| After reviewing the
civic and social affairs of the people living
between the Little Miami and Eagle Creek a hundred
years ago, cultured sympathy should seek a wider
view of the conditions that disturbed their peaceful
purpose. For, without some consideration of
these conditions, readers accustomed to think of
Ohio as one of the foremost States, and in some
respects, the leader, will expect to be delighted
with accounts of more than she was able to perform
in the second war for independence. Instead of being
the center of population, wealth and influence, and
having most of the great railroads across the
continent tributary to her trade, Ohio, then, was
the frontier State, for Indiana was not admitted
till 1816, and all to the west was a wilderness.
There was not a mile of solid road and scarcely a
bridge forty feet long in all that is north of the
Ohio. Adding a fair percentage of increase to
the census report of 1810, the population was about
three hundred thousand souls of both sexes, both old
and young; and the total aggregate of the State’s
revenues about [Page 370]
[Page 371]
[Page 372]
[Page 373]
[Page 374]
[Page 375]
[Page 376]
revering the memory of thrice honorable forefathers
should be pleased with the results of much inquiry
that has taken many days of my life, and which
should be treasured by many of their descendants.
The results of that inquiry were condensed for the
pages of Mitchell and Thirey’s work on
Clermont, published in 1902. After ten years
little or no change has been found. No claim
was made then or now for absolute accuracy in giving
or omitting names obtained from various sources.
That more can be added by others is probable, and
that a search for the official record of a few will
be disappointing is also probable; for the
Revolutionary archives have suffered some
devastation. Acknowledgment was then made to
the late Royal J. Bancroft for aid, found in
his ‘‘Sketches of Revolutionary Service,” published
in The Clermont Sun during May, June, and July,
1901, in which he mentioned one hundred and twelve
Clermont families having Revolutionary antecedents.
A division is made between modern Brown and Clermont
and some from Adams county may be found in this
LIST
OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
In Clermont
County.
John
Aldridge
Lieut. Joseph Alexander
Adam Bricker
David Brannen
Ramoth Bunting
Lawrence Byrn
James Carter
Andrew Chalmers
James Chambers
Edward Coen
Lieut. William Cowen
Benjamin Davis
Jeremiah Day
John Denine
Robert Dickey
Robert English
Christopher Hartman |
Benajah
Hill
John Hulick
James Johnson
Ignatius Knott
Barton Lowe
Robert Leeds
Hezekiah Lindsey
Mordecai Love
Absalom Smith
John Smith
Obadiah Smith
Serg. John Stewart
Philip Stoner
Jesse Swem
Richard Taliafero
John Thomas
Okey Vanosdol |
[Page 377]
Samuel
Walburn
Nehemiah Ward
Serg. Samuel Webster
John Wheeler
Solomon Whidden
Samuel Wilson
Maj. Joseph Shaylor
Stephen Fennell
James Arthur
Peter Harden
Andrew Apple
Gov. Othniel Looker
Rev. Francis McCormick
Col. Thomas Paxton
Arthur McGrew
Maj. William Riggs
Enoch Buckingham
Jacob Stroup
Daniel Morgan
David Mock
Adam Joy
John Logston
Edward Salt
John Day
John Conrey
Joseph Utter
James Sargent
John Sargent
Reece Carter
Bugler William Sloan
Jacob Slye
George Hunter
William Harris
Judge James Clarke
Rev. John Corbly
Zebulon Applegate
James Shaw
Ensign Cornelius McCollum
James McKay
John McKnight |
Dory Malott
John Malott
Thomas Manning
John Miles
John Mitchell
LIeut. Hugh Molloy
James Murphy
Neal Murry
John Nelson
William Owen
Christian Plackard
Eli Porter
Josiah Prickett
William Reddick
Nathaniel Reeves
Joshua Richardson
Gideon Riggs
Reuben Rose
Elijah Sargent
Elnathan Sherwin
Ephraim Simpkins
William Slye
Capt. John Ramey
William Fitzwater
Nathaniel Barber
John Conrad
William McKnight
Adam Snider
John Niles
William L. Jones
William Malott
Daniel Durham
Thomas Davis
Jacob Fox
William Huling
John Dennis
David Colglazer
Nathan Nichols
Jacob Ulrey
Levi Tingley |
[Page 378]
Jesse
Justice
Robert Wells
Mordecai Winters
Col. Isaac Ferguson
Nathaniel Donham
Capt. James John
Daniel Roudebush
Lewis Frybarger
James Kain
Surg. - Gen. Richard Allison
Jesse Glancy
Lemuel Perin
Captain Richard Hall
Captain Dennis Smith |
Gen.
Presley Neville
Alexander Buchanan
Thomas Jones
John Trees
Benjamin Penn
John Hare
Samuel Harlow
Hughey Dickey
Edward Morin
John Light
Jacob Light
Daniel Light
Charles Waits
John Payne |
and ______ Elstun,
grandparent of Pioneer Moses Elstun, were both
killed in the Revolution. Colonel John
Cooley, of the Third New York, was the father of
Mary Cooley, wife of Zebina Williams.
Abraham Clark, of New Jersey, was a signer of
the Declaration of Independence. His
grandchildren include the Clarks of Williamsburg.
The Brown County
Part.
Jesse Bales
Sergt. Barr
Benjamin Beasley
John Blair
James Bonwell
James Cahill
John Clerk
Ensign John Cooper
Thomas Cotterill
Michael Cowley
William Crosby
Thomas Cunningham
Ensign Joshua Davidson
William Dixon
John Dye
Gabriel Eakins |
Samuel
Ellis
Lieut. James Erwin
Valentine Fritts
Benjamin Gardner
Joseph Gould
Patrick Grogan
John Gunsauld
Sergt. Richard Harden
Thomas Hetherly
Archibald Hopkins
Richard Spyers
Robert Stephenson
Benjamin Sutton
John Thompson
James Waits
Benjamin Wells. |
[Page 379]
William
White
Nicholas Wood
Thomas Wood
Fogus McClain
Nicholas Devore
Samuel Jones
John Laney
Job Lecroy
Benjamin Leeton
Patrick Lemrick
James Leonard
Alexander McCoy
Valentine McDaniel
Walter McDaniel
George Marshall
Jacob Middleswart
Elijah Moore
Daniel Morford
William Newberry
John Parke |
Drummer
Samuel Pickerill
Joseph Potter
William Rains
Lawrence Rainey
Thomas Rattan
William Reeves
Joab Reid
James Rice
James Rounds
Lemuel Rounds
Joseph Liming
Capt. Daniel Feagins
Richard Rollison
Jacob Metzger
Charles Canary
Christian Shinkle
Christopher Barr
Samuel Adkins
Moses Leonard
Col. Robert Higgins |
Any one
attempting to compile a similar list of the War
of 1812 will be much helped by the following
privately preserved and published roll of the
companies commanded by Captain Jacob
Boerstler, in 1812, and by Captain
Robert Haines in 1813.
Captain Jacob Boerstler, killed at Brownstown,
Lieutenant Thomas Kain, promoted to
captain, August 13; Ensign Thomas Foster,
promoted to lieutenant, August 13; Sergeants
Daniel Campbell, Edward
Brown, Holly Raper, John Conrey; Corporals,
Sauel Raper, John Hankins, Jasper Shotwell
(promoted ensign, August 13), Cornelius
Treble; Musicians Augustine Munson,
Oliver Hays.
Isaac
Colthar
James Denham
Daniel McCollum
Hugh Wardlow
James Colthar |
John
Feight
Peter Smith
John W. Feight
James McCann
George McMillen |
[Page 380]
William
Compton
Thomas Williams
Richard Dennis
Hiram Harris
John Davis
William Digley
George Neff
James Chambers
Daniel Gould
John Oakman
John Frazee
John Reed
Michael Ellsberry
Jonas Tolliver
Abner Arthur (killed)
Watson Stephens (killed)
Samuel Malott
John D. Walker
|
Jonathan Little
Joseph Wood
William Davis
Simon Kenton
William Wardlow (killed)
Peter Waits
Lewis Davis
George Hunt
Charles Waits
John Buchanan
Joseph Brunk
Reuben Waits
John Naylor
Richard Smallwood
Archibald Gibson
John Losh
Joseph Martin |
Captain
Robert Haines, Mounted Volunteers ;
Captain Robert Haines; Lieutenant Hugh
Ferguson; Ensign Jonathan Donham;
Sergeants James Robb, Hezekiah
Lindsey, Isaac Ferguson, James Arthur;
Corporals Thomas Littleton, Nathan Sutton,
William Donham, Thomas Welch.
John
Whitaker
Daniel Snider
Aquilla McCord
Nicholas Pritchet
Peter Bolander
John Mattox
Elijah Malott
Daniel Apple
George LEwis
Reuben Lord
Samuel Long
Hamilton Miller
David Rardin
William Nichols |
Philip
Nichols
John Behymer
Levi Behymer
Martin Behymer
Jacob Kinsey
James Fitzpatrick
Henry Cuppy
Francis Ferguson
John Morin
Edward Chapman
Robert Chapman
Edward Roberts
Josiah Bettle
John Dillman |
[Page 381]
Michael
Lane
David White
William Bell
Benj. Morin
Jacob Short |
Horatio G.
Cleft
William Laycock
Levi Pinkham
John C. Dial |
Among all of his time in the county he founded, the
highest military rank was reached by William
Lytle. On Aug. 10, 1804, he was
commissioned a lieutenant colonel; and on Feb. 20,
1808, he was made a major general of the Ohio
militia. As a promoter of settlements his life
was full of mental activity. He rode here,
there and everywhere within the sphere of his
influence to show his own lands or tracts that were
entrusted to his management, and that meant nearly
every tract that was for sale. His critic has
stated that he sold anything a purchaser fancied.
In one sense the assertion is truthful; but the
inference that he acted without authority, or that
he was not particular and surveyed with wanton
disregard to future trouble is an insult to a noble
memory that should not pass without contradiction
and a fairer statement. Few men have been more
methodical or left finer proof of the sincerity of a
vast volume of business. As his mission in
Clermont was accomplishing his ambition went to
other scenes and his great earnings were invested in
new enterprises farther west. A mansion was
built in Cincinnati near the spot where he had
landed with his father on Apr. 12, 1780, when not a
stick had been disturbed by white hands on the site
of Cincinnati. To that mansion, one of the
finest of that age west of the mountains he went in
1810 from Williamsburg, feeling that he had waved a
transforming wand over the land, and that he was to
be the wealthiest man in the Ohio Valley. The
papers that had accumulated in the old stone Land
Office were carefully assorted, tied with tape and
packed in chests that have not to this day been
entirely rehandled. Among these papers are
carefully filed letters of authority for all that he
sold for others along with the notes taken in the
field and calculated in the office. Instead of
being careless, his work was a marvel of minute
method. He was one of the founders and was
president of the board of trustees or manager of the
Cincinnati College, since developed into the
University of Cincin-
[Page 382]
nati. His benefactions were large for that
time. He was too busy for public office, too
earnest in building larger. When he thought
his greatness was a ripening, his schemes were
crushed in the financial panic that resulted from
the War of 1812, and much of his wealth vanished.
On May 26, 1830, he was appointed Surveyor-General
of public lands by President Jackson.
On Mar. 17, 1831, he died in the fine old home that
was saved from the wreck of his vast fortune to
become still more famous as the home of his
distinguished son, Robert T., and of his
brilliant grandson, the “Soldier Poet.” While
regretfully watching the demolition of the historic
home for the creation of Lytle Park, I heard one of
a passing throng ask, “Who was Lytle,
anyhow?” As another answered, “Some old
congressman, I guess,” there was less wonder about
the destruction of Cincinnati’s noblest relic.
Although the rolls in proof are not to be found, the
report was made that “During the War of 1812,
including events immediately before and after, the
State of Ohio furnished 23,951 soldiers of all arms,
including officers, musicians, rangers, scouts,
spies and teamsters, being over thirty-three per
cent, of the entire male population of the State,
above twenty-one years of age; more than fifty per
cent, of those subject to military duty and nearly
fifteen per cent, of all the military forces of the
United States called out during hostilities.”
In that record Old Clermont had filled her quota.
When the import of the redemption of their land from
Hull’s shameful surrender and the awful massacre
on the Raisin by Croghan’s defense.
Perry’s victory and Harrison’s triumph on
the Thames and the battle of New Orleans had dawned
on the nation; and when the ocean also had been
freed from British tryanny, Americans took heart
again and began anew with larger plans. A
result of the war was a commercial ruin along the
seaboard that caused many sea-faring people to move
westward. Of these a number amounting to a
small colony came to the vicinity to be called
Amelia. Of them, one, Matthew Pease,
had been a captain whose life of much adventure had
included visits to Paris, where he saw the execution
of King Louis XVI. Moved by pity for their
misfortunes, he helped a considerable number of the
fugitive noblemen to escape by secreting them in his
ship, when detection
[Page 383]
would have sent him to the guillotine.
Captain Pease was remembered as a quiet,
unobtrusive gentleman, whose appearance gave little
suggestion of his connection with affairs as
thrilling as any in the pages of romance. The
quality of that immigration came into contrast with
elements from the south and southeast to the
frequent amusement of all, but nothing remains in
the fusion to suggest the origin of either.
|
.