USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > The past and present of Mill Creek Valley, being a collection of historical and descriptive sketches of that part of Hamilton County, Ohio > Part 3
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During the autumn of 1794, William Moore, who was a great hunter, and who made his
* The writer has recently made some inquiry and search for the graves of Andrew Goble and the children of Mrs. Pryor, but there is nothing to mark the tomb of either. Goble, it is said, was buried near the spot where he fell, and the remains of the children were probably placed near his, and this no doubt formed the burial place for the dead of that neighborhood for many years afterwards. A number of tombstones may yet be seen there on the elevated piece of ground east of the canal, a short distance below the acqueduct.
The Indian who fell in the conflict was refused, it is alleged, a christian burial. His body was taken into the woods and given to the fowls of the air, and his bones left to bleach and decay upon the ground.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
home at Covalt's station, on the Little Miami river, while out on one of his hunting excur- sions, wandered to the Great Lick, as it was then called, about a mile and a half east of White's station, and on the lands now owned by John Hamel, in the south-east quarter of section 32. He there killed a deer, which he skinned, and had prepared the saddle for packing, and while in the act of washing his hands in the brook, and at the same time amusing himself by singing an Indian song he had learned while a captive among the Shawnees, he was suddenly alarmed by a voice joining in the song in the Indian tongue. He instantly sprang to his feet and ran for the thick wood on the west, closely pursued by several Indians. As they did not fire they evidently intended capturing him. The fore- most runner in the pursuit was quite a small Indian, but very fleet on foot. He was gain- ing rapidly upon Moore, when, fortunately, they came to a large fallen tree, the body of which was some four feet in diameter. Moore placed his hand upon the log and leaped it at one bound. The Indian, being unable to per- form the feat, was compelled to go round the tree. This gave Moore a fresh start, and after a long and closely contested race he reached
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GRIFFIN'S STATION.
White's station, with the loss of his gun and coat, and also his game.
*GRIFFIN'S STATION.
On the 23d day of July, 1792, Lieutenant Daniel Griffin entered, in the register's office, warrant No. 147, and located section 7, T. 3. E. R. I, now in Springfield township, and es- tablished a station or settlement at a point where the Carthage and Springdale turnpike now crosses Mill creek, within of the village of Hartwell, and about half a mile west of White's station .* Robert Griffin, Daniel and Jacob Vorhis, Daniel Seward, James McCashen, and Robert Caldwell and his two sons, Samuel and James, were among the first settlers:+
* At the time of the attack on White's station by the In- dians, October 19, 1793, no one resided at Griffin's settlement, at least no mention is made of any of the settlers or even of the name of the station in any account or tradition that has been given of that event. The two stations, measuring in a direct line, were less than half a mile apart, and it would seem improbable that persons could have resided within so short a distance while a battle was in progress without a knowledge of it, and, in those days, without going to the relief of their friends. From this it appears quite probable that Griffin's station was not established until the fall of 1793.
t Some of the descendants of Robert Caldwell are firm in the opinion that their ancestor settled at Griffin's station as early as 1790 or '91, but in this they must be mistaken. The
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
The Griffin brothers built their cabins on the south bank of the creek, as did also Daniel and Jacob Vorhis and Robert Caldwell. Daniel Seward and James McCashen's was at the point where the C. H. & D. railroad now crosses the turnpike. John Winans was also an early settler near this station, but the loca- tion of his cabin is not known.
The Caldwells, at an early date, built a saw and grist-mill on the creek, a short distance below the station, and afterwards attached a small distillery. They managed and conduct- ed the entire business until about the year 1806, when a sudden freshet swept the mills away.
TUCKER'S STATION.
In the spring of 1772, a community was or- ganized at Columbia, consisting of Henry and John Tucker,* the brother Luke and Zebulon Foster, Jonathan Pittman, Henry Weaver, and John McCashen.
entire section was entered by Daniel Griffin, in July, 1792. The records also show that James Caldwell purchased 446 acre , in the section of Lieutenant Griffin, and obtained a deed from Judge Symmes, in 1796. From this the writer is led to believe that no settlement was made at or near where Griffin's and White's stations were built until after July, 1792.
* Henry and John Tucker were both from the Passaic Valley, New Jersey, but were not related, unless very distantly.
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TUCKER'S STATION.
They selected section 4, T. 3, entire range I, now in Springfield township, as their place of settlement, and agreed upon a division of the lands.
They went out into the forest late in the fall of that year, and commenced the erection of a block house and other cabins, at a point on an old Indian trace, known afterwards as Wayne's trace, and still latter as the old Hamilton road. The site selected for the block house was on the east side of the trace, and immediately opposite the late residence of Manning Tucker, son of Henry, the pioneer. The farm is now owned and occupied by Mr. H. Bugher.
Before completing their improvements, a dis- pute arose between Henry Tucker and Luke Foster as to the division of the lands. Foster, it appears, had paced off and marked his por- tion according to the plan agreed upon, which gave dissatisfaction to Tucker, who claimed that Foster's line encroached upon the site he had selected for his residence. The dispute became irreconcilable, and Tucker, refusing to have anything further to do with the association, returned to Columbia.
The other parties resumed and had continued their labor for a few days, when Capt. Wells, a spy and Indian hunter, came to their im-
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
provements, and before they were aware of it had placed himself between them and their guns. He did this to admonish them of their carelessness, and told them they were in im- minent danger. He advised them to cease their labor and return to the settlements on the Ohio, and await such time as the army, then organizing under General Wayne, should be better prepared to protect the interior stations. The advice of an experienced woodsman, to- gether with the unsettled difficulty existing be- tween Tucker and Foster, induced them to sus- pend their improvements and return to Col- umbia.
PLEASANT VALLEY STATION.
During the winter of 1793, Henry Tucker and the Foster brothers compromised the diffi- culty before mentioned, Luke Foster agreeing to accept ten acres in the south-west corner of the section, and his brother Zebulon, five acres adjoining the same on the north, in full com- pensation for their interests in the improve- ments made on section 4, which, by a new ar- rangement, was to be divided between Henry and John Tucker and Jonathan Pittman, while the Foster brothers, Henry Weaver, John McCashen, James Seward, and Ziba
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PLEASANT VALLEY STATION.
Wingent, were to settle on sections 9 and 10, adjoining on the west.
Under this arrangement they all went out the following spring to resume their labor and complete their improvements.
Instead of one they now formed two settle- ments ; but, for mutual safety and protection, they all joined in the erection of a station- house at a central point, and convenient to all the families. The site selected was on the line between sections 4 and 10, on the west bank of Mill creek, about where the centre of the turnpike now is, and near what is still known as "Station Spring." It was in a beautiful forest grove, which prompted the settlers to name it "Pleasant Valley Station."
It was late in the fall, and nearly two months after General Wayne had started upon his campaign, that the settlers moved their fam- ilies out to the station. The army being at that time in the enemy's country gave confi- dence and comparative security to the settle- ments. Neither Tucker's nor Pleasant Valley stations suffered any serious trouble with the Indians. No murders or other depredations were committed, and, save one single incident, nothing occurred to cause alarm or apprehen -- sion of danger. The event referred to, hap-
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
pened one morning during the winter of 1793-4. Mr. James Seward, while down at the spring getting water, heard what he supposed to be turkeys calling, some distance beyond the creek, and, on going into the station-house, spoke to a Mr. Mahan, who had been about the station for several days, saying : "If you would like to have a turkey, Mahan, I think you can get one if you hurry out, I heard them calling over on the hill." Mahan at once caught up his gun and started in the direction pointed out by Seward. He had gone but a short distance when he heard the peculiar calling of turkeys, and he followed on in that direction until he was led away near a mile from the station, when suddenly a large Indian stepped from behind a tree, not more than twenty yards from him, and said in broken English, "How do," at the same time he saw a gun pointing towards him from a clus- ter of spice bushes. The surprise.was so great and sudden that he dropped his gun and ran with super-human speed for the station, fol- lowed closely by the Indians. They no doubt intended capturing him without alarming the settlement, and therefore did not fire upon and kill him at once, as they could easily have done.
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PLEASANT VALLEY STATION.
When life is at stake, and under the stim- ulent of fear, men perform feats that seem marvelous and incredible. But such great bodily exertions never fail to expend the vital powers and endanger life. It was so with Mahan; he knew the forfeit should he lose the race, and every nerve and muscle of the body was put to its utmost tension. He out- stripped his pursuers and reached the station ; but so overcome, that his eyes were protruding and bloodshot. He swooned from exhaustion, and lay for an hour or more in a complete stupor. When reaction came a fever sat in, and for several days his life was despaired of.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
CHAPTER VII.
DEATH OF COL. ROB'T ELLIOTT.
TN 1794 Col. Rob't Elliott, contractor for . supplying the United States Army, while traveling with his servant from Fort Washing- ton to Fort Hamilton, was waylaid and killed by the Indians at the big hill south of where Thomas Fleming lived, and near the line of Hamilton and Butler counties. When shot he fell from his horse. The servant made his escape by putting his horse to full speed, fol- lowed by that of Elliott's into Fort Hamilton.
The savage who shot the colonel, in haste to take his scalp, drew his knife, and seized him by the wig which he wore. To his astonish- ment the scalp came off at the first touch, when he exclaimed, "dam lie." In a few minutes. the surprise of the party was over, and they m: de themselves merry at the expense of their comrade. The next day a party from the Fort, under the guidance of the servant, visited the spot, placed the body in a coffin and proceeded
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A WITCH STORY.
on their way to Fort Washington. About a mile south of Springdale, they were fired upon by Indians, and the servant, who was on the horse of his late master, was shot at the first fire. The party retreated, leaving the body of Elliott with the savages, who had broken open the coffin, when the former rallied, re-took the body and carried it, with that of the servant to Cincinnati, and buried them side by side, in the Presbyterian Cemetery on Twelfth street.
A WITCH STORY.
About the year 1814, one of our most wealthy and respectable farmers on Mill creek who had taken great pains and expended much money in procuring and propagating a fine breed of horses, was unfortunate in losing a number of them, by a distemper which appeared to be of a novel character. As the disease baffled all his skill, he soon became satisfied that it was the result of witchcraft. Under that impression he consulted such per- sons as were represented to have knowledge of sorcery, or who pretended to be fortune tellers. These persons instructed him how to proceed to discover and destroy the witch.
One of the experiments he was directed to
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make, was to boil certain ingredients, herbs, etc., over a hot fire, with pins and needles in the cauldron, which he was told would pro- duce great mental and bodily distress in the witch or wizard. He tried that experiment, and while the pot was boiling furiously, placed himself in his door, which overlooked the prin- cipal part of his farm, including the field in which his horses were kept. It so happened that,- while standing in the door, he saw his daughter-in-law, who lived in a cabin, about eighty rods from his own house, hastening.to his spring for a bucket of water. His imagi- nation connected that hurried movement with his incantation so strongly, that he immediately ordered his son to move his family from his farm
From some cause, he had formed an opinion that a Mrs. Garrison, an aged woman, in feeble health, fast sinking to the grave, living some eight or ten miles from his farm, was the prin- cipal agent in the destruction of his horses. He had frequently expressed that opinion in the neighborhood. Mrs. Garrison had heard of it, and as might be expected, her feelings were injured, and here spirits much depressed by the slanderous report. One of the charms he had been directed to try, was to shoot a
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A WITCH STORY.
silver bullet while the witch was evidently in him. This he was told would kill the witch and cure the animals. He accordingly pre- pared a silver ball and shot it at a very fine brood mare which was affected by the distem- per. The mare, of course, was killed ; and it so happened, that, in a very short time after, poor Mrs. Garrison died, the experiment was declared to be successful, and the experi- menter believed to his death, that his silver bullet killed the poor old woman. However, that may be, his slanderous report had a great effect on her health, and no doubt hastened her death.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
CHAPTER VIII.
SPRING IN 1792.
TH HE winter of 1791-2 was followed by an early and delightful spring. Indeed I have often thought that our western winters were much milder, our springs earlier, and our autumns longer, than they now are. On the last of February some of the trees were put- ting forth their foliage ; in March, the red bud, the hawthorn, and the dog wood, in full bloom, checkered the hills, displaying their beautiful colors of rose and lily, and in April the ground was covered with May apple, blood root, gin- seng, violets and a great variety of herbs and flowers. Flocks of parroquets were seen, decked in their rich plumage of green and gold. Birds of various species, and of every hue were flitting from tree to tree, and the beauti- ful red bird, and the untaught songster of the West made the woods vocal with theirm elody. Now might be heard the plaintive wail of the dove, and now the rumbling drum of the par-
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SPRING IN 1792.
tridge, or the loud gobble of the turkey. Here might be heard the clumsy bear, doggedly moving off, or urged by pursuit into a laboring gallop, retreating to his citadel on the top of some lofty tree ; or approached suddenly, rais- ing himself erect in the attitude of defense, facing his enemy and waiting his approach ; then the timid deer, watchfully resting or cautiously feeding or aroused from his thicket, gracefully bounding off, then stopping, erect- ing his stately head and for a moment gazing around, or snuffing the air to ascertain his enemy, instantly springing off, clearing logs and bushes at a bound and soon distancing his pursuers. It seemed an earthly paradise ; and but for apprehensions of the wily copperhead, who lay silently coiled among the leaves, or beneath the plants, waiting to strike his victim ; the horrid rattlesnake, who more chivalrous, however, with head erect amid its ample folds, prepared to dart upon his foe, gener- ously with the loud noise of his rattle apprised him of danger; and the still more fearful and invidious savage, who, crawling upon the ground, or noiselessly approaching behind trees and thickets, sped the deadly shaft or fatal bullet, you might have fancied you were in the cofines of Eden or the border of Ely- sium .- Indian Captivity, by O. M. Spencer.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
EARLY CUSTOMS.
We learn from the old pioneers, that during the early period of the county, the people were in a complete social equality, no aristo- cratic distinctions were thought of in society, and the first line of demarkation drawn, was to separate the very bad from the general mass. Their parties were for raisings and log rollings, and the labor being finished, their sports usually were shooting and gymnastic ex- ercises with the men, and convivial amuse- ments among the women ; no punctilious for- mality, nor ignobly imitating the fashions of Paris, marred their assemblies, but all were happy and enjoyed themselves in seeing others so. The rich and the poor dressed alike; the men generally wearing hunting shirts and buckskin pants, and the women at- tired in coarse fabrics produced by their own hands; such was their common and holiday dress ; and if a fair damsel wanted a superb dress for her bridal day, her highest aspira- tion was to obtain a common American cotton che k. The latter which now sells for a shil- ling a yard. then cost one dollar, and five yards was deemed an ample pattern ; silks, satins, and fancy goods, that now inflate our
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EARLY CUSTOMS. ·
vanity and deplete our purses, were not then even dreamed of.
The cabins were furnished in the same style of simplicity ; the bedstead was home-made, and often consisted of forked sticks driven into the ground with cross poles to support the clapboards or the cord. One pot, kettle and frying-pan, were the only articles considered indispensable, though some included the tea- kettle ; a few plates and dishes upon a shelf in one corner was as satisfactory as is now a cupboard full of china, and their food relished well from a puncheon table. Some of the wealthiest families had a few split bottom chairs, but as a general thing, stools and benches answered the place of lounges and sofas, and at first the green sward or smoothly leveled earth served the double purpose of floor and carpet.
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CHAPTER IX.
THE OLD WAYNE ROAD.
I N 1792 a road was projected from Cincin- nati up Mill creek by Ludlow's station, thence to White's station at the third crossing of Mill creek, and on to Cunningham's and thence to Runyan's improvement. But back of this is the fact that this old Wayne road was at first an Indian trail. It seems to have been a tribal trait of the Miamies to pass down the valley over this beaten path to the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Licking, thence crossing into Kentucky. After committing their depredations they would recross that river and retread this war path with their prisoners and plunder.
We will not indulge the imagination in dwelling upon the scenes of suffering that may have been enacted along this now crowded thoroughfare.
Over it passed a portion of the army com- manded by General Clark in 1780 ; also the left
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THE OLD WAYNE ROAD.
wing of General Harmar's army in 1790; a portion of General St. Clair's in 1791, and that of General Wayne in 1793.
Over it passed the dead and mutilated body of Colonel Robert Elliott when borne mourn- fully back to Fort Washington.
We feel that all this privation and suffering and death were in some measure a needful sacrifice on the part of our forefathers in order that the blessings of christian civilization might be secured to themselves and their children.
First an Indian trail, narrow and trough- shaped and tortuous ; then a military road, over which the primitive government trans- ported troops and stores in its long and bloody struggle to reclaim this garden from savage dominion-a rough rude road along which the iron six-pounder floundered, and over which
" In their ragged regimentals Marched the old Continentals."
Then it loudened into a great highway along which to-day pours a continuous tide of humanity, but resounding no more to the tramp of mustering squadrons or the rumble and the grumble of artillery.
It is an exceedingly interesting fact that Mr.
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David D. Mills, the father of Joseph F. Mills, Esq., the proprietor of Maplewood, was one of General Wayne's soldiers, and marched along this old road, uninformed as an old Continental, on that celebrated campaign and took a con- spicious part in the battle of Fallen Timbers.
In reference to Wayne's campaign, Mr. . Olden says :-
" General Wayne left Camp Hobson's Choice, at Cincninati, on the 7th day of Octo- ber 1793, and followed the general course of the old track running along the Mill Creek valley and which had previously been opened as a great road as far as White's station. He camped for the night on the grounds lately oc- cupied as a race course, and known as the Buckeye Club grounds, near the present vil- lage of Elmwood. The following day he passed through White's station, and along what is now Wayne Avenue, through Maple- wood and Lockland ; thence through Tucker's station, and where the town of Springdale now is, to Fort Hamilton, where he encamped the second night."
AN INDIAN BATTLE.
Tradition has it that a battle was fought
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AN OLD GRIST MILL.
between hostile Indian tribes in this valley, just above White's station, about the year 1780.
The legend is traced back directly to old Capt. White. It may be deemed "a legend, a phantom, a show," but that sturdy old pion- eer, told Wm. R. Morris, deceased, (the father of Wm. R .. Morris, Esq., who now resides on the bluff overlooking this spot,) that when he first came to build White's station, Indian bones were thickly scattered over the ground, intermingled with battle axes, arrows, and other implements of savage warfare. About four thousand were believed to have been en- gaged.
"Lo! how all things fade and perish ; From the memory of the old men Pass away the great traditions, Perish in the ears that hear them. Do not reach the generations That, as yet unborn, are waiting In the great mysterious darkness Of the speechless days that shall be."
AN OLD GRIST MILL.
Just above White's station, on the banks of Mill creek, there once stood an old grist mill. It was built about the year 1795 by Capt. White. Every trace of it is now gone, save
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the excavated spot where it stood suggestive of its rude foundations. Old trees stand round about it, as if erected by the hand of nature in memory of the good it.did in departed years.
You can still see the sunken grass-covered mill-race that leads down from the old dam that diverted the waters from their natural to this artificial channel. The hands that dug it, where are they?
Oh, earth ! Where are the past ? And wherefore had they birth ? The dead are thy inheritors-and we But bubbles on the surface, and the key Of thy profundity is in the grave.
But the voice of the miller is hushed ; the sound of the grinding has died into an echo ; the water goes unvexed to the sea, while the old water-wheel revolves only in the realm of the imagination.
It stood as a sort of Pioneer Exchange, until 1827, when, mainly by reason of the construc- tion of the canal, it fell into disuse and was shortly afterwards succeeded by what is now known as the Palmer Flour Mills of Lockland, into the hoppers of which pour the grain from the same fields cleared and tilled by the pion-
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BLOODY RUN.
eers as patrons of the old White Mill, and from which issue one hundred and fifty barrels of flour per day the year round.
1 BLOODY RUN.
*John Ludlow, who was a native of New Jersey, and a half brother to Israel, the surveyor, came to Cincinnati in November, 1796, and was the first acting sheriff of Ham- ilton county.
In the spring of 1794, Mr. Ludlow moved out upon a tract of land which he had pre- viously purchased in section 17, T. 3. F. R. 2, now in Mill Creek township. His cabins were built on the east side of Mill creek, a short dis- tance south of the lands lately used as a trot- ting course. The particular site was where the old frame dwelling, known as the Ludlow homestead, now stands.
Moving into the interior of the forest, even at that late period of the Indian war, was not regarded entirely free from danger ; and Mr. Ludlow very prudently joined the company of. a few families who were moving out to White's station. Captain Jacob White, who was then
*Mr. Olden's Sketches.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
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