OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 213 *********************************************************************** 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 213 Today's Topics: #1 History, Hamilton County ; Green T ["Maggie Stewart" To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <0f1101bfe3ab$a18628a0$0300a8c0@local.net> Subject: History, Hamilton County ; Green Township - pgs 302-310 (1) 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 Patti Graman *********************************************************************** Green Township - pgs 302-310 *********************************************************************** 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 302-312 ~pg 302~ GREEN DESCRIPTION Green is the most regular and symmetrical township in the county. It is a perfect square - an even surveyed township of thirty-six sections, six miles on a side, such as is common in the newer western and northern States, but not in the older settled regions, and of which no other instance is presented in Hamilton County. It lies altogether in fractional range two, township two and is precisely included between the range and township lines, which separate it from Cincinnati and Mill Creek township on the east, Delhi on the south, Miami on the west, and Colerain on the north. Its section lines are run with remarkable correctness, considering that it lies wholly within the Miami Purchase, and might have shared in the troubles caused by the carelessness of the earliest surveyors. Save for some of eccentricity in the second meridian east of the township line, the sections are mostly exact square miles, a fact which can be stated, probably, of no other tract of equal size with the Purchase. Still, its total acreage amounts to but twenty-two thousand seven hundred and fourteen - about an even half-section short of what it should be were all the sections full. It shares another peculiarity with but three other townships in the county-Springfield, Sycamore and Mill Creek-in that its soil is not washed by any stream that can be dignified with the name of river. Neither the Ohio nor the Little Miami, the Great Miami or the Whitewater touch its borders. Its northwest corner approaches within less than a mile of the Great Miami, at the mouth of Taylor's creek, and the southwest corner is about the same distance from the Ohio, at a point between Riverdale and Fern Bank stations. The township is however, abundantly watered in the southwest corner by the headwater of Lick Run; along the southern tiers of townships and in the southwest by Cow Run and its main stream, Muddy creek, the upper tributaries of which rise in the central sections of the township; in the west and northwest by Taylor's creek, and the south fork of Taylor's creek, with their numerous tributaries, some of which extend more than half way across the northern part of the township and some distance into Colerain township; and along the eastern slopes by several petty streams which send their waters to Mill creek. By far the larger part of Green township, being in the interior and somewhat remote from any large stream, is elevated to the general level of the Hamilton county ancient plateau. That part, the northwestern, which approaches the Great Miami, is low and very fertile, and otherwise shares the characteristics of the Miami valley. Toward the opposite corner of the township, on the south, as the Ohio is neared, in the valley of Muddy creek, as at some other points in the township, the hills become abrupt, and command many fine views. The numerous valleys created by the water-courses render the scenery exceedingly picturesque; and many attractive building sites have been occupied in the Lick run and other valleys. Much of the territory of Green is deemed specially suited for suburban residence. Over three and a half sections in the southeastern part of the township, mostly near the line of the narrow-gauge railroad, has been laid off for the suburb of Mount Airy, the remainder of which lies in Mill Creek township. There is an unusual number of villages in the township - as Cheviot, Dent, Bridgetown, Weisenburgh, St. Jacob's, Sheartown, Covedale, Five Corners, Dry Ridge, and others. Some of the most interesting and attractive drives in the county are through this township, upon the Cleves and Harrison turnpike, the Colerain pike, a mile of whose course lies through the northeastern corner, and other important roads, some of which lie, as in the newer States settled upon Congress lands, on the section lines. The Cincinnati & Westwood narrow-gauge railway lies mostly in Green township, and is at present the only iron road within its limits. Starting at Ernst Station, on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, in the city, it comes up the valley of Lick run, from which it soon diverges to reach the higher ground, across which it runs for more than three miles in a general northwesterly direction, stopping for the present at Robb's, near Bridgetown. The projected Cincinnati & Venice railway, if built upon the surveyed line, will enter the township from the north at St. Jacob's, proceed nearly due south four miles, and intersect this road just south of Cheviot. THE EARLY HISTORY Of this township is somewhat peculiar. It was originally the tract reserved by Judge SYMMES for himself as the nearest entire township to the peninsula between the Great Miami and the Ohio rivers. He withheld it from the sale for a number of years, but seems to have made, March 12, 1788, a contract with Dr. Elias BONDINOT of New Jersey, one of his partners, for the transfer of half of it to him. SYMMES afterwards resisted the performance of the contract, having in view the apportionment of this as the college township in the Purchase; but he was unable to secure the acceptance of it, and specific performance of the contract with BONDINOT was decreed ~pg 303~ by the United States court for the District of Pennsylvania, at the May term, 1802, compelling him to execute and deliver a deed in fee simple for an undivided moiety of the township. The pendency of this litigation some years before had formed one of the reasons for the refusal of the various authorities to whom it was offered to accept it as a college township. It was, indeed, according to the judge's own statement, in one of his letters making the offer, agreed to change the arrangement by which he reserved it for himself, and parcel it out among twenty-four proprietors, among whom BONDINOT was prominent, upon each paying one-twenty-fourth of the purchase money to Congress - an arrangement which does not seem to have been ultimately carried out. But, says the judge, "for this cause (the township) lay unreserved and unsurveyed until the passage of the act of the fifth of May, 1792, giving one entire township for the use of an academy." It was at that date the only one which had not been broken by sales; and perhaps to this fact, and the lateness of its survey, it owes the beautiful regularity of its territorial lines, surpassing that of any other part of the Purchase, although not here entirely perfect in places. It is, as is well known, the only even square, thirty-six section township (municipality) in the Purchase. The contract with BONDINOT may be seen by the curious in a copy engrossed in the records of Hamilton County, Book B., pp. 107-9. The following is the extract from Judge SYMMES' pamphlet, Terms of Sale and Settlement of Miami Lands, published in Trenton in 1788, in which he makes the reservation of this and other townships in this part of the county: The subscriber hopes that the respectable public will not think it is unreasonable in him, when he informs them that the only privilege which he reserves for himself, as a small reward for his trouble in this business, is the exclusive right of electing of locating that entire township which will be lowest down in the point of land formed by the Ohio and Great Miami Rivers, and those three fractional parts of townships which may lie north, west and south, between such entire township and the waters of the Ohio and Great Miami. This point of land the subscriber intends paying for himself, and thereon to lay out a handsome town plat, with eligible streets, etc.,etc. THE "COLLEGE TOWNSHIP" An impression quite general prevails, even among well-informed local historians, that Green was the "College township" in the Miami Purchase; and we have been misled by the common statement in our history of the Purchase, in the first division of this work. But it could not have been at any time the College township. That, as originally set apart by SYMMES, and so marked on this map of the Purchase, to be given in perpetuity for the purposes of an academy or college, was that complete township, in the words of this Terms of Sale and Settlement, " as nearly opposite the mouth of the Licking River as an entire township may be found eligible in point of soil and situation." We have been unable to identify this township. It could hardly have been the old Mill Creek township, since that was not entire, being cut by the Ohio river at the southeastern corner. It was obviously, however, somewhere in this tier of townships, since the original boundaries of Colerain township, defined in 1794, prescribed its eastern limit as the meridian on the western line of the College township, which is the western boundary of Mill Creek, Springfield, and the tier of townships to which they belong. Green, however, was the College township in the intention of Judge SYMMES, for he made very strenuous efforts to have it accepted as such by the Territorial, State, or Federal authorities. As a matter of fact, there never was a College township in the Purchase. The following extract from Judge BURNET's Notes on the Settlement of the Northwestern Territory will make this clear: As the facts relating to the College township, mentioned in the original proposition of Judge SYMMES to Congress, are not generally known or understood, it may be proper here to state them concisely. The ordinance under which the early sales of the public domain were made did not authorize a grant of college lands to purchasers of a less quantity than two millions of acres. The original proposition of Mr. SYMMES, being for that quantity, would have entitled him to the benefit of the gram had it been carried into effect. It was therefore stated in his pamphlet containing the terms of sale and settlement, that a College township had been given, and located as nearly opposite the mouth of Licking river, as an entire township could be found, eligible in point of soil and situation. The selection of that township was made in good faith on one of the best tracts in the Purchase, and was marked on his map as the College township. It was situated opposite the mouth of Licking, and was reserved from sale for the purpose intended until it was ascertained that the agents appointed to close the contract with the Government, under the powers given in the letter of attorney, had relinquished one-half of the quantity proposed to be purchased by Mr. SYMMES: and, as a matter of course, had relinquished also his claim to a College township. After that relinquishment, he erased the entry made on that township on his map, as he had a right to do, and offered it for sale. As it was one of the best in the Purchase, it was soon entirely disposed of. The matter remained in that situation tilt 1792, when the judge applied to Congress, as is stated above, to change the boundaries of his Purchase, and grant him a patent for as much land as he was then able to pay for. When the bill for that purpose was before Congress, General Dayton, the agent of Mr. SYMMES, and then a very influential member of the House, introduced a section authorizing the President to convey to Mr. SYMMES and his associates one entire township, in trust, for the purpose of establishing an academy and other schools of learning, conformably to the ordinance of Congress of second of October, 1787, to be located, with the approbation of the governor for the time being, of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, within the term of five years, as nearly as may be, in the centre of the tract of land granted by the patent. The fact was that, under that ordinance, the right to the township had been lost, by relinquishing half the quantity of his proposed purchase: yet from some cause, either from a want of correct information or a disposition to be generous, the provision was retained and became a part of the law. At that time there was not an entire township in the Purchase undisposed of; portions of each and all of them had been sold by Mr. SYMMES, after his right to college lands had been lost, and before the laws of 1792 had renewed the claim. It was not, therefore, in his power to make the appropriation required. The matter remained in that situation till the first territorial legislature was elected in 1799. Mr. SYMMES, then feeling the embarrassment of his situation, and aware that the subject would be taken up by that body, made a written proposition to the governor of the territory, offering the second township of the second fractional range [Green township] for the purpose of a college. The governor, on examination, found that Mr. SYMMES had sold an undivided moiety of that township for a valuable consideration, in 1788, four years before the right to a College township existed; that the purchaser had filed a bill in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Pennsylvania, to obtain a specific performance of his contract; and that the judge had also sold small portions of the same township to other persons, who then held written contracts for the same in the form of deeds. As a matter of course, the township was rejected by the governor. Soon after that occurrence, the subject was brought before the territorial legislature at the instance of Mr. SYMMES. who repeated the offer to them. They also refused to receive it, for the same reasons which had been assigned by the governor, as appeared from the journal of that body. A similar refusal, for the same reasons, was subsequently ~pg 304~ made by the State legislature, to whom it was again offered by the judge. Not satisfied with these repeated refusals, in 1802-3 he offered the same township to Congress for the same purpose. His proposition was referred to a committee of that body, who, after hearing his own ex parte statement of the facts relating to the township, were fully satisfied that it could not be held for the purpose for which it was offered; and, therefore, they refused to receive it. It was affirmed in the written communication of Judge SYMMES to Congress, very correctly, the Miami Purchase did not obtain a right to college lands till the law of 1792 was passed; that, prior to that time, he had sold large portions of every township in the Purchase. as he had a right to do; that the township he then offered had not been reserved for a college, but to be sold and disposed of, for his own personal benefit; and that he had sold large portions of it as early as 1788, but that those sales, in his opinion, were void. Some persons had the charity to believe that, when he first proposed that township for the use of a college, it was his intention to purchase out the claimants, which he probably might have done, at the time the law passed making the grant, on fair and reasonable terms; but he omitted to do so till that arrangement became impracticable, and until his embarrassments rendered it impossible for him to make any remuneration to Congress or the people of the Miami Purchase. The remainder of Judge BURNET's account of the College township has no relation to the subject of this chapter. It merely outlines the legislation and appointment of commissioners, whereby a selection of thirty-six sections, or the equivalent of a township, was made for the foundation of a university, but necessarily outside of the Miami Purchase, on the Congress lands west of the Great Miami; the establishment of Miami university at first at Lebanon, Warren county, in the Symmes Purchase, as directed by State law; and its final establishment under another law, with the endowment of lands aforesaid, outside the limits of the Purchase, upon such of the college lands as lay where now is Oxford, Butler county, and where a mere shadow of the university is still maintained. THE FORMATION of Green township is not clearly settled, as to date and circumstances. It is held, however, to have been set off in 1809, with its regular boundaries as now, corresponding with those of the surveyed township. TOWNSHIP OFFICERS. The justices of the peace, during some of the years of the history of Green township, were as follows: William BENSON, William J. CARSON, 1819, Mahlon BROWN, Adam MOORE, John MARTIN, 1829; James EPPLEY, John GAINES, Thomas WILLS, 1865-6; John EPPLEY, Thomas WILLS, E. L. AGIN, 1867-9; James EPPLEY, Thomas WILLS, William M. ROBB, 1870; James EPPLEY, William M. ROBB, John RITT, 1871-2; James EPPLEY, Thomas WILLS, L. D. HEM, 1873-8; James EPPLEY, Thomas WILLS, J. W. DUNN, 1879; Thomas WILLS, J. W. DUNN, O. J. WOOD, 1880. -----Continued in Part 2----- -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V00 Issue #213 *******************************************