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TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
TURTLE CREEK TOWNSHIP—LEBANON.
COMPILED BY JOSIAH MORROW.
[The writer of the following township and town history desires to be regarded as its compiler rather than its author. Several papers by other hands have been consulted and freely used. Records have been examined wherever it was possible to find them. On the subject of the early settlement of the township, the chief authority is A. H. Dunlevy. During the last twenty-five years of his life, Mr. Dunlevy wrote and published in various newspapers a number of articles on the early settlement of Lebanon and vicinity. These articles, which give much of the pioneer history of the township, were collected and preserved by the writer, and it has been his purpose in the following pages to give all the important facts contained in them. Mr. Dunlevy wrote from memory, and scarcely ever took the trouble to verify his dates by an examination of records. The dates given by him are sometimes changed in the following pages, and the facts derived from his papers are united with those obtained from other sources. The writer desires to express his great obligations to Anthony Howard Dunlevy, who wrote more than any other person concerning the early history of the Turtle Creek Valley, in which he lived for eighty-four year, and who died at the venerable age of eighty-eight years, while these pages were being prepared for the press. At the time of his death, he believed, after investigation, that he was the oldest living man born north of the Ohio River.
The valuable journals of the Shaker Society at Union Village, extending over a period of more than seventy-five years, have been freely opened to the examination of the writer. Much assistance has been derived from the files of the Western Star. The officers of various societies and churches have freely given the aid which could be derived from the records under their charge. Acknowledgments are due to many intelligent persons in different parts of the township, and in other places, for generous assistance. No source of information available to the writer has been left unsearched. Fully sensible of its imperfections, the compiler trusts that the history will be found trustworthy in all important matters.]
ORGANIZATION.
Turtle Creek Township was organized August 15, 1804. Originally, the township included a part of Union and all of Salem Township north and west of the Little Miami The original boundaries were as follows: " Beginning on the Little Miami River, on the south side of Section No. 9, Township 4, Range 4, thence west, including two tiers of sections off of the south side of the Fourth Range, to the county line, at the south side of Section No. 3, Township 2, Range 4; thence south six miles to the south side of Section No. 3, Township 3, Range 3; thence east eight miles to the northeast corner of Section No. 32, and southeast corner of Section No. 33, Township 5, Range 3; thence south to the Little Miami, between Sections 31 and 25; thence up the Miami
434 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
along the same to the beginning." Elections were held at the house of Ephraim Hathaway, in Lebanon.
The east, north and west boundaries of the township remain as originally established. The south boundary only has been changed. The township is the largest in the county, and contains sixty-three entire sections and seven fractional sections.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The first settlement in the township was made at Bedle's Station in 1795. September, 1795, is believed to be the time at which the first families were brought to that place and lived in the cabins protected by Bedle's Block House. Here William Bedle, with his sons-in-law and their families, lived in much simplicity. The clothing of the grandchildren is said to have been made principally out of dressed deerskin, and some of the larger girls were sometimes clad in buckskin petticoats and short gowns. Within two or three years, other settlers gathered around in such numbers that Bedle's Station, as it was long known, although the blockhouse erected as a protection against the Indians proved to be unnecessary, became a well-known place and quite a strong settlement.
The first cabin in the immediate vicinity of Lebanon was built by John Shaw, a member of the Seceder Church, in the fall of 1795, and the next spring he brought his family to the place. He had a large family of six sons and as many daughters, nearly all full-grown, large and robust. He owned the west half of the section on which the northwest part of Lebanon stands, and was soon able to clear and cultivate a considerable tract.
Ichabod Corwin, who owned the east half of the same section, came from Bourbon County, Ky., and settled, in March, 1796, on land now in the northwest part of Lebanon. His first cabin was on the west side of the North Branch of Turtle Creek. He had first seen this land while serving on a military expedition against the Indians. In the winter and spring of 1799 and 1800, he built a second and better house of hewed logs, pointed with lime mortar and covered with walnut shingles, put on with pegs instead of nails. It stood near the center of the town of Lebanon as afterward laid out, and became known as " the house of Ephraim Hathaway on Turtle Creek "--the first seat of justice of Warren County. In the spring and summer of 1796, Mr. Corwin succeeded in clearing and planting with corn about twelve acres. Before the corn was worked, the Indians stole all his horses. He returned to Kentucky to obtain another team. He there purchased a yoke of oxen and hired a Yankee to drive them to the plow a work then unknown to the Kentuckians. After his horses were stolen, he carried meal or flour from Waldsmith's mill, on the Little Miami, twenty miles distant, to provide his family with bread. Ichabod Corwin died October 26, 1834. On his tombstone we read: " The deceased was the first settler on the place where Lebanon now stands--March, 1796."
Henry Taylor settled on the west half of Section 5 before the close of the year 1796. He built a house on the south side of Turtle Creek, half a mile below the site of Lebanon. His residence was a frame one-story building, covered with split-and-shaved weather-boards and shingles made on the ground, and was tenantable as late as 1840. About 1803, he sold his place and moved to Butler County, Ohio.
Samuel Manning, a native of New Jersey, emigrated to the Northwest Territory in 1795. He purchased of Benjamin Stites the west half of the section on which the court house stands, at $1 per acre, and settled east of the site of Lebanon about 1796. He died at Lebanon in 1837, aged seventy-five years.
John Osborn, Sr., also settled east of Lebanon about the year 1796. He
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436 - PICTURE OF JOHN T. MARDIS
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died at Lebanon in 1859, aged ninety years. Among the early settlers east of Lebanon were Daniel Banta, Jacob Trimble, William Dill, Patrick Meloy, and several brothers named Bone.
During most of the winter and spring of 1798-99, a company of Indians had their camp on the hillside south of the Cincinnati pike and on the western part of what is known as Floraville, in Lebanon. They encamped for a short time for several succeeding springs in the vicinity of Lebanon, for the purpose of making sugar.
In 1798, Matthias Corwin, the father of Gov. Corwin, settled on a farm northeast of Lebanon. His mother, brothers and sisters accompanied him from Kentucky. It is said that, while the neighbors were raising his cabin, Matthias Corwin took his gun, and, going but a short distance into the woods, killed a large supply of turkeys for the dinner prepared on the occasion. A flock of several hundred wild turkeys, and droves of six or eight deer, would sometimes be seen; at other times, both deer and turkeys were scarce.
Ichabod B. Halsey was an early settler and prominent citizen of the township. He was the son of Maj. Daniel Halsey, of New Jersey, and received from his father a section of land on condition that he would settle upon it and improve it. The section was No. 31, north of Lebanon, and contained over eight hundred acres, all good land. Mr. Halsey became one of the wealthiest and most prosperous citizens of the township; but, about 1822, he lost all his property by becoming surety for his friends. His splendid farm and his chattels were sold to pay the debts of the business firm for which he had become surety, and he and his family were turned out of their comfortable home. Much sympathy was expressed for the unfortunate pioneer, but the sympathy of Judge Francis Dunlevy took a practical turn, The Judge invited Mr. Halsey and his famtly to make their home on his farm, which was gladly accepted. Twenty acres were assigned them at one corner of the farm, where a cabin was built and other improvements made with the aid of neighbors. Here the unfortunate family had a rude but comfortable home for some years. Before the organization of Turtle Creek Township, Mr. Halsey's land was in Franklin Township, and his name is found in the list of Trustees of the latter township.
In the autumn of 1798, Aaron Hunt and family settled in the section south of the present site of Red Lion. They emigrated from Washington County, Penn. Aaron, the father, and his oldest son, Charles, made the journey on horseback to Cincinnati, where they awaited the arrival of the remainder of the family, who came down the Ohio on a flat-boat. In the winter of 1799-1800, John Hunt, son of Aaron, then a lad seven years of age, broke his arm between the elbow and shoulder by falling against the sharp end of a log There was no doctor within less than thirty miles. John's mother assumed to responsibility of acting as surgeon for the broken arm, and set the fractured bone, and soon the young patient mended rapidly. " In 1802, the first wheat crop raised by the Hunt family ripened. The only implement the family had with which to harvest it was a butcher knife. Mrs. Hunt, at her own suggestion, started for Cincinnati to purchase a sickle, leaving a babe three months old in the care of the children. She went on horseback, riding on a man's saddle, taking with her a piece of linen manufactured by herself with which to buy the sickle. After an absence of three days and two nights, having been detained one day by a storm, she returned with the needed implement. The babe did well in her absence. The wheat was cut, threshed and ground, but it proved to be sick wheat, the bread made from it producing sickness at the stomach and vomiting.”
Benjamin Morris emigrated from New Jersey about 1794, and, after passing a few years in Hamilton County, came, in 1797, to the neighborhood now
436 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
known as Green Tree. About the same time, his fatter, Isaac Morris, pill._ chased and settled upon a tract of about four hundred acres, now owned by the North Family of Shakers.
David Reeder, on February 28, 1797, received a deed from Jedediah Tingle for 320 acres, one-half of Section 12, west of Lebanon, for which he paid $213.33. About the same time, he settled upon this tract and gave name to that branch of Turtle Creek which flows past the Children's Home, which was long known as Reader's Run. Jedediah Tingle, about 1797, settled upon the north half of the same section.
Elder Daniel Clark, the pioneer Baptist preacher, in 1797 settled upon a little tract of land purchased by him about four miles northeast of the site of Lebanon. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and was licensed to preach in that State, and, about 1790, removed to Columbia, where he preached to the Baptists in the absence of Elder John Smith. James McBride, in his pioneer biographies, says of the Baptists at Columbia: " In February, 1792, the congregation resolved to build a house of worship, which was to be thirty-six feet long by thirty feet wide, with galleries. It was not completed until lath in the year 1793, On September 23, 1793, Elder John Gano, a venerable Baptist minister, visited Columbia and preached to a large and attentive congregation in a beautiful grove of elms near the village (the meeting-house not being yet completed). After the sermon, Mr. Gano, in connection with the pastor, Mr. Smith, ordained Daniel Clark to the Gospel ministry, in a solemn and impressive manner. This was the first ordination in the Miami country." Elder Clark is regarded as not only the first ordained minister in the Miami country, but the first in the Northwest Territory. He began preaching at the Clear Creek and Turtle Creek Baptist Churches about 1798, and continued to preach at Lebanon until he became too feeble by reason of old age. He died in 1834, aged ninety years. He is described as a plain man, with little education, his sermons being marked by frequent quotations from the Scriptures. The Bible is said to have been the only book with which he was familiar, except, perhaps, " Pilgrim's Progress," but his life and conduct commanded respect and confidence.
The first mill in the township was built by Henry Taylor, on Turtle Creek, near where the present western boundary of Lebanon crosses the stream. It was built about 1799. Samuel Gallaher, an early settler on Turtle Creek, was a millwright, and assisted in building Taylor's mill. Another millwright of the early times was named Sample, whose marriage to the daughter of Henry Taylor, in 1798, was the first wedding in the Turtle Creek settlement.
A man named Gunsawly is said to have been the first shoemaker in the settlement. He went from house to house, making and mending shoes for the settlers. Some of the first settlers, however, did their own cobbling.
The wheelwright business at that time was an important one, as the flax and wool for clothing was all homespun.
The first schoolhouse was a low, rough log cabin, put up by the neighbors in a few hours, with no tool but the ax. It stood on the north bank of Turtle Creek, not far from where the west boundary of Lebanon now crosses Main street. The first teacher was Francis Dunlevy, and he opened the first school in the spring of 1798. Some of the boys who attended his school walked a distance of four or five miles. Among the pupils of Francis Dunlevy were Gov. Thomas Corwin, Judge George Kesling, Hon. Moses B. Corwin, A. H. Dunlevy, William Taylor (afterward of Hamilton, Ohio), Matthias Corwin (afterward Clerk of Court), Daniel Voorhis, John Sellers and Jacob Sellers.
"As the cold weather of 1798 commenced, this school was crowded with young men of a much larger size than had attended during the summer. At
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Christmas, it was determined to bar out the master, according to the custom the times. The object in part was a mere frolic, in part to secure the holiday free from school, and sometimes the master was required to treat. When ti barring out was successful, there was a regular and sometimes tedious negotia Lion between scholars and teacher, and the terms of pacification were required to be stipulated with precision. But the teacher was not easily thwarted. El was opposed on principle to treating, and he had served in so many campaigm against the Indians that he had imbibed a spirit which knew not how to subm or suffer defeat. After having been driven from the window by long hand- spikes, with which he was several times severely struck, he retired for a tim Returning, he ascended, unobserved by the boys, to the top of the chimney, made of cat and clay,' and very large. He suddenly descended down the chimney, though a brisk fire was burning. The boys, astonished at his appea ante from this unlooked-for point, capitulated with as much coolness as, and the circumstances, they could command. Defeated in their Christmas frolic, on New Year's Day the boys gathered recruits from the young men who did n attend school, and took much pains to secure every possible point of ingress. The fire-place was well guarded, the window secured and the door barricad with large logs piled against it to the top. As the master approached, a loud note of defiance went up from the inmates. The scene was the more exciting as many of the neighbors had come to witness the siege, which was to result the triumph or defeat of the young men. After surveying the field as well he could from the outside, Judge Dunlevy soon determined on his mode of ; sault. Taking a large green log which had been brought for firewood on 1 shoulders, he stepped off some ten paces from the door, and then rushed with his utmost speed, bringing the end of the log against the top of the door. T concussion was so violent as to break the door and displace the logs on the i side so much as to open a hole, through which he instantly entered, to the -t^ ror and consternation of the boys. For a moment, there was some show of sistance, notwithstanding the fort had been captured. But this soon subside. There were no more attempts to bar out Francis Dunlevy." Another teach who succeeded Dunlevy, it is said, not long after was barred out, and treat the boys to a gallon of stew.
The settlements at Bedle's Station and on Turtle Creek, about the present site of Lebanon, formed in some respects a single neighborhood. The men r at the same house-raisings and log-rollings; the women, at the same soc gatherings; and the children attended the same school. They attended a] for the most part, the same churches—the Presbyterian Church, near Bed] Station, and the Baptist Church, east of the site of Lebanon.
In order to form a path for the children to the schoolhouse, the set sometimes harnessed a horse to a log and dragged it through the tall and de weeds and spice-bushes. Smooth foot-paths winding through the deep woods led from one cabin door to another. When a settler was sick, the neighbor aided him, freely planting his corn for him, tilling or gathering it, or, in winter, supplying his family with firewood already chopped. Cincinnati be the nearest point at which merchandise could be purchased, two or three neighboring women would mount their horses on a summer morning, ride to that village, thirty miles distant, do their shopping and return the same day, a large portion of the journey being through an unbroken wilderness, without a sir house on the road.
The following is a list of the names of pioneers who settled in the to ship before the close of the last century. It is not claimed to be by any me complete, but it is as complete as the writer was able to make it after eaten researches:
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William Bedle, Francis Bedle, Joseph Bedle, James Blackburn, Daniel Banta, Benjamin Bundy, Robert Benham, Ichabod Corwin, Matthias Corwin, Joseph Corwin, David Corwin, Elder Daniel Clark, James Cowan, Daniel Cory, Noah Cory, Francis Dunlevy, William Davis, William Dill, Lewis Drake, Peter Drake, Joseph Dill, Ithamer Drake, Levi Estell, Samuel Gallaher, Joseph Hatfield, Nathan Hathaway, Ichabod B. Halsey, Daniel Hole, Aaron Hunt, Silas Hurin, Jacob Holloway, Thomas Humphreys, John Hormel, Teter Kesling, Henry Kesling, Thomas Lucas, Job Mulford, Isaac Morris, Benjamin Morris, Samuel Manning, John McCain, Patrick Meloy, James McCreary, James Norris, John Osborn, Augustine Price, Wyllis Pierson, David Reeder, John Shaw, Peter Sellers, Jacob Sellers, Jonas Seaman, Matthias Spinning, Samuel Sering, Henry Taylor, John Terry, Jonathan Tichenor, John Tharp, Jacob Trimble, Aaron Tullis, Jedediah Tingle, Cornelius Voorhis, James Voorhis, Edward Woodruff, Moses Williams, Enos Williams, Peter Yauger.
The following article on the health of the early settlers of the Turtle Creek Valley was written by A. H. Dunlevy in 1879. It is given at length for the reason that, in addition to the subject of health, it gives much history of the earliest settlers in the neighborhood in which the author passed his boyhood:
" There is no one living here now who was so early in this neighborhood as myself. I knew all the sites of the graveyards before there was any burial here, and some two years before there was a death in all the neighborhood around Lebanon, as since laid out. I was present at the burial of the first grown person who died in this county. This was in the, fall of 1799, and was a young man named John Price, who accidentally shot himself. He was buried in the old Presbyterian graveyard. There had been one burial a short time before--a child of old Daniel Banta, who settled as early as 1795, in the fall of that year, about a mile east of Genntown, now called. All the Bontas in the neighborhood are his descendants, as I remember.
" It is generally believed that a new country, wooded with a dense forest and immense growth of weeds and grass, is uniformly unhealthy. This, I am sure, is a mistake. If the new country is naturally well drained, I think the less of the bare surface of the ground exposed to the hot sun of summer, the greater the health. In giving the proof of this position, I might refer to many facts, but this would require too much time, and I will only give the facts on this subject, in relation to our neighborhood—that in which I was reared for sixteen years of my early life. That neighborhood was bounded by the North Branch of Turtle Creek and the Dayton road on the east, the Hamilton or Shakertown road on the south, and extending two and a half miles west, then two miles north, then two and a half miles east to the section line on which the Dayton pike is laid. This neighborhood had its school property in 1798, most of the houses in its center. In this neighborhood I was raised, and not only knew every resident in its bounds, but was familiar with every acre of its surface, and I therefore speak with certainty.
" Its inhabitants, from 1797 to 1800, consisted of the following families, with their children, thence soon after born: Ichabod Corwin and thirteen children; John Shaw and twelve children; Jacob Sellers and four children; Peter Sellers and four children; Wyllis Pierson and seven children; Benjamin Bundy and five or six children, and Jacob Holloway and five children, as I recollect; Noah Corey and four children; Jedediah Tingle and thirteen children; David Reeder and four children; Jonathan Tichenor and four children; Edward Woodruff and six children; Matthias Spinning and seven children; Francis Dunlevy and eight children; James Blackburn and seven children; Daniel Corey and eight children; James McCreary and five children; Samuel Gallaher and eight children. These were the original settlers in this neighborhood, with a few
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exceptions, where they soon left it, and that which I consider the most remarkable fact is that all these children of the eighteen families above named, and consisting of 125 children in all, were raised to maturity without one death in any of the families, with the exception of one child still-born, not included in the above enumeration. I might name other families which came into this neighborhood at different periods after these original settlers, and the same
health attended them.
" The only two deaths in the neighborhood, until 1810, were a hired hand of Ichabod Corwin, about 1806, and a child of William Stevens, about 1809, both of consumption, and both recent settlers in the neighborhood. Such is my recollection, and I think I am entirely correct, as I have thought of those remarkable instances of general health so long and so frequently, that, had there been any mistake, I should have been able at some time to remember it.
" I do not confine myself to this neighborhood particularly so much because I think it was more healthy than others at that time, but because I was acquainted here, and must confine myself to some boundary, otherwise I would not know where to stop. Still, on account of its perfect drainage, I think it was more healthy than others. Until 1810, there was no bilious fever known in this county, and I never knew a case of intermittent, or ague, generally called, which originated in said neighborhood, until the year 1830. In 1810, there were several cases of bad bilious fever and two deaths of grown persons within the neighborhood. One of these was Peter Sellers, father of Dr. Sellers, of Lebanon, and the other Mr. Jacob Sellers, a near neighbor and relative of Peter Sellers. There were a few cases of this fever in this neighborhood during that year, but all the
others recovered.
"In the year 1814, the cold plague, as called, prevailed generally all over the United States, and in Lebanon, a town of some one thousand inhabitants, there were many deaths, but in the above neighborhood I recollect of but three cases of cold plague; one of these, James McCreary, died; the other two recovered.
"In the year 1819, there was much sickness throughout the Miami country, the first year of general sickness which had been known here from the first settlements, except the year of the cold plague. The spring and summer, up to the middle of July, had been very wet. It then became very dry and hot, and scarcely any rain fell from the middle of July until the last of October. This sudden drought and heat soon poisoned the surface water, and seriously affected wells and springs; and the consequence was that dysenteries or bloody flows prevailed to an extent never known before or since. In one of the above families, that of Jedediah Tingle, there were three or four deaths, two of them, at least, from dysentery. One, I think, was supposed to be from consumption. These cases of fatal dysentery were evidently the result of bad water. Mr. Tingle, from his first settlement, had used a spring which had heretofore afforded healthy water; but the dry, hot weather of 1819 so affected this spring that it became green, and the water contracted a bad taste and smell. This information I had from neighbors who sat up with and nursed the sick in the family at that time; and Mr. Tingle was so thoroughly convinced of that fact that he immediately afterward dug a well and abandoned the old spring as a supply of water for the family.
" Now, I attribute the uncommon health of the above neighborhood, first. to its almost perfect natural drainage; in which area of two and a half by twc miles it had but two or three swamps or bogs, so common in new countries, and these were very small, and two of them were on hillsides, so as to drain then pretty well; and secondly, the well and spring water in all this neighborhood was, from the very fact of its perfect drainage, pure and healthy, with the one exception which I have referred to—that of Jedediah Tingle's spring.
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"And now, in the close of this long article, let me say that my object was to show the importance of perfect drainage to the health of families and communities. Long observation has convinced me that more of our sickness is the result of impure water, not only the water used for drinking and house use generally, but the water around our dwellings, in the form of pools or mud-holes, however small, than from all other causes of summer diseases.
" In my limits of the above neighborhood, I purposely left out forty acres of the original farm of Ichabod Corwin, because it lies on the east side of the North Branch of Turtle Creek, and forms almost the entire part of the original plat of Lebanon. I could not undertake to give the particulars of the health of the whole town. But besides this, there were on this plat originally some three pieces of swampy ground, naturally well drained, but, by the improvement of its streets, this drainage has been much impeded, and, as I have long thought, thereby seriously affecting the health of the most populous portion of Lebanon. These swampy places have been covered up, but the old channels which supplied them with water remain, while the original drains have been impeded by filling them up without culverts, and thereby the water is retained to stagnate and penetrate the wells in the country, and render their water unhealthy. This has been my opinion for years, but I have been alone on this subject, and perhaps may be in error."
The early records of the township are lost, or at least are not in the custody of the present township officers. From other sources, we are able to learn the names of those who held the office of Justice of the Peace. Robert Benham and Samuel Sering appear to have held this office under the government of the Northwest Territory before the organization of the State; whether they held the office after they became residents of the township does not appear. At the first elections of Justices in Warren County, Turtle Creek Township was not organized, but persons residing within the limits of the township were elected to the office. Matthias Corwin and John Miller were commissioned Justices of Deerfield Township, and Wyllis Pierson of Franklin Township, prior to 1804.
The following-named persons were commissioned Justices of the Peace for Turtle Creek Township prior to 1825: Enos Williams, Matthias Corwin, Silas Hurin, John T. Jack, James Long, Patrick Meloy, John Welton, Wyllis Pierson, Abram Van Vleet, Benjamin Sayres, John M. Houston, James Cowan and Jeremiah Smith. Several of these served for a number of successive terms.
The copy of an old receipt, the original of which is in the possession of the writer, is given for the purpose of indicating the character of the currency of former days:
LEBANON, 26 June, 1820.
Rec’d of John Hart, Esq., Treasurer of Turtlecreek Township, one Book and four notes of hand—One on Jabish Phillips for $13.46, one on S. & J. Welton for $11.00, one on J. Davis and Jonathan Davis for $5.50 and balance $10.87i on Foster, Drake & Earn-heart. As also nine dollars Cincinnati Corporation paper, one dollar Steam Mill paper, and ten dollars fifty-six and one-fourth cents, in all $20.56 1/4—all of which is property of the Township.
GEO. KESLING,
Treas. T. T.
TWO INDIANS KILLED ON TURTLE CREEK.
The following, furnished by Herschel W. Price, of Butlerville, is the only history which has been preserved of the killing of Indians within the limits of Warren County:
In July, 1792, two men, with Mrs. Coleman and Oliver M. Spencer, then a lad, were returning in a canoe from Cincinnati to Columbia. They were fired on by two Indians in an ambush on the bank; one of the men was killed, the other wounded; Mrs. Coleman jumped from the canoe into the river and was saved. Young Spencer was taken prisoner and carried to the Maumee, where
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he remained about eight months, and was ransomed. A narrative of his captivity, written by himself, has been published.
When the captivity of the lad was learned at Columbia, the settlers were called on to pursue the Indians. They were unsuccessful in their pursuit. One party followed a trail to the forks of Turtle Creek, where they abandoned the search and disbanded to return home. Among the party was Henry Boltzelle, who discovered a smoke in the woods close to the fork of Turtle Creek now within the limits of Lebanon. Cautiously making his way toward the smoke, he saw an Indian leaning against a tree and eating meat from a large bone. Boltzelle aimed at the savage and shot him dead. As he fell, he gave a yell, which was answered by a whoop from another Indian near by. Having reloaded his gun, Boltzelle waited for the second Indian to appear, and killed him. Having buried the two Indians in the sand near the creek, Capt. Boltzelle carried home with him as trophies of his victory a fine silver-mounted rifle of English manufacture, and a bullet-pouch made of panther-skin, with the panther's paw for the lappel. In the pouch were the scalps of four white men. To this day, the gun and bullet-pouch are relics in the possession of one of his great-grandsons, in Paulding County, Ohio. Boltzelle was a Pennsylvania Dutchman; he married and settled in Sycamore Township, Hamilton County, where he lived to a ripe old age. His family name was afterward changed to Bolser.
SHAKER SWAMP;
Before the construction of the Warren County Canal, the waters of Shaker Creek, flowing westward, united from the waters of Miller's Run, which came in from the south. The two streams meeting on level ground, on the watershed between the two Miami Rivers, spread over a large tract of several hundred acres, which was known as Shaker Swamp. Through this swamp, which was covered with woods and decaying logs and branches of fallen trees, the waters had no distinct channel, but tended toward the northwest and entered a branch of Dick's Creek, through which they flowed to the Great Miami. About 1825, the Shaker Society cut an artificial channel for Shaker Creek for the purpose of shortening the creek through the lands of the society, and about 1835, the Warren County Canal was constructed along the eastern borders of the swamp. At one time, it was proposed to convert the swamp into a reservoir for the purpose of feeding the canal, but this was never done. The waters of Shaker Creek were intercepted by the canal, into which it flowed from the east. On the west embankment of the canal, at the point of confluence, a waste-weir was constructed for the passage of the surplus water. The waste-weir was found not to answer the purpose intended, in times of freshet, for the want of sufficient fall, and, eighteen months afterward, it was removed to a point a mile and a quarter farther north, whence the surplus water flowed into Dick's Creek. Thenceforward, so long as the canal was kept in operation, the waters of Shaker Creek flowed into and were mingled with the waters of the canal. About 1848, a breach was made in the west bank of the canal, not far from the waste-weir, which was never repaired. and about the same time the canal was abandoned by the State as one of its public works. After the abandonment of the canal, the waters of Shaker Creek flowed along the line of the canal and were discharged through the breach, and overflowed, in times of freshets. one or two hundred acre of land, which had not been overflown before the construction of the canal. Litigation thus arose, which was settled in the Supreme Court of the State. The Supreme Court held that the owners of land along the line of the canal had not the right to keep up its embankment for the purpose of diverting the waters of Shaker Creek from their natural course, after the canal had been abandoned by the State. In later years, the bed of the canal
442 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
has been utilized as a township ditch, established by the Township Trustees under the authority of law, for the purpose of discharging the waters of the swamp and Shaker Creek into Dick's Creek. Nearly all the land formerly in_ eluded in the swamp has been reclaimed.
THE SHAKERS OF UNION VILLAGE.
The history of the introduction of Shakerism in the Turtle Creek Valley has been given in the general history of the county. Within two or three years after the arrival of the Shaker missionaries, in March, 1805, a society was collected of about one hundred and fifty persons, nearly all of whom were residents of the western part of Turtle Creek Township, and had been prepared for the new religion by the excitements of the religious revival through which they had passed. Many of the converts were land-owners and men 6t high standing in the community, some of them men of considerable intelligence, and all of them, perhaps, sincere and honest.
The advent of the Shakers caused great excitement, and awakened great opposition against them for a number of years. Great bitterness existed in some cases among those whose relatives joined the society. The Shaker writers claim that the members of the Christian, or New-Light, denomination—a branch of Christians which originted in the West in the great Kentucky revival, and from which nearly all the Shaker converts were derived—were the leaders of the opposition against them. Col. James Smith, who had been a prisoner among the Indians from 1756 to 1759, and was led out of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky by the great revival, and for awhile was a follower of Barton W. Stone, was a writer of bitter pamphlets against the Shakers. In 1810, he carried on, in the columns of the Western Star, a controversy with Richard McNemar. of Union Village, in which he exhibited great bitterness against the new communities. There was at that time much fear of Indian incursions, which continued until the battle of Tippecanoe, and Col. Smith, among other charges against the Shakers, accused them of endeavoring to incite the Indians against the whites by telling them that they had been unjustly deprived of their lands, and by other means—a charge which probably had its only foundation in the fact that large numbers of half-starving Indians had encamped at Union Village and been supplied with food by the Shakers. Many men living in the vicinity of Union Village believed that the leaders of the new sect were design, ing impostors, living in secret sins of the darkest dye. and were ready to wage a war of extermination against them, or drive them from the county. Reports, without any foundati3n, were freely circulated of their keeping women and children in the community against their consent, and holding them by force in bondage from which they were seeking to escape.
MOB AGAINST THE SHAKERS.
These unfounded charges against a peaceful and harmless sect were widely promulgated and received with ready ears, and in August, 1810, a mob was raised and marched against the Shakers. Unfortunately, it has always been too easy, especially among a backwoods people, to convince the multitude that they are justified in taking into their own hands the redress of their own grievances, and in all communities there are always too many who are ready to assist in riotous proceedings. If there is any innate meanness in a man, it is most likely to display itself in the time of a mob. The men who composed the mob were collected from regions around Union Village, a considerable proportion, it is said, being from Dick's Creek, in which region its leader preached. It is said that none who participated in the riotous proceedings were from Lebanon, with the exception of one elderly woman, a member of the Seceder Church from
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North Carolina. In the crowd were a number of women, more fierce for the destruction of the Shakers than any of the men. There were some hundreds of persons collected together by this mob. According to the accounts of the Shakers, there were 500 armed men, exclusive of those drawn to the scene by curiosity, which is probably an exaggerated estimate. A number of cool-headed and law-abiding men, having a great abhorrence of mobs, went to Union Village while the mob were assembling, for the purpose of preserving the peace. Judge Francis Dunlevy, then President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, read the riot act, and, in the name of the State, commanded them to disperse. Joshua Collett and Matthias Corwin, Sr., and other intelligent men, did all in their power to protect the Shakers from violence. These efforts were successful, and, after some parleying, the crowd slowly and angrily dispersed.
This mob, and other persecutions to which the first Shakers were subjected, as might have been anticipated, benefited the society. Many persons from the neighborhoods of Lebanon, Middletown, Hamilton and more distant regions, were induced to visit them from curiosity or sympathy, and from among these visitors new converts were received. From 1810 to 1818, the accessions to the society were numerous. The following is the account given by the Shaker writers of this mob and other persecutions. It is condensed from " The Millenial Church, or United Society of Believers, commonly called Shakers," a work first published in 1823:
" The great opposition which was raised against the testimony in the West was first instigated by the principal leaders a class of people who styled themselves. Christians, in contradistinction to all others who professed that name, under different denominations. Some of these had been distinguished leaders in the late revival; but, instead of advancing forward in that increasing work, to which the spirit of the revival had so powerfully directed them, they became the foremost in opposition, and exerted all their influence to prejudice the minds of their hearers and excite them to acts of violence. Hence arose the scenes of opposition and persecution which followed. These scenes began by opposing, molesting and disturbing the believers in their testimony and worship, by various kinds of mockery, railing and cursing, threatening, pushing, collaring, and other acts of personal abuse and insult.
" On the 27th of August, 1810, a body of 500 armed men, led on by officers in military array, appeared before the principal dwelling of the society in Union Village. This formidable force was preceded and followed by a large concourse of spectators of all descriptions of people, estimated at nearly two thousand in number, whose object was to witness the mighty conflict expected to take place between a body of 500 armed men and a few defenseless Shakers. Among the concourse were many who were friendly to the society, and whose only wish was to prevent mischief and preserve peace; but many were armed in mob array, some with guns and swords, some with bayonets fixed on poles, and others with staves, hatchets, knives and clubs. These formed a motley multitude of every description, from ragged boys to hoary-headed men, exhibiting altogether a hideous appearance. The troops having taken their station near the meeting-house, a deputation of twelve men came forward, headed by a Presbyterian preacher, Rev. Matthew G. Wallace, who acted as chief speaker, and, after making a number of unreasonable demands, stated as their principal requisition that the society should relinquish their principles and practice, mode of worship and manner of living, or quit the country. The answer of the society was mild and calm, but plain and positive: That they esteemed their faith dearer than their lives, and were determined to maintain it, whatever might be the consequences ; as to quitting the country, they were upon their land, which they had purchased with their own money, and they
446 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
were entitled to those liberties granted by the laws of their country, including the liberty of conscience.
" The calm, peaceable and harmless deportment of the believers, together with the expostulations of a few respectable individuals, the liberty given to examine the youth .reported to be held in bondage, the marks of contentment and the decent and orderly appearance of everything around, all conspired to change the sentiments and feelings of. the vindictive warriors to such a degree that all withdrew without committing any abuse."
The manuscript journals of the society show that there were other mobs in the years 1812 and 1813, and on July 31, 1817. At the last-named date, Richard McNemar opposed the forcible entrance of the rioters, and was afterward indicted by the Grand Jury for assault and battery. At the trial of the case, Mr. McNemar, as was his legal right, demanded to be heard in his own defense. He argued the case before the jury with such skill and ability that he was triumphantly acquitted.
A VISIT TO UNION VILLAGE IN 1811.
The earliest account of the Shakers at Union Village and their religious exercises which we have seen is contained in a letter written by James McBride, and dated at Hamilton, Ohio, July 14, 1811. The religious exercises described by Mr. McBride are somewhat different from those of the Shakers at this day—their dancing exercises being to-day less violent and not protracted for so long a time, and shouting being now rarely heard in their public meetings. The following are extracts from the letter:
“I have known several instances of women leaving their husbands and children and going to the Shakers; and of husbands leaving their wives wretched widows, to shift for themselves in the wide world, and attaching themselves to the Shakers. One woman whom I knew survived the separation but r few months, I believe principally from the unnatural and unheard-of conduct of her husband—wretched, unnatural man. I last Sunday saw him in their church, engaged in their religious dances, as unconcernedly as any of the other members around him. I looked upon him as the worst of murderers. My blood ran cold from the extremities of my body, and threw my whole system into an involuntary tremor. Great excitement has been produced in the public mind by the conduct of the Shakers--so much so that the Legislature of the State, at their last meeting, passed a law for the relief of unfortunate women, who might be abandoned by their husbands who joined the Shakers; and, in the fall of last year, a large mob of people assembled and marched to the Shaker village. They numbered about two thousand men, generally armed with rifles and muskets, and threatened to extirpate the Shakers from the face of the earth, which they undoubtedly would have effected had not some of the most respectable characters in the country interposed their influence to prevent mischief.
" I, in company with another gentleman, who had seen them before, left here on Saturday evening and rode to within two or three miles of their village, where we lodged for the night, in order that we might get early to their church on Sunday morning, before their ceremonies of worship should commence, which we accomplished. When we came within their settlement, my attention was attracted by the regularity and neatness of their farms and gardens, which appeared to be cultivated with great care and considerable taste. When we arrived at their church, I was surprised at the appearance and neatness of the building, which was a frame (the dimensions I do not know, but it was very large), with two doors of entrance on the west side. Inside, it was handsomely plastered, ceiled overhead, but destitute of seats, except four or five rows of
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wooden. benches on the west side of the house, between the two doors. The building is situated in the center of a lot of ground inclosed with a neat paling fence, covered with a beautiful sward of grass. The entrance is by two gates, on the west, opposite the doors in the church, with fine graveled walks between
them.
" The men were all dressed in gray homespun cloth, their coats somewhat in the Quaker fashion, or of that cut and fashion which was probably the mode some fifty or a hundred years ago. The females were still more uniform in their dress. In the first place, from the little girl of six or seven years of age, to her old grandmother of seventy, they all wore long-eared caps, clean and white as snow, and which set close to their heads all round, without a single ribbon or bow-knot about them, except two short pieces of white tape at their ears to tie them under the chin. They all wore petticoats fastened around their waists, and a garment made something in the manner of a Dutch woman's short-gown, but so long as to come within a finger-length of their knees. These were all white muslin. Around their necks each wore a plain, clean, white, three-cornered handkerchief, but no beads, no lace, no ribbon or superfluity whatever. Their shoes were somewhat in the form of a Jefferson shoe, rather heavy and clumsy; this completed their dress, except a bonnet of black or
brown muslin.
" They were all in the same dress, every mother's daughter of them; not a single exception was to be seen in the whole society. In coming to the church they all walked in single file, like a flock of ducks coming from the creek in the evening. It was then that I discovered the use of the two gates, and the two doors of the church.
" On entering the church, the men took off their hats and hung them on wooden pegs at the north end of the room. The women likewise took off their bonnets, and disposed of them in like manner at the other end of the room. They then took their seats flat on the floor—not cross-legged, as the Turks do, nor with their feet extended at full length before them, to incommode their neighbors, but sitting flat, with their feet at a convenient distance before them, and their petticoats drawn under their knees.
" After sitting some time silent, they all rose at once, as by general consent, and commenced singing a tune, in which each one joined, and sang so loud that it made my very ears tingle. In short, I think, if noise could crack are ceiling of the house, this would have long since been fractured, although it is the strongest frame building I have ever seen—perhaps the strongest of the kind ever erected. In their singing, I could not discover that they sang any particular hymn or song, as I could not distinguish any words, but merely a humming sound to make the tune. In this exercise they continued about an hour, with only short intervals to change the tune, after which they resumed their seats on the floor as before. An elderly gentleman then stepped from amongst them, advanced to the space between the members and the spectators who sat on the benches, and delivered a discourse about as long as a common sermon. I paid particular attention to what he said, and, had I time, I believe I could give you his discourse in nearly the words in which he delivered it, in which he gave us some of the outlines of their doctrine. Who he was I know not, but he certainly was an ingenious man. He clothed his discourse in handsome language, and prepared the minds of his audience, by his preliminary observations, by drawing them on step by step, well calculated to prepare the mind Of the superficial thinker to adopt his conclusions, which were deduced from premises which none could deny. At the conclusion of the discourse, the speaker observed to the Shaker members that it was time to prepare for divine worship. The men immediately went to their end of the building, took off
448 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
their coats, put them away, and returned; in the 'meantime, about half a dozen men singers and an equal number of women singers arranged themselves along the side of the house opposite their respective sexes, and commenced singing a lively air of a tune, on which the whole assembly joined in a dance, but without running any regular figures, or the men and women intermingling together, each dancing on the space which they occupied, keeping exact time to the music, and, at each turn of the tune, turning half round and facing their next rank. At this they continued ten or fifteen minutes at a time, when a pause took place long enough for the singers to change the tune, when at it they went again. At certain times during their dance, some of them would jump up, clap their hands, whirl round on their toes or heels, like a top, cutting all kinds of extraordinary capers, and sometimes the whole assembly shouted so loud that I thought, beyond all doubt, they would bring the house about
our ears.
" The tunes which they sung were brisk, lively airs, such as I have often heard played on the violin at a country dance. They kept dancing in this manner for about two hours. The day was very warm, and before they concluded, their clothes were as wet with sweat as if they had been engaged in a
harvest-field."
IMPORTANT EVENTS.
A record of important events in the history of the Shaker Society at Union Village has been kept, from which the following is selected:
1805—March 22, arrival of first missionaries from New Lebanon, N. Y. ; Malcham Worley embraces the new faith March 27; Ann Middleton, March 29; Cornelius Campbell, March 31, and about the same time, Joseph Stout, and soon after, Francis and Polly Bedle, and Richard and Jenny McNemar April 24; on
May 23, the first meeting of the believers held at David Hill's, about a mile from Union Village, south by west.
1806—June 5, Elder David Darrow and all the brethren and sisters who came from the East removed from 1VIalcham Worley's, hitherto their place of sojourn, to their own premises, afterward called the South House, having at first only some small cabins to dwell in; August 11, log blacksmith shop put up for Daniel Mosely; September 1, new frame house raised.
1808—February 16, first saw-mill started; June 15, John McLean at Lebanon commences printing first edition of ithe book entitled "Christ's Second Appearing," which is completed December 31.
1809—January 8, meeting held in the first meeting-house.
1812—January 14, first ministry constituted their order and the church covenant is signed; it is estimated that in what might be called the first gathering of the society before its organization into a church order in 1812, there were, old and young, 370 souls; February 11, the step manner or square order of exercise in worship is introduced.
1813—Carding house and machine built.
1815—Grist-mill started.
1816--Oil-mill started.
1817—The shuffle manner of worship introduced.
1818—Church covenant renewed and signed by 259 covenenting members.
1819—The Sheriff takes a horse and a yoke of oxen for muster fines; Nathan Sharp, finding the animals in Lebanon, turns them loose, and they return home.
1821—Three thousand pounds of wool carded.
1823--Printing-press put in operation.
1829—Three hundred and four covenant members; whole number of members, about five hundred.
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1831--Many leave the society this year, perhaps more than in any other year.
1832—February 12, the greatest flood known in the country; February 22, John Wallace and his fellow-apostates attempt to take and hold possessi of the grist-mill; March 25, flax barn set on fire and burned; April 11, w saw-mill set on fire, but the flames were extinguished.
1835—February 7, mercury sixteen degrees below zero; February 8, eighteen degrees below zero; June 9, greatest flood known in the history of society; all three mills swept away, clothier's shop carried away, oil-mill m' injured, a considerable part of the grist-mill race filled up; damages estimate at from $10,000 to $12,000; September 9, Nathan Sharp leaves the society [The defection of Nathan Sharp, who was a leading business man and finam agent of the society, caused the Shakers much trouble.]
1836—A careful enumeration shows 330 members--a serious diminution since 1829.
1837--Palm-leaf manufactory started.
1839—During this and the succeeding year, there prevailed a remarki revival, which was accompanied with communications from the spirit wo which are recorded in the sacred records of the society. There were also wonderful bodily-exercises, such as jerking, shaking, bowing, dancing, falling trance and singing new songs learned by the visionists in, the spirit land. records describe frequent displays of heavenly lights playing upon the wall the rooms. The balls of light often had brilliant writing inscribed upon them which were read by the inspired visionists. 'The record, under the date of May 22, 1839, contains the words and music of a little song received through a under inspiration. " She learnt the song from a company of angels who singing it, and we soon learned the song from her as she sang it with the angels."
1841—Two hundred and eight church members, exclusive of the minors, of whom there are many.
1854—July 31, stock imported from Scotland arrives apparently jaded sadly used up from the effects of a long sea voyage.
1855 March 17, sold blooded Durham cattle from March 1, 1854, to date, $8,420 worth.
1860—The society numbers 364.
LEBANON.
The town of Lebanon was laid out in September, 1802. The original prietors of the lands on which the town, as originally platted, stood, were J bod Corwin, Silas Hurin, Ephraim Hathaway and Samuel Manning. The inal plat of the town embraced portions of four sections of land.
At the time the new town was projected, the formation of a State government was under consideration by the people of the Northwest Territory, the projectors of Lebanon hoped that in the division of the new State counties their town might become the capital of one of the counties. A - ber of the land-owners in the neighborhood about the site of Lebanon, it seems were anxious for the establishment of a town in the Turtle Creek Valley, had already become well known for the fertility of its soil and the good actor of its inhabitants. It is reported that there was a meeting of the cit of the vicinity for the purpose of selecting a name for the town, and tht one agreed upon, and which was given it, was not satisfactory to Francis levy. It is also a tradition that the land to the east of the original plat now included in the eastern part of Lebanon, was desired for its location Samuel Manning, the owner, refused to lay out a town upon his farm, saying
450 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
that " it would never be anything but a nest of thieves." Only a narrow strip of Mr. Manning's land was included in the original plat. In after years, however. be laid out additions to the town, and it is said that these proved more profitable to him than the original lots to their owners. The latter were corn_ pelled to make liberal donations for the purpose of erecting county buildings in order to make the town the county seat.
The original plat of the town comprised only 100 lots, which were bounded on the north by Silver street, on the south by South street, on the west by Sycamore street, and on the east by the alley between Cherry and East streets. The plat was the seventh document received by the Recorder of Warren County for record, although it was not acknowledged before a Justice of the Peace for more than one year after the survey was made. Attached to the plat were the following descriptive heading and certificate:
An accurate plat of the town of Lebanon, as laid out in September, Anno Domini One Thousand Eight Hundred and Two, containing one hundred lots, each lot containing fifty square rods, except the four lots bearing the following numbers : No. 1, No. 97, No. 57 and No. 68, each of which four lots contain twenty-five square rods, the half of said lots being given to the publick by the proprietors. The street marked and named Broadway, being six poles wide, the remainder of the streets are four poles wide. The alleys are twelve feet wide, all of which lots, streets, alleys, are due east, west, north and south.
Surveyed by me. ICHABOD B. HALSEY.
Warren County, ss. : Personally appeared before me, one of the Justices, in and for said county, Samuel Manning, Ichabod Corwin, Silas Hurin and Ephraim Hathaway, proprietors of the town of Lebanon, and acknowledged this plat as surveyed by Ichabod B. Halsey, to be their free act and deed for the purposes and uses herein mentioned.
In testimony of which I hereunto set my hand, this 18th day of October, Anno Domini 1803. MATTHIAS CORWIN.
Among the early additions of lots made to the town were those by Peter Yauger and Ephraim Hathaway, in 1806; by Samuel Manning, in 1807; by Levi Estell, in 1808; by Ichabod, Corwin, in 1809; and by Matthias Ross, in 1814. Moses Collett was the surveyor of the first-named addition.
The town was laid out in a forest of lofty trees and a thick undergrowth of spice-bushes. At the time of the survey of the streets, it is believed that there were but two houses on the town plat. The one first erected was a hewed-log house, built by Ichabod Corwin in the spring of 1800. It stood near the center of the town plat, on the east of Broadway, between Mulberry and Silver streets, and, having been purchased by Ephraim Hathaway, with about ten acres surrounding it, became the first tavern in the place. The courts were held in it during the years 1803 and 1804. This log house was a substantial one, and stood until about 1826. The town did not grow rapidly the first year. Isaiah Morris, afterward of Wilmington, came to the town in June, 1803, three months after it had been made the temporary seat of justice. He says: " The population then consisted of Ephraim Hathaway, the tavern-keeper; Collin Campbell, Joshua Collett and myself." This statement, of course, must be understood as referring to the inhabitants of the town plat only. There were several families residing in the near vicinity, and the Turtle Creek Valley throughout was perhaps at this timed more thickly settled than any other region in the county. The log house of Ephraim Hathaway was not only the first tavern and the first place of holding courts, but Isaiah Morris claims that in it he, as clerk for his uncle, John Huston, sold the first goods which were sold in Lebanon. Ephraim Hathaway's tavern had, for a time, at least, the sign of a Black Horse. At an early day, the proprietor erected the large brick building still standing at the northeast corner of Mulberry and Broadway, where he continued the business. This building was afterward known as the Hardy House.
The second house erected on the original plat was the residence of Silas Hurin, which stood south of the crossing of Main and Cherry streets, and near
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the southeast corner of the plat. About 1800, Silas Hurin and his brother-in law, Capt. John Tharp, became the joint owners of the west half of Section 35, on which the southeast portion of Lebanon stands. Esquire Hurin buil the residence here referred to and established a tan-yard, which with a shoe shop afterward added, he carried on successfully for several years. Capt. John Tharp had served in several campaigns against the Indians, and, it is said was Captain of the artificers in Wayne's army. He settled at Lebanon about 1804.
The first two white children born on the original town plat, it is said, were born in the houses just referred to as the first houses on the plat. The elder of these was Mrs. Catherine Skinner, wife of Richard Skinner and daughter o Silas Hurin, born November 28, 1800. The second was Mrs. Lucinda Dunley wife of A. H. Dunlevy and daughter of Ichabod Corwin, born ten days late] Both reached a venerable age.
The town was incorporated January 9, 1810. For many years, the officer elected by the people consisted of a President, Recorder and five Trustees, who were required to be either freeholders or householders of the town. These officers appointed a Marshal, Collector and Treasurer. The name of the body co: porate was " the President, Recorder and Trustees of the Town of Lebanon In after years, a Mayor, Clerk and six Councilmen took the places of the Pres dent, Recorder and Trustees, and the legal style of the corporation became " the Incorporated Village of Lebanon." Since 1878, the legal style has bet " the village of Lebanon." The device of the corporate seal is " a cedar tree in the center, surrounded with the words, The Corporation of Lebanon, Ohio."
THE SITE OF MIAMI UNIVERSITY.
In 1809, Lebanon was selected as the seat of Miami University. The tow: ship of land granted for the support of this institutron was intended for the benefit of the inhabitants of the tract between the Miami Rivers known Symmes' Purchase. The township not being selected until all the townshi within that purchase had been sold in whole or in part, in 1803, the township of Oxford, west of the Great Miami, was selected, in lieu of one between the two rivers. In February, 1809, the Legislature passed an act " to establish Miami University," the first section of which provided that the institution should be established " within that part of the country known by the name John Cleves Symmes' Purchase, which university shall be designated by the name and style of the. Miami University." The act appointed Alexander Campbell, Rev. James Kilburn and Rev. Robert G. Wilson, Commissioners, to fix the place of the institution, and directed that they should meet at Lebanon, an after taking an oath or affirmation, should proceed to select the most prof place for the seat of the university in Symmes' Purchase.
At the appointed time, the first Tuesday in June, 1809, Rev. Mr. Wils was sick and unable to attend, but the other two. Commissioners met. The were three places presented for their consideration Cincinnati, Lebanon a Dayton. After examining all the places proposed, they agreed upon Leban as the seat of the university, and so reported. By this action, it was genera supposed at the time, says Judge Burnet, that the location of the instituti was unalterably fixed. Ichabod Corwin offered a tract of about forty acr now occupied in part by the Lebanon Cemetery, as grounds for the universi It is said by A. H. Dunlevy that at the time of the meeting of the Commission ers, a large walnut tree stood on the western part of these grounds, and t] spot was selected by the Commissioners as the most suitable place for the er tion of the main college building. This spot is now the grave of Gov. Thomas Corwin.
452 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Jeremiah Morrow, of Warren County, was one of the Commissioners ap pointed in 1803 to select the township of land for the institution. John Bigger and Ichabod B. Halsey, of Warren County, were appointed, in 1809, members of the Board of Trustees; the first meeting of the board was held at Lobanon, June 7, 1809.
The citizens of other places which had desired the institution were greatly disappointed, and at the next meeting of the Legislature after Lebanon had been selected, a proposition was made by Mr. Cooper, of Dayton, to establish the university on the lands which had been selected for its support, although these lands were outside the tract for whose benefit the institution was intended. The Legislature thought this was the wisest plan to pursue, and, in 1810, provided that the Trustees should lay out the town of Oxford on the college township, in Butler County, and located the university on that township. It has been the opinion of eminent lawyers that Miami University was legally located at Lebanon, and that the change of the site to a point outside of the Miami Purchase was in violation of the intention and purpose of the original grant by Congress of a township for the support of a seminary of learning. No attempt, however, has ever been made to remove the institution from Oxford.
Dr. I. W, Andrews, President of Marietta College, said some years ago that Miami University had graduated more distinguished men than any other institution west of the Alleghany Mountains.
POSTMASTERS.
In 1805, Lebanon was made a post office. . The following is a list of the Postmasters of the town, with the dates of their appoinment, obtained from the records of the Post Office Department at Washington:
William Ferguson, April 1, 1805; Jeremiah Lawson, October 1, 1808; Matthias Ross, July 1, 1810; Daniel F. Reeder, April 1, 1811; George Harnesberger, October 31, 1816; John Reeves, July 21, 1825; George Kesling, September 19, 1831; Thomas F. Brodie, June 3, 1841; Elijah Dynes, March 3, 1853; Ira Watts, March 3, 1859; Hiram Yeo, December 6, 1861; Mrs. Belle E. Parshall, July 20, 1866; Thomas H. Blake, December 19, 1878.
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE.
The electro-magnetic telegraph was brought into successful use in this country by a line established between Baltimore and Washington, March 27, 1844. The first telegraph office in Lebanon was opened August 1, 1851. It was on a line from Cincinnati to Cleveland. For some years, the receipts of the Lebanon office were barely sufficient to pay the salary of the operator.
During the years 1880 and 1881, a number of telephones were constructed in the town. Telephonic connection between Lebanon and Middletown, via Red Lion and Franklin, was completed May 20, 1881.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The first provision made by the village for protection from fire was the organization of the lot-owners into a fire-bucket company, and the purchase of hooks and ladders for the use of the village. Four sections of the earliest ordinance of the town relating to fires which has been found are given below:
AN ORDINANCE TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS BY FIRE.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the Trustees of the town of Lebanon, That each freeholder within the corporation of Lebanon, who shall own any lot or lots in said corporation, on which is erected any dwelling-house or store-house, shall, on or before the 10th day of February next, furnish him or herself with a fire-bucket for each and every such building, the fire-bucket to be made of good and sufficient soal leather ; the bucket to be made thirteen
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454 - J. L. STEPHENS, M.D.
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inches in height ; the diameter at the top nine inches. and at the bottom seven inches in the clear, the bucket to be bound round the top with a rope covered with leather, and a rope handle covered with leather, which bucket shall be well and sufficiently jacked ; on the side of each bucket shall be marked with paint the initials of the owner s name, which bucket or buckets shall be kept by the said freeholder (or his or her tenant, as the case may be), in the most convenient place in each house and store, to be had on any emergency.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained, That on any alarm being given of fire, it shall be the duty of every householder within the corporation aforesaid (females excepted), to repair with his bucket to the place of such fire, if within the limits of the corporation, without delay, and there assist in extinguishing said fire.
* * * * * * *
SEC. 8. Be it further ordained, That the fire hooks and ladders belonging to the corporation shall be deposited at the market house under the care of Thomas Best, and shall udn no case be used except in a case of fire, under the penalty of five dollars to be imposed on the person so offending.
SEC. 9. Be it further ordained, That all fines and penalties incurred under this ordinance, shall be recovered by an action before the Trustees for the use of the corporation ; this ordinance to take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
SILAS HURIN, President.
Attest :
JOHN REEVES, Recorder
LEBANON, January 11, 1815.
The first fire engine of the village was purchased about 1828, and was called " Minnie." The " Minnie " is described as a home-made engine, of novel construction, consisting of a rude device for throwing water, placed in a box about four feet long, three feet wide and two feet deep, and the whole mounted on four small wheels. The water was thrown into the box by a line of men with buckets extending from the nearest supply. From the box the water was pumped by hand-brakes and thrown upon the fire. This little engine was more effective than might at first be supposed. It could be drawn along the pavement, lifted over obstructions, and taken into dooryards through gateways.
The second fire engine was purchased about 1835, and was called the "Whale." This was a side-bar suction engine, large and cumbersome. It was bought in Cincinnati and cost $1,400. Soon after, the Lebanon Fire Company, composed of property-holders of the village, was organized. The Franklin Fire Company was organized about 1849.
The third engine was called " The Franklin," a two-stream suction engine, with improved pumps and two sets of brakes, one above the other, the upper one worked by men standing on a platform. This engine was used until about the commencement of the civil war, when it was sold to the village of Franklin.
The hand engine, " Union, No. 1," was bought of Button & Blake, the manufacturers, at Waterford, N. Y., in 1861, for $920. It is still in use, and is an improved three-stream apparatus, and has proved an excellent engine.
The first steam fire engine was purchased in 1871. It is called " The Belle of the West," is a rotary Silsby engine, purchased of the Sihesby Manufacturing Company of Seneca Falls, N. Y., at a cost of $6,000. It is drawn to and from fires by members of the fire company and citizens. Horses have never been used in the service of the fire department.
PUBLIC GROUND.
The four half-lots on the respective corners made by the crossing of Broadway and Main streets were designated on the original plat of the town as " public ground," and have been popularly known as the public square. These lots have an interesting history. It is believed that it was the intention of the proprietors of Lebanon to vest the use of these lots in the county for the purposes of a court house, jail and other county buildings, but they were unfortunate in the use of the proper words on the plat to designate the purpose intended. The plat was executed under a law of the Northwest Territory, passed
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December 6, 1800, which provided that lots and parcels of land designated on town plats for special purposes should forever be held for the uses and purposes therein named, and for no other use or purpose whatever. The history of the erection of the first court house and jail on these lots has already been given in the historic sketch of the county.
After the erection of county buildings on two of these lots, in order to re. move all doubts as to the right of the county to their use for county purposes, the original proprietors, Ichabod Corwin, Silas Hurin, Ephraim Hathaway and their wives, on May 24, 1809, executed their several deeds, with covenants of warranty, conveying to the Commissioners of the county and their successors
in office the four lots designated as public ground for the use of the county forever.
These lots, one or more of them, continued to be used for county purposes for about thirty years. After the erection of the court house in the eastern part of the town, about 1834, they ceased to be used for any county public purpose, yet the County Commissioners still assumed the right to control and lease both the old court house and all the four lots of the public ground. Although they were advised that the lots were dedicated to the public as public ground, and could not be used for private purposes, the Commissioners persisted in their course, divided the grounds into small lots, and leased them to various persons for long periods of time. After being advertised, the old court house, on April 12, 1834, was leased, the town of Lebanon becoming the lessee. The record of the County Commissioners shows that Joshua Borden, on behalf of the President, Recorder and Trustees of the town of Lebanon, leased the old court house for twenty years, at an annual rental of $86.50, the lease commencing to run in June, 1834.
The lessees of the small lots erected buildings on the north and east of the old court house, and business was carried on in them for several years before any complaint was made. At length, when a building was about to be erected on the northeast lot of the public ground, legal proceedings were commenced in the Supreme Court, held in Lebanon, to stay the erection of new structures, and to remove all obstructions from these grounds. A. H. Dunlevy and Thomas Corwin were the solicitors for the town; George J. Smith and John Probasco, Jr., for the Commissioners. Legal proceedings were begun January 3, 1839. Two years elapsed before the cause was finally decided. The Commissioners claimed the lots to be the property of the county by virtue of the original intention of the proprietors in their dedication, the deeds of conveyance to the county, and the constant and continued use and appropriation of the property by the county for thirty years, without any objection on the part of the authorities of the town. The court decided that the lots were dedicated by the proprietors to the use of the inhabitants of the town of Lebanon, as a common or public square, and that they were only held by the county in trust for that use. The court enjoined the Commissioners from leasing, selling, in-cumbering or in any way interfering with the grounds, and ordered that " all structures, erections and obstructions on said public ground, now held by either party, shall, within ninety days, be removed by the party now holding the same, and at the party's own cost, and on failure, a writ of assistance be directed to the Sheriff to remove such obstructions."
The language of this decree was so sweeping that it was feared that the old court house would have to be torn down. This was not desired by either party to the suit. The citizens of the town especially were anxious that the old building should be preserved, as it had long been used as the only town hall in the village. The solicitors of the town, therefore, filed their petition for a re-hearing of the cause and a modification of the decree of the court
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which was allowed, and a final decree was made, May 4, 1842, under which a] buildings for private purposes were removed, but the old court house was a: lowed to remain to be used for public purposes only. It was declared by th court that the lots belong beneficially to the town of Lebanon, for the use c the town for public purposes connected with the town, and that they should no be appropriated to any purpose not of a public nature and for the common o general use of the village.
Thus was secured to the town authorities the right of controlling the fon lots of the public square, but, unfortunately, their situation and small size rerocdered them of no value as a public common, and almost the only useful purpose they could serve was as sites for public buildings, and for this use the town did not need more than one of them. The northeast lot was dedicated public purposes by Ephraim Hathaway; the northwest lot, by Ichabod Corwii and the two lots south of Main street, by Silas Hurin.
THE OLD TOWN HALL.
After the completion of the second court house, the old one became know as the town hall. About 1844, a third story was added to the building by the Masonic order of Lebanon, and used as a lodge for many years. The Mocha] ics' Institute held its lectures and discussions, at first in the lower, and afterward in the second, story. As the first court house of Warren County, the fir town hall, the first library and reading room of Lebanon, the memories clustering around the quaint old building make the spot on which it stood histor ground. There Francis Dunlevy, Joshua Collet and George J. Smith sat President Judges under the first constitution of Ohio. There John McLean and Thomas Corwin made their earliest efforts at the bar. There, in the con of justice, the town meeting and the institute, were often heard the voices men whose names have given the people of Lebanon a just pride in its ear history . The old building was destroyed by fire on the morning of September 1, 1874.
WASHINGTON HALL.
In 1855, the Town Council resolved to build a new market house, with quarters for the fire department. The old market house stood in the middle Silver, at the intersection of Mechanic street. The site selected for the new structure was the southwest corner, at the intersection of the same street The old town hall being inadequate to the wants of the village, the plan w devised of building a new public hall, as a second story of the new market house.
The Town Council were favorably disposed toward the proposition, but great opposition to it was soon manifested among a considerable portion of the citizens. The question being hotly contested, the Council ordered the mats to be submitted to a vote of the electors of the town. The election was hE September 8, 1855, and resulted in the following vote: Hall, yes, 118; had no, 129; blank, 3; total, 250. The friends of the proposed hall then form a stock company, and raised the money for building the hall in connection w: the new market and engine house. The town became a stockholder in the company to the amount of $1,500, or one-half of the estimated cost of compl ing the hall. This action of the Council in making the town a stockholder a joint stock company was in violation of law, but no effort was made to prey( this union of public and private money, and thus was completed a hall, belonging in part to the town and in part to private citizens. The new hall was dedicated with a festival, given on the evening of December 24, 1856, by Franklin Independent Fire Company. On the 10th of the following mon the stockholders met and christened the hall Washington Hall, and agreed up
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rates of charges for its use, varying from $3 to $20 per night. The first lecture in the hall was delivered Friday evening, January 23, 1857, by Rev. C. Giles, of the New Jerusalem Church, then a resident of Cincinnati, on " Humanity in the Nineteenth Century." About 1859, this hall was leased by the Town Council to the proprietor of the normal school at Lebanon, and since that time has been used chiefly for the purposes of that institution.
In the year 1874, the citizens of the town were divided into two parties on the question of a tax for the enlargement and repair of this hall. The tax was advocated by one party as a necessary and proper means of making suitable provision for accommodating the increased attendance at the normal school, which institution, it was alleged, would be removed to some other locality if such accommodations were not furnished. By the other party it was argued that taxation for such a purpose was improper, and that the proposed extension to the length of Washington Hall was an ill-advised mode of accomplishing the purpose. The contest waxing warm, the question was submitted to a vote of the people at an election ordered by the Council. The result of the vote was a very large majority in favor of the tax. The Council then assessed the tax necessary for the proposed extension. The collection of this tax was enjoined by the Court of Common Pleas on the petition of a large number of the taxpayers of the town. The petition for the injunction stated that the tax, while professedly for the purpose of providing public buildings for the town, was really designed to furnish rooms for the normal school, and thus to aid a private citizen in his private business, and that the hall on which it was proposed to expend the money was owned in part by private persons. The court, without passing on the question as to what were the rights of the town in the hall, held that the proposed tax was clearly in violation of the provision of the constitution against taxation in aid of joint-stock companies, and must therefore be restrained. No further efforts were made toward extending Washington Hall.
LEBANON PUBLIC HALL.
On the morning of September 1, 1874, occurred the most disastrous fire in the history of Lebanon, destroying the old town hall, Congregational Church, Ross Hotel and other buildings. Two months later, the Council authorized an election to decide the question of levying a tax of 31 mills for eight years, aggregating about $45.000, for the purpose of erecting a public hall, corporation offices, etc. The election was held November 16, 1874. It attracted but little attention, and resulted in a vote of 197 yeas and 33 nays. The first plan approved by the Council was for a building 148x64 feet, three stories high. Numerous tax-payers obtained from the court an injunction against this gigantic structure, and the Council found, on opening the bids, that the cost of the structure would exceed the amount they proposed to expend. A new plan was adopted, which made a great improvement in the audience room. The third floor being left off gave an increase in the height of ceiling from twenty-four feet in the old plan to thirty-two feet in the new one; the length was diminished nearly twenty feet. A special act of the Legislature authorizing the sale of bonds and the erection of the hall was passed March 31, 1877. The stone work for the foundation was begun July 16, 1877; the building was fully inclosed before the severe weather of the succeeding winter set in, and was dedicated on September 2, 1878. The edifice is the finest public building in Warren County. Though not built on high ground, it presents a fine appearance on approaching the town, especially from the west and south, looming up above surrounding buildings, and is the most conspicuous and imposing structure in Lebanon. It is built of Lebanon brick, the south and west fronts presenting a variety of ornaments of freestone, galvanized iron and saw-tooth brick work.
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On the Broadway front are two handsome tablets, a date block at each side of the pediment bearing the figures 18 and 77 respectively, and a coping for the pediment, all of freestone; and on a circular tablet of Berea stone, the seal of the corporation, viz. : " A cedar tree in the center, surrounded by the words, ' Corporation of Lebanon, Ohio.' " The expanse of the high slate roof is relieved by seventeen chimney-tops and twenty dormer ventilators. The cresting and finials of roof, dormers and towers are of galvanized iron painted blue, with prominent points touched with gold.
The following are the names of the designers and contractors in its construction.
Architect, George P. Humphreys, Cincinnati; excavation, William Saint, Dayton’s cut stone masonry, Charles Seifred, Dayton; cut stone, Brice & Webber, Dayton; brick work. S. N. Boren, Dayton; tin, galvanized iron and slating, W. F. Gehhart & Co., Dayton; cast and wrought iron, McHose & Lyon, Dayton; carpenter work, Beaver & Butt, Dayton; plastering, William Jones, Waynesville; painting and glazing, J. N. Turner, Lebanon; gas-fitting, M. J. Gibbons & Co., Cincinnati; gas apparatus, Coleman Gas Works, Cincinnati; gas fixtures, McHenry & Co. Cincinnati; frescoing, F. Pedretti, Cincinnati; scene-painting, Waugh, Levoy & Co., Cincinnati; stage machinery, A. Shrimpton, Cincinnati; chairs for main floor of hall, G. Henshaw & Sons, Cincinnati; chairs for gallery, J. N. Oswald, Lebanon.
The following figures, taken from the plans and specifications of the architect, are here placed on permanent record: The building outside, 132x64 feet; main audience room, including stage, 101x60 1/2 feet; height of first story inside, 14 1/3 feet; height of main hall, 32 feet; height of spire above pavement, 132 feet; Mayor's office, 33x24 1/2 feet; council chamber, 24 1/2x24 1/2; library, 31 1/2x24 1/2; dressing rooms, 12x12; store rooms, 60x16; inside vault, 5x3; main stair hall and vestibule, 60x12 feet; width of east and west hall, 8 feet 2 inches. The foundation wall starts from footings 5 feet 2 inches wide, placed 11 feet below the pavement, and is 2 feet 6 inches wide at the top, constructed of large-sized Dayton stone from an old canal lock. The north and south side brick walls are 25 inches wide for the first story, and 21 inches for the second. At each end of the building are two walls, 12 feet apart, continued to the roof, the thinnest of which is 17 inches wide. Three of the brick walls of the main tower rest upon the walls of the building. The fourth rests upon a wrought-iron box lintel 12x12 inches and 14 feet 8 inches long. The frame of the spire consists of eight uprights, 10x10 inches, resting on four cross-beams 10x16 inches, built into the walls. The tie-beams for ceiling and roof are of two pieces of 5x16 inch timber, bolted together, 63 feet 4 inches long, in one length. Principal rafters are 9x12 inches; struts and straining beams, 8x8 inches.
Connected with the Council chamber is a vault for the preservation of books and papers. It is doubtless more nearly perfectly fire-proof than the common iron safes, and at the same time more capacious. It is built of two brick walls 13 and 9 inches wide with 4 inches space between them, and arched over with walls of the same thickness. It has two iron doors two feet apart, the outer one having a combination safe-lock. In the rear hall is the elevator, 4 feet square, extending from cellar to the stage. There is a cellar under the entire structure 8 feet in the clear and divided by the foundation walls into twelve compartments.
From the front hall two broad flights of stairs lead to an upper vestibule 12 feet broad, from which two wide double doors, opening outward, lead into the main hall, and two higher stairways to the balcony. The first view of the auditorium when it is fully lighted up is very pleasing. The room is large, and with sufficient height to make it imposing. Good judges pronounce it one
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of the neatest and handsomest halls in the State. The frescoing by Pedretti produces a very pleasing effect from the harmony and taste in the colors. The center-piece serves the double purpose of a ventilator and a beautiful ornament. The proscenium, which is six feet wide, plastered and frescoed, has pilasters at the sides, and at the top an excellent portrait in oil of Gov. Thomas Corwin. The beautiful balcony is supported by iron rods from the ponderous roof frame, leaving the view below unobstructed by. columns. A good view of the stage can be had from every chair in the balcony. The floor of the main hall, which is deadened by two inches of mortar under the flooring, is level for about twenty feet in front of the stage, and then rises toward the rear about one-third of an inch to the foot. The main floor is seated with light, comfortable and graceful oak chairs, with bent backs and perforated wood seats. The balcony has chairs of a different pattern. The seating capacity of the hall is about 1,100. When the stage is filled and the hall is crowded, it will hold 1,500.
The stage is large enough for all ordinary plays and show performances. It is 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The front is 4 feet high, and the floor rises slightly from the front to the rear. The proscenium opening is 28x2E feet. The stage is lighted by fifty-six gas-burners.
There are four sets of grooves and four entrances on each side, and there may be ready for use at one time on the grooves twelve scenes and twenty wings.
The scenery was all painted by De Witt C. Waugh, and consists of the following pieces:
Street, garden, wood, rocky pass and six good wings; horizon and two wings; plain chamber and four wings; parlor, palace-arch and four wings; prison and four wings; kitchen and four wings; four set rocks, rustic bridge, set cottage, set waters, balustrade, mantelpiece, set parlor door, set kitchen door, two drapery and three sky borders, proscenium wings and drop curtain.
The total cost of the edifice was about $36,000. The hall, which has received the popular name of Lebanon Opera House, was dedicated with a series of Shakespearean plays and modern comedies on the evenings of the week beginning Monday, September 2, 1878, by a full and efficient dramatic company, which included such actors as W. H. Power, Selden Irwin, E. R. Dalton, Julia A. Hunt and others.
THE LECTURE SYSTEM.
In the earlier days of the town, lectures and other evening entertainments were usually free, and given by the literary persons of the community. The lawyers, ministers, physicians, teachers, and ambitious students of the learned professions responded to the call of their fellow-citizens for an occasional literary address or lecture on a scientific topic. Before the close of the civil war, it was rare indeed that a public speaker of national fame appeared before a Lebanon audience as a paid lecturer.
The lyceum or lecture system may be said to have originated in New England about 1838. Horace Mann was one of its earliest friends, and Wendell Phillips one of its most popular speakers. This system has grown and extended from New England over the whole country. It has given rural communities the opportunity of hearing the most eminent lecturers of this country and of Great Britain. As a means of popular instruction and entertainment, the lecture is not to be despised. In a great city, it is of less importance, but in an inland town the assembling of the people in a bright, comfortable hall, filled with neighbors and friends, to listen for an hour to one who tells of a great discovery, explains the newest science, gives the results of foreign travel, or points out the beautiful in art and literature, is pleasing, inspiring and instructive.
Since 1874, regular courses of lectures and other entertainments grouped
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with lectures have been sustained. Lectures have been given by John B. Gough, Bayard Taylor, Wendell Phillips, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Joseph Cook, Dr. A. A. Willitts, Prof. R. A. Proctor, Hon. William Parsons and others; readings and musical entertainments by Mrs. Scott-Siddons, Helen Potter, Mendelssohns of Boston, Remenyi, Anna Louise Cary, Clara Louise Kellogg and others. The most successful public entertainment ever given in the town was the lecture of Henry Ward Beecher in the public hall, May 9, 1879, on " The Reign of the Common People," which was attended by 1,200 persons, and the proceeds of which were over $800.
CELEBRATIONS OF THE FOURTH OF JULY.
The anniversary of American independence was celebrated much more generally in the earlier history of Lebanon than in later years. The oration was generally delivered at the earlier celebrations in one of the churches or in a grove north of the town. After the oration, there was almost always a dinner at one of the hotels, or some other public place, and after the dinner, toasts were read. The oration was in most cases published in the local newspaper at the request of the Committee of Arrangements. We are able to give a brief account of the celebrations at Lebanon from the year 1821 up to recent times:
1821—The oration this year was delivered by George J. Smith, Esq., at the Presbyterian Church, after which the procession moved to the court house, where as many as thought proper partook of a dinner prepared by Col. D. F. Reeder, and a number of appropriate toasts were drank. The oration of Judge, then Mr. Smith, was afterward published in the Star.
1822—Oration at the Presbyterian Church, by Thomas Corwin, Esq. Declaration read by A. H. Dunlevy, Esq. Dinner at the court house.
1823—Oration at the Presbyterian Church, by Nathaniel McLean, Esq. Declaration read by Phineas Ross, Esq.
1824---At the Presbyterian Church. Declaration read by George J. Smith. Esq. Oration by Jacob D. Miller, Esq.
1825—Oration in the grove north of town, by William J. Minshall, Esq. Declaration read by Thomas Corwin, Esq.
1826 - Oration at the Presbyterian Church, by William V. H. Cushing. Esq. Declaration read by Milton Brown, Esq. Dinner at the Golden Lamb
1827 - No formal celebration of the day. A congregation, however, assembled at the Methodist Church, where a discourse was deliverel. by Bishoi Soule, from Psalm cxliv, 15—" Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. In the morning, a salute of twenty-four guns was fired.
1828 - Address by Bishop Soule.
1829—At a celebration this year, the Declaration was read by Phineal Ross, Esq, but the name of the orator is not given in the report before us.
1830 - The Fourth came on Sunday. Collections were taken in the churches of the village in aid of the Colonization Society.
1831—Celebrations by the Temperance Society and Sunday schools.
1832—Orator, J. Milton Williams, Esq. Reader, Courtland Cushing Esq.
1833—Orator, Sam. W. Probasco, Esq. Reader, Dr. A. Dickey.
1834—Orator, J. Milton Williams, Esq. Reader, William R. Collet Esq. Judge McLean, who was present, also addressed the meeting, bein called out by a toast. This speech of the Judge was ridiculed in letters wrii ten from Lebanon to Jackson papers in Cincinnati and Columbus, and the celerbration was said by these letter-writers to have originated in a concerted pla of the Whig partisans for the purpose of making a demonstration in favor c McLean for President. One of these letters said: " The Judge, being toasted
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with fulsome adulation, made an electioneering speech of nearly an hour in length." The Star replied by saying that the presence of Judge McLean was entirely accidental and unexpected, and that his remarks did not occupy more than twenty minutes.
1835—Two celebrations. One party assembled at the Presbyterian Church, where an oration was delivered by John Probasco, Esq., and the Declaration read by Dr. I. L. Drake. Dinner at the grove north of the church. The other party met at the Baptist Church, with Hervey Brown for orator, and I. P. Wright, reader. Washington's farewell address was read by Franklin Corwin, Esq. Dinner at the Henry Clay House. Hon. Thomas Corwin, then our Representative in Congress, was drawn out by a toast, and addressed the company for about half an hour, chiefly on the dispute then existing between the State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan concerning the boundary between them. He deprecated any appeal to arms for obtaining our rights.
1836--Orator, Allen Pierse, Esq. Reader, Phineas Ross, Esq. No dinner nor toasts.
1837--Sunday-school 3elebration. Address by Rev. F. G. Black, and public dinner.
1838—Address to the Sunday schools by A. H. Dunlevy, Esq. Declaration read by William H. P. Denny. Fireworks in the evening under the direction of Mr. Dolant, a practical pyrotechnist, among which the line rocket attracted particular attention. A beautiful balloon was also prepared, but failed of success.
1839 and 1840—No reports of any celebrations.
1841 —Declaration read at the Presbyterian Church by Judge Smith, and an oration delivered by J. Milton Williams, Esq. After the exercises at the church, the citizens marched to the public square, where, under an awning, a dinner was prepared by William N. Schmffer, of the Mansion House. After the cloth was removed, toasts were read.
1842 - Oration by William Bebb, of Hamilton, afterward Governor of Ohio. J. C. Sabin, reader. " A dinner prepared on temperance principles " was announced to be served at Mr. Schieffer's hotel.
1843—Orator, John Probasco, Esq. Reader, A. G. McBurney, Esq. Din; ner at the Bradley House.
1844 Celebration by the Ohio Stand-Bys, under the command of Capt. J. P. Gilchrist. Wilfred Dey, Esq., reader, and Durbin Ward, Esq., orator.
1845—Temperance meeting in the forenoon at the Baptist Church. Declaration read by Judge Smith. Addresses by R. G. Corwin, Esq., and Rev. S. Newell. Colonization meeting in the afternoon. Declaration read by A. G. McBurney. Address by Rev. F. G. Black.
1846 No report at hand.
1847 Declaration read at the Baptist Church by J. W. White. Oration by G. W. Stokes.
1848—No celebration.
1849 Sunday-school meeting at Methodist Protestant Church in the morning. Exhibition by the students of the academy at the court house in the evening.
1850—Oration at the Baptist Church by Rev. S. Newell. Declaration read by A. P. Russell. "Fireman's Festival " at the court house in the evening.
1851 No celebration at Lebanon. Celebrations at Waynesville, Fort Ancient, Morrow, Deerfield, Mason, Franklin and Monroe.
1852 Celebrations by the Lebanon Sunday schools.
1853 and 1854--No celebrations.
1855—Oration by Hon. M. B. Walker, of Dayton. Declaration read by George W. Frost, Esq.
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1856—No celebration..
1857 —Oration by Hon. A. G. W. Carter, of Cincinnati. Declaration read by F. S. Van Harlingen, Esq.
1859—Corner-stone of the Masonic building laid. Oration by Hon. Bellamy Storer. Corner-stone laid by Horace M. Stokes, Esq.
1876—The one hundredth anniversary of American independence was appropriately celebrated at Lebanon. The celebration was held at the fairground. Delegations from every township in the county were present. Music was furnished by the brass bands of Lebanon, Maineville, Waynesville and Clarksville, and the normal school choir, under the leadership of Prof. L. R. Marshall. Notwithstanding the unpropitious weather, several thousand persons attended. Owing to the rain, which continued throughout the forenoon, it was found inexpedient to proceed to the grounds before 1 o'clock. The principal streets of the town were appropriately decorated with flags, banners, pendants and pictures. At the fair ground, the speakers' stand was much admired. It was forty feet long and twelve feet wide. Three hundred feet of cedar wreath and six hundred small flags were used in its decoration. Festoons of cedar and harmonious arrangement of flags made a beautiful display. The roof of the stand was beech brush. On the roof near the center was a large oil painting of Washington, appropriately trimmed with cedar and flags. On each side of the picture, equally distant from the center and ends of the platform, were redwhite-and-blue shields, one with 1776 and the other with 1876 painted on it. Surmounting the whole was a streamer bearing the legend, " In God We Trust." The portrait of Washington, which was so conspicuous a feature in the decoration, was painted by Marcus Mote when a resident of Lebanon, and was donated by him to the Mechanics' Institute.
The exercises at the fair-ground consisted of prayer by Rev. J. P. Sprowls; reading the Declaration of Independence, by Prof. James E. Murdoch, who also read Daniel Webster's Supposed Speech of John Adams in Support of the Declaration; oration by Hon. Aaron F. Perry, of Cincinnati, and the reading of an historical sketch of Warren County by the writer of this history. Judge George J. Smith was President of the Day.
INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.
Of the industries of Lebanon during the first few years of its existence, when it was a little village in the woods, little is known. They could not have been numerous or important. Isaiah Morris, of Wilmington, Ohio, is authority for the statement that John Huston was the first merchant of the town. In the spring of 1803, Huston descended the Ohio with a small stock of goods in a flat-boat, and landed at Columbia, where he opened a small store. After remaining there a few months, he came to the new town of Lebanon and opened a store in a room of the tavern known as the Black Horse, kept by Ephraim Hathaway. Isaiah Morris was a nephew of Huston, and the clerk in this the first store in Lebanon. He had descended the Ohio in company with his uncle. Mr. Morris afterward, in 1811, moved from Lebanon to Wilmington, cutting a road through the woods, and, in connection with William Ferguson, established the first store in Wilmington. The store of Huston in Lebanon was not long continued, as the proprietor died soon after its establishment, leaving his clerk in destitute circumstances.
There is no record of any licenses granted to merchants in Lebanon until 1805. In that year, we find that licenses were granted to Lawson & Taylor, Daniel F. Reeder and William Ferguson. Among the other names which appear on the license record prior to 1810 are Joseph James, William Lowry,
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John Adams, Daniel Roe, Joseph and James Moore, Daniel Cushing, Hollow & Wright, NI cCr ay & Dill and Ebenezer Vowell. -ay
In 1810, the following business establishments were advertised in the oldest copies of a Lebanon newspaper in existence:
Robert B. Coles and Silas Hurin, under the firm name of Coles & co manufacturers of boots and shoes. This partnership was dissolved in 1815' and the business was carried on by Coles.
Jacob Clark, manufacturer of mill-wheels, chairs, brushes, washing machines, etc.
William Lowry & Co., dealers in groceries, notions, etc. Moore & Wilds, cabinet-makers.
James & Joseph Moore, dealers in goods and whisky. William Ferguson, groceries, etc.
Daniel Cushing, manufacturer of black salts, advertised that he would pay the highest price, in salts, cotton or cash, for good ashes.
Lebanon Manufacturing Company, carding, spinning of wool, weaving the same, and manufacture of broadcloth.
Dr. Joseph Canby, new apothecary shop.
B. & Alexander Crawford, general store.
Barzilla Clark, cabinet-maker.
The miscellaneous character of the early stores will appear from the following advertisement in the Western Star in 1810:
NEW STORE.
The subscribers have just opened a new store in the town of Lebanon, in the house formerly occupied by Daniel Roe. Esq. Their assortment is extensive and complete, consistin in part of the following :
Dry Goods, Groceries, Ironmongery, Cutlery, Stationery, Medicines, Queen's and Glasswares, Tin-ware Assorted, Dorsey's Iron, Castings assorted, Paints and Oils, American Blister Steel, German Crowley, do. Salt, Cotton, etc.
All the above goods will be sold on very reasonable terms for cash or good merchantable wheat, at fifty cents per bushel.
Also good rye whisky will be taken in exchange for goods at forty cents per gallon.
EBENEZER VOWELL & CO.
After the war of 1812, the businesp of the town began to increase. Manufactories of various kinds were established, and the town floated buoyantly on the waves of prosperity. She could boast of woolen-mills, a cotton factory, nail factories, cabinet factories, copper manufactory, printing-press manufactory, tobacco manufactory, and other smaller but important branches of manufactures.
William Russell's woolen-mill was an important feature of the manufacturing interests of the town. There were a number of tanneries in the town and vicinity.
On the 4th of July, 1823, Nathaniel McLean, in an oration delivered at a celebration in Lebanon, referred to the recently established home manufactories. In addressing " the Daughters of Columbia," he said: " We witness every day the evidences of our independence in the workmanship of your hands. How many manufactories have recently been established, and produce a sufficient supply of articles for home consumption, for which, a few years ago, we were indebted to an Eastern market. Let your town be a witness on this subject." An explanatory note by the editor of the Lebanon Star, in which the address was printed, is as follows: " For, the information of our distant readers, we would remark that the orator here alludes to the number of straw bonnet and hat manufactories recently established in this place, some of which manufacture those articles of a superior quality, and in sufficient quantities to supply the market. There are exceeding thirty females engaged in that business in this: town."
TURTLE CREEK TOWNSHIP - 467
For many years, George Hardy was the leading and most successful merchant of Lebanon. He came to this country from the County Tyrone, in North in 1815, and, in the spring of the year following, he arrived at Lebanon, where he clerked for Robert Woods. In 1817, he, in partnership with Joseph Henderson, bought the store of Matthias Ross, on the northeast corner of Broadway and Mulberry streets. In 1831, Mr. Henderson retired from the Vim, and Hardy continued the business alone until his death. He usually purchased his goods in Philadelphia, and visited that place annually, making the journey on horseback. Respected for his integrity, as well as for his business abilities, he was largely intrusted with the funds of customers, and did a considerable banking business in his store. Beginning life in Lebanon a poor man, he died leaving an estate estimated at $90,000. He died January 1, 1842, aged fifty-four years.
PRINTING AND PUBLISHING.
The printing business was carried on in Lebanon at an earlier period than in any other town of Southwestern Ohio, Cincinnati alone excepted. Not only was a newspaper published and bills and circulars printed, but the type-setting, press work and binding of books were all done in this little village at a very early day. As early as June 15, 1808, John McLean contracted with the Shakers to print on his press a considerable volume, entitled " Christ's Second Appearing," the press work of which was completed by the close of the year, and some of the copies bound. " The Ohio or Western Spelling Book " is believed to have been printed by A. Van Vleet, in Lebanon, about 1814, but I have seen no cepy of the work. About 1810, Matthias Corwin, Jr., made the calculations for an almanac, which, it is thought, was printed in Lebanon. In 1821, A. Van Vleet compiled a work entitled " The Justice and Township Officer's Assistant, comprising a great variety of judicial forms and other necessary precedents for the use of Justices of the Peace, Constables and township officers in the State of Ohio, interspersed with useful information for the discharge of their official duties; also, matters relative to the duties of executors and administrators, etc. To which is added an appendix containing a variety of practical forms in conveyancing, by A. Van Vleet." The title page of this book shows that it was printed and published by the author at Lebanon. The. Ohio Miscellaneous Museum, was a monthly periodical of forty-eight pages, printed at Lebanon. It was begun in January, 1822, and consisted entirely of selected articles of no great literary value. How long it was continued is not known. The first four numbers were bound into a volume by James Martin, book-binder, Main street, Lebanon, a copy of which is now in the library of the Mechanics' Institute of Lebanon.
For a number of years, all the necessary printing of the towns of Hamilton, Dayton, Urbana, Xenia, Springfield and other places was done either at Cincinnati or Lebanon. Most of the counties adjoining Warren had no news- papers paper. limits, and their official advertisements often appeared in the Lebanon paper.
The first printing-press was brought to Lebanon in the summer of 1806. This is the date given by A. H. Dunlevy and William H. P. Denny. The latter obtained the date from Justice John McLean himself. The newspaper established by McLean at that time was not, in its earlier years, published every week, as is shown by the fact that a copy of the Western Star, given to Mr. Denny in 1857, was dated December 1, 1808, and numbered 29 of Volume 2. The volume and number of this paper, had it been issued without intermissions, would indicate that it had been established in the summer of 1807. But cold weather, high waters, lack of hands and printing paper, often interrupted the work of the early printer.
468 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
William H. P. Denny says: " Even within our remembrance, in severe winters, it was not uncommon for publishers to suspend work for several weeks, when all hands would occupy the time in frolicking and gunning. The paper, when wet down '—a phrase printers understand —would freeze as hard as an iceberg; the types in the form would be frozen solid; and the balls '– sheepskins stuffed with wool and tacked to handles—would be incased in ice in the trough. As printers in those days sent to the paper-mill every few weeks for paper (they were too poor to buy more than a ream or two at a time), they frequently found the mill stopped with ice, and often, in the spring, when on this errand, they would be impeded by high waters. We have, when a boy, often swam the creeks and rivers on horseback after the budget of paper. It was usual then to pay in cash and rags,' the latter being bought by the printer and called for by the paper-maker every few months. The papers at that time, and up to about 1835, all contained standing advertisements like this: The highest price will be given at this office for any quantity of clean linen and cotton rags.' Every printer had his steelyards to weigh the rags. Subscribers paid their subscription in that currency, the bills of the Miami ExportingCompany, fip, 'levenpence and 25-cent shinplasters, and cat money—seventeen pieces to the dollar. The printer often made change by cutting a fip out of a Spanish quarter, or with a bank-note of the same denomination issued by Truitt & Wiles, or some other mercantile firm. The printing office had its rag room' —a most agreeable lounging-place for old jours ' and the devil.' "
FIRST BANK.
The first bank in Lebanon was that of the Lebanon Miami Banking Company, organized in 1814. The articles of association of this company began as follows: " We whose names are hereunto subscribed for the purpose of encouraging trade, to promote a spirit of improvement in agriculture, manufactures, arts and sciences, to aid the efforts of honest industry, and to suppress the unlawful and pernicious practice of usury, do mutually covenant and agree with each other to establish a banking company, for the objects before mentioned, at Lebanon, Warren Co., Ohio, to be called and known by the name of the Lebanon Miami Banking Company, which shall continue for the term of twenty years from the commencement of its operations." The capital stock of the company consisted of 50,000 shares of $50 each.
The first Board of Directors were elected in April, 1814, and consisted of Joseph Canby, Joshua Collett, John Adams, Daniel F. Reeder, William Ferguson, William Lowry, William Lytle, Alexander Crawford, Thomas R. Ross and George Harnesberger. The first President was Daniel F. Reeder, and the first Cashier, Phineas Ross. The bank soon began to issue its notes for circulation, of the denominations of $1, $3, $5 and $10, and " tickets " of lower denominations than $1. The lists of the names of Directors of this bank show that many of the leading business men of Lebanon and vicinity were connected with its management. Profitable dividends to the stockholders were frequently declared. But the company became involved in difficulties, and, on February 2, 1819, the Directors resolved " that it is expedient for this institution to close its business as soon as practicable. That it is not expedient that this resolution be now made public." The banking business of the company was closed about 1822.
This banking company was re-organized under the same name in 1841, when John S. Iglehart was elected President, and James H. Earl, Cashier. The bank again issued its notes for circulation as currency, but its business was carried on successfully for a short time only.
TURTLE CREEK TOWNSHIP - 41
WAGON AND CARRIAGE MAKING.
An important branch of business not yet noticed was wagon-making, which was carried on very extensiveiy at one time. This branch of manufacture v commenced by Jeremiah Pinneo some time previous to 1816, on Mechanic stre south of Silver, and carried on there by him until 1835. He employed fr ten to fifteen workmen in the wood and iron shops. Samuel Chamberland opened a shop almost as early as Pinneo. His works were on East street, between Pleasant and Warren, where he worked from twelve to eighteen in His productions were sold mostly in the South. His son, Lewis, succeeded him and at his death, 1854, the shops were closed. William Alloway commenced the business in 1828-29, on the east side of East street, between Silver a Warren. He afterward moved to the west side of the street, one square sou He employed from fifteen to twenty men.. In 1834, he sold his business William Krewson, who carried it on until 1850, when he sold it to the pres proprietor, Thomas J. Hutchinson. John P. March commenced business 1834, in the place formerly occupied by Alloway. After losing his building fire, he built a brick, which was torn down by the Commissioners of the cou when they purchased the lot on which it stood for a court house yard. March employed about thirty-five men. He and Mr. Warwick also conducts shop opposite Mr. Krewson for some years, commencing about 1838. In year 1835, John and Joseph Simonton bought the factory of Pinneo and can on the business for ten years, when Joseph assumed complete control. 1850, he sold it to Hiram Simonton & Brother. J. R. Drake opened a fad on the northeast corner of Mechanic and Silver streets in 1856, where he since continued. He employs eleven men in all the departments of his work
MASONS' AND PLASTERERS' BILL OF PRICES, 1815.
The following old document, giving the Lebanon bill of prices for si work, brick work and plastering, agreed upon in 1815, is published so far is legible:
We the subscribers have thought proper to regulate and form a bill of prices on s work, brick work and plastering, of which we take the liberty to inform our friends the public in general. $ Cts.
For stone work under ground, and found per perch - .43 3-4
And if not found - 81 1-4
For rough stone work above ground and found per perch - .75
And if not found - 1 00
For single range work and found per perch - 1.37 1-2
And if not found - 2.00
For brick walls of one brick and half thick if found per thousand - 2.12 1-2
And if not found - 2.62 1-2
For one brick or nine inch wall if found per thousand - 2 75
And if not found - 3 25
For brick chimney building and brick counted on the ground and found per thousand - 4 00
And if not found. 4.62 1-2
For stone chimney and measured girth and 1-2 girth and found per perch - .43
For brick cornice and found per foot extra on the thousand - .25
And if not found - .31 1-4
For painting and penciling per yard and found - .12
And if not found - .16
For flemish-bond or front work extra on the thousand and found - 25
And if not found - .31 1-4
For laying hearths and found from 50 to 1 25
And if not found - from 62 1-2 to 1 50
For a trimmer arch and found - 1 00
And if not found - 1.25
For separate ovens and found from - 3.50 to 4.50
470 - HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
And if not found from - 4.00 to 5.00
For setting a single still and found - 5.00
And a double still, or two stills joining - 9.50
For a scratch coat on a brick wall and found - .10
And if not found - .12 1-2
For finishing the same and found - .16
And if not found - .20
For lathing and scratch coat and found - .14
And if not found - .16
For finishing the same and found - .20
And if not found - .25
Observe that all vacancies in walling and plastering we measure as solid work.
N. B.-We, the undersigned, do hereby agree not to warrant or run any risk in the draft of a chimney of any description whatever.
Jan. 13, 1815.
INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENTS OF LEBANON IN 1839
BUSINESS.
