BROWN COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Part 2 (published 1898) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gina M. Reasoner AUPQ38A@prodigy.com March 11, 1999 *********************************************************************** HISTORICAL COLLECTION OF OHIO, By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898 BROWN COUNTY - PART 2 GEORGETOWN IN 1846. - Georgetown, the county-seat, is 107 miles from Columbus, 30 miles from Hillsboro, 46 from Wilmington, 21 from Batavia and West Union and 10 from Ripley. It was laid off in the year 1819, and its original proprietors were Allen Woods and Henry Newkirk. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, 1 Christian Disciples and 1 Methodist church, a newspaper printing office and about 800 inhabitants. The view shows the public square, with the old courthouse on the left and on the right a new and elegant Methodist church. -Old Edition. Georgetown, the county-seat, is in the valley of White Oak Creek, on the C. G. & P. Railroad, 42 miles southeast of Cincinnati and 10 miles north of the Ohio river. The town has changed less than many others since 1846. Another and a neat court-house occupies the site of the one shown, and the grounds are ornamented with a fine grove of trees. County officers in 1888: Probate Judge, George P. Tyler; Clerk of court, C.C. Blair; Sheriff, A.J. Thompson; Prosecuting Attorney, D.V. Pearson; Auditor, John W. Helbling; Treasurer, J.P. Richey; Recorder, G.C. Reisinger; Surveyor, J.R. Wright; Coroner, John W. Adkins; Commissioners, Frederick Bauer, S.W. Pickerill, R.C. Drake. Georgetown has 1 Presbyterian, 1 Christian, 1 Methodist, 1 Colored Methodist and 1 Colored Baptist church. Newspapers: Democrat (Dem.), D.S. Tarbell, editor; News (Dem.), A.B. Fee and Lang, publishers; Gazette (Rep.), Wm. H.T. Denny. Banks: First National, Joseph Cochran, president, W.S. Whiteman, cashier. One woolen factory, R. Young & Co., 19 employees. A great deal of tobacco is shipped from here. Population in 1880, 1,292. School census 1886, 468; Isaac Mitchell, superintendent. The greatest industry of this county is tobacco-raising, of which 3,702,54 pounds were produced in 1885, this amount being exceeded only by Montgomery county. Brown, however, takes precedence in the quality of tobacco. It is raised upon the bottom lands and hillsides by the water courses, the southern part of the county being more especially the tobacco region. THE "WHITE BURLEY" TOBACCO, which is a native of this county, is of fine quality and highly valued as a superior chewing tobacco. It was first discovered about the year 1860 by Joseph Foos on the farm of Captain Fred Kantz. Foos had procured some little burley seed from George Barkley, which, when it came up, produced plants some of which were almost milk-white. This led him to suppose that they had been damaged, but they grew as vigorously as those of a darker color. Therefore, when transplanting, he set out the white ones also. They grew and matured, were cut and hung by themselves, so that they could be distinguished. When cured they were very bright and fine in texture and of such superior quality that more of the seed was procured and planted with the same result, and from these plants the seed was saved. Thus originated the famous "White Burley" tobacco of Brown county, from which the farmers of that section have reaped such rich harvests. From it is made the celebrated brand of Fountain fine-cut of Lovell & Buffington, also the Star plug of Liggett & Myer and many other popular brands. In Georgetown is pointed out the mansion in which lived one of the most eminent and eloquent men of his time in the State, General Thomas Lyon Hamer. It was through him the U.S. Grant received his appointment as a cadet to West Point. He was born the son of a poor farmer in Pennsylvania in the year 1800, but passed his boyhood on the margin of Lake Champlain, where he was an eye-witness of the naval action fought by McDonough, which with its triumphant result, inspired him with a taste for a solider's life. At the age of seventeen he came to Ohio with his father's family and then struck out for himself as a school teacher, beginning at Withamsville, Clermont county, a poor boy, with only one suit of clothes, that the homespun on his back, and a cash capital of "one and sixpence." Later he taught at Bethel, where he boarded in the family of Thomas Morris, the pioneer lawyer of Clermont county, who befriended him. He occupied his spare hours in studying law and commenced the practice in Georgetown in the year 1820, which he continued until June, 1846, at which time he volunteered in the Mexican war. Being an active member of the Democratic party, he sympathized in its war measures. He was elected Major of the First Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and received the appointment of Brigadier-General from the president before his departure for the seat of war. In that station he acquitted himself with great ability up to the period of his death. He was in the battle of Monterey, and on Major-General Butler being wounded, succeeded him in the command. He distinguished himself on this occasion by his coolness and courage. General Hamer was endowed with most extraordinary abilities as an orator, advocate and lawyer. He represented the district in which he resided six years in Congress, and distinguished himself as an able and sagacious statesman, and at the time of his death was member-elect of Congress. His death was greatly deplored, being in his prime, forty-six years of age, with a most promising prospect of attaining the highest eminence. Georgetown will be known for all time as the boyhood home of Ulysses Simpson Grant. he was born in Clermont county, but as his parents removed here when he was a mere infant only about a year old, his childhood impressions were made and his early loves formed in this then little village in the valley of White Oak creek. His parents were of Scotch descent; his great-grandfather, Noah Grant, was a captain in the early French wars, and his grandfather, Noah Grant, a lieutenant in the battle of Lexington. The school-house of Grant's boyhood is yet standing, but in a dilapidated condition; and this now old ruin doubtless was the scene of this anecdote told by a biographer. When he was quite a little fellow he had an unusually difficult lesson to learn. "You can't master that task," remarked one of his schoolmates. "Can't" he returned; "what does that mean?" "Well it just means just that you can't." Grant had really never heard the word before and began to hunt it up in his old dictionary. At last he went to his teacher and asked, "What is the meaning of can't? the word is not in the dictionary." The teacher explained its origin and how it came to be corrupted by abbreviation, and then to impress an important truth upon the minds of his young pupils he added: "If in the struggles through life any person should assert that you can't do anything that you had set your mind upon accomplishing, let your reply be, if your work be a good and lawful one, that the word can't is not in the dictionary." Grant never forgot the incident. He not only conquered his studies, but, in after years, he often replied to those who declared he would fail in attaining his object, that the word "can't" is not to be found in any dictionary. The school-house, also homestead and tannery, are within five minutes walk of the court-house. In the engraving of the two latter the homestead is shown on the right, the tannery in the front. To the first a front addition has been made since the Grants were here; the smaller and near part was the old dwelling, as it was then Grant was a growing boy and assisted his father in handling the hides. He was a lively, companionable boy, frank, generous and open-hearted, a leader and a favorite among the Georgetown boys. He was regarded as having good common sense without any especial marks of genius. When in after years he visited Georgetown he never failed to seek out the friends of his youth and greet them with hearty hand-shake and pleasant words. ==== Maggie_Ohio Mailing List ====