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 6
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And then thinking perhaps it might be a case of mistaken identity, and that it possibly was a " Pliocene skull," he addressed it thus, in the words of Francis Bret Harte.
"Fragmentary fossil !
Primal pioneer of pliocene formation, Hid in lowest drifts below the earliest stratum
Of volcanic tufa!
Tell us of that scene -- the dim and watery woodland,
Songless, silent, stirless, with never bird or insect,
Veiled with spreading fronds and screened with tall club-mosses."
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
THE STROBEL HOMESTEAD.
Belonging to Mrs. L. A. Strobel, the wife of the professional musician, J. W. Strobel, Esq., is situated upon what is known as East Hart- well Heights, and about one-half of a mile dis- tant from the Short Line depot.
This is a musician's home. Orpheus has a profound devotee in " the lord of this manor." The site of the home, and the home itself, be_ speak this. We heard the sound of stringed instruments within those walls one mild Sep- tember evening. They recalled the old story of the elder Orpheus which inspired Miss Emma Cranch to sing so acceptably in one of our musical festivals
" I have lost my Eurydice, 1
Nothing equals now my grief, Hope, nor maddening unbelief, Nothing comes to my relief."
May we repeat a little of the strange and classic story? How that Orpheus had for his wife a nymph named Eurydice, who died front the bite of a serpent as she was flying from Aristæus, and that, disconsolate at her loss, he determined to descend to the lower world, to endeavor to mollify its rulers, and
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THE CARLISLE VILLA.
obtain permission for his beloved Eurydice to return to the region of light. Armed only with his lyre, he entered the realms of Hades, and gained an easy admittance to the Palace of Plato. At the music of his " golden shell," to borrow the beautiful language of ancient poetry, the wheel of Ixion stopped, Tantalus forgot the thirst that tormented him, the vul- ture ceased to prey on"the vitals of Tityos, and Plato and Proserpina lent a favoring ear to his prayer. Eurydice was allowed to re- turn with him to the upper world, but only on condition that Orpheus should not look back upon her before they had reached the confines of the kingdom of darkness. He broke the condition and she vanished out of his sight. At his death Jupiter placed his lyre in the skies.
THE CARLISLE VILLA.
There is a lonely eminence in western Wyoming dimly seen from the valley through the summer foliage, but plainly visible when "leaves have their time to fall." Somewhat alienated from its neighboring hill tops, it re- minds you of "Jura in her misty shroud " when the eye seeks it through the blue veil
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with which nature sometimes obscures from view the rough outlines of her mountain chains. Let us seek that summit from the standpoint of the valley. You will realize that after all it will not be as hazardous an enterprise as scal- ing the Matterhorn or any of the lesser Alps. To do so we take a popular pleasure drive up. Glendale avenue, through the heart of Wyom- ing, to Reily avenue, then westwardly up that ascending road to the Park Picturesque Villa of MR. AND MRS. JOHN CARLISLE. It stands amid old trees whose mission is as well to shield from sunshine as guard from storms its rock- built, palatial walls. In contemplating this magnificent rural retreat, you realize what a beautiful thought of a home is here embodied. Nature has lavished her charms upon the site first lifting it to this commanding altitude and then robing it with splendors from an infinite source. The hand of affluence then erected this superstructure of such surpassing loveliness.
Gracefully grotesque in out line ; surprising you at all points with its departures from the methodical house architecture of the day, it seems a conglomerate of different styles, the fittest of all surviving in this. The architect must have been a law unto himself, Sui gener's, or it stands a real home built from an ideal formed from traveling in many lands.
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GEO. S. STEARN'S RESIDENCE.
The ground, sloping to the southward de- clivitously, forms an immense ravine, suggests Coleridge's description of Kubla Kahn's pleas- ure grounds :
" But, oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover : A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e're beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon lover."
MR. GEO. S. STEARN'S RESIDENCE.
It is said of Kenilworth castle, that the stately structure itself, which rose near the centre of a spacious enclosure, was composed of a huge pile of magnificent castellated buildings. The external wall of this royal castle was adorned and defended on the south and west sides by a lake partly artificial. " We cannot but add " -says Sir Walter Scott-" that this lovely palace, where princes feasted and heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, where beauty dealt the prize, which valor won, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is now a rushy swamp; and the massive ruins of the castle only serve to show what their splendor once was, and to impress on the musing
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visitor the transitory value of human posses- sions, and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment." It was the royal home of Robert Dudley and Amy Robsart as the Earl and Countess of Leicester, and yet a most miserable home ; for its very magnificence gave origin doubtless to the favor- itism of Elizabeth for the Earl; to his con- sequent estrangement from Amy, and her final · banishment to Cumnor Hall, that the queen might be kept in ignorance of the fact that Leicester had ever loved another than his sov- ereign when she came to make that celebrated visit to Dudley's Castle.
One morning, all alone, a gentleman took a walk through unincorporated Wyoming. His pathway lay westward along the dividing line between the Friend and Woodruff homesteads. He found himself at length upon an emi- nence. A field of ripening corn was round and about him. But the long green blades, the tall stalks, like nodding plumes, the tasseled · ears, he heeded not. He came not there to
pluck the ears of corn. He looked around and away to the Reading hills whence he had come. He saw that it was a beautiful site. A thought of home was in his heart, and it must be unbosomed-it must be embodied. And so he said : Here will I found and build.
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ELISHA P. STOUT'S COUNTRY SEAT. 115
That pathway is now a sweeping avenue ; and that thought found embodiment in the stately home of Mr. and Mrs. George S. Stearns. We never look upon its walls and tower, its spacious grounds and lake, without thinking them typical at least, of the past splendors of that old ruined historic castle ; and yet so dissimilar, especially in that it is a happy as well as magnificent home, and in that Amy, though absent, was not banished from this modern Kenilworth.
MR. ELISHA P. STOUT'S
Splendid country seat in Wyoming, consisting of twenty-eight acres culminating in an emin- ence as commanding as that upon which stands the Carlisle Villa immediately to the South, claims our attention because of its extraordi- nary merits as a monument to the wonderful growth of this valley, and because of historical reminiscences suggested by the name of him who first built it. REILY is a noted name in western annals.
In 1792. John Reily settled upon a tract of land adjoining White's station on the south. from which he was driven by the Indians, and thereupon returned to Columbia, and resumed
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his occupation of school teaching. But in after years, his son, Col. Robert Reily, returned to the pioneer home of his father, looked around this beautiful country, selected this spot and built thereon a stone mansion and proceeded to beautify and adorn it. When the Rebellion broke out, he joined the army in defense of that home and his country, and was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville, being Colonel of the 75th Ohio Infantry at the time.
The title subsequently passed through Geo. D. Winchell, Esq., to the present owner, who, by lavish expenditure and cultivated taste, has greatly enlarged and embellished it. Nature has no resources or reserves of shrubbery which have not been laid under contribution to adorn it.
All kinds of plants grow there. Vines cling to the walls of old gray stone, aspiring to climb the steep slate roof and the towers that point upward through the branches of the trees that stand in majesty around it. The trees ! how many secrets their tongues will never tell, but leave us as we stand beneath them to dream or conjecture as to what they have seen tran- spire under their branches !
We claim them as familiar friends. We love and caress them. We lean as lovers against
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ELISHA P. STOUT'S COUNTRY SEAT.
their strong, storm-defying trunks. They in return yield us shade, and fruit, and flowers. They cast their leafy crowns at our feet ; they bow their tall heads at the stroke of the axe and become fuel for the hearth-stone ;- but their history their tongues will never tell. They have done as much in response to the caress of the Indian maiden of old as to the pale face damsel of to-day; as much for the Savage, who, doubtless, has glared down upon White's station that sheltered the elder Reilv, as for the heoric son who broke this woodland silence with the sound of the ham- mer in erecting this mansion, and then laid him down and died the patriot's death.
So we will leave the mysterious realm of the trees to the tuneful birds, the viewless winds, and the intercepted sunshine, and for a moment, enter this rock-built house that seems as enduring as the ancient hill it crowns. Crossing the Mosaic threshold, the massive doors opening on their bronzed hinges in a welcoming way, you enter a hall that connects with a labyrinth of rooms. All that taste can devise and wealth provide cover the floors and walls. You need go no further to be impressed with the truth that this is one of the homes characterized by Wendell Phillips as " the consummate flower of our civilization.'
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
You recall at once the " Antique Oratory" of the old hall at Anneslev, where a gifted poet met and loved a " rare and radiant maiden," but because his impassioned love was unre- quited,
" He passed from out the massive gates of that old hall, And mounting on his steed he went away,
And ne'er repassed that hoary threshold more."-
And but for which the intellectual world would never have read " Childe Harold's Pilgrim- age.".
WAYNE AVENUE, M. E. CHURCH €
Stands on the west side of Wayne avenue in Lockland. Together with the parsonage, it cost over $40,000, and was built within the past five years. The munificent donations of Col. * C. W. Friend, Thomas Fox, Esq., Gideon G. Palmer, Esq., George House, Esq., and others, made it possible for this congrega- tion to build and dedicate to God-free from debt-this, the most beautiful and costly church in the valley, of which, at present, the Rev. Adam Bowers is pastor.
# Col. Friend was President of the Board of Trustees at the time of his death, which occurred shortly after the
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WAYNE AVENUE M. E. CHURCH.
That there is at work in society a spiritual civilization it will scarcely be denied.
Look at the churches and the school houses of this valley ! They have kept pace with the march of emigration, and thus illustrate the truthful sentiment that "There has ever been a motion, a gravitation, more or less palpable, towards a man who should be the complement of every other man-the perfectness of man- . hood embodied in Jesus Christ."
The Poet, in imagination, standing perhaps, on this very spot ninety years ago said :
" I hear the tread of pioneers, Of nations yet to be, The first low wash of waves where soon Shall roll a human sea."
We are realizing this dream, and as the wave of Christian civilization swept over these
dedication in June, ISSO. One of his last official acts was to present this church, in behalf of his congregation, through the Bishop, to Almighty God, saying, in the words of Solo- mon :
" I have surely built thee a house to dwell in, a setted place to abide in forever."
His life's work seemed then finished-and as one of the Pioneers of this valley and Methodism, he was gathered to his fathers. How many precious stones -- onyx, chalcedony and amethyst-his liberal hands laid in those shining walls!
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hills and valleys, it left no higher or better evi- dence of its divine origin and mission than this church.
We look with sadness upon the old churches falling into disuse and decay, or perhaps sub- serving other ends, but the heart takes hope and faith is intensified when we realize that larger and grander edifices have taken their places.
This sacred dwelling is but the 'outgrowth of one of those old structures. And so it has always been. The movable tabernacle in the wilderness finally became the magnificent tem- ple of Solomon, but not until the Salem of Mel- chisedec became the Jerusalem of King David.
From its belfry you can tell all the towers of this valley and see almost its entire extent.
Its tall spire points as well to the poor as the rich man's heaven. And its bell
" How it swells, How it dwells On the future ; how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, What a world of happiness Its harmony foretells."
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قادياء أصلا
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LUDLOW'S STATION.
CHAPTER XIV.
LUDLOW'S STATION.
I SRAEL LUDLOW came from Morris- town, New Jersey, to the North-west Terri- tory, soon after the passage of the ordinance of 1787. He came, expecting to assist in survey- ing and establishing the bounderies of the Miami purchase. In the early part of the year 1789 he became associated with Mathiar Den- man and Robert Patterson, in the proprietor- ship and founding of Cincinnati.
On the 9th day of March, 1790, he entered land warrants, Nos. 83 and 84, and located the west half of section 22. T. 3, F. R. 2, M. P., which is now a part of Cumminsville, and soon afterwards established a station there. Among those who formed the settlement were James . Miller, Joseph and Enoch McHendry, Daniel Ba.es, Uriah Hardesty, Frederick Patchel, John Noble Cummins, Jonathan Pierson, Enos Terry, and Thomas Goudy.t Some time dur-
T From Olden's Sketches :- Thomas Goudy was a native of
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
ing the same year they erected a block-house, where Knowlton street intersects the Cincin- nati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, and a little south of the Christian church. A Mr. Abner Boston had a cabin near the station, where he and his family lived for a number of years.
This station is noted as being the place where General St. Clair organized his army. He moved his command from FortWashington on the 7th day of August, 1791, and encamped at Ludlow station, where he remained until the 17th day of September following, when he took up his march for the Indian villages. After his defeat, and while the remnant of his forces were returning to Fort Washington, they again encamped at this station. On arriving there they found the settlement entirely deserted, not a settler remained. The soldiers found shelter in the cabins and block-house over night, and next morning, in a forlorn condition, moved down to Fort Washington.
The station was soon afterwards re-occupied
Pennsylvania, a lawyer by profession. He came to Cincin- nati as early as, 1789, and was, it is said, the first lawyer in the town. In 1793 he married Sarah Wallace, sister of John S. Wallace. He was the father of Mrs. Sarah Clark, who is still living with her sons, Alexander C. Clark, north of Read- ing, in Sycamore Township.
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THE LUDLOW MANSION.
by a few families, among whom was Abner Boston .*
It does not appear that Mr. Ludlow resided at the station until after peace was established with the Indians in 1795. His interest and his business were at Cincinnati, and there he lived until after the treaty of Greenville, when he built a dwelling house some distance north of the block-house, which he made his permanent residence. A portion of this building is said to be still standing, and is erroneously called the " station house."
THE LUDLOW MANSION.
This ancestral home, older than the nine- teenth century and ivy-mantled with historic associations, claims more than a passing notice.
The history of the Miami Country-of Ham- ilton County-especially of Mill Creek valley, is in part the history of this venerable structure. Once it stood in the centre of an almost impen- etrable forest ; now, the sounds of a teeming population are heard on every hand and myriads
# Boston was a native of Virginia, and married the widow of William Risk, her maiden name was Margaret Wilkinson. James Risk; now of Cumminsville, is the grandson of Mrs. Boston.
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of less distinguished but more beautiful homes, from the palatial residences on Clifton heights, to the pretty cottages of Cumminsville, look down upon and environ it. Once a large lawn, shadowed by tall trees, swept down to the banks of Mill creek upon which children played who are now our pioneers, if peradventure they have not fallen into "the deep tranquil- lity of endless sleep." The human wave that brought its founders here from the east has swept onward until it has reached and popu- lated the golden shores of the distant Pacific. Willows, a century old, wave wierd branches over the self same spring that slaked the thirst of the Indian first and then his pale faced foe.
The writer once visited this relic of the past. Passing across the low-roofed porch he entered the folding doors at the touch of the old fashi- ioned latch, into a room-like vestibule. An- tique, angular stairs lead up to the second story -- then to the attic. 'This stair-way by reason of associations, may well be compared to that in the Probasco Palace, although the latter stair-way it is asserted, cost $25,000.
Upon entering, we were met and warmly welcomed by MR. ISAAC B. MCFARLAND, a venerable pioneer-who, with his family, is at present in charge of the property. He seemed
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THE LUDLOW MANSION.
to have " come down from former generations" as he familiary talked of those who had lived therein-and of our distinguished and departed fore-fathers whose names are so brightly and indissolubly linked with our past. Four score years have passed over his white- ened head-yet with unclouded mind and memory, and with much warmth of heart, he walked the path of life backward to childhood. Hearing him, the writer had but little need to ask,
-" How is it
That this lives in thy mind ? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time ?
Had he done so Miranda's answer to Pros- pero would have followed :
-"'Tis far off, And rather like a dream than an assurance, That my remembrance warrants."
This property now belongs to MRS. CATHARINE LUDLOW WHITEMAN, a direct descendant of Colonel Israel Ludlow, who built it about the year 1795-or shortly after the Greenville treaty which secured the valley from Indian depredations. It was at first a log structure subsequently covered with weather boarding. At the time of its completion it was the best
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looking and largest house in Cincinnati or its vicinity, says the late Dr. E. D. Mansfield in his "Personal memories."
* Col. Jared Mansfield, professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in the United States Military Academy, lived in this house from 1805 to 1809-part of it being used as his office while engaged in surveying the Miami Purchase. It stands on a bluff made by the C. H. & D. Railroad when constructed imme- diately to the east of it, and can be distinctly seen from the cars, its particular locality being a short distance north of the present station in Cumminsville. A few venerable evergreens seem to stand as monuments around it. Twelve years ago an addition was made to the south- ern end of the house-adding much to its ap- pearance. The oldest portion is the northern.
Within, its old fashioned walls are papered after the latest styles-its old fashioned fire place is now filled in with a modern grate-its old fashioned mantels somewhat relieved of their austerity by bric-a-brac-its low ceilings seemingly heigthened by rich wall paper.
In and out of that old portal have passed, Col. Israel Ludlow, John Cleves Symmes, Col. Jared Mansfield, Gen. Arthur St. Clair,
* This was the father of Hon. E. D. Mansfield.
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BOK-ON-JA-HA-LUS.
Gen. Anthony Wayne, Gov. Return J. Meigs, Little Turtle, Bok-on-ja-ha-lus,
Gen. Wm. H. Harrison, Gov. E. A. Brown,
Gov. T. Worthington, Hon. Lewis Cass, Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Gen. J. C. Totten,
Hon. Judge Burnet, Gen. Gano,
Nicholas Longworth, Judge D. K. Este,
Oliver M. Spencer,
Gen. William Lytle,
Judge Goforth,
Gen. J. H. Piatt.
Mrs. Charlotte Chambers Ludlow, and many other distinguished men and women whose names add lustre to the history of Cin- cinnati.
It is an illustrious land mark. Looking upon these remnants of its past splendor and moved by the "still rhetoric" of the associations that haunt it, the words of Byron, when musing among the ruins of Rome, come to you-
" Tully was not so eloquent as thou, Thou nameless column with the buried base ! What are the laurels of the Caesar's brow? Crown me with ivy from his dwelling place ?
BOK-ON-JA-HA-LUS,
Was chief of the Delaware Indians. He was deemed almost a civilized man, because of his having been much under the influence of the
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Moravian missionaries. He was highly en- dowed with mental strength, and it is said of him that no Christian knight was ever more scrupulous in performing his treaty engage- ments.
He was a natural hero, possessing great dig- nity of character.
St. Clair owed his defeat to the presence of such chieftains as Little Turtle, Bok-on-ja-ha- lus, and Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawanese.
The following incident, related of this cele- brated warrior, occurred immediately after the battle of Fallen Timbers. Our victorious army, in pursuit of the Indians, finally halted and encamped for three days upon the banks of the Maumee, within sight of the British fort, which had afforded protection and encouragement to the Indians :-
General Wayne had received private instruc- tions from President Washington that, should he find himself in sufficient force to capture the British fort, he was to do so, and drive the gar- rison out of the country. He accordingly care- fully inspected the works. They had an arm- ament of ten pieces of artillery, and were gar- risoned by four hundred and fifty men. It was therefore decided that the attempt to storm the fort would result in great slaughter, and prob- ably in a failure.
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BOK-ON-JA-HA-LUS.
After the defeat, the officers of the fort did not venture to open its gates to receive the fug- itive savages. This would have been, indeed, a declaration of war against the United States. As the British had encouraged the Indians, in every possible way before the battle, they were greatly disgusted by this unexpected treatment. One of their celebrated chiefs- Bok-on-ja-ha-lus, of whom we are writing and who had fled down the river, beyond the fort, assembled his tribe in a little fleet of canoes, to ascend the stream and enter into a treaty of peace with the victors. As they were approaching the fort, the officer of the day hailed Bok-on-ja-ha-lus, and said that Major Campbell wished to speak to him.
*" In that case," said the proud chieftain," let him come to me."
" That will never do," was the reply ; "and he will not allow you to pass the fort unless you comply with his wishes."
"What shall prevent my passing?" the chief responded.
"Those guns," answered the orderly, as he pointed to the artillery which could sweep the Stream with grapeshot.
* From Abbot's History of Ohio.
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" I fear not your cannon," the chief replied. " After suffering the Americans to insult your flag, without daring to fire upon them, you must not expect to frighten Bok-on-ja-ha-lus.",
The canoes pushed on, and passed the fort unmolested.
Mrs. Charlotte Chambers Ludlow -the gifted, accomplished and christian wife of Col. Israel Ludlow-in a letter to Rev. Dr. Bou- dinot, dated at Ludlow station, gives this inter- esting account of a visit she received from Bok-on-ja-ha-lus and his friend Kin-ka-box- kie, at that place :
" About the year 1800, in the month of June, near the middle of the day, as I sat in my par- lor at Ludlow station, commanding a view of the smooth green yard, slightly shaded from the fervor of the sun by the depending boughs of three luxuriant willows, which a few years had brought to sentimental perfection-with feelings in perfect accordance with the har- mony of the scene, I experienced a tranquillity of mind to which I had been for some time a stranger, and forgot for the moment that there was in all the world a human being less happy than myself.
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