100 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. whom John was the youngest save one. In 1797 the family removed to this state, which was then but a part of the "Northwestern territory," and in a wilderness condition, inhabited or rather occupied by the "red men of the forest." They made a halt in Mason county for about four years, where they rented some land and lived as most "backwoodsmen" lived in all new countries in a primitive way, with wants few and easily supplied. There were the carcasses of wild animals, many varieties of which abounded in every part of the great Northwest. The bread was made from corn meal, which was ground in little hand mills, somewhat like those in eastern countries, as in Bible times "upper and lower mill stones," the upper being turned by a pin of wood or iron inserted in the top, and near the outer rim or edge, for the hand of the operator to take hold of while the other hand supplied it with corn. It was sifted through a primitive screen, made of untanned deerskin, with holes made with the tines of a common table. fork, which had been made red hot for the purpose. This process of burning the skins, through which the heated fork tines passed, prevented it from resuming its original shape again, and the seared and crisp material served the purpose for which it was designed for long periods, and was certainly a good 'substitute for the wire sieve of to-day, though the process,, like the grinding, as above described, was decidedly slow and tedious, compared with the method of doing the same work in our old settled country. At the end of the four , yeas the family made another journey toward their present home, and halted at a point near Cincinnati, called Columbia, at that day. Here they stayed more than two years. In coming from Shenandoah they stayed one entire winter in a rude camp which they hastily constructed for the purpose at the mouth of the Little Kanawha river, and where they had expected to embark on a flat boat for their coveted western home, with their two horses and two cows and household goods and provisions, but with no wagon or other vehicle to facilitate land transportation. The boat did not come as anticipated, and they had no recourse but to make "virtue a necessity," and winter where they were, in their rude cabin, three miles from any white inhabitants and under the necessity of winter-- ing their animals on browse, which they cut for the purpose in the surrounding forests, together with a little corn which they secured from the nearest settlement. They had no meat on their table with the exception of a large fat bear, which one of the larger boys had killed, with now and then a wild turkey. Their bread during the long winter was made from corn that was pounded in the hole of a large stump, hollowed out for the purpose with fire, a spring pole pestle being used for the purpose of mashing it. The next spring they embarked on a flat boat, according to their original plan, and finally landed on the shore of the Miami river near Cincinnati. At this place, three miles from Cincinnati, they occupied a farm which was owned by a Mr. Isaac VanNess. The house was back from the river, on the "second bottom," though some of the improved ground was on the "lower bottom," nearer the river. They were yet on this farm of Mr. VanNess when the great flood of 1803 occurred and where their cows got surrounded with a wide waste of whirling waters, While they had a little more than sufficient standing room on a little patch or ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 101 knoll, just enough to keep them from being swept away by the seething flood. At one time, during the progress of the flood, our subject, with another brother, came near being drowned by the upsetting of their narrow, shapeless log of a canoe, with which they were striving to convey some food to their imprisoned animals, an eddy in the seething flow brought them into collision with a log which was being whirled along at a rapid rate and which upset them; however, he managed to grasp a branch of an elm tree and to climb among its branches, where he rested until his brother got safe to land, and returned with another raft of the same kind, and which had been dug out just the day before, as if to be providentially ready for the occasion. There were no levees to confine the accumulated waters of the spring freshet within. the legitimate banks of the river and, of course, they spread themselves out into the forest on either side of the stream proper until the Miami valley was like. a vast lake, or an inland sea, or like the great father of waters in width and volume. They came here in the valley of Mad river in 1803, and settled upon the eighty acres of land upon which our subject resided until his death, midway between the village of Osborn and Fairfield. The land had been pre-empted by John Hunt, as were most of the government lands in that immediate locality by different individuals. They paid Mr. Hunt two shillings per acre for his pre-emption rights and then paid the government agent two dollars per acre, with five years payments. But the land was in a state of nature, covered by a thick growth of plum and hazel bushes. Fairfield had but a single hut at that time, and there were but few inhabitants anywhere in the vicinity. Their household goods were unloaded in the woods, where they had no shelter but the canopy of the heavens, until they could hastily construct a tent like structure of their bedclothes on short sticks set in the ground. After they had made their first payment on their land they found themselves destitute of available means, and. of course, depended upon their good constitutions, their acquired skill in battling with the hardships and privations of pioneer life, and,' of course, on the blessing of God. They had all of their provisions to procure by their labor in work-ing for others who needed their services. Wages were low, and prices of provisions were correspondingly low. The price of a day's work with sickle in harvest was only four shillings, yet there was an active demand for it ; all of the grain of the country had to be cut with the sickle for several years, and until the grain cradle was in-vented and brought gradually into use. They got their grain, corn and wheat ground sometimes at McCormack's mill on Mad river, nearby on the "chopping mill' of the late John Knisley, sometimes at Mr. Steel's mill at` Midway, near the site of Mr. Felix Wise's present woolen factory, and sometimes at Mr. Davis' mill near Clifton. The flour wherever made was bolted by turning the machinery by hand. This was usually done by the owner of the "grist" so as to accelerate the process of making the wheat into flour and bran. This vicinity to Tatman's prairie near Fairfield enabled them to share with others in cutting the grass of that prairie for their cows and horses in the first winter. Mr. John Hosier was married, in 1819, to Miss Mary Haddix, sister of John Had- 102 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. dix, of 'Osborn. She was the mother of thirteen children. Mr. Hosier was converted to the service of God in 1840 and connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. His opportunities for attending religious meetings had been few and far between. The first meeting that he attended was at "Read's Hill," east of Fairfield village. He lived to see many changes, and was one of the most useful men that lived in his day and generation. He was not the man to make himself too conspicuous in the neigh-borhood where he lived, unless it was that he was known for his modesty and moral worth, for his honesty and integrity could not be called in question; he would be known as a good man, good citizen and a good Christian, and such he was in the judgment of charity. He had lived to see our coun-try pass through conflicts with foreign powers successfully, and then the great re-bellion which threatened the life of the nation. He lived to see peace restored to our country. When his time came he was ready to go. JAMES MC PHERSON'S APPLICATION TO KEEP TAVERN IN MAD RIVER TOWNSHIP. "To the Worshipful Court of Greene coun-ty, humbly showeth : "That whereas your petitioner hath been solicited from time to time by travelers from remote distances as well as adjacent, that hath been and now continue to explore the flourishing and fertile lands of Mad river, to ask license from the Honorable Bench to. keep a public house of entertainment. That for want of such a place of convening for a recourse for shelter hath often sufficed in their recognizing in the said tour through this extensive country, and being yet almost unsettled for many miles from my dwelling. And beside all this he farther adds that without said lawful indulgence to obtain said license, must sustain great loss ; for at times am much crowded with sojourners to the dissatisfaction of private life, with no man near of profit; but an entire fatigue. His habitation being north from Springfield twenty miles, from Chillicothe sixty miles, Ottawa Town forty miles northwest, from Mr. Isaac Zane's ten miles. west. Your petitioner hopes to obtain and of your clemency the said license, and as in duty bound will ever pray. Signed by "JAMES MCPHERSON. "May 20, 1804." The petition was also signed by Simon Kenton, Peter Oliver, :Thomas Davis, Joseph Sutton, John Fisher, J. T. Galloway-, Lewis Davis, Lewis Sutton, George M. Smith, 'William Moore. The author of this remarkable petition, James McPherson, or Squa-la-ka-ke, "the red-faced man," was a native of Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was taken prisoner on the Ohio at or near the mouth of the Big Miami at the time of Loughry's defeat, and was for many years engaged in the British Indian department, under Elliott & McKey. Married a fellow prisoner, came into our service after Wayne's treaty-, 1795, and continued in charge of the Shawnees and Senecas of Lewistown until his removal from office in 1830, since which he has died. His nearest neighbor at this time was Isaac Zane, living ten miles east. Our own grand old pioneer, Major James Galloway, was up in that part of the state in the year 1800, and there can be no doubt but that he was intimately acquainted with ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 103 McPherson, Zane and others of the pioneers of that section of the country. Years afterward he gave from memory his recollections of that part of what is now Logan county, and which had been from 1803 until 1805 a part of Mad River township, Greene county, previous to the organization of Champaign county at that date, thus circumscribing Greene in its northern limits. And again in the fall of 1817 we gave to Clark county a part of our northern territory, yet we have historically the satisfaction of knowing that all of their early inhabitants or pioneers were first ours. And when Logan and Champaign counties point with pardonable pride to the home and place where the body of Simon Kenton was laid to rest "after life's long and fitful sleep," we can open our little poll books and the enumeration of the pioneers of Mad River township in Greene county from 1803 to 1805 and see the name of the aforesaid Simon, and we listen as he is being interviewed by John Daugherty, "lister" of Mad River township for the year 1803, and we hear him say in answer to the questions that are asked him : "This mill here on Mad river is worth, I suppose, one hundred and fifty dollars." Any cattle? "Yes, I have three horses and twenty-two cattle." At the first election held in said township, June 21, 1803, at the house of Griffith Foose, town of Springfield, John Daugherty and Robert Loughry, clerks, and James Woods, Thomas Redman and John Clark, judges. At this election appears the name, among others selected for the different offices, Simon Kenton, who was chosen to act as overseer of the poor. The subject of this sketch, James McPherson, was present and cast his ballot and helped to organize. The compiler of this sketch has the original petition of James McPherson framed and ready to return to the new court house among a number of papers of historical interest. Among the signers of this petition is the autograph of Simon Kenton. MAJOR THOMAS CARNEAL. Major Thomas D. Carneal, founder of Caesarsville, Greene county, Ohio, and one of the earliest settlers of Cincinnati, but of late years a resident of Frankfort, Kentucky, died at the residence of Nicholas Longworth in Cincinnati, November 3, 1860, aged seventy-six years. In the early days of Ohio he was an extensive speculator in wild lands, and located many warrants in the Virginia military district. A few years since he set up a claim to sundry tracts of land on Caesar's creek in this county, but never pursued the matter to adjudication. Like all others who invested in lands in the Ohio valley at an early date, he realized a fortune. He was the founder of the town of Caesarsville, which place was located four miles southeast of the present city of Xenia, on the farm where now (1899) resides our old friend, Pad Peterson. And strong hopes were entertained that it would become the permanent county seat of Greene county. Buildings were erected for that purpose and a house that was to be used as a "court house," and east of this building was the public well (that can be seen to-day, 1899), covered with a large flat stone, located in the barn lot of Mr. Peterson. And scattered here and there were some twenty-five or thirty cabins, which at that early date ( 1800) was to be the county seat of Greene county. At the organization of Greene 104 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. county into townships, May t0, 1803, by order of court this was to be the voting place of Caesarscreek township, and was until the organization of Xenia township, August 20, 1805. William J. Stewart was acting as justice of the peace, a very important office at that day, as the tally sheets of elections will show more votes were cast for the candidates for that office than in the fall for governor of the state. Mr. Stewart seems to have been active in trying to help settle or to legalize methods that would have a tendency to build up and create a population, as the following record will show. Married at Caesarsville at the house of William J. Stewart and by him, November 8, 1803, Mr. Samuel Bone to Miss Aletha Beason ; by the same, May T0, 1803, Mr. Samuel Ruth to Miss Jane Wilson ; again by the same, under date of July 12, 1804, Mr. John Price to Miss Hannah Davis ; and again, April 19, 1804, Mr. Reuben Strong tc Miss Anna Wilson. JOSHUA BELL. He was a native of Harford county, Maryland, but was raised in Baltimore county. He came to Caesarsville in April, 1807, and had not been in the village but a short time until we find in the records the following notice : "Married June 23, 1807, Mt. Joshua Bell to Miss Mary Bales by the Rev. Bennett Maxey. She was a sister of John Bales, and we find from the records that Mr. Bell was keeping tavern in the same house that had been erected for a court house and continued to do so until the year 1829, when he removed from Greene county first to Indiana, then to Henry county, Iowa, in 1841, where he continued to live until July 1, 1856, when notice is sent back to his old home that at the above date he had died at the age of eighy-six years. Numerous receipts and papers in the old records will show that he was acting as agent for Mayor Carneal in collecting interest and other money that were due Mr. Carneal for lands sold to the early settlers, but who never was a resident of the county, but was largely interested in what was termed wild lands. SAMUEL PETERSON. In the spring of 1815 Samuel Peterson came from Virginia to this county for the purpose of assisting his brother-in-law, Joseph Bootes, on his farm. In company with a Mr. Hegler, he made the long journey on horseback, remaining all summer, then with a few friends returned to. Virginia by the same mode of conveyance.. In the fall following his father came to this county with his family of five sons and two daughters and located on a tract of five hundred acres on Caesar's creek, south of Xenia, which he had previously purchased. Soon after his arrival one of his daughters was -married to Jonathan Ketterman, who had formerly lived in this county. When he started back to Virginia with his bride on horseback, his father-in-law sent Samuel to Chillicothe with them to buy the bride a new saddle, which was presented to her as a bridal gift. The father and his five sons, Samuel, Joel, Moses, Jacob and Felix, immediately began a vigorous assault upon the dense forest that surrounded them, the effect of which was soon visible in the sweeping crash of the mighty oak, the burning heap and the crackling brush. When a few acres were ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 105 thus cleared they were planted in corn, for which not finding a ready market in the ear they tramped it out on the puncheon floor, took it to a distillery, had it made into whisky, took the whisky to an iron-furnace, traded it for iron, which they sold, and thus realized a good price for their whisky. Samuel was a powerful man, and on one occasion lifted a trip hammer weighing seven hundred pounds. He cut the timber and made four hundred and fifty rails in one day. When about twenty-one he and Samuel Hegler, Colonel Mallow and Peter Price, all young men, each took a four-horse load of flour from Oldtown mills to Cincinnati for William Beall. Starting early in the morning with ten barrels each, they succeeded, by doubling teams at every hill, in getting as far the first day as the present locality of Spring valley. Camping out all night, they next day they drove within a mile of Waynesville, when Beall hired another team, which enabled them to travel more speedily. Reaching Cincinnati, they were paid one dollar per barrel for hauling, and started for home, making the round trip in eleven days. Beall, not being able to dispose of his flour in Cincinnati, shipped it to New Orleans and walked back. February 22, 1821, Samuel Peterson was married to Miss Hannah Heaton, who had come to this county a few years previous. He lived with his parents for some time, then moved to a tract of one hundred acres given him by his father, upon which he had previously built a hewed-log house, considered in those days one of the most imposing structures in the country. Being entirely alone, the labor of clearing out the forest proceeded very slowly until 1825, when he leased the premises and moved to Xenia, where lie engaged in the wagon-maker's trade. The first year he lived in a log house on Main street, near where the old pottery stood ; the second in a house near the northeast corner of Second and 'Whiteman streets. The man to whom he had rented proving worthless, he returned to the farm in 1827, where he remained until 1849, in the meantime bringing it under a high state of cultivation, when, leaving it in charge of his. son; he returned to Xenia. Bringing a span of good horses and a wagon with him, he followed teaming until 1865, when, having sold his farm to Jonas Peterson and bought another of a Mr. Tressler, five miles southeast of Xenia, lie removed to it the same year. At this place his wife died suddenly of heart disease, April 22, 1872, aged seventy-one. After this Mr. Peterson spent the balance of his days with his son-in-law, William Rader, in Xenia. He died June 12, 1882, aged eighty-six, and was buried in Woodland cemetery. GEORGE MALLOW, SR., Was granted a pension for services as a soldier in the war of the Revolution at the rate of ninety-two dollars and twenty-two cents per year. His first rank was as a private soldier, and he was afterward promoted to the office of ensign or second lieutenant. He was allowed his pension under the act of June 7, 1832. Date of his pension certificate was April 2, 1833. Lewis Cass was at that time secretary of war. He was a native of Virginia, but had been a resident of Greene county sixteen years at the time he received his pension. His place of residence was Caesarscreek township. He died April 17, 1837, and was buried in what is 106 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. now called the Boot's graveyard. Mr. Mallow had purchased two hundred and seventy-five acres more or less, which was a part of military survey No. 2383, situated at the mouth, north fork, of Caesar's creek. George Mallow, Sr., was of German origin, but from what part of the fatherland he came I know not. He had three sons who came with him from Rockingham county, Virginia, namely, George, John and Peter. His oldest son, Colonel George Mallow was a military nian manmade for himself quite a name in the war of 1812 and afterward. In the breaking out of the war of 1812 he volunteered his services in defense of his country, and during the summer of that year marched to Williamsburg fifty-eight miles from Richmond, Virginia, and from thence to Hampton, near the bay, both towns of historic interest, where he remained in the service for a term of six months. After peace was declared between the two countries he, with his parents, removed to Ohio, and for some forty years resided in this county. Prior to his settling in Greene county he had settled in Warren county, near Springboro, and removed to Greene county in 1817. He was emphatically a military man. During his residence in this county he successively held commissions from the gov-ernor of the state in the peace establish-ment of the state, as first lieutenant and cap-tain of the Volunteer Rifle Companies, and colonel of militia. It was in the latter he acquired the title of colonel. His kind, social ways made for him many friends. As a citizen and a neighbor he was well respected. His numerous friends and acquaintances heard with regret of his sudden departure. On Friday, April 19, 1861, the whole community was shocked by the information that Colonel Mallow, of New Jasper township, had died very suddenly. During the day of his death he had been on horseback several places in the neighborhood, seemingly in as good health as usual. At five o'clock supper, as usual eating heartily. After supper he went to the corn crib to feed some hogs. About an hour afterward he was found prostrate on the ground the yard, and was dead when found. Everything about him showed that he had been stricken down suddenly with disease of the heart. For some time previous he had shown synipsymptomshis disease, and had to somg extent endeavored to fortify his. system against it. He has left many honored descendants in this county. Both of these grand old heroes, George Mallow, and George Mallow, Jr., are laid to rest a little way south of what is known to-day as the Boots and Bickett stone quarry, near New Jasper. STEPHEN SCOTT, OFF CAEARSCREEK TOWNSHIP. In January, 1879, an enterprising reporter of the "Xenia Torchlight," interviewed Mr. Scott. He was at that time supposed to have been the oldest man living in Greene county, and the result of that interview is worth reading as recorded. He was. at that time in his ninety-fourth year, in good health, though totally blind, while his. mental faculties seemed unabated. He was born in Bedford county, Virginia, June 5, 1785. He left VirgiVirginia a age of eight years, spent the next twelve years with his parents in Kentucky, from which place he emigrated to Greene county, Ohio, locating on the Little Miami river near what used to be known as the Tresslar mill. His first ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 107 visit to Xenia was on the 8th of January, 1815, the day of the battle of New Orleans. It is scracely necessary to say that Mr. Scott did not hang around the telegraph office to observe the progress of the battle as from time to time it was announced on the bulletin boards ; in fact, it was six weeks before the results of that battle were known to the people of Greene county. Mr. Scott said that Xenia then had but three brick houses, a number of cabins and log houses and one tavern. The tavern was kept by one Connelly, and was the scene of many a fight just for the fun of it. He spoke of one to which he was an eye witness, which he called a drawn battle, in which a Captain Steele and a man by the name of Tucker were the principals. Both had imbibed rather freely at the tavern bar, and very naturally got into a quarrel, ending in a fight, in which Steele brushed up Tucker badly. Returning to the bar to drink and be friends, Tucker said he guessed it had not been fairly done and would like to try it over. They did, and the result was that Steele was as badly whipped as was Tucker in the first round ; and all of this for the fun of it. Don't say that we have not advanced in morals since that day. Mr. Scott was a good man in his day and generation. He was a member of the Caesarscreek Baptist church away back in the year 1820. He continued to live some four years longer from the time he was interviewed, and died in February, 1884, aged ninety-nine years, and is buried near the Maple Corner churchyard in Caesarscreek township. PEN PICTURE DRAWN IN 1852 OF HON. JOHN FUDGE, Who at that time represented the counties of Clinton, Fayette and Greene in the senate of Ohio. He is a Whig, of course, coming from that district. He is physically the largest man in the senate, weighing two hundred and forty pounds. His age is sixty-five, has been thirce married, and is by profession a farmer. He resides a few miles east of Xenia. He is a native of Botetourt county, Virginia, but has been a citizen of Ohio most of his life. He is the son of Christian Fudge, also from Virginia. He is a robust, hale man, with black hair, carrying his age well, looking young and not yet gray. His complexion is dark and his temperament bilious. In manners he is courteous and agreeable. Indeed he is remarkable for plain old-fashioned bon home. You will always see him in his place in a good humor, and ready to cast a vote intelligently and conscientiously. He has filled a seat in the legislature several times, and has seen sterling days in that service. As a senator he is something of a model, attending well to what is to be done, and taking no part or interest in the useless flourish of legislation. A senate and house of such men would do matters up in a reasonable time, bore nobody with their fancies, vote themselves fair wages, and go home and meet their constituents with a good face. As a candidate for office he comes up to the Jeffersonian ideal, honest, capable and faithful. He loves fun, but will not indulge in it at the expense of propriety. You would like him at first meeting and shake hands with him warmly at parting. DANIEL HAVERSTICK, SR. Died on the morning of April 10, 1858, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was buried in Woodland cemetery. He was a 108 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Fifty years since he was married to Catherine Newman. The number Of their children was sixteen, while his grandchildren at the time of his death were sixty-four in number. ROBERT T. MARSHALL. The death of Robert T. Marshall occurred at his residence in Urbana, Champaign county, Ohio, on the 25th day of October, 1875, at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. Marshall was the first male born in what is now the corporation of Xenia, Ohio, on the 4th of September, 1804. Here he spent his childhood and continued in the county living on the waters of Massies creek until the last ten years of his life. He united with the Massies Creek church ,under the pastorate of Rev. James P. Smart. In the spring of 1865 he removed to Champaign county in the vicinity of Urbana, where he continued to live until his death in 1875. He was united in marriage to Elinor Weir, who still (1876) remains to mourn his loss. He was the son of John Marshall, who was one of the first settlers in what now the. city of Xenia, and built the first cabin home on lot No. 193, which is situated on the corner of Third and West streets. This cabin was raised April 27, 1804. He also owned the next lot east, No. 194. The lots when Mr. Marshall purchased them faced on Third street and extended south to the north branch of Shawnee creek. In the rear of the present residence of Mr. Rudolph. Hustmire was the cabin of Mr. John Marshall, where our subject was born. An old pioneer says that he has stood in Mr. Marshall's back yard and shot wild turkeys at the foot of the hill near the creek. A BEAR STORY THAT HAS THE VIRTUE OF BEING TRUE. A short time after Mr. John Marshall, Robert's father, had purchased his two lots, one day while engaged in clearing up a space upon which to erect his cabin and also ground enough for a garden, he was fortunate enough to capture a "cub" bear, at that time no larger than an ordinary cat, and as neighbors were scarce here was company for John, which he from that time adopted into his family, and it grew up under his care and became the pet of him and his wife. It is said that after it had grown to full size it became as docile as do our common domestic pets, the dog and cat, and would at times follow John to his work while engaged in clearing his land, and would at other times stretch himself near the fire in the cabin and sleep the sleep, if not of the just, of the bear. But there came a time after "Little Robbie" had made his advent into the cabin that John and his good wife came near losing faith in their efforts to tame the bear, and they had good reason to think that their pet, which was now full grown, had assumed and asserted its savage nature, and had destroyed or carried off little Robbie. The mother, in the morning spoken of, had tucked little Robbie up carefully in the cradle, and had put him to sleep. She went to the door, and seeing her young husband near engaged in planting the spring garden, and we must not blame her, if on this beautiful spring morning she was tempted by the beauty of the day and a desire to help her husband, and added to that also the ROBINSON'S 'HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 109 songs of the birds, to step outside and leave the babe in care of their pet, and join her husband in his labor in the garden. Before deciding she turned around, gave one glance at her sleeping babe, and bear, and joined John at his work. Becoming interested in her work, she forgot for the time little Robbie, and she toiled away with her hoe and time passed rapidly. All at once the mother's thoughts returned to her child that she had left sleeping. She quickly stands her hoe up against a tree and away to her little one. She enters the cabin, her eyes rest first on the cradle, as she sees the covers that she had so carefully tucked around the sleeping child now scattered in wild confusion over the floor. The cradle was empty, little Robert was gone, as' was also the bear. For a moment she looked wildly around the room. Her eye is quick to take in the situation; she goes to the door and calls to John, "Oh, John, Robbie is gone, and the bear is gone." John drops his spade and rushes to the cabin, gives one glance at the empty cradle and the disordered state of the cabin, reaches up and quickly takes from over the door his trusty rifle, and followed by his wife they start on the hunt of the bear up Shawnee creek, back of, what is now known as the U. P. Theological Seminary, then covered with a dense growth of forest trees and under growth, and back toward their cabin home. John continues the search, while the good wife enters the cabin with the hope that she may find her lost one there. She stoops down and looks under the bed, and sees something away back under the corner of the bed; she creeps under and there was the bear with little Robert hugged closely to its breast, and 'both bear and little Robert sleeping. She gives the bear a cuff on the side of the head ; it opened its mouth and yawned, stretched out its fore feet releasing the baby, which she soon had in her arms. The baby was not any the worse of the kind care of the faithful pet. Two sons of "Little Robbie" are yet (1900) living in Xenia, William Marshall, janitor of the West Market Street school house, and his brother James. GENERAL C. L. MERRICK. Casper L. Merrick, one of the pioneer merchants of Xenia, died at his residence at Xenia, Ohio, March 12, 1882, peacefully, and at the ripe age of eighty-one years. Mr. Merrick first came to Xenia in 1824, when the town was young. He landed in Cincinnati with his father, Roswell Merrick and family, from Massachusetts, in 1820, and associated with his father he started the first horse ferry boat, it is said, over the Mississippi river at Cairo. He returned to Cincinnati and remained for about three years, engaged in the mercantile business. He was married, in that city, April 28, 1822. Thence he went to Lebanon, but did not stay long at that place. In 1824, as has been said, he removed to Xenia with his wife and child, and engaged in the dry goods business in partnership with his brother-in-law, L. P. Frazier. In 1828 he took charge of the Hamell tavern, which stood where Allison & Townsley's store used to be on Main street. In 1832 he removed to the old Hivling House. In 1836 lie opened the Ewing House, then Merrick's Hotel, now (1900) the Grand Hotel. In 1847 he engaged again in the dry goods trade, in which he remained for nearly a third of a century. A week before he died he was on 110 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. the street in apparent health, but the next day, Thursday, he was stricken with paralysis and scarcely spoke afterward. Yet for two days after the stroke he recognized his friends and children with a pressure of the hand. His death was apparently painless and without a struggle. He had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1848. His military title, "General," he acquired in the service of the state militia. MERRICK'S HOTEL - 1836. That was the name of it. In the good -old days of stage coaches Merrick's Hotel was a prominent institution. It was there we gathered the news that we could not do without till the issue of the weekly papers. Merrick's Hotel regulated the price of corn, oats and hay; it was there the stage stopped. How well the writer remembers the self same team of four gray eagles bounding into town, and up Main street; the diiver's horn, having suggested that food and rest were waiting for them at Merrick's Hotel. Well do we remember with what pardon-able pride of the Jehu of that day bringing his four-in-hand to a stand still at the hotel. When two stages came loaded with passen-gers it was inferred that a convention was to be held at Columbus, or that an epidemic had broken out in Cincinnati. If bricks could talk, these in the walls of the Ewing House building might describe lively old times, and detail interesting incidents occurring in what was, in the good of days, the pride of Xenia, Merrick's Hotel. Many of the pioneers will testify that in those days Merrick's was the most popular "hotel in the state, being the favorite of the traveling public, as it was the pride of pro-prietor and his. fellow citizens of Xenia. XENIA IN 1811, REMEMBERED BY SAMUEL WRIGHT. Mr. Wright says they had been fifty-seven days on the way from their old Virginia home in Brunswick county to Xenia, Ohio. Of Xenia, at the time he remembered it as they passed through it to the place where they settled two miles out on the Wilmington pike, he says it was a little stumpy, struggling village. The first house in it was built by one John Marshall on the southwest corner lot of the then corporation of Xenia, lot No. 193. It was raised on the 27th day of April, 1804. On Main street there was at that time twenty-three structures; two of those were brick, four of frame, the balance hewed-log houses and four log shops. ON DETROIT STREET There were two log currying shops, seven one-story log houses, only two of them having shingle roofs and brick chimneys and two frame houses two stories high. It was in 1856 that Mr. Wright was relating this, he being then ninety years old, and he said that only two houses then remained on Detroit street. One stood on the present site of the mill south of the upper depot then belonging to Jonathan Wallace, the other stood on the corner of Second and Detroit streets, where Mrs. Frank McClure now lives ( 1900). That house is yet standing on West Main street, the first house. east of John Lutz's blacksmith shop.. It was bought by Major John Heaton and moved to that. place. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 111 MAIN STREET. On Main street was the Gowdy two-story frame house, afterward used as a tin shop by James Nigh. In front of this building was the only brick pavement in the place. The streets had no gravel on them, were level from side to side, without gutters to carry away the water, and in rainy weather were a mass of mud, deep at that, from one side to the other. There were two ponds of water on Main street, one opposite, or near where Charley Trader's grocery now (1900) is, and the other and larger one op-posite the present residence of Dr. Clark M. Galloway, which extended north and west. REMEMBRANCE WILLIAMS. Remembrance Williams erected the first cabin that was erected near what is now the city of Xenia. He emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky in 1790, thence to what is now Greene county', in 1800, cross-ing the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking. He entered a section of land where now is located the "Roberts' Villa," and north of that he erected his cabin and continued to live there until 1814, when he sold the largest part of that land to David Connelly and removed to near Madison, Indiana. He gave to his son, John Williams, a portion of the farm on the east side of said section. That cabin was built three years almost before Xenia was laid out, and he and his family were alone in what is now called. Xenia. JOHN MARSHALL. John Marshall had the honor of building the first cabin inside of the corporate limits of Xenia. He purchased lots No. 193-194 and the 27th day of April, 1804, his cabin was raised on what is known on the town plat as lot No. 193. Two grandsons of the old pioneer are living in Xenia at this time (1900), William and James Marshall, their father, Robert T., was born in that cabin on the 4th day of September, 1804. He was the first white child born in the town. WILLIAM A. BEATTY. William A. Beatty, who had come from Georgetown, Kentucky, some time previous to 1803, was the first to keep a tavern in Xenia. He was next to follow in the line of improvements, and yet it was a matter of doubt which house would be completed first, his or the one that was being built at the same time for the Rev. James Towler, both of which were two-story log houses. But the evidence seems to be in favor of Mr. Beatty's. One thing we do know that Mr. Beatty was doing all that he could to get his done first. Noah Strong was on hand with his two oxen that he had brought with him from the far away hills of Vermont, namely, "Buck and Brandy," and more than that the honorable court had engaged the west room upstairs in which to hold court, and they must have it by the 15th of November, 1804. The building was finished and opened as a tavern on the first day of October, 1804, on lot No. 14, opposite the public square, on the site that is known as the Leamon block. REV. JAMES TOWLER. Mr. Towler did not have long towait for his new building. He had purchased 112 - HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. lots No. 39-40. He was a native of Prince Edwards county, Virginia, and emigrated to Greene county in 1803. This house was better known as the Crumbaugh house, and stood on the north- side of Main street, present site of Eavey & Co., wholesale house. He was the first postmaster of Xenia, Ohio. JOSIAH GROVER Was the second clerk of courts of Greene county, accepting that position in 1808, after his brother-in-law, John Paul, had resigned. His first cabin was erected on lot No. 192, West Third street, on the corner, present site of the home of Timothy O'Connell. He came to Xenia previous to 1803. BENJAMIN GROVER, Brother of Josiah, was the first school teacher of Xenia. The school house was on West Third street, and stood on the lot that now is the home of Mrs. James Kyle, mother of Charles Kyle, Esq. It was a one-story log house, and was- built in 1805. It was used for a school house for some years. Mr. Hugh Hamill, who came to Xenia in 1810, taught in that house. COL. JAMES COLLIER Was one of the first to come into the Northwest territory in the year 1796; stopped first at what was called Holes Station (Miamisburg), from there to the Wilson settlement, thence to the farm of Capt. Nathan Lamme, and to Xenia, in the early summer of 1805. In that year he erected his cabin on lot No. 60, about the present site of Rall's meat shop, on Detroit street. When he first built his cabin in 1805 he set it back about twenty feet from the in line of the sidewalk so that in 1813 when he erected his noted tavern, that was in the rear and became the kitchen. When in later years the march of improvement made way with the old to be replaced with the new, that old hewed log cabin home, weather-boarded, was moved to East Market street, first house east of the East Market Street High School, and was still standing in 1899, but has since, in 1900, been torn down. HON. JOHN ALEXANDER, Grandfather of the late William J. Alexander, at this time owned a whole square on West Market and Church streets, bounded as follows : Where the present residences of H. H. Eavey and Rev. J. G. Carson stand, thence westerly to Galloway street. He had emigrated from South Carolina in 1804 and was the first lawyer to settle in Xenia. In 1811 his house had been appraised at seven hundred and fifty dollars, and is still (1900) standing on North King street, the property of Judge C. C. Shearer, a relic of the past, and when moved to its present site was as good as when first erected. JAMES BUNTING Arrived in Xenia in 1805. He was a good carpenter, and we find that he was a man of enterprise. In 1806 he purchased lots 124 and 130, upon the former he erected a two-story log structure on West Second street, better known as the McWhirk property, where David Hutchison later built two brick cottage houses. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 113 ELI ADAMS. Mr. Adams came to Xenia in 1808. In 180 he purchased of William A. Beatty, then director of the town of Xenia, lot No. 140, on the corner of Second and Collier streets, now (1900) owned by Davis Fifer's heirs, and on the western side of said log house, which was weather-boarded. This house was still remembered in after years by many old citizens as the home of Tillbury Jones, marshal of Xenia in the early fifties. HOME OF WILLIAM A. BEATTY. In addition to his tavern on Main street, and which also was the place of holding the courts of Greene county, Mr. Beatty was the owner of lot No. 165, on the southwest corner of Second and Collier streets, now (1900) owned by Rev. Samuel Hutchison, and on this lot he had built his cabin home. This home was valued for taxable purpose in 1811 at one hundred and sixty 'dollars. WILLIAM GORDON Was the owner of lot No. 33 in the year 1807. This lot was situated on the northeast corner of Main and Whiteman streets, on which now stands the clothing house of Robert Kingsbury. George Gordon, his brother, came up from Warren county with his team to assist in hauling the logs for this building, which was a two-story log structure, forty by forty feet, and was for many years used by Mr. William Gordon as a storeroom. Major Gordon previously had moved his brother, William, from War-ren county to Xenia in the year 1805. His brother had at that time purchased t No. 176, situated on the corner of Third and Whiteman streets, and is at the present time (1811) owned by the heirs of Marjey McFarland. Mr. Gordon had erected on this lot a small log house, the FIRST BREWERY OF XENIA. This property was once owned by Mr. James Brown, and the older persons can yet remember when this part of Xenia was known by the name of "Brown Town." He was killed in the gravel pit west of Xenia, June 4, 1849, aged seventy—three years. His death was caused by the caving in of the surface dirt. When dug out he was dead. HUGH HAMILL Came to Xenia from Preble county in 1810, and purchased lots No. 197-198-199-200. These lots fronted on Third street, and were situated between Barrett and Maxwell streets, running thence south to the bank of Shawnee creek. He erected his cabin near the brow of the hill, overlooking Shawnee, on the south end of lot No. 200. In the rear of his cabin on this lot extending west to Barrett street was his tanyard. The brick house yet standing was erected in 1845, and is occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Lydia Bigger. DR. ANDREW W. DAVIDSON. Dr. Andrew Davidson on the 11th day of November, 1808, purchased of Henry Phenix lot No. 38, on which in 1811 he erected a two-story brick house. This lot was on Main street, and the building was on 114 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. the present site of John Knox's saddlery shop. Dr. Davidson came to Xenia in 1805 and was the first physician to locate in the town. JAMES GOWDY'S STORE. In the year 1805 James Gowdy first came to Xenia and built his storeroom, the first one in Xenia, on lot No. 34, first lot east of Greene street, on Main, and here in 1806 he commenced selling merchandise. THE FIRST COURT HOUSE. The first court house for Greene county was let to William Kendall in 1806. Previous to this time the county had been paying rent, first for the house of Peter Borders down on Beaver, second to Wm. A. Beatty in Xenia. This latter house was completed in 1809. SAMUEL GAMBLE Had erected a small house on lot No. 144, on the corner of Second and Monroe streets, north side, lot now (1900) owned by the heirs of the late John Kyle. Mr. Gamble at this time also owned one-half of lot No. 15 on Main Street. JOHN GREGG Was in 1811 the owner of the first lot east of Mrs. Frank McClure on Second street. On this lot No. 134 he raised and completed a cabin. CAPT. JOHN HIVLING, In 1811, was the owner of lot No. 13, upon which he had completed a building on the corner of Main and Detroit, south side, present site of the Xenia National Bank. JOSEPH HAMILL, In 1811, was the owner of lot No. 14, opposite the Court House, and it was here that he kept his noted tavern, or what was known as Hamill's Inn. He was one of the early justices of the peace in Xenia. His building was part of what in later years was known as the Puterbaugh store, where young Kenney and Steele were murdered in the great fire of 1845. ABRAHAM LARUE, In 1811, was the owner of lots No. 131-132, comprising about one-fourth of the square on what was later known as the J. C. McMillan corner, Mr. Larue's lots extending from the corner running west on Second One-half the distance of the square and from the same corner running north the distance on Detroit. His house was erected on lot No. 132. He also owned out lots Nos. 7 and 8. DAVID LAUGHEAD, SR., In 1811 was the owner of lot No. 143 sit-. uated on East Second street, better known as the home of Mrs. Newton, the mother of Chancey and Samuel Newton. Upon this lot he erected a one-story house. The ground at this time is the site of the beautiful homes of Ben LeSourd and Judge Stewart. PETER PELHAM, Who came from Boston, Massachusetts, in 1807, and who was the first auditor of ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 115 Greene county, erected his cabin on lot No. 144, corner of Main and Barrett streets, north side, later known as the old home of William T. Stark (deceased) and at this time the home of Mrs. S. K. Harner and family. The house is still standing (1900 ) near Kelley's rope walk. HEZEKIAH SANDERS Came to Xenia in 1807. He was the owner of lot 133 and erected his house, a two-story frame, on the northwest corner of Second and Detroit streets. When the present residence of Mrs. Frank McClure was built for a bank building Major John Heaton bought the old Sanders house and had it removed to his lot on West Main street, first lot west of John Lutz's blacksmith shop, where it yet stands in good condition. JOHN STERRITT Built his cabin on lot No. 89, situated at corner of Market and Whiteman streets, northwest corner. This property is better known as the former residence of Colonel John Duncan. It is now owned and occupied as a residence by Mrs. Elias Quinn and daughters. JAMES WATSON Was in 1811 the owner of lot No. 7, which is situated on West Main street. He had a cabin erected where the office of the Miami Powder Company is now located. HENRY BARNES, SR. Henry Barnes, a native of Virginia, removed to Kentucky in 1799, and came to Xenia in 1807. He was the father of Henry Barnes, Jr., ex-sheriff of Greene county, and the grandfather of Major George Barnes, yet living in Xenia. He was the owner of lots Nos. 29-68. No. 29 was situated on the corner of Main and Collier streets, on which was his cabin home. Lot 68 was in the rear of this, fronting on Market street. JONATHAN H. WALLACE, HATTER. Mr. Wallace was at this time the owner of lot No. 180, which was situated on the corner of Third and Detroit streets, southwest corner. He came to Xenia in 1807 and was for many years engaged in the business of making hats. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and afterward removed to Clark county. Ohio, where he died at the home of Anthony Byers or (Hyers), April 25, 1850, aged seventy years. CAPTAIN ROBERT GOWDY In 1811 had a tanyard on the corner of Third and Detroit streets, where now is located the firm of Chandler & Maddux. His currying shop, a long one-story log house, stood near that place. Across Detroit street east, where now ( 1900) is located the lumber yard of McDowell & Torrence, was another tanyard, carried on under the firm name of WILLIAM ALEXANDER & RICHARD CONWELL. Mr. Alexander ,was a brother of the Hon. John Alexander, a native of South Carolina, and who died June 3, 1824, and is buried on the lot of his brother John in Woodland cemetery. 116 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. And thus was Xenia as far as the householders are concerned in the year A. D. 1811. Scattered here and there, no wonder that Mr. Wright said in describing it that it was a little "stumpy, struggling village." HE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY, ORGANIZED IN XENIA IN 1816.—CONSTITUTION. "With all thy getting, get understanding." To provide the means of diffusing literature and knowledge is an object of the greatest importance to society, and claims the attention of every friend of humaniy. For his purpose we, the subscribers, have determined to establish'a public library in the town of Xenia, which shall be open to all under the following regulations : 1st. Each subscriber shall pay to the librarian five dollars on each share annually. 2d. The subscribers shall meet on the fourth Saturday of March, 1816, and on the same day annually forever and elect by ballot nine directors, who shall be a standing committee, five of whom shall form a quorum, to regulate the affairs of the library, with the following powers, to-wit : To appropriate the funds of the library for the benefit of the subscribers; to appoint a president and librarian from their own number, and to assign them their duties; to call a meeting of the subscribers on matters of importance at any time when they think necessary, and to enact by-laws for regulating the affairs and securing the interest of the library. 3d. At each annual meeting a report of the proceedings of the committee, together with a list of the books purchased, shah be laid before the subscribers for their inspection. 4th. Two-thirds of the subscribers present at any annual meeting shall have power to alter or amend these regulations. 5th. Any person neglecting his annual contribution or any fine imposed upon him, when amounting to the sum of two dollars and fifty cents, shall forfeit his share to the use of the company, and if under that sum he shall not enjoy any of the *privileges of a subscriber until such sum shall be paid. 6th. Any manager may be removed from office at any time by a two-thirds vote of the subscribers. 7th. Shares may be transferred on the books of the librarian, and each subscriber shall be entitled to draw books in proportion to the number of his shares. 8th. The library shall go into operation immediately after forty shares shall have been subscribed. NAMES F SUBSCRIBERS. James P. Espey, Josiah Grover, William T. Elkin, Philip Good, William Ellsberry, Samuel Pelham, Joshua Martin, Moses Collier, Stith Bonner, Thomas Hunter, John Gaff, John Haines, Thomas Gillespie, James Collier, John Smith, William Laughead, William Alexander, George Junkin, Jesse Watson, Robert W. Stevenson, Anthony Cannon, Samuel McBeth, Bratton & Beall, Jacob Haines, Francis Kendall, James Towler, Matthew Alexander, Josiah G. Talbott, Jacob Smith, Henry Morgan, James Lamme, James Galloway, Jr., Lewis Wright, William A. Beatty, Alexander Armstrong, William Richards, Daniel Reece, James Popenoe, William Currie, Robert D. Fors-man and Thomas Embree. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 117 THE FINAL EFFORT TO HAVE XENIA INCORPORATED. The first effort to have Xenia incorporated was presented to the legislature by Jacob Smith, at that time representing Greene county, and can be found in the local laws of 1813. For some reason the law- had become inoperative, and hence this second effort to have the town incorporated. Joseph Tatman in 1817 was representing Greene county in the house of our state legislature, while Jacob Smith was a member of the Ohio senate from the counties of Clinton and Greene. Mr. Tatman was a resident of Bath township and Mr. Smith a resident of Beavercreek. So the western portion of Greene county was well represented at that time. This effort also for some reason proved a failure. The petition, however, is interesting, and is deemed worth saving, and will be returned to the new court house to be placed in the relic room, that is to be, in the sweet by and bye. A COPY OF THE PETITION. To the Honorable Court of Common Plea, for the County of Greene: The representation and petition of the subscribing inhabitants and householders of Xenia town respectfully showeth that the town of Xenia contains eighty-eight house-holders, and that the town of Xenia is the county seat of Greene county, and is situated on the north side of Shawnee run, about three miles from its juncture with the Little Miami river. It was laid out by Joseph C. Vance, Esq., late director of said town, in the year 1803, by order of the honorable court of common pleas for the county of Greene. That the plat of said town was duly re-corded in the recorder's office of said county in 1804, and. is bounded and described as follows), to-wit : Beginning at a stake stand-ing. on the northwest corner of Back street, N. 78 degrees, E. 30 poles, to a stake in Remembrance Williams' land, thence S. 83 degrees, E. 61 poles, to the northeast corner of the out lots of said town, thence S. 12 de-grees, E. 83 poles, to the corner of lot 27, thence S. 7 degrees, W. 30 poles, to a stake ion the bank of the Shawnee run; thence down said run with the meanders thereof to the south end of West street, thence with the west side of said street, N. 12 degrees, W. 127 poles, to the beginning, including all the in lots and fractional in lots and all the out lots numbered and marked on the town plat of said town, as recorded in the office of the recorder of said county, containing two hun-dred and seventy acres, be the same more or less ; being comprised in one plat as aforesaid, and being part of a survey for one thousand acres, No. 2243, entered and surveyed for Warren and Addison Lewis, patented to Robert Pollard. That on account of the late act for in-corporating the said town having become inoperative, many inconveniences have been experienced by reason of disorders, nuisances, which have been openly and secretly created by ignorant or malicious persons to the great detriment and annoyance of the peaceably disposed citizens, and that so long as the present state of things continues no appropriation can be made of the money collected by taxes for two years, during which the aforesaid law was inoperative, for the 118 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. benefit of the town, by erecting a market house, improving the streets, or any other public or useful purpose by any existing authority competent thereto. We therefore pray that the said town of Xenia may be incorporated according to law, and that the honorable court will take all due measures for the accomplishment of this desirable object, and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray. Signed by William Kendall, Francis Kendall, James Watson, Enoch Hixson, Robert Gillespie, John Hivling, Jonathan H. Wallace, John Davis, Joseph Culbertson, Eli Harlan, William Richards, Samuel Gowdy, William Currie, John Flowers, James Popenoe, William Johnson, Henry McBride, Abraham Corson, David Stewart, Joseph Barker, James L. Johnson, James Gill, John Gowdy, Warren Madden, Ryan Gowdy, Benjamin Newkirk, Robert McKenzie, Samuel M. Good, Joseph Johnson, J. Herdleson, James Galloway, Jr., John Dorsey, Thomas Gillespie, Joseph Hamill, Samuel Shaw, Jonathan Owens, Moses Collier, Robert True, Robert Casbold; John Milton, Mills Edwards, Josiah Talbert, James Gowdy, David Connelly, Andrew W. Davidson, James Edwards, Henry Barnes, Sr., George Townsley, James Jacoby, John Deary, Pleasant Moorman, Andrew Moorman, George Townley, Josiah Davidson, William Donnel, Elijah Ferguson, William Ellsberry, John Stull, Lemuel John, William John, David Douglas, John Van Eaton, George M. Smith, John Howard, Stephen Howard, and John Williams. 66. March 24, 1817. SALE OF PART OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE IN XENIA 1N 1817. The fathers of Greene county's public interest were said to have been honest and economical men; no one going through their accounts could for a moment think otherwise, quick to plan and prompt to carry out their plans. This was especially true as regards her first commissioners. When a new township was to be laid out in answer to petitions from her citizens, it was promptly done and the necessary machinery soon put in motion to bring about that result. When a new road was called for the same promptness marks their every act. Samuel Gamble, John Haines and Thomas Hunter were the commissioners at the time of the sale of that part of the public square. How long they had been planning to save money to the county by the sale of the aforesaid portion is not known. We learn from the records that on the 4th day of January, 1817, they met for the purpose of surveying and marking the different lots that were to be' sold of the public square, and to make preparation for their sale agreeable to an order from court. William A. Beatty, director for the town of Xenia, makes his report to them under date of February 14, 1817, as follows : To the Honorable Court of Commissioners of the County of Greene, Gentlemen: I have proceeded to and have sold the lots in Xenia you ordered me to sell ; the persons who purchased and the prices they brought are as follows : John Barber, part of in lot No. 62, $482.00; George .Townsley, part of in lot No. 65, $615.00; George Townsley, part of in lot No. 62, $315.00 ; John Davis, part of in lot No. 62, $482.00; Ryan Gowdy, lot No. 35, $1,381.00; total amount, $3,253.00. I believe the above statement to be correct. WILLIAM A. BEATTY, Director of Xenia. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 119 The one .marked No. 35, facing on Main street fifty-seven feet and running back one hundred and sixty-five feet along the eastern boundary line of the public square (Greene street not opened), has quite a history, and a story of the same might be written. Ryan Gowdy and James Gowdy vs. Commissioners of Greene county. This action was filed June 17, 1817. This suit brought by Ryan and James Gowdy against the commissioners of Greene county appears to have settled forever the question of the right of the commissioners to sell or dispose of any of the public square. And to James Gowdy to-day the people of Greene county are under obligations for saving to us intact as it came from the hand of the donor, John Paul, the aforesaid public Square. There may have been on the part of Mr. Gowdy something partaking of the nature of selfishness, or what might be called business tact, or shrewdness, that prompted him to this act. He speaks through his attorney, John Alexander, of the time he first came to Xenia from Kentucky to locate here in 1805, how he had been led to purchase the lot next to the public square, that he was assured that it would be a good location for a merchant, that no one could engage in the same business, at least not west of him, and therefore he located there, and was successful in business, had been engaged there for eleven years or more, when for the first time he learns of the action of the commissioners,—learns of their order to William A. Beatty. the director of the town, to put up at public auction and to sell part of the public square, and knowing one of these lots was No. 35, which would be a good location for some one and which he considered would be an injury to him to. allow some one else to buy, it was no wonder that even though he had doubts of the commissioners! right to sell, yet he did not want to take any chances, and therefore instructed his brother, Ryan, to attend the sale and to buy that lot next to him at any price. He intimates that some one was seeking to injure him in his business and had used undue influence over the commissioners in having them include lot No. 35, the one next to him. And now after the lapse of nearly one hundred years we look at the price the other four sold for and compare what he had to pay for lot No. 35, the one next to him, and it does seem as though some one did want that one and wanted it badly. The case as has been said had gotten into court. A little more than one year later, December 27, 1818, James Gowdy, through his attorney, the Hon. John Alexander, introduces his amended bill of complaint, and in that he speaks of his ignorance of the law, and had he known that the commissioners could not give him a good title to the lot he bought he would not have given one cent for the aforesaid lot. But at the time of the sale he was in doubt, and others with whom he had conversed were also uncertain, and were of the opinion that the commissioners had transcended their power as agents of the company to sell that which had been donated to the county expressly for public buildings for the county. But the time for action was short, and he did not want to take any risk, and had his brother, Ryan, to attend the sale and purchase the lot, and farther stated that if the court thought the action of the commissioners was legal and a clear title could be given he would abide by the sale and pay the three notes that had been given by him, one of 120 - ROBINSON’S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. which would have been due six months after said sale; one in twelve months and the last in eighteen months after date. This had been made a test case, brought, as has been said, a short time before the first note of Mr. Gowdy would have been due. The names of other parties who had purchased lots were not shown in the case. Without pursuing the matter further, the supreme court, May term, 1821, granted a decree in favor of complainants, and the commissioners were ordered to return the notes to the parties who gave them. John Alexander, attorney for complainants, and Francis Dunlavey, for defendants, before the Hon. Calvin Pease, chief judge for the supreme court. The lot on which this suit was brought has been described as No. 35. The other four lots were on Detroit and Market streets (then called Third street), beginning at the northern end of what is now Greene street, beginning at a point on Detroit street one hundred and sixty-five feet south of the northwest corner of the public square. The outer lines of the lots extending thence northerly to Market street, thence easterly to the east line of what is now Greene street, thence southerly on that line one hundred and sixty-five feet on Detroit street, the two lots being sixty-six feet deep. On Market the lot was one hundred and four and one-hall feet deep, and the northeast corner lot was sixty-seven feet on Market street. The public square contains one and one-half acres of ground. THOMAS COKE WRIGHT. He was the successor of William Richards as auditor of Greene county (1837- 1854), and was followed by James A. Scott, who filled the office two terms. He was the most eccentric as well as the most beloved man of his time in Greene county. He was nearly six feet in stature, very fleshy, florid face and was very deaf. His voice was light, pitched upon a high key, and he was a complete specimen in his simplicity of a child man, susceptible and quickly responsive to every shade of emotion. At one moment when speaking of something sad his face would put on the most solemn aspect, and his fine high voice crying tones, then in a twinkling, as something droll flitted: across his memory which he would relate, there would come out a merry laugh.. The expression of his face when at rest was sad, as is usual with very deaf people of strong and social natures. Mr. Wright was indeed what they term a character, one worthy of the pen of a Dickens. He was a native of Brunswick county, Virginia, and was a lad twelve years of age when, in 1811, he first came to Xenia. When a young man he had been a teacher under Father Finley, the mis-sionary to the Wyandots. He had studied law, but becoming too deaf to practice the people gave him the position of county auditor. He was a poor accountant, but he got along with an assistant. His deficiencies made no difference, his super abounding affection for everybody was such that the plain farmers, irrespective of party, would have given him any office he wanted. He was such a warm friend of everybody, and so anxious to do everybody some good. He was a Republican, loved his native Virginia, and told some excellent anecdotes illustrative of the affection some of the old-time slave holders had for their ad servants, with whom they had begun life as children together in play. Mr. Wright was also inter- ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 121 ested in writing pioneer sketches, many of which he had gleaned from his old friends, James Collier and Jacob Haines. It is said that he had at one time compiled what would have made a book of two thousand pages, which became scattered and lost. He died in Xenia, February 24, 1871, at the age of seventy-three years, and is buried in Woodland cemetery. But as yet he sleeps in an unmarked grave. He was also editor of a newspaper in Xenia published by James Douglass, 1829-1833, "The Xenia Transcript." Among the stories that are on record, written by Thomas Coke Wright, the story of Josiah Hunt is of grreat interest, from the fact that from the years 1802 to 1814 he was a resident of Caesarscreek township. At the former date he had purchased of Edward Mercer fifty acres of land situated on the road from Spring Valley leading to Paintersville, as you go south on what is now called the Burlington pike, and where the pike intersects the Spring Valley pike, turning to the left on what is now known as the Robert Ferguson farm, was the cabin of Joseph Hunt, not far west of the residence of Mr. Ferguson. He removed from Greene county in 1814, going, I think, to Madison, Indiana. Josiah Hunt was a stout, well formed man, heavy set, capable of enduring great hardships and privations, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. There was a tone of candor and sincerity, as well as modesty in his manner of relating the thrilling scenes of which he had been an actor, which left no doubt of the truth in the minds of those who heard him. He was one of Wayne's legion, and was in the battle of the "Fallen Timber," on the 20th of August, 1794. At the commencement of the onset, just after entering the fallen timber, Hunt was rushing on and about to spring over a fallen tree, when he was fired at by an Indian concealed behind it. The latter was compelled to fire in such haste that he missed his aim. It was, however, a close shave, for the bullet whizzed through the lock of his right temple, causing that ear to ring for an hour afterward. The -Indian's body was entirely naked from the waist up, with a red stripe painted up and down his back. As soon as he fired he took to his heels. Hunt aimed at the center of the red stripe, the Indian running zigzag like the worm of a fence. When he fired the Indian bounded up and fell forward. He had fought his last battle. Hunt was an excellent hunter. In the winter of 1793 while the army lay at Greenville he was appointed to supply the officers with game, and in consequence was exempt from garrison duty. The sentinels had orders to allow him to leave and enter the fort whenever he chose. The Indians made a practice of climbing trees in the vicinity of the fort, the better to watch the garrison. If a person was seen to go out, notice was taken of the direction he went, his path ambushed and his scalp secured. To avoid this danger, Hunt always left the fort in the darkness of the night, for said he, "When once I had gotten into the woods without their knowledge I had as good a chance as they." He was accustomed on leaving the fort to proceed some distance in the direction He intended to hunt the next day, and camp for the night. To keep from freezing to death it was necessary to have a fire, but to show a light in the enemy's country was to invite certain destruction. To avoid this danger he dug a hole in the ground with his tomahawk about the size and depth of a 122 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. hat crown. Having prepared it properly, he procured some roth, meaning some thick oak bark, from a dead tree, which will retain a strong heat when covered with its ashes. Kindling a fire from flint and steel at the bottom of his "coal pit," as he termed it, the bark was torn into strips and placed in layers crosswise until the pit was full. After it was sufficiently ignited it was covered over with dirt with the exception of two air holes in the margin, which could be opened or closed at pleasure. Spreading down a layer of bark or brush to keep him off the cold ground, he sat down with the "coal pit" between his legs, enveloped himself with his blanket and slept cat dozes in an upright position. If his fire became too much smothered he would freshen it up by blowing into one of the air holes. He declared he could make himself sweat whenever he chose. The snapping of a dry twig was sufficient to awaken him. When, un- covering his head, he keenly scrutinized in the darkness and gloom around, his right hand on his trusty rifle ready for the mischance of the hour. A person now, in full security from danger, enjoying the comforts and refinements of civilized life can scarcely bring his mind to realize his situation, or do justice to the powers of bodily endurance, firmness of nerve, self-reliance and courage, manifested by him that winter. A lone man in a dreary, interminable forest, swarming with enemies, bloodthirsty, crafty and of horrid barbarity, without a friend or human help to afford him relief, or the least aid in the depth of winter, the freezing winds moaning through the bare and leafless trees, while the dismal howling of a pack of wolves, cruel as death and hungry as the grave, burning for blood, bony, gaunt and grim, might be heard in the distance mingled with the howlings of the wintry winds, were well calculated to create a lonely sensation about the heart and appall any common spirit. There would he sit nodding in his blanket indistinguishable in the darkness from an old stump, enduring the rigor of winter, keeping himself from freezing, yet showing no fire, calm, ready and prompt to engage in mortal combat with whatever enemy might assail, whether Indian, bear or panther. At daylight he commenced hunting, proceeding slowly with extreme caution, looking for game and watching for Indians at the same time. When he found a deer, .previous to shooting it he put a bullet in his mouth, ready for reloading his gun with all possible dispatch, which he did before removing from the spot. Casting searching glances in every direction for Indians, cautiously approaching the deer after he had shot it, he dragged it to a tree and commenced dressing it with his back towards the tree and his rifle leaning against it in reach of his right hand. And so with his rear protected by the tree he would skin a short timer then straighten up and scan in every direction to see if the report of his rifle had brought an Indian into his vicinity, then apply himself to skinning again. If he heard a stick break or the slightest noise indicating the presence of animal life, he clutched his rifle instantly and was on the alert prepared for any emergency. Having skinned and cut up the animal, the four quarters were packed in the hide, which was so arranged as to be slung on his back like a knapsack, with which he wended his way to the fort. If the deer was killed far from the garrison he only brought in four quar- ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 23 ters. One day he had gotten within gun shot of three Indians unperceived by them. He was on a ridge and they in a hollow. He took aim at the foremost one, and waited some time for two to range with each other, intending, if they got in that position, to shoot two and take his chance with the other in single combat, but they continued to march in Indian file and though he should have killed one of them, the othe-r two would have made the odds against him too great, so he let them pass unmolested. Amidst all the dangers to which he was ex-posed he passed unharmed. Owing to the constant and powerful exercise of the fac-ulties, his ability to hear and discriminate sounds was wonderfully increased, and the perceptive faculties much enlarged. He made seventy dollars that winter by hunt-ing, over and above his pay as a soldier. At the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, the In-dians seemed to consider Hunt as. the next greatest man to Wayne himself. They inquired for him, got round him and were loud and earnest in their praises and compliments. "Great man, Captain Hunt. Great warrior, good hunting. man, Indian no kill him." They informed him that some of their bravest and most cunning warriors had often set out to kill him. They knew how he made his secret camp fire, the ingenuity of which excited their admiration. The parties in quest of him had often seen him, could describe the dress he wore and his cap, which was made of a raccoon skin with the tail hanging down behind, the front turned up and ornamented with three brass rings. The scalp of such a great hunter and warrior they considered to be a great trophy. Yet they never could catch him off his guard, never get within shooting dis- tance without being discovered and exposed to his death dealing rifle. EARLY PHYSICIANS F XENIA AND GREENE. COUNTY.-ANDREW W. DAVIDSON Was the first physician to settle in Xenia,. which was in the fall of 1805. He was an enterprising, public-spirited citizen, and in 1811 built the first brick house ever 'erected here, on Main street, near the site of Brice Knox's saddle shop, and in 1814 he built the first stone house in the town, also on Main street, of which a part was occupied by the late John Dodd as a grocery. June 15, 1807, Dr. Andrew Davidson and Rebecca Todd were married. by William McFarland, Esq., this marriage being No. 99 on the marriage records of the county. Subsequently the Doctor became a merchant and tailor. In the course of his business, 1820- 21 , he moved. with his family to Columbus, Indiana, and subsequently to Madison, Indiana, where he died in the thirty-ninth year of his age. Dr. Andrew Davidson and wife were of those who constituted the old associate congregation of Xenia, under the pastorate of the Rev. Francis Pringle in 1811. DR. JOSHUA MARTIN Was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, March 23, 1791, and died in Louisville, Kentucky, November 30, 1865. When quite young he commenced to study medicine with Dr. Huff, in the town of Waterford, and while engaged in the prosecution of his studies he attended a course of lectures in Philadelphia under the celebrated Dr. Rush, but completed his medical education in the west and graduated in Lexington, Ken- 124 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. tricky. Some time after he had commenced practice, in company with his preceptor, he emigrated to Ohio, in 1813, traveling from Waterford to Wheeling on horseback and in wagons, and thence to Cincinnati down the Ohio in flatboats, Cincinnati at that time being a village compared to its present condition, and to all appearances there were already there fully as many physicians as it was thought the population of the place would warrant he consequently had to look elsewhere for a suitable location, and after visiting several places he located in Xenia. Accordingly in the fall of 1813 he settled in Xenia, Ohio, and commenced to practice medicine. At that time there was prevailing here and in the west an epidemic known as the cold plague, which the older physicians were not successfully treating, it being very fatal. His mode of treatment was successful and at once brought him into extensive practice, which extended south to Lebanon, north to Urbana, east to Washington and beyond London, and west of Dayton. The country was then new, the roads bad, the streams destitute of bridges, and the traveling disagreeable and dangerous, yet such was his temperament that when called to see a patient he always obeyed the call. Although having an extensive practice, he received little pay, and as he had his labor to depend on for his support, after two years he removed to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he embarked in the mercantile business with his brother. The investment was not a success, and in a short time he lost all and also involved himself. This satisfied him with that venture, and he determined to persevere in his profession. After a little more than one year's absence he returned to Xenia and resumed his practice. On the 4th of June, 1818, he was united in marriage to Hester Whiteman, daughter of General Benjamin Whiteman, with whom he lived until her death, in February, 1834. In April, 1835, he was united in marriage to Sarah Poague, who died in 1840, leaving an infant daughter. In 1814 his father's family emigrated to Ohio and settled in Lebanon, Warren county, where his father died in 1824, after which his mother and four sisters made their home with, him. His mother died in 1835, and his eldest sister in 1851, while his three surviving sisters and daughter constituted the family that he left at his death. When his body was brought back from Louisville for burial almost the whole town turned out to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory. Few men have left an impress of their own character on a community so distinctly marked as has Dr. Joshua Martin. DR. JOSEPH JOHNSON Came to Xenia in 1814 and in 1820 was elected to represent Greene county in the house of the Ohio legislature. He removed from the county to Galena, Illinois, where he died, June 5, 1847, aged sixty-four years. DR. HENRY GOOD Was also a resident of Xenia in 1817. I think he removed from here to Madison, Indiana, and Dr. Jeremiah Woolsey, the grandfather of the present Mrs. Dr. Woolsey, of Xenia, was here as a physician in the year 1827; he removed from here to Cincinnati. Ohio, where he died February 6, 1834. A brother of his, Daniel by name, was also a resident of Xenia and he removed to Evansville, Indiana.