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CITY OF DAYTON.

CHAPTER I.

SELECTING THE SITE-PURCHASE OF 1789-THE PROPRIETORS 1795-THE PLAT ARRIVAL OF FIRST SETTLERS-DAYTON PIONEERS-THREE FIRST CABINS TOPOGRAPHICAL -DISCOURAGEMENTS-IMPROVEMENTS--THE HAMLET--BLOCK -HOUSE AND SCHOOL-FIRST DAYTON BABY-CABIN MEETING HOUSE AND BURYING-GROUND-FLAT BOATING TRADE-SKIN CURRENCY-INDIAN TRADING -TITLES AND CHANGE OF PLAT-THE OLD TAVERN-POPULATION REDUCED.

THE DAYTON SETTLEMENT.

THE skirmish between the Kentuckians and Indians, at the mouth of Mad River, November 9, 1782, and the bivouac of the Kentuckians here November 20, on their return march, was the first opportunity the whites had to examine this portion of the splendid Miami Valley; and at that time their attention was drawn to the location, as a good point for settlement.

Some of this same party camped here again for two or three days in 1786, on their return from a successful expedition against the Machacheek towns.

Maj. Benjamin Stites, who in 1788 was the first to explore the valley, immediately after his return to the Ohio River, began negotiations with Judge Symmes for the purchase of the entire seventh range of townships, from one Miami to the other. The deed was executed June 11, 1789, and was recorded soon afterward; the price was 83 cents an acre, but as has already been stated, the enterprise was delayed, and finally defeated, by the long continued Indian wars.

The purchase of the seventh and eighth ranges of townships, between Mad River and the Little Miami, by Gov. Arthur St. Clair, Jonathan Dayton, Gen. James Wilkinson and Col. Israel Ludlow, seemed a fair chance for emigrants, who had been waiting to settle in the Miami Valley.

November 4, 1795, the town was laid out; and here on the ground, those present for themselves, and as representatives for others, who proposed to join the colony-in all forty-six people-drew donation lots, and the surveyors with the whole party, returned to Cincinnati for the winter.

Two small camps of Indians were here when the settlers arrived in the pirogue April 1, 1796.

"As daylight broke,

A strange sound waked the void-the measured stroke

Of splashing oars-and round the graceful bend

A boat her steady course was seen to wend;

Slowly she comes, and to the woody beach

She nearer draws, until at last they reach

The destined shore, and quick the anxious group

Spring from her deck, a strong and hardy troop!

Then through the wild the startled echoes leap

As first the ax is rained, and buried deep

In the gnarled trunk of an ancestral oak!

The sound was new, * * * * * *

* * * the ground was quickly cleared

And sheltering cabins from the ruin reared."

The boat was landed at the head of St. Clair street, and Mrs. Catherine Thompson was the first lady to step ashore.

*Chapters I to V, inclusive, on "City of Dayton," are written by Ashley Brown.

548 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The Indians were easily made friendly, and left within a day or two without trouble.

The men at once arranged temporary shelter for the two families, then cleared off a small space for the cabins and began getting out the logs, and when the overland parties arrived, all were busy at the work.

DAYTON PIONEERS.

Samuel Thompson, his wife Catharine and their two children, Sarah and Matthew; Benjamin and William Van Cleve, and their sister Mary; George Newcom, his wife Mary, and his brother William; Widow McClure, her sons, James and John, and daughters, Kate and Ann; and Abraham Glassmire; were those of the colony who on April 1, 1796, located on the town plat, and were therefore the pioneer settlers of Dayton. William Van Cleve moved on his land south of the settlement, within two or three years.

Abraham Grassmire had gone away before 1799.

Three cabins then were the beginning of the settlement on the Dayton plat; George Newcom's at the southwest corner of Main and Water streets; Samuel Thompson's on Water street, half way between Jefferson and St. Clair; and the cabin of Widow McClure and her boys, at the southwest corner of Water and Mill streets. The Dayton settlement included the farming lands in a circle of two or three miles around the mouth of Had River.

TOPOGRAPHICAL.

The settlers were influenced to locate on the river bank, at Water street, from their idea that the most desirable property would be near the landing, from whence in future years must be shipped the surplus products of the country.

On the west side of the plat, a prairie extended from First street to Fifth, and from Perry street to the sycamores along the river. The high ground of this prairie was fenced by the pioneers as a common farming lot. In it any of them was entitled to till as much of the soil as he chose.

Corn and some vegetables were also planted in a little prairie that lay between this larger tract and the cabins.

The boundaries of the plat were as follows: Water street was the north line; the east line was Mill street, south to Third, thence west to St. Clair; south to Fifth; west to Jefferson; south to South street (since changed in name to Sixth); west to Ludlow; north to Fifth; west to Wilkinson; and north to Water street. The streets were not opened for several years, but remained covered with forest trees and a dense undergrowth of vines and bushes, except Water street, which was cleared to the water's edge, and a narrow wagon road was cut out the entire length of Main street.

A gully, five or six feet deep, extended from the corner of Wilkinson and First streets, crossing Main at the corner of Main Cross street (Third street), and ending in the prairie, near the corner of Fifth and Brown streets.

There were also small prairies north of First street and west of Wilkinson; some of them of half an acre, but most smaller. There were also five prairies east of St. Clair street and south of First, separated from each other by small strips of timber, and extending down to the present Stout street canal bridge. Between these prairies, the center of the plat was a dense mass of hazel bushes and plum thickets, hawthorn trees and occasional clumps of forest trees. East of Mill street to Webster, and between First and Loury streets, there was a heavy growth of hickory timber, with here and there oak and walnut. From Webster street east to the hill, there were jack oaks, plum thickets and thorn trees. A deep ravine ran from the head of Mill street down the pres-

CITY OF DAYTON. - 549

ent course of the canal to the river, below the foot of Ludlow street. Another wide ravine extended from the river, at the head of Jefferson street, across to the common (now the public square), connecting with the ravine running south.

The town having been named Dayton, after a Federalist, the four streets most favorably located were named St. Clair, Jefferson, Ludlow and Wilkinson.

The streets to run east and west were: Water, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and South streets ; running north and south were Mill, St. Clair, Jefferson, Main, Ludlow and Wilkinson streets.

The town plat was laid out in 280 lots, each 100 feet wide and 200 feet deep. There were also fifty-four outlets of ten acres each, east of where the canal basin now is. There were reservations for markets, schools, churches and burial-grounds.

The little garden and corn-patches had yielded plenty in the way of . supplies.

Two or three settlers joined the colony in the winter of 1796-97. More land was cleared and cultivated, and supplies were plenty for the settlers that were coming in to locate on the farming lands. Friends and strangers were alike welcome to share in whatever the pioneers had.

The spring of 1797 opened with the brightest prospects for the little colony. Disadvantages and difficulties incident to new settlements were overcome, and the prospect of another good season brought contentment to the pioneers.

Carefully were the truck-patches watched for the early spring growth, and although the variety of vegetables was limited, they were enjoyed with a relish when they did come. First, the weeks, then the days were counted, until the potatoes should blossom; and when the young corn might be pulled for roasting ears, it was an event in the settlement.

The scanty improvements of the settlers made very little change in the landscape

DISCOURAGEMENTS.

The winter of 1798-99 was a season of great annoyance; the people were very much alarmed at the danger of loosing their labor, lands and improvements by reason of the failure on the part of Symmes in securing a title to the lands; many were disheartened and moved away; others were discouraged from coming. At length the settlers sent the following petition to Congress.

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress Assembled

The petition of the first settlers at Dayton and Mercer's Station, in Montgomery and Greene Counties, Ohio, respectfully sheweth: That the Hon. Judge Symmes having made a relinquishment of his claim to a certain tract of lands lying between the Miami Rivers, to Gov. St. Clair, Gen. Wilkinson, Jonathan Dayton and Israel Ludlow, Esquires, the said lands being all the seventh and eighth ranges of townships east of Mad River; in order to form settlements on the same and augment its value the proprietors offered certain gratuities and privileges to such as might engage to become first settlers, which are contained in the articles accompanying the petition.

On the 5th of November, 1795, forty-six persons engaged to become settlers at Dayton, but from the many difficulties in forming a new settlement so far in a wilderness country, only fifteen of those came forward, with four others, making nineteen in all.

From the threats and ill-treatment of the savages to the people of Mercer's Station it was once evacuated, and at several times Mr. Mercer with two brothers maintained the station at the risk of their lives. These settlements were formed by your petitioners a few months after the treaty of Greenville, when we had not faith in the friendship of the savages. Our settlement was immediately on their hunting grounds. We were not able to keep a horse amongst us during the first season, by reason of their stealing. The scarcity of provisions had raised flour to $9 a barrel, and other articles in proportion, which we had to purchase and transport fifty miles through a wilderness, clearing roads,

550 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

etc.; under all these and many more difficulties we labored in hopes of obtaining our lands at a low rate and the small gratuity offered. Several of your petitioners have not been able to procure any, land ; others have laid their claims before the Commissioners agreeably to the late law, and purchased at $2 per acre. We be leave to state to your honorable body that the proprietors have not received the expected advantages from the forming of these settlements; that your petitioners have been at a vast expense, labor and difficulty in forming the said settlements, and have received no recompense nor privilege other than subsequent settlers; that they first opened a way, in consequence of which the .country has become populous and the United States has received a handsome revenue from the sale of the lands; that the town of Dayton is purchased by a subsequent settler, and we pray that Congress will make to us such gratuity in lands, or deduction from payments for lands, or grant such other relief as our case merits.

Your petitioners further pray in behalf of Rev. William Hamer, a settler at Dayton, who, having settled on the Section 29 in the Second Township and Seventh Range, before the lines were run, with an expectation of holding it agreeable to the terms set forth in Article A, and has since continued to cultivate and improve it, as it was supposed to be appropriated for religious purposes, he being a preacher of the Gospel and having the approbation of Mr. Ludlow, one of the proprietors, as appears by the Article C. Now, as the said section is to be sold as other lands, the said Hamer is willing to pay $2 per acre for it, in installments, agreeable to the late laws for the disposal of United States lands. We pray your honorable body may grant him a preemption and the indulgence he wishes: and your petitioners shall, etc.

William Gahagan, Samuel Thompson, Benjamin Van Cleve, William Van Cleve, Thomas Davis, James McClure, Daniel Ferrel, John McClure. Thomas Hamer, Abraham Grassmire, William Hamer, Solomon Hamer, William Chenoweth, George Newcom, William Newcom and James Morris.

Thomas Davis, representative of John Davis, deceased: William Hamer, representative of Solomon Goss ; B. Van Cleve and William Gahagan, representatives of John Dorough ; Jonathan Mercer, for himself and others of Mercer's Station, on Mad River.

Congress in the way of relief, and in compliance with this petition, passed a law on the 2d of March, 1799, giving to these people, and any others who had any contract in writing with John Cleves Symmes previous to the 1st of April, 1797, the privilege of purchasing lands of the United States at the price of $2 an acre, to be paid in three annual installments. This law did not afford the relief desired, and but three or four persons entered their lands under it.

IMPROVEMENTS.

In the winter of 1798-99, " Newcom's Tavern " was built two stories high, of hewn logs. Lime had not, previous to that, been used in the settlement, and in this building was the first instance that lime mortar had been used for chinking. To make the lime, stones were gathered from the river bed and piled over a huge log fire, which answered every purpose of a kiln. A country boy who saw the house when it was being plastered, reported in wonder to his folks at home, that " Col. Newcom was plastering his house inside with flour.''

This was the first tavern in the Miami Valley north of Fort Hamilton ; and in the second story, one year afterward, was opened the first store, in the room in which, in 1803, was held the first court, and later was occupied as a church by the Presbyterians.

This building was afterward weather-boarded; is still standing on the ground upon which it was originally built, and is now occupied as a grocery and dwelling. Gen. Jacob Brown built a cabin and kept bachelor's hall at the southwest corner of Water and Jefferson streets. Gen. Brown distinguished himself in the war of 1812, and was afterward Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, in which position he served until his death, February 24, 1828.

THE HAMLET.

April 1, 1799, three years after the settlement of Dayton, there were nine cabins in the town, six of them on Water street, two on First street, and one at the corner of Fifth and Main streets. The cabin and sheds at the south-

CITY OF DAYTON. - 551

east corner of Water and Wilkinson were occupied by a farmer, John Williams, and his family.

Newcom's Tavern, southwest corner of Main and Water streets.

Paul D. Butler's cabin was on Water street, just east of Main.

After Gen. Brown left, D. C. Cooper occupied the cabin corner of Water and Jefferson streets, but it was then unoccupied.

Samuel Thompson's cabin was situated on Water street, half way between Jefferson and St. Clair. The widow McClure and her family lived in the cabin at the southwest corner of Mill and Water streets.

The cabin and shop of Thomas Arnett, a shoemaker, were on the northwest corner of First and Ludlow streets. George Westfall and family lived in the cabin at the southeast corner of Main street and the alley between First and Water streets. John Welsh's cabin was on the southeast corner of Fifth and Main streets. From the corner of Mill and Water streets, a wagon road led up Mad River, by Hamer's farm to Demint's and Mercer's Stations. A side road also connected this road with First street. A road branched off, crossing Mad River, leading up the Miami to Livingston, Staunton and Piqua.

A road ran south through Franklin and Hamilton, to Cincinnati.

Strangers coming from the south, read the sign-board that stood at the foot of Main street (now the corner of Warren and Main streets), " One-half mile to Dayton."

The town-plat was surrounded with thick, heavy woods that abounded in game, such as bear, deer, wolves, panthers and wild cats. All roads were cut out just wide enough for a single wagon.

On the road running south, the nearest cabin was that of Thomas Davis, on the bluffs, and below that there was no clearing this side of Hole's Station, where there was but a single cabin, near the old block-house and stockade.

Old Chillicothe, a Shawnee town on the Little Miami, three miles north of where Xenia now stands. was the settlement to the east. In the forks of Mad River was Cribb's Station; Mercer's Station was near the present site of Fairfield; two or three settlers were at the mouth of Donnel's Creek; Demint's Station, now Springfield, and McPherson's Station, in the vicinity of Urbana. To the north, two or three families had settled at the mouth of Honey Creek, in Miami County, calling the town Livingston; Staunton was a station a mile east of Troy, and there were a few people at Piqua and Loramie's store.

BLOCK-HOUSE AND SCHOOL.

During the summer the settlers were greatly alarmed at the threatened Indian hostilities; block-houses were built at all of the stations of the frontier A large one was erected on the river bank, at the head of Main street, here in Dayton. It was built of round logs, the second story jutted over, two feet all around, so that guard might be kept to prevent the savages firing the building below. The settlers were organized and armed, ready to repair to the block-house with their families at the first alarm; but, fortunately, the savages were quieted.

The diary of Benjamin Van Clove shows that he, as "master," opened a small school in the lower story of this block-house, on the 1st day of September, 1799. The room was furnished in a plain, rough way; there were no chairs; the seats used were a few low, block stools, and hewed slab benches. The instructions given were necessarily of a limited and simple kind. The scarcity of books was a great hindrance to the scholars; the school hours were given to lessons in spelling, writing and figures. The teacher prepared one or two charts, in plain letters, from which the alphabet and spelling were taught, the scholars using any old book they might find at home to practice reading.

552 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

As there were no slates, paper or pencil, lessons in writing were given in sand; for this purpose, a long, narrow slab-table stood in the center of the room, a layer of dry river sand was smoothed over the table, and, with a small sharpened stick, the scholars copied in the sand the letters of the alphabet from the chart. Progress was slow, yet, in this way the barefooted boys and girls of the last century learned to write and figure. Writing lessons were continued in this way for fifteen years afterward.

A clapboard with "Out," on one side, and "In," on the other, hung just inside the door; but one scholar was allowed to "go out " at a time, and the rule required the board to be turned as the scholar passed " out " or "in."

In Mr. Van Cleve's terms for tuition, he reserved time to gather his corn, and this gave the children the first week in November as a vacation.

The school was continued about a month after "corn gathering;" then, after a month's vacation, he again opened the school and taught a three months' term.

FIRST CHILD BORN IN DAYTON.

The birth of Jane Newcom, at her father's tavern, at the head of Main street, April 14, in the year 1800, was an event that caused some little excitement in the hamlet, for, with her birth came the distinction of being the first child born in Dayton. She married Nathaniel Wilson and lived all of her life on Main street in this city, dying in her seventy-fifth year, at the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets.

CABIN MEETING HOUSE AND BURYING-GROUND.

The organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Dayton, probably occurred in the year 1800, at least, it was the first church organization in Dayton, but the little hamlet of logs and mud was not a point of very great importance at that time.

The Beulah congregation (Presbyterians and New-Lights at Beavertown), were organized prior to that ; the Presbyterians, New-Lights and a society of Anabaptists had built a log meeting house on the grounds of the Ewery grave yard near Beavertown, where they worshiped on alternate Sundays. The Rev. William Robinson who lived at and ran the mills on Mad River three miles from Dayton, preached. for the Presbyterians of the Beulah congregation, and also at Dayton. In the year 1800, a log meeting house was put up on Lot No. 134 by the people of the town, aided by others living in the vicinity. The cabin meeting house stood just east of. the corner of Main and Main Cross (Third) streets, back from the road way, hid from view by clumps of hazel bushes, and undergrowth, and was reached by a winding path that led through the little pioneer burying-ground on the church lot. This cabin meeting house was eighteen by twenty feet, seven logs high, and was not chinked or daubed ; it had a clapboard roof held down by weight poles, rough puncheon floor, log seated, and was without windows.

The Rev. John Thompson, a Presbyterian preacher of Kentucky, preached in the Dayton log cabin meeting house, several times, in the year 1800, and filled occasional appointments here for several years afterward.

The coffins used in the early days were of the simplest construction, being a roll of bark cut the right length, and the ends closed with pieces of clapboard ; others were made of slabs, fastened together with wooden pins. After placing the body inside, the coffin was covered with a bedspread, placed on the bier, and carried by the pall-bearers to the burying-ground, the friends following two by two in procession, from the house to the grave, where after singing and prayer, the coffin would be lowered into the grave and then covered with earth.

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When this pioneer burying-ground was first located, the property so far out from the settlement, as that at the corner of Main and Main Cross streets, was not held at higher value than the farming lands around.

In 1805, when the town had been incorporated, the court house built, and the gully across Main street filled up; property in that neighborhood became more desirable, and it was then determined to change the burying-ground to the lots on the south side of Fifth street, between the first alley west of Ludlow and the first alley west of Wilkinson streets, containing about four acres.

Mrs. Hannah Hanna, who died in August, 1804, was the first person buried in the Fifth Street Graveyard, her remains were removed to Woodland Cemetery September 20, 1853.

Owing to the uncertainty of titles, and the delay in transfers of property, the old burying-ground, as well as the new, was used for interments until after 1813 ; through the war of 1812, soldiers who died here, were buried, some in the old burying-ground, others in the new graveyard. Many of the bodies were afteward removed to the Fifth Street graveyard ; but as late as 1822 a number of grave stones and boards were standing undisturbed in the pioneer burying-ground; and the bones of pioneers still lie where they were first buried, in the rear of the business blocks at the northeast corner of Main and Third streets.

The pioneer Methodists had settled up Mad River in the neighborhood of the Hamer farm. William Hamer was a local Methodist preacher, and from the first had held services at his cabin ; by and by there were regular gather ings there for worship, and could the old trees of Mad River speak, they would tell of interesting scenes in the worship of early Methodists as they gathered in the grove at the foot of the hill near the spring that is still there at the road side ; the joyful songs of faith, the eager listening to the faithful preaching of the Gospel by that earnest pioneer elder of the church. Under his leadership the early Methodists for years held their services in the groves of Mad River, he helped to organize their first churches in this county, and in Miami, Clark and Champaign, and was afterward influential in establishing the church in Dayton.

FLAT-BOATING AND TRADE.

David Lowry, in the winter of 1799-1800, built and launched a flat-boat, up Mad River, near Donnel's Creek, and brought her to Dayton to load. Her timbers were heavy, hewed oak plank, fastened with wooden pins to the frame. She was ready for the spring freshet with a load of grain, pelts, and 500 venison hams, and after a trip of two months, reached New Orleans in safety. After selling boat and cargo, Lowry returned overland on horseback to his home.

Trade down. the river by flat-boats increased in importance each year, until the canal was opened in 1829. Shipments were usually made from the old red warehouse that stood on the river bank, at the head of Wilkinson street. Boats were built in the winter and launched with the spring freshets, and loaded with pork, flour, grain, pelts and whisky. The trip to the Ohio took nearly a week's time, and six to ten weeks were counted on for a trip to New Orleans. Boats from above would land at Dayton, then, when the water was right, the whole fleet would start for the trip South. It was a busy time to get the cargoes aboard and getaway with the high water. Whatever of supplies were brought to the settlements, were transported overland on pack-horses or up the river in dug-outs. It was nearly a week's trip from Cincinnati by pack horse, and ten days by river. Flour cost $5 a hundred weight, and $2.50 to bring it here. Groceries, dry goods, and supplies of all kinds had to be

556 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

brought in that way; and there being no store here it was troublesome for the pioneers to dispose of pelts, as the nearest trading stores were at Hamilton and Cincinnati. In 1799, Henry Brown was at Loramie with a stock of goods; in the fall of 1800, a Mr. McDougal, of Detroit. opened the first store in Dayton, in the second story of Newcom's tavern. The opening of this first store met the needs of the time, and proved not only the greatest convenience to the people of the neighborhood, but brought trade from the settlements for thirty or forty miles up the Miami and Mad River Valleys. Parties of Indians from their villages to the north and west came, spring and fall, to trade furs, skins, fish, game honey, and "tree-sugar," for powder, lead, blankets, whisky, dry goods and trinkets. Many camps of them were sometimes located at the springs or along the river from Stillwater as far down as Twin Creek. Their camps at Dayton were usually located at the big spring, on the north side of Mad River, near the Miami; or in the woods across the Miami, from the head of Wilkinson street.

Money was not needed on the frontier; the "skin currency" served every purpose for barter and trade; 25 cents was the standard price for a muskrat skin, the price-list rating in this way:

Muskrat skin, 25 cents; coon skin, one and a half muskrat skins; doe skin, two muskrat skins; buck skin, four muskrat skins; bear skin, from twelve to twenty muskrat skins, and upon this table all trading was done be tween men and at the stores. A customer would ask the store-keeper. " What is the price of whisky? " The answer would be. " Five doe skins;" "two buck skins for a shirt;" "two muskrat skins for a yard of calico; " " a bear skin for a bridle-bit; " "four buck skins and two coon skins for a chintz shawl; " "three dozen shirt buttons for a coon skin; " " four pounds of sugar for two doeskins and one muskrat skin; " '"a half-pint flask, or a half-pound of pepper, or a half-pound of tobacco, or a half-ounce of camphor, or a check handkerchief, or twelve skeins of thread, or one ounce of aloes, or a yard of ribbon, or a half-pound of coffee, for one muskrat skin." It took three buck skins to buy a pound of Young Hyson tea; a doe skin to buy a bed cord; a good bear skin was the price of a Dutch oven, and two bear skins was cheap for a set of cups and saucers. A sickle cost a buck skin; a pair of cotton stockings cost two buck skins; a doe skin would buy a yard of shirting : a ridding comb cost a muskrat skin; a pair of moccasins cost a coon skin; a pound of lead for bullets was worth a muskrat skin; a bear skin would buy a set of forks and knives; factory cotton cost a doe skin to the pound; a gallon of brandy sold for five buck skins; one buck skin and one doe skin was the price of a pound of powder.

INDIAN TRADING.

Trading with the Indians at the stores was usually carried on in thIs way: Whether the Indian would come over alone or in a party, the bucks or all who brought their furs, jerked meat, bear's oil, etc., to trade, entered the store in silence and took seats on the benches. The merchant always presented each with a small quantity of tobacco. After filling their pipes they put what tobacco was left into their mink-skin pouches. After smoking awhile, talking to each other and glancing over the store to see the display of goods, they were ready for trade. One of them at a time left his seat and went to the counter, pointing with a stick to the article he desired, would ask, "How much?" The Indians never tried to beat down the price, but if dissatisfied, would quietly turn to some other article. If satisfied with the price, he would pay it in skins, according to the table given above, or if in meat or other stuff, at a rate mutually understood by Indians and traders, paying for each article as he went along. The others looked on without interrupting until the first Indian

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was through trading: then another took his place, and so on in rotation until all had traded. Each one carefully reserved enough to trade for whisky. After all their purchases were made, then came their drunken carouse at their camps. The squaws would often be sent over for whisky, sometimes keeping up the spree for weeks before starting back to the North.

Although not hostile, yet, being entirely unused to the ways of civilized life, they were often troublesome. and a great annoyance to the villagers; bucks and squaws would walk through the cabins, prying into chests and cupboards, and. if not watched, would carry off anything that pleased them. '

TITLES AND CHANGES OF PLAT.

The clearing at the quiet little hamlet on the Aliami had been extended to meet the necessities of newcomers to the settlement. Property had not advanced in value at all; the difficulty about titles prevented the transfers of real estate, and was additional reason for settlers to go upon the farming lands around. Titles of the original purchasers of lots and lands were clouded by the failure of Symmes to complete his purchase of the Government. Their rights, however, were respected. St. Clair. Wilkinson, Dayton and Ludlow abandoned to the Government their claim and right to purchase, and assisted the settlers who had purchased of them, in getting their lands. Through Daniel C. Cooper, who by preemption right, the consent of the settlers and friendly legislation of Congress, became proprietor of the town plat all of the original settlers, or their representatives, procured patents for their lands, and inlots. paying the Government at the rate of $2 per acre, which with the fees, made the lots in town cost about $1 each.

As a part of the arrangement by which Mr. Cooper became titular proprietor of the town plat, a new plat was made, showing the location of each man's property. A very large number of lots were to be given free, for churches, market space, county buildings, burying-grounds and a park. The plat was very materially changed: there were to be 381 inlots, each six poles wide by twelve poles long: and fifty-six outlots east of what is now Sears street. The streets were to be four poles wide. except Main and Alain Cross streets, which were to be six poles wide; the alleys were to be one pole wide. This plat was executed by D. C. Cooper and Israel Ludlow, April 26, 1802, and the next day was duly recorded in the Hamilton County records at Cincinnati. At that time there was a large island in the river at the head of Main street, and three islands in Mad River just above its mouth.

There was a spring in a grove near the corner of First and Wilkinson streets, but most of the families used river water. George Newcom sunk the first well at his tavern. and that old well-sweep was the first to swing in the valley.

THE OLD TAVERN.

Newcom's tavern was a place of note. Men who came up the valley to look for lands stopped there for rest, as well as to inquire the way to the set tlements; families and movers all passed that corner. The tavern was a favorite place for the men to gather; all paths led there; and it was the one place where the men could, in the winter, sit around the big log fire, smoke their pipes, take their toddies and talk or listen to the tales of hunting adventures, or of the more thrilling events of experience in the Indian wars. They could all tell stories from experience, rich in incidents of pioneer times. With scarcely an exception, they told of friends or relatives who had been victims of savage barbarity and massacre. The whole period of their early history was crowded with the most daring adventures; their stories were the facts of

558 - HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

the times, and these men were the pioneer fathers of Dayton, whose descendants are now active and influential in the affairs of the city. Not a man of them could be classed as an adventurer, laboring merely to provide for immediate wants; all were aiming to establish homes for their families, to accumulate property, and were the influential men of the community.

Newcom, the landlord, was his own hostler, barkeeper, gardener and farmer; his log barn, with its racks and troughs, stood back from the road. This was the fully equipped log tavern, almost in the wilderness, and there the pioneers gathered to talk over prospects and surroundings.

POPULATION REDUCED.

At the close of the winter of 1802-03, there were but five families living in the settlement; those of George Newcom, Samuel Thompson, John Weish, Paul D. Butler and George Westfall.

William Newcom and William Van Cleve were farming; John Williams had moved with his family on land that he had entered up Wolf Creek. The McClures had gone to Miami County, and Thomas Arnett had moved away with his family. One-third of the population of the town had abandoned their cabins and had gone into the woods for permanent homes, leaving four vacant cabins in Dayton.