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. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 191 Today's Topics: #1 Obit Louis Sidney Smith - Medina, [William King ] #2 Obit Samuel Homer Root, Medina, OH [William King ] #3 History of Miami County Part 1 [LeaAnn Rich Subject: Obit Louis Sidney Smith - Medina, OH MEDINA COUNTY GAZETTE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1927 Smith Services Thursday Funeral services were conducted Thursday afternoon, for one of Medina's veterans. Louis Sidney Smith, known for more than a half century as "Lou." who died Monday evening in his 77th years. Although absent from Medina between 1905 and 1922, nearly 60 years of his life had been spent in Medina, to which village he came with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Sidney Jay Smith, from Elyria when he was five years old. He had been born in Elyria May 14, 1850. Educated in Medina Schools, "Lou" Smith bore an active part in village affairs as he came of age, leading the band, being an officer of the volunteer fir department and its head for a time. He was a Mason, a member and past of Medina lodge, and was a Knight Templar and a member also of the Knights of Pythias. Rev. P.M. Kendall read the Episcopal service at the funeral Died In Daughter's Home He married Donna Eliza Root July 7, 1877, and to them were born three children. Mrs. Elizabeth Boesch, in whose home in East Washington street, Medina, he died Monday: Sidney and Adon Smith, both of Cleveland, and who were present when their father died. Mrs. Smith died in Lakewood in 1915. "Colonel" Smith was postmaster of Medina in the second administration of Grover Cleveland as president and soon removed his family to Cleveland, where for years he was manager of the Diebolt Safe and Lock company. In 1922, he returned to Medina, a victim of the illness which caused his death. He was able to be about the village for several years and two years ago spent several months is Florida, but for several months had been confined to the house and for ten days before his death, to his bed. It was while his sons and daughter were discussing the bringing in of a nurse to assist in his care that life fled Monday afternoon, after a few minutes absence, to find him dead, the end coming without warning and peacefully. ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 21:44:57 -0500 From: William King Subject: Obit Samuel Homer Root, Medina, OH 11/11/1881 Obit Samuel Homer Root Medina County Gazette November 11, 1881, page 7 S.H. Root, an old and estimable citizen of Medina, father of A.I. Root, died at his home west of the village Saturday evening last at 8 o'clock of intermittent fever, with which he had been sick for a long time. The funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon, as per appointment, but owing to the non-arrival of a daughter, Mrs. Gardner from Mich., the burial was delayed and took place Wednesday. ------------------------------ X-Message: #3 Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 01:37:25 -0800 From: LeaAnn Rich Subject: History of Miami County Part 1 Historical Collections of Ohio Henry Howe LL.D. MIAMI COUNTY Miami County was formed from Montgomery, January 16, 1807, and Staunton made the temporary seat of justice. The word Miami, in the Ottawa language, is said to signify "mother." The name Miami was originally the designation of the tribe who anciently bore the name of "Tewightewee." This tribe were the original inhabitants of the Miami Valley, and affirmed they were created in it. East of the Miami the surface is gently rolling, and a large proportion of it a rich alluvial soil; west of the Miami the surface is generally level, the soil a clay loam and better adapted to small grain and grass than corn. The county abounds in excellent limestone and has a large amount of water power. In agricultural resources this is one of the richest counties in the State. Area about 400 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 137,922; in pasture, 7,159; woodland, 23,601; lying waste, 2,338; produced in wheat, 956,331 bushels; rye, 1,578; buckwheat, 87; oats, 454,112; barley, 27,349; corn, 1,520,000; broom corn, 9,690 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 8,175 tons; clover hay, 7,806; flax, 833,800 lbs. fiber; potatoes, 47,593 bushels; tobacco, 463,120 lbs.; butter, 536,213; cheese, 13,400; sorghum, 4,731 gallons; maple syrup, 8,627; honey, 6,225 lbs.; eggs, 433,940 dozen; grapes, 26,635 lbs.; sweet potatoes, 1,927 bushels; apples, 1,395; peaches, 102; pears, 832; wool, 22,088 lbs.; milch cows owned, 6,033; Ohio mining statistics, 1888: Limestone, 8,635 tons burned for lime; 73,096 cubic feet of dimension stone; 45,275 cubic yards of building stone; 5,007 cubic yards for piers or protection purposes; 27,582 square feet of flagging; 37,850 square feet of paving; 30,558 lineal feet of curbing; 8,077 cubic yards of ballast or macadam. School census, 1888, 12,038; teachers, 266. Miles of railroad track, 121. Townships and Census 1840 1880 Bethel 1,586 1,854 Brown 1,230 1,863 Concord 2,408 5,354 Elizabeth 1,398 1,327 Lost Creek 1,304 1,450 Monroe 1,409 2,829 Newberry 1,632 4,615 Newton 1,242 2,829 Spring Creek 1,501 1,682 Staunton 1,231 1,292 Union 2,221 3,859 Washington 2,642 7,204 Population of Miami in 1820, 8,851; 1830, 12,807; 1840, 19,804; 1860, 29,959; 1880, 36,158; of whom 28,832 were born in Ohio; 1,882, Pennsylvania; 599, Virginia; 570, Indiana; 321, NewYork; 243, Kentucky; 1,376, German Empire; 413, Ireland; 159, England and Wales; 93, France; 48, British America; and 14, Scotland. Census, 1890, 39, 754. REMINISCENCES OF CLARKE'S EXPEDITION Prior to the settlement of Ohio, Gen. George Rogers Clarke led an expedition from Kentucky against the Indians in this region, an account of which follows from the reminiscences of Abraham Thomas, originally published in the Troy Times. Mr. Thomas, it is said, cut the first sapling on the site of Cincinnati: In the year 1782, after corn planting, I again volunteered in an expedition under General Clarke with the object of destroying some Indian villages about Piqua, on the great Miami river. On this occasion nearly 1000 men marched out of Kentucky by the route of Licking river. We crossed to Ohio at the present site of Cincinnati where our last years stockade had been kept up, and a few people then resided in log cabins. We proceeded immediately onward through the woods without regard to our former trail, and crossed Mad river not far from the present site of Dayton; we kept up the east side of the Miami and crossed it about four miles below the Piqua towns. Shortly after gaining the bottom on the west side of the river, a party of Indians on horseback with their squaws came out of a trace that led to some Indian villages near the present site of Granville. They were going on a frolic, or pow-wow, to be held at Piqua, and had with them a Mrs. McFall, who was some time before taken prisoner from Kentucky; the Indians escaped into the woods leaving their women, with Mrs. McFall, to the mercy of our company. We took those along with us to Piqua and Mrs. McFall returned to Kentucky. On arriving at Piqua, we found that the Indians had fled from the villages, leaving most of their effects behind. During the following night I joined a party to break up an encampment of Indians said to be lying about what was called the French Store. We soon caught a Frenchman, tied him on horseback for our guide, and arrived at the place in the night. The Indians had taken alarm and cleared out; we, however, broke up and burned the Frenchman's store, which had for a long time been a place of outfit for Indian marauders and returned to the main body early in the morning, many of our men well stocked with plunder. After burning and otherwise destroying everything about upper and lower Piqua towns we commenced our return march. In this attack five Indians were killed during the night the expedition lay at Piqua; the Indians lurked around the camp, firing random shots from the hazel thickets without doing us any injury; but two men who were in search of their stray horses were fired upon and severely wounded; one of those died shortly after and was buried at what is now called "Coe's Ford," where we recrossed the Miami on our return. The other, Capt. McCracken, lived until we reached the site of Cincinnati, where he was buried. On this expedition we had with us Capt. Barbee, afterwards Judge Barbee, one of my primitive neighbors in Miami County, Ohio, a most worthy and brave man, with whom I have hunted, marched and watched through many a long day, and finally removed with him to Ohio. ------------------------------ X-Message: #4 Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 02:45:55 -0800 From: LeaAnn Rich Subject: History of Miami County Part 2 Historical Collections Of Ohio Henry Howe LL.D. EARLY SETTLEMENTS From the "Miami County Traditions," also published in the "Troy Times," in 1839, we annex some reminiscences of the settlement of the county and it's early settlers: Among the first settlers who established themselves in Miami County was John Knoop. He removed from Cumberland Co., Penn., in 1797. In the spring of that year he came down the Ohio to Cincinnati and cropped the first season on Zeigler's stone-house farm, four miles above Cincinnati, then belonging to John Smith. During the summer he made two excursions into the Indian country with surveying parties and at that time selected the land he now owns and occupies. The forest was then full of Indians, principally Shawnees, but there were small bands of Mingoes, Delawares, Miamis and Potawatomies, peacefully hunting through the country. Early the next spring, in 1798, Mr. Knoop removed to near the present site of Staunton village, and in connection with Benjamin Knoop, Henry Garard, Benjamin Hamlet and John Tildus, established there a station for the security of their families. Mrs. Knoop, now living, there planted the first apple tree introduced into Miami County, and one is now standing in the yard of their house raised from seed then planted that measures little short of nine feet around it. Dutch Station-- The inmates of a station in the county, called the Dutch Station, remained within it for two years, during which time they were occupied in clearing and building on their respective farms. Here was born in 1798 Jacob Knoop, the son of John Knoop, the first civilized native of Miami County. At this time there were three young single men living at the mouth of Stony Creek, and cropping on what was afterwards called Freeman's Prairie. One of these was D.H. Morris, a present resident of Bethel Township; at the same time there resided at Piqua, Samuel Hilliard, Job Garrard, Shadrach Hudson, Jonah Rollins, Daniel Cox, Thomas Rich and ___ Hunter; these last named had removed to Piqua in 1797, and together with our company at the Dutch Station, comprised all the inhabitants of Miami County from 1797 to 1799. In the latter year, John, afterwards Judge Garrard, Nathaniel and Abner Garrard and the year following, Uriah Blue, Joseph Coe and Abraham Hathaway, joined us with their families. From that time all parts of the county began to receive numerous immigrants. For many years the citizens lived together on footings of the most social and harmonious intercourse, we were all neighbors to each other in the Samaritan sense of the term, there were some speculators and property hunters among us, to be sure, but not enough to disturb our tranquility and general confidence. For many miles around, we knew who was sick, and what ailed them, for we took a humane interest in the welfare of all. Many times were we called from six to eight miles to assist at a rolling or raising, and cheerfully lent our assistance to the task. For our accommodation we sought the mill of Owen Davis, afterwards Smith's Mill, on Beaver Creek, a tributary of the little Miami, some twenty seven miles distant. Our track lay through the woods, and two days were consumed in the trip, when we usually took two horseloads. Owen was a kind man, considerate of his distant customers, and would set up all night to oblige them, and his conduct materially abridged our mill duties. With the Indians we lived on peaceable terms; sometimes, however, panics would spread among the women, which disturbed us a little, and occasionally we would have a horse or so stolen. But one man only was killed out of the settlement from 1797 to 1811. This person was one Boyier, who was shot by a straggling party of Indians, supposed through mistake. No one, however, liked to trade with the Indians, or have anything to do with them, beyond the offices of charity. Beauty of the Country-- The country all around the settlement presented the most lovely appearance, the earth was like an ash heap, and nothing could exceed the luxuriance of primitive vegetation; indeed our cattle often died from excess of feeding, and it was somewhat difficult to rear them on that account. The white-weed or bee-harvest, as it is called, so profusely spread over our bottom and woodlands, was not then seen among us; the sweet annis, nettles, wild rye and pea vine, now so scarce, everywhere abounded, they were almost the entire herbage of our bottoms. The two last gave subsistence to our cattle, and the first, with our nutritious roots, were eaten by our swine with the greatest avidity. In the spring and summer months a drove of hogs could be scented at a considerable distance from their flavor of the annis root. Our winters were as cold, but more steady than at present. Snow generally covered the ground, and drove our stock to the barnyard for three months, and this was all the trouble we had with them. Buffalo signs were frequently met with; but the animals had entirely disappeared before the first white inhabitant came into the country; but other game was abundant. As many as thirty deer have been counted at one time around the bayous and ponds near Staunton. The hunter had his full measure of sport when he chose to indulge in the chase; but ours was essentially an agricultural settlement. From the coon to the buckskin embraced our circulating medium. Our imported commodities were first purchased at Cincinnati, then at Dayton, and finally Peter Felix established an Indian merchandising store at Staunton, and this was our first attempt in that way of traffic. For many years we had no exports but skins; yet wheat was steady at fifty cents and corn at twenty five cents per bushel, the latter, however, has since fallen as low as twelve and a half cents, and a dull market. Milling-- For some time the most popular milling was at Patterson's below Dayton, and with Owen Davis, on Beaver; but the first mill in Miami County is thought to have been erected by John Manning, on Piqua Bend. Nearly the same time Henry Garrard erected on Spring Creek a corn and saw mill, on land now included within the farm of Col. Winans. It is narrated by the colonel, and is a fact worthy of notice, that on the first establishment of these mills they would run ten months in a year, and sometimes longer by heads. The creek would not now turn one pair of stones two months in a year, and then only on the recurrence of freshets. It is thought this remark is applicable to all streams of the upper Miami Valley, showing there is less spring drainage from the country since it has become cleared of it's timber and consolidated by cultivation. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #191 *******************************************