OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 372 Today's Topics: #1 WILLIAM S. BUNDY - HAMILTON [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #2 HAMILTON COUNTY - PART 7 [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 15:13:24, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) Subject: WILLIAM S. BUNDY - HAMILTON HISTORY OF OHIO The American Historical Society, 1925 Volume V - page 436 WILLIAM S. BUNDY. A younger representative of a family that has been one of distinction in Ohio public affairs for several generations, William S. Bundy qualified for the law about the time America entered the war, served with the Navy during that period and then took up private practice. He is a resident of Columbus, where he is performing his duties as a member of the Ohio Civil Service Commission. Mr. Bundy was born at Norwood, in Hamilton County, Ohio, December 25, 1893, son of W.E. and Eva (Leedom) Bundy. Both his great-grandfather, H.S. Bundy and his grandfather, John P. Leedom, represented the old Tenth Ohio District in Congress, H.S. Bundy was one of the foremost men of influence in his day in Southern Ohio. He was born in 1817, and was one of the leaders in the original republican party. He was elected to Congress in 1864 and later was elected for several other terms. His daughter Julia became the wife of the late Governor Joseph Benson Foraker. The only son of H.S. Bundy was William E. Bundy, who died in 1867, his death being the result of a wound received while a Union soldier. William E. Bundy, father of the young Columbus attorney and grandson of H.S. Bundy, was born on the site of the City of Wellston in Jackson County, Ohio, October 4, 1866. He was reared and educated by his grandfather, H.S. Bundy, and graduated in law in 1890. He practiced law at Cincinna ti, with home at Norwood in Hamilton County, and was United States district attorney at the time of his death in 1903. William S. Bundy was ten years of age when his father died. He was born at Norwood, and in 1904 his mother moved to Los Angeles, California. During the three years he spent in California he attended school. In the latter part of 1906, returning to Ohio, he soon entered Culver Military Academy in Indiana, and finished his literary education in Ohio University at Athens, where he was graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1914. Subsequently he studied law in the Cincinnati Law School, and was graduated Bachelor of Laws in 1917. In the latter part of 1917 Mr Bundy volunteered for duty in the Navy at Washington, and was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Intelligence at Norfolk, with the rank of Master of Arms, first class. He performed this service until December, 1918. After his discharge Mr. Bundy practiced law at Akron for a year or so. During the national campaign of 1920 he made speeches throughout the state for the republican state and national ticket under the auspices of the State Republican Executive Committee. His active leadership in the republican party is in line with the history of his family for several generation. Upon the election of Hon. Harry L. Davis as governor, Mr. Bundy became executive clerk in the governor's office at Columbus in January, 1921, and performed those duties until December 15, 1922. At that date, having been appointed a member of the Ohio Civil Service Commission, he took up the duties of his new office Mr. Bundy married Miss Marie Baldwin, of Bellefontaine, Ohio. They have one daughter, Julia Marie, born July 22, 1922. ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 23:03:33, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) Subject: HAMILTON COUNTY - PART 7 HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF OHIO By Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898 HAMILTON COUNTY - part 7 EARLY BEGINNINGS OF CINCINNATI. Soon as the settlers of Cincinnati landed (December, 1788) they commenced erecting three or four cabins, the first of which was built on Front, east of and near Main street. The lower table of land was then covered with sycamore and maple trees, and the upper with beech and oak. Through this dense forest the streets were laid out, their corners being marked upon the trees. This survey extended from Easter row, now Broadway, to Western row, now Central Avenue, and from the river as far north as to Norther row, now Seventh street. FORT WASHINGTON was built in the fall of 1789 by Major Doughty, the commander of a body of troops sent by Gen. Harmar from Fort Harmar with discretionary power to locate a fort in the Miami country. The site selected was a little east of Broadway just outside of the village limits, and where Third street now crosses it. The fort was a solid, substantial fortress of hewn timber about 180 feet square with block-houses at the four angles and two stories high. Fifteen acres were reserved there by government. It was the most important and extensive military work then in the Territories, and figured largely in the Indian wars of the period. Gen. Harmar arrived and took command late in December, its garrison then comprising seventy men. In January, 1790, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, then governor of the Northwest Territory, arrived at Cincinnati to organize the county of Hamilton. In the succeeding fall Gen. Harmar marched from Fort Washington on his expedition against the Indians of the Northwest. In the following year (1791) the unfortunate army of St. Clair marched from the same place. On his return, St. Clair gave Major Zeigler the command of Fort Washington and repaired to Philadelphia. Soon after the latter was succeeded by Col. Wilkinson. This year Cincinnati had little increase in its population. About one-half of the inhabitants were attached to the army of St. Clair, and many killed in the defeat. In 1792 about fifty persons were added by immigration to the population of Cincinnati, and a house of worship erected. In the spring following the troops which had been recruited for Wayne's army landed at Cincinnati and encamped on the bank of the river, between the village of Cincinnati and Mill creek. To that encampment Wayne gave the name of "Hobson's Choice," it being the only suitable place for that object. This was just west of Central avenue. Here he remained several months, constantly drilling his troops, and then moved on to a spot now in Darke county, where he erected Fort Greenville, In the fall, after the army had left, the small-pox broke out in the garrison at Fort Washington, and spread with so much malignity that nearly one-third of the soldiers and citizens fell victims. In July, 1794, the army left Fort Greenville, and on the 20th of August defeated the enemy at the battle of "the Fallen Timbers," in what is now Lucas county, a few miles above Toledo. Judge Burnet thus describes Cincinnati, at about this period. Prior to the treaty of Greenville, which established a permanent peace between the United States and the Indians, but few improvements had been made of any description, and scarcely one of a permanent character. In Cincinnati, Fort Washington was the most remarkable object. That rude but highly interesting structure sod between Third and Fourth streets produced, east of Eastern Row, now Broadway, which was then a two-pole alley, and was the eastern boundary of the town, as originally laid out. It was composed of a number of strongly built, hewed-log-cabins, a story and a half high, calculated for soldiers' barracks. Some of them, more conveniently arranged and better finished, were intended for officers' quarters. They were so placed as to form a hollow square of about an acre of ground with a strong block-house at each angle. It was built of large logs, cut from the ground on which it stood, which was a tract of fifteen acres, reserved by Congress in the law of 1792 for the accommodation of the garrison. The artificers' yard was an appendage to the fort, and stood on the bank of the river immediately in front. It contained about two acres of ground, enclosed by small contiguous buildings, occupied as work-shops and quarters for laborers. Within the enclosure there was a large two-story frame-house, familiarly called the "yellow-house," built for the accommodation of the quartermaster-general, which was the most commodious and best finished edifice in Cincinnati. On the north side of Fourth street, immediately behind the fort, Colonel Sargent, secretary of the territory, had a convenient frame-house and a spacious garden, cultivated with care and taste. On the east side of the fort, Dr. Allison, the surgeon-general of the army, had a plain frame dwelling in the centre of a large lot, cultivated as a garden and fruitery, which was called Peach Grove. The Presbyterian church, an interesting edifice, stood on Main street in front of the spacious brick building now occupied by the first Presbyterian congregation. It was a substantial frame building about forty feet by thirty, enclosed with clapboards, but neither lathed, plastered nor ceiled. The floor was of boat plank, resting on wooden blocks. In that humble edifice the pioneers and their families assembled statedly for public worship; and during the continuance of the war, they always attended with loaded rifles by their sides. That building was afterwards neatly finished, and some years subsequently (1814) was sold and removed to Vine street, where it now (1847) remains the property of Judge Burke. On the north side of Fourth street, opposite where St. Paul's Church now stands, there stood a frame school-house, enclosed, but unfinished, in which the children of the village were instructed. On the north side of the public square there was a strong log-building erected and occupied as a jail. A room in the tavern of George Avery, near the frog-pond, at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, had been rented for the accommodation of the courts; and as the penitentiary system had not been adopted, and Cincinnati was a seat of justice, it was ornamented with a pillory, stocks and whipping-post, and occasionally with a gallows. These were all the structures of a public character then in the place. Add to these the cabins and other temporary buildings for the shelter of the inhabitants, and it will complete the schedule of the improvements of Cincinnati at the time of the treaty of Greenville, The only vestige of them now remaining is the church of the pioneers. With that exception, and probably two or three frame buildings which have been repaired, improved and preserved, every edifice in the city has been erected since the ratification of that treaty. The stations of defense scattered through the Miami Valley were all temporary, and have long since gone to decay or been demolished. It may assist the reader in forming something like a correct idea of the appearance of Cincinnati, and of what it actually was at that time, to know that at the intersection of Main and Fifth streets, now the centre of business and tasteful improvement, there was a pond of water, full of alder bushes, from which the frogs serenaded the neighborhood during the summer and fall, and which rendered it necessary to construct a causeway of logs to pass it. That morass remained in its natural state, with its alders and its frogs, several years after Mr. B. became a resident of the place, the population of which, including the garrison and followers of the army, was about six hundred. The fort was then commanded by William H. Harrison, a captain in the army, but afterwards President of the United States. In 1797, General Wilkinson, the commander-in-chief of the army, made it his headquarters for a few months, but did not apparently interfere with the command of Captain Harrison, which continued till his resignation in 1798. During this period now spoken of, the settlements of the territory, including Cincinnati, contained but few individuals, and still fewer families, who had been accustomed to mingle in the circles of polished society. That fact put it in the power of the military to give character to the manners and customs of the people. Such a school, it must be admitted, was by no means calculated to make the most favorable impression on the morals and sobriety of any community, as was abundantly proved by the result. Idleness, drinking and gambling prevailed in the army to a greater extent than it has done at any subsequent period. This may be attributed to the fact that they had been several years in the wilderness, cut off from all society but their own, with but few comforts or conveniences at hand, and no amusements but such as their own ingenuity could invent. Libraries were not to be found -men of literary minds or polished manners were rarely met with; and they had long been deprived of the advantages of modest, accomplished female, society, which always produces a salutary influence on the feelings and moral habits of men. Thus situated, the officers were urged, by an irresistible impulse, to tax their wits for expedients to fill up the chasms of leisure which were left on their hands after a full discharge of their military duties; and, as is too frequently the case, in such circumstances, the bottle, the dice-box and the card-table were among the expedients resorted to, because they were the nearest at hand and the most easily procured. It is a distressing fact that a very large proportion of the officers under General Wayne, and the subsequently under General Wilkinson, were hard drinkers. Harrison, Clark, Shomberg, Ford, Strong and a few others were the only exceptions. Such were the habits of the army when they began to associate with the inhabitants of Cincinnati, and of the western settlements generally, and to give tone to public sentiment. As a natural consequence the citizens indulged in the same practices and formed the same habits. As a proof of this it may be stated that when Mr. Burnet came to the bar there were nine resident lawyers engaged in the practice, of whom he is and has been for many years the only survivor. They all became confirmed sots, and descended to premature graves, excepting his brother, who was a young man of high promise, but whose life was terminated by a rapid consumption in the summer of 1801. He expired under the shade of a tree, by the side of the road, on the banks of Paint creek, a few miles from Chillicothe. -continued in part 8 -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #372 *******************************************