(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 50 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. variance with actual facts had they been laid out "haphazard." The Ordinance of 1787 represented Lake Michigan far north of its real position, and even as late as 1812 its size and location had not been definitely ascertained. During that year Amos Spafford addressed a clear, comprehensive letter to the governor of Ohio relative to the boundary lines between Michigan and Ohio. Several lines of survey were laid out as the first course, but either Michigan or Ohio expressed disapproval in every case. This dispute came to a climax in 1835, when the party beginning a "permanent" survey began at the northwest corner of the state and was attacked by a force of Michigan settlers, who sent them away badly routed and beaten. No effort was made to return to the work until the state and various parties had weighed the subject, and finally the interposition of the government became necessary. A settlement resulted in the establishment of the present boundary line between the two states, Michigan being pacified with the grant of a large tract in the northern peninsula. Ohio is situated between the 38̊ 25' and 42̊ north latitude, and 80̊ 30' and 84̊ 50' west longitude from Greenwich, or 3̊ 30' and 7̊ 50' west from Washington. From north to south it extends over two hundred and ten miles, and from east to west two hundred and twenty miles—comprising thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and sixty-four square miles. The state is generally higher than the Ohio river. In the southern counties the surface is greatly diversified by the inequalities produced by the excavating power of the Ohio river and its tributaries. The greater portion of the state was originally covered with timber, although in the central and northwestern sections some prairies were found. The crest, or watershed, between the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Ohio is less elevated than in New York or Pennsylvania. Sailing upon the Ohio the country appears to be mountainous, bluffs rising to the height of two hundred and fifty to six hundred feet above the bed of the river. Ascending the tributaries of the Ohio, these precipitous hills gradually lessen until they are resolved into gentle undulations and toward the sources of these streams the land becomes low and level. Although Ohio has no inland lakes of importance, it possesses a favorable river system, which gives the state a convenient water transportation. The lake on the northern boundary, and the Ohio river on the south afford convenient outlets by water to important points. The means of- communication and transportation are superior in every respect, and are constantly being increased by railroad and electric lines. CHAPTER II. GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. Clinton county is located in the southwestern portion of the state of Ohio. It is bounded on the north by Greene and a part of Fayette county, east by Fayette, south and southeast by Brown and Highland counties, and west by Warren county. Its county seat, Wilmington, is only fifty-six miles, by rail, northeast of Cincinnati. Brown county only intervenes on the south between Clinton county and the Ohio river, while on the west it is separated by two counties, Warren and Butler, from the boundary line between Ohio and Indiana. It lies on the dividing ridge between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, waters draining from it into both of these streams. Clinton county includes an area of four hundred square miles. TOPOGRAPHY. Clinton county, in its natural features, is greatly diversified. In the northern and southern portions of the county are large areas which are included in level and fertile plains, while along the numerous streams the topography is more broken. It becomes more or less hilly in some sections, and in many places even abrupt and bluffy. The greater portion of the drainage of the county is into the tributaries of the Little Miami river, which are also the principal waterways. Todd's fork, the greatest of these tributaries, flows west and southwest and was named previous to 1787, probably from some of the Todds who settled early in Ohio and were among its prominent pioneers and Indian fighters. It has for its branches, East fork of Todd's fork, named for its location; Cowan's, named for John Cowan, who owned R. Campbell's survey No. 2249, on that stream; Lytle's creek (named for Gen. William Lytle, also a surveyor of these lands), draining the central portion of the county; Caesar's creek, flowing across the extreme northwest corner, named for a favorite servant of some of the early surveyors, who died and was buried on its banks; Anderson's fork, rising in the northeast part of the county, flowing west and northwest and draining the northern portion of the county, deriving its name from Col. Richard C. Anderson, the principal surveyor; East fork of the Little Miami, flowing southerly from the Snow Hill locality and forming a portion of the boundary line between Clinton and Highland counties; Little East fork of the Little Miami, Silver creek, Stone lick and numerous smaller streams also assist in the drainage. Wilson's branch of Rattlesnake creek (named for Amos and Isaac Wilson, early settlers), drains into the Scioto from the northeast part of the county—Richland and Wilson townships—while Lee's creek, also a tributary of the Scioto and named in honor of Peter Lee, a surveyor of Virginia military lands, drains a portion of Wayne township. The derivation of the names, Dutch creek, Buck run and Turkey run, can easily be understood. Todd's fork of the Little Miami is the largest stream in the county, and, in the' days of the early settlements, furnished fair water power, which was available most of the year. At present, owing to the lowering of the water line and the lack of steady feed from the head streams, there is little power except at seasons when the stream is swollen by rain or melting snow. Todd's fork was widely known at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for on its banks some of the most prominent among the early settlements in the county were made. All the streams in this region are subject to sudden, and sometimes disastrous, freshets, which subside quite as rapidly as they rise. The nature of the country is such that no great natural reservoirs exist, and the streams 52 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. are, therefore, without a reserve supply to keep them steady, for, with the clearing away of the timber, the swamps have been drained and this source cut off. Anderson's fork runs in places upon strata of the Niagara limestone, and is generally not much above bedded stone. This stream cuts through a portion of the pentamerous beds of the Niagara formation to a depth of from five to ten feet at Port William, in Liberty township. Above Port William and along this stream is a tract known as the "prairie," extending a number of miles and possessing a deep, rich, black soil. It was doubtless once the location of a swamp or shallow lake. Northeast of this prairie is supposed to be the highest point of land in the county, it being between seven hundred and eight hundred feet above low water mark of the Ohio river at Cincinnati. In the southern part of the county, at a place a short distance east of New Vienna, on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, the elevation is seven hundred and thirty-seven and one-half feet above the same comparative location Anderson's fork receives but few tributaries in all its course, the tract which it drains being comparatively long and narrow. The bedded stone in its channel is of the Niagara formation as far down as the Lumberton quarries, where it strikes and cuts very nearly through the formation known to geologists as Clinton, and, at a point farther down stream, at Ingalls' dam, just outside of Clinton county, it cuts about four feet of purple red shale underlying the Clinton, and strikes the higher of the Cincinnati group, or blue limestone. The East fork of Todd's fork also penetrates the blue limestone, cutting into it to a depth of nearly one hundred feet within three or four miles of Clarksville. GEOLOGY. Volume three of the state geological report contains an article of merit on the geology of Clinton county prepared by John Hussey, as follows: "If we trace the line of outcrops of the various formations from the point in the western part of Clinton county, where Todd's fork leaves the county, we shall find that the strata of stone seen under those we meet proceed to the east, and if a well were dug deep enough at Wilmington or Washington, it would cut through all the strata found to the west as far as Cincinnati. The great Niagara system lies immediately beneath Wilmington; next, the Clinton iron ore and stratified stone of this formation, about thirty feet in thickness; then, underlying this and underlaid by the blue limestone of the Cincinnati group, there is a thickness of some three or four feet of ferruginous clay. DENUDING AGENCIES. "After the deposition of the rocks now found in Clinton county, the surface was not long, at an early geological period, beneath the surface of the sea. While the deposit of sandstone which extends almost from the very border of Fayette county to the south indefinitely, and to the east, underlying the coal, was being made, the land to the north was above water, as well as when the deposits above the sandstone were made; at least, whatever material, organic or inorganic, was ever deposited here, has long since disappeared. We have some evidence, however, that the slate which immediately underlies the sandstone extended somewhat farther north than the sandstone itself has been found. * * * Where formations in Clinton county, which were formerly continuous, have been partially removed, as on Cliff run, the Clinton formation is seen in its full thickness, while excavations show that its continuity is broken to the past of this locality, so that the exposure of white limestone on Cliff run is a mere island of that kind of stone. Besides the wearing away of the general surface and the removal of particular parts of formations, there were causes at work which have excavated channels far below the general surface. Ice, in the form of glaciers, is generally regarded as the means by which the denudation above alluded to has been effected. At this point it may be well to take up the ice age and its effects on this region in a more detailed form. CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 53 "Dr. G. M. Austin prepared an article in 1911 from which we have the privilege of taking extracts. As early as the middle of the Devonian age a long narrow strip of the ancient sea bottom, extending from central Kentucky to Lake Erie, near Sandusky, and including the territory of Clinton county, was lifted above the surface and has since then formed a part of the dry land of the earth. "'On this new island, for such it then was, the rains soon gave rise to streams, and these, acting upon the surface through the countless ages that followed, cut deep channels into the strata and in time widened these, in many places, into broad valleys. Indeed, so extensive was this erosion that long before the beginning of the Ice age the land in these parts had been changed, from the comparatively level plain it was at first, into a region of rough hills and deep, intersecting valleys such as we may now see in Pike county and other such eastern counties of our state which lie outside the area of glacial action.' "Wilmington is built over one of these ancient filled-up valleys, while the college stands on the high ground that then formed its eastern limit. Could one have stood at the latter point at the close of the Pliocene age and looked toward the west, his eyes would have beheld an immense depression two-thirds as deep as the valley of the Miami at Ft. Ancient, stretching away toward the south and east beyond the limits of vision. The area of this ancient valley must have been fully seventy square miles. The erosion caused by our modern streams and the use of the drill in sinking wells have shown that its boundaries were about as follow : On the north beginning at Hawe's chapel, it follows an irregular course toward the southwest, passing a mile north of Starbucktown, near the Children's Home and parallel to Todd's fork to below Sligo; on the west, by way of Ogden and Villars' chapel to Midland City ; on the south from Midland City, not far from the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, to the neighborhood of Farmers' Station; on the east from Farmers' Station, by way of Snow Hill and New Antioch, to Wilmington, including within its limits all of Washington township, and large portions of Union, Adams, Vernon, Marion, Clark, Jefferson and Greene. A considerable stream, probably as large as the Little Miami, must have flowed through this valley, coming from the south and passing out of the county toward the northeast by way of Starbucktown and Bloomington. Many lesser valleys and ravines, each furnishing an outlet for some rivulet or stream, must have opened into this great central valley, but most of these are now deeply buried under the drift and their location and extent will not be known until the drill has been sunk in every part of the county and the records of its findings brought together and compared. "Such, in brief, was the topography of our county in these ancient times, and yet, though it differed so greatly from the present that the two possess scarcely a single feature in common, the difference is no more extreme than exists between the climates and life forms of the two periods. "Authorities are agreed that even so late as the closing epoch of the Tertiary period a sub-tropical, or warm temperate, climate prevailed as far north as the latitude of the Great hakes; a climate as now exists in Mexico and southern Florida. These conclusions are based largely on the character of the flora and fauna that flourished in those early days. "The land appears to have been as heavily forested then as in recent times, but, while we recognize among the fossil wreckage of those old forests such familiar forms as the poplar, maple, hickory, beech and the sycamore, with them are the live oak, magnolia, cinnamon, wild fig and several species of palms, plant forms that are now restricted to the warm regions of the south. "Yet varied and magnificent as was the flora that then clothed the land, it sinks into insignificance when compared with the marvelous fauna of that day. For hugeness of hulk and number of species, its mammals have not been equalled in any other 54 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. age. Had we before us a list of all the animals from the different parts of the world that have been assigned to this age, it would present a lengthy and magnificent array. When a list of those whose remains have been found so near our home that we may be reasonably sure that they once inhabited this locality, cannot fail to impress us by the number and character of its forms. Such a list would include a lion as large as that now found in Africa ; two saber-toothed tigers, one of these as large as the modern Bengal tiger; a great wolf ; a weasel the size of the otter, and a bear which equalled if not exceeded in size the largest grizzly; also a huge ox, a gigantic animal, one-third larger than the largest buffalo of the plains, with widely-spreading horns that measured fully ten feet from tip to tip; two extinct species related to the musk ox of the north; an elk as large as the Irish elk; an extinct peccary, and two other species related to that genus; two species of tapir; two of the horse; a gigantic beaver as large as the American black bear; a porcupine as large as a small deer; three genera, each represented by a number of species of the giant sloth, one at least of which was as large as the rhinoceros; and, finally, two elephants, the mammoth and the mastodon. But these are only the larger animals that then lived; to make the catalog complete, there should be added a number of small species now extinct, and still others whose representatives are still living. "These were the conditions of topography, climate and life that prevailed in this state and locality in the early days of the post-pliocene era—an era that seems but little farther removed from the present day than yesterday when measured by the countless ages that reach back from it to the beginning of geological changes on our planet. For splendid as was that time, with its warmth of climate and wealth of life, its end was close at hand, and the changes were already under way which were to reach their climax in that remarkable age of ice at the close of which the present dates its beginning. "As early as the middle of the pliocene, a slowly-falling temperature began to develop in the northern hemisphere, and gradually, as these thermic changes went on through many centuries, the warm and equable temperature that had prevailed so long ago gave place to one of decided chill. Each winter became colder than the previous and the summers more chilly and damp. The more tender animals gradually died out and the less hardy plants began to be winter killed or failed to mature their fruits. "As the forests were thus decimated, other and hardier species replaced those which had disappeared. The animals also which had perished from cold were replaced by others migrating from colder regions, which, in the course of generations, seem to have become dwarfed and covered with a more shaggy coat of fur. "The winter snows at length failed to melt upon the hill tops and in time gave rise to glaciers which crept slowly downward into the valleys. The cold grew more intense and at length the ice and snow were everywhere. The last of the hardy plants and animals were overwhelmed and all the northern lands lay dead and frozen under the pall of the glacial winter. "How long this period of bitter cold continued cannot .be ascertained. Its dreary reign was undoubtedly a very long one. In the White mountains it has been shown that the ice had time to attain a thickness of 6,000 feet; in northern New England, 5,000 feet; in southwestern Massachusetts, 2,800 feet; in southern Connecticut, 1,000 feet, and in the Catskills, 3,000 feet. This mighty sheet of ice moved slowly towards the south at a rate, judging from the movements of the modern glaciers, of not more than two or three feet a day. Yet so long did the age continue that ample time was given for the transportation of boulders, wrenched from the cliffs of the Canadian highlands, quite down to the Ohio river. Under the heavy heel of this enormous moving mass the land was stripped bare of its ancient soil, the hills were ground down, the valleys filled with wreckage to their brims and the surface changed into a level plain. CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 55 Once, at least, in the midst of this remarkable age there was a break in the rigor of the climate, the heavy ice sheet retreated back toward the north and, on the uncovered land, peat bogs formed in the depressions and forests of birch, hemlock and cedar sprang up from the soil. A peat bed of this period, containing fossil insects and grasses, underlies a part of Wilmington, while throughout the county traces of the old forest have been met with in many places. But this intermission was of comparatively short duration; the bitter chill of the Arctics again settled over the land, the ice for a second time came slowly down to the Ohio river and the glacial winter continued its rule for many centuries longer. "At last, however, its long, gloomy reign was ended. Its unhospitable climate gave place to the mild temperature of the present day and out of the chaos it had wrought, slowly emerged a new era, the noblest of all that have yet been, the Age of Man. "As a result of the amelioration of the glacial climate, the surface of the land within the area of glacial action was again subject to a series of changes only second in importance to those already described. We have seen how the advance of the ice totally effaced the physical landmarks of the old era and reduced its hills and valleys to a level plain. Now, during its period of dissolution, the order is reversed and we see the plain changed into the gentle, rolling country of upland and valley as it now exists. Practically all our modern streams within the drift area date their beginning from this period of glacial decadence. Commencing at the southern limit of the ice sheet, they slowly lengthened their channels to the northward as the ice retreated until they reached their present limits, sometimes making their way along the course of some ancient stream, sometimes across the filled-up valleys, but more frequently along new routes where no stream had flowed before. In this county, Lytle's creek, Wilson's branch and Silver creek flow their entire length across an ancient valley, while the lower reaches of Cowan's creek and East fork, all of Sewall's run and much of Todd's fork are along recent channels cut in the bedded rock. "The melting of so vast a mass of ice made this a period of annual floods, greater in volume than any the world has since known. With each return of the summer, the whole land was deluged with water and the streams were changed for a time into veritable rivers which cut deeply and widely into the glacial clays and hollowed out deep gorges in the underlying rocks. "Along the flanks of these new valleys were then deposited those extensive beds of glacial gravel which have proved so valuable in the building of our modern roads, while on the uplands, recessional moraines, kames and drumlins marked the line of glacial retreat. Many of these last-named deposits may now be seen in our county; one of the moraines, the largest, which crosses the county by way of Bloomington and Reesville, forms the divide between the Miami and Scioto rivers. "Innumerable depressions were left in the glacial clays, which became the sights of ponds and lakelets that at first must have covered most of the level parts of the county. "In the meantime, the ice very slowly retreated beyond our borders, the floods ceased, the streams dwindled to their present volume and the naked land differed little from the present time as far as Its physical contour of upland and valley is concerned. It was merely waiting the return of life. On the stiff, barren clays of this new land vegetation gradually extended until its surface was again clothed in verdure, forests of modern trees took the place of groves of ancient cinnamon and figs, and the ponds and lakes began to fill with decayed vegetation, thus storing up material for the fertile black soils whose wide distribution has contributed so largely to the wealth and prosperity of our county. With the return of vegetation, a new race of animals also appeared, and man, and thus at last the great cycle of changes wrought by the Age of Ice was fully complete. 56 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. THE DRIFT. "Judging from the present evidences which we can find in the sinking of wells, this land was once covered with water. This was probably accomplished by the land sinking down beneath the surface of the water. Every indication points to water as the medium by which the deposits were made. Upon the stone everywhere are found traces of more or less loose material. The study of this material will prove that it is a sort of drift, composed of clay with varying proportions of sand and gravel, with occasional rounded blocks of granite rock, and with the remains of trees and, sometimes, other vegetation. The greatest thickness of the drift in our district is in Clinton county, east of the "prairie," where a deposit of over one hundred feet is found. Whether the whole surface of the country was once covered as deeply as this limited area, may admit of doubt; but there are reasons for believing that the surface was once covered with a heavy drift deposit. In some places the soft material has been washed away, leaving large accumulations of sand and gravel; in other places, as the level region between the East fork of Todd's fork and Blanchester, the material of the drift was a finer sediment than is found in other places, and has not been removed or disturbed to such a degree as in other portions of the county, and, consequently, even if sand and gravel exist in it, there are no such beds of these substances as are fond where the sediment had a fine character or was subsequently washed in currents of water. The clays of the drift are both blue and yellow, the former apparently prevailing in both counties, as shown in the excavations for wells. There was considerable variation in reports of the strata penetrated in sinking wells, but blue clay—or, as it is frequently called, blue mud—from its appearance, was uniformly found, though there was no uniformity on the thickness of it. Sometimes it is but a few feet in thickness, and in other places, not a mile distant, it is no less than forty feet thick. It is generally interstratified with sand and fine gravel, but sometimes no such stratification is seen. Water is found very nearly everywhere within a few feet of the surface of the earth, so that it is seldom that excavations are farther than from ten to twenty feet below the surface, and our knowledge is limited of the material underlying to this slight extent. * * * In some parts of this district, particularly those which are flat, there does not occur, within the usual range of the wells, much, if any, yellow clay. If it found, it is just below the soil for from three to ten feet, where fine, grained blue clay invariably occurs interstratified with sand. BOULDERS. "These are found scattered over the surface and belong above the blue clay deposit, rather than in it. The largest boulder, perhaps, which is found so far south in this state, is found in Clinton county on the county infirmary farm, near Wilmington, and this lies on the fine-grained blue clay, upon which it would seem to have fallen by the washing away of the clay in which it was formerly imbedded, and which, at a higher level, lies near it on all sides. This boulder contains about one thousand two hundred cubic feet, and weighs upward of ninety tons. * * * Smaller ones are found more or less abundanly, especially in the northern half of the county. They are found lying on or near the surface, where they have been left by the removal of the water which carried away the material deposited with them. GRAVEL AND SAND. "Mingled with the drift is always found a considerable proportion of these substances, being scattered through the whole mass, or, at most, showing only a slight tendency to be distinct in strata, more or less mixed with soft material. Where the original drift is in quantity and undisturbed, the sand and gravel in it are not available for economic purposes. A few years ago, these counties were thought to be lacking in these important adjuncts to civilization. Previous to 1878, a short time, the CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 57 mend for gravel road material became so exceedingly urgent that thorough and haustive, and, as the result proved successful, search was made for it. It is now own that no real deficiency exists. People know where to look for it. When the currents of water carried away the lighter materials of the drift deposit, those constituents which were heaviest were left behind. We may regard the highest land as the former level of the region we are speaking of. There was then a deposit of loose material, sometimes a hundred feet in thickness, above the bedded stone. This material was manifestly deposited from water, and, to account for the character of the markings upon the rock surface and the promiscuous intermixture of clays, sand and gravel, and sometimes a certain limited measure of stratification, or assorting materials according to their weight, and for the evidently remote origin of the stony constituents, requiring that they should have been brought hither, and especially for the numerous boulders, conspicuous both for their size and clear marks of foreign origin, the conclusion is reached, unhesitatingly, that ice in some form contributed to the ,same end. Water In a liquid state alone could not carry such material so far without having an enormous velocity, sufficient to move before it not only the loose material, but the very stone eath it. When the water subsided, new lines of drainage appeared, corresponding, more or less, depending upon the physical features of the country, with preexisting ones. The emergence of the land was gradual, and the subdividing water stood for greater or less periods of time at different levels, which may be pointed out today with More or less distinctness. During the emergence of the solid earth, the currents of water carried away some of the material constituting the drift sediment of the former period. The channels of drainage mark the direction of the current. "Within these channels, the drift deposits were removed sometimes to the bedded rock. The varying force of the current distributed the material as we see it now. Strong currents carried all before them ; weaker currents only the more refined sediment. Any current bearing substance will deposit the heavier material first when the current becomes checked. It is thus that matters carried in currents of water became More assorted and distributed. When a current bearing sediment finds a wider channel and expands, the current is checked at the side upon which it finds room to spread out. Here will be a deposit of the heavier part of its freight. If two currents meet t the point of intersection, they will be retarded, especially if one be more swollen in the other, and the heavier material will be carried out and deposited first. Where now ;ire mere brooks, the ample extent of the washing, the broad valleys, show that rivers once flowed. Whenever the drift clays were not washed, the gravels were interspersed through them ; but where the clays are broken, where valleys have been cut n them, on the sides of these cuts, on the escarpment of the broken clay and gravel rifts, the clay has been removed and the gravel is left in beds. Following the principles referred to before in regard to the laws of sedimentary deposits, the road-maker of today may find the deposits of gravel he needs. Along the declivity, where two former currents met, far back from the meeting point of the diminutive streams of the esent time, on a point and looking from the higher land, he who seeks this useful Material need not look in vain. As there were various levels of the water at that far-distant period, so are there several elevations at which gravel is actually found. In addition to these beds on the escarpment of the hills, there are found hillocks or natural Mounds of gravel which represent eddies, or places in which, for some cause, the water Was more quiet, and hence unable to carry its load of sediment forward. Besides these, the soil of the present bottoms is, in many places, underlaid with ample deposits of gravel. "Drifted wood is found in the blue clay in all our districts. The instances in which ood has been found in the clay beds, penetrated in well digging, are by no means few, nearly every neighborhood furnishing one or more. A kind of jointed grass, or rush, was obtained from a well, near Reesville, in Clinton county. 58 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. BONES. "The gravel which lay so long hidden from the knowledge of the present inhabitants was almost uniformly made use of as places of interment by some former race of people. Scarcely a gravel bed has been extensively worked in which abundance of human bones have not been found. The skeletons are usually discovered within two or three feet of the surface. We are left to conjecture, in giving any reason why this material was used in which to make interments of the dead. Trinkets of any description are extremely rare in such graves, although not entirely unknown. In none of which I heard were there any indications of unusual care or elaborateness in the interments. Possibly, the ease in excavating a grave in such material may have determined the choice. But it is not a little singular that the inhabitants of a long ago should have known the position of these beds of gravel, covered as they were with a dense forest, while two generations of the intelligent people of this age have not thought of their existence until within half a dozen years. STONE IMPLEMENTS. "Flint arrow and lance points, stone hammers, bark peelers, hematite fishing bobs or sinkers, and other articles of this class are found, especially along the water courses. As no value and but a passing interest have been attached to them, they have not been preserved, but most of them have been broken up or lost. Many are still found by persons working the soil. No one locality has furnished more than the borders of Deer creek, but they are common on all the streams, and, indeed, over the whole surface of the county are they found. As the soil in Fayette and parts of Clinton has not been subject to the plow as much as in other places, and, of course, some of it not plowed at all, there perhaps remain more still to be gathered than have ever been found. Some persons, seeing in these articles the story of a former race of human beings, who have left but little else to tell of their manners of civilization, are gathering them up, to preserve from destruction. Nothing more amazes one in contemplating these relics of a people of a long past age than the immense number of them scattered over the surface of the earth. Perhaps no single acre of ground in central or southern Ohio but has furnished at least one flint arrow point ; but the average would be greater than one to the acre, and it is not too much to say that every farm, at least, has at some time given up a stone hatchet or bark peeler. HEMATITE BOULDER. In Clinton county a hematite boulder was found. It weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. This was extremely hard, and seemed to be of the same material from which the sinkers referred to in the last paragraph were made. This is the only boulder of this kind found in the county. BOUNDARY LINE OF THE CINCINNATI GROUP. "The line separating the blue limestone and the Clinton white limestone is easily distinguished. It may be distinguished in all the streams in the western part of Clinton county, which all cut abruptly through the Clinton and into the blue limestone. The line where this runs can be easily indicated, beginning just outside the county, on Anderson's fork, near Ingall's dam, where the upper beds of the Cincinnati group and the Clinton formation are seen at one glance. To the west a mile or two, on Cliff run, as well as on Buck run, the Clinton stone may be seen forming low cliffs, cut off) from the main body of the formation; but the true line is on Anderson's fork, as mentioned before. On Todd's fork, just above the crossing of the Lebanon road, near the line which divides the surveys 1554 and 1556, the same formations are seen in juxtaposition. Farther south, on Lytle's creek, it was not seen, but on the next stream, Cowan's creek, the line of the Clinton sweeps around to the east and appears above the CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 59 village of Antioch, but it does not here rise above the surface of the earth. The next point in the line is back to the west, about one mile northeast of Martinsville, where it is quarried, and then its next appearance is at a point about one mile south of Farmer's Station, on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and on a tributary stream of the east fork of the Little Miami. The last point at which the blue limestone is seen on the east fork of the Little Miami is on the edge of White's survey, not far from where the Pitzer meeting house stood. THE CLINTON FORMATION. "This is seen on Anderson's fork, at Oglesby's quarry and in Todd's fork, from the point of its first appearance near the Lebanon road to Babb's quarry in the base of the Niagara. At either of these localities the whole of the formation may be studied. The lower strata have the distinctly sand constitution characteristic of this formation, from which the stone is frequently called sandstone. These strata are good fire-stones, and resist the action of fire as a back wall in fireplaces for generations without softening or crumbling. But the strata a few feet higher are burned into lime, and make a medium quality for building purposes, and no doubt a very good quality of caustic lime for softening straw in the manufacture of paper. Some part of the ten feet of massive stone furnishes good building material. This stone has been obtained in Todd's fork, but is expensive, on account of the superincumbent stone of a poor quality, which must be removed before a good quality of stone can be reached. On Anderson's fork, at Oglesby's quarry, the same stone is more accessible, and is the best building stone obtained from this formation. The quality of this stone at Oglesby's has led some to prefer it to the Niagara; but it has the hardness and gritty character of the Clinton, and on surfaces which have been exposed in the quarry to the action of the atmospheric conditions and agencies for several years, it is seen to be composed almost wholly of a solid mass of broken encrinitic stems. Aside from lithological characters, this stone at Oglesby's is in the Clinton horizon, about midway from top to bottom, exclusive of the iron ore in the upper part. In this part the imbedded fossils are deeply covered by the iron. The twelve feet from the top of the Clinton is well seen from the under strata at Babb's quarry, on Todd's fork, down stream to the locality of the iron furnace, formerly erected to work the ore. This twelve feet is highly fossiliferous throughout, but it is only in a few feet at the bottom that the portion of iron is large enough to entitle It to the name of iron ore. For some reason the furnace erected here (about 1850) did not prove a success and was abandoned, although the quality of iron was regarded as very smooth. The rich ore is a brittle stone, mostly composed of small, exteriorly smooth and shiny lenticular grains, reminding one of flax seed. The ore is easily crumbled in the hand, and contains numerous disjointed crinoidal disks, partially eroded. The species of fossils become more numerous as we approach the higher strata. Sometimes the stone is highly granular or crystaline, while still crumbling easily in, the fingers, and is less ferruginous and the imbedded fossils become light colored. The iron ore occurs in considerable quantities, being exposed in an outcrop along the slopes for several miles, and large quantities could be obtained by stripping. If it were more convenient, or nearer furnaces in operation, it might become valuable to mix with other ores in making certain qualities of iron, particularly if it should he found to serve likewise as a flux. The fossils in the upper beds are better preserved than in the lower, but good cabinet specimens are difficult to obtain. That locality alluded to as Grubb's quarry, in the southern part of the county, abounds in fossils, and is a promising field for palaeontological research. It was but little opened at that time, but as the stone obtained seemed to answer well for building purposes, it will probably furnish many fossils. 60 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. NIAGARA FORMATION. "The Niagara formation is not exposed very extensively in Clinton county and dips far under the surface in Fayette. It lies immediately on the iron stone, or ore, just referred to at Babb's quarry, on Todd's fork. Here, proceeding from the upper strata of Clinton, thence upward: Blue clay, with purple tint, four inches; blue clay, four inches; stone stratum, one inch; purple or red clay, unctuous feeling, four inches; blue clay, four inches. Here is the best Niagara building stone in the county—smooth, fine grained, even bedded limestone—approaching in quality some kinds of marble. "The supply of this building stone, however, is limited and much below the demand. In the inferior strata, no trace of organic remains was found, their fine, even texture suggesting that they may have been deposited as calcareous mud in quiet water. In no part of the twelve or fifteen feet here exposed were organic remains found, except in the most meager quantity. Here and there occurs a small mass of coral which is completely incorporated in the substance of the stone, bating broken and standing upright as it was formed, having been silted up by fine sedimentary deposits. Above this building stone, the system assumes that loose and porous character so often observed in this formation, full of casts of large Pentamerous oblongus and other fossils, with numerous small cavities stained with carbonaceous matter. At Port William, the exposure on Anderson's fork was perfectly characteristic of this formation, the jagged and cavernous masses being worn and corroded by the elements into fantastic shapes. But the most interesting exposure of this formation in the county is that known as Black's quarry, near Snow Hill, where the strata belong to the upper portion of the Niagara. This is a highly fossiliferous stone, but unsuitable for building purposes, as it is soft and porous and can be crumbled in the hand. The stone used in constructing the New Vienna and Wilmington turnpike was obtained here. The fossils are difficult to obtain without being broken, but many of them are very good specimens, the most delicate markstings being preserved. The stone is so fragile that the specimens are greatly injured by handling, and can not be packed in the usual manner without detriment. The paleonsttologists can surely find some valuable material in this district." CHAPTER III. ORGANIZATION OF CLINTON COUNTY. The General Assembly of the state of Ohio, on February 19, 1810, passed an act establishing the county of Clinton. The boundaries of the county as set forth in the act were as follow : "Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That all those parts of the counties of Warren and Highland within the following boundaries be and the same are hereby erected into a separate county, to be known by the name of Clinton: Beginning at the southeast corner of Greene county, running east five miles; thence south to Highland county line; thence west with said line within four miles of the eastern line of Warren county ; thence southwardly so far as to intersect a line one mile east from the southeast corner of Warren county ; thence west, and from the beginning west so far that a line south will leave Warren county a constitutional boundary." The county received the name of Clinton in honor of George Clinton, a distinguished citizen of New York and at that time vice-president of the United States. The territory described above was taken in almost equal portions from Warren and Highland counties, the old division line passing through the present town of Wilmington. At that time the state constitution contained the following clause: "No new county shall be established by the General Assembly which shall reduce the county or counties, or either of them, from which it shall be taken, to less contents than four hundred square miles; nor shall any county be laid off of less contents." The area of Clinton county, through some error, probably in estimate, fell short of the requisite four hundred square miles. When the deficiency was finally discovered is not known, but the state Legislature took the matter in hand and on the 4th of February, 1813, passed an act as follows, entitled, "An act to attach a part of Highland county to the county of Clinton": "Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That all that part of Highland county within the following boundaries be and the same is hereby attached to and shall remain the county of Clinton: Beginning at the southeast corner of Clinton county, adjoining Fayette county, thence running a line in a southwesterly direction to strike the line of Clinton county at such a point as to include four hundred square miles in the county of Clinton. "Sec. 2. That the county surveyor of Ross shall, within thirty days after being duly notified by the commissioners of Clinton county, proceed to survey said county of Clinton and annex thereto so much of the county of Highland as shall make said county of Clinton contain four hundred square miles, agreeable to the provisions of the first section of this act; and said surveyor shall take to his assistance chainmen and axmen who are not inhabitants either of the counties of Warren, Clinton or Highland, and who have no interest therein, who shall be duly sworn as the law directs; and said surveyor shall make out two accurate surveys, or plats thereof, one of which he shall return to the court of common pleas for said county of Clinton, who shall record the same in the records of the court of said county, and the other he shall deposit in the office of the secretary of state, who shall preserve the same with this act; which survey, when made and recorded, shall be the perpetual boundaries of the said county of Clinton, and said, surveyor shall receive two dollars per day and said chainmen and axmen shall each. 62 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. receive one dollar per day for all the time they are respectively employed in such service, to be paid out of the treasury of the county of Clinton." We quote from the manuscript of the late Judge R. B. Harlan: "The records of the commissioners of Clinton county show that, in conformity with the above act, they did, on March 3, 1813, issue a notification to the surveyor of Ross county to proceed and survey the county of Clinton and annex thereto so much of the county of Highland as would make the county of Clinton contain the requisite number of square miles. "John Evans, Esq., the surveyor of Ross county, on the 6th day of April, 1813, proceeded to make the survey required by the above act, and July 10, 1813, returned to the clerk of the court of common pleas of Clinton county a report of his proceedings under said act. In this report he said that, on the 6th day of April, 1813, he proceeded to survey the county of Clinton, agreeably to the provisions of the act of February 4, 1813. He 'began at four gums, two elms, two burr oaks and one maple, a corner of Clinton and Highland counties, standing north eighty-nine and one-quarter degrees east, one mile from the northeast corner of Clermont county; thence with the line of Highland and Clermont counties south eighty-nine and one-quarter degrees west nine miles and two hundred and sixteen poles, passing the corner of Highland county at one mile, with the variation of forty-five seconds from the cardinal point, to a red elm, two maples and a white oak, a black oak and thorn bush, southeast corner of Warren county, as it was then run, to contain its constitutional bounds; thence with the line of Warren county, allowing the, aforesaid variation of forty-five seconds west, twenty-one miles and one hundred and fifty-eight poles to a large ash tree, two sugar trees, and two thorn bushes, northeast corner of Warren county, and in the line of Greene county, which was formerly run and marked ; thence with said line east twenty miles and two hundred and thirty-one poles, passing the corner of Fayette county at fifteen miles and two hundred and thirty-one poles, to a large maple tree, marked as a corner and with the letters C. C. F. C., being a corner of Fayette county; thence with the line of said county south eleven miles and ninety poles to two oaks and an elm in the line of Highland county; thence I ran a line to attach a part of Highland county to the county of Clinton, viz., south four degrees, forty-five seconds west fourteen miles, two hundred and twenty-three poles, to the first place of beginning, being the most eastwardly end of the line of Clinton county called for in the first section of the aforesaid act (February 4, 1813), in which bounds there is only contained three hundred and eighty-five square miles and six hundred and twenty-two acres. Therefore, I find it impossible with all the provisions of the aforesaid law ; for, by striking or intersecting the line of Clinton county, a deficiency of fourteen square miles and eighteen acres exist, and to include four hundred square miles in the county of Clinton, the line strikes a point considerably to the east of the line of Clinton county, which the aforesaid law contemplated for the line to strike. I then run and marked the following lines, which include the constitutional bounds in Clinton county : Commencing at the same corner, from which the aforesaid line is run; thence south forty degrees west twelve miles and one hundred and ninety-seven poles to two jack oaks, hickory and gum, all marked as a corner; and this line is represented on the plat as running from A (east corner of Clinton county), to C, two miles and three hundred poles, the beginning corner of Highland and Clinton counties, in which is contained four hundred square miles. Finding this conflict in the law and the express provision for including four hundred square miles in the county of Clinton, I perceive no better mode to reconcile the difficulty than the one adopted, which shows the relation which each of these lines bears to the law under which I am bound to act.' "The same day on which Mr. Evans filed this report, he produced to the commissioners of Clinton county, his account for his services as such surveyor, amounting to the sum of seventy-two dollars and fifty cents, and also an account for the services of chain bearers and markers upon said survey, amounting to the sum of sixty-six dollars, which CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 63 accounts being inspected, were allowed on July 10, 1813; vouchers 514, 515, 516, 517, 518. e chainmen were Abel Crossley, Philip Hartman and William Clevenger. "To make up the deficiency thus ascertained, the Legislature, on January 30, 1815, provided that eleven square miles of the territory of Warren county lying upon the eastern boundary of the county of Warren, and extending parallel to the said eastern boundary line along the whole length of it from north to south, should be and the same were attached to and made a part of the county of Clinton ; and it was made the duty of the surveyor of Ross county, within thirty days after being notified by the commissioners of Clinton county, to proceed and survey and set off to the county of Clinton the eleven square miles as aforesaid, by running a straight line from north to south through the county of Warren, parallel to the eastern boundary thereof, a strip about one-half mile wide, so as to include the eleven square miles aforesaid. The act also prescribed the manner in which the survey should be made, the qualifications of the chainmen and axmen, with other necessary details. "By the same act (January 30, 1815), section 4, it was provided that three square miles and eighteen acres of the county of Highland should be and the same were attached to the county of Clinton : 'Beginning where the line run by the surveyor of Ross, as described in the foregoing section, crosses the East fork of the Little Miami river, and extending down the said East fork until a line due west to the line of the county of Clermont, between the counties of Clermont and Highland, will include in the county of Clinton three square miles and eighteen acres of land, as aforesaid': and the same was directed to be surveyed and laid off by the surveyor of Ross county, in the same way prescribed by the second section of the act to attach part of Highland county to the county of Clinton (February 4, 1813). "In the mouth of October, 1817, Moses Collier, surveyor of Greene county, made a Survey of the three square miles and eighteen acres of land off from the county of Highland to become a part of the county of Clinton; since which time this three square miles and eighteen acres of land have, been a part of the territory of the county of Clinton, and the county invested with her constitutional number of square miles. "A meeting of the commissioners of Clinton county ; present Joseph Doan, Mahlon Haworth and Samuel Ruble, commissioners; date, June 4, 1817, allowance No. 53: 'Walter Dillon, for conveying notice to the surveyor of Greene county to run off eleven miles from the county of Warren, and three square miles and eighteen acres from the county of Highland to become a part of the county of Clinton, agreeably to an act entitled, "An act to attach part of the county of Butler to the county of Warren, and for other purposes." and an act amendatory of said act. Order issued, forty-two dollars and twenty-five cents.' “Meeting of commissioners, October 21, 1817; present Joseph Doan and Samuel Ruble, commissioners. The commissioners proceeded to adjust demands against the county and allowed voucher No. 96. 'No. 96, Moses Collier, surveyor of Greene county, for making survey of three square miles and eighteen acres from the county of Highland to become ,part of Clinton; nine days at two dollars, and two chainmen and one axman eight days at one dollar, and justices' certificate, twenty-five cents. Allowed. Order issued, forty-two dollars and twenty-five cents.' 'Act of February 19, 1810, section 2, contains this provision, that 'after March 1 next (1810), said county shall be vested with all privileges and ammunities (immunities) of a separate and distinct township : Provided, that the sheriffs, coroners, constables, collectors, and all other township officers in the county aforesaid shall continue to perrm their respective duties as prescribed by law, within the said county of Clinton, ore said division; and suits of law which were or may be pending at the time of id division shall be adjusted in the same manner as if the division had not taken place.' 64 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. "Section 3 required the legal voters residing in Clinton county to assemble on the first Monday in March next ensuing, in their respective townships, and elect their several county officers, who should hold their offices until the next annual meeting. "Section 4. By this section the place of holding the courts of the county was established at the house of Jesse Hughes, two miles southeast of Wilmington, until a permanent seat of justice should be established in said county as directed by law. And this act was made to take effect and to be in force from and after March 1, 1810." LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT. Still quoting from the manuscript of the late Judge R. B. Harlan: "Clinton county having been established, it became necessary to select a county seat or place for holding the courts of the county. By the act of March 28, 1803, it was provided that, Tor each new county established during the present or any future session of the Legislature, three commissioners shall be appointed by resolution of both houses of the Legislature, whose duty it shall- be to examine and determine what part of said county so established is the most eligible for holding the several courts within the county; and that it shall be the duty of the secretary of state to notify the persons of their several appointments.' "Upon the passage of the act creating the county of Clinton, both branches of the Legislature, by a joint resolution, appointed three commissioners to examine and determine what part of said county was most eligible for the seat of justice. One of these commissioners was John Polloack, several times elected to the House of Representatives from Clermont county and speaker for the same body for the sessions of 1812-13, 1813-14, 1814-15; Mr. Stewart, either of Ross or Pickaway county. is supposed to have been a second. Who the third was, the writer of these notes has not the means of knowing. "These commissioners, having been notified by the secretary of state, proceeded, as required by the statute, to give twenty days' notice to the inhabitants of the new county of the time, place and purport of their meeting, in the county, and, having taken the oath required by the statute in such eases, proceeded to examine and selected the most proper place, in their opinion, for the said seat of justice, as near the center of the county as possible, paying regard to the situation, extent of population, and quality of land, together with the general convenience and interest of the inhabitants of the county. The examination resulted in the selection of the present county seat, and the report thereof was made to the court of common pleas next holden in and for the county. "This was an extra session of the court for the transaction of official business, held at the house of Jesse Hughes, Sr. Present, Peter Burr, Jesse Hughes and Thomas Hinkson ; Warren Sabin, clerk pro tem. This report of the commissioners was filed in the court, May 16, 1810, and was opened, as shown by the minutes of the court. "On its appearing that no town had been previously laid out at the place agreed upon, it became the duty of the court, under the law, to appoint a director whose duty it was, after giving surety for the faithful performance of his work, to purchase the land for the use and behoof of the county, to lay it off into lots, streets and alleys, under the regulations as prescribed by the court, to dispose of the lots either at private or public sale as the court might think proper, and to make conveyances for the same in fee simple to the purchaser. The person selected for this office of director was James McManis, a resident of the neighborhood in which Clarksville has since been laid out. He was a brother of George McManis, one of the first three county commissioners, who, soon after, on the resignation of Peter Burr, one of the associate judges, was appointed to fill the Vacancy. "It is believed that no offers to donate land, goods or money were made to the commissioners for the use of the county on condition that a different site for the county Seat' would be selected from the one proposed. Indeed, if there was any compe- CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 65 tition, or any sharp or excited controversy about the location of the county seat, no record or tradition of it has been preserved. Two concurrent offers to donate land for the use of the county were made the commissioners on the condition that the county seat be established on the site selected, namely, sixty acres, one lot of fifty acres, by David Faulkner, and another of ten acres by Joseph Doan. Both offers were accepted. The lands thus offered lay partly in David Faulkner's tract of three hundred and fifty acres, and partly in Joseph Doan's tract of three hundred and fifty-seven acres—tracts which lay side by side, and were parts of General Posey's survey, No. 1,057. "But the question in regard to the county seat was not settled. There was still existing an unpleasant uncertainty in regard to it. It appears quite plain that the donors of the land sought to be acquired, and those having charge of the location of the county seat, had met with some cause for discouragement. It might have been about the character of the conveyances to be made, as, for example, whether upon some contingency occurring in future, the land should or should not revert back to the donors or their heirs. Be this as it may, on June 20, the court ordered that 'except David Faulkner and Joseph Doan come forward and make a good and sufficient title in fee simple for their respective donations, within fifteen days, then and in that case the court order the director to proceed to give notice to the commissioners to select the next most eligible place for the seat of justice for the aforesaid county.' What effect this order had, if any, cannot be ascertained, after such a lapse of time, with much certainty. But this much is shown by the minutes of the court for the next day succeeding the one on which this order was made: 'Deed executed by David Faulkner to the director of the county, agreeably to law' (June 21, 1810). Joseph Doan had previously, on the 7th of June, conveyed the title of his donation to the county. "At a term of the court of common pleas, on June 21, 1810, present Jesse Hughes, Thomas Hinkson and George McMauls, associate judges, and Warren Sabin, clerk pro tem., the court ordered that the director proceed to lay out the town for the county seat, and, after advertising the sale in the Chillicothe and Lebanon newspapers so long is he might think necessary, to sell every odd-numbered lot at a credit, one-third in six, one-third in twelve and one-third in eighteen months, by the purchaser giving bond with approved security. "Accordingly, Mr. McManis proceeded to lay out the town, and, by August 2, 1810, had ready a plat representing the lots regularly numbered and the streets properly named, and, on the 5th and 7th of the same month, one-half of the lots were sold to the highest bidders for the same. The sale was largely attended and competition ran high. The name given the town on the official plat was Clinton, from Gen. George Clinton, of New York, for whom the county had been named. The deeds of these lots frequently, if not generally, bore date early in September. The first deed was dated September 3. The highest price paid for any lot was one hundred dollars, for No. 71, extending from Main street north to the alley, with the right of the lot on the east side of South street, bought by William Ferguson. The lowest price paid was for lot No. 82, on Sugartree street, now owned by the railroad company. It was sold to Isaiah Morris on time for four dollars and twelve and one-half cents. No. 57, next to the court house on the west, was sold for sixty dollars. John Cox bought lot No. 59, the old hotel property of Warren Sabin, where James Henry's grocery store now is, for eighty-four dollars. The Buckeye property was sold to Mahlos Haworth for sixty dollars. The corner lot on which William Hibben so long resided was bought for thirty-six dollars. The lot on the southeast corner of South and Locust streets (lot No. 69) was bought by Jesse and David Hughes. William Polk bought lot No. 17, dated September 3. for six dollars; Absalom Haworth, lot No. 179, South street, dated September 3, 1810 Joseph Doan, lot No. 28, for thirty-five dollars, dated December 5, 1810; William Ito On, lots Nos. 6 and 11, August 7, 1810. (5) 66 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. "On September 10, 1810, the court ordered the name of the town to be changed from 'Clinton' to 'Armenia.' On December 31, the name was again changed by the, court' on request of the donors, to Mount Pleasant (the name is written Mount Vernon, but the name is marked out with a pen and 'Pleasant' written after it). But this last name was not more satisfactory than the others had been, and, on February 10, 1811, the court of common pleas, which had charge of the matter, made an order that the county seat be called Wilmington, from cities of the name in Delaware and North Carolina, from which states emigrants had come to this locality, and that the name be not again altered without legislative act." ERECTION OF TOWNSHIPS AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT SUBDIVISIONS. The first division of Clinton county into townships occurred at a meeting of the commissioners of the county held on April 6, 1810. At this meeting were present George McManis, James Birdsall and Henry Babb, commissioners. It was "Ordered, that all that part of Clinton county east of the old boundary line of Warren county shall be one township known by the name of Richland; and all that part of said Clinton county that is within the old boundary line of Warren and north of Lytle's creek, and from the mouth of said creek west to the boundary line of Clinton county, shall be known by the name of Chester township; and all that part of the aforesaid county that lies south of Lytle's creek and south of the south boundary line of Chester and west of Richland, shall be set off as a separate township known by the name of Vernon." Two additional townships, Union and Green, were created on August 21. 1813, and the first election for township officers in each was held on the second Tuesday in October following. Clark township was formed from Green and Vernon on July 14, 1817, and Liberty township was erected on the same date. The remaining townships of the county were organized at the following dates: Marion, August, 1830; Washington, June, 1835; Wayne, March, 1837; Jefferson, March, 1839; Adams, May, 1849 Wilson, August, 1850. COURT HOUSES. In 1812 the people of Clinton county consented to be taxed for the purpose o erecting a. court house. The commissioners at this time were Mahlon Haworth, Joseph Doan and Henry Babb. Again quoting from the notes of the late Judge R. B. Harlan, it is found that the court house was "to be built of brick on a stone foundation, sunk in the ground one foot and rising above the ground one foot; to be forty feet square outside of the wall; to be two stories high; the lower floor to be laid part with brick and part with inch plank, well seasoned, jointed, planed and grooved. The ground story to be fifteen fe high, and the wall eighteen inches thick; the second story to be ten feet high, with walls thirteen and a half inches thick. Cornice to be of brick ; to have two chimneys in t upper story, both built in the north end, two and a half feet in the back. To have two doors, one fronting each street, four feet wide; nine windows, each of twenty-four lights, one of which was to be placed above the judge's bench; eight windows above, each of twenty-four lights; all the windows to be filled with glass eight by ten. To have a cupola ten feet square and seventeen feet high above the roof of the house, with a square roof, a spire, weather-boarded, the boards to be planed and painted white, the roof painted, brown. The doors to be paneled doors. The building to be made of good ma rials and in a workmanlike manner, and to be completed in two years from the date sale. The payments to be two hundred and fifty dollars in advance; one-fourth of the residue in six months, one-fourth in twelve months, one-fourth in eighteen months, en one-fourth in two years from the date of sale. " Jacob Hale bid one thousand, seven hundred and forty-two dollars, and, no pers bidding lower, the building of the court house was publicly cried off and sold to t CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 67 said Jacob Hale for the sum as aforesaid bid. This was Friday, March 27, 1812, according to the record. The commissioners had held a consultation on the 18th of Feruary preceding, and then determined to build a court house forty feet square and stories high. And thereupon the said Jacob Hale, together with James Birdsall and Samuel Cox, who are approved by the commissioners as sureties, executed bond for the performance of the building aforesaid.' "On March 5, 186, the commissioners entered into an agreement with Henry Vanderburgh for performing certain work on the court house, `that is to say, to make Venetian blinds for the cupola of the court house, which is to be done in a workmanlike manner; one to be hung with hinges, the others nailed fast—all to be painted green ; . work to be finished in a good and substantial and workmanlike manner. The said Henry Vanderburgh to furnish all materials and finish the same against the fifth day May, next.' The price for the work and material was fixed at twenty-eight dollars, part to be paid in advance, and the residue on the completion of the work." This building did service for twenty-six years. At the March, 1837, session of the county commissioners, the auditor was directed to have published in the Democrat and Herald a notice that "Sealed proposals will be received on or before twelve o'clock of the ' • Monday of April next, for delivering one hundred thousand or more good merchant- brick in the kiln within half a mile of the center stone of the town of Wilmington, or before the first day of November next." At an extra session in April following, Ilia Doan offered to "burn one hundred and fifty thousand good merchantable brick," at four dollars and twenty-five cents per thousand, and his proposal was accepted and a sum of money paid him in advance. John and Joshua Haynes hauled stone from the quarry for the foundations of the new building in December, 1837. Doan's '1, of brick was not ready at the time specified and he was given further time. On the of January, 1838, it was examined by a man appointed for that purpose, and as found the brick to be not merchantable, the commissioners rejected them, compelled n to pay back the one hundred dollars he had been advanced, besides some contingent expenses, and canceled the contract with him. Plans for the new court house were received and accepted January 13, 1838. It was drawn by John B. Posey, a member of the board. Notice for sealed proposals forming the brick and carpenter work on the new building was ordered published in the Democrat and Herald, and on the 12th of February, 1838, they were opened and read. contract for the carpenter and joiner work, and all except brick and mason's work, awarded to John Bush for eleven thousand dollars; that for the brick and mason work and plastering to Thomas and Alfred Shockley and William and Joshua Noble for , eleven thousand one hundred and forty-six dollars. John B. Posey was appointed superintendent of construction of the new building, and on the 7th of March, 1838, the old court house was sold to George Fallis and John B. Posey for two hundred and forty dollars. On May 17, 1838, the commissioners met and "proceeded to lay off the foundation of the new court house, and agreed to enlarge said building five feet in width, making said building fifty feet wide." The new structure was painted by Samuel Peele. The final settlement with the brick and mason work contractors was made December 24, 1839, end that with J. H. Bush, carpenter work, etc., March 3, 1840. The offices in the new building were occupied in December. 1839. Some changes were made in the original plan of the building, owing to the inability of the contractors to get a portion of the materials in time, and this made the cost something less than it would have been otherwise. Additional expenses were incurred for numerous other items, and the total cost of the building, with outside wall (or fence), stone steps on south side, etc., was in the neighborhood of twenty-two thousand dollars. This building is still in use. The front is to the east, on South street, where is a portico supported by heavy columns. A bell weighing five hundred pounds, purchased at Cincinnati, of G. W. Coffin, for one hundred 68 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. and fifty dollars, was placed on the court house in May, 1846. The building has been in use for seventy-six years. JAILS. At the sixth meeting of the county commissioners, held on September 22, 1810, the following plan for a county jail was presented, accepted and recorded: "Twenty by eighteen feet; a wall of good stone two feet thick, sunk two feet below the surface of the earth; the first floor one foot thick of hewed joint timber, to extend with the extremity of the above named wall; the first story to be nine feet high from the first floor, of a wall of hewed timber, two thicknesses of nine inches each, thicknesses laid close—a space of six inches wide between the aforesaid thicknesses, on each side and end of the first story, to be filled completely with stone to average one foot square each in the aforesaid first story taken up, the first wall dove-tailed at each corner, and the inside wall taken up, half dove-tailed at each corner, and laid close. Four windows in the aforesaid first story, one foot square each; one bar of iron, two inches one way and one inch the other, let sufficiently into the wood, placed in each light, crossed with another bar of iron one inch square, running through the upright bar. The second floor, of timber, one foot thick, hewed and jointed close, extending with the outside wall of the first story; a door in the center of the last named floor, three by two feet, the shutter two inches thick, of white oak planks one inch thick, spiked strongly together, and hung with iron hinges one inch in diameter each; three straps of iron on each side of the shutter, one inch and a half wide and a quarter of an inch thick, extending with the extremity of the first story, taken up, dove-tailed on each corner, and laid close; a suffistcient number of joined, eight by four inches; the third floor, of one and one-half inch plank, spiked strongly to the joint and jointed close; a pertition (partition) of two inch plank in the second story, running crossways of the building, sufficiently secure; a sufficient door in said partition wall, with a common prison lock thereon; a good and sufficient joint shingle roof, and the gable end sufficiently weather boarded; three nine-inch light windows in the second story, each secured with three bars of iron, each bar half an inch one way, and an inch and a half the other, crossed with three bars of iron to each light, three-fourths of an inch square. A common size door in the second story, sufficiently cased and hung, and a common prison lock thereon; a sufficient set of steps leading from the ground to a platform three feet square at the above named door, the platform and steps sufficiently hand-railed. All to be completed in a masterly and workmanlike manner." The record of the same day says: "Solomon Stanbury (also spelled Stanbrough on the records), undertakes the building of the aforesaid jail at the price of six hundred dollars. Enters Joseph Doan for security: Allowed fifty dollars advance. The work to be completed nine months from the above date, namely, 22d of September, 1810." This jail stood on the east end of the lot occupied by the present jail building. Before the close of the War of 1812, a man by the name of Spencer, while confined in for violation of the civil law, fighting and other misdemeanors, set fire to it, burst lock and escaped, and let the building burn. Nothing further is found on the commissioners' records concerning a jail un January 29, 1819, when, at a special meeting, the commissioners devised plans for temporary jail building. On February 5, 1819, the contract for erecting the buil was awarded to William Butler. The late Dr. A. Jones gives the following description of this jail : "In the construction of the new jail-house he (Butler) used unhewn and round beech logs, from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter, notched in so as to fit tightly, and so arranged that a crow-bar could not enter between them. The house had two high windows so provided that it was impossible to enter them from the outside. The building had two strong doors—one on the inside and one on the outside. The upper and lower floors were made of beech logs, fitted tightly. The floor was covered with to CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 69 Inch oak plank, and the under side of the upper floor with the like quality of oak plank, well spiked on. This jail was named 'Fort Butler'—after the builder—and was the strongest and best fitted to retain prisoners and offenders of the law of all the jail-houses that have ever been constructed in Clinton county." However, Fort Butler did not remain long in use. At the December session, 1821, of the commissioners, it was agreed to advertise for proposals for one hundred and fifty perch of stone, suitable for the erection of a stone jail, and, on the 5th of the following January (1822), the contract for furnishing them was awarded to George Haworth at seventy-four and a half cents a perch. The contract for the construction of the building was awarded on June 12, 1822, to Levi Shepard for five hundred and eight dollars. This jail was to be twenty by twenty-six feet, long way north and south, two stories high, walls of lower story three feet, and upper story two feet thick ; lower story, six feet, and upper story, seven feet and four inches in the clear ; the building to be completed by July 1, 1823. Jacob Doan and Samuel Myers furnished one hundred perch of stone, in addition to the first hundred and fifty, and the irons of the old jail were sold to John A. Hays for nine dollars, sixty-two and a half cents. On August 1, 1823, the commissioners inspected and accepted the new jail. The contract for making and hanging five iron doors in the building was awarded to John McElwain for one hundred and nine dollars. The matter of a county jail was before the commissioners again on March 1, 1830, when they ordered that an advertisement for bids for the work be published in the Constitutional Republican, then being issued in Wilmington. The records show that Joel Woodruff furnished the timber and did the woodwork on the new building, and that the masonry was laid by Jacob Miller. The work of both contractors was accepted—Woodruff's in November, 1831, and Miller's in January, 1832. This building was considerably damaged by fire in the fall of 1841, and a considerable sum of money spent in repairs on it. On July 17, 1850, the subject of a jail again made its appearance before the commissioners of the county. The old one was torn down and the debris removed from the lot, and, in August of that year, the new building was commenced. Azel Walker was appointed superintendent of construction. The building, which is of brick and fitted both for jail and residence, was completed, in 1852, costing about seven thousand dollars. This structure is still standing and still in use as the county jail. COUNTY OFFICE BUILDINGS. In 1824, the commissioners formed a plan for a building for public offices, thirty-five by eighteen feet in dimensions, one story high and to be erected on the court-house lot. The contract for its construction was given to Levi Sheppard and the building was Completed and accepted by the commissioners on August 13, 1825. The building was tort down and the materials in it sold at public auction in December, 1841. John B. Posey also built for the county, in 1833, fire-proof offices costing about five hundred dollars. In 1881 the commissioners erected, on lot No. 73 in Wilmington, a building in which the offices of the probate judge, recorder, and several other county officers are located. The building was built by Robert and Charles McMillan and William M. Cleveland, and the contract price was, at the time of settlement, February 7, 1882, nine thousand four hundred eighteen dollars and ninety-seven cents. The building was occupied in February and March, 1882. This building will be razed to make way for the new court house. THE NEW COURT HOUSE AND JAIL. The present Clinton county court house was erected in 1838 and, consequently, over three-quarters of a century old—in fact, it is one of the oldest court houses in the whole state of Ohio. For several years there has been much agitation looking 70 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. toward the erection of a new court house, but it was not until 1915 that the bond issue was ratified by the village voters. On January 18, 1915, the county commissioners—Job Clark, Zene G. Hadley and Charles Skimming—took the first definite steps in the matter of a new court house. On that date they set February 16, 1915, for a vote on the question and, according to law, if a majority of all the votes cast were in favor of the erection of the said building, the commissioners were then to take steps to provide a site for and the erection of the building. During the winter of 1914-15, the proposed new building was an all-absorbing question of discussion throughout the county. Perhaps some of the opposition to the proposed building was due to the fact that the taxpayers of the county were afraid that the large sum of money which was to be handled might be frittered away in such a manner that the people might not get the full benefit. In order to allay any opposition on this score, Judge West announced several weeks before the election the names of the men who were to act with the county commissioners in the selection, of the site and the subsequent erection of the building. With the appointment of such men as A. J. Wilson, M. R. Denver, J. W. Sparks and J. F. Fitzhugh, the judge silenced all opposition which might arise from this source. It would have been difficult to have selected any other four men in whom the people of the county had as full confidence, and to this wise move on the part of Judge West may be attributed the final favorable vote on the question. The final vote on the question resulted in a vote of two thousand ninety-nine affirmatives to one thousand eight hundred sixty negatives, an affirmative majority of two hundred thirty-nine. With the matter of a new building decided, the commission of seven at once met and organized for the transaction of business. The voters had authorized the board to issue three hundred thousand dollars of five per cent. bonds in accordance with the laws of Ohio (section 5642-1, of the General Code of Ohio), "for the purpose of purchasing a site and the erection of a court house and jail thereon." The bonds were first offered for sale on June 1 at four and one-half per cent, but no bids were received. The bonds were offered for sale in denominations of five hundred dollars each, interest payable send-annually. March 1 and September 1 of each year. The bonds were numbered from one to six hundred inclusive and come due between 1921 and 1944, twenty-four bonds falling due each year until 1944, when forty-eight fall due. Sealed proposals were received by the auditor until twelve o'clock, noon, Thursday, July 15, 1915, and on that date Tillotson & Wolcott Company, of Cleveland, were awarded the bonds, having offered a premium of eleven thousand three hundred sixty-one dollars and eighty cents for the total amount of three hundred thousand dollars, being the highest bidder by twenty dollars and thirty cents of the thirteen bidders. As soon as it was decided to build a new court house, the question of a suitable location came to the front. It was evident that the present site could not be utilized; not only was it too small, but even with the addition of the remainder of the county property on the lot (lot No. 58 of the original plat), there was insufficient room for the court house and jail. At this point it seems pertinent to explain the peculiar hittory of lot No. 58, a part of which is occupied by the present court house, the remainder being occupied by four store-rooms facing South street. By referring to the plat it will be seen that the court house covers less than half of the lot. Just what was on the lots numbered 1, 2 and 3 prior to 1841, when they were first leased, is not known. According to the commissioners' records, these three lots (twenty by ninety feet) were leased on July 10, 1841, to the highest bidders for a term of ninety-nine years. Elisha Vance bid in lot 1 for an annual rental of thirty-one dollars and twenty-five cents: William Martin took lot 2 at thirty-two dollars and sixty-two and one-half cents, and Thomas Carothers had to pay only twenty-seven dollars to get lot 3. These lots were to be revalued every ten years and the rental changed to fit the new valuation. According CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 71 to the terms of the leases, all buildings on the lots were to become the property of the county on the expiration of the ninety-nine years, which, by the way, will expire on July 10, 1940. These leases have changed hands many times in the past seventy-four years; lots 1 and 2 are now leased by John Egan and lot 3 by Orange Frazer and the Denver estate. The value of the leases has been changed every ten years according to the provisions of the original agreement. In 1914, lot No. 1 cost the lessee one hundred forty-five dollars less the taxes of seventy-one dollars; lot No. 2 cost eighty-five dollars, less the taxes of forty-seven dollars and sixteen cents, and lot No. 3 cost two hundred twenty-five dollars, less the taxes of one hundred fifteen dollars and forty-four cents. When David Faulkner and Joseph Doan donated fifty and ten acres, respectively, for the town site in 1810, the commissioners appointed a director to lay off the town and reserve lots for county purposes. Lots 58 and 73 were set aside for the county at that time and both are still the property of the county. Lot 73 is diagonally across the street from lot 58 and is now occupied by the building housing the probate court and the recorder, as well as the county jail. There are also some other buildings on this lot. To return to the location of the new court house. From the beginning of the agitation for the new building, it seemed to be the consensus of opinion that the square of which lot 78 was a part was the best location for the new court house and jail. This square contains lots 73, 74, 75, 76, 83, 84, 93 and 94, and is bounded by South and Walnut street on the west and east, and Main and Sugartree streets on the north and south. The commission of seven finally decided on this square, known as the Shadagee square, providing that it could be secured at a reasonable price. At the time this work went to the press the question of location had not been definitely decided. The case is now in the probate court, where condemnatory proceedings will establish the prices of the various lots in the square. If the total of the condemned property of the fifteen owners is not too excessive the commissioners will pay the condemnation price and the building of the court house and jail will then be commenced at once. The commissioners have selected as architects, Weber, Werner & Adkins, of Cincinnati, and this firm has already submitted a tentative plan for the buildings. The courtsthouse will occupy the center of the four-hundred-foot square, with the jail in the northeast corner facing the LaMax theater. The court house, as planned, presents a striking appearance. It will be of the Italian renaissance style of architecture, the finish being in buff Bedford stone. Besides an assembly room on the first floor, there will be a Grand Army Republic hall, a room for the relics of the county, and retiring rooms. The second floor will contain all the county offices, while the courts will occupy the third floor. The jail will house the heating plant for both buildings. SHERIFFS. Jonathan Harlan, 1810-14; Joseph Roberts, 1814-18; James How, 1818-20; Joel Woodruff. 1820st24; Lewis Wright, 1824-28; Robert Reese, 1828-30; Carter B. Harlan, 1830-34; John Carman, 1834-38; George Fallis, 1838-42; John Carman, 1842-46; Alanson Jones, 1846-50; Jabez Harlan, 1850-54; Andrew Irwin, 1854-58; Samuel C. Kelly, 1858-60; James W. Linton, 1860-62; George F. Moore, 1862.64; James. M. Johnson, 1864-66; Peter A. Stamats, 1866.70; James L. Hackney, 1870-74; Henry B. Crumly, 1874-76; George H. Smith, 1876, died in office; John G. Outcalt. 1878-79; William E. Kenrick, 1879-83; John C. Smith, 1883-87; Samuel 'A. Holaday, 1887-91; Daniel Stout, 1891-95; Thomas South. 1895-99: Robert J. Lacy, 1899-1901; Charles Vandervort, 1901-04; H. A. Williams, 1904- 08; Glenn C. Osborn, 1908-12; Benjamin South, 1912 to the present time. 72 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO CORONERS David McMillan, 1810; Thomas Gaskill, 1814; John Hayes, 1815; John Haws, 1819; George B. Moore, 1825; John Hempstead, 1827; Peter Borden, 1829; Isaac Pidgeon, 1831; William Woodruff, 1835; Levi Gustin, 1837; John G. Outcalt, 1856; C. F. Atkinson, 1859; W. W. Collins, 1860; John G. Outcalt, 1866-78; D. C. Moon, 1878-80; C: J. Ent, 1880-82; John G. Outcalt, 1882-99; D. T. Taylor, 1899-1912; F. A. Peelle, 1912-14; C. E. Kinzel, 1914 to the present time. TREASURERS. Robert Eachus, 1810-17; Joel Woodruff, 1818; James W. McGee, 1819-23; Daniel Radcliff, 1823-30; George D. Haworth, 183046; William Crumley, 1846-52; Albert Hockett, 1856-60; David Sanders, 1860-64; Amos Hockett, 1864-68; Amos Huffman, 1868-72; Salim-son M. Rabb, 1872-76; Thomas J. Garland, 1876-80; Loammi D. Reed, 1380-84; Isaac W. Mathews, 1884-88; L. W. Crane, 1888-92; S. F. Wescoat, 1892-96; Samuel R. Mitchell, 1896-1900; W. H. Rannells, 1900-1904; Stacy A. Mitchell, 1904; T. H. Bryan, 1900-13; Richard C. Green, 1913 to the present time. RECORDERS. Robert Eachus, 1810-16; James Magee, 1816-22; John McManis, 1822-28; Amos T. Sewell, 1828-55; James E. Johnson, February to October, 1855; Joseph Woods, 1855st58; Amos Hockett, 1858 to January, 1859; C. F. Truesdell, 1859-64; C. H. Hogan, January, 1864 to June, 1865; William Crumley, June to August, 1865; Chauncey F. Truesdell, August, 1865, to January, 1866; W. Burris Britton, 1866-72; Michael J. Grady, 1872st78; W. 0. Holloway, 1878-84; E. B. Howland, 1884-93; John West, 1893-1902; William C. Dabe, 1902 to the present time. AUDITORS. John McManis, 1821-26; Bebee Truesdell, 1826-28; John Crihfield, 1828-31; Lawrence Fitzhugh, 1831-37; Bebee Truesdell, 1837-59; William Greer, 1859-69; Asa Jenkins, 1869- 75; Augustus H. Haines, 1875-81; Asa Jenkins, 1881-99; J. M. Fisher, 1899-1913 ; Harry Q. Gaskill, 1913 to the present time. REPRESENTATIVES IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE. Isaiah Morris, 1812; Samuel H. Hale, 1813; Isaiah Morris, 1814; William R. Cole, 1815; James Harris, 1816-21; Samuel H. Hale, 1822-23; Richard Fallis, 1824-25; Benjamin Hinkson, 1826-27; Thomas Hibben, 1828; Benjamin Hinkson, 1829-30; Eli Gaskill, 183132; Benjamin Hinkson, 1833; Carter B. Harlan, 1834-35; Amos T. Davis, 1836; George Collings, of Highland county, 1837; Thomas Patterson, of Highland county, 1838; Amos T. Davis, of Clinton county, 1839; Robert B. Harlan, of Clinton, Gideon Dunham, of Brown Reader W. Clark, of Clermont, 1840; Stephen Evans, of Clinton, Reader W. Clark, of Clermont, Gideon Dunham, of Brown, 1841; David Fisher, Thomas Ross, Moses Reeves, John D. White, 1842; William Roudebush, of Clermont, James F. Sargeant, of Clermont, John D. White, of Clinton, 1843; Robert Dobbins, 1844; Stephen Evans, 1845; Franklin Corwin, 1846; Samuel Crothers, 1847; Alanson Jones, 1848; John F. Patton, 1849; Robert B. Harlan, 1850; Joseph A. Mills, 1851-52; Thomas D. Austin, 1853-54; Addison P. Russell, 1855-56; David P. Quinn, 1857-58; Bebee Truesdell, 1859-60; John Q. Smith, 1861-62; Stephens Evans, 1863-64; Jesse N. Orens, 1865-66; Madison Betts, 1867-68; Thomas Jeffs, 1869-70; Jesse N. Orens, 1870-74; Isaiah W. Quinby, 1875-78; David S. King, 1879-80; Nathan M. Sinton, 1882-84; James M. Terrell, 1884-88; W. C. Hudson, 1888-91; E. D. Harlan, 1891-94; James Spear, 1894-96; W. B. Griffith, 1896-98; R. E. Holaday, 1898-1902, appointed consul at Santiago, Cuba, 1901; A. E. Moon, 1903-1911; D. A. Lamb, 1911-13 (died in office) ; O. T. Thatcher, 1913. STATE SENATORS. Jacob Smith, 1812-13; William Buckles, 1814-15; Jacob Smith, 1816-17 ; William Cole, 1818-21; John Alexander, 1822-23; Samuel H. Hale, 1824-25; James B. Gardner CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO - 73 1826-27; S. H. Hale, 1828-29; William Eilsberry, 1830-33; Joshua Yeo, 1834-35; Jacob Kirby, 1836; Isaiah Morris, 1837-$8; Thomas Patterson, 1839-40; Griffith Foos, 1841; .lames Louden, 1842; William H. Baldwin and James Louden, 1843-44; Burnham Martin, 1845-46; Franklin Corwin, 184748; Aaron Harlan, 1849-50; John Fudge, 1852-53; Isaac S. Wright, 1854-55; Nelson Rush, 1856-57; James T. Winans, 1858-59; John Q. Smith, 1860-61; Mills Gardner, 1862-63; John T. Patton, 1864-65; A. W. Doan, 1866-67; Samuel Yeoman, 1868-69; Moses D. Gatch, 1870-71; John Q. Smith, 1872-73; Samuel N. Yeoman, 1874-75; A. Spangler, 1876-77; Thomas S. Jackson, 1878-79; A. R. Creamer, 1880- 81; Coates Kinney, 1882-84; Jesse N. Oren, 1884-86; Jacob J. Pugsley, 1886-88; Isaac M. Barrett, 1888-90; Jesse N. Oren, 1890-92; Frank G. Carpenter, 1892-93; James M. Hughey, 1894; Charles F. Howard, 1896; Byron Lutz, 1898; Arthur W. Madden and Thomas W. Marchant, 1900-02; Thomas Watt, 1902-04; Carson, 1904-06; F. C. Arbenz, 1906- 09; T. M. Clevenger, 1909-11; Coke L. Poster, 1911-13 M. A. Broadstone, 1913-15; Jesse G. Mallow, 1915. COMMISSIONERS. April, 1810-James Wilson (appointed to fill vacancy of George MaTanis, resigned), James Birdsall, Henry Babb; December 3, 1810, Joseph Doan, Henry Babb, James Mill; December 2, 1811, Joseph Doan, Henry Babb, Mahlon Haworth; November 30, 1812-15, Joseph Doan, Mahlon Haworth, Timothy Bennet; November, 1815, Mahlon Haworth, Joseph Doan, James Birdsall; November, 1816, Samuel Ruble, Joseph Doan, Mahlon Haworth; November, 1817, Samuel Ruble, Joseph Doan, Richard Fallis; December, 1818, Joseph Doan, Richard Fallis, William Hibben; June, 1820, Richard Fallis, William Hibben, Joseph Roberds; December, 1820, William Hibben, Joseph Roberds, Mahlon Haworth; December, 1821, Mahlon Haworth, Joseph Roberds, Eli Gaskill; December, 1822, Mahlon Haworth. Eli Gaskill, Elijah Lieurance; November, 1823-24, Eli Gaskill, Elijah Lieurance, J. A. Haynes; 1825, William Stockdale, Elijah Lieurance, Eli Gaskill; 1826, Eli Ga skill, William Stockdale, William Hadley; 1828, William Hadley, William Stockdale, Joseph Roberds; 1829, William Stockdale, Joseph Roberds, John Lewis; 1830, Joseph Roberds, John Lewis, James Sherman; 1831, Peter P. Knickerbocker, James Sherman, David F. Walker; March, 1834, James Sherman, David F. Walker, John B. Posey; December, 1834-35, Asahel Tribbey, James Sherman, John B. Posey; 1837, John B. Posey, James Sherman, William Walker; 1838, John B. Posey, Ezekiel Haworth, William Walker; 1839, David F. Walker, Ezekiel Haworth, William Walker; 1840-42, Ezekiel Haworth, David F. Walker, Jesse Doan; 1843, Ezekiel Haworth, Jesse Doan, James Dakin; 1845, Ezekiel Haworth, Jesse Doan, Azel Walker; 1847, Joseph Hoskins, Jesse Doan, Azel Walker; 1849, Enos L. Lacy, Joseph Hoskins, Azel Walker; 1850, Azel Walker, Enos L. Lacy, George Dunn; 1852, Elias Roberds, George Dunn, Azel Walker; 1853, Elias Roberds, Joseph Hoskins, Azel Walker; 1854, Joseph Hoskins, Joseph R. Moon, Elias Roberds; 1855, Joseph Kelsey, Joseph R. Moon, Joseph Hoskins; 1856, Joseph R. Moon, Joseph, Kelsey, Jeptha Peril; 1858, Jeptha Peril, Paul H. Vandervort, Jonathan Bailey; 1860, Paul H. Vandervort, Jonathan Bailey, Thomas Geffs; 1861, P. H. Vandervort, Thomas Geffs, Archibald Haynes; 1862-63, Aaron R. Sewell, Archibald Haynes, P. H. Vandervort ; 1865, William B. Andrews, Archibald Haynes, P. H. Vandervort; 1866, William B. Andrews, Archibald Haynes, Cyrus Linton; 1867, William B. Andrews, Cyrus Linton, Lewis Hockett; 1868, Cyrus Linton, Lewis Hockett, Thompson Douglas; 1869, Thompson, Douglas, Paul H. Vendervort, George D. Haworth, Jr.; 1870, George D. Haworth, Jr., Thompson Douglas, Paul H. Vandervort; 1871-72, Samuel Lemar, Frank M. Moore, Paul II. Vandervort; 1873-74, Samuel Lemar, Carey Clark, Frank M. Moore; 1875-76, Carey Clark, Josiah M. Townsend, Samuel Lemar; 1877-78, Alfred McKay, Carey Clark, Josiah M. Townsend; 1879, John R. Moon, Alfred McKay, Carey Clark; 1880-82, Joseph W. Slack, Carey Clark, John R. Moon; 1883, John R. Moon, Alfred McKay, D. M. Collett; 74 - CLINTON COUNTY, OHIO. 1884, Carey Clark, D. M. Collett, Jonas Watkins; 1885, D. M. Collett, Jonas Watkins. Edward Cline; 1886, Jonas Watkins, Edward Cline, D. M. Collett; 1887, Edward Cline, D. M. Collett, Jonas Watkins; 1888, D. M. Collett, Jonas Watkins, Edward Cline; 1889, Jonas Watkins, Edward Cline, D. M. Collett; 1890, Edward Cline, D. M. Collett, Robert. Skimming; 1891, D. M. Collett, Robert Skimming, C. E. Custis; 1892, Robert Skimming, C. E. Custis, D. W. Hogan; 1893, C. E. Custis, D. W. Hogan, Robert Skimming; 1894, D. W. Hogan, Robert Skimming, C. E. Custis; 1895, Robert Skimming. C. E. Custis, D. W., Hogan; 1896, C. E. Custis, D. W. Hogan, Robert Skimming; 1897, D. W. Hogan, C. E. Custis, John D. White; 1898, D. W. Hogan, J. D. White, William Miller; 1899, John D. White, William Miller, William Hale; 1900, William Miller, William Hale, John D. White; 1901, John D. White, William Hale, William Miller; 1902, William Miller, William Hale, 0. J. Towsend; 1903, William Hale, 0. J. Towsend, Milner Vanpelt; 1904, 0. J. Townsend, Milner Vanpelt, J. W. Vandervort; 1905, Milner Vanpelt, 0. J. Townsend, J. W. Vandervort; 1906, J. W. Vandervort, 0. J. Townsend, Milner Vanpelt; 1907, 0. J. Townsend, Milner Vanpelt, J. W. Vandervort; 1908, Milner Vanpelt, 0. J. Townsend, J. W. Vandervort; 1900, E. H. Urton, John P. Langdon, Harry McKay; 1910, J. P. Lang-don, E. H. Urton, Harry McKay; 1911, Harry McKay, J. P. Langdon, E. H. Urton; 1912, E. H. Urton, J. P. Langdon, Harry McKay; 1913, Charles Skimming, Job Clark, Zene G, Hadley; 1914, Job Clark, Charles Skimming, Zene G. Hadley; 1915, Zene G. Hadley, Job Clark, Charles Skimming. DISTRICT ASSESSOR. Until the fall of 1913 the auditors of each county in Ohio were at the head of the taxing board of their respective counties. It was thought by many people that there should be created a new office in each county to have charge of this work, and so insistent became the demand that a law was passed by the General Assembly of Ohio at the 1913 session providing for a district assessor. This law, known as Warne's law, was approved by the governor on May 6, 1913, and by its provisions a district assessor for each county was to be appointed by the tax commission of Ohio. This official, in turn, was to select his own deputies from a list of applicants who were to be required to pass a civil service examination. It is probably true that the method of selecting the district assessor and his deputies led to the wide condemnation of the law by the ordinary citizen. He felt that his rights and privileges were being trampled upon and that he should be allowed to vote directly for the men who were to assess his property. Whatever the merits may be of the Warne act, such stout opposition developed to it that the General Assembly of 1915 repealed it and by the Parrot-Whitemore act (approved May 8, 1915) abolished the newly-created office of district assessor and placed the duties of the office back in the hands of the county auditor. The Republicans say that the passage of the Warne act was a political scheme to build up a machine for Governor Cox; the Democrats upheld it ostensibly for economic reasons, and the average citizen execrated it because it took away his privilege of voting for a few petty officers. Be that as it may, the old order of affairs will be restored on January 1, 1916, and the state will revert to the former haphazard. method of assessing. The first district assessor of Clinton county was M. D. Barns, who was appointed in October, 1913, and held until his successor, J. B. Clarke, the present incumbent, was appointed and took the office on April 1, 1915. The office pays a yearly salary of fifteen hundred dollars; the deputy assessors receive four dollars a day, their work In Clinton taking them from thirty to fifty days, with an average of about forty days. Clinton county has twelve sub-assessment districts, with fourteen deputy assessors. Two districts (Nos. 3. and 4) have two townships each. District No. 3 comprises Liberty and Wilson townships, and No. 4 contains Adams and Chester. Wilmington has one assessor; Green township has two.