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ENVIRONMENT

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LARGE PURCHASES OF LANDS

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indications of other large purchases, including territory as far north as the north line of the eleventh range, this being on a line with Piqua.

THE SURVEYS

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WEST OF THE MIAMI.

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JUDGE SYMMES.

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GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR.

GENERAL WILKINSON.

JONAS DAYTON

BENJAMIN VAN CLEVE

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who was from the bark to the very core a villalin."  Conspiring at first with Burr, as was generally believed, he became hsi chief accuser.

GENERAL DAYTON.

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COLONEL LUDLOW

VAN CLEVE'S ACCOUNT OF SURVEY AND SETTLEMENT.

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HAMER'S PARTY.

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NEWCOM'S PARTY

THOMPSON'S PARTY.

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FIRST NECESSITIES.

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NEWCOM'S TAVERN

OLD LOG TAVERN AS IT APPEARED IN 1798.

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THE INDIANS.

THE SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES.

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STORES AND MILLS

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SOCIAL EVENTS.

NEIGHBORING SETTLEMENTS.

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above, we should have the names of the most prominent neighbors, regarded in the early days as near neighbors, with which the Dayton settlement had to do in manifold social and business ways.

ROADS.

FIRST BOAT.

HAMILTON COUNTY.

     The political status of the Dayton settlement while within the limits of Hamilton county is a matter of interest.  Hamilton county, as already statedd, at first included the land between the Miamis to the northern limit of the Symmes' purchase.  In 1792, the land between the Little Miami and the Scioto was included adn the northern limit was extended to the Great Lakes.  In 1796,

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Wayne county was formed, cutting off the northern part of Hamilton county at the Indian boundary line, passing through Loramie.  June 22, 1798, the western boundary was extended from the Great Miami to the Indian boundary line, running from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery.  In 1800, the present state line became the western boundary.

DAYTON TOWNSHIP

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LIST OF TAX PAYERS AND ASSESSMENTS IN DAYTON TOWNSHIP IN 1798.

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     His fees for this assessment were seven dollars and twenty-one cents.

     Some of the persons named may have been west of the Great Miami and others may have been east of the Little Miami, the extension of the townshp moving westward with the extension of the county in that direction.  Certain it is that in 1801, Dayton township included territory to the east and to the west of the Miamis.
     The northwest territory was, according to the ordinance of 1787, to have a representative assembly whenever the inhabitants numbered five thousand.  In October, 1798, Governor St. Clair declared that that number existed and fixed the third Monday in December as the date for holding an election.  The representatives elected from Hamilton county were William Goforth, William McMillan, John Smith, John Ludlow, Robert Benham, Aaron Caldwell and Isaac Martin.  Jacob Burnet and James Findlay were appointed members of the legislative council from Hamilton county.  The territorial legislature met in Cincinnati, Feb. 4, 1799.
     The officers appointed for Dayton township in 1799 were Samuel Thompson, constable, John McGrew, assessor, and John Ewing, collector.  A new office was created for Dayton township, that of justice of the peace, to which D. C. Cooper was appointed. His docket, beginning Oct. 4, 1799, and closing Mar. 15, 1803, is the earliest local official record in existence.  The first case was a suit brought by Abram Richardson against George Kirkendall for $8.00.  Judgment was entered with costs amounting to thirty-three cents, divided as follows summons, ten cents; entering judgment, ten cents; subpoena, thirteen cents.  Another case was a suit brought by Andrew Lock against John Riggs.  The record shows judgment in full rendered for the plaintiff amounting to two dollars and fifty cents; costs, capias, ten cents; subpoena, ten cents; judgement, twenty cents; swearing witness, six cents; constable’s fee, fifty cents.  The dis-

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position to litigate, so common in all new communities, was shown by the fact that from 1799 to 1803, when Montgomery county was formed, the number of cases tried by the first local justice of the peace was one hundred and eighteen.
    

Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio.
Hamilton County.

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LAND TITLES.

LAND SALES.

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of the purchase money within forty days.  Another fourth was to be paid within two years; the next within three yeas; and the final installment with all accumulated interest within four years from the day of sale.  Under the credit system, a vast debt, amounting in 1820 to twenty-two million dollars, came to rest on the purchasers of lands.   For their relief the time and method of payment were changed again and again.

MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS

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SUITS IN THE SUPREME COURT.

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SKETCHES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

     The first settlers of Dayton will ever hold a place of special interest.  This chapter may well be brought to a close with sketches of these pioneers.

     WILLIAM HAMER was a native of Maryland.  In 1792, he, with his wife and children, came west, descending the Ohio river to Cincinnati in a flatboat, built by himself and his son, Solomon, then sixteen years of age.  The lumber in the boat was used in constructing a house, in which the family lived until they started to their place on Mad river, in March, 1796.  The children in the family were Solomon, Thomas, Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah and Polly.  Mr. Hamer was a Methodist local preacher, and a family prayers could be heard a great distance.  Religious meetings were early held at his place.  He located on section twenty-nine, the section which under Symmes' contract was to be devoted to the support of religion.  He derived no advantage, however, from this fact.  In this home, a son was born, December 9, 1796, and out of regard for the new settlement was given the name Dayton.  In 1827, Mr. Hamer died as the result of an accident while on his way to Cincinnati.  Of his children, Nancy married William Gahagan, who came on the pirogue, and Sarah married in 1801, David Lowry, who had previously settled on Donnel's creek in Greene county.

     JONATHAN and EDWARD MERCER settled on Mad River, eight miles from its mouth and there established what was called Mercer's Station, then an exposed place which they twice were compelled to abandon because of danger from Indians.  Jonathan Mercer died prior to 1810

     GEORGE NEWCOM was born in the north of Ireland, of Presbyterian stock in 1771, and in 1775 was brought to this country by his parents.  His father died in Dayton about 1805.  George Newcom married Mary Henderson of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and moved to Cincinnati about 1794.  A daughter born in 1794 in Cincinnati, died before the family left that place.  The next child, John W., was born September 9, 1797, near Hamilton, married Martha Grimes, November 20, 1820, and died July 7, 1836.  A daughter, Jane, was born April 14, 1800, being the first girl child born in Dayton.  She married, May 20, 1819, Nathaniel Wilson.  The two next children, George Alexander and Charles Grimes, died in infancy.  The next child, Eliza Jane, was born April 17, 1825, married John Comly, and died March 5, 1873.  The next child, Mary Ann, was born January 9, 1827, and died May 18, 1854.  The wife of Mr. Newcom died in 1834, and two years later he married Elizabeth Bowen, a widow.  George Newcom was a soldier of Wayne's army.  He also served in the War of 1812.  He was the first Sheriff of Montgomery county, holding that office five years.  He was the later state senator, filling that position eight years.  He was a member of the lower house five years, and filled many other positions of honor and trust.  His name, however, will always stand most closely connected with the old tavern, the center of every form of activity when Dayton was at best an experiment.  He died February 25, 1853.

     WILLIAM NEWCOM, a brother of George, was about twenty years of age when he came to Dayton.  He married Miss Charlotte Nolan, of Kentucky.  For a number of years he lived on a farm near Dayton.  He served in the War of 1812, and died a few months after his enlistment as a result of exposures in the army.  A son, Robert, was a prominent carpenter and builder, and a grandson, Milo G. Newcom, at present (1909) lives on Wilkinson street.

     THOMAS DAVIS was a native of Wales.  He was soldier in the Revolutionary war.  He settled on the bluffs, south of Dayton.  He brought with him a large family.  His son, Owen Davis, was in business for himself and a taxpayer in 1798.  He operated for many years a mill  five miles west of Xenia, on the Big Beaver creek.  About the mill a few houses were built and here the first Greene county court was held in 1803.

     JOHN DAVIS, a brother of Thomas Davis, is said to have settled on the west side of Miami river.  He was killed by an accident at Cooper's mill in 1799.  This is said to have been the first death that occurred at Dayton.

     WILLIAM CHENOWETH brought his family with him from Kentucky.  He was a blacksmith, but did not work at his trade as shown by an advertisement in a Cincinnati paper, stating that there was no blacksmith within twenty miles of Dayton.  His home on Mad river was, in 1803, included within the limits of Greene county.

     JOHN DOROUGH, a married man, was a miller by trade.  He owned a mill on Mad river, later known as Shoup's mill and later still as Kneisley's mill.

     DANIEL FERRELL came with his family from western Virginia, and settled on land, probably now within the limits of Miami county.

     JAMES MORRIS came from Pennsylvania and served in the expedition of General Harmar, in 1790.  He was a farmer.  He was twice married, after coming to the new settlement, but left no children.

     ABRAHAM GRASSMIRE, an unmarried German, was a weaver by trade.  He was handy in the construction of household articles and helped to make the first looms for the settlers.  He moved to Honey creek about 1802.

     SOLOMON GOSS, who was living in Dayton in 1799, probably soon afterward moved further up the Miami.

     SAMUEL THOMPSON came from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati where he married Catherine, widow of John Van Cleve.  He was the leader of the party coming by water.  With him were his wife, Catherine, their little daughter, Sarah, two

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years old, and Matthew, two months old, and Mrs. Thompson's daughter, Mary Van Cleve, nine years old, and her son, Benjamin Van Cleve.  Mr. Thompson held a number of offices in the new community.  He was drowned in February, 1815, in Mad river just below the Staunton road ford.  His wife died August 6th, 1837.

     WILLIAM GAHAGAN, a young Irishman, came to Cincinnati with General Wayne's army, in 1793 and served through 1794 and 1795.  He afterward made his home with William Hamer whose daughter, Nancy, he married.  In 1794, he and Benjamin Van Cleve assisted in conveying army supplies on the Ohio river and later he assisted Captain Dunlap in surveying expeditions.  About 1805, he moved to what came to be the territory of Miami county, where he died in 1845.  He and Benjamin Van Cleve were the twin screws in propelling the pirogue up the Miami.

     MRS. McCLURE joined the party of settlers, bringing with her her children, James, John, Thomas, Kate, and Ann.  Her husband was killed in St. Clair's defeat.  The family after living in Dayton four or five years, moved to Honey creek.

     BENJAMIN VAN CLEVE, and the family to which he belonged have great interest to every citizen of Dayton.  John Van Cleve, the founder of the family in America, came from Holland to Long Island about 1650, later settling in New Jersey.  Benjamin Van Cleve was the son of John and Catherine Benham Van Cleve, his father being the son of Benjamin and Rachel Van Cleve.  John Van Cleve was residing in Monmouth county, New Jersey, when four of his children were born, Benjamin, born February 24, 1773; Ann, born July 30, 1775, maried to Jerome Holt; William, born in 1777; Margaret, born in February, 1779, married to George Reeder; Mary, born February 10, 1787, and Amy, born in July, 1789, were born while the family were residing in Washington county, Pennsylvania.  The family determining to move west, came down the Ohio river in a boat arriving at Cincinnati, Januayr 3, 1790.  Here John Van Cleve followed the trade of blacksmith, engaging, likewise, in farming.  In 1791, while at work in an out-lot in Cincinnti, he was killed y the Indians.  Benjamin, the oldest child, now eighteen years of age, at once took, as best he could, a place of a father in the family.  Mrs. Van Cleve later married Samuel Thompson and to them were born two children, Sarah and Matthew, before they moved to Dayton.  Much of the time between 1791 and 1794.  Benjamin was employed in the quarter-master's department in connection with Fort Washington.  Among other duties he accompanied brigades of loaded pack horses to the headquarters of St. Clair's army, was present at his defeat, furnishing a vivid account of the same.  In 1795, he accompanied Captain Dunlap's surveying party to the Mad river country, was present when Colonel Ludlow surveyed the plat of Dayton, and in 1796 was one of the first settlers of Dayton.  His married to Mary Whitten, August 28, 1800, was the first marriage in the new settlement.  In Dayton he was the first postmaster, the first school teacher, the first clerk of the court, serving with a slight break till the close of his life, which occurred November 29, 1821.  He was the father of five children, John Whitten, born June 27, 1801, died September 6, 1858; William James, born October 10, 1803, died October 30, 1808; Henrietta Maria, born November 16, 1805, married Samuel

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B. Dover; Mary Cornelia, born December 2, 1807, married James Andrews; Sarah Sophia, born November 24, 1809, married David C. Baker.  His wife died December 28, 1810, and March 10, 1812, he married Miss Mary Tamplin.  Of him, his friend and associate, Colonel John Johnston said:  "God never made a better man than was Benjamin Van Cleve."  He was an active member in the Presbyterian Church.

     WILLIAM VAN CLEVE  was nineteen years of age when he came to Dayton.  He lived in Dayton a few years.  He later purchased a quarter section of land a short distance southeast of Dayton.  He married Effie Westfall, by whom he had several children.  His wife died and he married a second time.  On the death of his second wife, he again married.  His life to 1812 was that of a farmer.  In the War of 1812 he raised in Dayton a company of riflemen, and in June was ordered to guard supply trains and to protect the frontier.  After the war he kept a tavern at the junction of Warren and Jefferson streets, where he died in 1828.

     ROBERT EDGAR, JEROME HOLT and D. C. COOPER came to Dayton as permanent residents in 1796 only a few weeks or months after the coming of the first settlers, all of them having been at the place of settlement with surveying parties the preceding year.  They may, therefore, well be called first settlers.

     ROBERT EDGAR was born at Staunton, Virginia, February 8, 1770.  He was of Scotch-Irish descent.  About 1780, his father moved, with his family, to the location of Wheeling, Virginia, where in 1792 he was killed by the Indians.  Shortly afterward Robert Edgar, with his brother, Andrew, and sister, Nancy, came dow the Ohio river to Cincinnati.  In 1795 he was a chain carrier in the party of D. C. Cooper, in marking out the road to Mad river.  When he came to Dayton in the spring or summer of 1796, he complied with the conditions for receiving a donation in-lot and a donation out-lot.  He was soon employed in building the two-story house of hewed logs for George Newcom, which after receiving an addition in 1798-99, became Newcom's tavern.  September 17, 1798, he married Mrs. Margaret Gillespie Kirkwood and moved into a cabin that he had erected on the north bank of Mad river.  As this was a favorite camping place for the Indians in making visits to the settlement, the family were much in peril and subject to much annoyance from the Indians.  A horse's back was their ferry in crossing Mad river.  As he was a mechanic, up to 1800, he was constantly employed by Mr. Cooper in getting out timber and building head-gates and mills.  The mills were in the village and on Rubicon creek near where the Cash Register works now are.  In 1799, he built the tub-mill or "corn cracker" on Rubicon creek for Mr. Cooper.  Before this, he may have assisted in building the distillery near the same place.  When in 1801 he leased Cooper's mills in the village, he moved into a house at the corner of Water and Mill streets, belonging to Cooper.
     He early purchased land a part of which became the Edgar plat on Wayne avenue, and began farming.  Later he purchased a quarter-section on which he opened up a fine stone-quarry.  Mr. Edgar served in the War of 1812.  Mrs. Edgar at home baked bread or hard tack for the army.  After the war he returned to his farm.  When the canal was being built, he constructed the bridges at Third and Fifth streets.   The children of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar living past childhood

DANIEL C. COOPER

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were: Jane Allen, born November 24, 1800, married Augustus George; Robert A., born October 10, 1803, married Catherine Iddings; Samuel D., born March 26, 1806, married Minerva A. Jones; Mary, born April 8, 1811, married Stephen Johnston; John F., born October 29, 1814, married Effie A. Rogers.  Mr. and Mrs. Edgar were zealous Christian workers, being members of the Presbyterian church.  Mr. Edgar died December 19, 1838, and Mrs. Edgar died November 25, 1844.

     COLONEL JEROME HOLT was born February 21, 1763.  He was the brother-in-law of Benjamin Van Cleve, having married his sister, Ann.  In 1797, he settled on a farm near Dayton.  In 1800 he was appointed constable of Dayton township and from 1808 to 1811 was sheriff of Montgomery County.  He was colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Militia from 1810 to 1812.  Colonel Holt died in Wayne township December 28, 1840.

     DANIEL C. COOPER, more than any other man, deserves the credit for being the founder and truest benefactor of Dayton.  He was born in Morris county, New Jersey, November 20, 1773.  He was educated for a surveyor.  An account of after the first settlers arrived, he became a member of the community and was given a place under Israel Ludlow as a deputy agent for the proprietors.  For two years he was a member of the Ohio house of representatives and for four years he was a member of the Ohio senate.  When about twenty years old, he came to the west to look after the land interests of Jonathan Dayton.  When the proprietors failed in their undertaking, he became titular owner of the town plat.  The clearest statement as to Mr. Cooper’s right to enter this plat and other lands in his own name is the following declaration from Benjamin Van Cleve’s diary: “Mr. Ludlow, who was one of the proprietors, and agent for them, informed me that they relinquished their claims on account of the rising price; and that they could not afford to give two dollars per acre and he made this known to the commissioners as well as to the settlers and aided them in supporting their claims.”  In 1801, he married Mrs. Sophia Greene Burnet, of Cincinnati.  Only one of his children, D. Z. Cooper, grew up to maturity.  From 1799 to 1803, he was justice of the peace.  By liberal donations of land, he secured the location of the seat of government for Montgomery county at Dayton.  He also liberally set apart lands for a park and for churches and for various public uses.  He built mills and was active in the commercial enterprises of the town.  In many ways he was con nected with the administration of village affairs.  He served on the town council many years and was six years its president.  He was actively connected with the Presbyterian church.  In 1798, he opened up the farm south of Dayton, which he sold to Robert Patterson in 1803.  This became his home on his marriage in 1801.  Here he built mills on Rubicon creek.  In 1805 he built an “elegant mansion of hewn logs” lined inside with cherry boards.  In 1818, he began to build a large brick house at the southeast corner of First and Wilkinson streets, but did not live to finish it.  He died July 13, 1818.  According to some accounts his death was caused by overexertion in carrying on a wheelbarrow the bell to be placed in the new Presbyterian church.  The contemporary accounts, however, say nothing of this circumstance.  Dr. Job Haines in his diary says: “Mr. D. C. Cooper, after a severe illness of about six weeks, died about midnight between the 13th and

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14th inst.”  A published account at the time ascribed his death to a “pulmonary disease.”  Probably the overexertion referred to, which may have occurred some weeks before his death, may have hastened that event.  We shall yet have many occasions to take note of Mr. Cooper’s part in the development of Dayton.  His estate, which, at his death, included a large part of the site of Dayton, was some what involved, but under the management of efficient trustees and with the in creasing prosperity of the community, soon came to be very valuable.  Mrs. Sophia Greene Cooper was a beautiful and talented woman.  Her first husband, Mr. Burnet, was a young lawyer of Cincinnati.  After the death of Mr. Cooper, she married General Fielding Lowry.  She died May 17, 1826.

     DANIEL ZIEGLER COOPER, the only one of the six children of Daniel C. Cooper who grew up to maturity, was born November 8, 1812.  He graduated from Princeton College, married Miss Letitia Smith in Philadelphia, and died in Dayton December 4, 1836.   His widow married a Mr. Backus, a man of wealth, and the estate was managed by E. W. Davies and Alexander Grimes as trustees and contributed much to the progress of Dayton.

CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS

     In taking a general view of the first settlers and those that immediately followed them, we notice the presence of a large proportion of New Jersey people.  Judge Symmes, on his application for a grant of land, says that the application is “on behalf of citizens of the United States westward of Connecticut.”  The company of purchasers represented by Judge Symmes was called the “East Jersey Company.”  In other connections the name “New Jersey Society,” was used.  The settlers at Marietta were New Englanders.  The settlers along the Miamis were like them in a measure and helped to make Ohio New England in type.  Yet they had a character of their own.  The people of New Jersey, along with their English blood had “a tincture of Swedish and Hollander blood.”  They were noted for their industry, inventiveness and frugality.  The Pilgrim and the Quaker, the Dutch, the German and the Scotch-Irish were largely fused under the influence of the War of the Revolution.  Nicholas Longworth, who early came from New Jersey to Cincinnati, where he amassed a large fortune, was accustomed to say in answer to the question as to the condition of thrift, “the first condition is that one must have been born in New Jersey.”  People from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, some of them halting for a time in Kentucky, early made their appearance.  The Scotch-Irish, a persistent and public-spirited people, were from first to last a large proportion of those coming to make their home in the territory of the Miamis.