100 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO place of beginning and proceed to run said line and take to his assistance one marker and two chain carriers, and to have the line marked three notches fore and aft. (Signed) JOSIAH GROVER, CLK. The point where the county has experienced the greatest difficulty in determining its boundary has been on its northern side. For only two years did its extent comprise the large tract as set forth in the section of the act which organized the county, for in 1805 Champaign county was organized. By the order of the commissioners of January 1, 1810, the line was, as has been shown before, partly determined by Samuel Kyle. The line then passed a short distance south of Springfield, on the line of the eighth and ninth ranges. It extended east and west two miles north of Osborn, four miles north of Yellow Springs, about four and three-fourths miles north of the bank of the Little Miami and the present corner of Greene and Clark counties at Clifton, and five and one-half miles north of the present southeast corner of Clark county. After the organization of Clark county in 1817, which was erected out of parts of Greene, Madison and Champaign counties, the line was changed again. On June 15, 1818, the commissioners of Greene county ordered : "That Moses Collier, Surveyor of Greene County, do meat with the surveyor of Clark County on the 18th of this inst., and proceed to run the lines between the respective Countys, aforesaid, commencing on the East line of the County of Greene, five miles and a half South of the North boundary of the Eighth Range and continue until the line is ascertained between the aforesaid Countys of Greene and Clark, and make returns of the same as the law directs." Collier and the surveyor of Clark county finally determined the line which began on. the east line of Greene county about three miles south of Charleston, from whence it extended west to a point one and one-half miles west of Selma. The line then ran northward one-half mile to a point northeast of N. E. Holloway's house, from which place it extended westward to the line between townships four and five in the eighth range, near Clifton. The line then followed the township line northward to the line between sections three and four ; thence the line followed the sectional line to the line of the third township, northwest of Yellow Springs. From this point the line followed this township line to the sectional line between the fourth and fifth tier of sections in the third range, and with this sectional line it extended to the east line of Montgomery county, joining it near Osborn. INFLUENCE OF GEN. BENJAMIN WHITEMAN. After the line between Greene and Clark counties was surveyed and established there was one loyal and influential resident of Greene county who was not at all satisfied with the arrangement. This was Gen. Benjamin GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 101 Whiteman. That part of the boundary line described as the third above, extending west to the line between the townships four and five in the eighth range, ran somewhat to the south of General Whiteman's dwelling, which was situated on the north side of the Little Miami a short distance east of the present village of Clifton, thus making the General a resident of Clark county. He was at that time, and had been since its organization, a prominent man in Greene county, as he had served as one of the first three associate judges of the first court of common pleas that had established the government of the county and had laid it off into townships. Since he was identified with the public interests of the county, he desired to remain a resident of it. Accordingly he used his influence in the halls of the Legislature which passed a bill on January 25, 1819, so changing the boundary line between Greene and Clark counties that it ran north of the General's dwelling thus causing him to remain a resident of this county. This line is described as follows : "From the line running north one-half miles, thence such a course (west by north) as will strike the line between townships four and five, on the north side of the Little Miami river, in the eighth range." In accordance with this act of the General Assembly, the commissioners of Greene county ordered on July 5, 1819, that "the surveyor of Greene County, in conjunction with the surveyor of Clark County, do ascertain and survey the line between the said Counties of Greene and Clark agreeably to the act of the last session of the Assembly for that purpose made and provided and that the Commissioners of the said County of Clark have notice of the intention of the Commissioners of Greene County of having the said line run according to Law, to begin on the 16th day of August, next, and that each of the said Surveyors do forthwith make return of such security to the Clerk of his respective County according to law." ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT. The next logical step after the erection of a county was the establishment of a seat of justice, a process that has been the cause of many a bitter fight between two or more persons, or rival villages, in the establishment of seats of justice in many newly erected counties in the Middle West. The first General Assembly of Ohio forestalled this condition in great measure by the act of March 28, 1803, wherein was set forth the process by which a county seat of justice for any new county was to be established. For this purpose three commissioners were to be appointed, whose duty it was to examine and determine what part of the new county was the most eligible for a county seat of justice. These commissioners are not to be confused with the county commissioners, for persons who were residents of the new county or were holders of any real property within the same, and who had 102 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO not reached the age of twenty-five years, and who had not been residents of the state for at least one year, were not eligible for such a position. Thus the personal element in the location of the county seat was in great measure eliminated. Sixty days after their appointment the commissioners met in order to give twenty days' notice to the people of their intention to locate the county seat on a specified date. On this date it was presumed that any delegations of citizens with a prospective county-seat site would lay their propositions before these commissioners. The act guided the commissioners in their method of procedure, for they were to select a place as near the center of the county as possible in consideration of the situation, the extent of the population, the quality of the land and the general convenience and interests of the inhabitants. After these commissioners had agreed upon a place for the county seat, they were to make a report to the next court of common pleas of the county, and if no town had been previously laid off on the site agreed upon, the court appointed a director, who, after giving bond for the faithful performance of his duties, was fully authorized to purchase the land of the proprietor or proprietors for the use of the county, and to lay off the tract into lots, streets and alleys under such regulations as the court prescribed. In accordance with this act, the Legislature chose Ichabod B. Helsey, Balden Apsby and William McClelland to be the commissioners whose duties it would be to locate the county seat for Greene county, and these same men acted in the same capacity for Montgomery county. The date of their meeting and the proceedings of their meeting the historian has not been able to find out. Tradition has handed down the story of the location of the county seat on the site of Xenia and the naming of the same, and in the absence of records concerning the determination of the site by the commissioners, the reports which have been handed down must be accepted. LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT. When the question of the location of the county seat was uppermost, there were few settlers who did not have visions of becoming proprietors of the new city which was to spring up in the wilderness of the new county of Greene. It is quite possible that the commissioners were presented with many schemes brought forward by the settlers. On the Paris Peterson farm, four miles southeast of Xenia, a town by the name of Caesarsville had been laid out by Thomas Carneal as early as 1800. In anticipation of the erection of a new county in this part of the Little Miami country, a court house had been built and a public well had been dug. This young town which bore considerable promise attracted numerous settlers and quite a number of log GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 103 cabins sprang up within its borders. Obviously Caesarsville had county seat aspirations and it was under consideration for awhile. The inhabitants of Pinkney, a small village located near Trebeins in Beavercreek township on the Miami river, also had its supporters before the commissioners. There was one resident of Greene county at that time who had very definite intentions of becoming the proprietor of the new city and in him were combined the traits of a good business man with vision and sufficient capital for furthering his schemes. That man was John Paul, who had become a resident of Greene county in 1797, when he settled on Beaver creek. When the question of the location of the county seat arose, like his neighbors, as the story goes, John Paul intended to lay out the new seat of justice on his own holding on Beaver creek, backing up the feasibility of the same by declaring that for advantages of location and the like, his holding was unequaled by any of the county. It seems that Lewis Davis, a large landowner and pioneer of Greene county, and who obviously had the correct idea concerning the future development of the county, convinced Paul that his tract was not the place for the new county seat. It was the opinion of Lewis that the place chosen would be at the forks of Shawnee run, the spot which is now occupied by Xenia. At that time this land was owned by Thomas and Elizabeth Richardson, of Hanover county, Virginia, and on June 7, 1803, John Paul purchased two thousand acres, which comprised surveys No. 2243 and No. 2242, from these two absentee landowners, "in consideration of one thousand and fifty pounds current money of Virginia." John Paul was a man of considerable influence in the county at that time, and later served for several years as clerk of the court of common pleas, clerk of the court of county commissioners, clerk of the supreme court and county recorder. He undoubtedly began using his influence upon the commissioners who were locating the county seat, who reported to the next court of common pleas that the tract which lay around the forks of the Shawnee run, the proprietor of the same being John Paul, was the best available site. On August 3, 1803, Joseph C. Vance was appointed director of the county to survey the county seat and lay off the town. On November 14, 1804, Vance bought the town site of two hundred and fifty-seven and three-fourths acres from John Paul for two hundred and fifty dollars. Evidently before this transfer Paul had donated to the county-seat town and the county of Greene one and one-half acres of ground for public buildings which was possibly an inducement to the commissioners for locating the seat of justice on his land. Yet while the original proprietor of Xenia was liberal, he had a sharp eye for reaping benefits in the future, as the new town would grow and improve. 104 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO NAMING THE NEW COUNTY SEAT. How the new county seat came to be called "Xenia" is wrapped in some obscurity and again we must depend upon tradition. The authority for this story is the late Mrs. Maria Stone of Springfield, Ohio, the youngest daughter of Gen. Benjamin Whiteman. Soon after the commissioners had decided upon the site at the forks of Shawnee run for the new county seat, General Whiteman, his father-in-law, Owen Davis, and his mother-in-law, Laticia Davis, had been invited by Joseph C. Vance, the director of the new county seat, John Paul, William Beatty and others to meet with them at the "cross-roads," the intersection of the present Main and Detroit streets, to aid in deciding upon a name for the new county seat. Of course the invitation was accepted and these pioneers and their families were present upon the momentous occasion along with many others. Many names were suggested, among which were Greenville, Wayne and Washington. When the discussion was at its height, a scholarly-looking gentleman who had been watching the proceedings, courteously interrupted the meeting, and said : "Gentlemen, allow me to suggest a name for your county town. In view of the kind and hospitable manner with which I have been treated whilst a stranger to most of you, allow me to suggest the name of Xenia, taken from the Greek and signifying hospitality." The suggestion was accepted and the name was placed with the others which were about to be balloted upon. Several ballots were taken and at last the contest had narrowed down to a tie between "Xenia" and some other name which Mrs. Stone did not recall. Out of consideration to Owen Davis, one of the earliest settlers in the county and the first miller in these parts, his wife, Laticia, was allowed to cast the deciding vote, which vote favored the Greek name. Thus it was that the new county seat came by the name of Xenia. It was later found out by the pioneers gathered together on that day, that the learned gentlemen who had given them the happy suggestion of Xenia, was none other than the Rev. Robert Armstrong, who one year later became the pastor of the Massiescreek and Sugarcreek congregations of the Associate Presbyterian (Seceder) church in Greene county. It is indisputable that the Reverend Armstrong was present in Greene county in that year 1803, for the records of the court show that during the December term of that year, Robert Armstrong was issued a license to s0lemnize a marriage. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT. When the four counties, of which Greene was one, were established, the Legislature determined that the act was to go into force on May 1, 1803. By another act of the General Assembly, passed April 16, 1803, it was stip- GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 105 ulated that it was the duty of the associate judges of the court of common pleas in each of the new counties then organized to meet on May J0, 1803, following, at the places designated where courts were to be held, and lay out the counties into a convenient number of townships and to determine for each township a proper number of justices of the peace, who were to be elected on the following June 21. This first convening of the court of common pleas then was not for the purpose of trying cases, but for transacting the necessary business pertaining to the organization of the county. The following is the record of the first meeting of the court of common pleas in Greene county : At the house of Owen Davis on Beaver Creek, on Tuesday, the tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and three, William Maxwell, Benjamin Whiteman and James Barrett, Esquires, produced commissions under the hand and seal of his excellency, Edward Tiffin, governor of the state of Ohio, appointing them associate judges of the court of common pleas, of the county of Greene. William Maxwell, esquire, produced a certificate under the hand of James Barrett, Esquire, bearing date, the twentieth day of April, last past, that he, the said William, had taken the oath to support the constitution of the United States. and of this state, and the oath of office ; and then the said William administered the aforesaid oath to Benjamin Whiteman and James Barrett, Esquires. And there was a court held for the county of Greene, agreeably to the law in that case made and provided. John Paul was appointed clerk pro tempore to said court and took the oath of office. The court then proceeded to lay off the said county into townships, as followeth (to wit) : (the townships established were Sugarcreek, Caesarscreek, Mad River and Beavercreek townships). It is considered by the court that for and in the township of Sugarcreek, there shall be elected one justice of the peace, for the township of Caesarscreek, one; for the township of Mad River, three, and for the township of Beavercreek, five. It is considered by the court that on the thirteenth, instant, there shall be an election held (at the temporary seat of justice), for the purpose of electing a sheriff and coroner, agreeably to an act of the assembly, in that case made and provided. Considered that court be adjourned till court in course. Attest JOHN PAUL, C. G. C. From thence on during the year the associate judges met to carry on the business of the county since the office of county commissioner had not then been created. The levy of the county must be determined, and on August 26, 1803, it was placed at four hundred and forty-six dollars and four cents, quite different from the levy of today. As the residents of the county had been accustomed to settling their disputes with their fists, much work was in store for the grand jury. The fact that there were some refractory members of the community whose conduct warranted their being confined to jail, a county bastile had t0 be provided. It was an improvised one, but it surely served the purpose, for the court ordered "that the large block house at Mr. Jacob Smith's Mill on Beaver Creek be appropriated to the use of a Jail, and that Benjamin Whiteman, Esq., be appointed in behalf of the court to contract for the repair of the same." Wolves were plentiful 106 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO and an act of the General Assembly gave the governments of the several counties the right to pay bounties for wolf scalps. On August 22, 1803, the record says : "It is considered by the Court that there shall be paid out of the Treasury of Said County, fifty cents for each wolf killed in the lands of said County, agreeably to law in that case made and provided." EARLY ACTS OF THE COURT. In those early days when settlers by the thousands were coming into the Ohio lands to establish their homes, places of entertainment had to be provided for the newcomers as they went about over the territory, and taverns were a necessity. These "public houses of entertainment" did not exist without sharing the expense of the county government, and the individual who sought to become a tavern keeper, had to get license from the court of common pleas. At the second meeting of the court on August 4, 1803, licenses were issued Archibald Lowry and Griffith Foos of Springfield. Peter Borders, the tenant of the house where the county seat of justice was located, saw an opportunity for increasing his income by keeping a tavern, and accordingly at this same meeting of the court he presented the following petition We, the subscribers, beg leave to recommend to the honorable court, Peter Borders as a fit person to keep a publick house of entertainment on Beavercreek in the county of Greene—and we, your petitioners, hope that a license may be granted accordingly—and as in duty bound we will ever pray. Beavercreek, 4th of August, A. D., 1803. Joseph Vance George Allen William Ort Elijah Davisson James Carroll Owen Davis James McCoy David McCoy Alexander McCoy John McCoy Robert McCoy Nathan Lamme John Paul William Maxwell As the "Honorable Court" were finally convinced that such a house of "publick" entertainment was necessary to the "publick" service, and that Peter Borders was a fit person to operate the same, they accordingly granted him the license. At this meeting of the court in August, 1803, James Galloway, Sr., was appointed treasurer of the county, in which capacity he served his neighbors continuously until 1819. By far the most important business transacted by the court was that of GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 107 surveying and platting the site of the new town of Xenia. Joseph C. Vance was appointed director on August 3, 1803, and as security for his performance of all the duties depending upon his office he gave the first bond ever given in the county, as follows : KNOW all men by these presents that we, Joseph C. Vance, David Houston and Josiah Wilson, of Greene County, are respectively held and firmly bound unto the said Treasurer of said County & State of Ohio or his successors in office in the Penal sum of Fifteen hundred dollars,—As witness our hand and Seal, &c. The Condition of the above mentioned obligation is such that if the Above mentioned Joseph C. Vance shall well, truly and faithfully discharge and perform all and singular the duties, &c. of Director for Purchasing of land, laying off and selling of lots at the Seat of Justice for the aforesaid County of Greene, as established by the Commissioners appointed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, for that purpose, agreeable to an act in such cases made and provided,—the obligation is void & of no effect, otherwise it stands in full force and virtue. As witness our hands and seals this Fourth day of August, One thousand eight hundred and three. Attest : JOHN PAUL, CLK.  JOSEPH C. VANCE  (Seal) DAVID HOUSTON   (Seal) JOSIAH WILSON     (Seal) For the services which he performed according to the bond, Joseph C. Vance received at the term of the next December "$49.25 for laying off the town of Xenia, finding chairmen, making plots and selling lots." The duties and emoluments arising from the position as director seemed to appeal to Vance and his services were demanded for the laying off of the town of Urbana after Champaign county was organized in 1805. At any rate the minutes of the board of commissioners of Greene county shows that on August 27, 1805, "Joseph C. Vance resigns his office as director, therefore it is ordered that William Beatty be appointed director in his place and that he give bond and security in the penalty of three thousand dollars for the full performance of said office." Nevertheless, in the short time in which the original director of the new county seat was in office, he had plenty to do and in the main his work was done well. There is, however, one instance in the sale of a lot for which he made two transfers. Apparently, the first purchaser did not fulfill his contract and the tract reverted to the county, but Vance made no record of the occurrence, somewhat to the confusion of persons who consult the records concerning the transfers of the tract. FIRST MEETING PLACE OF COURT AT XENIA. The associate judges continued to hold session of court in the house of Owen Davis, which was located five and one-half miles west of the present city of Xenia, on what is now known as the Harbine farm in Beavercreek 108 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO township, until after the June term of 1804. By this time the site of the new county seat had been selected and William A. Beatty, an enterprising Kentuckian, was busy hauling and hewing logs and erecting the first tavern in the new county seat of justice. He had rented the west room up stairs to the county for a court room. This house, which was a hewed log structure, two stories high, was erected on the site now covered by the Dowling block on Main street, opposite the present court house. Its length was from east to west and its west end was about forty-five feet east of the southeast corner of Main and Detroit streets, on Lot No. 13, where the Xenia National Bank now stands. Here the court continued to mete out pioneer justice until 1809 when it moved into the new court house which was completed in that year. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. The office of county commissioner has not existed since the erection of Greene county, and the business which is now transacted by the board of commissioners was first carried on by the court of common pleas. It was by an act of the General Assembly of Ohio, passed February 14, 1804, that the office of county commissioner was created as it stands today and the first commissioners of Greene county under this act were elected on the first Monday in April, 1804. The men elected were Jacob Smith, James Snoden and John Sterritt, and they held their first meeting for the transaction of the business of the county ,in the following June. The record of this meeting stilt exists in a little paper-back book which is very much browned by age, and is reproduced verbatim with its excessive capitalization, lack of punctuation, poor spelling and awkward grammar, as follows : FIRST MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS. "At the House of Peter Borders on Beaver Creek, on the Eleventh day of June, 1804— Jacob Smith, James Snoden and John Sterritt, gent., produced a Certificate of their being duly Elected Commissioners of the County of Greene and also produced a Certificate under the hand and seal of James Barrett, Esq., one of the Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, that they had taken the oath required by Law, and there was court held by the Board of Commissioners for said County—and John Paul was appointed Clerk to the said Board of Commissioners—and then the said Commissioners cast lots for rank—and Jacob Smith drew for three years, John Sterritt for two and James Snoden for one. The Listers of Taxable property in said County having failed to bring in their lists, for which cause the County business cannot be adjusted. Therefore it is considered that the Board will meet on the first Monday of next to lay the levy of said County. Ordered that the Clerk advertise for the listers of taxable property to forward their lists on or before said Monday, and for all those having claims against said County to attend the Court— Ordered that Court be adjourned till the first Monday of July, next. (Signed) JOHN PAUL, CLK. Thus it was that the board of county commissioners began its career, and for more than a century it has served the interests of the county ably GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 109 and well, but the volume of its business in the early years bears a striking contrast to that of today. These early commissioners were busy men. The new court house must be built in Xenia and the construction of it was let to William Kendall on January 6, 1806, at the then considerable sum of three thousand three hundred and ninety-six dollars. The expenditure of such a sum necessitated most careful attention. But before the work could be begun on the projected building in Xenia, the public square had to be cleared, for it was then overgrown with timber, and William Tindall was allowed six dollars for performing the task. The new court house had to be carefully planned, not only with the intention of making it a serviceable building but also beautiful one in the eyes of the pioneer architects. Several "extras" were ordered, among which was a cupola which was gradually raised no less than three times by order of the commissioners until it reached the height of twenty-five feet. A cupola was not enough, for the board ordered that it must be surmounted by a ball of brass twenty-two inches in diameter and that a weathercock of brass in the shape of a fish should grace the topmost point of the spire. The cupola was not complete without a bell, and in 1819 Robert Nesbitt was "empowered to get a Bell for the use of the Court House from Cincinnati, of one hundred pounds weight & to be insured as a good and sound one of good and proper Bell Metal." BOTHERSOME QUESTIONS ARISE. Along with the building of the court h0use other bothersome questions continually arose. The listers would not turn in the property and business would be held up, on that account. Some of the more liberty-loving pioneers persisted in feeling the strong arm of the law and often they were confined to the county bastile, which was improvised from one of the block houses near the temporary seat of justice at the house of Peter Borders. Oftentimes the prisoner escaped and the jail had to be repaired. Shackles and handcuffs were ordered from the village blacksmith, Joseph Hammell, who was as skillful in making fetters as he was at fashioning a plow share. Sometimes the commissioners were forced to give mercy to a violator of the law as is evinced by the following order of June 25, 1818: Whereas, William Hodge has been committed to jail for a fine assessed by the Court of Common Pleas, in and for Greene County and the State of Ohio, for playing at cards, &c., and it appearing to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that he, the said William Hodge, is not able to pay said fines and cost, or any part of them, it is therefore ordered that the jailor discharge him. (Signed) W. HAINES. As soon as possible the commissioners began holding their meetings in the new county seat which soon began to take form in the forest, but since there was no court house yet at their disposal, they held their sessions in the 110 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO house of William Beatty, the owner of the most palatial house in Xenia in the days of the city's infancy. This was a two-story house, built of hewed logs. Heretofore the court of common pleas had been convened in this house; and its use as a court house brought forth an order from the commissioners allowing the owner "twenty-eight dollars for house rent for the years 1804 and 1805." FIRST MEETING IN NEW COURT HOUSE. The first recorded meeting of the commissioners in the new court house took place on March 4, 1811, and the pride which the county fathers had in their new court house and public square was certainly pardonable. They immediately set to work leveling the public ground by filling the natural depressions on its surface and in clearing off the brush. Evidently there were many of the townsmen who looked upon the public square as common property whereon they could establish their "wood piles," board kilns and the like, and this brought forth the following order from the board of commissioners : Ordered that no board Kiln or any other nuisance Shall hereafter be put on the Pub-lick Ground in the Town of Xenia by any citizen, and it is further ordered that all logs, boards, &c (except it is materials for the building of publick buildings) shall be immediately removed. (Signed) THOMAS HUNTER. A no less important personage than the famous Indian fighter, Simon Kenton, experienced some discomfiture from the determination of the county commissioners to make the public square a "thing of beauty," for on June 6, 1823, they requested "that the Auditor of this County give notice to James Galloway, Jr., that he have the house now occupied by Simon Kenton as a shop removed off the Publick Ground on or before the first of September, next." To the commissioners a fence around the square seemed an absolute necessity to its beautification and at the same time it would prevent the milch cows, which ran at large through the streets, from browsing under the windows of the county temple of justice and would keep the pleasure-loving porkers of the neighborhood from making wallows within the public ground. Accordingly, James Galloway, Sr., was given the contract to build a fence about the public square for one hundred and seventy dollars. Evidently the peace of the county officials in those early days was disturbed by "loafers" who to this day are seen around some court houses. Again, there seemed to be considerable trespassing on the public ground in those days, for the gates thereto were often left open. This state of affairs caused the commissioners to have spread upon their record that "the County GREENE COUNTY, OHIO - 111 Auditor is hereby authorized to have the North gate into the Publick Ground nailed up and have the other two gates into the Publick Ground fixed with chains that the gates when opened will shut themselves; and also that he have pieces of plank nailed across inside the windows in the lower part of the Court House in order to prevent people from sitting in the windows." SALE OF PART OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE. Watchdogs of the county treasury were these early commissioners of Greene county, and oftentimes their zeal for economy in administration led them into difficulties. Luckily, however, nothing of serious consequence resulted from their zeal for eking out the county's money. Since in their judgment the public square was unnecessarily large for the county's purpose, they ordered William Beatty, the director 0f Xenia, to sell lots off the public ground on the second Friday of February, 1817. To facilitate the sale, five or six written advertisements were posted in public places in Greene county and the date, terms and nature of the sale were published in the Liberty Bell of Cincinnati. On the day of the sale, the directors sold parts of four in-lots. This enterprise had no bad results, but another project of the commissioners would have entailed difficulty had they succeeded in completing it. In 1835 they decided to plat the public square and lease parts of it for long terms. The platting was done and the sale of the leases was advertised. The complete story of this sale of parts of the public square is told in another chapter. Money was dear and hard to get in those early days. When the sheriff was allowed seventy-five cents for furnishing the court and jury with firewood and eighteen and three-fourths cents for paper, the money had to be forthcoming. The commissioner's rented their office to the pioneer attorney, William Alexander, for one dollar a month, since they had only occasional need of it. However, Alexander understood before he took possession .that he must take good care of the room and that the clerk and commissioners could use the office without restraint. There was another measure of economy taken by the board which seems amusing to us now, but was a very practical measure to them. After the first jail was erected in Xenia in 1804 and 1805 a means of providing heat for the prisoners, many of whom were imprisoned for debt, was necessary. Stoves at that early date were rare, but the progressive board appropriated forty dollars on November 5, 1805, to provide a stove for the debtor's room at the jail and James Collier, the sheriff, was appointed to procure it. In obedience to the order, he made a trip to Cincinnati and brought the stove by team from that young metropolis of the west and set it up for the comfort of the debtors. When the enforcement of the debtor law became lax, the stove was put to little use and on the approach of winter in 1822 the commissioners decided 112 - GREENE COUNTY, OHIO to make the stove a revenue producer, and on December 22 of that year they issued the following order : Ordered that John McPherson have the use of the Stove now in the Debtor's Room in the Jail of the County, for which he is to pay to the Treasurer of Greene County for the County's use, seventy-five cents per month during the time that he keeps it, and is to return said Stove and set it up, fit for use, in the Debtor's Room, aforesaid, at any time when required to do so by the Jailor of said County, after a sufficient time being allowed for the Stove to get Cool. (Signed) JOHN STERRITT. COUNTY FINANCE. If the farmers of 1803 and 1804 had to pay as high a tax rate as the farmers of 1918, there would have been a far greater number of protests then than there were before the board of equalization in 1917. Living was of the simplest kind one hundred years ago and if an associate judge or clerk of the court or any county official had been paid as much as the janitor of the court house in 1918 receives there would have been a taxpayers' league organized within a short time. The following orders of the commissioners in 1805 will give some idea of the salaries paid county officials in those early days: Ordered that the Clerk of the Board of Commissioners be allowed thirty dollars for his services for the present year. Ordered that the attorney prosecuting the pleas for the present year be allowed 20 dollars a term. Ordered that the collectors of County Taxes be allowed ten per cent on all monies by them collected and paid over to the County Treasurer. Ordered that the Treasurer be allowed three per cent for safe keeping and paying out all publick monies. It is a long step from the day when corn sold for ten cents a bushel to the year 1918, when it is bringing two dollars a bushel, and there is about an equal disparity between taxes paid in 1803 and those of 1918. In the year of the organization of the county realty values were not taxed and personal property was not levied upon according to its value only in one instance. In the townships of Beavercreek, Caesarscreek and Sugarcreek horses were taxed at thirty cents a head, cows at twelve and one-half cents each and stallions were taxed according to the rate a season. The only attempt at taxing property ad valorem was in the levy upon houses, mills and the like, which were levied upon at fifty cents on each one hundred dollars. According to the act establishing Greene county which exempted all the inhabitants living in the newly erected county north of the eighth range from any tax for the purpose of erecting court houses and jails, the tax paid by the residents of Mad River township was reduced two cents on each horse and one cent on each cow, but the rate on houses and mills and stallions remained GREENE COUNTY, OHIO- 113 the same. At their meeting on August 26, 1803, the associate judges re-ported taxes collected as follows :