OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 211 *********************************************************************** 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. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 211 Today's Topics: #1 History, Hamilton County ; Crosby ["Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0cd701bfe3ab$5c498ca0$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: History, Hamilton County ; Crosby Township - pgs 282-292 (3) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Tina Hursh frog158@juno.com April 15, 2000 Transcribed by Karen Klaene *********************************************************************** Crosby Township - pgs 282-292 *********************************************************************** History of Hamilton County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. Compiled by Henry A. Ford, A.M. and Mrs. Kate B. Ford, L.A. William & Co., Publishers; 1881. pages 286-292 CROSBY VILLAGE. Next below BUTTERFIELD & Company's tract, on the west side of the river, a large piece was bought by Joab COMSTOCK the same year. In 1803 he laid out a town site in what appeared to be an eligible place near the Great Miami, below the famous bend, about two miles south of the county line, and gave the new town the name of Crosby, for the reason before given. For a time settlement was attracted thither, and its fortune was decidedly hopeful. A number of cabins and other houses were built; a blacksmith shop and store began operations; other shops were opened; and many lots were sold. The ground selected proved too low, however. for permanent occupation; and the great freshet of 1805 thoroughly inundated the town site and invaded the buildings upon it. After this untoward event the place ran down, and was ultimately vacated altogether, not a single house remaining to mark the spot. In later times the property has been owned by the heirs of Judah WILLEY, son of Noah WILLEY, of the BUTTERFIELD Land company. Joab COMSTOCK became the chief founder of villages in Crosby township. He was one of the original proprietors of NEW HAVEN 1 This village dates from 1815. It was laid off upon twenty acres of a hundred acre tract in the southwest corner of section eleven, bought from Robert BENEFIELD by the proprietors of the new town - our old friend Joab COMSTOCK sr., and Major Charles CONE, another old settler in the township. Joseph SATER, another pioneer and father of some of the most prominent citizens of the township and county, served as surveyor, Major CONE carrying the flag-pole and Mr.. COMSTOCK himself notching the trees for landmarks. The site was probably determined, in large part, by its natural advantages, it being at the junction of Howard's creek and the Dry Fork of Whitewater, with a picturesque distribution of high lands in every direction in the near view. It took its name from the birthplace of COMSTOCK in the "land of steady habits." When, however, it became desirable to establish a post office at this point, it was found that there was another New Haven in the State, and accordingly it became necessary to designate this office by another name - that of Preston being selected. Main street intersected the town site from east to west. Parallel with it was a street on the south, through which ran the road from New Baltimore to Harrison; and another on the north, which was not opened for a long time. There was also a West street, on which ran the road to the Shakers' town. A small piece of ground to the north of the plat, and outside of it, was reserved for a burying-ground; but there were no other reservations. The progress of the place was slow. Mr.. BEVIS says: During the ten years following 1815, the proposed village was only made larger about once every six months or one year by the addition of a cabin, ox-shed, or log barn. The first frame building was erected in 1826, eleven years after the town was founded. It is still standing on Main street, second dwelling west of A. T. HAWK'S shop, and was recently occupied by the Rev. Mr.. RODEBAUGH. The first log cabin was put up long before, on the north side of Main street, near the center of the village plat. Mr.. BEVIS humorously remarks: It would defy the skilled Samuel L. CLEMENS [Mark TWAIN] to tell what New Haven resembled at that early day. Seven or eight log cabins were strewn up and down Main street, without sidewalks and numbers. The fragrant dog-fennel and jimson-weed grew luxuriantly beside the cabin doorstep; Main street and Shaker avenue were soon lost among the paw-paw bushes and Spanish needles a few rods from Dr. George LITTLE's tavern. The first tavern in New Haven was opened by Dr. LITTLE. The first storekeeper had his place alongside of this - Mr.. William WAKEFIELD whose grandson, Amos WAKEFIELD occupies a store upon nearly the same site. David GOSHORN and Wesley THOMPSON were the first blacksmiths. William McGUIRE, of whom THOMPSON was a son-in-law, was one of the first school-teachers in the place. Mr.. William ELLSWORTH, a widower with two daughters, was another professional school-teacher residing in town. Thomas MAKIN, a bachelor, and his two maiden sisters, early opened a dry goods store. Dr. George LITTLE was the first physician. Others among the earliest were Dr. James COMSTOCK, who lived just south of the village; Noah COMSTOCK, his brother; Edmund C. ARCHIBALD, wagon-maker; John SHROZER, cabinet-maker and undertaker; Leonard HATHAWAY, and Lathan S. BARTLETT, shoemakers; and Lot DAY, tanner, whose factory was in the southeast corner of the place, near HOWARD's creek. Mr.. BARTLETT had also an early tannery. Among the younger men were Drs. Hiram and Thomas BALL, students of medicine with Dr. COMSTOCK. This pretty nearly or quite exhausts the list of the earliest settlers. The date of the first brick house is fixed at 1832 - the dwelling now occupied by Mr.. G. W. MILHOLLAND. It was early used as a saloon and residence by Enoch HAYDEN. Other saloonists of that pioneer time were named WELLOSON, GIBSON, and HYATT. Some of the old groggeries are now used for stables, and one is occupied by Dr. J. H. DUNCAN, as an office. In 1840 a large frame building was put up for a hotel, but left uncompleted by the owner for lack of means, and in time became much dilapidated. It was repaired, however, and is now occupied in part by the post office. The first school-house was built of green, unhewed buckeye logs, on HOWARD's creek, south side of the street, at the southeast corner of the town. Elijah THOMPSON, father of THOMPSON the blacksmith, was first teacher in it. The second school-house which served the village, a plain frame building, was built half a mile ~pg 290~ north of town, also on HOWARD'S creek and on "Shaker avenue." The frame of this academic structure afterwards did duty as a stable upon Mr.. A. T. HAWKS' place in the village. The present school building was put up in 1860, on a slight eminence north of town, by Mr.. James WILLIAMSON, upon property leased from Phebe WAKEFIELD and A. McCoy. Its cost, exclusive of furniture, was one thousand three hundred dollars. A north wing, for another school-room, was added four or five years afterwards, by Edward DUNNICK. The post office was established in 1826. The petition of citizens for an office named Alexander Preston CAVENDER for first postmaster, and when the necessity for a name other than that of the village became evident, his middle name was chosen. The office was opened in a house now the residence of Mr.. D. Clinton BUELL. The mail was received in saddle-bags by horseback post from North Bend once a fortnight. John CARTER, F. OPPERMAN, and Francis MILHOLLAND are in the succession of local postmasters, the last named being now in charge of the office. The mail is received twice a week, besides what is obtained almost daily by visitors to Harrison, five miles distant. Of late years a literary and dramatic society in New Haven added considerably to the interest of living in the place. In the year 1874 its receipts from public entertainments amounted to eighty-five dollars, which were given to the church of the United Brethren in Christ, in that place. Dr. Jason F. BREVOORT was one of the old practitioners in New Haven. He went there a boy of fourteen, with his parents, and eight years afterwards began reading medicine with Dr. COMSTOCK. He had previously received some academic education at Oxford and at Augusta, Kentucky. Although he had no diploma of any kind, he practiced successfully here for twenty years, then for a time at Harrison, and finally removed to a farm near Columbus, Indiana. He was the second physician in New Haven. Dr. William H. BENTLETT came from New York State to New Haven, via Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, in 1825. He was then in his twentieth year, and at twenty-three began practice, after a studentship under Dr. COMSTOCK. He has been a practitioner in New Haven for more than half a century, save nine years at Miamitown, and as many at Cheviot. Two of the oldest ladies of the community - Miss Mary CAVENDER, of 1818, the third year of the village, and Mrs. Lavina WRIGHT, of 1825 - are still living in New Haven. Moses CARPENTER was the first superintendent of a Sunday-school in New Haven, and Joab COMSTOCK, jr., first secretary. M. BEVIS gives the following picture of the first church near the village, and perhaps the first in Crosby township: A little hickory house. about fifteen by thirty, with the bark hanging loose from the logs. a small low door that swung with a creack, seats made of blue-ash trees split once and legs put in the outer side, turning the wide, flat surface upward to sit on, a rude table or stand for a pulpit, and the first church in the community was completed. It stood on the bank; in the Baptist cemetery, one mite southwest of the village. Moses HORNADAY, . one of the early circuit-preachers in the Miami valley, led the services. Since the erection of that church, two others have been built one a frame and the other a brick, standing there now. The church building now occupied by the Methodist Episcopal society was erected in 1830, although not in its present shape, it having since been greatly improved. Mr.. BEVIS says that "the old building, as it was forty-nine years ago, would be a queer specimen of architecture compared with its present appearance. With doors on both the east and west side, portable seats of the old district school-house kind, stoves of mammoth proportions, minus shutters and curtains, without bell or belfry, it was certainly a unique structure." The building was dedicated in January, 1831, and a Sunday-school organized therein immediately after. Another, a union school,. had been kept in Mr. COMSTOCK's barn, but was now transferred to SATER's school-house. Both schools were afterwards united on the union foundation, Mr.. Robert H. BLACKBURN being the first superintendent of the united schools. He was born March 12, 1813, in an old frame house still standing on Mr.. John HYATT's farm. The United Brethren church in New Haven originated with Rev. William STURR, a young minister of that denomination, one of the oldest settlers in that township, and John MYERS A subscription was made for a house of worship, in April and May, 1850, signed liberally by Mr.. MYERS, Amos ATHERTON (who gave one hundred dollars), and others, and the house was put up in due time by Mr.. John SHOYER. "At first," says Mr. BEVIS, "the United Brethren church resembled our common country barns, square and upright, without the ornaments which add so much toward its beauty to-day." In 1866 a belfry and bell were added; and in 1874 the whole building was remodeled, new carpet put down, and an organ purchased. In the spring of 1877 the Union Sunday-school was divided, the Methodist people taking their own from it. Since 1873 the Sunday-school concert has been an interesting feature of the summer Sabbath afternoons. New Haven had a population of one hundred and twenty-eight in 1830, which had grown to one hundred and forty-one in 1850, and one hundred and sixty-one in 1870, each time leading any other village in the township in proportion. Some interesting mounds, quite certainly ancient works, are found on the hills south of New Haven. WHITEWATER This village, more commonly known as the Shakers' town, or Shakers' Society, is situated on the Dry fork of the Whitewater, on the dividing line between sections two and three, about half a mile south of the county line, something more than a mile from the west township line, and a mile and a half north of New Haven. It had its origin about the year 182_, with the United Society of Believers, commonly called Shakers. Mr.. Ezra SHERMAN, a trustee of the society then and now, obliges us and the readers of this work with the following particulars: "In 1823 there was a Methodist revival in the neighborhood, after which the society was visited by a delegation ~pg 291~ of Shakers from Union village, near Lebanon, Ohio, who opened their testimony of Christ's second coming without sin unto salvation. It was joyfully received, and many of the people united with the same. In 1824 they purchased forty acres of land, for which they paid two hundred dollars, and commenced to live in joint interest, having all things in common, as was the case of the Pentecostal church of Christ's first coming. The society is situated on the Dry fork of the Whitewater, one mile from the village of New Haven, and six miles northeast of Harrison. It commenced its history by purchasing forty acres of land and building at first some log cabins. About eighteen in number were the brethren and sisters at that time. In 1825 they were replenished to about forty men, women and children, by a company of New Lights, as they were called a religious body of people who received the same testimony and had removed from the Derby plains in northern Ohio forming one body. So from time to time,. as they had money saved by their joint labor, and as opportunity offered, they bought lands, built brick and good frame houses, and increased in numbers to the present time, now owning about twelve hundred acres, assessed at about sixty dollars per acre. The testimony of the society has always been against wars and fighting; against learning the art of war. There were some trials in the matter of militia musters, which members not attending, they were fined and their property sold to pay for the same. In 1846 there came from Cincinnati and other places, about seventy men, women and children, commonly known as Millerites or Second Adventists. Hearing and believing, they became members. Many having deceased, some remain to the present time. The present leading members of the society are, as elders, Stephen W. BALL, Henry B. BEAR, Charles FEADAY; as elderesses, Amanda REUBUST, Nancy McKEE, E. GASS, Julia Ann BEAR, Edith DENNIS.. Our numbers at the present time are about fifty members." The first trustees of the society were Ezra SHERMAN and Ebenezer RICE; the present trustees are Mr.. SHERMAN and Henry B. BEAR The first elders were Calvin MORRELL and Jacob HOLLAWAY. The elderesses were Mary BEADLE and Phebe SEELY. The original deaconesses were Sarepta HINMAN and Ann HALL; the present deaconess is Eliza McGUIRE. Formerly this society engaged somewhat in manufacturing and in the raising of garden seeds, but of late years they have devoted their attention and labors exclusively to farming. In September, 1857, the colony was visited by a travelling correspondent of The Cincinnatus, an agricultural magazine published at College Hill, who included the following notice of the Shaker settlement in his next contribution to that periodical: While in the neighborhood of Harrison, I visited the celebrated Shaker farm in Crosby township, which consists of about fourteen hundred acres, It is a fine specimen of scientific agriculture and horticulture. Peculiar religious tenets aside, the society gives ample evidence of true knowledge in farming and gardening. Their community consists of three families, in all two hundred persons. including the children placed to their care. Their chief business is the raising of fine stock, seeds. and brooms. They have about fifty acres appropriated to garden seeds. yielding a profit of three thousand dollars per year. They have also seventy-five milch cows, one imported Durham bull, and twenty calves. Of the last them were six specimens taken to our State fair. Extreme cleanliness is everywhere manifest. The barn and stables are arranged with remarkable taste and convenience. They have the Osage orange and quickset hedges grown and growing to perfection. and on either side the main road the additional ornament of fine black locust trees the entire length of their farm, the whole of which is assessed at seventy-five thousand dollars. The following story of this community is related in Judge CARTER's Reminiscences of the Old Court House: It is well known that a large family of the pure and innocent Shakers have a long time existed out at the Whitewater village, in the northwest portion of Hamilton county, even for a period of over fifty years. When they first settled there, being regarded by orthodox people as children of the devil, and by others as religious lunatics. it was the endeavor of all the neighborhood in Whitewater, Crosby, and Miami townships, to get rid of them and their peaceful settlement; and all manner of stories were circulated about their devilish ways all over the country, and sometimes a mob of farmers was talked of, to drive them clear out of the county and country. At last some vindictive scoundrels in the neighborhood got two little Shaker boys, who were anxious to run away from the strict and restraining care of the Shakers, to make up a horrid and outrageous charge against the whole Shaker community of Whitewater. The men of the Shaker colony, fifteen or twenty in number, were consequently brought to Cincinnati and confined in the county jail. Intense feeling was aroused against them by their enemies and accusers, and there was imminent danger that they would be taken from the jail and lynched. By the efforts of leading citizens, however, the mob was stayed from violence. The Shakers, placing their simple trust in the Lord, offered no defense, either in the magistrate's court at New Haven, or when brought before the court of common pleas; but a medical examination of the boys, made by order of the judges, demonstrated that no such outrage as had been alleged could have been committed upon them, and the patient non-resistants were accordingly and promptly freed. Judge CARTER adds: And so it was, the innocent Shakers were honorably discharged, and amidst applause and huzzas, went from the court house to their peaceful homes; and the city, and the county and the country, were relieved from the foul consequences of one of the most wicked conspiracies against innocent and harmless men. bemuse of their religion, that ever was known. But the matter. wicked as it was, redounded to the great credit of the Shakers of Whitewater village. Pronounced, by the court in full bench. entirely innocent, and honorably discharged on the testimony of the expert surgeons, they were ever after, from sympathy and fellow-feeling, taken into the good graces and warm friendship of the neighborhood. and have lived in peace with all mankind and hope of bliss beyond the grave, ever since their fortunate and deserved escape from conspiracy. They have never since been molested by anybody, from anywhere. In 1870 the village or settlement contained one hundred and twenty-three inhabitants. It has no post office, the inhabitants generally relying upon New Haven (or Preston) for their postal facilities. NEW BALTIMORE This place is situated on the Great Miami, in the southeastern part of the township, two and a half miles south of the county line, and about five miles south of east from New Haven. Its town-plat was recorded in the Hamilton county land records March 8, 1819, by Samuel POTTINGER. It is celebrated in local history as one of the places where John MORGAN'S forces crossed ~pg 292~ the river, in the rebel raid of July, 1863, across Hamilton county and southern Ohio. In 1830 it had eighty-nine inhabitants, in 1850 one hundred and four, in 1870 nine-six. POPULATION OF THE TOWNSHIP By the census of 1880 Crosby township had one thousand two hundred and fourteen inhabitants - an increase of one hundred and seventeen since the last census was taken. 1 pg 289: This account-has been mainly abridged from the entertaining papers contributed to the Harrison News in the fall of 1879, by Mr.. M. L. BEVIS, of New Haven. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #211 *******************************************