OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 14 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 March 3, 2005 ************************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West by Darlene E. Kelley diaries of S.L. Kelley Tid Bits -- part 14 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Captain Frank E. Hamilton Sometime in the spring of 1972, a new wing was added in the Rutherford B. Hayes Library of Freemont, Ohio and was called " The Great Lakes History Room. " Capt. Frank Hamilton's wife Kathryn (Shelby) Hamilton, donated much of Capt. Hamilton's diaries and collections to this Library in provisions with his will. +++++++++++++++++++++ For many of his eighty years, Frank Hamilton, a Charter Member of the Great Lakes Historical Society, went " down to sea in ships" and was employed in the Lakes great waters. This fact is attested to in a family log of pictures which contains youthful snapshots of him as a cabin boy peering from a pilothouse window of the steamer " Arrow." He was a deck officer on a U.S. Shipping Board transport in the first World War, and served as master on the bridges of many Great Lakes boats. Among his collections are photo's in his personal log and "oceans" of pictures in his Great Lakes marine collection. Frank Eaton Hamilton was born on Kelley's Island, April 14, 1892. His roots in the island's history was indeed deep. His father's family migrated to the island in about 1839. His mother was Frederina Kelley, granddaughter of Addison Kelley, whose parents were one of the families for whom the island was named. His father were not steamboat people, although his father, Titus J. Hamilton, was the first president of the Kelley Island Steamboat & Dock Co., formed in 1904. The steamboat never developed; however, the dock became the main dock at which steamboats landed for many years. His mother provided Frank with many oppotunities to ride on the steamboats, and he often recalled with fond rememberance some of these youthful excursions. In a letter written to an acquaintance in 1943, he reviewed his background which revealed that prior to World War I, he had been on the road with stock companies, sold real estate in Cleveland, where he lived for six years, and had been in the ore trade. During the period of the First World War, he stated that he had been to sea for five years as mate in deepwater ships carrying horses, mules, and troops. This servce gave him a background seldom experienced by lakes men. Voyages, included many trips from Newport to St. Nazaire, France - New Orleans to Genoa, Italy - a year in Greece, the Black Sea and Mediterranean ports-- the sugar trade to the West Indes, and, once, a trip along the esat coast of South Amerca. Much of this war work was in the U.S. Shipping Board steamer "Amphion." In 1919, he was married to Kathryn Shelby of Sandusky, Ohio. During the years from World War I until 1933 he served as master in Colonial and City of St. Igrace, on the Port Stanley, Ontario, run from Cleveland; and Dover and Erie, on the Port Dover, Ontario run from Erie, Pennsylvania; Parks Foster, in the automobile trade; Fellowcraft in the Steel trade; and for a while , Marquette & Bessemer No.I, in the coal trade. For about ten years, until 1943, he engaged in the cottage, rowboat and store business at Kelley's Island. In June of that year he answered an emergency phone call from O.S. Dustin, in Detroit, which requested that he fly to Put-in-Bay to take over the command of Ashley & Dustin's steamer " Put-in-Bay " from Capt. John Peterson who had been stricken while en route from Detroit. It was an appointment that was to continue through Sept 1947. Capt Peterson passed away in July 1943, and Capt Hamilton carried on in Put in Bay until the steamboat changed hands. The war years in an excurson boat were busy and trying ones. Few " escapes" were open to civilian war workers other than boat rides. The big boat ran practially day and night during those years on routes that included Toledo, Monroe, Wyandotte, Sandusky, and late moonlight trips into Lake St. Clair that returned to Detroit with barely enough time to embark the passengers for the daylight trip into Lake Erie. Following the sale of the steamer Put-in-Bay, the Captain remained on his beloved island, keeping an eye on his cottage and boat business and maintaining and, expanding his Great Lakes Photo and History collection. In 1950, history repeated itself and he became President of the Kelley's Island Boat Company, which purchased the small ferry " Welcome, " for auto and passenger run from Sandusky to Kelley's Island. The Captain was a working president sinced he sailed the boat. Old age caught up with the boat in a few years, and from that point onward the Captain devoted his time to his island business interests and to his collections and writings to an even greater extent. During these years too, he continued many articles to historical journals and fostered the interest of a score or more budding collectors. He was deadly serious in marine history, and was always for pursuit of absolute fact. He left a solid impact of authenticity on any subject with which he dealt, and left to those who knew him well, a rememberance of warm family love that, while always appealing, was never at a greater flood than on March 4, 1969, when his Island nearly " slipped its moorings'' during his and Mrs Hamilton's 50th Wedding Anniversary party. On Saturday, January 22, 1972, the Captain wish was granted when he died on his beloved Island. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Charles Carpenter Charles Carpenter was a prominent citizen of Kelley's Island, in which he resided for over thirty-five years. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut on October 19, 1810. His ancestor, on his faher's side, came to America in the ship " Bevis" about 1655. His father, Gardner Carpenter, a resident of Norwich, Connecticut was for a short time paymaster under General Washington; was postmaster of Norwich for fifteen years; was an extensive merchant and ship owner in the West India and European trade; but by disasters at sea during 1812-1815, lost nearly all his property. He died April 26, 1815. Gardner Carpenter married Mary Huntington, October 29, 1791. Mary Huntington was descended from the first white male child born in South Eastern Connecticut. The Carpenter family was heirs to the great Carpenter estate in England, and the family coat-of-arms is cut upon some of the tombstones in Massachusetts. Charles Carpenter was a prominent horticulturist, and at one time appointed by the Grape-grower's Association as its President. He assisted F.R. Elliott in organizing the fruit and floral department of the first Ohio State Fair at Cincinnati, and continued since its beginning to be identified more or less with it. Frequently solicited to superintend it. He was an honorary member of the Cincinnati and other horticultural societies. >From a early day, he took a deep interest in the artificial propagation of fish and was active and prominent in inducing the State to experimant in the propagation of white-fish, and was in charge of the branch of the State Hatchery, at Kelley's Island. He was an enthusiastic advocate of grape culture, and the pioneer in that part of Ohio, having planted the first acre of grapes on the Island, and perhaps, no person has had a greater variety under cultivation at one time. He planted and cultivated the first peach trees on the Island which fruit was plump, sweet, and full of juice. On November 7, 1844, Charles Carpenter married Caroline Kelley, the second daughter of Datus and Sara Kelley, at Kelley's Island. They lived on the farm that he purchased from Mr. Kelley on the Island, for over thirty five years. Much of the success in Ohio's fruit culture, to which Kelley's Island is a part of, can be attributed to Charles Carpenter. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Better Than Horses It was the spring of the year 1786, and the Ohio river was broad and full. The flatboat carrying Captain Benjamin Stites, of Redstone, Pennsylvania, turned a bend. There on the shore, almost hidden among many trees, were log houses of 15 families. The little settlement was called Limestone. Captain Stites had been on his flatboat almost a week, and the journey down the Ohio had been lonesome and dangerous. On the way he had seen few people except some Indians staring at his boat from the river bank. He had not been afraid of them, as his boat was big and strong, and it was covered at on end by bullet proof timbers. Besides, the Captain himself, was a tall, husky man who knew how to use his long rifle. The river itself had given him the most serious trouble. Several times, logs sliding past in current had almost smashed the boat. Branches caught in shallow parts of the river had rammed it, and he had to watch carefully for sand bars which might have grounded the flatboat. Captain Stites was therefore glad when his boat drew even with the settlement. He took a long pole and pushed it into the river bottom. The boat was thus guided to shore. As Stites tied it to a tree on the river bank, most of the people of the settlement hurried to learn whether they were to welcome a new neighbor or a merchant. The people were disappointed to learn that he had not come to live there and they did not need the flour and meal and other things he had brought to sell. But he did learn that a few miles back from the river there was a small settlement called Washington. So he packed his goods and went there to sell them. One morning, after Stites had been in Washington a few days and disposed of some supplies, he heard angry, excited talk. He soon learned that the Indians had stolen a number of horses fom the settlers. It had happened before, this stealing by Indians who had come down from the norhern forests and crossed the Ohio River into their settlement. They feared that the Indians would keep on stealing until they had taken all the farm animals. " Let's go after them " was his reply. Stites was confident. " I am a soldier, " he said, " and I'm sure we can take care of the Indians we meet." Finally a group of men agreed to go. The tracks of the horses were fresh in the ground, making a trail easy to follow. It led back to the Ohio river and along the shore for almost forty miles to a place opposite the mouth of a stream. The men than saw that the Indians had made a raft and crossed the Ohio with the stolen horses. Stites and the other men had heard of this neighborhood. A few miles down the Ohio near the mouth of the Licking River was a path the Indians usually followed, when they came from their towns on the Great Lakes to get game and to plunder. On the land between the Great Miami and the little Miami Rivers the Indians had fought battles among themselves, and they had killed stray white men passing by. This place was to become known as the " Miami Slaughterhouse." None of the men had ever gone into the deep forests that stretched away north. They knew that Indian towns lay hidden in the northern forests. They thought of their confortable cabins and of their families, but the leader was determined to go on. " Let's follow them." he said. The white men built a raft, slid it in the water, and got aboard. By pushing poles against the river bottom, the men sent the raft to the opposite shore. The trail led up the valley of the Little Miami. As Stites and his men followed the trail besides the little river, they saw why the Indians the Indians prized their lands. On the hillsides stood huge oak, beech. sugar maple, yellow popular, hickory, an chestnut trees, many with trunks thicker than a man is tall. The men went by the bluffs showing layers of stone, and they smetimes stepped into pure, soft clay. The soil in the broad valley was rich and loose. Sometimes the men saw deer, bear, and wild turkeys among the trees or at many clear springs and creeks. Captain Stites knew the value of all these things. The trees would make excellant logs for houses and for firewood, and the clay and stone could be used later to build later homes. The nuts, such as acorn off the oak, could make hogs fat and tasty. Fine crops of wheat and corn could be grown in the mellow soil and the forest animals would supply whatever else was necesary to feed hearty frontier folk. Here was a splendid place to live in ! Captain Stites looked around him and marveled as he followed the trail where the Indians were camped. There were a great many of them. He thought a long while and smiled to himself. Then he spoke to his men. " I guess you were right. We wouldn't have a chance against all those Indians. Besides, we have something better to do than look for horses." The men wondered at what he said, but they were glad to start home. They thought that Captain Stites would lead them back the way they had come. They did not know that he was not really afraid of the Indians. He simply wanted to see more of this fine country. The men agreed to go with him west across the hills. They entered the wide fertile valley of the Great Miami River, followed the stream, then turned left over the hills, and at last reached Mill Creek. They picked their way along Mill Creek to the Ohio River and returned to Washington. All the people who had remained in the town welcomed the men heartily. They looked around for the horses they thought the party had rescued from the Indians. They saw none. They were surprised and went up to Captain Stites. " Where are our horses ? " they demanded. Captain Stites pretended to be puzzled at their question. " What horses ? " he asked. " The ones the Indians took and you went after," they replied impatiently. They wondered whether Captain Stites had lost his mind in the deep forests. Captain Stites knew what they were thinking, and his eyes twinkled. " Oh yes, the horses. Well, you see, we couldn't get them, because they were too many Indians." The people made long faces. They were disappointed. " Then your trip was for nothing," they said. " My friends," the Captain answered, " I did not get your horses, but I found something far better than horses---- a rich land of danger and beauty where I shall soon found a new settlement." After speaking those fine words, Captain Stites went to pack up his things and said goodbye to his friends. Then he made the long trip to New York. There he arranged to buy 20,000 acres of land along the Ohio River beside the little Miami River. In the fall of 1788, two years after he had looked for the horses, Captain Stites and 26 other families came down the Ohio. They landed near the Little Miami River and built a town called Columbia, which is now part of Cincinnati, Ohio. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid Bits continued in part 15.