Tate is the largest township in territory, and Ohio the smallest. Miami has the largest aggregate
valuation, and
12 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
the largest also per acre. Franklin has the largest number of acres of plow-land, and Tate has the
largest of meadow and pasture-land, as well as of woodland or uncultivated land.
CHAPTER II.*
THE GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY OF CLERMONT COUNTY.
TOPOGRAPHICALLY considered, there is nothing striking in Clermont. Its surface is not so
abrupt as that of Adams County, on the east, nor has it the wave-like contour of Warren County,
on the north. Clermont has no high hills or mountains elevated above the surrounding country,
nor deep and broad valleys caused by erosion. In a word, its general surface forms a plateau of
table-land with a mean elevation of four hundred feet above low-water mark in the Ohio at
Cincinnati. Its highest elevation is five hundred and forty-seven feet, in Goshen, near the Warren
county-line ; the lowest is at Palestine, in Pierce, which is only five feet above the general level
of the river. This table-land is bisected from east to west by the east fork of the Little Miami,
whose course is so tortuous that its length through the county is five times the distance of an
air-line between the point of entrance and its mouth, at the Little Miami. With its tributaries it
drains two-thirds of the surface of the county. The channel of the east fork is about two hundred
feet below the table-land through which it flows. Clover Creek, on the south, has not as deep a
channel as somc of its other tributaries. Its source is in Tate township, where its channel has been
modified by the drift.
Stonelick, on the north, has its source in Clinton County, and is a very rapid stream, and has cut a
deep and narrow channel through the blue limestone. Its channel has also been modified by the
drift, together with the slopes of its hills. Rocky Run, Brushy Fork, and other of Stonelick's
tributaries have made the surface of Stonelick township very uneven and angular in its outline.
The Obannon, on the northwest, drains quite an area in Goshen and Miami townships. It is not so
rapid a stream as Stonelick, and has not cut so deep a channel.
The Ohio, on the south, through its principal tributaries, —Bullskin, Indian, Bear, and Boat Run,
and Twelve-, Ten-, and Nine-Mile Creeks,--drains one-third of the surface of the county. These
streams, as well as a large majority of them in the county, flow in a southwesterly direction.
There are no stratified rocks to be seen in the channels of the east fork, Stonelick, Obannon,
Clover, Indian, Bullskin, Twelve-Mile, and, in fact, all the streams that empty into the Ohio, for
some distance above their mouths, showing that their channels at some time were much lower
than at present. The lowest point in which the bed-rock in the channel of the east fork can be seen
is near Perin's Mills, which is about six miles above its mouth. There are no great examples of
the work of
* This chapter and the two that follow have been prepared by T. L. Roudebush.
erosion in Clermont County besides the valley of the east fork as compared with other counties in
Southern Ohio. Near Milford there is quite an area of gravel terraces, and several others exist on
the east fork between its mouth and Perin's Mills on a smaller scale. At Talley's Ford, three miles
above Batavia, there is a good example of an ancient drift-filled channel of the east fork. This is
only one out of the numerous drift-filled channels of the various streams found in the county. The
east fork at one time ran north of Batavia, striking its present channel at or near the bridge across
Backbone Run. Stonelick has had its channel changed in several paces, and so with almost every
stream of any size in the county. After careful examination, I have found over fifty drift-filled
channels in Clermont County. Some of the smaller streams, especially those flowing east and
west, have had their channels entirely filled up, and they are more numerous than the casual
observer would think. Good examples are seen on Possum Hollow, in Stonelick township, where
its channel cuts through an ancient drift-filled at right angles, which was much lower than the
present one, and on Brushy Fork, a short distance south of the residence of Michael Yeager, In
both the drift is over one hundred and fifty feet deep. There is one peculiarity in the topography
of that part of the county bordering on the Ohio River, and it is this,-that the remains of the
ancient plateau-hills are higher at their brows than at a distance of one or two miles back. There
is a good example of this to be seen on the road lcading from New Richmond to Nicholsville,
where the table-land is fifty feet lower at the distance of two miles from the former place than at
its brow. There is ample proof that at some time in the geological history of the county a great
many more of its streams flowed parallel with the Ohio River. In the northeastern part of thc
county are extensive areas of swamp-land, which (once considered worthless, but now the most
productive in the county, taken as a whole) are but the spurs of larger ones in Brown, Highland,
and Clinton Counties.
As a whole, the topography of Clermont County has given its surface a picturesque appearance.
In the Palaeozoic Era at one time it was but a vast inclined plane, with as smooth a surface as a
table, but by the convulsions of nature and erosion it has been transformed into lull, dale, plain,
and valley, which have afforded homes for an industrious and energetic people. From the table of
altitudes given below the reader will have a better idea of its topography:
Feet.
Loveland, above low-water mark in the Ohio River at Cincinnati 130
Branch Hill, " 120
Miamiville, “ 115
Milford, “ 95
Tobasco, “ 510
Withamsville, “ 509
Bantam, “ 478
Bethel, “ 503
Amelia, “ 498
Olive Branch, “ 473
Perin's Mills, “ 115
Batavia, “ 137
Williamsburgh, “ 159
Goshen, “ 449
Edenton, “ 402
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY - 13
Woodville, above low-water mark in the Ohio River at Cincinnati 511
Newtonville, " " " " " 465
Brownsville, " " " " " " 472
Marathon, " " " " " " 397
Monterey, “ " “ " " " 364
Boston, " " " " " " 349
Btoneliek, " " " “ ” “132
Palestine " " " " " " 5
New Richmond, " " " " " " " 10
Moscow, " " " " " " 15
Utopia, “ " " " " " 19
BEDDED ROCKS.
In Clermont County we have the oldest exposed bedded rocks in the State, with no intervening
geological formations between the Cincinnati group and the drift, which in this county assumes a
different character from that found in any other in the State. Of the three general classes of rocks
that form the earth's crust,-viz., igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary,—they belong to the last.
In order that the reader may have a better idea of the bedded rocks of Clermont County, they will
be treated under the following heads: 1. Geological Position and Equivalents ; 2. Division of the
Series ; 3. Lithographical Characters and Composi- tion; 4. Palaeontology and General History.
1.—GEOLOGICAL POSITION AND EQUIVALENTS.
In the geological scale they belong to the Palwozoic Era (or "life-giving"), Silurian Age, and
Lower Silurian Period; the youngest strata of which the bedded rocks of Clermont County belong
has been christened by Meek and Worthen as the Cincinnati group, and as an equivalent for the
Hud- son River group of New York, though at the present time there is a difference of opinion as
to its equivalents. It is bounded below by the Trenton limestone and above by the Upper Silurian
formations.
2—DIVISION OF THE SERIES.
As has been previously stated, the oldest exposed rocks in Ohio are found in Clermont County,
and not at Cincin- nati (as one would suppose from the name), from the fact that the Cincinnati
antielinal or axis lies to the eastward of Cincinnati, and that the dip of the strata at that place is to
the northward; the discussion of which will be left for another more appropriate place.
At Point Pleasant the lowest rocks in the State are found, and there present the best exposures
and section, and hence are called the Point Pleasant beds, Their vertical range, from observation,
is in the neighborhood of fifty feet, and horizontal from very low-water mark in the Ohio River at
the southwest corner of the county to Chilo, and more properly from New Richmond to the latter
place.
In an ascending order, the Cincinnati beds proper come next. They begin at the highest stratum of
the Point Pleasant beds and extend to the lowest of the Lebanon beds, and constitute ninety-five
per cent of the bedded rocks of Clermont County: On account of a difference in their fossil
contents, as well as their lithographical characteristics, they are for convenience divided into
three subdivisions,—viz., the river quarry-beds, the middle or Eden shales, the hill quarry-beds.
The vertical range of the first division is fifty feet, with a horizontal one of limited
extent in the southern part of the county, where the altitude is not above one hundred feet. The
second has a ver- tical range of two hundred and fifty feet, and a horizontal one where the
altitude is not over four hundred and fifty feet.
The third general division is called the Lebanon beds. It has a vertical range of fifty or sixty feet,
and a horizon- tal one of about one-third of Wayne township and a small part of Goshen.
3.—LITHOGRAPHICAL CHARACTER AND COMPOSITION OF THE CINCINNATI
GROUP.
" This whole series is composed of alternating beds of limestone and shale, most commonly
called blue clay." The limestone may in general terms be described as an even-bedded, firm,
durable, semi-crystalline limestone, par- tially, and sometimes almost entirely, made up of the
fossil remains of the invertebrates—viz., articulates, mollusks, radiates, and protozoans--that
once had an existence in the old Silurian sea of which these rocks formed the bottom. In color it
varies from a light blue to a dark or gray shade, but the prevailing color may be said to be a
grayish blue. The limestone in the Point Pleasant beds and the lower strata of the river
quarry-beds varies more than in any of the other general subdivisions. They are lighter in color;
while in one place they are slaty in structure. in an- other they assume lenticular forms of
concretionary origin, —so much so as to entirely destroy their value as build- ing-rock. The
layers are also exceptionally heavy, attain- ing a thickness of sixteen to twenty inches, and are
often so free from fossils as to afford no indication of the kinds of life from which they were
derived. The courses in the river quarry-beds vary in thickness from one to twelve inches, and
form a very compact limestone, which in some places is almost entirely made up of crinoidal
stems. The thinner layers, when struck by a hammer, ring like pot-metal. They are abundant in
Twelve-Mile Creek, in Ohio township. The courses in the middle or Eden shales are not so thick
and more fossiliferous, and constitute what quarrymen call " shelly stone." The Lebanon beds are
very fossiliferous, and are of but little value in an economic sense. The Lebanon beds and Eden
shales, as to composi- tion, are nearly uniform, about ninety per cent. of them being carbonate of
lime. The river quarry- and Point Pleasant beds are more silicious, some courses giving as high as
twenty-three and one-half per cent. of salacious matter.
The shales, clays, or marlites which, with the limestones, make up the Cincinnati group and
constitute a large part of the system,—certainly Iour-fiftlis of it in the two lower divisions, and
probably not less than three-fifths of the whole extent. The proportions of limestone and shale do
not appear altogether constant, it is to be observed, at the same horizon, a larger amount of stone
being found at one point than at others. In color they are of a lighter blue than the limestone, and
weather into a drab, though it is shown by analysis that they are different as to composition, drab
shale having a larger percentage of carbonate of lime. Fully sixty-five per cent. of their mass,
taken as a whole, is silicious matter, On exposure to the elements they
14 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
slake almost like lime, and furnish the materials for a fertile soil. In some places—not confined
to any division-- they are heavily charged with fossils, which is the case in the trilobite and
crenoid beds on Stonelick Creek and Rocky Run, in Wayne and Stonelick townships. Where
such is the case, the fossils, as a general thing, are in a good state of preservation. The proportion
of shale to limestone in the Point Pleasant beds is 1.5 to 1 ; river-quarry, 4 to 1 ; Eden shales, 10
to 1 ; Lebanon beds, 2 to 1. Prof, Orton has called attention (though he lets it pass as one of the
unsolved geological problems) to a peculiar feature of the blue limestone beds,—viz., a waved
structure of the solid limestone somewhat analogous in form to the wave-lines and ripple-marks
of the higher series of the State.
This peculiar structure was noticed by him in the upper beds of the formation, but, from personal
observation, it is found throughout the whole series. The rocks exhibiting this structure are the
most compact beds of fossiliferous limestone. The bottom of the waved layer is generally even,
and beneath it is always found an even bed of shale. Its upper surface is diversified with ridge
sand furrows. The distance between the ridges varies from one to four feet. The greatest
thickness of the ridge is from four to eight inches, while the stone at the bottom of the furrow is
reduced to one or two inches, and sometimes it entirely disappears. The waved layers are overlain
by shale in every instance. They are often continuous for a considerable extent, and in such cases
the axes of the ridges and furrows have a uniform direction. This direction varies in different
localities. Not being the proper place for a discussion as to the cause, I will only give the
localities where they may be seen. The most extensive bed that has come under the writer's
observation is near the residence of Frank Wissel, in Stonelick township, where it forms the
bed-rock of Stone- lick Creek. In this bed the thickness of the layer is seven inches and the height
of the ridges four, with the distance of two feet and a half between them. On a branch of Coon
Hollow, in Stonelick township, near the residence of Mrs. Josiah Willeg, is another layer, having
a vertical range of fifty feet above the one already given. In thickness and height of ridges they
are almost identical, but in direction there is fifteen degrees' difference. On the farm of Joseph
Smith, in Jackson township, is a layer that forms a part of the south bank of the east fork at an
elevation of ten feet above low-water mark. This layer was noticed for Over two miles. In
thickness it ranged from six to nine inches, but the direction, height, and distance apart of the
grooves was constant. In this layer the axis of the ridges and furrows was ten degrees south of
east.
At least twenty other points where layers of this kind are seen have been observed by the writer,
though four or five of them belonged to the same horizon undoubtedly. In regard to what series
they are the most abundant, the Eden shales must claim the preference. In an economic sense,
they are unfit for anything save burning into lime, though they would make first-class
building-atone if they had an even surface.
The economical products of the bedded rocks of Clermont County are numerous, but only a few
have been utilized. Building-stone and lime are the only ones that are of any importance, though
the manufacture of cement from the concretionary layer in the Point Pleasant beds must, in the
course of time, become profitable, The above bed also furnishes the most desirable
building-stone. Its limestones are compact, hard, and of a beautiful color, presenting, in
conjunction with the Dayton stone, an attractive appearance.
4.—PALAEONTOLOGY AND GENERAL HISTORY.
That the discussion of this division of the subject may be understood without using geological
technicalities, the topics discussed will be : 1. The Origin of the Bedded Rocks; 2, Their
Palaeontology or Vital History ; 3. Their Physical History,
1.—THE BEDDED ROCKS OF CLERMONT COUNTY,
like all of the great limestone strata that enter into the structure of the earth, were formed beneath
the sea, as has already been hinted. Their beds, both of limestone and shale, are wholly of marine
origin, This is determined by the remains of plants and animals which the formation contains, the
plants being entirely confined to seaweeds and the animals belonging to the class heretofore
mentioned, which are only found in the sea.
There are occasional layers that have a solid and structureless character (especially those forming
the Point Pleasant beds), but in the great majority of them we can mark the remains of the various
living forms of which they are composed. Some of the layers are only ornamented with the
impressions or casts of bivalve shells. Others are almost, if not entirely, composed of shells and
corals, though in the heavy strata the latter are wanting.
The growth of the limestone layers seems to have been interrupted at frequent intervals (notably
in the Lebanon beds, and for a greater length of time in the Eden shales) by the deposition of
shale. The clay and sand of the shales, which constitute more than half of their mass, was derived
from the waste of the land that bounded the Silurian sea, and were transported to their present
location by oceanic currents. The calcareous or lime portion had the same origin as the
limestones. On the East Fork and Shaylor's Run, near East Liberty, Wissel's Run, near its mouth,
are extensive layers of shale that are non-fossiliferous, showing that they were formed when the
oceanic currents were strong. The layers are more abundant in the middle part of the Eden shales,
and not in the upper, as has been claimed.
That the growth of the blue limestone beds, as represented in Clermont County, was slow there is
an abundance of proof. As all their calcareous (or lime) portions were derived from matter that
must have been fashioned through the agency of the animal kingdom, it must have been slow. As
has been previously stated, the surfaces of the limestone layers are generally covered with valves
of sea-shells, which are well represented in the flagging-stone found in Stonelick Creek, near the
residence of Ira Williams, in Stonelick township, and also in a branch of Brushy Fork, on the
farm of David Meek. Again, in some layers the entire mass seems to be made up of shells that
have
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY - 15
in one sense never solidified,—that is, they can be picked out and gathered with as little difficulty
as the shells on the seashore to-day. Good examples of these layers are found at Woodville,
Wayne township, on the Jackson pike, near Owensville, in Stonelick township, and on the farm
of Charles Williams, in the same township. In Clermont County there are several sections
ranging from ten to fifty feet in thickness, and contiguous to sections of non-fossiliferous layers
of about the same thickness, show- ing that a great many local agents were at work in the "old
Silurian sea." Some of the shells found represent tender youth, others vigorous manhood, while
not a few extreme old age. In some layers one genus had undisputed sway, while in others some
two or three found an abiding-place.
The valves of the Strophomena alternata form a greater proportion of the fossil remains of the
blue limestone rocks of Clermont County than any other one species.
The shales, or at least some of their beds, are rich in fossils, as has already been mentioned.
Many of the most delicate forms of the entire series are found only in these deposits. Certain
crinoids (as the Glyphtocrinus decadactylus) and trilobites (Culymene Lenunaria), as noted in
some horizons, are rarely seen in other beds. They occur in the shales in mature and well-grown
forms, not at a single horizon, but in repeated beds. These facts go to prove that in those beds of
shale the growth was as slow as, if not slower than, in the limestone. And the reason that they
have not been found abundantly in all the lime- stone and shale layers is that there was a too
rapid depo- sition of materials which destroyed such kinds of life. On a branch of Coon Hollow
the brachiopod shell Zygospia modesta (Hall) contributes to the blue limestone series many
successive layers several inches in thickness. There are numerous examples in Clermont County
where the solid rock is built up by shells so minute that a microscope must be called to the aid of
the observer.
On the farm of B. F. Clark, in Wayne township, there is a layer of shale, a natural section of
which is shown by Stonelick Creek, fully ninety-five per cent. of which is made up of the heads,
arms, bodies, etc., of the crinoid Glyptocrinus decadactylus, A section is also exposed on the
Obannon, near Goshen, where about the same per cent. of the layer is made up of like remains.
On Rocky Run, near the residence of Peter Anderson, Esq., is a layer of shale almost entirely
made up of perfect trilobites of the species Culymcne Lenanaria. There are other examples, but
these will suffice in this connection.
2.—PALEONTOLOGY OR VITAL HISTORY.
The fossils of the bedded rocks of Clermont County, to which reference has been frequently
made in the preceding pages, are very numerous and cannot fail to attract the attention of the
most thoughtless observer when viewed aside front their value to the scientist, especially when it
is remembered that in them we have the well-preserved re- mains of the first animal life that
appeared on the globe, though countless ages have intervened between their exist- ence and ours.
The Cincinnati group, which is all represented by the bedded rock of Clermont County, is to the
geologist classical ground, as there is no other locality in the world where there are 80 many
well-preserved forms of the inhabitants of that wonderful life-giving or producing sea, and where
they can behold representatives of the lower divisions of the animal kingdom to a certainty. To
give a description of all the fossils of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as found represented in
the bedded rock of Clermont County, would fill a volume of itself; so that only the division,
horizon, and locality of the various fossils will be given. The remains of plants are less abundant
and inter- esting than the animal fossils already noted. The plants of the blue limestone belong
wholly to the lowest divisions of the vegetable kingdom, and are in all cases of marine origin.
Fucoids (seaweeds) are quite numerous throughout the whole series, and assume a great many
different forms. The most peculiar are the dumb-bell and arrowhead. The latter was first noticed
by that veteran palwontologist L. C. Moore, Esq. It was found on Back Run, a branch of the east
fork, about two miles northeast from Batavia, at a horizon of one hundred and seventy-five feet,
and associated with the former. The cross-bone fucoid is found about twenty feet below the
trilobite horizon on the Obannon, at Goshen, on Stonelick Creek, and on a branch of Coon
Hollow, near the residence of Thomas Daugherty, in Batavia township. The writer has some
found at the latter place that are of an enormous size, being over six inches in diameter and four
feet long. In the same horizon rery diminutive ones are found. The beds at Goshen, Clark's, and
Daugherty's belong to the same horizon, and have a vertical range of ten to twelve feet. There are
several other localities in the county where they can be found, but these are the most prominent.
The corals of the Cincinnati group are very numerous and interesting. During the past year the
writer has discovered some five or six new species. The star and bullhorn (common names) are
the most interesting. The former is found in abundance on the farm of Valentine Dollar, in
Stonelick township ; the latter at least in four or five localities. The various forms of the genus
Chaetetes are found almost in every horizon in the country.
The Graptolite family is only represented by one species* (Graptolithus gracilis), which was first
discovered by L. C. Moore, Esq., and is found in a single horizon in the bed of the east fork a
short distance above Batavia.
The most beautiful of all the fossils found in Clermont County are the various genera of the
crinoid family. Of these the genus Glytocriuus decadactylus (Hall) is the most abundant and
interesting. It is found in only one horizon in Clermont County, at an elevation of three hun- dred
and twenty-five feet, with a vertical range of not to exceed six feet, though stems are found to a
greater alti- tude. One peculiarity of this as well as other specks is that it is not found
continuously, but in colonies, or, to use a miner's term, in pockets. On Stonelick, near the
residence of B. F. Clark, Elijah Cowen found over two hundred in one colony, and in some ten or
fifteen, over twelve hun- dred perfect specimens. They were all large and well pre- served. The
same horizon is found on the Obannon, near
* Since writing the above two other species have been discovered.
16 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO,
Goshen, where similar colonies were found by Dr. A. B. Anshutz, though in not so large a
number. The specimens obtained from this locality are the best in the State. A great many have
been mounted by Harry Anshutz, Esq.
There are only two other localities in the county where this species is found,—viz., on Rocky
Run, and near the residence of W, South, deceased, on a branch of Brushy Fork. The writer has a
fine specimen of the species (Anomalocrinus incurvus), which was found at a much lower
horizon on the same stream where the M. & C. Turnpike crosses it.
Several other species have been noted by Dr. A. B. Anshutz, L. C. Moore, Esq., Dr, J. B,
Thompson, Enoch Johnston, Esq., and the writer, which space will forbid mentioning. Of the
genus Agelacrinus (Vanuxem), one species (Agelacrinus vorticellata) has been noted, its horizon
being found near Batavia, in a natural section exposed by the east fork. This genus is closely
allied, as well as the other genera, to the crinoids. In the ascending scale the next division of the
animal kingdom that we come to is the Mollusca. Of the five general divisions into which this
family is divided, all are well represented by forty-five genera and at least one hundred and fifty
species, and go to make up fully nine-tenths of the fossils found in the bedded rocks of Clermont
County.
Of the division Cephalophoda, the genus Orthoceras is the most abundant,—at least is
represented by several species which reached a greater size than any of the inhabitants of the
Lower Silurian Period.
The species Orthoceras Tuibidum is found in a dozen different localities, representing at least
half that number of horizons, but is generally found in the Eden shales. One of the best localities
known is on the farm of Thomas Daugherty, in Batavia township. The species 0. Duseii is also
found in different localities, while it is generally found in the shale, by no means always. Some
two or three specimens (typical) can be seen crystallized in the flagging forming the sidewalks of
Owensville. The largest specimens of the former, some six inches in diameter and twenty in
length (but not representing all—only a part—of the specimen), belong to Dr. J. B. Thompson, of
Bethel, and were obtained near that place at an elevation of four hundred feet.* (Enoch Johnson,
L. C. Moore, and the writer have specimens of this and other species that are remarkably large,)
Of the latter P. T. Stuart, of Perin's Mills, has the largest, which is eighteen inches long, and was
found at the horizon of one hundred and eighty feet. Of all the species that have been examined
by the writer, one in the possession of L. C. Moore, Esq., is the most interesting from its peculiar
shape, which might be named the Mori/ (or fan) orthoceras. It was found near Batavia in a cut
made by the Cincinnati and Erie Railroad, at the horizon of one hundred and seventy-five feet.
This specimen is eleven inches long and two in diameter. The siphuncle is plainly shown, and at
the lateral end is a fan-hke expansion ; hence the name.
Of the gasteropod shells of the group, at least fifteen genera, with five times that number of
species, are recog-
* The Ohio River at low-water mark at Cincinnati as the base.
nized. At the horizon of three hundred feetthey were found in abundance, associated with the
brachiopods. On Stonelick Creek, near the residence of Elijah Cowen, on Still Run, near the
residence of Jacob Balthizer, and on Coon Hollow, near the residence of Josiah Pierce, they are
found. There are other localities in different horizons, but the one of one hundred and fifty feet
seems the most prolific.
The species Orthis biforata is found throughout the whole series, and is one of three out of sixty
species representing twelve genera, This species, at the horizon of four hundred feet, is very
numerous. On a branch of Stonelick Creek, near the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Ware, they are
lying loose in the bed o the stream, where they can be picked up by the hundred, of all sizes. The
species Strophomena alternata has also a wide vertical range, but there are not so many varieties
as has the first. Leptcena cericea also has a great vertical as well as horizontal range, but does not
attain full size in the bedded rocks of Clermont County. There are many species of the
lamellibranch mollusks found in different horizons in the county. The genus Avicula is well
represented by one species, the Avicula demissa, which is found in the :lame horizon with the
crinoid Glyptocrinus decadactylus and trilobite Claymene Lenanaria.
Of the divisions of the animal kingdom, the branch Articulata, to the masses as well as to the
geologist, is the most interesting. Not only are they interesting on account of their beauty, but
from the enormous size that some of the species of trilobites have attained. There are only two
species found in Clermont County, representing that many genera,—viz., Claymene Lenanaria
and Asaphus gigas,—and, so far as has been observed, are found in the same horizon, that of four
hundred feet,—probably less,—with the exception of two, which are four hundred and fifty. The
first species is the most abundant. The only localities in which it has been found are on Hunter's
Run (a branch of Stonelick Creek) and at Orebaugh's steam grist-mill, at Newtonville, in Wayne
township, which are in the same horizon as, and fifty feet higher than, the following localities :
At Clark's saw-mill, on Stonelick Creek ; on Rocky Run, near the residence of Peter Anderson ;
on a branch of Brushy Fork, near the residence of William South, deceased, in Stonelick
township ; on the farm of Thomas Daugherty, in Batavia township ; near Harlow's grist-mill, on
the east fork, in Jackson township ; and on the Obannon, near Goshen in Goshen township. The
vertical range of all these beds, representing two horizons, is not to exceed ten feet. On the farm
of Thomas Daugherty the horizon is within three feet of the surface of the table-land. The second
species has been found in connection with the first at only two localities,—viz,, at Clark's
saw-mill, on Stonelick, and at Orebaugh's, at Newton,-where they were found (and the horizon
exposed) by the digging of a well. Here it was struck at eight feet from the surface. It is a shale
about three feet in thickness. From this locality some very fine specimens have been obtained,
now in the possession of Dr. W. E. Anderson, of that place. At Clark's mill at least two thousand
have been found in the last twenty years of the former, and twenty of the latter. T
t Not twenty thousand.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY - 17
The Asaplius gigas found here it larger than at Newtonville, but not so well preserved. Of the
various species of the star-fish, only one has been found so far in Clermont County, which was
the Paleaster incomptus, at Goshen, by Harry Anshutz, Esq., which was unknown to the writer
until after the preceding pages had -been written ; hence the cause of its being noted in this
connection.
3.--PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE CINCINNATI GROUP.
The third topic of this general division will be treated under the following heads : 1. The
Cincinnati Anticlinal, including a discussion of the dip of its beds ; 2. The Date of its Upheaval,
as determined by its relations to surrounding formations.
1. The gentle fold in the strata of the Mississippi Valley which traverses the central regions of
Tennessee and Kentucky, and which afterwards enters Ohio in its southwest corner, passing
thence across the State to Canada in a direction little east of north, has long been recognized
under the name of the Cincinnati anticlinal., or the Cincinnati axis, and was one of the earliest
folds that constitute the Appalachian mountain system. The strata on both sides of the Cincinnati
anticlinal axis dip in opposite directions ; thus, the strata that are formed on top of the hills in
Clermont County can be followed to the eastern side of Brown, where they disappear below the
river with a marked easterly dip, while on the west the same beds are carried beneath the river
with a stronger westerly dip. In traveling east or west from this axis you strike the coal-fields of
Ohio and Indiana at about the same distance through the same intervening formations. The real
existence of these facts within the observation of' the mediocre proves the proposition beyond a
doubt. And that it passes through Bethel is claimed by Professor Orton, who has made a special
study of it, though we are inclined to think that it is several miles too far east.
By measuring the height of the same stratum at different places would establish it somewhere in
Clermont County beyond a doubt. The easterly, westerly, and northerly dip are respectively five,
twelve, and forty-seven inches to the mile, and that it is continuous throughout the State has been
proven where artesian and other wells have been sunk to a sufficient depth.
2. From the multitude of fossils found in the rocks that once formed the bottom of the Silurian
sea, representing by their appearance extreme age, proves the fact that the Cincinnati axis was of
very slow growth. " It was only a gentle flexure of the earth's crust, involving the Lower and
Upper Silurian, and to some extent the Devonian, formations of Ohio." To the southward its
emergence as an island from that ancient sea was probably of earlier date than in Ohio, and so
was it in Clermont County before Franklin in the central part. Thus different portions of the
geological series of this general region known as an island have been involved in the different
stages of its history. From the foregoing facts, and many more that might be adduced, it appears
that the Cincinnati axis in Clermont ̊County was raised above the sea just after the close of the
Lower Silurian period, and that it underwent many oscillations, but those of elevation exceeded
those of' depression, and, too, that the rate of movement was exceedingly slow, which is shown
by the small dip of the strata that have been elevated, by the want of any anticlinal fracture in the
Cincinnati beds; and, too, that the Lebanon beds once crowned all of the anticlinal axis in
Clermont County there is no doubt. The denuding agencies to which the bedded rocks of
Clermont County have been exposed during the cycles of time since they were added to the dry
land of the globe would certainly appear a sufficient reason for the loss of the greater part of the
crows.
DRIFT.
Nowhere in the State is the drift so interesting as in Clermont County, where it has not only
modified the topography of the county by the filling up of ancient river channels and causing new
ones to be made, but has reversed the order of glacial deposition as found elsewhere, where local
agents have so destroyed its uniformity of composition, depth, and horizon as to perplex the
student of geology as to its history. Bringing, as it has, the precious metals from the distant north,
furnishing a soil which for fertility cannot be excelled, and a horizon for springs so important to a
people given to stock-raising, it must necessarily be treated of under the following heads,—viz.,
1. Origin and General History ; 2. Division of the Drift.
I. ORIGIN AND GENERAL HISTORY.
As has been before stated, there are no records left in Clermont County of the fifteen geological
periods intervening between the Lower Silurian and Quaternary, representing some of the most
important epochs in geological history and immense cycles of time. That such is the case every
one will acknowledge when it is remembered that this portion of the Silurian island was above
the sea, while other portions of the continent were below it.
At the close of the Tertiary (or third period) there was a general upheaval of the northern part of
the continent, raising it several thousand feet above its previous or present height. This
phenomenon was followed by intense cold area the formation of extensive continental glaciers,
which, in the course of time, moved southward, down, as it were, an inclined plane, grinding and
crushing everything in their path. Thus it was that the basins of the Great Lakes were formed, and
the debris scattered all over the State in the form of bowlder or Eric clay. This bowlder clay, the
oldest of the drift series, is not universally found in Clermont County, nor is it uniform in depth
or stratification. Immediately after the first phenomenon a second one occurred, in which there
was a general depression of the central and northern portions of the continent and the return of a
milder climate, which melted the glaciers that had found a resting-place, as it were, in the
Buckeye State. The result of this depression was the return of a milder climate, as has already
been stated, and the appearance of vegetable life in Clermont County and elsewhere in the central
and southern portions of the State, as attested by the numerous forest-beds found overlying the
native soils and bowlder clay. This phenomenon has been styled the inter-glacial stage. This
stage was succeeded by another, which might be called the iceberg, the cause of which was a
partial re elevation of the land and a partial return of a
18 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
cold climate, productive of local glaciers and icebergs, which was followed by a partial
subsidence, and is known as the terrace epoch, the last geological phenomenon experienced
during the Quaternary Period.
2, DIVISION OF THE SERIES.
Under this head the following subdivisions will be made, and treated of in the order in which
they are given : 1. Bowlder Clay ; 2. Forest-Beds ; 3. Yellow and White Clays ; 4. River-Terraces
; 5. Alluvial Dept sits.
1. Bowlder Clay,—The evidences of glacial action are numerous in Clermont County, though but
two terminal moraines of small areas are found within its limits as far south as the Ohio River.
Of these, one is on Bull- skin Creek, about two miles from its mouth, in Franklin township ; the
other near Blairville, in Pierce township. From natural and artificial sectionr it is probable that
the bowlder clay covers one-tenth of the ancient floor or bedded rocks in the county. It is not
confined to any definite horizon, it being in some places one hundred feet below the surface,
while in others it forms it. In some localities it is stratified, while in others it is not. As to
structure and composition it is almost universally the same, being a blue clay (the flour of
hmestones and shales that have been ground by the glacial mills) intermixed with small pebbles
and bowlders of crystalline rocks and frag- ments of limestone scratched and considerably worn
by attrition, all belonging to a higher series than ours.
In Stonelick township, on the farm of Wm. Cook, are some very heavy deposits, at least forty feet
in thickness, and covered by two or three feet of surface soil. Near the residence of Elisha
Williams it crosses the present bed of Brushy Fork at right angles, showing that the channel ran
in another direction and at a lower horizon once in its history. On the farm of John Rapp are also
some very heavy deposits. On the farm of A. J. Turner a heavy deposit is shown by a natural
section of Possum Hollow. It is at least fifty feet thick. This stream shows a section of an ancient
drift-filled channel, where the structure and composition were different, being almost wholly
composed of flat limestones set on edge and mixed with enough concre- tionary matter to cement
the whole together like grouting. In Miami township are some heavy deposits, on the farms of
Daniel Turner, E. W. Jones, John Armstrong, and Thos. Highlands. In Union township there are
some very heavy deposits on Salt Run. In Batavia township it is shown along the Williamsburgh
turnpike, on the Bata- via Hill, where it has not so many bowlders, etc,, in it, and closely
approximates to till. On Backbone Run, on the farm of Thos. Marsh, a typical section is shown,
where it has been stratified, also at the mouth of Backbone Run. Some very heavy deposits are
seen in Union and Pierce townships, along the line of the Ohio River branch of the C. & E.
Railroad. On the farm of John Shaw, one and a half miles northeast of New Richmond, some of
the largest bowlders ever noticed by the writer in the bowlder clay were seen, where it has
completely filled up the chan- nel of an ancient rivulet.
In a great many places the bowlder clay is overlaid by a greater or less thickness of line laminated
clay without pebbles, which belongs to it, their composition being the same, and origin identical.
Again, at various places, it is overlaid with stratified gravel and sand. Good examples of this are
seen at Turner's Hill, near Stonelick ; on the farm of Wm. Shutnard, near Blairsville, in Pierce
township ; and at least in a dozen other localities the same thing has been noted. In every case the
gravel and sand showed that they had been deposited in water. In all the exam- ples given there is
more or less conglomerate.
2. Forest-Beds.--This name was given to one of the divisions of the drift which consists of a thin
sheet of soil that covers the bedded rocks and bowlder clay to a great extent in Clermont County
(the origin of which has already been given), and was the product of a growth of vegetation
which after the retreat of the glaciers covered the greater part of the morainic material left behind
them. This was for ages a land-surface which sustained a forest of arbores- cent and herbaceous
plants, the home of the mammoth, mastodon, giant beaver, and doubtless many other animals. It
does not always overlay the bowlder clays, but sometimes rests on the rocky floor of the county.
It varies from five to thirty.five feet in thickness so far as it has come under the notice of the
writer.
In some localities the logs, stumps, etc., are found in a horizontal position, while in others they
are vertical. Not only have logs, stumps, etc., been found, but great masses of leaves and
vegetable matter, together with vivianite (or sulphate of iron), seams of ochreous clays, and beds
of bog-iron ore. Near the residence of B. F. Clark, in Wayne township, it was struck at five feet
from the surface, in which wood, leaves, and vivianite were found to the depth of thirty-five feet,
at which point or depth the bed-rock was not reached. On the farm of Thomas Shumard, in
Stonelick township, at twenty-six feet from the surface logs were struck, also leaves found. On
the farm of A. G. Hartman, at thirty-six feet from the surface logs were struck, and at twenty-two
feet a seam of bituminous coal two feet in thickness was found, that looked as though it had
originated there. In Union township, on the farm of John Avey, at the depth of twenty-five feet,
coal was found, and at thirty feet from the surface leaves carbonized. In the town of Batavia it
has been found at twenty feet below the surface, when leaves, wood, etc., have also been found in
a good state of preservation. In the town of New Richmond, at thirty-six feet below the surface,
limbs of trees were found in a good state of preservation. These are only a few out of a hundred
that might be given. Some of these wells were at a higher elevation than the surrounding country,
while others seem to have been at one time in swales.
There is only one locality in Clermont County where these forest-beds are found to cover any
extent of country, and that is in Tate township, where they are universally found at fifteen to
twenty feet below the surface. There are several instances known to the writer where wells within
one hundred feet would show opposite drift formations. In the one the bowlder clay would be
found resting on a rocky. floor overlaid by a forest-bed of considerable thickness and last by a
stratum of clay, white ; the other would have a stratum of yellow clay resting on the rocky floor,
which
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY - 19
was not over ten feet from the surface. As these beds can only be seen by artificial sections, their
horizontal extent can never to a certainty be ascertained, but must ever continue to be the most
interesting division of the series,
3, Yellow and White Clays.—It will be remembered, at the close of the interglacial stage., that
there was a partial re-elevation of the land and a partial return of local glaciers and icebergs. As
the re-elevation was gradual, the first phenomenon would be icebergs, followed by local glaciers,
which transported the waste. of the bowlder clay as far south as the Ohio River in Clermont
County. In composition the yellow is almost identical with the bowlder, but in structure it has no
scratched limestone of any series imbedded in it, but has, to a greater or less extent, crystalline
rocks well worn and of various sizes. Its vertical range is, taken as a whole, about fifteen feet,
with a horizontal one of two-thirds of the surface of Clermont County, and forms the surface
soils of a great portion of it. This clay, in an economic sense, is the most important of all the
series, as from it immense quantities of brick are annually manufactured for home and foreign
consumption. It should have been remarked that in one or two localities it only covers the bedded
rocks to the depth of two or three feet, as is the case in that portion of' Stonelick and Jackson
townships through which the Jackson pike runs, and that all the heavy deposits of gravel and
conglomerate are overlaid by it, showing conclusively that those peculiar formations could only
be accounted for by the theory that the stratified gravel and sand had been transported by icebergs
and deposited in a mass in quiet waters.
The white clays, which constitute the surface-soils of about one-fourth of Clermont County, are
stratified and of a finer structure, and have no limestone or crystalline rocks in them, and are
locally known as the swamp-lands of the county. Over nearly all of Clermont County here and
there bowlders or erratic blocks are found on the surface, sometimes resting on the rocky floor of
the county, but almost universally on the clays. These bowlders are generally composed of
metamorphic and crystalline rocks, such as are found in the Canadian highlands today, and which
have been brought to their present locality by icebergs. These bowlders are more abundant in
Stonelick township than in any other part of the county. A few of the largest will be mentioned:
Near the residence of Henry Long, on the township road, is one that will weigh twelve tons ; on
the farm of Ezekiel Mitchell are some three or four of the same dimensions ; on the farm of John
Rapp is one that will weigh twenty tons, in which copper-ore has been discovered ; on the farm
of J. L. Gerard is one, on the north slope of the hill, one hundred feet above the bed of Stone-
lick, and about the same from the brow of the hill ; on the same farm are several others, some on
the table-land and two at the base of the hills of Still Run ; near Perinsis Mills are some very
large ones, on the farms of Daniel Turner, E. W. Jones, and Thomas Highlands ; in the townships
bordering on the Ohio River they are not so numerous ; on the farm of John Shaw several were
noticed ; near New Richmond and Blairville a few have been also noted by the writer. Mention
has been made by Prof. Orton of one at Bethel, on the farm of Col. Perrine. As to kind, the
granites are the most abundant, especially the red, though greenstones and slate are occasionally
seen.
4. River Terraces.—These terraces belong to the terrace epoch, the last phenomenon of the
Quaternary Period and chapter of the drift. They are not numerous in Clermont County, the most
extensive one being near Milford. That these gravel terraces were formed under a different order
of things than now exists there is not the least doubt, from the fact that they are elevated at least
fifty feet above high-water mark, and from their arrangement have been deposited in still water ;
which is explained by the following theory, viz., that the continent sank during the later stages of
this period considerably below its present level, and that it was afterward re-elevated. During the
period of their formation a portion of Clermont County was submerged and covered by a large
body of fresh water, in which these terraces were formed from the sand and gravel brought down
by the streams now found in the county, At the close of this period there was a gradual elevation
of the continent, as has been previously stated, and a subsidence of the fresh water, causing the
deposits in the channels to be carried by the force of their currents to lower levels, constituting
the upper portions of the river-bottoms of to-day, and filling and changing the course of some of
the small streams of the county. These terraces in many cases changed the channels of the
streams, as is to be observed at Milford; for the Miami at one time ran northeast of the town, with
the mouth of the east fork near the cemetery.
5. Alluvial Deposits.—That the present system of draining was but little affected by the drift in
Clermont County is obvious, from the fact that not all of its surface was covered by its deposits,
and that. they were not continuous and uniform, and that but few of the channels of the streams
have been changed from what they were at the beginning of that most interesting of all
periods,--viz., the Quaternary. In the discussion of alluvial deposits, the writer takes the liberty of
going beyond the effects of surface erosion. Let it be understood that at the beginning of the
glacial epoch the bed of the Ohio River, as well as that of its tributaries, was much lower than at
the present time. The first deposit of the drift was the bowlder clay, which is found in many of
the channels of the lesser streams of the county, and which is the lowest stratum of the deposits,
resting as it does, in most instances, on the bedded rocks. Next in the ascending order is the
forest-beds, which are found in the Ohio Valley, at a distance of thirty to forty feet below the
present surface, and which at one time constituted the ancient soil of the valley, and were formed
during the inter-glacial stage, when the channel of the river was Sixty feet lower than at the
present time and above high-water mark, and not, as one would suppose, from sediment
deposited by annual overflows, together with the leaves, logs, etc., found in that horizon. This
forest-bed is covered by ochreous clay, sand, gravel, etc,, to a depth of fifteen to thirty feet. As
has been stated, at the close of the terrace epoch there was a vast amount of deposits in the
channels of the various streams emptying into the Ohio east fork and Miami Rivers. These
deposits consisted of gravel and sand, with occasional layers of clay, which at Blairville is
manufactured into the best of brick. During the time that has intervened between
20 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
the last of the drift epochs to the present erosion has been actively at work, bringing sand, gravel,
and rocks of con- siderable size from higher altitudes, and depositing them on the lowlands that
border on the above-named streams. That the reader may have a better idea of how the channel of
the east fork has been filled up,--not only its present, but ancient,—a few sections will be given
as obtained from the digging and driving of wells. At the residence of T. C. Teal, Esq., a
drive-well was sunk to the depth of thirty-six feet in the ancient channel without striking the
bedded rocks, of which the following is a section : Two feet of soil, ten feet of case gravel, four
of fine sand, six of case river-washed gravel, six of fine blue sand having phosphate of iron in it,
two of laminated blue clay, six of case sand. The bottom of this well is twenty feet below the
bottom of the present channel of the east folk, which is solid limestone. On the farm of James
Gerning, on the opposite side of the east fork, a well was sunk forty feet through gravel, sand,
etc. ; on the farm of George Turner is a drive-well twenty-six feet deep, where about the same
order was ob- served; at Perin's Mills are several which have been w- iled to the depth of from
twenty-six to forty-two feet, where about the same order of' deposits was obtained ; and in every
instance the bedded rocks were not reached. That the drift deposits of Clermont County will
always continue to be an interesting feature of its geology cannot be denied, but that they may be
fully understood will require time, as but little more can be known of them except by artificial
sections as furnished by railroad cuts and wells; and, too, that the alluvial deposits:, as
represented by the valley of the east fork, will, as they have in the past, be a source of wealth to it
which cannot be estimated in the future.
MINERALOGY.
In an economic sense, there are no minerals in Clermont County besides the blue limestone rocks
that are found all over it at or near the surface to a great depth, and the yellow clays, which are
also found in abundance, from which millions of' brick are annually manufactured for home and
foreign consumption.
The blue limestone rocks vary as to composition and thickness, and are chiefly quarried for
burning into lime and for building purposes. Those strata that are made up of the remains of the
various inhabitants of the Silurian sea are not suitable for building-rock, being what quarry- men
call " shelly," and are more readily affected by the ele- ments, as they are not so compact in
structure as those. having no fossils in them„ Again, they are generally from one to two inches in
thickness, and cannot be so profitably quarried as those from six to twelve. They do not yield as
much lime by fifteen per cent. Among their many disadvantages they have one advantage over
their thicker brethren, being in demand for flagging. Good examples are seen in the bed of
Stonelick Creek, near the residences of Elijah Cowen and Ira Williams, and in a branch of
Brushy Fork, near the residence of William South, in Stonelick township, where they are
quarried in large quantities.
The Cincinnati beds have no very heavy strata in Clermont County. The only stratum that is over
twelve inches in thickness is seen on a brunch of Salt Run, in Union township, where one
measures sixteen. From this stratum bases for gravestones and rock for building purposes have
been quarried, and it would burn into a good lime for underground masonry, abutments for
bridges, etc. For plastering the Jima would set too quick, and be what plasterers call "too hot." Its
composition is ninety-five per cent of carbonate of lime, with only a trace of magnesia ; and if
this stratum were near a railroad, with good facilities for transportation, its lime would outsell the
famous Springfield for many things. While it is true that you find a layer now and then of
considerable thickness, as a general thing they soon run out, being local.
The largest limekilns in the county are situated on Coon Hollow, in Batavia township, where
from three to five thou- sand bushels are annually burned for home consumption. Near New
Richmond there are several small kilns. There are several quarries located at different places in
the county, where more or less rock is quarried for home consumption, but the only ones where
they are for export are located in the Point Pleasant beds, which are exposed along the Ohio
River just above low water from New Richmond to Chilo. They furnish a most desirable building
stone, being compact, free from fossils, of a good color, and easily worked as com- pared with
the rocks of the Cincinnati beds. In thickness, the strata range from eight to twenty inches, and
are very uniform. Several thousand perches are annually taken to Cincinnati on flatboats.
The following persons have quarries: Jerry Deleany, W. P. Flanigan, Bushman Laycock, and J.
A. Cox. The foundation-stones of the piers of the Cincinnati suspension bridge were obtained
from these quarries.
A heavy concretionary stratum is also found in the same horizon, which is useless for building
purposes, but makes a good article of hydraulic cement. To the geologist, as well as the masses,
these beds and quarries are the most interesting and profitable of any found in the limits of the
county, and must continue to be a good investment to those who have been so fortunate as to
become the owners of them.
In the drift deposits of Clermont County, which cover two-thirds of its surface, platinum, gold,
and silver have been found, together with the various ores of iron, copper, and lead.
Platinum has only been found at one place in the county, —viz., at Elk Lick,—and was first
discovered in 1869 by a German geologist from Vienna, Austria.
The existence of gold in the drift of Clermont County was first discovered, in 1869, on the farm
of Robert Wood, near Elk Lick. A short time after its discovery, Capt. Glass organized a
company, and spent between two and three thousand dollars in the building of a flume to wash
the gravel in which the gold was found. After two hundred rods had been built a freshet occurred,
which washed it all away but one section of sixteen feet, from which twenty dollars in gold-dust
was obtained.
After this unfortunate circumstance occurred, work was discontinued. Other parties also
prospected on the same farm and near Batavia, but without success. In April, 1872, John and
Joseph Dumford obtained fifteen dollars in two hours by crevassing on Wissel's Run, in
Stonelick
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY - 21
township. In August of that year the "Stonelick Valley Mining Company" was organized. It
leased the farm of A. J. Turner, and commenced to tunnel through the hill near his residence
from the Possum Hollow side. After spending one hundred dollars and penetrating the bill about
thirty-five feet, it was abandoned! These are the only companies that were ever organized to
develop the Clermont County gold-mines, though every ravine and gulch in it has been
prospected for that precious metal. From one to thirty colons can be found in a pan of dirt by
crevassing in the beds of any of the streams found in the county.
The most prominent places besides those given are on the farms of William Cook, George Smith,
and Clemons Groth, in Stonelick township. On the farm of the latter, Clinton Hill found a piece
worth fifty cents in a pocket in the Erie clay. On the pike leading from Batavia to the county
infirmary, at the spring east of the latter, colors can be found by washing the gravel.
In a word, the Clermont Comity gold-fields are wherever you find bowlder or Erie clay and
gravel, The gold found is very pure, ranging from twenty-two to twenty-three carats in fineness,
and is what miners call "float,"—that is, gold that has been carried some distance from the drift
proper by erosion (or the force of running water or ice), and deposited in the crevices of the rocks
in the bed of the streams and the pockets or holes in the Erie clay, wherever that forms the
bed-rock, Flint-gold has a bright metallic lustre, like coins just from the mint. As gold is always
found in situ with the Primary rocks, of which there are none exposed in Clermont County, it
becomes an undisputed fact that its origin is foreign.
Though gold is seldom found among our northern erratics, there is where it came from, and, in
fact, all the minerals of Clermont County. William Cook and Jasper Dumford, each had
specimens of gold in quartz of great purity, and worth about forty cents each. The writer has a
specimen of quartz with silver in it that was found on Sugar-Camp Run in 1872. This is the only
one that has ever been found in the county, as now known.
Copper has been found in connection with lead near Fax Rock, on Salt Rae, in Union township,
and at several other places in the county. In 1871 a piece of galena-ore (or sulphuret of lead) was
found on the farm of John Moore, in Stonelick township, weighing eleven pounds.
It is claimed, with some authority, that the early settlers obtained their lead from this locality.
One thing is known,—that pieces of various sizes are found on it at the present time. Not only
has lead been found on the Moore farm, but in Union, Batavia, and Pierce townships in small
quantities.
The only beds of iron-ore of any extent found in the county are on the farm of Samuel Morehead,
in Jackson township, which have a surface area of about twenty acres and a vertical range of two
feet, and of the variety called bog. Analysis shows that it contains about forty-one per cent. of
metallic ore.
On the farm of Jasper Dumfold, in Stonelick township, red hematite ore has been found in
considerable quantities in the bed of a small brook. One of the best specimens of
that kind of ore ever seen by the writer was found on the farm of Bertrand Fomarin, in the same
township.
There are fifty places in Clermont County where some of the numerous iron-ores can be found,
especially bog and red hematite, Argillaceous ore is universally found in the yellow clays, and is
a shell of iron inclosing a nodule of clay. Sulphate of iron is found in the drift on the farms of A.
J. Turner, F. Wissel, and Clemens Grotte, in Stonelick township. In the tunnel on the farm of A.
J. Turner, for four inches above the bed-rock, or bowlder-clay, it constitutes ten per cent. of the
mass.
Though sulphate of iron and argillaceous iron-ore are of no practical value, they are not without
scientific interest. As before remarked, all the above ores are found in the drift, whose origin has
been before given.
Bituminous coal has been found on the farms of Dr. J. B. Cline and John Avey, in Union
township, twelve feet below the surface, and was discovered by the digging of wells. It has also
been found on the surface. Though having been exposed to the elements for ages, it burns
readily. In Jackson township, on the farm now owned by Albert Hartman, a seam two feet thick
was struck in the drift twenty-six feet from the surface. This is the only place yet known to the
writer where it was not promiscuously mixed with sand and pebbles, and sometimes logs and
leaves.
Near the residence of Mrs. Maria Dumford, in Stonelick township, sulphate of lime (or plaster of
Paris) is found between the layers of limestone. It is very pure, and is found in uneven sheets.
There was a time when the mineral springs of Clermont County were not without value to the
pioneer settlers. As early as 1798 salt was made from brine obtained from a well near Woodville
(now claimed to be in Warren County). It was twenty-eight feet deep, and sunk partly in the drift
and limestone. The stock of the wooden pump can still be seen, though the brine in the well was
exhausted over forty years ago. There are several salt springs in the vicinity, but that was the only
one ever utilized. The salt manufactured from its brine was first-class in every respect. It is
supposed to have been used by the Indians. Near Salt Run, in Union township, brine was
obtained from a well, from which salt was manufactured at an early date. Several springs existed
years ago, but are now gone. Near Elk Lick, in Batavia township, are several salt springs ; from
them salt was manufactured by the " Jersey Settlement," though the quantity was small as
compared with the amount made at Woodville. They are now hardly licks, and in the course of
time will entirely lose their mineral ingredients. On the line between Clermont and Brown
Counties, in Jackson township, there were several springs fifty years ago, from the water of
which salt was made. They are now licks, which in Clermont County number over fifty, and were
the great resorts of the wild animals before and during its early settlement. In Stonelick township
there are several wells that are brackish which have been sunk in the salt horizon. These springs,
though a greater part of them are situated in the drift, certainly do- rive their salt from the blue
limestone rocks and shales.
There are also several springs in the county that hold in
22 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
solution sulphur, iron, and magnesia. On the farm of John Good, in Jackson township, is a
spring, on the bank of Pleasant Run, which is strongly impregnated with sulphur. On the same
stream and township, on the farm of T. D. Hartman, is a large spring, the water of which holds in
solution sulphur, iron, and magnesia. There are many springs that hold iron in solution in their
water in this county, but are of neither scientific nor medicinal value, but only contribute their
mite in making Clermont one of the most peculiar counties, geologically speaking, in the State.
FRESH-WATER SUPPLY.
In an economic sense, we have now come to one of the most important divisions of the geology
of the county. Those who have studied the structure of the blue limestone rocks of the Cincinnati
group (which have a thickness of one thousand feet) well know that they form an impervious
strata, through which the water dist falls on the surface cannot to any extent percolate and forms
large underground reservoirs in the shape of broad and shallow sheets or narrow rills, and that
but little of the water-supply comes from wells or springs that are sunk and have their source of
supply in its bedded rocks, but' that the greater portion of it comes from wells and springs that
have been sunk and have their origin in the bowlder clay, which is the horizon of nine-tenths of
the springs in Clermont County.
On the farm of G. W. Boutell, near Charleston, in Goshen township, is a spring, having its source
in the Lowlder clay, that furnishes that neighborhood with an abundance of water. On the farms
of J. W. S. Robinson and A. J. Turner are several large springs that have their origin in the drift.
On the farm of John Armstrong, in Miami township, are several that are of like origin and would
make a six-inch stream if confined to one waste-way. On the farm of G, Swing, in the same
township, is one that runs a four-inch stream, a part of which has been utilized by the Cincinnati
Turnpike Company for a watering-place. On the farm of Ezekiel Edwards, in Union township,
are a series of springs, at the foot of the second bottoms, in which the bowlder clay forms the
bed-rock. These springs extend a distance of half a mile, and if collected would make a stream
two feet in diameter. There are hundreds of others that might be named of like character. On the
farm of A. M, Marsh, in Stonelick township, is a well thirteen feet deep that has its source of
water-supply in the bowlder clay, that in an ordinary sense is inexhaustible. On the farm of
Daniel Long, in Jackson township, a well was dug a few years ago that never could be walled up
all the way, the vein, which was also in the bowlder clay, being too strong. On the farm of
Harmon Cover, in the same township, a well was dug some three years ago in which the bowlder
clay was penetrated for some distance, and while the hands were eating their dinner a loud noise
like the rushing of water was heard, and upon examination it was found that a vein had burst out
some four feet from the bottom. This well furnishes an inex- haustible supply of water during the
most severe droughts.
While it is true that you do not always find water in the bowlder clay, yet it serves a twofold
purpose by being an impervious stratum, so that where there are basins it holds
all the surface water, and by having seams of sand and gravel running through it, that are like
surface streams, constantly carrying their underground waste-water to a lower level. By the
clearing of the forests and the ditch- ing of the swamp-lands the streams of Clermont County do
not furnish•one-fifth the water-power they did fifty years ago, and as the country grows so will it
decrease in a like ratio, so that in the course of time artificial means must be resorted to for stock
and manufacturing purposes by the digging of wells, cisterns, and reservoirs.
SOILS.
The surface soils of Clermont County may be divided into two distinct classes as to origin,—viz.,
native and foreign. The native soils are those which have been formed in situ from the
disintegration of the surface or blue lime- stone rocks and the decomposition of vegetable matter.
They are chiefly found on the southern slopes of the hills of the Ohio and its tributaries, and
constitute one-third of the surface of the townships bordering on that river. As the surface rocks
are all the same, they do not differ much as to composition. In color they vary from a light to a '
dark brown, in proportion CO the amount of organic matter incorporated with them. Near the
stratified rocks they are generally of a greenish east. In depth they vary from two to ten inches,
being the shallowest of all the soils. They are very fertile, producing large crops for years in
succession without exhausting their fertility. They are tenacious and do not pulverize as readily
as the foreign, and are more liable to bake if stirred when wet. They hold moisture better than any
of the other soils, and corn especially seems to stand a drought without firing, when it would
have been ruined on the others. They do not wash badly, being neither light, porous, nor friable.
They are naturally adapted to the growth of Indian corn, tobacco, and wheat. The famous
tobacco- and wheat-lands of Franklin, Washington, Monroe, and Ohio townships belong to this
class. All kinds of fruits do well on them. The vine especially rewards the husbandman with large
crops, and in the course of time the cultivation of the grape on these soils will become the lead-
ing interest, agriculturally, of Southern Clerniont. They are always covered with a large grAth of
timber, of which buckeye, hackberry, black- and white-walnut, white- or blue- ash, and red-elm
are the most abundant. They have but one disadvantage to offset their great excellences in part :
their slight depth in most places makes their tillage difficult. A good example of them may be
seen in the vineyard and tobacco-field of W. W. Perkins, near Batavia.
The foreign soils are subdivided into four classes,—viz., yellow, white, and black clays, and
alluvial. The yellow clays constitute one-third of the soils of the county, and are found on the
northern slopes of the hills of the tributaries of the Ohio River and all the rolling land not
included above. They are formed from the weathering of the drift and the decomposition of
vegetable matter. In depth they range from two to ten feet. At the surface they are of a
dark-brown color to the depth of four to eight inches, owing to the amount of organic matter
present. At the depth of six to eight inches from the surface there is a sub-soil, gen- erally ten
inches in thickness ; from this brick are made,
METEOROLOGY - 23
the oxide of iron in its composition giving them a cherry- red appearance,—a color so desirable
for brick. The yellow clays are naturally adapted for the growth of corn, oats, grassy and potatoes.
For a few years after the forests that once covered them are cleared off they produce magical
crops of almost everything. But, not having an abundance of organic matter in their composition,
they become worthless if cultivated for a number of years in succession. They are very friable
and porous at. the surface, but the opposite where not exposed to the direct action of the
elements. They are not good, for wheat, and the worst to wash of all the clays. Though very
tenacious, they readily yield to the action of the elements, and after a hard freeze will melt down
like unslaked lime. The most productive as well as profitable orchards in the county are found on
the yellow clays. Their loose surface and hard, compact sub-soil seems to be the normal one of a
large majority of the fruits grown in this latitude. They support a dense and luxuriant growth of
vegetation. The poplars, ashes, beeches, and sugars grow to an enormous size in these clays. You
seldom, if ever, see a poplar or sugar on any soils save yellow clays and alluvial.
The white clays constitute the connecting link between the yellow and black clays in this county,
and are the famous oak-ridges long noted for their enormous growth of vegetation. They have not
the vegetable matter of either of the other clays, but excel them in organic. They are, taken as a
whole, the poorest land, agriculturally, in the county. They are of the same depth as the yellow,
but finer in structure, and have been undoubtedly formed in water. They surpass the other clays
for wheat, as it does not freeze out on them. The most prominent forest-trees found growing on
the white clays are white- and burr-oak, black-ash, white beech, and white,- black,- and
shellbark-hickory.
The black clays are nothing more than the white ones stained with vegetable matter, and are
found in the maple- and hickory-swamps of this county, and constitute about one-fourth of the
areas of Goshen, Wayne, Jackson, and Williamsburgh townships. They are very fertile, but must
be surface or underdrained to be productive. At the surface their color is a deep black, and ranges
in depth from one to five feet. They do not pack or bake so readily as the white, on account of the
immense amount of vegetable matter present. They are particularly adapted to the growth of the
grasses, oats, and potatoes of the late varieties. The timber found on them differs from that on
any other of the soils in this section of the State. Maple, sweet-gum, white- elm, the hickories,
Spanish-oak, red- and white-oak, and gray-ash constitute the principal forest-trees. While the
different varieties of timber do not reach the enormous size that they do in other soils, yet the
forests are very dense. A good example of the black clays may be seen on the farms of James
Turner and J. II, Burns, in Jackson township.
The alluvial soils are the combined result of drift and erosion. They are only found in the valley
of the Ohio River and its tributaries, and constitute about one-fortieth part of the soils of the
county. They are composed of vegetable matter, clay, and silt. They are the most fertile of the
soils of the county, having in their composition all of the best elements of the others. Those
which are below highwater mark are the most fertile, being recuperated almost annually by the
overflow of the streams on which they border. They are easily tilled, and produce remunerative
crops of all kinds. Oats is the only cereal that does not flourish well on them. In depth they vary ;
on the gravel terraces, the most ancient of the drift-soils, they are not over two feet in depth, with
an underlying stratum of gravel. On the overflowed lands they range from three to fifteen feet in
depth. The fruits do not flourish well on them. Dry weather is their only enemy. In the early
settlement of the county they were covered with a luxuriant forest- vegetation which has long
since disappeared before the axe of the hardy yeomanry of this county. Huge sycamores, wide
spreading elms, towering walnuts, and ashes are still occasionally met with on the immediate
borders of some of the numerous streams of the county. These soils are well represented in the
east fork valley. Agriculturally speaking, they are the only ones that have not been almost entirely
exhausted by the past and present system of tillage.
The soils of Clermont County are naturally fertile, producing large and remunerative crops of all
the products of this latitude, but they must be handled with judgment and care; and when the
masses know that the wealth of any country is in its soil, as represented by its products, they will
no doubt take care of one of the greatest interests of the nation, viz., agriculture.
CHAPTER III.
METEOROLOGY.
THERE are three things that materially affect the temperature and precipitation of any
locality,—viz., proximity to large bodies of water, high mountains, and elevation above the sea. -
In Clermont County the temperature and precipitation are but little modified by the first two. The
mean elevation of the county above the sea is nine hundred and twenty-five feet, and, being a part
of a vast plateau, though of not great elevation, is subject to greater extremes of heat and cold,
moisture and dryness, than those places more adjacent to the ocean or large lakes. The clearing
off of the forests has also materially affected the temperature and precipitation, as it is a
well-known fact that in winter the wind, passing over large areas of forests, is warmed much
more than over cleared land or prairies, as in the latter the radiation of heat from the earth in early
winter is so much greater that their surface soon becomes as cold as the surrounding air. In
summer it is trice vcrsa. The mean height of the barometer is 29,75 ; maximum, 30.25 ; and
minimum, 28.25.
TEMPERATURE.
The average temperature at Cincinnati for the eighty- three years ending Jan. 1, 1880, was 57̊
G5', and for the last ten years, 53̊ 65'. During that time the temperature of the spring months has
been 53̊ 65'; summer, 76̊ 03'; autumn, 55̊ 35'; winter, 35̊ 57'. Mean, 54̊ 67'.
24 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
The difference of temperature between six A.m. and one P.M. is found to be 15̊ 50'.
It is said that the winters of 1792, 1793, 1795, 1799, 1800, 1805, 1806, 1809, and 1810 were very
mild. The winter of 1796-97 was one of the coldest ever experienced at Cincinnati, the
thermometer falling to eighteen degrees below zero on the morning of the 8th of January, 1797.
This is the lowest that the thermometer has ever recprded at Cincinnati. The wind blew from the
northwest, and, had it not been tempered and broken by the dense forests that covered Ohio at
that time, it would have reached a much lower point. The winter of 1805, being unusually mild,
was followed by that of 1806-7, which was extremely cold, On the 7th of February, 1801,
commonly milled " Cold Friday," the thermometer indicated eleven degrees below zero. The
winters of 1855, 1856, and 1857 were extremely cold, the thermometer beieg thirty-two times be-
low zero. The Ohio River was frozen over for two months, so that heavy-loaded wagons could
cross over it on the ice with safety. The winter of 1863-64 was very cold. On the let day of
January, 1864,-known as " Cold New Year,"-the thermometer indicated fourteen degrees below
zero. It was a great Arctic wave that swept over two-thirds of the continent, and was unusually
severe in the South Atlantic States for that latitude. The winters of 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875,
1878, and 1879 were also very cold. The winter of 1879-80 was unusually warm, being the
warmest, taken as a whole, of any since 1827, and ten degrees warmer than any since 1835. On
the 20th of December, 1877, the thermometer indicated sixty-nine degrees in the shade, and did
not fall below sixty-three degrees for several days. On the 18th of October, 1879, it stood at
seventy-three degrees, and the mean temperature for that month was sixty-four degrees
twenty-nine minutes.
FROSTS.
These generally occur as late as the 20th of April, and as early as the 20th of September,
depending on the direc- tion of the winds. Northwest winds in April and September are sure to
bring frost. On the night of the 9th of August, 1809, there was a heavy frost, which damaged the
corn so that it would not germinate ; and, had it not been protected by fogs along the valleys and
by the timber in the new lands, it would have been entirely destroyed. This is the earliest frost
ever recorded in the county. On the night of the 28th of August, 1863, there was a heavy frost,
which injured the late corn very much. Since 1835 there have been fifteen Septembers in which
no frost occurred. In 1859 there was frost in every month in the year save two. The one on the
night of the 4th of June did a great amount of damage to the wheat, corn, and vegetation in
general. Since 1835 there have been but two Aprils in which there was not more or less frost.
PRECIPITATION,
During the last eighty-three years the average rainfall has been 39.71 inches at Cincinnati, and for
the last twenty-four, 37.61. The least of any year was 1856, in which but 22.88 inches fell ; and
the greatest was 69.42, in 1817, followed by 49.17 in 1858. Thirty-nine inches may be
considered as the average or mean rainfall of Clermont County, though it is shown by eon set of
tables that it has been 43.80 since 1840, which would make it more. For thirty years, ending Jan.
1, 1880, the spring precipitation has been 10.54 inches ; summer, 10.33 ; autumn, 8.76 ; winter,
7.98. It often occurs that one-half of the rainfall is in one of the four divisions.
One of the greatest droughts ever experienced in the county was in 1806, when there was no rain
from the 16th of June until the 3d of September. The winter of 1855-56 was extremely dry, only
two inches of rain falling from the 1st of December until le 8th of May. The summers of 1867,
1871, 1873, and 1874 were very dry, yet good crops were raised, as what rain fell came at the
right time. In 1875, during the months of June and July, seventeen inches of rain fell. In June it
rained all but ten days, and in July all but four.
Wet seasons are not so injurious since the greater part of the forests have been cleared off as they
were years ago, for the reason that the older the country gets and the less forest-area, the more
readily will the surface-water escape by natural and artificial drainage. Again, soil that is tilled
for any length of time becomes more compact in structure than new land, which is, like a sponge,
capable of absorbing or holding a large amount of moisture and giving it out as required. Had it
not been for this peculiarity of new land, vegetation must have perished in the drought of 1806.
SNOW.
The average fall of snow for Cincinnati is not far from twenty inches annually, while one degree
farther north it is almost thirty-five. On the 1st, 2d, and 3d of January, 1806, it fell to the depth of
twenty-four inches. On the 19th of January, 1846, twenty-two inches fell, and on the 18th of
January, 1862, twenty-eight, which was the greatest fall ever noted in Southern Ohio. During the
winter of 1855-56 it fell to the depth of sixty-nine inches, and sixty- four were recorded for the
winter of 1865-66. Snow seldom falls before the 20th of October, and not later than the 10th of
April. On the 20th of April, 1814, it fell to the depth of ten inches, and on the llth of the same
month, in 1875, four were recorded. The latest one ever noted in Clermont County fell on the
14th of May, 1864, to the depth of one inch.
WINDS.
The most prevalent wind in this section of Ohio is the southwest, from which direction it has
blown two hundred days out of three hundred and sixty five during the last twenty-five years, and
is the prevalent one nine out of the twelve months. In December, January, and February the
northwest is the most prevalent, and ranks next to the south- west, taken as a whole.
The west wind blows mostly during the winter months, while the east, north, and south are nearly
equal as to prevalence. The southwest winds are of two classes, viz.: humid and arid. The former
is always followed by more or less precipitation ; the latter succeeds it. The one comes before it
is needed ; the other is needed before it comes. The southern winds are more prevalent than the
northern, and the western than the eastern.
METEOROLOGY - 25
CLOUDS.
From 1807 to 1879 in Clermont County the average clear days out of the three hundred and
sixty-five was one hundred and seventy-two ; cloudy, one hundred and four ; variable,
eighty-nine, July, August, and September have the greatest number of clear days, while
November, Decem- ber, and January have the most cloudy. The most preva- lent clouds in
summer are the nimbus, cumulo-stratus, and stratus ; in winter, stratus, cirro-stratus, and
cumulo-stratus.
STORMS.
A majority of them come from the north and southwest. If from any other direction, they are of a
local nature ; if accompanied by wind, generally occur from one to five P,M. Before the
settlement of the county a tornado passed near the present site of Williamsburgh, destroying
immense quan- tities of timber, not leaving a tree standing in a large area; from that fact the
locality took the name of the "Fallen Timber." On the 15th of May, 1814, one of the most terrific
hailstorms ever recorded passed over the county. Hailstones were found weighing eight to ten
ounces and measuring fifteen to sixteen inches in circumference.. In connection ,with this storm
was a singular phenomenon At the time the hail fell there was but a slight wind ; but,
immediately after, a violent one from the southwest set in, accompanied by waves of heated air,
which caused the leaves of many of the trees to wither which had not been exposed to the fury of
the storm. The first general tornado that ever passed over the county occurred Sunday, May 28,
1819. It originated in the northern part of Ten- nessee and terminated in Pennsylvania, traveling
in a north- west direction, having a velocity of eighty miles per hour. Its path was marked with
destruction. Trees, fences, houses, and buildings of all kinds were destroyed, and the loss of life
exceeded fifty. On the 10th of June, 1840, the county was again visited by a tornado. It came
from the southwest, and did an immense amount of damage to the growing crops, felling trees
and unroofing buildings. A few weeks after, the neighborhood of Boston was visited by a
hailstorm of unusual severity ; but was local, as they generally are. On the 21st of May, 1860, one
of the most violent windstorms ever experienced in this latitude passed over Clermont County. It
came from the northwest and occurred at half-past two P.M., lasting one hour and ten minutes. It
destroyed over fifty thousand dollars' worth of timber, besides doing an immense amount of other
damage. Its path was four hundred and fifty miles long and one hundred and fifty wide, and its
force was not abated until it reached the great lakes. The storms on Stonelick in 1866, and near
Goshen in 1876, were very severe. They had a vertical as well as a horizontal motion. Storms of
that character in this latitude are always local, A great many storms have occurred in the 2.:unty
at different dates of great violence, but local in their nature. A careful study of them shows that
the most violent have occurred in the months of May, June, and September, and that they have
almost universally come from the southwest. In winter storms of continuous rain conic from the
north and southeast, and seldom, if ever, from the west. No storms of violence have ever been
noted that came from those two points.
INDIAN SUMMER.
Generally in the autumn of every year we have a period to which this appellation is affixed. It
usually succeeds frosts, rain, or snow, beginning in October, or the 1st of November, continuing
for one, two, and three weeks, and sometimes longer, with occasional storms. But the peculiarity,
and from what it takes its name, is the atmosphere, which is smoky, dry, and serene, through
which sun and moon exhibit at morning and evening faces of darkened crimson. During this
period the verdure of the forests fades away or passes into the countless varieties of brown, red,
and yellow, which give to the surrounding scenery a dull and sombre aspect. The occurrence of a
rain with a northwest wind at length suddenly dispels the gloom, strips the woods of its
remaining foliage, and introduces winter with a transparent and cheering atmosphere. The cause
of this smokiness is supposed to be (or was formerly) the burning by the Indians of the withered
grass and herbs on the extensive prairies to the northwest, and hence the name of the season,
which in Clermont County is of un- surpassed loveliness, and is probably daused by the same
conditions of the atmosphere as the November fogs of England.
EARTHQUAKES.
The first shock ever experienced in Clermont County was the one of May 5, 1804. Though this
and successive shocks were not attended by any of the appalling calami- ties that have been noted
in other parts of the continent, nor is it reasonable to suppose that they ever will, yet their history
cannot fail to interest the reader. The next one was felt Dec. 16, 1811, at twenty-four minutes
after two P.M. The motion was a quick oscillation or rocking from east to west, and lasted for
seven minutes. It was preceded by a low rumbling or rushing noise. It was so violent as to agitate
the loose furniture, open partition-doors,-those fastened with falling-latches,--and throw off the
tops of a few chimneys The log house formerly occupied by Oscar Johnston, in Union township,
was noticed to shake violently by its occupants, who expected it to be thrown down every
moment. One peculiarity about this shock was that it varied so much in different localities. On
the 17th, 186, and 31st slight shocks were felt. On the 3d of January another one occurred. Again
on the 23d and 27th, and February 4th, 5th, and 6th. On the 17th, at forty-five minutes past three
A.M,, there were alarming shocks in succession, more violent than any before noted, throwing
down the tops of chimneys, making wide fissures in the back-walls, and producing vertigo and
nausea in a greater number of people than those previously felt. On the 8th there were three
shocks, and one on the llth, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 22d, and 23d, March 3d, one ; 5th,
three ; llth, one ; April 30th, one. Shocks were felt May 4th and 10th, June 25th and 26th,
September 15th, December 22d, March 6, 1813, and December 12th. Their focus was at New
Madrid, Mo., and they were generally of a horizontal direction and moved south-southeast. In
1859 a slight shock was felt in September, and again in 1864 ; but these were scarcely
perceptible.
26 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
CHAPTER IV.
PREHISTORIC RACES,
IN Clermont County, as elsewhere in the Ohio Valley, we find earthworks, in the form of
mounds, elevated squares, walls, and ditches, of which its inhabitants at the time it was first
explored by the whites knew nothing as to their origin or history. But by common consent they
have been decided to be the work of the Mound-Builders, a prehistoric race whose works in Ohio
number ten thousand mounds and fifteen hundred inclosures. Of these, two hundred of the
former and seven of the latter are found in Clermont County. Ethnologists have divided the
period of prehistoric man into two ages,—viz,, Stone and Metal,—and the former into three
epochs. Of these epochs the Mound-Builders belonged to the highest in the scale of
civilization,-viz., the Polished Stone,-as attested by their implements of peace and war, or, in
other words, of the chase, of industry, and of ornament, which have been found in great numbers
in this country. Again, they have been subdivided, in regard to pursuits, into three classes,-viz.,
agricultural, military, effigy. Of these subdivisions, the Mound-Builders in this county belonged
to the first, As to their origin and history, space will not admit of an ethnological discussion,
involving, as it would, man's origin and antiquity and the merits and demerits of accepted biblical
and geological chronologies. But suffice to say they were a race that at one time extended their
rule over two thirds of the American continent, having the tropics as a common centre, from
which they radiated north and south ; and that they in the course of time were either destroyed by
pestilence or conquered by another people, who had not reached so high a point in the scale of
civilization, is an undisputed fact, As to their antiquity, there are no proofs to be found in this
county, as in others, that they were contemporary with the mammoth, mastodon, and other
extinct animals, or that there has been any change in its fauna or flora since their advent, or that
their works have been abandoned for a longer period than a thousand years, which to some extent
rival those of the Shepherd Kings. Constructed as they have been of earth, the force of erosion
would have almost obliterated them, or at least the lesser ones, had they been built for a longer
period than from one thousand to fifteen hundred years. Again, the condition of the skeletons
found in them, when the composition of the soil forming these works is taken into consideration,
shows that they are not of as remote an origin as would be supposed.
That they were a numerous people cannot be doubted when we think of the immense number of
their inclosures, mounds, and hearths or camping-places, and the numerous implements of
agriculture and manufacture. In this county the evidences that they were an agricultural people
are abundant. Their pestles, mortars, and corn-mills are living witnesses. They no doubt, from the
location of their works, partly subsisted by fishing and hunting, which the valley of the east fork
in olden time was typical ground. That they had a system of religion and worshiped the sun,
moon, and elements, especially fire, is a self-evident fact from the number of sacrificial mounds
found in the county (and if they did not, they are an exception to the many prehistoric
races that have had an existence since man's creation). Of geometry they must have had some
knowledge, from the form of their works ; for in their construction we find circles, squares,
octagons, combs, triangles, and cones.
Their works, as to purpose, have been divided into two general classes,—viz., inclosures and
mounds. The first has been subdivided into three classes,—viz., military, sacred, and
miscellaneous; the second into four,—viz., sacrificial, temple-sites, sepulchral, and observation.
Of the works belonging to the first class, they are all constructed of earth in this county ; of the
second, a few of earth and stone combined. That there is some difficulty in giving the subclass to
which each of the works belong is plain when so many of them have been despoiled, and others
not a few have not been examined internally. It being impossible to give a detailed description of
all of the numerous works in the county, only typical ones under each head will be given. In this
connection mention should be made of the fact that in this county there seems to have been a
series of works belonging together. Thus we have those of upper and lover east fork, Upper
Stonelick, Lower Twelve-Mile, and Indian,
INCLOSURES.
Of the inclosures, the one near Milford, on the farm of Rev. George Gatch, deceased, is the
largest found in the county. Its form is nearer that of a trapezoid than of any other geometrical
figure, and may be said to consist of two inclosures. The area inclosed by its walls is eighteen
acres, which are at the present time four feet in height (formerly eight) and truncated. At each
angle there is an opening about eight feet wide, and opposite that, at a distance of twenty feet
from the angle, is a low mound. The ditch is on the inside of the parapet. This inclosure, from its
topographical situation (being on the second bottoms, surrounded on three sides by high hills,
and no means of obtaining water save from the east fork and Miami River, distant one-half mile),
leaves no doubt that it belongs to that class regarded as sacred. Near Perin's Mills, on the farms
of Ira Perin, Esq,, and William Malott, deceased, are two inclosures of the same class. They
inclose ten acres each, and have the form of perfect squares. Their walls, when first seen by the
whites, were five feet in height, but at present are but three. They also have openings at each
angle, with mounds opposite them on the outside. On the farm of Ezekiel Edwards, near Elstun's
Station, in Union township, is another one, with the exception of its form and area, similar to
those described above. Its form is that of a rhomboid, and its area fifteen acres. On the farm of E.
C. Patchell, in Stonelick, is a circular one, situated on both sides of the Cincinnati turnpike. Its
walls are from three to five feet in height, and inclose eight acres. Its northern line borders on
Stonelick Creek. On the east side, a short .distance from the wall, is a low mound, three feet high
and one hundred and eighty in eireumference, composed of broken limestone and red sand and
clay mixed. On the farm of Jonathan Shaw, in Ohio township, is an inclosure covering an area of
some extent. Its shape is that of a triangle. When first discovered its walls were five feet in
height, with a moat outside of the parapet three feet deep, in which water stood during a greater
por-
PREHISTORIC RACES - 27
tion of the year. This, unlike the preceding ones, is situated on a high table-land overlooking the
valley of Twelve-Mile Creek, and was no doubt used ag a fortress.
WALLS.
On the farm of Mrs. Elizabeth Hartman, in Jackson township, is a wall some four feet in height,
with the ditch on the outside. Its shape is that of a crescent, and it is some thirty rods in length.
Whether this is pit of an in- tended inclosure or was made as a means of defense the writer is
unable to say.
MOUNDS.
Of the class sacrificial, they are numerous in this county. Of these, the one on the farm of John
Hadly, in Jackson township, is the largest. It is twelve feet in height and sixty in circumference.
Though not fully examined, enough was seen to justify the assertion. On the farm of B. F. Clark,
in Wayne township, is one that has been closely examined; also one on the farm of G. I. Irving, in
Miami township.
That the reader may have a general knowledge of their contents, composition, etc., let it be said
that they are gen- erally stratified, the strata being convex layers of clay and loam alternating
above a layer of fine sand. They generally contain ashes, charcoal, igneous stones, caleined
bones, beads, stone implements, and pottery. On the farms of B. F. Clark and Elijah Cowen are
three mounds unlike any others examined by the writer, but probably belonging to this class.
They are situated on the northern slope of the Stonelick hills, fifty feet above low-water mark in
that stream, are three feet in height and thirty in circumference, and are composed of rock and
earth. The rocks, which are limestone, show that they have been subject to a great heat. The
earth, which is a tough clay, also shows the effects of fire. All through the mass ashes, charcoal,
and great quantities of bones are found, some calcined and some not, and, taken as a whole,
indicates that the Hound-Builders had a knowledge of cremation.
Of the temple-mounds, there are none found in this county.
Of the sepulchral, they are very abundant in the county, and number at least one hundred and
twenty-five. They are conical in shape and range from three to fifteen feet in height, and always
contain, so far as examined, from one to five skeletons. In a majority you find evidences of fire
from the color of the earth and the finding of ashes and char- coal. You also find in them
implements of war, industry, and ornament, such as mica, pottery, copper, brass, plum- mets,
flint knives, breastplates, and pipes, in close proximity to the skeletons.
The largest of these is on the farm of Benjamin Johnston, in Jackson township, and is situated on
the table-land, distant two hundred yards from the east fork. It is fifteen feet in height and sixty in
diameter, and when first discovered had slabs of limestone sitting perpendicular in its apex. It is
composed of a yellow sand, which has been subjected to a great heat. Near Williamsburgh, on
the farm of Francis Leffingwell, are two of this class that are at least six hundred years old, from
the size of the trees growing on them. They have been examined ard a great many skeletons taken
out ; also pottery, pipes, and arrowheads have been found. On the farm of Geary Hutchinson, in
Jackson township, are six low mounds on the north bank of the east fork that have eists or stone
chests in them, inclosing a skeleton each. These cists are made by re- moving the surface-earth a
few inches in depth, over which flat stones were laid. On the sides and ends the same kind of
stones were set on edge. In this the body was put in a sitting position and the top covered with
flat stones, and over all earth was placed to the depth of from one to three feet. In size, the ̊lets
are from four to six feet in length, two in width, and about the same in height. On the farm of J.
D. McKeever, in Williamsburgh township, are two mounds entirely composed of stone. In these
there are cists, which radiate from the centre in all directions, making their circumference from
thirty to ninety feet. Over these cists are loose stone, instead of earth, to the height of four feet.
On the farm of Ezekiel Hutchinson, in Jackson township, in connection with a sepulchral mound,
is a circular depression two feet in depth and eighteen in diameter.
In this connection it might be well to remark that there are several prehistoric cemeteries in this
county. The most prominent ones are located near the Miami township cemetery, on the
Cincinnati turnpike, on the farm of Oliver Perin, in Union township, and on the farm of Moses
Elstun, Esq., in the same township. In all of these implements are found in connection with the
skeletons. The one on the farm of Moses Elstun, Esq,, is situated on what is called " Sand
Ridge," which runs at right angles with the east fork. In this cemetery the skeletons are found
about two feet below the surface, in cists. On the farm of Daniel Turner, at the mouth of Dry
Run, is one, which, as to the number of skeletons fcund in it, is the largest of any found so far in
the county. It is situated on the brow of the hill, overlooking the east fork valley, at an elevation
of two hundred feet above it. Its area is about forty feet square, inclosed by flat stones set on
edge. This cemetery seems to be a large ditch, in which the bodies have been buried, one on top
of the other, to the depth of five feet, and over which is a stratum of earth two feet in thickness.
The immense number of skeletons found here with no evidences of fire, and the finding of no
implements, leads the writer to believe that it is not of prehistoric
In the skeletons found in the above mounds, etc., there is a similarity. The forehead is low,
making the facial angle less than the negro, and the maxillary bones are un- usually large, and so
are the femur, which would, in proportion, make a man eight feet in height. One of the largest
skeletons noted by the writer was found in the Sand Ridge cemetery. The skull was in a good
state of preservation, together with the teeth ; all the rest of the bones were decomposed, with the
exception of one of the femurs, which was unusually large. The cranium, etc., are now in the
possession of the Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, Ohio.
Of the mounds of observation there are not a few in this county, mostly situated upon eminences,
appearing in
28 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
chains or regular systems, and still bear traces of the beacon-fires that once burned upon them.
On the east fork and the Ohio River hills they are the most abundant. They vary in height from
three to fifteen feet, and are composed of loam. On the farms of Dr. Wood, near Chilo, of John
Shaw, near New Richmond, and of W. F. and G. M. Roudebush, in Pierce township, are good
examples of this class. There are no animals, mounds, or effrgies in Clermont County.
It has been stated that the Mound-Builders in Clermont County were an agricultural people, but
partly subsisting by the products of the chase and the inhabitants of the various streams found in
it or on its border. To till the soil, manufacture cloth, hunt and fish, and ornament the person all
required specific implements, which, as to use, have been divided into the following classes, viz.,
war, hunting and fishing, agriculture, manufactures, and ornament.
These implements were made of stone, bone, and red hematite iron-ore, in general terms.
The implements of war were grooved stone battle-axes, arrowheads of the following
forms,—triangular, indented, stemmed, barbed, leaf-shaped, lozenge-shaped, disk-shaped, and
beveled,—spearheads, lance-points, and the bow and arrow. In size the battle-axes vary from five
to fifteen pounds in weight, with a cutting-surface from three to six inches. A large majority of
them were made from green- stone and porphyry. Of the arrowheads, two inches in length and
one in breadth may be considered the average. They were generally made of white quartz,
chalcedony, agate, and chert, the greater portion being made of the latter. The spearheads and
lance-points were used both in war and in the chase; and are from five to eleven inches in
length and from one to two in breadth ; in material they. are similar to the arrowheads. Of the
bow and arrow but little or nothing is known except that the heads of the latter are very
numerous.
Of fishing and hunting, spearheads, sinkers, cables, bows and arrows, and lance-points. The
sinkers are, as to shape, double cones, with one end blunted sometimes, and the other running to
a point, through which a hole has been drilled from both sides or with a small groove running
around it. But there is a difference of opinion as to the use of this class of implements. Some
claim that they were used for weaving in holding the threads taut. In size they are from two to
three inches in length, and about the same in circumference. As to composition, they are
generally made of white quartz, porphyry, and red hematite iron-ore. The cables were large
stones weighing from ten to fifty pounds, and of various materials and forms. One was found a
few years ago on the farm of Joseph Bicking, in Jackson township, and is now in the collection
of the State Agricultural College, at Columbus, Ohio.
Of agriculture the implements were axes, hoes, spades, and hatchets. It is hard to decide to which
division the various forms of axes belonged, but enough is known to prove that they were used in
felling trees, etc. From the peculiar form of some of the implements found, they have been given
the name of hoes and spades, which were made from chert and greenstone, and weigh from one
to six pounds. The hatchets were used for felling trees and other purposes, and are distinguished
from the axes in not being grooved, of less size and different material, and, too, that only the
cutting-edge is polished, while the rest of the surface is chipped. They are always of some kind of
flint.
The implements of manufacturing are numerous. Celts, pestles, corn-mills, chisels, grooves,
scrapers, shuttles, plummets, knives, and rimmers are among the most important.. The celts are
wedge-shaped and polished, with a cutting-surface of from three to six inches, and vary in length
from four to twelve. They were used for cutting wood and as a sort of battle-axe in time of war,
and were made from Porphyry and greenstone. Pestles (or hominy-pounders) are so well known
as to shape and use that a further description is useless. As to material, those made of rose-
quartz, porphyry, and greenstone are the most abundant. Corn-mills are generally found in situ,
and are usually erratics, having an artificial depression, in which the corn was 'placed, and by a
rotary motion of the pestle, in the hands of the good housewife, made into meal or hominy. The
use of the chisel is not known to a certainty, but is supposed to have been for building canoes,
etc., and so with the groove. The scraper was used in the dressing of skins, and in form is
crescent-shaped (or a half-moon), with the thickest part on the straight edge and the cutting on
the curved. From the peculiar form of a certain relic it has been thought to have been used as a
shuttle in weaving. Its length is generally three inches, width two, and thickness from an eighth
to an inch. Near the ends are holes that, have been started from opposite sides. From the manner
in which their cloth was woven, it certainly would have answered for that purpose. Of the knives
there are various shapes, but the most common one is that of an oval with both edges chipped for
cutting-surfaces. On Sand Ridge twenty-four of this form were found in one grave. Another
shape is that of a dagger. Of this form one was found a few years ago on the farm of E M.
Patchell, at Stonelick. Their length varies from one to three inches, and from one-half to one in
width.
In a great many implements found are one, two, and sometimes more, holes, which have been
drilled with precision, and that they had some instrument for that purpose is a self-evident fact.
Great numbers of an instrument such as would make those perforations have been found and
described, but rn general, as to shape, they resemble that instrument from which they have been
named,—a rimmer. They vary as to length, being from one to six inches, barbed at one end, and
chipped or polished to a sharp point at the other. In the collection of P. T, Stuart, at Perin's Mills,
are some of the largest ever seen by the writer.
Under the head of ornamental come breastplates, banner-stones, point-cups, pipes, and pottery.
To give a description or all these implements would be impossible in this connection. First of the
three, they are generally, as to composition, of Huron slate,--a slate that takes and holds a polish
and is very beautiful in appearance, being alternating bands of black and green. Of the pipes, they
are of various forms and composition ; some are merely a straight tube, while others approximate
to these of the
THE INDIANS - 29
moderns. As to material, gray and red clay and Huron slate are the most predominant.
In the collections of Dr. J. H. Thompson, Enoch Johnston, S. J. Rybolt, Dr. A. B. Anshutz, Frank
Iuen, Miss Nora Lee, L. C. Moore, G. M. Roudebush, Cary Hartman, P. T. Stuart, and the writer,
all the above named and described implements can be seen, aggregating ten thousand
arrowheads, five hundred axes, about the same number of celts, spearheads, and lance-points,
together with a large number of ornamental and miscellaneous articles. To these persons belongs
the honor of making Clermont County what it should be, what it was intended to be,— viz.,
classical ground for the archaeologist. To the profound questions of the ethnologist who the
Mound-Builders were, whence they came, and whither they went, we can only reply to a certainty
that they once lived here ; here cultivated the soil ; here worshiped,—perhaps with the solemn
rites of human sacrifice ; here planned and executed mighty works of organized labor ; and then
passed away. We find their inclosures, their mounds, their burial-places and sacrificial altars, in
the distinctive character of which they were as marked a people as the Pelasgi, whose prehistoric
works can yet be traced throughout Greece and
Of the many prehistoric specimens found in Ohio the one here figured, from its size, form, and
probable use, is the most interesting.
It was found on the farm now owned by Peter Gormen, in Stonelick township, in 1818, by John
Davidson, as he in company with several others was blazing a road from Batavia to Goshen, by
way of Glancy's Mills. The material is red granite, and is very compact in structure, its height
being thirty-five inches ; circumference of base ninety inches. In reply to the questions, Could it
not have been the work of attrition or of the white man? I would say that its composition and
structure is the same throughout, and has no veins of quartz in it, and that its projections are the
same as to width and thickness, and their edges square and not convex, as would be the case if
made by attrition. To the second question : There are no chisel marks on it, it being so hard no
one would have attempted to have worked it into any form, especially the present one. At the
time of its discovery it bore evidences of having been made for a long time, which would
preclude the idea of its being made by the whites. If it had been worked by the whites, after
spending so much labor on it they would certainly have removed it to their place of residence and
not left it in the primitive forests. It is probable that it was a council-stone, from which speeches
were made. It is now in the possession of Mrs. B. Blythe, of Boston, who uses it for a
horse-block.
CHAPTER V.
THE INDIANS - THEIR TRIBAL RELATIONS - PERILS AND ADVENTURES OF
SAVAGE LIFE, AND THE CONFLICTS WHICH OPENED THE WAY FOR THE
WHITE SETTLERS - INDIAN BATTLE IN CLERMONT COUNTY - INCIDENTS AND
TRAILS.
THE territory that now constitutes Ohio was first of all, so far as can be learned, in the full
possession of the race of Mound-Builders ; afterwards (but still in prehistoric times) its sole
occupants and owners for some centuries were unquestionably Indian tribes or nations, many of
whom, still later, were subjected to expulsion or extermination from internecine feuds. They, as
well as the Mound-Builders, held titles acquired probably by priority of discovery, ny conquest,
by occupancy, or by possession.
Nothing reliable or authentic is known of the various Indian tribes that occupied the vast territory
that now comprises the State of Ohio, from the time of the departure or disappearance of the
Mound-Builders until the closing years of the first half of the eighteenth century. Their history,
therefore, anterior to the year 1750 is extremely meagre. They had no annalist, no historian, and
perhaps had made but little history worthy of record during many recurring generations,
centuries, and ages. It is true that we have traditions running back to the year 1656 relating to the
destruction by the Iroquois of the once powerful Eries, who inhabited the southern shores of Lake
Erie, except a small remnant which ultimately intermingled with the Senecas, but they are
properly regarded as unverified traditions, and nothing more.
And equally unreliable and unauthenticated are many of the other traditions of the Indian tribes
which bear date before the middle of the last century. About the year A.D. 1750, or a little earlier,
as Professor Smucker has well said and determined, some accurate knowledge of the Ohio
Indians began to be acquired through the Indian traders operating among them and from
explorers ; but little comparatively, however, was known of them with the certainty of authentic
history until after Col. Boquet's expedition to the towns on the Tuscarawas and Muskingum
Rivers, in 1764. The intervening period between those dates may, therefore, be regarded as the
time of the inauguration of the historic epoch of the Ohio Indians, the principal tribes being the
Wyandots (called Hurons by the French), the Dclawares and Shawanese (both of the Algonquin
group), the Miamis (also called Twigtwees), the Mingos (an offshoot from the Iroquois or a
fragment of the Six Nations), and the Ottawas and Chippewas.
The Wyandots occupied the valleys and plains bordering on the Sandusky River and some other
points ; the Delawares possessed the valleys of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Rivers and a few
other places between Lake Erie and the Ohio River ; the Mingos were in greatest force on the
Ohio River about Mingo Bottom, below Steubenville, and
30 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT' COUNTY, OHIO.
at other points on said river ; also on the Scioto River, but seldom ever getting as far down as
Clermont ; the Miamis were the occupants of the valleys of the Little and Great Miami Rivers,
and disputed the possession of the northwestern part of Clermont ; the Shawanese were
principally found in the valleys and lands between the Scioto and Mad Rivers, and claimed the
eastern part of Clermont and all of Brown County ; the Ottawas made their homes in the valleys
of the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers ; and the Chippewas, small in numbers, were chiefly
confined to the southern shores of Lake Erie.
By the treaty of Fort McIntosh, made in 1785, the Ottawas, with the Wyandots and Chippewas,
were assigned to the northern section of what is now the State of Ohio and west of the Cuyahoga
River, having relinquished, by the terms of said treaty, whatever of claims they had to other
portions of the territory now constituting our State. The true name of the Delaware tribe was
Wa-be-nugh-ka, —that is, " the people from the East" or " the sun rising." The tradition among
themselves was that they originally, at some very remote period, emigrated from the West,
crossed the Mississippi, ascending the Ohio, fighting their way until they reached the Delaware
River near where Philadelphia now stands, in which region of country they became fixed. About
this time they were so numerous that no enumeration could be made of the nation, and when at
the height of their glory they welcomed to the shores of the New World that great lawgiver
William Penn, for whom and his followers they ever entertained a kind and grateful recollection.
The name of the tribe Miami, in the Ottawa language, is said to signify " mother," and was
originally the designation of the nation who anciently bore the name of Te-wight-e-wec. This
tribe were the original inhabitants of the two Miami Valleys and their tributary streams, and
affirmed they were created in it ; hence they occupied, first of all the red men, the county of
Clermont.
The original country of the Wyandots was on the north side of the St. Lawrence River, and the
Senecas owned the opposite side of the river and the island on which Montreal now stands. They
were both large tribes, consisting of many thousands, and were blood-relations. A war originated
between them in this way : A man of the Wyandots wanted a certain woman for his wife, but she
objected, and said he was no warrior and had never taken any scalps. To accomplish his object he
raised a small war-party, and in their scout they fell upon a party of Sencca hunters and killed and
scalped a number of them. This procedure began a war between the nations that lasted more than
a century. The Wyandots, finding they were in danger of being exterminated, concluded to leave
their country and go far to the West, and at last settled in Ohio.
Shawanese means " the south" or " people from the south," and Black Hoof, an old warrior of
this tribe in Ohio, who died at the advanced age of one hundred and five years, used to say he
remembered, when a boy, bathing in the salt waters of Florida, where his nation then dwelt.
In the " French and Indian war," which ended with the peace of 1763, the Miamis, Wyandots,
Ottawas, and various other tribes adhered to the French, while the Delawares, Shawanese, and
other nations clung to the English side. The French and their allied Indians made a stand near the
present city of Piqua, where, near the head-towns of the Miamis, a fort had been erected, and
were attacked by English traders with British Indian allies. The siege continued for more than a
week ; the fort stood out, and could not be taken, Soon after this contest, the Miamis and their
allies left this part of the country and removed farther northwest, and never returned. The
Shawanese took their places, and were the Indians who afterwards claimed Clermont,—subject,
however, to the claims of the Mingos ; but the latter seldom ventured so far down the Ohio River
as to materially affect the possessory rights of the former.
Rev. Christian Frederick Post, a native of Conitz, in Polish Prussia, came to America in 1742,
and first exercised the functions of a Moravian missionary in 1743, after having acquired some
knowledge of the language of the Indians. In the summer of 1758 he was appointed by the
Governor of Pennsylvania as a bearer of a message to the Delawares, Shawanese, and Mingos of
the Ohio Valley to persuade them to withdraw from the French interest, and to return to their
allegiance to the English. The results were so satisfactory as to secure Rev. Mr. Post's services
for the second time on a similar errand to those and other tribes in the Ohio Valley and on the
tributaries of the Ohio River, including the Scioto and Little Miami. His journals of these several
visits disclose the important fact that he came very near establishing the quarters of his mission-
work near what is most probably now Bullskin Creek, of this county, but, from some
considerations and matters of slight moment, was induced, at last, to locate his field of labors in
Tuscarawas County, where he failed in his efforts, but where, nine years later, the Rev. David
Zeisberger succeeded in Planting a mission, from which sprang, in a few subsequent years, the
prosperous and Christian Moravian settlements. A very trifling circumstance, as judged by Rev.
Mr. Post's journals, must have been the means of diverting his chosen site from this county to
that of Tuscarawas ; but, whatever it was, it succeeded, and made a grand history for the location
he chose.
By the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded with the Iroquois or Six Nations
(Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, and Oneidas), Oct. 22, 1784, the
indefinite claim of said confederacy to the greater part of the valley of Ohio was extinguished.
This was followed, in January, 1785, by the treaty of Fort McIntosh, by which the Delawares,
Chippewas, Wyandots, and Ottawas relinquished all claim to the Ohio Valley, and established
the boundary-line between them and the United States to be the Cuyahoga River and along the
main branch of the Tuscarawas to the forks of said river, near Fort Laurens ; thence westwardly
to the portage between the headwaters of the Great Miami and the Maumee or Miami of the
Lakes ; thence down said river to Lake Erie, and along said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga River.
A similar relinquishment was effected by the treaty of Fort Finney (at the mouth of the Great
Miami), concluded with the Shawnees on Jan. 31, 1786. The treaty of Fort Harmar, held by Gen.
St. Clair, Jan. 9, 1789, was mainly confirmatory of the treaties previously made.
THE INDIANS - 31
The rights and titles acquired by the Indians under the foregoing treaties were extinguished by the
general government by purchase, in pursuance of various treaties subse- quently made. From the
time of the organization of the government of the " Northwest Territory," in 1788, until the
ratification of the " treaty of Greenville," sometimes called " Wayne's treaty," in 1795, the
attitude of many of the Western Indian tribes towards the white settlers in the new Territory was
that of extreme, unrelenting hostility, The aggressions of the red men were now frequent, and the
native tribes resented the settlement of the whites upon their soil, although they came under the
sanction of treaties, as an intrusion. The bitter enmity which existed between them and the people
of Kentucky caused them to look upon all Americans as enemies, and they were strongly
stimulated to deeds of violence by the influence of the garrisons of the military posts retained by
the British in open disregard of the treaty of 1783, and by renegade traders everywhere es-
tablished among them. The military organizations which had marched against the savages before
the establishment of civil government in the great Northwest had signally failed to subjugate
them or secure a permanent cessation of hostilities. The disastrous expedition of Gen. Braddock,
in 1755, of Maj. Wilkins, in 1763, of Col. Bradstreet, in 1764, of Col. Lochry, in 1781, and of
Col. Crawford, in 1782, and the disgraceful and murderous expedition against the Moravian
Indians on the Tuscarawas, in the last-named year, only tended to inflame the hostile Indian
tribes and inspire them with greater courage in the forward movements and aggressive measures
against the white set- tlers. The fruitless, if not abortive, attempts and cam- paigns of Col.
McDonald, in 1774, of Gen. McIntosh, in 1778, and of Gen. Broadhead, in 1781, of course led to
no salutary effects. Even the successful campaigns of Col. Boquet, in 1763-64, of Lord Dunmore
and Gen. Lewis, in 1774, and of Gen. George Rogers Clark, in 1778, failed to secure a permanent
peace with the Western Indian tribes. The inhabitants of the Northwest Territory were, there-
fore,—from the 7th of April, 1788, when the first immi- grants arrived, at the Mouth of the
Muskingum, and the previous fall and winters, when O'Bannon was surveying and locating
government entries in the southern townships of Clermont, until the treaty of Greenville was
concluded, in August,1795,-constantly liable to the stealthy but deadly attacks of the perfidious,
merciless savage tribes of the Northwest. It does not appear that at this time the Indians had
experienced any injuries at the hands of the im- migrants, who, in general, were pacific but
fearless men. The settlers were disposed to deal justly and in good faith with their savage
neighbors and were averse to bloodshed, but in the hour of danger and trial they exhibited daring
courage and steady resolution. They were not hunters who cared little whether their game were
red men or wild beasts, but they were men who preferred to be citizens, still knew how to be
soldiers, and they met their dastardly, cruel, unrelenting foes in the spirit of genuine manhood,—
of true, determined, unflinching heroism. They were men worthy of the heroic age of the West,
and bravely did they bear themselves during those seven years of toil and privations, of dread and
apprehension, of suffering and sorrow, of blood and carnage, and left a rich heritage to their
descendants and the more fortunate pioneers following in their footsteps.
To avert from the new settlements the dangers which threatened them, the government first
resorted to negotiations; but, these proving unavailing, Gen, Harmar, then commander-in-chief of
the military department of the West, was ordered to attack the Indian towns. In pursuance of his
instructions, he marched from Fort Washington, at Cincinnati, in September, 1790, with about
thirteen hundred men, of whom less than one-fourth were regulars, the balance of his troops
being Pennsylvania and Kentucky volunteers7the former being under the immediate command of
Col. John Hardin, and the latter of Col. Trotter. When near the Indian villages on the Miami an
advanced detachment of two hundred and ten men, consisting mostly of militia, fell into an
ambush, and was defeated with severe loss. Notwithstanding this check, the villages on the Mi-
ami were reduced to ashes, and the standing corn and other means of savage subsistence were
entirely destroyed,
Having accomplished this service, the army commenced its march homewards, but had not
proceeded far, however, when Gen. Harmar received intelligence that the Indians had returned to
their ruined towns. He immediately detached about one-third of his remaining force, under the
command of Col. Hardin, with orders to bring them to an engagement. Early the next morning
this detachment reached the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's Rivers, both tributaries
of the Maumee, where they were encountered by a large body of savages, and a terrible
engagement ensued. The Indians fought with all the fury of savage vengeance, and the militia and
regulars alike be- haved with the most Spartan gallantry and bravery, but suffered a most
mortifying defeat. These battles were fought on the 19th and 22d of October, 1790, and in this
last and most fatal action more than one hundred of the militia, and, except nine, all the regulars
perished, and the rest were driven back to the main body. Dispirited by this final severe
misfortune, Harmar attempted nothing further against the enemy, but continued his march to
Cincinnati, and of course his campaign failed to give peace or relief from apprehended
barbarities. In fact, there had been a signal failure of the expedition's accomplishing its objects,
and hence the audacity of savage aggression was not at all restrained. The property of the settlers
was now in con- stant peril of destruction, and many persons were killed and others carried into
captivity, to be adopted, sold, or tortured at the pleasure of their captors. The settlements on the
purchase of the " Ohio Company" shared heavily in these calamities, though in a less degree than
those of the Virginia Reservation, between the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers, which latter
acquired in Kentucky the significant name of the Miami Slaughter-house.". The land-surveys by
Obannon and other surveyors in Clermont County ceased entirely, or were only secretly made on
the lands contiguous to the Ohio River, and these in the greatest danger and apprehension.
In the following year, 1791, Cornelius Washburn, the celebrated scout and Indian-fighter, was
employed by gov- ernment agents as a spy between Maysville, Ky., and the
32 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
mouth of the Little Miami, to watch for Indians, who were accustomed to cross the Ohio into
Kentucky to steal and murder. While so engaged he had several encounters with them, in which
his unerring rifle dealt death to many of the redskins, Two of these encounters were in Clermont,
—the county where this famous scout and hunter afterwards resided for years. When scouting
near what is now the village of Cedron, in this county,—situate in Franklin township, on Bullskin
Creek, and some three miles from its mouth, where it empties into the Ohio,—Washburn spied
five Indians, when he instantly fired and killed one. The four remaining savages pursued him,
and, about half a mile beyond, one of them having got, in pursuit, within a few steps, Washburn
wheeled and shot, and then continued the retreat. In less than a mile farther a second one came so
close to him that as he turned to fire he caught the muzzle of his gun, when, after a severe
struggle, Washburn brought it to his chest, and discharging it, is antagonist fell dead. He still
continued on his course, pursued by the two Indians, all three being pretty well fatigued, and
often stopping and treeing, After going something more than a mile, Washburn took advantage of
an open ground over which the Indians were passing, and stopped suddenly to shoot the
foremost, who thereupon sprang behind a small sapling. Washburn fired and wounded him
mortally, and the remaining savage then gave a little yell and exclaimed, "No catch that man !
Gun always loaded!" and retreated back into the forest, leaving Washburn to proceed to the Ohio
further unmo- lested. Later in the season of the same year, while returning from the mouth of the
Little Miami, he discovered an In- dian on Twelve-Mile Creek, in Ohio township, a little over a
mile from the present town of New Richmond, and before the redskin was probably aware of his
being seen his life was taken by the sure shot of the great spy's never-failing rifle, which was the
terror of his savage foes. This encoun- ter happened on what is now the farm of Christian Laub, a
worthy German, who suffers at this day less apprehension from the red men than from the failure
of his grape-fields to yield a goodly vintage.
The alarming condition of affairs in the Territory inspired President Washington with fresh
anxiety for a more effec- tive prosecution of the Indian war, and a new army, in every respect
superior to the former, was assembled at Cin- cinnati in 1791, under the command of Gen.
Arthur St. Clair, the Governor of the Territory, and an officer who had a Revolutionary record of
patriotism and ability, and under whom the speedy termination of the Indian atrocities was
expected to be secured. The regular force consisted of three regiments of infantry, two companies
Of artillery, and one of cavalry, and the militia numbered about six hundred men. With this army
St. Clair began, on September 17th, his march from Ludlow's Station (six miles from Fort
Washington) towards the Indian towns on the Maumee. Two forts, Hamilton and Jefferson, were
established on the route, at the distance of about forty miles from each other, and garrisoned by
parties detached from the main army for that purpose. Shortly after leaving Fort Jefferson a
considerable party of the militia mutinied and deserted in a body. The First Regiment, under Maj.
Haintranek, was ordered to pursue them and to secure the advancing convoys of provisions,
which, it was feared, they designed to plunder. Thus weakened by desertion and division, St.
Clair approached the Indian towns. On the 3d of November, when within about forty-five miles
of the towns, he halted, intending to throw up some slight fortifications for the protection of the
baggage, and to await the return of the absent regiment. Misfortune seemed to have marked the
expedition almost from its commencement, and on the following morning, about half an hour
before sunrise, the American army was attacked with fiery impetuosity by the whole force of the
Northwestern tribes and totally defeated, with the loss of more than six hundred officers and
soldiers. The site of this disastrous defeat was near the headwaters of the Wabash, now in Mercer
Co., Ohio, and the battle- field is known as Fort Recovery. Engaged in this battle were at least
two thousand Indians and fifteen hundred white men, and of the latter more than half were either
killed or wounded.
Nothing could have been more unexpected than this severe disaster-this calamity—to the
disheartened and greatly-harassed pioneers of the Territory. Its effect was deplorable, and the
victorious tribes sent runners to the southern and south western nations to stimulate them to
attacks upon the white settlements ; and, consequently, In- dian outrages of every kind were
multiplied, and emigration was almost entirely suspended. The Federal government now took the
preliminary steps to raise a large army to operate against the hostile tribes, for the purpose of
finally and permanently subjugating them, and Congress passed the necessary laws and the
President hastened to carry them into effect. In the mean time there occurred a battle in Clermont
County,—the only fight of any magnitude known to have ever transpired between the Indians and
whites within its borders.
INDIAN BATTLE IN CLERMONT—TECUMSEH AND KENTON ENGAGED—THE
SAVAGES DEFEATED IN A SHARP CONFLICT.
In the month of March, 1792, some horses were stolen by the Indians from the settlements back
of Maysville, Mason Co., Ky., and a party of whites, to the number of thirty-six, was
immediately raised for the purpose of pur- suing them. It embraced Simon Kenton, Cornelius
Wash- burn, Timothy Downing, Benjamin Whiteman, Anthony Shane, Stephen Ruddell,
Alexander McIntyre, John Barr, — Calvin, Isaac Ferguson, and several other experienced
woodsmen and famous scouts,—all noted marksmen and familiar with pioneer hardships. Simon
Kenton, the dis- tinguished Indian-fighter, was placed in command, and next in authority was the
ce/ebrated Cornelius Washburn, marked in the early struggles with the red men for his sagacity
and courage. Over half a century ago, the prog- ress of civilization being too rapid for him, he left
his home and kindred in Clermont County for the wilds of the far West, to pass his time in the
congenial employment of hunting the bear and trapping the beaver, and of his ulti- mate fate
history is uncertain. The Hutchinsons, Harlowes, Woods, and Tates, of Jackson township, and
the wife of ex-County Treasurer Joseph Bieking, are grand- children of Washburn, whose
renowned exploits and hair-
THE INDIANS - 33
breadth escapes from the Indians would fill a volume. The third in command of this company
was Timothy Downing, one of the first settlers of Washington, Ky., and who was once captured
by the savages near Blue Licks and brought a prisoner to Ohio by the Shawnees, but escaped by
his strategy and coolness, for which he was so noted. He has a great-granddaughter in Batavia in
Mrs. R. J. Bancroft, whose mother was a Downing, born in Washington, Ky.
Drake, in his life of the celebrated Indian chief Tecumseh, says, the trail of the Indians being
taken, it was found that they had crossed the Ohio River just below the mouth of Lee"s Creek.
which was reached by the above-mentioned pursuing-party towards evening. Having prepared
rafts, they crossed the Ohio that night and encamped. Early the next morning the trail was again
taken, and pursued in a northerly course all day, the weather being bad and the ground wet. On
the ensuing morning twelve of the men were unable to continue the pursuit, and were permitted
to return. The remainder followed the trail until eleven o"clock in the forenoon, when a bell was
heard, which they supposed indicated their approach to an Indian camp. A halt was called, all
useless baggage and clothing laid aside, and Benjamin Whiteman and two others sent ahead as
spies in different directions, each being followed by a detachment of the party. After moving
forward some distance, it was found the bell was approaching them, where upon they halted, and
soon perceived a solitary Indian riding towards them. When within one hundred and fifty yards
he was fired at and killed, whereupon Kenton ordered the spies to proceed, being now satisfied
that the camp of the Indians was near at hand. They pushed on rapidly, and after going about four
miles found the red men encamped on the southeast side of the east fork of the Little Miami
River, in Jackson township, Clermont Co., at Lime- Kiln Ford, near the mouth of Grassy Run,
and on what are now the lands of Thomas Goldtrap, J. G. Hutchinson, and Samuel Bicking's
heirs,—about two miles south of Marathon and five miles northeast of Williamsburgh.
The indications of a considerable body of Indians were so strong that the expediency of an attack
at that hour of the day was doubted by Kenton. A hurried council was held, in which it was
determined to retire if it could be done without discovery, and lie concealed until night, and then
assault the camp. This plan was carried into execution, and two of the spies were left to watch the
Indians and ascertain whether the pursuing-party had been discovered. The others retreated for
some distance, and took a commanding position on a ridge. The spies watched until night, and
then reported to their commander that they had not been discovered by the enemy. The men
being wet and cold, they were now marched down into a hollow, where they kindled fires, dried
their clothes, and put their rifles in order. The party was then divided into three detachments,
Kenton commanding the right, McIntyre the centre, and Downing the left. By agreement, the
three divisions were to move towards the camp simultaneously, and when they bad approached
as near as possible without giving an alarm were to be guided in the commencement of the attack
by the fire from Kenton's party.
When Downing and his detachment had approached close to the camp an Indian arose upon his
feet and began to stir up the fire, which was dimly burning. Fearing a discovery, Downing"s party
immediately shot him down. This was followed by a general fire from the three detachments
upon the Indians, who were sleeping under some marquees and bark tents, close upon the margin
of the east fork. But unfortunately, as it proved in the sequel, Kenton"s party had taken " Boone"
us their watchword. This name, happening to be as familiar to the enemy as themselves, led to
some confusion in the course of the engagement. When fired upon, the savages, instead of
retreating across the stream, as had been anticipated, boldly stood upon their arms, returned the
fire of the assailants, and rushed upon them. They were reinforced, moreover, from a camp on the
opposite side of the east fork, which until then had been unperceived by the whites. In a few
minutes the Indians and Kentuckians were blended with each other, and the cry of " Boone" and
"Che Boone" arose simultaneously from each party.
It was after midnight when the attack was made, and, there being no moon, it was very dark.
Kenton, perceiving that his men were likely to be overpowered, ordered a rementreat after the
attack had lasted for a few minutes; this was continued through the remainder of the night. and
part of the next day, the redskins pursuing them, but without killing more than one of the
retreating party. The Kentuckians lost but two men,—Alexander McIntyre and John Barr,---but
the loss of the Indians was much greater, according to the statement of some prisoners, who, after
the peace of 1795, were released and returned to Kentucky. They related that fourteen Indians
were killed and seventeen wounded. They further stated that there were in the camp about one
hundred warriors, among them several chiefs of note, including Tecumseh, Battise, Black Snake,
Wolf, and Chinskau, and that the party had been formed for the purpose of annoying the
settlements in Kentucky, and of attacking boats descending the Ohio River, but the severe raid of
the whites changed their intention and altered their course.
The history of no battle with the Indians in pioneer annals shows more valor than this fight on the
part of the brave scouts and hunters—twenty-four in all—who attacked and fought over a
hundred Indians, among whom were several of their most celebrated chiefs on the continent, and
inflicted such chastisement upon the savages as to deter them from future incursions into this and
the county of Brown, and from further predatory raids upon the Ken-. tucky people. Kenton and
his band were three days in reaching Limestone (now Maysville, Ky.), going down near the line
of Clermont and Brown Counties to the mouth of Bullskin Creek and thence up the Ohio, and
were two days without food, and destitute of a sufficient amount of clothing to protect them from
the cold winds and rains of March.
Some of the foregoing particulars of this expedition are gathered from the writings of Gen.
Benjamin Whiteman, one of the early and gallant pioneers of Kentucky, and who died many
years ago in Xenia, Ohio, but some of whose great-grandchildren still live in Tate and Franklin
townships, of this county.
The statements of Anthony Shane and Stephen Ruddell
34 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
touching this fight vary in some particulars from that which has been given above, and also from
the narrative in Mc Donald's sketches. Ruddell states that at the beginning of the attack
Tecumseh was lying by the fire, outside of the tents, and when the first gun was heard he sprang
to his feet, and, calling upon Sinnamantha to follow his ex- ample and charge, he rushed forward
and killed one of the whites (John Barr) with his war-club. The other Indians, raising the
war-whoop, seized their arms, and, rushing upon Kenton and his band, compelled them, after a
severe con- test, to retreat. One of the Indians, in the midst of the engagement, fell into the river,
and in the effort to get out of the water made so much noise that it created a belief on the minds
of the whites that a reinforcement was crossing the stream to aid Tecumseh. This is supposed to
have hastened the order from Kenton for his men to retreat. The afternoon prior to the battle one
of Kenton"s men, by the name of McIntyre, succeeded in catching an Indian horse, which he tied
in the rear of the camp, and when a retreat was ordered he mounted and rode off.
Early in the morning Tecumseh and four of his men set off in pursuit of the retreating party, and,
having fallen upon the trail of McIntyre, they pursued it for some distance, and at length overtook
him. He had struck a fire and was cooking some meat, and when he discovered his pursuers he
instantly fled at full speed. Tecumseh and two others followed, and were fast gaining on him,
when he turned and raised his gun. Two of the Indians, who hap- pened to be in advance of
Tecumseh, sprang behind the trees, but he rushed upon McIntyre and made him prisoner. He was
tied and taken back to the battle-ground ; upon reaching which, Tecumseh deemed it prudent to
draw off the red men, lest the whites should rally and renew the fight, He requested some of his
comraeions to catch the horses, but, they hesitating, he undertook to do it by himself, assisted by
one of the party, and when he returned to camp with the horses he found that his men had killed
McIntyre. At this act of cruelty he was exceedingly indignant, declaring that it was a cowardly act
to kill a man when tied, and a prisoner.
The conduct of Tecurnseh in this engagement and in the events of the following morning is
creditable alike to his courage and humanity. Resolutely brave in battle, his arm was never
uplifted against a prisoner, nor did lre suffer violence to be inflicted upon a captive without
promptly rebuking it. McDonald, in speaking of this action, says that the distinguished warrior,
Tecumseh, commanded the Indians, and that his cautious and fearless intrepidity wade him a host
wherever he went.
In military tactics night-attacks are not allowable, except in cases like this, where the assailing
party is far inferior in numbers. Sometimes, in night-attacks, panic and con- fusion are created in
the attacked party, which may render them a prey to inferior numbers. Kenton trusted to some-
thing like this on the present occasion, but was disappointed, for when Tecumseh was present his
influence over the minds of his followers infused that confidence in his tact and courage that
could only be defeated by force of numbers.
In the numerous accounts of this battle the principal difference relates to the number of Indians in
the engage- ment and the loss sustained by them, and there is only one that disputes the truth of
the fact of the redskins getting reinforcements from the north side of the east fork. Some writers
have located this battle at Salt Lick, in Perry township, Brown Co., nearly a mile from the site we
have given, but they are mistaken, as Cornelius Washburn, who a few years subsequently settled
and made his home for quite a while in the immediate vicinity of the site desig- nated by us, often
walked over the battle.ground and pointed out and described the particulars of the fight, and
placed its exact location as before mentioned by us.
In April, 1792, while Gen. Nathaniel Massie, with a party of nine men, was engaged in surveying
in Stonelick township, they were suddenly attacked (while breakfast was preparing) by a party of
twenty-two Indians. So unexpected was the onslaught by this superior force that Gen. Massie
ordered his men to fall back after firing a few shots at the savages. The whites retreated to
Geraul"s Station, at that time commanded by Capt. Richard Hall. The Indians pursued them some
distance, and slightly wounded one of the men. Three of the Indians were seen to fail. It is
supposed that these were the same Indians that soon after killed Maj. Covalt at Round Bottom.
A few years later Gen. Wilham Lytle, while surveying in Jackson township, was pursued by a
small party of In- dians, and in the hurry of the moment lost his pocket-compass. This was found
in a good state of preservation a few years ago, and is highly prized as a memento of those
perilous times.
Various obstacles retarded the enlistment and organization of the new army to meet the Indians,
and military preparations progressed slowly, owing to the distance for transportation and the
sparseness of population. Gen. Anthony Wayne, a bold, energetic, and experienced officer of the
Revolution,—the immortal hero of " Stony Point,"-- was appointed to the command, and arrived
at Cincinnati in the spring of 1793. The Kentucky volunteer riflemen had become, from the
experience of frequent disasters, averse to serving in concert with the regular troops, but such
was the confidence inspired by " Mad Anthony Wayne" that they joined his standard with alacrity
and in great numbers, In the course of the following winter he established a fort on a western
branch of the Great Miami, which he called Greenville, and, having taken possession of the
theatre of St. Clair"s defeat, erected there a fort, to which he gave the most appropriate name of "
Fort Re- covery." In the spring of 1794 the new American army assembled at Greenville, and
consisted of fifteen hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky and a regular force of about two
thousand men, all of whom were well provided in every respect and eager to be led against the
insolent and haughty enemy. The Kentucky troops were commanded by Gen. Charles Scott, of
that State, who was the second ranking officer in this army, and who, as well as Gen. Henry Lee
(the "Light-Horse Harry" of the Revolution) and Gen. William Darke, had been favorably
considered by President Washington in connection with the chief command of this great
expedition. The choice, however, fell upon Gen. Wayne, the old companion-in-arms of the
President, and to
THE INDIANS - 33
him is justly ascribed the honor of defeating the Indian tribes commanded by the celebrated
Shawnee chief Blue Jacket on the Maumee, Aug. 20, 1794, and of permanently breaking the
power of a very formidable Indian confederacy.
The savages had collected their whole force, amounting to over two thousand braves, near a
British fort, erected since the treaty of 1783, and in gross violation of its obligations, at the foot
of the rapids of the Maumee. Wayne marched from Greenville towards the confluence of the
Auglaize with the Maumee in July, 1794. Having arrived there, he sent forward a messenger with
his last pacific overtures, but without waiting for his return continued his march. On his route he
met the envoy, who returned with an evasive answer. On August 20th he encountered the enemy,
and the order of march was instantly converted into the order of battle. The contest which ensued
was short and deadly, and successive charges impetuously made with the bayonet drove the
Indians from their coverts and exposed them to a galling fire. Unable to sustain the onset, they
fled in the greatest confusion, and were pursued under the guns of the British fort. In this
well-fought action—one of the severest defeats the American Indians ever met—Gen. Wayne"s
zealous and efficient aid-de-camp was a future President,—William Henry Harrison.
This battle was fought at the Maumee Rapids, near Perrysburg and Fort Meigs, in Wood Co.,
Ohio, and is known as the battle of " Fallen Timbers," though some- times called the "battle of
the Maumee." The American loss was thirty-three killed and one hundred wounded, in- cluding
in the former five officers and nineteen in the latter, but the loss of the enemy was very large, as
the woods were strewed for a considerable distance with the dead bodies of the Indians and their
white auxiliaries, the latter armed with British muskets and bayonets.
Cessation of hostilities followed this victory, and a peace which the government had vainly
sought by friendly nego- tiation was secured,—a peace which continued for many years, even
until after the "Northwest Territory" had ceased to be and the important incidents and events con-
nected therewith had passed into history. The victory did not at once reduce the savages to
submission, and it was necessary to lay waste their whole country, and to erect forts in the heart
of their territory, before they could be entirely subdued. At length, however, they became thor-
oughly convinced of their inability to resist the American arms, and sued for peace. A grand
council was held at Greenville, only a few miles distant from the unfortunate scene of St. Clair's
'defeat of four years previous, where eleven of the most powerful Northwestern tribes were
represented, to whom Gen. Wayne, dictated the terms of pacification.
The treaty thus negotiated with the "Thirteen Fifes," as the savages called the Federal States,
stipulated for the mutual release of prisoners and confirmed the boundary- line established by the
treaty at Fort McIntosh, which ex- tended westward from Loramies to Fort Recovery, and thence
southward to the Mouth of the Kentucky River. All the territory eastward and southward of the
line thus established was ceded to the United States, and the Indians solemnly pledged
themselves never again to make those lands, or any part of them, a cause or pretense of war or
injury to any of the American people. Several small tracts, important as sites for military forts,
were like- wise ceded. The Indians also agreed to acknowledge the United States as their sole
protector, and never to sell their lands to any other power, Upon these conditions the United
States received the Indian nations into their protection, guaranteed their future security from
wrong and injury, and relinquished all claims to land not included within the treaty boundary. A
large quantity of goods was also delivered on the spot, and perpetual annuities, payable in
merchandise or in domestic animals, implements of husbandry, or other convenient utensils, at
the pleasure of the receivers, were promised to each tribe which became a party to the treaty.
This treaty was the foundation of a permanent peace, and was the act of all the tribes who had
then any claims to the territory east of the Wabash, and the observance of its conditions was
secured by the expectation of solid benefits, as the rewards of good faith, and by the dread of
severe retribution as the consequence of infractions. Its effect upon the prosperity and
improvement of the West was immense. Confidence in the disposition and ability of the
government to protect the Western settlers was universally restored, and the emigrant no longer
had the fear of the tomahawk and the scalping-knife, of the midnight conflagration and the
noon-day ambush, before his eyes when he undertook the conquest of the wilderness. Occasional
aggressions, indeed, by both whites and Indians, still continued to occur, but no combination of
tribes, nor any single tribe, again lifted the tomahawk against the United States until just before
the breaking out of the war of' 1812 with Great Britain.
On the heels of Wayne"s victory and treaty, the population of Ohio began to increse and extend ;
the Virginia Reservation, between the Little Miami and Scioto, drew a large number of
Revolutionary veterans and others from that State ; the business of entering new surveys in Cler-
mont was resumed ; and several settlements were begun in the county, in Williamsburgh, Miami,
and Washington townships. Many of these settlers had been with Wayne in his victorious
campaign, others had fought the savages in Kentucky and North Carolina, and all of them came
feeling secure under the new peace and order of things, and ready to reclaim the forest and open
up farms, but also prepared, in strong arms and stout hearts, to wield the musket should Indian
aggression ever again raise its bloody sceptre.
Near Smyrna graveyard, a short distance from Felicity, in the year 1786, an Indian squaw named
"Sweet Lips" was executed by the tomahawk of an Indian chief for her alleged witchcraft and
sorcery, that had impeded the success of her tribe in the chase and defeated it in a fight. When
O'Bannon was making his surveys in Franklin and Washington townships the fall and winter of
the following year, he observed and marked the fatal spot where the weird woman of the silent
race paid the forfeit of her life, and had the particulars described to him by an Indian guide who
had witnessed the execution.
In early times the Little Miami Valley, between Branch Hill, in this county, and Spumes, on the
Hamilton County
36 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO
side, was a place of greater relative importance than at present, and at one time was the
rendezvous for travelers as well as adventurers, and here was the trail of an Indian tribe which
crossed at Three Islands on their way between Columbia and Chillicothe.
In the fall of 1795, John Wood, David Wood, Jeriah Wood, John, Nathan, and Elisha Manning
settled in Washington township, about a mile from Calvary Church. They bad their families, and
built what was called " Wood and Manning"s Station," afterwards called " Miller's Station," and
supposed to have been the first in Clermont. These settlers lived in the " station," which was a
residence and fort combined, and several times the men were driven into the station by passing
predatory bands of Indians going to Kentucky to steal horses or on their return from that State by
the way of the Neville crossing. They were never attacked by the savages or the station seriously
disturbed, as the treaty held the redskins in check, though they frequently violated its provisions
in crossing the Ohio River to steal horses from pioneers of the " Dark and Bloody Ground." In
1796 and 1797, Simon Kenton, while scouting between- Cincinnati and the Scioto River, spying
for Indians violating the Greenville treaty, often tarried over-night at this station and partook of
its cordial hospitality. Daniel Boone, when on his way to Missouri, had sent his family by
flatboat down the Ohio River, and stayed at this station several days with the Woods and
Buchanans,—old friends and neighbors of that great Indian-fighter and bunter at Germantown
and Washington, Ky. Here for nearly a week he tarried, and took a hunt up into the county to
nearly the headwaters of the Stone- lick, in which the party of eleven laid in an immense supply
of bear and deer-meat, with a dozen fine wild turkeys.
Through the site of what is now the flourishing village of Williamsburgh (as we are assured by
its eloquent historian, Prof. Byron Williams) passed a trail from the " Dark and Bloody Ground"
to the realms of the North Wind. A camping-spot was near the intersection of Third or Second
with Walnut and Mill Streets. Of all the wily hunters that threaded that mazy trail, of all the
valiant chiefs and cunning braves that reposed in that camp, no name is known.
"Of the mighty deeds they have done,
Of their battles bravely lost or won,"
history, tradition, and song are silent.
"The dusky maidens and their loves are alike forgotten and lost,
As a darkened torch in midnight ocean tossed."
Some have thought that there are indications that a great conflict occurred (many years before
any settlement in Clermont) at the junction of the east fork and Kain Run. Only this we
know,—that their souls are in the spirit-land, and that from beneath rough stone in rude
symmetry placed, on the loveliest knolls in that vicinity, truants and idlers with curious thoughts
and sacrilegious hands have exhumed the bones of stalwart men, and that there battle-
axes and arrowheads are to be found in profusion rich to the studious antiquarian.
The largest Indian camp in the county after its occupation by the whites, in 1795, was on the farm
formerly owned by W. T. Hartman, near Grassy Run, in Jackson township. It consisted of nine
wigwams and forty-three souls. Remains of their fireplaces are still to be seen. These Indians
were Wyandots, and subsisted chiefly by hunting, fishing, and trapping, selling their furs to the
whites for corn and a little money. In their intercourse with the whites they were friendly and
honest. Before that period the Shawanese had a camp farther up the cast fork, and between them
and the Wyandots there was much enmity, which came near resulting in serious conflicts on
several occasions. The latter were called women and other epithets offensive to an Indian"s
nature. The Shawanese left in 1805, and thereafter the Wyandots were in undisturbed 'possession
of the salt-licks in that part of the country, which were greatly frequented by game. Among their
chieftains was one Logan, of very fine personal appearance, who was killed in the war of 1812.
These Indians left the county in 1811 to join their northern brethren, and never returned. They
were the last to live within the bounds of Clermont, and more than half a century has elapsed
since the red man has set his foot on her soil.
CHAPTER VI.
LAND-GRANTS, TITLES, AND SURVEYS.
IN the third year of the Revolutionary war the State of Virginia, which claimed the ownership of
all the domain west of the Allegheny Mountains, opened an office for the sale of her Western
lands. This act attracted the attention of the other States, several of which regarded the vacant
region in the West as a common fund for the future payment of the expenses of the war for
independence, in which the confederacy was then involved. This claim, in behalf of the United
States, was asserted on the ground that the Western lands had been the property of the Crown,
and naturally fell, on the declaration of independence, to the opponent of the former sovereign. It
was contended that it was manifestly unjust that a vast tract of unoccupied country, acquired by
the common efforts and at the common expense of the whole Union, should be appropriated for
the exclusive benefit of particular States, while the rest should be left to bear the unmitigated
burden of a debt contracted in asserting that independence by which this immense acquisition
was wrested from Great Britain. On the other hand Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut
asserted separate, and in some degree conflicting, claims, founded upon the construction of their
respective colonial charters, and New York also advanced some vague pretensions, grounded
upon her jurisdiction over the Six Nations, of whom the Northwestern tribes wore the imagined
tributaries. Of these various claims, that of the United States seems to have been the most
rational and just, and, in opposition to the several pretensions, Congress, as a common bead of
the people, maintained its title to the Western lands upon the solid ground that a vacant territory,
wrested from the common enemy by the united arms and at the joint expense of all the States,
ought of right to belong to
LAND-GRANTS, TITLES, AND SURVEYS - 37
Congress, in trust ffir the common use and benefit of the whole Union. This controversy
respecting the North- west territory for a long time darkened the prospects of the American
Union and retarded the ratification of the Articles of Confederation ; it greatly augmented the
difficulty and embarrassment experienced by Congress in carry- ing on the war, and it cheered
the enemies of America by revealing a source of contentious discord among the mem- bers of the
Union.
In these trying circumstances, Congress strongly appealed to the several States which had
asserted claims to the West- ern domain to avert the danger that threatened the common cause
•by liberal cessions for the common benefit. New York was the first to listen to these appeals, by
authorizing her delegates in Congress, early in the year 1780, to re- strict her western border by
such limits as they should deem expedient, which magnanimous example was followed by
Virginia making a deed of cession of the territory northwest of the Ohio on March 1, 1784 ; by
Massachusetts, in April, 1785, Ceding all her claims to the United States to territory west of the
western boundary of New York ; and by Connecticut, on Sept. 14, 1786, deeding all her land
lying one hundred and twenty miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania and bordering
on Lake Erie,
By the acceptance of these cessions Congress became the trustee of the Confederacy, and,
according to a resolve of 1780, the terms of these trusts were : first, that the ceded territory
should be formed into States, to be admitted, when formed, into the Union upon an equal footing
in all respects with the original States ; second, that the land should be disposed of for the
common benefit of all the States ; and third, that the manner and conditions of sale should be
exclusively regulated by Congress.
In the adjustment of this great controversy Massachusetts and New York made no reservations in
their respective cessions, but Virginia and Connecticut were not so unmind- ful of their
individual interests, the latter reserving what is now the well-known Ohio Reserve, an area of
about three million eight hundred thousand acres, and the former a large and undefined tract of
some four million acres, between the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers, embracing all of Clermont
and all or parts of twenty-three other counties.
The State of Virginia had raised, at an early period of the Revolutionary war, two descriptions of
troops, State and Continental, to each of which bounties in lands were promised.
The lands within the limits of the indefinite and vague colonial charter of Virginia from ;lames I.,
King of England, situate to the northwest of the Ohio River, were with-drawn from appropriation
on treasury land-warrants, and the lands on Cumberland River, and between Green and
Tennessee Rivers, on the southeasterly side of the Ohio, were appropriated for these ,military
bounties to the officers and soldiers on the Continental establishment, in contradistinction to the
State soldiery, otherwise paid. But in her cession Virginia stipulated that in case the quantity of
good land on the southeast of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland River, and between
Green and Tennessee Rivers, should, from the North Carolina line bearing in farther upon the
Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the deficiency
should be made up to said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little
Miami, on the northwest side of the Ohio River, in such proportions as have been engaged to
them by the laws of Virginia for their re- spective services, proportional to their rank and time of
actual service.
The right of the United States as against the civilized world was now clear and incontestable, the
several States having respectively relinquished their pretensions, and Great Britain and Spain,
who had each disputed the western boundary of the Union, having conceded, by formal treaty,
the American claim to all the territory east of the Missis- sippi and -north of' Florida and
Louisiana. Congress, there- fore, proceeded to perfect its title to the soil and jurisdiction by
negotiations with the Indian tribes, the original and only rightful sovereigns and proprietors, and
by a treaty concluded at Fort McIntosh, Jan. 21, 1785, with the Wyandots, Delawares,
Chippewas, and Ottawas, it acquired the title of all these tribes to about three-fourths of the
present State of Ohio,
By the ordinance of May, 1785, Congress had executed in part the great national trust confided to
it by providing for the future surveys of the public domain in the West the disposal of the vacant
lands for the common good, and by prescribing the manner and terms of sale. On. July 13, 1787,
Congress adopted an ordinance that has passed into history as the formal dedication of the great
Northwest to liberty and settlement,—in which provision was made for successive forms of
territorial government, adapted to successive steps of advancement in the settling of the Western
country. It comprehended an intelligible system of law on the descent and conveyance of real
property and the transfer of personal goods, and contained five articles of compact between the
original States and the people and States of the Territory, establishing certain great fundamental
principles of governmental duty and private right as the basis of all future constitutions and
legislation, unalterable and indestructible except by that final and common ruin, which, as it has
overtaken all former systems of human polity, may yet overwhelm our American Union.
Never, probably, in the history of the world did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and
yet so mightily exceed, the anticipations of the legislators, and this ordinance has been well
described as having been a " pillar of cloud by day and of' fire by night" in the settlement and
government of the Northwestern States. When the settlers went into the wilderness, they found
the law already there, and impressed upon the soil itself while it yet bore up nothing but the
forest ; and the purchaser of land became, by that act, a party to the compact, and by its perpetual
covenants so far as its conditions did not conflict With the terms of the cessions of the States.
According to the various ordinances of Congress and the stipulations of Virginia"s deed of
cession, no land in Clermont County could be purchased, entered, or surveyed save and except by
the Continental troops of Virginia holding the requisite land-warrants for their services as
officers or
38 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
privates, or by other persons to whom these necessary warrants had been duly assigned in
pursuance of law and in writing.
The lands in Clermont were taken up under a system peculiar to this Virginia military
district,—what were called entries for survey, They were not surveyed into townships or sections
or any regular form, but a principal surveyor was appointed, who selected deputies, and any
individual holding a land-warrant on the Virginia line in the Continental establishment might
locate it wherever he chose within the district, and in such shape as be pleased, wherever the land
had not previously been located. When the lands were surveyed under the orders of the principal
or deputy surveyors, the proper entries returned to the land-office, and the necessary papers
deposited in the departments, and, if' everything was found regular, patents signed by the
President were issued.
In consequence of this deficience of regular original surveys and the irregularities with which the
several locations were made, and the consequent interference and encroachment of some
locations upon others, more than double the litigation has probably arisen between the holders of
adverse titles in this county than in other counties of equal extent situate on congressional or
other lands outside of the famous Virginia Military Reservation. The military district, between
the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers, embraces the counties in whole or part. of Clermont, Brown,
Adams, Clinton, Highland, Fayette, Madison, Union, Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway, Franklin,
Marion, Delaware, Hardin, Logan, Clark, Green, Champaign, Warren, Hamilton, and Auglaize.
The time for making entries end returning surveys thereon was repeatedly fixed by act of
Congress and extended from time to time, and the first surveys in Ohio under the provisions of
the reservation and other acts followed immediately after the passage of the ordinance of 1787,
and were made in Clermont County on November 13th and 14th of that year,—the fall previous
to the settlement at. Marietta, and a year before the first settlers at Cincinnati began their
operations. The first land, therefore, surveyed by a government officer in Ohio, was in this
county, as is subsequently herein detailed.
The unsurveyed and unappropriated lands in the Virginia Reservation were, by an act of
Congress of Feb. 18, 1871, ceded to the State of Ohio, coupled with a condition that each settler
on the lands should be entitled to pre-empt any quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and
sixty acres, under such regulations as the General Assembly of Ohio should provide. The State,
by act of March 26, 1872, accepted said grant, and conveyed the lands to the Ohio Agricultural
and Mechanical College. That as well as the subsequent act of April 3, 1873, required the trustees
of that institution to survey, set off, and convey by deed to each settler forty acres at the cost only
of survey and deed, and also authorized each settler to demand, and required said trustees to
survey and convey to every such person, one hundred and twenty acres additional for one dollar
per acre, or such portion thereof as such settler might have had in actual possession. These
lands—of which there are four thousand two hundred and sixty-fours acres in Clermont—may
be classified as follows : First, unsurveyed lands ; second, lands resting on entry alone ; third,
fraudulerit and voidable surveys; and fourth, lands donated to settlers. The lands designated as "
unsurveyed" include, as well as the tracts resting on more naked entries, those unclaimed. An
entry is simply a notice in writing by the holder of a warrant to the principal surveyor of' an
intention to survey and appropriate a particular tract, and in order to make an entry available it
must be followed by a survey, which must be approved by the principal surveyor, and by him
certified to the commissioner of the General Land-Office.
There are many lands surveyed which have not been carried into patent, the surveys of which are
of two sorts, -valid and fraudulent. The Agricultural College declares its policy not to interfere
with surveys long since made which have not been carried into patent by reason of mere
technical defects, which are causes of most of the nonpatented four thousand two hundred and
sixty-four acres in this county, but avows its purpose to get possession of the fraudulent surveys,
which stand upon a different footing, but of which there are but a very few in Clermont.
In hundreds of instances lands are held in this county, and have been for years, simply upon
location and survey, and in all of them there is what is called " excess," but this excess beyond
the boundaries of the original survey in measurement cannot now, by the settled policy of the
government, be patented anew, or the occupants thereon be disturbed in their possession by any
person claiming under governmental title adverse to them. It is not the policy of the general
government that the homes where the hardy pioneer built his cabin, cleared his fields, and sowed
and reaped for years, and where his children have grown to manhood and womanhood,—where
his children and grandchildren in his old age return to the old farm, "the dearest spot on earth," to
cheer his declining years and receive his fatherly blessing,—should be lost or decimated by
technicalities of patent or errors in boundary-lines of surveys made when the country was
wilderness, Humane statutes and equitable decisions will allow no cloud to intervene whose
darkness is more chilling to the old pioneer than even the approach of that invisible reaper whose
sickle he knows to be near. Errors in olden metes and bounds will not be permitted to shackle the
old settler"s home or to bind his fields; and the very landmarks that have grown mossy with age
arid peace shall not be thrust aside by the despoiler who would " cause the naked to lodge
without clothing," and who would violate the divine injunction, " Thou shalt not remove thy
neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt
inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it." We give below a synoptical
index to the laws relating to the Virginia military bounty-lands in this county:
UNITED STATES LAWS.
B. and D.'s Edition.
1784, March 1.—Lands set apart for satisfying, granted by Virginia - Vol. I., 474
1788, July 17.—Act of old Congress declaring locations and surveys of Virginia military grants
between Scioto and
LAND-GRANTS, TITLES, AND SURVEYS - 39
Little Miami Rivers invalid until lands on waters of Cumberland River, in Kentucky, prove
inadequate Vol. I., 572
L. and B.’s Edition.
1790, August 10.—Act above, of 1788, repealed; said lands assigned to satialy claims of Virginia
line of Revolu- tionary war - Vol. 1., 182
1791, Jone 9--Patents to issue for Virginia bounty-lands on return of warrant and survey - Vol. I.,
394
1800, May 13.—Further regulations for Issuing patents. - Vol. 1I., 80
1800, May 13.—Warrants for lands may be withdrawn in eases of conflicting claims - Vol. II., 80
1803, March 1.—Issuing patents where land-warrants, etc., hove been lost - Vol. II., 237
1804, March 23.—Boundary of Military Reservation ascertained, - Vol. II, 274
1812, June 26.—Western boundary ascertained - Vol. II, 764
1816, Aprit 11.—That boundary designated - Vol. III., 423
1804, March 23.—Such part of reservation as remains unlocated in three years released from
claim under Virginia warrants - Vol II 275
1804, March 23.—Warrants to be located by March 23,1807, and surveys returned two years
thereafter - Vol. II., 275
18(17, March 23.—Time extended four years - Vol. II., 424
1810, March 16.—Five years allowed for obtaining and locating warrants, and seven for
returning surveys - Vol. II., 589
1814, Nov. 3.—Three years additional allowed for locating war- rants, and five for making
returns - Vol. III., 143
1818, April 11.—Two years from ratification of any treaties ex- tinguishing Indian titles to locate
warrants, etc., - Vol. 1II., 423
1821, Feb. 9.—Time of location extended to Jan. 4, 1823, and return of surveys to Jan. 4, 1826 -
Vol. III., 612
1823, March 3.—Two years allowed for location of warrants, and four for returning surveys -Vol. 1II., 772
1823, March 3—Warrants not to be removed after location, nor to be located on lands sold by
United States - Vol. III., 773
1826, May 20.—Time of issuing warrants extended to June 12, 1829,.location to June, 1832, and
return of surveys to June, 1833 - Vol. IV., 189
1824, May 26.—Terms to be ascertained on which holders under purchase from United States of
lands between Roberts' and Ludlow's lines will relinquish title, it being found these lands are in
the Virginia Reservation - Vol. IV., 70
1826, May 20.—Restrictions imposed on issue of location of warrants - Vol. IV., 189
1826, May 20.--Withdrawal of locations of warrants prohibited, except in cases of eviction or
interference with other claims - Vol. IV., 190
1807, March 3.—Lands may be surveyed and patented under Virginia resolution warrants - Vol.
II, 437
1815, Feb. 22.—Two years further allowed to complete surveys under resolution warrants - Vol.
III., 212
1818, April 11.—Act of 1807, above, revised and continued in force - Vol. III., 423
1821, Feb. O.—Further provision for issuing patents for locations under Virginia resolution
warrants - Vol. III., 612
1823, March 3.—Act of 1807 again revived - Vol. III., 772
1829, Feb. 24.—A surveyor for Virginia Military District to be appointed - Vol. IV., 335
1830, April 23.—Time for issuing Virginia warrants extended to January, 1832 - Vol. IV., 395
1830, April 23.—None issued thereafter to be located - Vol. IV., 395
1830, May 30.—Scrip to be issued for Virginia bounty-land, - Vol. IV., 422
1832, March 3I.—Act of May 30, 1830, not to extend to cases where patents have issued - Vol.
IV., 500
1832, March 31.—Third section of act May 30, 1826, extended for seven years - Vol. IV., 500
1832, July 13.—Additional land or scrip granted for Virginia land-warrants - Vol IV., 578
1833, March 2.—Additional grant of land to satisfy Virginia land-warrants - Vol. IV., 665
1835, March 3.—Further grant of land - Vol. IV., 770
1838, July 7.--Time for locating Virginia land-warrants extended - Vol. V., 262
1841, Aug. 19.—Time further extended - Vol. V.; 449
1846, July 29.—Time further extended to January, 1848, Vol. IX., 41
1848, July 5.—Same continued in force till Jan. 1, 1850, Vol. IX., 244
1850, Feb. 20 --Further time extended to Jan. 1, 1852..Vol. IX., 421
1852, Aug. 31.—Making further provisions for satisfaction of Virginia land-warrants - Vol. X.,
143
1854, Dec. 19.—Time extended for retiring surveys - Vol. X., 595
1855, March 3.—Time extended for retiring surveys - Vol. X., 701
1860, Juno 22.—To declare meaning of act of August., 1852, - Vol. XII., 84
1871, Feb. 18.—Cedes lauds to State of Ohio ________ 416
1878, —.—An act to allow three years from its date to make return of surveys, entered before
Jan. 1, 1852
1872, March 20.—State of Ohio ceded unsurveyed and un,old lands to the Ohio Agricultural and
Mechanical College, O. L. Vol. 69 52
The principal surveyor of the Virginia Military District was Gen. Rich:,rd C. Anderson, of
Kentucky, grandfather of Maj. Robert Anderson, the heroic defender of Fort Sumter, and of
Governor Charles Anderson, of Ohio. He opened an office for the reception of locations and
surveys at Louisville, Ky., Aug. 1, 1781, and on Aug. 1, 1787, established in his office a separate
bureau for tbe lands on the north side of' the Ohio River. Under Gen. Anderson and his
successors all of the lands in this county were surveyed by his deputy surveyors,—John
OlBannon (the first who made a survey in the district), Gen. James Taylor, Gen. William Lytle,
Gen. Duncan McArthur, and Gen. Nathaniel Massie (both afterwards Governors of the State),
Robert Todd, Joseph Kerr, Cadwaider Wallace, Timothy Kiroy, A. D. Kendrick, E. P. Kendrick,
John Hill, James Denny, Peter MeArtlmr, Allen Latham, James Galloway, Jr., John Elhson, Jr.,
David Collins, Walter Dunn, Col. James Taylor, Jr,, George C. Light, David Collier, Col. James
Poage, and John Bogges. Most of the surveys were made before the year 1800, under Anderson's
admin- istration and by his deputies, O'Bannon, Lytle, Taylor, Sr., Massie, Todd, and Wallace,
who were exposed to incessant dangers, suffered great privations, and were frequently attacked
by the Indians. The first locations of land warrants in the county, in the fall of 1787 and
succeeding winter, were made by O'Bannon by stealth, as every creek which was explored, every
line that was run, was at the risk of life from the savage Indians, whose courage and persever-
ance were only equaled by that of the whites to push for- ward their settlements.
John O'Bannon, the pioneer deputy surveyor, had placed in his hands a large number of
land-warrants for surveys, and as the risk of making entries was great, and as it was desirable to
possess the best lands, the owners of warrants in most eases made liberal contracts with hint.
One-fourth, one-third, and sometimes as much as one-half acquired by the entry of good lands
were given by the proprietors to the surveyors. If the owners preferred paying money, the usual
terms were ten pounds, Virginia currency, for each thousand acres entered and surveyed,
exclusive of chain- men"s expenses. These terms cannot appear extravagant when we consider
that at that time the danger encountered was great, the exposure during the winter severe, and that
the price of first-rate land in the West was low, and an immense quantity in market.
During the month of November, 1.787, O"Bannon prepared a party to enter largely into the
surveying business in Clermont, and came down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh and landed at
what is now the village of Neville, where they hauled their boat out of the water and began
operations for the season. After surveying several weeks winter set in, and the ground was
covered with a sheet of snow from six to ten inches deep ; and their bread ran out, save a little
flour, a pint of which was distributed once a day to each mess to mix with the soup in which the
meat had been boiled. When night came, four fires were made for cooking,—that is, one for each
mess,—and around these, till sleeping-time came, the company spent the hours in most social
glee, singing songs and telling stories, in which O'Bannon, with his droll Irish wit, greatly
excelled. When
40 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
danger was not apparent or immediate, they were as merry a set of men as ever assembled, and,
resting-time arriving, O'Bannon always gave the signal, and the whole party would then leave
their comfortable fires, carrying with them their blankets, their firearms, and their little baggage,
walking in perfect silence two or three hundred yards from the fire. They would then scrape away
the snow and huddle down together for the night. Each mess formed one bed, and they would
spread down on the ground one-half of the blankets, reserving the other half for covering. Thus
prepared, the whole party crouched down together with their rifles in their arms and their
pouches under their heads for pillows, lying spoon-fashion, with three heads one way and four
the other, their feet extending to about the middle of their bodies. When one turned the whole
mess turned, or else the close range would be broken and the cold let in ; and in this way they lay
till broad daylight, no noise and scarcely a whisper being uttered during the night. When it was
perfectly light, O'Bannon would call up two of the men, in whom he had most confidence, and
send them to reconnoitre and make a circuit around the fires, lest an ambuscade might be formed
by the Indians to destroy the party as they returned to the fires. Self-preservation required this
circumspection, and it was an invariable custom in every variety of weather.
One time during the winter, when they were out in the wilderness, in what is now Tate township,
they were exposed to a severe storm without hut, tent, or covering, and, what was still more
appalling, without provision and without any road or track to retreat on ; but on the third day of
the great snow-storm they luckily killed two wild turkeys, which were boiled and divided into
twenty-eight parts, and devoured with great avidity, heads, feet, entrails, and all.
The first survey in the great Northwest was made in this county, on what now includes the town
of Neville, and was made by O'Bannon on Nov. 13, 1787, for Col. John Neville, a gallant offrcer
of the Revolutionary struggle in the Virginia line, for fourteen hundred acres, and was numbered
388, and predicated on military warrant No. 937. John Williams, Sylvester Montroney, and
James Blair were the chain-carriers ; and so well was the tract surveyed, and such was its perfect
accuracy, that never to this day, like some other surveys in the county, has its lines or boundaries
been questioned. The next day, November 14th, the survey of Richard C. Anderson, of one
thousand acres (No. 391), was entered and made, and includes the present town of Moscow ; and
also was made that of John McDougal (No. 1683), of six hundred and sixty-six and two-thirds
acres. On Christmas following, 0' Bannon entered the surveys of Nicholas Carter (No. 1285), of
four hundred acres, and of Morgan Bryan (No. 1724), of two hundred acres, on both of which is
built the enterprising town of Felicity ; also that of William Smith, (No. 866), of four hundred
acres, on Bear Creek ; Jarvin Miller's, in Frankhn township (No. 1080), of one thousand acres ;
Benjamin Mosely's, in Franklin and Washington townships (No. 1102), of one thousand acres;
and John Hamilton's, in Washington (No. 866), of four hundred acres,---thus surveying three
thousand four hundred acres in seven different tracts, miles apart, all in one day. On the 26th he
surveyed that of Alexander Parker (No. 834), of seven hundred acres; the 27th, that of Robert
Craddock (No. 892), of nine hundred and sixty-four acres, and John Hackley (No. 905), of six
hundred and sixty-six and two-thirds acres; the 28th, that of William Talliaferro (No. 533), of
five hundred and thirty-three acres, adjoining Chilo ; and on Jan. 3, 1788, Robert Beal's (No.
847), of one thousand acres, on which is the site of New Richmond.
Gen. George Washington, the Father of his Country and first President of the United States,
owned at one time four large tracts of ;and in the county, aggregating four thousand and fifty-one
acres, for which he had four separate surveys made and entered in his own name. The first of
these was made by John O'Bannon on Dec. 28, 1787, and is located in Franklin township, on the
Felicity and Rural free turnpike, and is numbered 1650 and for eight hundred and thirty-nine
acres ; the second is No. 403, of one thousand acres, lying in Pierce township, on the Ohio River,
including the village of Palestine and running down to the Hamilton county-line; the third lies in
Miami township, between the villages of Milford and Miamiville, borders on the Little Miami
River, and is directly opposite the famous Camp Dennison, so well known in the late Rebellion ;
and the fourth, No. 1775, of nine hundred and seventy-seven acres, situate in Union township, of
this, and in Anderson township, of Hamilton County, mostly, however, in this. All four of
Washington's tracts are splendid pieces of land,-three of choice bottom-fields, and the other of
extremely fertile upland.
Before Congress had passed the necessary legislation, authorizing the issuing of patents by the
President to the holders of Virginia land-warrants upon a due entry and location of same, by
regularly-authorized government surveyors and the proper return of the surveys to the appropriate
departments at the capital, the Governors of Virginia, under the laws of that old commonwealth,
issued them to satisfy the owners of the warrants; and of these only three cover lands in this
county, and are as follows: The first, of Beverly Randolph, Governor of Virginia, to William
Fowler, on land-warrant No. 145, for seven hundred and sixty- five acres, being Fowler's survey
No. 261, in Pierce township, between Palestine and New Richmond, and dated August., 1789,
and which patent being considered invalid in law, the devisees and assignees of said Fowler took
another patent for said land from President Andrew Jackson, on Sept. 28, 1830; and the other two
were patents issued and signed by Governor Henry Lee, to John Vaughn and Peter January,
assignees of John Nancarrono, dated May 29, 1792, and respectively for surveys Nos. 1747 and
1748, of eight hundred and twenty-two and one thousand acres in Pierce township ; but for these
lands United States patents were subsequently issued to Gens. Lytle and Taylor.
NON-PATENTED SURVEYS.
The following are the surveys in the county for which the government has issued no patents :
Bowman and Thomas, No. 4455, 20 acres, May 7, 1807, Batavia township.
LAND-GRANTS, TITLES, AND SURVEYS - 41
John O’Bannon, No. 2378, 470 sores, June 20, 1794, Franklin township, Robertson and Nyly,
No. 851, 75 acres, Oct. 2, 1818, Washington township.
Mathew Grigg, No.12,080, 41 acres, Dec. 14,1822, Stonelick township.
Peter Casey, No. 572, 700 acres, Dec. 6, 1798, Tate township.
Wm. Mosley, No. 8976, 66 mares, Aug. 18, 1825, Union township.
John Hill, No. 13,535, 11 mares, May 23, 1834, Jackson township.
Nicholas Carroll's Heirs, No. 10,205, 500 acres, Stonelick township.
" No. 10,588, 200 acres, Batavia township.
" No. 10,304, 100 acres, Stonelick township.
John Hill, No. 15,871, 50 acres, Jackson township.
“ No. 15,871, 15 acres, “
“ No. 15,793, 10 acres, “
“ No. 15,793, 2000 acres, “
Wright and Stark, Nos. 10,851, 10,244, 422 acres, Aug. 11, 1822, Goshen township.
Wm. Lytle, No. 7363, 200 acres, Sept. 15, 1817, Goshen township.
John Higgins, No. 3776, 200 acres, April 10, 1808, Goshen township.
Thomas L. Shields, No. 13,530, 5je acres, May 23, 1834, Batavia township.
Winter’s, No. 12;508, 15 acres, Tate township.
John Diurmitt, No. 14,516, A acres, April 25, 1840, Franklin township.
John Preston, No. 9802, 20 acres, Jan. 28, 1819, Williamsburgh township.
Wrn. Mosley, No. 9545, 5 acres, June 1, 1820, Batavia township.
" " No. 9546, 8 acres, " " "
Thomas S. Foote, No. 9040, 63 acres, 1ndian Creek township.
Allen Lathaua, No. 13,331, 682 acres, Feb. 5, 1833, Batavia township.
It must not be understood that the lands in the foregoing non-patented surveys are fatally
defective in their titles, as the government grant to Ohio for all nnsurveyed and unsold lands in
the Virginia Military District does not include those not carried into patents from loss of proper
entries or on mere technical grounds, but covers the unsurveyed, unsold, and all the tracts based
on fraudulent surveys, of which none have to this date been discovered in this county. Besides,
patents can be procured for the above- mentioned lands under the act of 1878, which says that the
officers and soldiers of the Virginia line on the Continental establishment, their heirs or assigns,
entitled to bounty-lands, which have, on or before Jan. 1, 1852, been entered between the Little
Miami and Scioto Rivers, for satisfying the legal bounties to her officers and soldiers aforesaid,
shall be allowed three years from 1878 to make and return their surveys for record to the office of
the principal surveyor of the district, and may file their plats and certificates, warrants, or
certified copies of same, at the General Land-Office, and receive patents for the same.
RECORDED PATENTS.
The following is a list of the United States patents for lands in this county, on record in the
Recorder"s office, and shows the name of the patentee, number of acres, date of patent, name of
the President issuing the same, and when surveyed:
Anderson, R. C., 1000 acres, Oct. 9, 1804; surveyed Nov. 14, 1787; Jefferson.
Armstrong, L., 400 acres, Nov. 1, 1837; surveyed Dec. 25, 1787 ; Van Buren.
Bibb, R., 1000 acres, March 3, 1797; surveyed Oct. 12, 1723; Washington.
Bourse, S., 170 acres, July 12,1821; surveyed April 18, 1820; Monroe.
450 acres, June 1, 1822 ; surveyed April 14,1821 ; Monroe.
Breckenridge, J., 4666 2/3 acres, May 14, 1802; surveyed March 27, 791; Jefferson.
Biggs, Benjamin, Jr., 907 acres, May 2, 1801 ; surveyed Feb. 6, 1798 ; Jefferson.
Bayles, Henry, 1000 acres, Jan. 24,. 1812 ; surveyed May 11, 1794; Madison.
Broadwell, A., et al., 200 acres, May 2, 1854; surveyed June 27, 1794 ; Pierce.
Catlett, John, 2000 acres, Nov. 2, 1801 ; surveyed April 18, 1788 Jefferson.
Conn, Notley, 1000 acres, May 13, 1796; surveyed Jan. 6, 1788 Washington.
Carneal and Lytle, 4500 acres, Dec. 2, 1802 ; surveyed Aug. 16, 1798 ; Jefferson.
Carrington, J., 500 acres, June 28, 1805; surveyed April 1, 1792; Jefferson.
Campbell, Wetal, 400 acres, Jan. 15, 1825; surveyed April 10, 1793 ; Monroe.
De Benneville, D., 400 acres, March 28, 1799 ; surveyed Aug. I, 1798; John Adams,
De Benneville, D., 1500 acres, June 18, 1798; surveyed Nov. 25, 1796 ; J. Adams.
De Benneville, D., 1000 acres, June 18, 1798; surveyed Nov. 26, 1796; J. Adams.
De Benneville, D., 1000 acres, June 18, 1798; surveyed Nov. 26, 1796 ; J. Adams
Darby, N., 1444 acres, Feb. 5, 1804 ; surveyed Oct. 7, 1793; Jefferson.
Dyer, Samuel, 1000 acres, Aug. 4, 1801 ; surveyed Dec. 6, 1796; Jefferson,
Dandridge, R., 666 2/3 acres, May 14, 1796 ; surveyed April 17, 1788 ; Washington.
Darby, N., 6337 1/3 acres, Sept. 7, 1799 ; surveyed June 16, 1797; J. Adams.
Dickey, J., 35 acres, April 6, 1847 ; surveyed Dec. 4, 1837 ; Polk.
" 60 acres, Aug. 21, 1849 ; surveyed June 10, 1849; Taylor.
Dial, Shad., 100 acres, March 16, 1815; surveyed Jan. 5, 1794; Madison.
Eggleston, Joseph, 1000 acres, April 2, 1798 ; surveyed Jan. 2, 1798; J. Adams.
Ely, George, 580 acres, July 2, 1812; surveyed Oct. 5, 1810; Madison.
Finley, Samuel, 400 acres, Dec. 13, 1811; surveyed May 26, 1798; Madison.
Finley, Samuel, 1295 acres, Oct. 9, 1804 ; surveyed May 7, 1798 Jefferson.
Finley, J., et al., 1000 acres, Feb. 18, 1800; surveyed Feb. 8, 1798; J. Adams.
Fowler and Taylor, 765.acres, Sept. 28, 1830; surveyed Jan. 6, 1788 ; Jackson.
Graham, John, 1525 acres, May 13, 1796; surveyed March 8, 1794 ; Washington.
Gernon, R., 2000 acres, June 1, 1799; surveyed Oct. 10, 1793 ; J. Adams,
Gray, John, 1000 acres, March 6,1810 ; surveyed May 7, 1798 ; Madison.
Gray, John, 311 acres, Feb. 19, 1814; surveyed April 13, 1809; Madison.
Gray, John, 9 acres, Feb. 19, 1814; surveyed April 13, 1809; Madison.
Gray, John, 95 acres, Aug. 24, 1815; surveyed May 8, 1801 ; Madison.
William Smith's heirs, 666 2/3 acres, Feb. 12, 1807; surveyed March 10, 1795 ; Jefferson.
Gordon, T., 1500 acres, Oct. 20, 1819 ; surveyed March 14, 1795; Monroe.
Higbee, Isaac, 41 2/3 acres, Oct. 14, 1818 ; surveyed Oct. 15, 1817 ; Monroe.
Hodgdon, Samuel, 800 acres, Aug. 17, 1799; surveyed March 9, 1795 J. Adams.
Humlong, G., et al., 533 acres, Nov. 4, 1821; surveyed Dec. 28, 1787 Monroe.
Hopkins, John, 1000 acres, April 2, 1803 ; surveyed Feb. 2, 1788 ; Jefferson.
Hopkins, John, 1000 acres, May 2, 1801 ; surveyed Feb. 7, 1788; Jefferson.
Humphries, D. C., 300 acres, Jan. 4, 1835; surveyed Feb. 17, 1818 ; Jackson.
Howell, E., 800 acres, June 14, 1798; surveyed April 1, 1793 ; J. Adams.
Herron, James, 662 2/3 acres, July 1, 1801; surveyed April 17, 1800 Jefferson.
42 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
Hamilton, Alex., 400 acres, March 10, 1892; surveyed April 25, 1809; Jefferson.
Hill, John, 138 1/3 acres, June 9, 1836; surveyed May 1, 1834; Jackson.
Jacobs, R. C., 4000 acres, Feb. 25, 1804; surveyed April 14, 1788; Jefferson.
Johnson, James, 1249 acres, Sept. 9, 1799; surveyed Aug. 25, 1798; J. Adams.
Johnson, James, 1000 acres, Sept. 9, 1799 ; surveyed Aug. 25, 1798 ; Adams.
Jackson, J. H., 20 acres, Feb. 10, 1837 surveyed Oct. 31, 1835; Jackson.
Jones, Joseph, 1000 acres, Dec. 6, MO; surveyed April 10, 1788; Jefferson.
Jones, Joseph, 738 acres, Feb. 20, 1793; surveyed Oct. 12, 1793; J. Adams.
Johnson, James, 1033 1/3acres, Aug. 39, 1799; surveyed June 17, 1797; J. Adams.
Kyle, Joseph, 200 acres, Aug. 14, 1806; surveyei April 8, 1799; Jefferson.
Kirby, Timothy, 94 acres, June 1, 1233; surveyed June 22, 1832 ; Jackson.
Lytle and Taylor, 860 acres, July 22, 1o112; surveyed May 21, 1811; Madison.
Lytle, Wm., 1000 acres, July 5, 1794 ; surveyed April 16, 1788; J. Adams.
Lucas, N., 2045 acres, Oct. 14, 1801 ; surveyed May 25, 1788; Jefferson.
Lytle, William, 200 acres, Aug. 3, 1820; surveyed Sept. 15, 1815; Mon roe.
Linton, William, 1666 2/3 sores, May 22, 1801; surveyed Oct. 20, 1792; Jefferson.
Lytle, William, 100 acres, Jane 9, 1798; surveyed May 25, 1794; J. Adams
Massie, H,, 1090 acres, April 19, 1809; surveyed Oct. 10, 1205; Madison.
Matthews, G. and C. L., 1777 2/3 acres, April 29, 1800; surveyed April 9,1788; J. Adams.
McDougal. J., 573 1/3 acres, Jan. 5, 1247; surveyed Marok 27, 1802; Polk.
Neville, P., 1400 acres, April 3, 1811; surveyed Nov. 13, 1788; Madison.
Nash, James, 100 acres, Dec. 29, 1815; surveyed May 7, 1807; Madison.
OlBannon, J., 1000 acres, Jan. 28, 1895; surveyed April 11, 1788; Jefferson.
Paxton, Thomas, 1000 acres, March 13, 1799; surveyed May 28, 1788; J. Adams.
Parker, A., 1300 acres, Feb. 29, 1798; surveyed Jan. 2, 1788; J. Adams.
Robinson, S., 1110 2/3 acres, March 26, 1606; surveyed May 27, 1788; Jefferson.
Sapp, John, 1000 acres, April 19, 111619; sarveyed Oct. 11, 1805; Madison.
Smith, Nick, 200 acres, Sept. 23, 1605; surveyed March 17, 1804; Jefferson.
Springer, Levi, 600 acres, Feb. 27, 1824; surveyed April 2, 1820 ; Monroe.
Selden Miles, 668 2/3 acres, Oct. 29, 1894; surveyed May 2, 1794; Jef- ferson.
Shields and Hill, 498 acres, Jan. 12, 1837 ; surveyed May 9, 1834; Jackson.
Sargent, --, 6661 acres, Aug. 15, 1895; surveyed Dec. 27, 1787; J. Adams.
Stephenson, D., 1209 acres, April 13, 1798; surveyed Jan. 7, 1788; J. Adams.
Snider, Sarah, 3 acres, Dec. 10, 1847; surveyed Feb. 23, 1847; Polk.
Townsley, Robert, 43 acres, May 2, 1816; surveyed Jan. 15, 1818; Madison.
Townsley, Robert, 62 acres, May 3, 1216; surveyed Jun. 14, 1818; Madison.
Townsley, Robert, 35 acres, May 22, 11116; surveyed July 19, 1811; Madison.
Taylor, Francis, 1000 acres, March 92, 1800 ; surveyed April 1, 1788; J. Adams.
Todd, Robert, 400 acres, May 1, 1798; surveyed March 10, 1794; J. Adams.
Taylor, James, 150 acres, Dec. 31, 1830; surveyed April 9, 1808; Jackson.
Taylor, James, 87 acres, Feb. 24, 1835; surveyed Jan. 20, 1833 ; Jackson.
Taylor and Lytle, 1000 acres, May 13, 1796; surveyed April 17, 1788; Washington.
Taylor, James, Jr., 305 acres, July 20, 1837; surveyed June 13, 1834; Van Buren.
Taylor, James, 200 acres, May 1, 1832; surveyed June 1, 1820; Jackson.
Tyler, Robert, 1333 1/3 acres, April 26, 1797; surveyed Oct. 6, 1793; J. Adams.
Towles, Oliver, 1310 acres, Feb 27, 1812; sarveyed April 16, 1788; Jefferson.
Taylor and Lytle, 390 acres, Feb. 24, 1835; surveyed Feb. 1, 1821; Jackson.
Taylor, James, 2090 sores, June 18, 1805; surveyed March 18, 1804 ; Jefferson
Taylor, James, 200 acres, Dec. 14, 1807; surveyed March 17, 1804; Jefferson.
Warfield, W., 700 acres, July 16, 1798; surveyed May 30, 1794; J. Adams
Weaver, John, 682 acres, Aug. 1, 1833; surveyed Feb. 5, 1833; Jackson.
Wilson, John, 6 1/3 acres, June 9, 1836; surveyed May 23, 1834; Jackson.
Washington, G. F., 1000 acres, Feb. 3, 1814 ; surveyed Jan. 5, 1788; Madison.
Wallace, C., 200 acres, July 3, 1824; surveyed Jan. 11, 1824; Monroe.
Witham, M., 1000 acres, Nov. 28, 1803; surveyed April 8, 1788; Jefferson.
Wood and Armstrong, 100 acres, Feb. 5, 1837; sarveyed Dec. 25, 1788; Van Buren.
Young, G. F., 500 acres, June 5, 1820 ; surveyed Oct. 24, 1817 ; Monroe.
Thus, out of five hundred and twelve surveys in the county, there are but one hundred and one
patents recorded, --in other words, but one in every five of the surveys.
SURVEYS OF THE COUNTY.
Their original proprietors, numbers, quantity of acres, and in what townships located.
Anderson, Richard C., No. 391, 1000 acres, Washington township.
Armstrong, John, No. 1651, 834 acres, Franklin township.
Allison, Richard, No. 1730, 434 acres,
Anderson, Richard C., No, 1177, 454 acres, Pierce township.
Allison, Richard, No. 1773, 441 acres, Stonelick township.
Aldridge, John, No. 3878, 100 acres, Union township.
Anderson, Richard C., No. 2385, 560 acres, Goshen township.
“ No. 3512, 125 acres, Franklin township,
“ No. 3513, 1000 acres, Tate township.
“ No. 3966, 200 acres, Franklin township.
“ No. 3551, 1700 acres, Tate township.
Robert Beale, No. 847, 1000 acres, Ohio township.
Bowyer, Henry, No. 1067, 657 acres, Franklin township.
Bryan, Morgan, No. 1724, 200 acres,
Butler, Lawrence, No. 415, 1000 acres, Monroe township.
Buckner, Thomas, No. 1087, 1000 acres, Washington township.
Baylor, Robert, No. 511, 1000 acres, Pierce township.
Bradshaw, John, No. 1772, 1159 acres, Union township.
Burton, John, No. 761, 1333 1/3 acres, Washington township,
Biggs, Benjamin, No. 1905, 907 acres, Monroe township.
Browne, Thomas, No. 723, 1000 acres, Washington township.
Broughton, William, No.2193, 400 acres, Goshen township.
Brownlee, William, No.725, 1000 acres, Washington township.
Branham and Humphrey, No. 3777, 300 sores, Goshen township.
Britain, Mary, No. 2571, 299 acres, “ "
Baldwin, Francis, No. 2570, 233 1/3 acres, Miami township,
Binns, John and Charles, No. 1499, 1500 acres, Goshen township.
Bowman, Abraham, No, 7988, 860 acres, Washington township.
Boyer, Armet E., No. 15,528, 5 acres, Goshen township.
Brush and Ilill, No. 13,645, 19 acres, Pierce township.
LAND-GRANTS, TITLES, AND SURVEYS - 43
Barrett, William, No. 710, 1000 acres, Goshen township.
Breckenridge, John, No. 2373, 4000 acres, Tate township.
Butler, Lawrenoe, No. 1199, 1000 acres, Monroe township.
" No. 1199, 880 acres, "
Beasley, Benjamin, No. 9446, 356 acres, Pierce township.
Bourne, Sylvannus, No. 10,639, 450 acres, Jackson township.
Boyce, William, No, 9550, 18 acres, Stonelick township.
Bowman, Abraham Nos. 4455, 5957, 7990, 500 acres, Union township.
Bowman, Abraham, No. 7001, 485 1/2 acres, Goshen township.
" No. 7093, 200 acres, "
" No. 9386, 125 acres, Jackson township.
Bayles, Henry, No. 1618, 1000 acres, Washington township.
Brown, Robert, No. 706, 100 acres, Union township.
Butler, Lawrence, No. 5258. 120 acres, Jackson township.
" No. 1357, 240 acres, Washington township.
Craddock, Robert, No. 892, 964 acres, “ ”
Carter, Nicholas, No. 1285, 400 mires, Franklin township.
Clark, Jonathan, No. 972, 1090 acres, Miami township.
Clay, Mathew, No. 674, 662 acres, Union township.
Catlett, John, No. 506, 2000 acres, Pierce township.
Carrington, Joseph, No. 631, 500 acres, Miami township.
Cell, Richard, No. 524, 1000 acres, Goshen township.
Clay, John, No. 2954, 500 acres, Tate township.
Chambers, William, No. 2947, 200 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Campbell, John, No. 866, 200 acres, Washington township.
Carrington, Edward, No. 2434, 1100 acres, Union township.
Cabell, Samuel J., No. 5229, 1833 1/3 acres, Wayne township.
Cabell, Taylor, et at., No. 12,079, 19802 acres, Wayne township.
Currie, James, Nos. 3339, 3340, 14663 acres, Wayne township.
Collins, William, No. 9608, 200 acres, Ohio township.
Clayton, Philip, No. 581, 966 2/3 acres, Batavia township.
Campbell, Robert, No. 2196, 400 acres, Goshen township.
Campbell, John, No. 866, 200 acres, Washington township.
Casey, Peter, No. 572, 700 acres, Tate township.
Coleman, Samuel, No. 2432, 100 acres, Goshen township.
“ No. 2194, 444k acres, Williamsburgh township.
Crawford, John, No. 1160, 525 acres, Ohio township.
Croghan, William, No. 1794, 250 acres, Batavia township.
Currie, James, No. 3338, 733k acres, Wayne township.
Dandridge, John, No. 437, 1000 acres, Ohio township.
Davies and O'Bannon, No. 1646, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
" No. 1647, 1000 acres, "
Davies, William, No. 514, 1000 acres, Pierce township.
Dix, Thomas, No. 992, 1000 acres, Miami township.
De Benneville, Daniel, No. 2957, 509 acres, Jackson township.
" No. 5251, 100 acres, Batavia township.
Denny, Aaron, No. 1652, 500 acres, Stonelick township.
Dandridge, Robert, No. 593, 666k acres, Batavia township.
De Benneville, Daniel, No. 2810, 1500 acres, Williamsburgh township.
" No. 2811, 1000 acres, "
" " No. 281, 1009 acres, “
Dimmitt, Moses, No. 9126, 18 acres, Stonelick township.
Dudley, Ambrose, No. 2952, 773 2/3 sores, Tate township.
De Benneville, Daniel, No. 2810, 2000 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Dimmitt, Ezekiel, No. 13,536, 11 acres, Batavia township.
Dimmitt, John, No. 14,516, 6 acres, Franklin township.
Donnell, John, No. 4442, 666k acres, Stonelick township.
Donnell, Jonathan, No. 4444, 200 acres, Stonelick township,
Dimmitt, John, Nos. 14,518, 14,533, 128 acres, Franklin township.
Dandridge, Robert, No. 564, 535 acres, Tate township.
" " No. 564, 465 acres, "
Davis, Jesse, Nos. 7105, 10,420, 13,934, 220 acres, Stonelick township.
Darby, Nathaniel, No. 2058, 1033 1/3 acres, Union township.
" No. 2058, 633 1/2 acres, "
Dandridge, Robert, No. 564, 535 sores, Tate township.
Darby, Nathaniel, No. 2057, 1444 acres, Batavia township.
Eggleston, Joseph, No. 1197, 1000 acres, Monroe township.
Edwards, Leroy, No. 720, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Epple, Andrew, No. 764, 1000 acres, Wayne township.
Eddings, Samuel, No. 1366, 1000 acres, Pierce township.
Fowler, William, No. 261, 765 acres, Pierce township.
Finley, Samuel, No. 1763, 400 acres, "
Florence, Daniel, No. 1318, 1100 acres, Washington township.
Fox, Thomas, and Taylor, Nos. 3805, 4235, 666 2/3 acres, Stonelick township.
Fenn, Thomas, No. 3341, 166 2/3 acres, Wayne township.
Finley, Samuel, No. 526, 856 acres, Stonelick township.
“ No. 526, 144 acres, Batavia township.
Gibbon, Robert, No. 493, 1090 acres, "
Griffin, John T., No. 590, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Gunner, James, No. 3878, 100 acres, Union township.
Gray, James, No. 1242, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
" " No. 1116, 984 sores, "
Griffin, John T., No. 519, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Gerrard, Joseph, No. 2376, 300 acres, Goshen township.
Graham, Francis, No. 2405, 850 acres, Stonelick township.
" " No. 3624, 150 acres, Goshen township.
Gregory, Walter, No. 4463, 200 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 4465, 100 acres, "
Grigg, Matthew, No. 12,080, 41 acres, Stonelick township.
Gimbo, William, No. 4457, 200 acres, Batavia township.
Garrett, John, No. 1966, 20 acres, Miami township.
" " No. 3832, 57 acres, " "
" " No. 4825, 23 acres, " “
Graham, Felix Y., No. 9385, 500 acres, Wayne township.
Gist, Nathaniel, No. 964, 583k acres, Tate township.
Gordon, Ambrose, No. 969, 1500 acres, Jackson township.
“ ” No. 2528, 166k acres, Williamsburgh township.
Graham, John, No. 3552, 100 acres, Washington township.
" " No. 2745, 189 acres, Union township.
Green, John, No. 4919, 500 acres, Pierce township.
" " No. 5297, 250 acres, Tate township.
Green, William, No. 274, 666 acres, Monroe township.
Gist, Nathaniel, No. 7747, 847 1/3 acres, Tate township.
" " No. 4454, 750 acres, " "
Hackley, John, No. 905, 666 2/3 acres, Franklin township.
Hamilton, John, No. 866, 400 acres, Washington township.
Holt, Thomas, No. 973, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Higgins, Peter, No. 958, 910 acres, " “
Hardin, John, No. 2399, 200 acres, Union township.
Harrison, John, No. 1543, 515 acres, Monroe township.
“ " No. 1543, 545 acres, "
Hackley, John, No. 1089, 100 acres, Stonelick township.
Humphreys and Brashaw, No. 3777, 300 acres, Goshen township.
Hill and Brush, No. 13,645, 19 acres, Pierce township.
Hardin, John, No. 1935, 250 acres, Union township.
Hardin, Martin, No. 1988, 230 acres, Batavia township.
Hill, John, No. 13,533, 6 2/3 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Hill, Baylor, No. 946, 283 acres, Tate township.
" " “ 230 " ''
Hackley, John, No. 1089, 143 acres, Stonelick township.
Hawkins, John, No. 2955, 205 acres, Tate township.
Hill, John, No. 13,534;21 acres, Union township.
" " No. 13,535, 11 acres, Jackson township.
Hawkins, Martin, No. 29.50, 1100 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Heth, William, No. 3407, 133 1/3 acres, Batavia township.
Higgins, John, No. 3776, 200 acres, Goshen township.
Hite and Taylor, No. 6222, 300 acres, Monroe township.
Hawles, Samuel, No. 2800, 280 acres, Miami township.
Herron, James, No. 3814, 666 2/3 acres, Stonelick township.
Harvie, John, No. 3345, 833 1/3 acres, Williamsburgh township.
" " No. 3621, 560 acres, Miami township.
Harvie and Fenn, No. 3337, 4500 acres, Wayne township.
Harvie, John, " “ ”
Hubbard, Green K., No. 6152, 100 acres, Miami township.
Humphreys, Alexander, No. 2946,100 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Hill and Bryan, No. 13,758, 24 acres, Stonelick township.
Hammell, Enoch, No. 15,247, 20 acres, Goshen township.
Hinde, Thomas S., No. 9031, 1159 acres, Union township.
Howell, Ezekiel, No. 1767, 800 acres, Miami township.
Hogg and Davis, Nos. 19,420, 7105, 234 acres, Stonelick township.
Harvie, John, No. 3343, 2000 acres, Williamsburgh township.
" " No. 3344, 1000 acres, “ ”
Innis, James, No. 1725, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
" " No. 1655, "
" " No. 1656, " "
“ ” No. 1668, 1041 acres, "
“ " No. 1726, 1000 acres, Tate township.
44 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
Irwine, John, Jr., No. 4445, 200 acres, Jackson township.
Jackson, David, No, 1539, 333 acres, Ohio township.
Jones, Cadwalder, No. 976, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Johnson, John B., No. 981, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Jones, Joseph, No.,991, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Jones, Churchill, No. 1134, 1000 acres, Union township.
Johnston, William, No. 1774, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
“ ” No. 1765, “ ”
“ " No. 1209, 1066 2/3 acres, Jackson township.
Johnson, John W., No. 2384, 300 acres, Goshen township.
Jonitt, Robert, No, 1517, 215 acres, Ohio township.
Johnson, John B., No, 937, 1000 acres, Monroe township.
Jones, Joseph, No. 934, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
Johnson, James, No. 3329, 1249 2/3 acres, Batavia township.
Jones, Cadwalder, No, 714, 1525 acres, Washington township.
Johnson, James, No. 5252, 882 acres, Batavia township.
" " No. 3329, 1417 acres, Jackson township.
Jones, Joseph, No. 948, 1000 acres, Williarnsburgh township.
Jones, Shotha, No. 586, 1000 acres, Tate township.
Jones, Albridgeton, No. 9450, 2912/3 acres, Jackson township.
“ ” No. 19,774, 107 acres, "
Karr, James, No. 4784, 200 acres, Jackson township.
Kerr, Joseph, No. 4845, 243 acres, Batavia township.
King, Miles, No. 9373, 711 acres, Tate township.
Kendrick, E. P., No. 13,841, 50 acres, Washington township.
Knox, James, No. 4795, 888 2/3 acres, Pierce township.
“ ” No. 368, 2000 acres, Tate township.
" " No. 2737, 1300 acres, "
Kirby, Timothy, No. 13,197, 94 acres, Jackson township.
Keith, Isham, No. 1701, 944 acres, Batavia township.
King, Elisha, Nos. 1545, 2195, 400 acres, Miami township.
Kirk, Robert, No. 735, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
Lytle and Tibbs, No. 5962, 45 acres, Goshen township.
Lytle, William, No. 5254, 100 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Lewis, George, No.1769, 200 acres, Monroe township.
Lucas, Nathaniel, No. 1753, 2045 acres, Pierce township.
" “ No. 1753, 1000 acres, "
Lytle, William, No. 4781, 50 acres, Williamsburgh township.
“ " No. 4801, 16 2/3 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 2377, 500 acres, Goshen township.
“ " No. 4248, 1500 acres, Miami township.
“ " No. 4780, 621 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 4782, 666 2/3 acres, "
Lytle and Taylor, No. 4783, 666 2/3 acres, Stonelick township.
Lytle, William, No. 7363, 203 acres, Goshen township.
Lytle and Porter, No. 8289, 344 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Lee, George S., No. 13,347, 15 acres, Franklin township.
Lytle, William, No. 3333, 629 2/3 acres, Williainsburgh township.
“ " No. 4247, 686 2/3 acres, “ ”
" " No. 4440, 1500 acres, Stoneliak township.
“ ” No. 4249, 500 acres, Williamsburgh township.
“ " No. 4441, 300 acres, Stonelick township.
“ ” No. 4458, 675 acres, Monroe township.
“ ” No. 4250, 307 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 2939, 1000 acres, Tate townsla,p.
Lytle and Stephenson, Nos. 2286, 2948, 356 acres, Miami township.
Lytle and Porter, No. 8289, 344 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Lytle, William, No, 2942, 1000 sores, "
“ " No. 2949, 525 acres, Tate township.
“ " No. 3331, 500 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 3332, 500 acres, Miami township.
Ladd, Benjamin, et al., No. 10,232, 170 acres, Stonelick township.
Lawson, William, No. 957, 1000 acres, Jackson township.
Light, George C., No. 8909, 228 acres, Union township.
Lee, Charles, No. 3335, 300 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Linton, John, No. 681, 1860 2/3 acres, Stonelick township.
Lytle, William, No. 2019, 500 acres, Miami township.
“ " No. 2190, 200 acres, Goshen township.
Light, George C., No. 8905, 20 acres, Ohio township.
“ " No. 8904, 8 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 8907, 15 acres, Ohio township.
“ " No. 11,033, 200 acres, Ohio township.
Lindsey, Joseph, No. 3823, 200 acres, Miami township.
Latham, Allen, No. 13,361, 682 acres, Batavia township.
Lytle, William, No. 3048, 200 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Lytle, William, No. 4464, 200 acres, Stoneliek township.
McDougal, John, No. 1684, 573 1/3 acres, Washington township.
“ " No. 1883, 510 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 1683, 666* acres, “ ”
Mosley, Benjamin, No. 1102, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
Miller, Jarvin, No. 1080, 1000 acres, “ ”
Mathews, George, No, 1138, 1777* acres, Union township.
Mosley, William, No. 1115, 1000 acres, " “
McDowell, John, No. 1480, 666* acres, Miami township.
Morrow, Robert, No. 668, 1000 acres, Union township.
Merriwether, James, No. 1136, 1000 acres, Union township.
McCraw, Samuel, No. 1769, 1064 sores, Monroe township.
Muskat and Lytle, No. 5248, 100 acres, Batavia township.
McCraw, Samuel, No.1761, 734 acres, Monroe township.
McDougal, John, No. 1767, 86 )4 acres, " “
Massie, Henry, No. 10,712, 21 acres, Miami township.
McKinnie, James, No. 13,537, 152* acres, Stonelick township.
Mosley, Benjamin, No. 1102, 1900 acres, Franklin township.
Minnie, Tolman, No. 1032, 1000 acres, Wayne township.
Massie, Thomas P,, No. 3776, 150 acres, Goshen township.
Mountjoy, John, No. 4448, 2090 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 5582, 300 acres, Tate township.
Mosley, William, No. 1499, 1186 2/3 acres, Jackson township.
Mosley and Robinson, No. 5992, 111 ½ acres, Miami township.
Mosley, William, No. 8978, 68 acres, Union township.
Maybone, James, No. 998, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
Martin, Thomas, No. 6878, 500 acres, “
Mosley, William, Nos. 6194, 7120, 7121, 180 acres, Batavia township.
McDowell, John, No. 706, 200 acres, Union township.
Morrison, James, No. 2940, 1259 acres, Tate township.
Morrow, Robert, No. 666, 1000 acres, Union township.
Massie, Henry, No.4862, 977 acres, “ ”
Mosley, William, No. 5995, 320 acres, Miami township.
“ ” No. 7197, 17 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 10,159, 8 acres, " "
“ " No. 6530, 108 1/2 acres, Stoneliok township.
McCardell, James, No. 2283, 190 acres, Goshen township.
McGeorge, Cormick, No. 10,495, 250 acres, Batavia township.
Mayo, Peter P., Nos. 12,304, 12,406, 200 acres, Jackson township.
Mitchell, James, No. 4401, 109 acres, Batavia township.
McDougal, John, No. 4400, 437 acres, Washington township.
Minzies, Samuel P., No. 3799, 816 acres, Goshen township.
Morrison, James, No. 4800, 100 sores, Jackson township.
Massie, Henry, No. 4841, 200 acres, Union township.
Miller, T. B. and L. J., No. 12,495, 450* acres, Pierce township.
Morrison and Donnel, No. 3775, 5161 acres, Goshen township.
Morrison, James, No. 2940, 1250 acres, Tate township.
Mosley, William, No. 9545, 5 acres, Batavia township.
" “ No. 9546, 8 acres, " “
Moss, Henry, No. 726, 1000 acres, Tate township.
Mountjoy, John, Nos. 4236, 4447, 2000 acres, Stoneliok township.
Morgan, Daniel, No. 659, 2222 acres, Washington township.
Mosley, William, No. 949, 1333 1/3 acres, Jackson township.
Mayo, Peter P., No. 12,408, 100 acres, Franklin township.
Meade, Richard K., No. 1665, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
“ ” No. 1683, 1000 acres, “ ”
Neville, John, No. 388, 1400 acres, Washington township.
Nancarrow, John, No. 1747, 822 acres, Pierce township.
“ " No. 1748, 230 acres, Miami township.
“ " No. 1748, 1009 acres, Pierce township.
Norvell, Lipscomb, No. 765, 1333 1/3 acres, Washington township.
Nanoarrow, John, No. 9444, 300 acres, Tate township.
Nall, Martin, No. 2194, 300 acres, Miami township.
Neville, John, No. 4848, 1060* sores, Miami township.
" " No..4847, 839 acres, Franklin township.
Nall, William, No. 2192, 1100 acres, Miami and Goshen townships.
Nelson, William, No. 3825, 690 acres, Stonelick township.
Overton, Thomas, No. 949, 260 acres, Batavia township.
O'Neal, Ferdinand, No. 913, 1990 acres, Monroe township.
Overton, John, No. 987, 899 acres, Stonelick township.
“ " No. 987, 514 acres, “ ”
“ " No, 987, 376 acres, " “
O'Bannon and Davies, No. 1646, 1009 acres, Franklin township.
“ ” No. 1647, 1090 acres, " “
Overton, Thomas, No. 2436, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
LAND-GRANTS, TITLES, AND SURVEYS - 45
O'Neal, Ferdinand, No. 655, 992 acres, Pierce township.
Ovcrton, Thomas, No. 502, 700 acres, Miami township.
“ " No. 2497, 765 acres, Monroe township.
O’Bannon, John, No. 2378, 480 acres, Franklin township.
“ " No. 2379, 590 acres, “ ”
" " No. 2721, 290 acres, Union township.
" “ No. 2961, 672 acres, Franklin township.
“ " No. 4031, 388 1/2 acres, Batavia township.
Parker, Alexander, No. 834, 700 acres, Washington township,
“ " No. 646, 1300 acres, Monroe township.
" “ No. 598, 400 acres, Franklin township.
Powell, Robert, No. 430, 1000 acres, Miami township.
Parker, John, No. 2588, 50 acres, Jackson township.
Pierce, William, No. 9532, 550 acres, Goshen township.
Parker, Alexander, No. 834, 700 acres, Washington township.
Payton, James, No. 706, 95 acres, Union township.
Patterson, Charles, No. 2937, 820 acres, Tate township.
Parsons, William, No.585, 1000 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Pesky, Frederick, No.910, 800 acres, “ ”
Peyton, Francis, No. 3856, 600 acres, Union township.
Pierson, Thomas, No. 928, 13334 acres, Tate township,
Pelham, Charles, No. 6551, 200 acres, Miami township.
Preston, John, No. 9802, 200 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Parker, Alexander, No. 834, 700 acres, Washington township.
Payne, John, No. 4446, 200 acres, Jackson township.
Porter, William, No. 8290, 444 acres, Tate township.
Peyton, Timothy, No. 954, 1000 acres, Jackson township.
Patterson, Charles, No. 2936, 1000 acres, Tate township.
Quarles, Nathaniel, No. 4240, 200 acres, Stonelick township.
Roy, Beverly, No. 1064, 1000 acres, Washington township.
“ ” No. 1064, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
Rhea, Matthew, No. 2951, 8844 acres, Tate township.
Ridley, Thomas, No. 3400, 1664 acres, Batavia township.
Richardson, W. and G., No. 7138, 1000 acres, Tate township.
Robertson, James, No. 851, 200 acres, Washington township.
Robertson, George, No. 851, 75 acres, “ ”
Ryley, John, No. 851, 200 acres, Washington township.
Robinson, W. H.; No. 13,606, 4 1/2 acres, Union township.
Roy, Beverly, No. 939, 1509 acres, Tate township.
“ ” No. 3778, 325 acres, “ ”
Robertson, William, No. 639, 6664 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Roy, Beverly, No. 4480, 175 acres, Tate township.
Smith, William, No. 866, 400 acres, Washington township.
Stephenson, David, No. 722, 1209 acres, Ohio township.
Starke, Lewis, No. 1349, 6664 acres, Monroe township.
Stevens, Edward, Nos. 1671, 1672, 1873, 2262 acres, Union township.
“ " No. 1669, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
“ " No. 1670, 1000 acres, “ ”
“ " Nos. 1875, 1676, 1677, 1900 acres, Stoneliok township.
Stevens, Edward, No. 3877, 123 acres, Batavia township.
Simpson, Edward, No. 1770, 200 acres, Miami township.
Straws, George F., No. 2938, 1100 acres, Tate township.
Scott, Joseph, No. 586, 1000 acres, Batavia township,
Snider, Sarah, No. 15,171, 3 acres, Goshen township.
Shields, Thomas L., No. 13,530, 5 3/4 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 13,532, 4 1/2 acres, " "
Smith, James, No. 3776, 200 acres, Goshen township.
Stewart and Taylor, No. 13,388, 53 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 13,389, 30} acres, " “
Shackleford, Samuel, No. 2404, 100 acres, Goshen township.
Smith, William S., No. 950, 666 2/3 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Sneed, Smith, No. 2066, 1500 acres, Franklin township.
Starke, Lewis, No. 715, 450 acres, Miami township.
Stiers, Ralph, No. 13,904, 25 acres, Franklin township.
“ ” No. 13,905, 10 acres, “ ”
Stewart, James, No. 14,532, 6 acres, Washington township.
Shields, Thomas L., No. 14,523, 138 1/2 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 13,524, 498 acres, “ ”
Smith, Nicholas, No. 4457, 200 acres, Stonelick township.
Standard and Johnson, No. 4241, 200 acres, Jackson township.
Stephenson and Lytle, No. 2948, 390 acres, Monroe township.
Smock, Jacob, No. 851, 156 acres, Washington township.
Seldon, Samuel, No.4376, 6664 acres, Union township.
Sewell, William, No. 3206, 300 acres, Tate township.
Singleton, Anthony, No. 4402, 864 acres, Batavia township.
Stephenson, David, No. 630, 1110 acres, Franklin township.
Starke, Richard, No. 10,851, 2811 acres, Goshen township.
Talliaferro, William, No. 1066, 533 acres, Franklin township.
Taylor, James, No. 4244, 100 acres, Stonelick township.
“ " No. 5960, 400 acres, Goshen township.
“ Francis, No. 1654, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
" “ No. 1657, 1000 acres, " “
" " No. 1658, 1000 acres, “ ”
“ Reuben, No. 1652, 1000 acres, “ "
“ " No. 1653, 1000 acres, “ ”
“ William, No. 637, 1000 acres, Union township.
Thomas, Lewis, No. 1762, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
Towles, Oliver, No. 1239, 1310 acres, Tate township.
“ ” No. 1239, 1000 acres. Monroe township.
Todd, Robert, No. 1017, 11104 acres, Miami township.
Tibbs and Lytle, No. 6952, 45 acres, Goshen township.
Taylor, James, No. 5958, 300 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 5959, 800 acres, Goshen township.
Tibbs, William, No. 5256, 80 acres, Batavia township.
Trent, Lawrence, No. 728, 1000 acres, Washington township.
Thomas, Lewis, No. 4455, 200 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 4455, 20 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 6219, 311 acres, Monroe township,
“ ” No. 1989, 98 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 1989, 235 acres, Batavia township.
Taylor, James, No. 15,435, 5 axles, Jackson township.
“ " No. 7092, 500 acres, Goshen township.
Taylor, Francis, No. 3050, 333 1/2 acres, Wayne township.
Taylor, Morrow, et al., No. 4449, 2115i acres, Stonelick township.
Taylor, James, No. 13,368, 28 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 13,364, 199 acres, “ ”
“ ” No. 13,363, 20 acres, " "
“ ” No. 7103, 2 acres, “ ”
“ ” No. 4450, 500 acres, Stonelick township.
“ ” No. 4791, 6864 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 15,745, 60 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 3776, 150 acres, Goshen township.
Taylor and Hite, No. 6222, 300 acres, Monroe township.
Taylor and Stewart, No. 13,388, 53 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No. 13,389, 30 1/4 acres, “ ”
Taylor, James, No. 13,938, 35 acres, Jackson township.
Todd, Robert, No. 1550, 400 acres, Miami township.
Taylor, James, No. 13,367, 87 acres, Jackson township.
“ " No, 13,366, 66 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 15,837, 40 acres, “ "
" " No. 13,369, 30 acres, " “
Taylor, Francis, No. 4243, 1884 acres, Pierce township.
Taylor, William, No. 4237, 889 acres, Stonelick township.
Temple, Benjamin, No. 4802, 200 acres, Batavia township.
Taylor, James, No. 12,464, 24 acres, Goshen township.
Tibbs, John, No. 4252, 1000 acres, Jackson township.
Temple, Benjamin, No. 4459, 1000 acres, Batavia township.
Townsley, Robert, No. 6948, 42 acres, Batavia township.
“ " No. 7106, 43 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 6949, 35 acres, “ ”
Thomas, Lewis, No. 5259, 365 acres, Jackson township.
Taylor, James, Jr., No. 5259, 305 acres, Jackson township.
Towles and Taylor, No. 3803, 1000 acres, Wayne township.
Taylor, James, No. 3804, 666 2/3 acres, Goshen township.
Taylor, Cabal], et al., No. 12,079, 19804 acres, Wayne township.
Taylor, Lytle, et al., No. 3790, 17664 acres, Goshen township.
Taylor, James, Jr., No. 13,644, 20 acres, Goshen township.
Taylor and Kirk, No. 9385, 220 acres, Wayne township.
Taylor, Martins, et al., No. 5580, 350 acres, Ohio township.
Taylor, Francis, No. 1659, 1000 acres, Franklin township.
Vance, Andrew, No. 2406, 200 acres, Goshen township.
Voden, Henry, No. 2374, 100 acres, Goshen township.
Vowles, Henry, No. 3800, 16662/3 acres, “ ”
“ " No. 3801, 1000 acres, " “
Vanderwall, Mark, No. 966, 6664 acres, “ ”
Vansant and Meigs, No. 9383, 250 acres, Goshen township.
Washington, George, No. 403, 1000 acres, Pierce township.
“ " No. 1650, 839 acres, Franklin township.
“ " No. 1765, 1235 acres, Miami township.
46 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
Washington, George, No. 1775, 977 sores, Union township.
Winlock, Joseph, No. 1771, 1295 acres, Union township.
" " No. 1771, 1295 acres, “ "
Waters, Richard J., No. 921, 1000 acres, Ohio township.
White, John, No. 597, 666 2/3 acres, Miami township.
Woodford, John, No. 1156, 2475 acres, Monroe township.
Whiting, Henry, No. 561, 1000 acres, Tate township.
Wallace, C., and others, No. 10,090, 375k acres, Jackson township.
Walden, George, No. 4452, 100 acres, Jackson township.
Wallace, W. B., No. 955, 1000 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Wallace and Young, No. 8171, 598 acres, Jackson township.
Wright and Starke, No. 10,244, 2811/4 acres, Goshen township.
Watts, John, No. 4553, 444 2/3 acres, Batavia township.
Wilcox and Lytle, No. 12,232, 100 acres, Goshen township.
Watts, John, No, 12,483, 128 acres, Batavia township.
" " No. 5253, 222 acres, " “
Waters, Richard J., No, 926, 2000 acres, Tate township.
Whitaker, William, No. 705, 666 2/3 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Watts, John, No. 3780, 620 acres, Tate township.
Watts and Smith, No. 3781, 666f acres, Tate township.
Yancy and Wallace, No. 8171, 598 acres, Jackson township.
Yancy and Layton, No. 8171, 83 1/3 acres, " “
Young, Original, No. 2055, 600 acres, Stonelick township.
Zimmerman, William, No. 910, 200 acres, Williamsburgh township.
Many of the above surveys lie in two townships, but the township is given in which the largest
portion is located, and several are partly in this county and partly in Brown, Hamilton, Warren,
and Clinton Counties.
The early settlers, in their haste to enter and locate lands and reclaim from the woods the fertile
acres they bad bought and make comfortable homes for their families, were often careless about
their titles, and frequently suffered gross imposition. The records and tradition speak of many
who had to pay twice for their possessions, others who had to give again half of the original price
paid by them years before, and some who lost their lands entirely and were compelled to leave
their farms, already partly cleared and on the swift road to improvement and cultivation. Oliver
Towles' survey, No. 1239, of one thousand acres, lying on Pond Run, or Cross Creek, and situate
in Tate and Monroe townships, was surveyed by John O'Bannon, April 17, 1788, on military
warrant No. 855, and patented to Oliver Towles, Jr., Feb. 27, 1802, by President Jefferson. Under
some color of title, William Lytle claimed this tract, one of the finest bodies of choice land in the
county, and sold it to the following parties for the prices subjoined and in the years indicated: