the open door. Feed for the horses d cattle was scarce, but they could find good pickings in the grassy patches d the young sprouts in the thickets. The settlers had no great variety of ovisions, and were often reduced to a single dish of broiled venison or wild rkey. This, however, arose, not from the scarcity of game. but from the fact. at they could not spare the time to go into the woods hunting until the sup- - y of meat was fully exhausted. Their determination to establish themselves their new homes never wavered, and they, in good heart. met and conquered ery hardship. Corn, turnips, potatoes and tobacco were harvested the first ason; nuts were gathered for winter use: wild grass and fodder was stacked r the stock; so that the little settlement was well supplied with the necessar- 3 and some luxuries for the first winter in the woods around the mouth of ad River.

William Hamer and his family, and William Gahagan, built a comforta- e cabin on the hill at the Hamer tract, and jointly cultivated a small patch corn and garden truck. In the fall, the cabins were chinked and daubed, d made snug for the winter. Windows were made by cutting out about ree feet of one of the logs and putting in a few upright pieces, pasting on em (instead of glass) pieces of paper greased with bear's oil, which afforded me light and kept out the rain. The wooden fire-place and chimney were otected from fire by a liberal lining of clay mud.

The cabins were scantily supplied with table-ware and cooking utensils. ips of any kind were a great rarity; pewter and wooden plates and bowls re used: spoons were made of horn: if knives and forks were scarce, wooden tes were made. A covered skillet or spider. a pot or kettle, comprised the tchen-ware. These were kept scrupulously clean, and usually hung about the antel.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The pioneers were thus kept busy, clearing and building, through the summer of 1796. The little tract of land cultivated yielded an abundant sup ply for the following winter. The woods were full of game, such as bear, deer wild turkey, pheasants, rabbits, raccoons, opossum and squirrels. Wolves, wild cats, foxes and rattlesnakes were also uncomfortably numerous. The river were full of fish, and in season wild ducks and geese were plenty. Each mar and boy was the owner of a flint-lock rifle or army musket, and, from practice all were good marksmen.

Corn was first pounded in a hominy-block, then shaken through a sieve taking the finer portion for meal to make bread, hoe-cake and mush, and using the coarser for hominy. Walnuts gathered by the boys were the only luxurie enjoyed-except the cob pipe. Having no candles, the only light they had was from the huge log fires that so comfortably warmed the cabins. In the long winter evenings, additional light was had by throwing on the fires sea soned fagots and the bark of shelly hickory.

The women attended to all household affairs, milked the cows, cooked spun, wove, made all the clothing, tended the garden and cared for the winte. truck. Fur skins were used for moccasins, clothing and harness; bear-skin and other pelts were used on the floor and beds. The men hunted and brough in the meat, planted, plowed and gathered the crops, cleared the land and cared for the stock. Coon-skin caps were generally worn. The hunting-shir was made of linsey or deer-skins; it was long, covering the hips. Legging were worn over the breeches, wrapped with thongs tied to the moccasins tej keep out mud and water.

The weather of that first winter in these backwoods proved favorable fo out-door work; all were busy clearing more ground for the next spring's plant ing, the women working with their husbands in the clearings, rolling logs and burning brush, thus providing for the support of their families by extending the tract of ground for cultivation. In addition to the little patch cleared fo garden truck, it was necessary also to prepare a piece of ground for flax and hemp for, while the men and boys could be clothed with garments made of buck-skin, i, was not so with the women. They had to spin and weave cloth for their ow: clothing.

THE SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS.

In 1797, large numbers of settlers came in, who, like those of the yea before, fully intended to locate permanently upon the lands selected, and ha no idea of difficulty in securing good titles; nevertheless, as the situation de veloped, they were all squatters, with no other than squatters' rights, either i the town lots or farming lands. The whole of this county up to the openin; of the land offices, in 1801, was simply a large squatter settlement.

Men would come alone, with nothing but the rifle and hatchet to provid themselves with food from the forests; two or three would sometimes journe together; others brought their families, and sometimes strong colonies of sev eral families would come to the frontier to locate together. Such parties, larg and small, were often months on the way. some bringing provisions and plunde on pack-horses or in wagons, while others had no more than the men and women conveniently packed on their backs. Other parties would load their few house hold goods in a dug-out, and pole up the river to Hole's Station, or Daytor or higher up the rivers to a near point from which to pack their stuff throug the woods to their lan Js.

TOMAHAWK RIGHTS.

Before the surveys, the title fully respected by the settlers of the count was known as the "tomahawk right." It was made by deadening a few tree near a spring, or at some other prominent point on the tract: and by blazing tree

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

at the corners, or along the lines. A " settlement right " was even stronger, as the pioneer was on hand to defend his property. Either of these rights, however, were recognized as establishing a priority of claim, and were often bought and sold, as it was better to buy the improvements, rather than quarrel with parties who held them.

Except at the few open spaces of prairie and wet lands, the county was densely wooded; cabins were to be built, the forests cut down and cleared up, panthers, bears and wolves were to be exterminated. The brave pioneers, in- stead of looking at the immensity of their tasks, went to work to clear the land, little by little, and to till what they could the first year. Good crops of corn, tobacco, hemp, flax, beans, turnips, pumpkins, cabbage and potatoes, were har- vested in 1797; wild grass and fodder were stacked for winter feed; and since that crop, the surplus product of the valley has increased steadily from year to year.

So many came without horses or oxen that neighborhoods would join in clearing; and log-rollings were kept up for half the winter; when it came time to burn, the men would fire the heaps, and the women tend the fires. working late at night in favorable weather. For the winter, the children gath- ered walnuts, hickorynuts, hazelnuts, butternuts, chincopins, haws and wild grapes; honey was found in great plenty in hollow trees, and often in the ground, under the roots of dead trees.

SQUATTERS DISCOURAGED.

The fine settlements on Twin Creek; over in the broad bottoms of the Mi- ami, at Hole's Station, and at the mouth of Hole's Creek; in the rich lands up Wolf Creek, Mad River, Miami and Stillwater Valleys, were greatly disturbed at Government delay. Settlers could not afford to waste time in improving land to which they could get no title. Many who had built cabins and cleared land, in 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800, became discouraged, and sold out, or abandoned their claims, and pushed farther into the wilderness. So that others who came in, from 1801 to 1804, found corn patches already cleared and cabins, that could be bought cheaply, or had for nothing, Former occupants had gone up to the headwaters of the Miami, or Mad River, or had returned to the set- tlements nearer Cincinnati.

ORDER OF TOWNSHIP SETTLEMENTS.

Without reference to date or order of organization of the townships, we give the list of the townships of the county in the order of their permanent set- tlement. The first settlement was made in the town of Dayton, then Mad River Township, Van Buren, Miami, Washington, German, Jackson, Jefferson, Harri- son, Madison, Wayne, Randolph, Butler, Clay, Perry. Shortly after the arrival of the first settlers, at the mouth of Mad River, a few followed William Hamer to his settlement, farther up, while others settled in the bottoms below Thomas Davis, in what is now Van Buren Township. Then Jerome Holt, with his fam- ily, were among the next arrivals; then D. C. Cooper, Robert Edgar, Gen. Jacob Brown, Thomas Arnett, George Adams and Paul D. Butler.

In 1797, others followed, locating along Hole's Creek, in Washington Township, and at the mouth of the creek; then below, where, shortly afterward, the block-house and stockade, known as Hole's Station, were built by William Hole. For a time, that station was a point from which squatter adventurers would prospect for location, up Hole's Creek, across the river and up Bear Creek, and in the Twin Creek Valleys. Choice spots, little prairies, the rich loamy lands of Washington, Miami, German, Jefferson and Jackson Townships were thus appropriated. The squatter people erected their cabins, cleared little

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

patches of land, and tilled the soil; and thus had occupied almost the entire half of the county when the land offices were opened. There were Indian camps at different points west of the Miami, and small bands of savage hunters were constantly roving through the woods, but the squatters were made compara- tively safe by the outposts of Dayton, Greenville, Piqua and Urbana. The township historians will show that, after the survey of the lands, and the oppor- tunity for purchase was given, that most of the squatters had abandoned their claims, or soon sold out and left.

William Mason, the first squatter in Harrison Township, went up Wolf Creek and built his cabin, on Section 30, as early as the year 1800-cleared a little patch along the creek, and lived there in seclusion for several years. John Miller and family, in the spring of 1799, settled a short distance up Wolf Creek, where they lived for several years; then entered land north of Dayton.

William King came from Kentucky, with his family, about 1801, cut a road two miles through the woods to his cabin site west of Dayton. John Neff entered a very large tract of land in the bend on the west bank of the Miami, in the northeast corner of Harrison Township. That part of the river is now known as Peach Tree Bend.

The first squatter in Madison Township was John Williams, the farmer, who, in 1799, lived, with his family, in the cabins at the southeast corner of Water and Wilkinson streets, in Dayton. In 1800, he moved, with his family and stock on to lands up Wolf Creek, at the mouth of Salem Creek-lands that he afterward entered and farmed. He became one of the most prominent and influential men of the county. David Ward and family settled on the rich lands at the mouth of Salem Creek, in the year 1800, and the next year entered the lands. Peter Dietrick, with his family, in 1802, and Samuel Isaac and John Ullery, with their families, settled in the township in 1803.

Most of the more thrifty of the first settlers of Mad River and Dayton, and a few up at Honey Creek and Staunton, held "tomahawk rights " to choice spots of Wayne Township lands, but sold out to actual settlers as they came in. The Indian trail to the north afterward became the pioneer road to Livingston and Staunton; it was the route used by Hull's army, in 1812, then by Gov. Meigs and Gen. Harrison; afterward became the State road, and now known as the Old Troy pike; was the line of first settlement in Wayne Township. Benjamin Van Cleve lived, for a short time, on his farm on that road, and, in 1801, the Rev. Joseph Tatman, one of the early itinerant preachers of the Methodist Church, came to the township.

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 30

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