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 7
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I was interrupted by the entrance of two strangers of uncommon interest. The first was
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BOK-ON-JA-HA-LUS.
my old friend, the Delaware chief, Bok-on-ja- ha-lus. I rose to meet him with a cordial welcome. After taking my hand, he said, " La-na-pak-wa (a name given me by the Delaware Indians) this is my friend Kin-ka- box-kie." They took their seats, and informed me that they had called for the purpose of tak- ing dinner, having made the engagement with my husband in town. They were on their re- turn from seeing the Great Father, as they called the President. .
At dinner they received my attentions as per- sons of good breeding in those circles where good breeding excludes every useless ceremony.
Kin-ka-box-kie was taciturn. When he spoke, it was in the Delaware tongue. He de- sired his friend to tell me that he could not speak English. Bok-on-ja-ha-lus informed me that the President had said "they must im- prove their lands ; their young men must learn to plough ; their young women must learn to spin." He seemed dejected, but he was noble in his deportment. While we sat conversing at the table after the cloth was removed, he said, "Lah-na-pak-wa, we now go." *And when shall I see you again, Bok-on-ja-ha-lus?" said I. "Me old ; me soon lay down," said he, with a horizontal motion of his hand. Then
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MILL CREEK VALLEY ..
raising his eyes to Heaven, with an ardent emotion, he added with an effusion of feeling I have never seen more expressive, "But we shall meet with Jesus." I took his hand, in- quiring with rapture, "Bok-on-ja-ha-lus do you know Jesus?" He answered with firm- ness, "Me know Jesus; me love Jesus." Then rising from the table, they shook hands with me, solemnly saying farewell. My eyes followed their venerable figures until the door closed from my view for the last time in this world Bok-on-ja-ha-lus and his friend."
PARTING WORDS.
-"Farewell ! a word which hath been And must be,-a sound which makes us linger, Yet, farewell " !
The following touching farewell to Ludlow station and to Mill creek is from the same gifted pen :
September 1, 1820.
" Accompanied by my dear friend Mrs. Mc- Farland,t and my two little daughters, I made a far well visit to Ludlow station * * After repose, we rambled over the woodland.
t Mrs. Stephen McFarland, the mother of Isaac B. McFar- land, Esq., now occupying the Ludlow Mansion.
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G. A. R.
Softly murmuring flowed the beloved stream of Mill creek. Precious to my view are its ver- dure-clad banks. Often with the husband of my youth have I climbed the hills around ; often, seated in the cool shade, has he narrated the dangers of early times, while yet the savage foot-prints were fresh in its sand."
G. A. R.
The surviving soldiers of the union army, living upon this classic ground, having organ- ized themselves as a band of brothers under the name signified by the above initials, and remembering their comrade of illustrious line age, and his bright record as a soldier, call themselves, "ISRAEL LUDLOW, Post No. 76, Grand Army of the Republic."
November the 7, 1881, an event took place at the Post which should be mentioned in this connection, as bearing upon the history of the Ludlows ;- it was the presentation of a Bible and a Flag, by Mrs. C. L. Whiteman and Mr. Dunlap Ludlow, of Illinois ; Mrs. Hunt, of New Orleans ; and General Ben. Ludlow, of Texas.
Chaplain J. F. Myers made the presentation speec hin behalf of the relatives, in the following befitting words :-
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
"No more worthy or noble name could have been conferred upon our Post than his-a de- scendant of that old pioneer Israel Ludlow, who was appointed by Washington as a surveyer in the North-west Territory, who laid out the city of Cincinnati, and established a station in our own immediate vicinity for the refuge of the settler from the attack of Indians, and opened up the settlement of the Mill Creek valley, be-
. fore Ohio became a State. His old home is still standing as a landmark of early times. This was the home of his grandson Israel Lud- low, a son worthy of his sire. When the war of 1861 broke out, he was among the first to go forth at the call of his country to assist in defending its honor and maintaining its in- tegrity. He enlisted as a private in the Sixth Ohio Infantry, and afterward obtained an ap- pointment as a Lieutenant in Terrill's Regular battery. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River and Chicamauga. In the latter he was severely wounded and taken pris- oner by the enemy. At the close of the war he came home and practiced law, but the wound received and the privations endured had under- mined his health, and at last. in 1873, he was taken off by disease, in the prime of early man- hood. Thus did he give himself up as a sacri-
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CUMMINS VS. HUTCHINSON.
fice to his country, after having seen treason subdued and peace restored."
CUMMINS VS. HUTCHINSON. 4
We are indebted to the facile pen of an edu- cated gentleman,* now residing in Cummins- ville, for the following information which we give in his own language :
" In the triangle formed by the avenue, Ham- ilton pike, and Blue Rock street, about forty years ago, was the extensive tannery of David Cummins, after whom the town was named. On the knoll above was the Hutchinson tav- ern, where now is Mr. Hoffner's residence. A steady stream of pure water flowed then, as now, from the bank below the house, and Mr. Cummins, by his deed, was entitled to use as much water from that spring for his tannery, as would flow through " five three-quarter inch auger holes." With the Hutchinson's tavern was a farm of two hundred acres, and they kept a dairy. One very dry summer, Mrs. Hutchinson plugged up the holes of the tan- nery pipe so that her cows should not suffer. The tanner's boys opened it; again it was closed. High words succeeded and frequently
* Prof. M. S. Turrill-Principal of the Public Schools.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
blows. Reports and threats were circulated by servant girls and others. Private injuries were inflicted, and personal animosities showed themselves in aggressions and bitter retalia- tions. Young orchards were girdled, horses hamstrung, and tanvats destroyed. Outrages became so frequent that the town then got the name generally given to the hottest known place. Then came the contests in court, law- suits, trials, appeals, lawyer's fees, heavy costs, &c., &c. and both contestants, hitherto finely prospering, became poor. One mortgaged his farm to the United States Bank to raise the wherewithal to carry on his suit ; the other bor- rowed from his friends, and as long as .any money could be raised to pay charges the courts permitted the contest to continue.
The United States Bank, throught its agent, Mr. T. Kirby, took Mr. Hutchinson's farm for the money furnished by them, which amounted, with interest, to about $9,000. Mr. Hoffner purchased forty-seven acres of the choicest part, with the tavern included, for $5,000, and Mr. Kirby satisfied the rest of the debt by ac- cepting a deed from the bank for the remain- ing one hundred and fifty acres; which was considered a splendid investment for him. '
The tan yard fell into Mr. Knowlton's hands,
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THE OLD CAMP GROUNDS.
who has retained possession of it ever since, and is nearly all covered with dwelling-houses and stores.
Further along the avenue is the Dr. Mount homestead, where he, as practicing physician, resided for nearly forty years.
Beyond is the Ludlow Station farm, the old mansion of which is still standing, also the old " station house," the silk factory, erected in Morris Multicaula's days, the spring that has flowed unfailingly for eighty years, its waters now gathered in a gravelly bowl, forming a baptismal font for the Christian Church near by, and also the site of General Wayne's army encampment while on his way to humiliate the Indians of North-western Ohio."
THE OLD CAMP GROUNDS.
Do we dream? Are things what they seem? Is human life an ever widening, an ever deep- ening river, poured from an "exhaustless urn" and rushing out of the voiceless past into the viewless future? Do they only live who for the moment are poised upon the crest of the fore- most wave, and then sink to give place to those who, crowding, follow? Our fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?
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اصلا
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
Or is humanity like a mighty pyramid, whose foundations were laid when the morning stars sang together, rising generation upon generation, age after age, until it shall meet the Son of Man in his coming, and, at the final consummation, be touched with a never ending glory?
Here, upon this old camping ground. we can look three generations down the sides of that pyramid, and in imagination see our fore- fathers toiling upon its foundations laid in pa- triotism and cemented with their blood. They built for us, therefore are we higher in point of privilege thạn they. Are we both preserving what they have transmitted, and building for those who shall come up after us?
Here, where we walk about-rows of human habitations prescribing our pathways - the smoke of factories filling our eyes-the rumble of vehicles, the roar of trains, the shrieks of the locomotive greeting and grating upon the ear- encamped first the decimated army under the stately St. Clair ; and then the victorious one under the impetuous Wayne.
Here were heard and seen :
" The neighing steed, aud the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing tife, 'The royal banner."
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THE OLD CAMP GROUND.
A change ! After the lapse of years, the old camping ground becomes a field for general muster, which recalls a sight vividly remem- bered by many now living :-
" Then the old fashioned Colonel Galloped through the white infernal Powder cloud; And his broad sword was swinging And his brazen throat was ringing Trumpet loud."
Another change! Sumter is fired upon ! the "tempest torrent and whirlwind " of patriotism over sweeping the land! Camp Gurley is the scene of an encampment ! It becomes the camping ground of some of the descendants of the heroes of the revolution and the war of 1812. Some went from that now classic ground, who are among the "unreturning brave." Many returned and to-day are numbered among the best citizens of this community.
The writer first saw Cumminsville in 1861. as a member of the 4th Ohio Cavalry, and first saw in that encampment the one to whom these pages are affectionately dedicated. The reader will therefore pardon the insertion of this scrap of history.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
* INCIDENT AT CAMP GURLEY.
HON
" The monotony of life at Camp Gurley was varied Saturday afternoon by the arrival of a party of ladies from Glendale, among whom were Mrs. Col. Stanley Matthews, Mrs. Judge Cilley, Mrs. Samuel J. Thompson, Mrs. R.W. Keyes, and brought with them an ele- gant dinner for Co. B. of the 4th Ohio Cavalry, Colonel John Kennet commanding. The men did ample justice to the delicacies set before them, after which three hearty cheers were given for the fair donors of the feast, and as many more for the glorious old flag that floated over them. Colonel Kennet and the field offi- cers of the regiment were present at the enter- tainment. Short and appropriate speeches were made, and the band of the regiment dis- coursed some of its best music, giving zest to the occasion."
"We've been tenting to-day on the old Camp ground, Thinking of days gone by, Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand, And the tear that said " Good bye : "
THE ST. PHILIP'S EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH.
This tasteful edifice is a remarkable instance
* From the Cincinnati Gazette, 1861.
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ST. PHILIP'S EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH.
illustrating the growth of church interests in our valley.
It stands upon a lot donated by the late Timothy Kirby, Esq .- the site commanding beautiful views in all directions.
It cost $7,000, is entirely free from debt, and was consecrated 1874.
Mrs. Robert Bowler once looked from her baronial home it Clifton, and saw a field white for the harvest. And did the angels become the reapers? It would seem so, for it was not long afterward that Mrs. Bowler, Mrs. David James, Mrs. General H. B. Banning, and other christian ladies were engaged in mission work in Cumminsville, under the auspices of the Epis- copal Church in Clifton. Services were first held in Dodsworth Hall, and then in the Chris- tian Church. Then the "Church Guild " of Cincinnati fostered this spiritual enterprise. The first clergyman officiating was the Rev. E. P. Wright, Rector of St. James church of the city ; then the Rev. Mr. Kellogg; then the Rev. Mr. Mortimer of " Grace Church " Clif- ton. At the consecration Rev. John H. Elv, became its first resident Rector, at which time it finally separated from the parent church of Clifton.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
Many are drinking from that spiritual rock smitten by gentle loving hands in the name of the Redeemer of mankind.
Some have been translated from this mount -not long since a distinguished Christian sol- dier's name was transcribed to the rolls of the church not made with hands-GEN. HENRY B. BANNING.
" In deeds of love excel ! excel !
Chimed out from ivied-towers a bell ; This is the church not built on sand, Emblem of one not built with hands ; Its forms and sacred rites revere, Come worship here! Come worship here !
In rituals and faith excel ! Chimed out the Episcopalian bell !"
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
An old log school-house once stood about where the Kirby homestead now stands. Preaching first began there in 1832 .- Rev. David Fergus, of the Presbyterian church and father of Mrs. Janet Langland officiating. The Rev. David Root of College Hill occasionally preached there.
In 1852 the present Presbyterian church edi- fice was projected, the lot being donated by Mrs. Janet Langland, Mr. John Thompson and Mrs.
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THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Janet Thompson. But it was not ready for services before November, 1854.
From a discourse delivered November 28, 1867, by Rev. A. J. Reynolds, then Pastor of the Cumminsville Presbyterian Church, many interesting facts may be obtained relative to rise and progress of the religious enterprises of . this place. He casts up the spiritual account and there is much to the credit of these noble organizations for the good done to humanity.
The mortuary history of this church is touch- ingly epitomized in the following passage taken from a Historical Sketch written by Prof. M. S. Turrell.
"Our bell has tolled its funeral knell for many-for the babe with the smile of inno- cence resting upon its face in its last sleep,- for the youth whose life was so soon over,-for . the young man just ready to enter upon 'the world's broad field of battle,'-for those of maturer years called away in the midst of their usefulness,-for now and then one who had lived life's allotted time-three score years and ten,-for members of our families, the young, the beautiful, the honored."
The Presbyterian Sabbath School began nearly as soon as the church building was fin- ished. He says " during the war, the church and sabbath school were well represented in
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
the army "-we may be permitted to add that one of those soldiers returned when the war ended, bearing honorable scars, and is now its superintendent, Henry N. Van Dyke.
EPHRAIM KNOWLTON.
Sixty years ago this venerable pioneer came to Cincinnati and but a year or two afterwards . located his dwelling and store at the junction of the old Wayne road (now Spring Grove avenue, leading up through Carthage to Hamilton), and the old St. Clair road, finding its way to Hamilton by way of College Hill, and Mount Pleasant. This house was sub- sequently burned ; he thereupon built the present stone structure now occupied as a store, and known as " Knowlton's Corner " as familiarly as "Fountain Square," to which likewise it is comparable in having a natural fountain of waters far more delicious as a beverage, though flowing through an old wooden pump, than that which pours continuously through bronzed tubes to supply Cincinnati with Ohio river water.
This well of water has been springing up for nearly sixty years-seemingly a source, and certainly an emblem, of everlasting life ;-
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EPHRAIM KNOWLTON.
as if its " swift half intermitted burst" were forced from Alph, the sacred river, which Coleridge portrays as running
" Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea."
The time may come when here shall stand a statue, in marble or in bronze, to be known as "Knowlton's Fountain."
In the true sense of the term Mr. Knowl- ton is a Pioneer. He cleared much of the for- ests that stood on the seventy acres which he purchased around the homestead,-helped dig the canal and wheeled the dirt himself ; looked from his home at night when only five lights could be seen in the neighborhood-and those proceeding from old fashioned tallow-drip candles ; made the first plat or sub-division and called it Cumminsville, in memory of David Cummins from whom he bought eight acres ; was its first Postmaster; built the old Mill Creek House at which the polls were held when General Harrison was elected President -at which time Mill Creek township embraced about one fifth of the County ; in short, during his active business life, has shingled over about ten acres of Cumminsville in the construction of homes and places of business.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
Mr. Knowlton was born in Connecticut, June 1803. Four score years are settling down upon his head-and yet he is in active business and lives at ease in an antiquated homestead built by another over sixty years ago, and standing upon an eminence,
" Green and of mild declivity,"
over-looking the scenes of his earlier and suc- cessful struggles to acquire a competence for the evening of life.
A VIEW OF THE VALLEY,
From Col. Thompson's Hill, west of Cum- minsville, is thus decribed by Prof. Turrill :
" A few minutes' drive up the College Hill pike brings us to Parker avenue, where we commence the ascent. Tethering our steed in the shade of a haw bush not far from the brow, we journey on foot to summit.
Here we observe the broad Mill Creek val- ley coming south from Lockland, with an aver- age width of from three to five miles, dividing at Ludlow Grove in two sections ; the wider part passing south-eastward toward Sharpsburg and the Duck Creek valley, keeping nearly its full width, but only about two-thirds of its depth, all the way to the Little Miami; the
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VIEW OF THE VALLEY.
other arm turning south-westward, and with a breadth of perhaps a mile, but very much deeper than the other, sweeping around with a great elbow curve opposite the West Fork gap, and then moving onward almost directly south to the Ohio River, its narrowest portion con- tracting into a gorge at the foot of the Brighton hill about one-third of a mile wide. Down this western channel is the present bed of the creek, changing its locality among the loose gravel and sand at nearly every freshet.
This valley has once been plowed or scooped out by natural causes nearly two hundred feet deeper than it at present appears. The exact depth at Kirby's well before reaching the lime- stone strata, is 168 feet. This has since been filled with horizontal layers of sand, gravel, broken stones, fossils, and other debris brought from a geological region a hundred or more miles away. Along its sides are foot-hills of ground-up lime stone, mixed with yellow and blue clay, evidently the dredgings of this former basin. These foot-hills make choice building'sites, and many wealthy citizens, like Mr. Parker and Mr. Kirby, have crowned them with delightful homes. The city in the distance, villages partly embowered here and there, gardens and farms, forest-fringed hills, white
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
lines of roads, the shining canal, and other well known features of landscape scenery, combined with the splendor of the lengthened shadows of the sinking sun, are a few of the charms of this hillside view."
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Was built in 1833, of which the Rev. Charles . Haynes is at present pastor.
Through the kindness of this congregation, the Presbyterians held services there part of the time, until they finally built their own church in 1854.
This church is called " Wright Chapel " in memory of the late Rev. John F. Wright, D. D.
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Occupies almost the exact site of the old Block House, near the intersection of Knowl- ton street and the C. H. & D. Railroad. It is a handsome structure and is the outgrowth of a religious enterprise which dates back as far as 1832. Mrs. Justice McLean donated the land upon which it stands.
A MAMMOTH TRADITION.
The bones of huge and monstrous animals
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A MAMMOTH TRADITION.
have been found between the Miamies, if not in this particular valley. We gather some interesting information about this matter from a book edited by Judge James Hall in 1829, entitled the " Western Souvenir."
It is said that these remains greatly puzzled the naturalists and learned men. Some main- taining that they belonged to one class and some to another.
Dr. Goforth, of early Cincinnati, once had "the largest and most complete museum of these bones ever collected, " but it seems that an English traveler, who called his name Thomas Ashe, swindled the doctor out of them and took them to England. "Mr Ashe de- clares," says the author, "that this Megalo- nix, or Great Lion, was precisely sixty feet in length and twenty-five feet high; that his shoulder-blade was as large as a breakfast-table ; that his paw was four feet long and three feet wide; that his skull was twelve inches thick ; that, his ribs being formed like the sticks of a fan, he had the power of contracting his body to a great degree, in order to make more pro- digious bounds ; that his figure was magnifi- cent ; his look determined, his gait stately, and his voice tremendous." One would sup- pose from this, that this high authority, and of
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such known veracity, (?) had met one of these animals alive, actually taken his dimensions, and listened to the thunder of his voice. Judge Hall rather discredits Ashe's, reliability in view of his disreputable treatment of Dr. Goforth.
The Shawnees, who occupied this country anciently, had a tradition that a race of ani- mals, in ancient times, existed in these valleys, huge, voracious, and terrible ; " that they de- voured the beasts of the forest until the red men were reduced to famine for the want of game ; that the Great Spirit took pity on his children, and seizing his lightning hurled it in his wrath among them, until all were killed except the big bull, who presented his forehead to the bolts, and shook them off as they fell, until missing one, at last, it wounded him in the side, whereupon, bellowing with rage and fury, he bounded over the Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, and finally over the great lakes, where he is still living; and that since that time, they have never troubled the Indians or molested their game."
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HARTWELL.
CHAPTER XV.
HARTWELL.
T HE halls of the Montezumas rest upon piles driven into marshes half buried in water. That swamp land, bordering on a magnificent lake, became the site of the city of Mexico, because of the superstition and not of the intelligent forecast of its founders.
Prescott tells us that the ancient Aztecs led a nomadic life in that beautiful land of the Mex- ican valley ; that after a series of wanderings and adventures, they at length halted on the South-western borders of that lake in the year 1325. They there beheld, perched on the stem of a prickly pear, which shot out from the crevice of a rock that had been washed by the waves, a royal eagle of extraordinary size and beauty, with a serpent in his talons, and his broad wings opened to the sun. They hailed this as an auspicious omen, announced by the oracle as indicating the site of the cap- ital of the modern Mexican Republic.
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MILL CREEK VALLEY.
The oracle of common sense indicated the site of Hartwell. Thereupon the Hamilton County House Building Association, purchased the Gares farm, consisting of 130 acres, and 40 acres from Judge Jonathan Cilley immediately on the west, the entire tract of 170 acres being bounded by Mill creek on the south ; the C. H. & D. R. R. on the west; Section avenue on the north, and the canal on the east. At the same time Judge Cilley permitted 34 acres to be included in the plat of Hartwell. Thus 204 acres are embraced in the first plat made of this village.
THE NAME
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Of Hartwell was then given to the embryonic town. Many names, and some beautiful and appropriate ones, were suggested. At that time, Mr. John W. Hartwell was Vice-presi- dent of the C. H. & D. Railroad. As an official he was polite and accommodating ; as a friend he was true; as a gentleman, noble and high-minded : but as a bachelor he was childless. Possessing these qualities-official, personal, domestic-it was determined to name this new-born municipality HARTWELL.
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