Hamilton County OhArchives News.....Long-Neglected Harrison Mansion Finds New Owner May 23, 1900
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Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 July 10, 2008, 1:29 am

The Humeston [IA] New Era May 23, 1900
Rich in Memories

The long-neglected Harrison mansion at North Bend, O., has been purchased 
recently by Mrs. O. H. Hall, of Cincinnati, for the sum of $15,000, and is to 
be preserved in commemoration of the illustrious men who have been sheltered 
within its walls. It was built in 1814 by Gen. William Henry Harrison, who 
presented it to his bride. There he dwelt until he went to the White House, 
and where his nine children and his illustrious grandson, Benjamin Harrison, 
was born. At the time the house was built Harrison was governor of the 
Northwestern Territory, and as the conqueror of Tecumseh was a national hero. 
Those were exciting days, times of great personal danger, and no conveniences, 
and the Harrington mansion, simple as it was, was regarded then as 
aristocratic and stately. The hospitality of its halls was famous. Not a day 
passed that it did not afford entertainment for many guests. It is said that 
on occasions no less than sixty guests sat down together at the long mahogany 
tables in the great sun-lit dining hall. It is said that the bride was not 
content unless her cook served three kinds of meat on the festive board at 
times when cattle were scarce, when settlements were hundreds of miles apart. 
But wild duck and the fish in the rivers were plentiful, and no group of 
strangers or guests ever passed the gate in their day's journey who were not 
begged to remain and share the prodigal generosity of their host and hostess. 
In those days the estate, now sadly dwindled to seven acres, was composed of 
600 acres. From Gen. Harrison, the estate passed to his son, John Scott 
Harrison, a gentle, amiable man, with no financial ability. He lived there 
until his death in 1878, his property gradually diminished until at his death 
he was actually a dependent. Benjamin Harrison was born there and it was his 
home until his marriage, when he moved to Indianapolis. For years the old 
house has been vacant. The gardens have been overrun with wild, insolent 
weeds, the fields deserted, the great rooms and halls lonely and dead. Not 
even the ghost of former laughter and hospitality has echoed for years along 
its spiral staircases. The spide, pitiful tenant, has swung his tent ropes 
from rafter to rafter. The lofty heads of the old oaks sigh among their lofty 
crests at the saddened picture.

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