Hamilton County, Ohio - Chapter 10: Progress of Hamilton County, 1881

Chapter 10: Progress of Hamilton County

Sweet clime of my kindred, blest land of my birth - The fairest, the dearest, the brightest on earth ! Where'er I may roam, howe'er blest I may be, My spirit instinctively turns unto thee.

The First Eleven Years

About two thousand people were in the Miami country, which may be considered as practically identical with Hamilton county at this time, by 1790, although the first settler had pitched his camp at Columbia but thirteen months before. It was a very humble and modest beginning that the infant county had, except in reach of fertile territory and the possibilities of the future. Had "a census qualification been required for thé erection of a county in that day, as nowfor the admission of a State to the Federal Union, it must needs have been a very moderate one, or the Northwest Territory would have waited longer for the birth of the county which has since become as great in wealth and population, in arts and arms, and in the higher arts of civilization, as it was then great in area and resources waiting to be developed. In avery few years, however - as soon as the. peace of Greenville gave assurance of safety to the immigrant against Indian massacre or the plunder of his property - the country began to fill up with some rapidity. The census of £800, the first taken in the county, although its enumerators probably missed many of the settlers in so wide and sparsely settled a tract, exhibited the goodly number of fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one persons as the white population of Hamilton county. It is interesting to note, in this early day, when the conditions of life were so different from those prevailing in the older communities, how this number was divided between the sexes, and also between the different ages of which the census makes record. There were, of children under ten years of age, three thousand two hundred and seventythree males, three thousand and ninety females; young persons between ten and sixteen years, one thousand three hundred and thirty-five males, one thousand and sixty-five females; between sixteen and twenty-six, one thousand five hundred and two males, one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven females; adults between twenty-six and forty-five years, one. thousand two hundred and fifty-one males, nine hundred and fifty-four females; over fortyfive, four hundred and eighty males, three hundred and forty-four females ; - total, fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one, of whom seven thousand eight hundred and forty-onegwere males, and six thousand eight hundred and fifty females.

1. The disparity of the sexes, which was particularly marked in this country when new. Usually, in a longsettled community, notably in the State of Massachusetts, as the census shows, the gentler sex is somewhat in the majority, and sometimes very much so; but here we find, at the end of the first eleven, to twelve years of colonization, that the males led by very nearly one thousand in less than fifteen thousand, or by about six and eighttenths per cent. of the whole. Or, to make the difference appear more striking, there were nearly one-sixth more males than females, or about fifteen per cent. - a considerable and important difference. Even with young children, and through all the ages noted, the disparity is marked ; but particularly so in-the more vigorous working ages, from sixteen to twenty-six, and thence to forty-five, where the percentages of difference are over sixteen and nearly thirty-one, respectively. Still more striking is the inequality of numbers where we should least expect it, among adults over forty-five years of age, where it amounts, in this case, to forty per cent. advantage in point of numbers, in favor of the men. These facts argue well for the material foundations in Hamilton county, in the laying of which the male mind, in its maturity and strength, as well as the muscle of the man in his prime, were imperatively needed.

2. The comparative paucity of old persons, or of men and women distantly approaching old age, is to be noted. Of really aged persons there were probably very few; but as to this we have no exact data. The census figures show that, reckoning all down to the age of forty-five, there were but eight hundred and twenty-four, or only five and six-tenths per cent. of the whole; while of those in the hardier laboring ages there were over nineteen and fifteen per cent. respectively, leaving for the youngest children and the younger youth sixty per cent. of the whole.

3. The last statement offers a fact of considerable interest. Three of every five in the total population were children under sixteen years of age. This demonstrates ho w large a share of the early settlers brought their families with them, apparently coming to stay and aid in laying the foundations of stable communities, in which law and order should ever abide. Contrast with this the immigration at mining camps and settlements, which usually consists, with almost absolute exclusiveness, of men only. The beginnings were certainly well made in Hamilton county.

The Second Decade

In 1810 the census exhibited a population for the county of but little more than the enumeration of 1800 had shown - fifteen thousand two hundred and four, or but five hundred and thirteen more than. were in the county ten years before. It must be borne in mind, however, that the Hamilton county of 1800 was still, for the most part, the great county of Governor St. Clair's second creation - that it might be said, indeed, in a general way, to be pretty nearly coferminous with the broad and long "Miami country," since that was estimated to contain fifteen thousand white people at the beginning of the century, while the county itself was shown by official count to have fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one. Ten years later Hamilton had been shorn of its fair proportions, and reduced to be, as it is now, one of the smallest counties in the State in territorial dimensions, having, as we have seen, less than four hundred square miles. A population of fifteen thousand two hundred and four, or forty to the square 'mile, represented a very creditable growth for a county just coming of age in its twenty-first year. It is also noteworthy, when placed against the figures of 1800, -which showed scarcely three white persons to the section in the vast county. In 1810 the Miami tract, formerly almost identical with Hamilton county, was estimated to contain seventy thousand civilized inhabitants, or about one-fourth of the entire white and colored population of the State, indicating that growth of settlement throughout this region was by no means confined to the Ohio valley, but extended far up the Miami valleys as well.

The Third Decade

The map prefixed to Dr. Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, published in 1815, shows the towns and villages of the county at that time to have been Cincinnati (three miles east of Mill Creek), Columbia, Cleves, Colerain, Crosby, Springfield, Reading, Montgomery, and Newtown, with roads running from Cincinnati to each of these points, and one other road making into Indiana. Four years later Cincinnati had become a chartered city, and Carthage and Miami were added to the list of villages. Nearly all places in the county were considered worthy of mention in the State Gazetteer of that year only as "post towns," with their respective locations and distances from Cincinnati. The county had now twelve townships - Cincinnati, Crosby, Colerain, Springfield, Sycamore, Anderson, Columbia, Mill Creek, Delhi, Green, Miami, and Whitewater. The aggregate valuation of property in the county, for purposes of taxation, was five million six hundred and four thousand nine hundred and fifty-four dollars.

By 1815 the beginnings of the Miami and Erie canal had been projected, so far as an artificial water-way up the valley of Mill creek to Hamilton would go. The text of Dr. Drake's Picture notes the mills on this stream as*"'numerous, but the loose and unstable composition of its bed renders the erection of permanent dams as difficult and expensive, in proportion to its width, as on the Miamis." Prices of land had greatly appreciated throughout the county. Judge Symmes and his associates, twenty-seven years before, had bought the Purchase for sixty-six and two-thirds cents per acre (really for sixteen and two-third cents per acre, in specie), and sold most of it ata uniform price of two dollars, except at auction, when it often commanded higher rates. The reserved sections also formed an exception: they were at one time fiixed to be sold at eight dollars per acre, but afterwards sold at four. In 1815, Dr. Drake observes:

Within three miles of Cincinnati, at this time, the prices of good unimproved land are between fifty dollars and one hundred and fifty dollars per acre, varying according to the distance. From this point to the extent of twelve miles, they decline from thirty dollars to ten dollars. Near the principal villages of the Miami country, it commands from twenty dollars-to forty dollars: in the remaining situations it is from four to eight dollars - improvements in all cases advancing the price from twenty-five to four hundred per cent. An average of the settled parts of the Miami country, still supposing the land fertile and uncultivated, may be stated at eight dollars; if cultivated, at twelve dollars. These were not the prices in 1812, the war, by promoting immigration, having advanced the nominal value of land from twenty-five to fifty per cent,

Mr. Burnet (not the judge), a traveller through this region two years afterwards, ina published account of his journeyings, supplies the following interesting note:

The land round Cincinnati is good. Price, a mile or two from the city, fifty, eighty, and one hundred dollars per acre, according to quality and other advantages. This same land, a few years ago, was bought for two and five dollars per acre. Farms with improvements ten miles from the town, sell for thirty and forty dollars per acre. Fifty, sixty, and one hundred miles up the country, good uncleared land'may be bought for from two dollars to five dollars per acre. The farms are generally worked by the farmer and his family. Labor is dear, and not to be had under fourteen or sixteen dollars per month and board. They have but little machinery and no plaster or compost, but what is made by the farmer is used for manure. Taxes, in the country, are a mere nothing. Farmers, in any part of the State of Ohio, who have one hundred acres of their own, well stocked, do not pay above five to ten dollars per annum.

The population of Hamilton county, in 1820, footed up thirty-one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, divided among the townships as follows: Cincinnati, nine thousand six hundred and forty-two; Columbia, two thousand eight hundred and fourteen; Mill Creek, two thousand one hundred and ninety-eight; Springfield, two thousand one hundred and ninety-seven (Springfield vil- lage two hundred and twenty); Sycamore three thousand four hundred and sixty-three; Whitewater, one thousand six hundred and sixty-one; Anderson, two thousand one hundred and twenty-two; Colerain, one thousand nine hundred and six; Crosby, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one; Delhi, one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight; Green, one thousand four hundred and fiftysix; Miami, one thousand four hundred and twenty-six. The population of Springfield and Sycamore townships this year, each appears larger than their respective populations by the census of 18303 but the formation of new townships from them sufficiently accounts for that, since they had then to part witha portion of their péople, thenceforth to be enumerated in the new divisions.

This decade was signalized by the laying-off (or at least recording the plats) of an extraordinary number, for the period, of town and village sites. In 1813, by the date of record, Harrison was founded; in 1815, Carthage; 1816, New Burlington and Miamistown; 1817, Elizabethtown and "Symmestown"; 1818, New Haven, Cheviot, Sharon, and ''Clevestown"; and, in 1819, New Baltimore. Most of these have survived, at least as local post offices and hamlets; but others, several in number, have made little more figure in history or in actual existence than the countless "paper towns" that studded the prairies and the banks of western rivers (in imagination and speculative description and platting) twenty years later.

The Fourth Decade

_ The Ohio State Gazetteer of 1821 notes: "There has been an uncommonly rapid increase of emigrants from other States into this county during several years past; and, the land being of a peculiarly good quality for the production of grain, one of the prircipal articles necessary for subsistence, this county has, therefore, become an important section of the State."

The thickening of population in parts of the county made the size of some of the old townships inconvenient for a part of the voters and residents therein; and the new townships of Fulton and Symmes were presently created. There were fourteen townships in 1826; Georgetown, Lockland, Lewistown, Madison, Nassau, and Prospect Hill, were added during thé decade to the list of villages whose plats were recorded; and the suburb of "Eastern Liberties" was laid off adjacent to the city of Cincinnati. The population of the county was estimated that year at forty-four thousand, about oneeighteenth of all the inhabitants of the State, while the year before the aggregate value of taxable property in the county, assessed on the ad valorem system, was six million eight hundred and forty-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-three dollars, or more than one-eighth of the entire valuation of the State. A very satisfactory and rather remarkable increase in the wealth of the county, both absolute and relatively to population, as compared with other parts of the State, is thus shown.

The convictions for crime in Hamilton county during 1826 were: Murder in the first degree, one; rape, one; perjury, one; -assault with intent to murder, one; assault with intent to commit mayhem, two; stabbing with intent to kill, one; burglary, two; uttering counterfeit money, three; horse-stealing, three; grand larceny, four; petit larceny, fqur; total convictions, twenty-three. So the county was making progress, unhappily, in the accumulation of.a crime record, as well as in more reputable and honorable affairs.

The census of 1830 exhibited the handsome total of fifty-two thousand three hundred and eighty, an increase of twenty-one thousand six hundred and sixteen, or sixty-six per cent., upon the count of ten years before. Much of this increase, of course, was in the city, which had jumped from nine thousand six hundred and fortytwo to twenty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty-one increasing fifteen thousand one hundred and eighty-nine people during the decade, or one hundred and fifty-seven per cent. The remaining townships of the county had now population as follows: Anderson, two thousand four hundred and ten; Colerain, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-¢ight; Columbia, three thousand and fifty-one; Crosby, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five; Delhi, one thousand five hundred and twenty-seven; Fulton, one thousand and eighty-nine; Green, One thousand nine hundred and eighty-five; Miami, one thousand five hundred and forty-nine; Mill Creek, three thousand three hundred and fifty-six; Springfield, three thousand and twenty-five; Sycamore, two thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine; Symmes, one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight; Whitewater, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-four; total in the townships, twentyseven thousand four hundred and eighty-six. This was the last of the Federal censuses in Hamilton county in which the country population outnumbered the city, as it now did, but by only two thousand six hundred and fifty-five. At the next census Cincinnati was nearly thirteen thousand in advance of all the county besides. It had this year twenty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty-one inhabitants. The total for the county was: fifty-two thousand three hundred and seventeen.

The Fifth Decade

The enumeration of 1830 showed the population of each of four of the townships - Columbia, Crosby, Delhi, and Symmes - to be somewhat greater than it proved to be at the next census - a falling off to be accounted for in one case by the erection of a new township (Storrs), which took place in this decade. The county's growth in most. parts continued hopefully and satisfactorily; and when the count of 1840 was made, it displayed an increase of twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, or nearly fifty per cent. within ten years. Cincinnati had, as ever in this county since 1810, the lion's share of the spoils, all the new immigration and natural increase, so far as represented by the figures upon their face, going to the city, except six thousand three hundred and twentyone. About three-fourths of the total growth of the county in population was claimed by the city, which now had forty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-eight people. The townships were assigned the following numbers: Anderson, two thousand three hundred and eleven; Colerain. two thousand two hundred and seventy two; Sycamore, three thousand two hundred:and seven; Columbia, three thousand and forty-three; Fulton, one thousand five hundred and six; Mill Creek, six thousand two hundred and forty-nine; Crosby, one thousand_eight hundred and seventy-six; Symmes, one thousand and thirty-four; Delhi, one thousand four hundred and sixtysix; Storrs, one thousand and thirty-four; Green, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine; Miami, two thousand one hundred and eighty-nine; Springfield, three _thousand and ninety-two; Whitewater, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two. Nearly two-fifths of the increase in the county during this decade belongs to Mill Creek township, about one-sixth to Green, one-tenth to Miami, and the rest is pretty nearly divided between the townships which show any increase. Mill Creek, being very favorably situated next the city, had, and retains, so much of it as is left from the annexations, special advantages for growth. 'It nearly doubled its population, as may be seen by comparison of previous summaries of the census, between 1820 and 1830, and again in the decade 1830-40. The entire population of the county was now eighty thousand one hundred and _forty-five - an average of a little over two hundred and five to the square mile, or, leaving out the city's area and population, an average of nearly eighty-nine to the mile.

The assessed valuation of property in the county in 1836, as exhibited by the tax duplicate, was nine million, seven hundred and one thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven dollars, an increase of nearly fifty per cent, since 1825. The tax paid the former year was one hundred and fifty-nine thousand six hundred and seventyeight dollars.

The Sixth Decade

The increase in valuation during this period was very rapid. In 1841 the valuation of the county was ten million, seven hundred and sixty thousand, four hundred and ninety-four dollars, but one million and fifty-nine thousand, one hundred and seven dollars more than it had been for years before. For Cincinnati; however, now set in an era of great prosperity and growth in manufactures, trade, and commerce; and the valuation increased forty-five millions in nine years. In 1850 it was fifty-five million, six hundred and seventy thousand, six hundred and thirty-one dollars; and we may anticipate the course of this narrative a little by saying just here, while surprising figures are in hand, that the valuation of 1855 was one hundred and twelve million, nine hundred and forty-five thousand, four hundred and forty-five dollars; that of 1860 was one hundred and nineteen million, five hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and seventy dollars; that of 1868, one hundred and sixty-six million, nine hundred and forty-five thousand, four hundred and ninety-seven. The increase in nine years (1841-50) was over four-fold, and was three-fold in the nineteen years 1850-69. From 1860 to '69 the increase was thirty-two per cent.

The increase of population in the city of. Cincinnati was not less surprising. In the ten years 1840-50 the number of its inhabitants had jumped: from. forty-six thousand three hundred and thirty-eight to one hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty-eight - an absolute increase of sixty-nine thousand one hundred, or very nearly one hundred and fifty per cent. - an average of fifteen per cent., or six thousand nine hundred and ten persons every year. . Nineteen immigrants, on an average, arrived in this city every day, Sundays and all, during the ten years. The country, however - the townships - increased but four thousand six hundred and five, or less than fourteen per cent., during the decade. The population of the city, by the canvass of 1850, was one hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and thirtyeight; of the townships, forty-one thousand four hundred and twelve ; - total, one hundred and fifty-six thousand eight hundred and fifty.

The Seventh Decade

At the expiration of this (in 1860) the population of the county had mounted to the high figure-of two hundred and fifteen thousand six hundred and seventy-seven, of which Cincinnati, with its now seventeen wards, had nearly three-fourths, or one hundred and sixty-one thousand and forty-four. The remainder of the population was dispersed as follows: Columbia township, two thousand nine hundred and thirty-one;. Sycamore, three thousand four hundred and twenty-seven; Anderson, four thousand four hundred and twenty-six; Mill Creek, thirteen thousand eight. hundred and. forty-four; Springfield, four thousand eight hundred and forty; Colerain, three thousand nine hundred and thirty-three; Delhi, two thousand seven hundred; Miami,.one thousand six hundred and eighty-three; Crosby, one thousand one hundred and eighty-two; (Reading village, one thousand two hundred and thirty); Whitewater, one thousand four hundred and forty-three; Symmes, one thousand one hundred and seven; Storrs, three thousand eight hundred and sixty-two; Spencer, two thousand five hundred and fifty-two. Total, fifty-four thousand six hundred and thirty-three. '

In this decade the village of College Hill was incorporated, and several other towns were surveyed and their plats recorded. The township of Harrison was also formed.

The Eighth Decade

In 1870 the population of the county was two hundred and sixty thousand three hundred and seventy. The chief productions of the year, according to the census, were one hundred and sixty-two thousand six hundred and seven bushels of wheat, one million two hundred and twenty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty-six of Indian corn, two hundred and sixty-eight thousand and eighty-nine of oats, ninety-six thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine of barley, nve nundred and sixty-two thousand five hundred and thirty-seven of potatoes, seven hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and eighty-seven pounds of butter, one hundred and twenty-six thousand four hundred of cheese, and twenty-five thousand three hundred and four tons of hay. The county possessed eight thousand five hundred and thirty-one horses, twelve thousand four hundred and thirteen milch cows, three thousand two hundred and fifty-four other cattle, three thousand six hundred and forty-seven sheep, and twenty-one thousand one hundred and sixty-five swine. The manufactories of all kinds numbered two thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, with a total capital of forty-two million six hundred and forty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-two dollars, and an annual product of seventy-eight million nine hundred and five thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars. The value of real and personal property in the county in 1870 was three hundred and forty-one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Notwithstanding the great civil war during nearly half of this decade, the growth of the county was very satisfactory. Lockland, Mt. Airy, Cumminsville, Woodburn, Avondale, Riverside, Mt. Washington, and Carthage, were incorporated and the foundations of other flourishing villages were laid. ; annexations to the city, which rapidly grew from seven to twenty-four square miles, and corresponding losses to the townships. The census of 1880, in consequence of the financial crisis and industrial' prostration which characterized nearly all the years of this decade, did not exhibit surprising growths of population for either city or county. Still, the increase was healthy, and on the whole satisfactory, being fourteen thousand one hundred and thirty-one for the townships, or about thirty-two per cent. for the decade; and in the city thirty-nine thousand three hundred and sixty-nine, or about eighteen per cent. The totals of population for the townships were fiftyeight thousand two hundred and sixty-two; for the city, two hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and eight; aggregate for the county, three hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and seventy. Most of the townships showed a good increase, and Columbia had nearly trebled its population. THE CENSUSES.

A comparative statement or table of the censuses taken by the Federal officers since the first enumeration of the county was made, will help to the rapid comprehension of its growth from year to year. For those of 1800 and 1810 we have the total footings for the county, from which the aggregate population of the townships is obtained by subtracting the known population of Cincinnati at the respective periods:

The indebtedness of Hamilton county July, 1879, was but four hundred and two 'thousand five hundred and ninety-eight dollars, principally in court-house building bonds.

The valuations of personal property in Hamilton county for 1879 and 1880, exclusive of Cincinnati, which will be found hereafter, as returned for taxation to the county auditor's office last June are as follows:

The comparative statement for 1879-80 of the taxable value of new structures erected during those years, in all parts of the county, except Cincinnati, is as follows. The figures are presumed to represent the actual value added to the property by the improvements of those years:

Some First Things

As a sort of a foot-note or appendix to these notes of progress, we here more appropriately, perhaps, than anywhere else in this division of the History, make mention of SOME FIRST THINGS.

' Columbia, for the Baptist society, organized in that settlement March 24, 1790. It was, further, the first meeting-house erected in the territory now covered by the state of Ohio, except the church building of the Morayvian missionaries at Schonebrunn and Gnadenhutten, in the valley of the Tuscarawas.

The first school in the county was opened July 21, 1790, also in Columbia, by John Reily, afterwards a distinguished citizen of Butler and Hamilton counties. The next. year Francis Dunlavy was joined in the instruction of the school, taking a classical department, while Mr. Reily confined his labors to the English studies. The first regular school-house was probably there.

The first ferry from the front of Hamilton county on the river to the.Kentucky shore at the present site of Covington was run in 1790 by Robert and Thomas Kennedy, one of whom lived at each end of the line. The first to Newport was run by Captain Robert Benham, under a license from the Territorial government, granted September 24, 1792, from: Cincinnati to the opposite bank, the present Newport, on the east side of the Licking. -

The first mill run in Hamilton county was started by Mr. Neaiad Coleman, a citizen of Columbia, soon after the planting of the colony, It was a very simple affair, quite like that known at Marietta in the early day, and figured in Dr. S. P.-Hildreth's Pioneer History. The boats were moored side by side near the shore, but in the current, and with sufficient space between them for the movement of a water-wheel. The grindstones, with the grain and flour or meal handled, were in one boat, and the machinery in another. This rude mill, kept going bia, was the chief source of supply for the soldiers of Fort Washington and the citizens of Cincinnati for one or two years. Without.it, there would at one time, at least, have been danger of abandonment of the fort, if not of the settlements. Before its construction,-settlers who had no access to hand-mills or who wished to economize their labor, went far into Kentucky to get their grinding done. At one time Noah Badgeley and three other Cincinnati settlers went up. the Licking to Paris, for a supply%of breadstuff, and'on their return were caught in a flood, their boat overturned, Badgeley drowned, and the others exposed to peril and privation upon branches of trees in the raging waters for two or three days. It is possible that Coleman's mill is identical with that mentioned in early annals as the property of one Wickerslham (Wickerham he is called in Spencer's Indian Captivity, probably by error of the types), which is sometimes referred to as the first mill, and was situated at a rapid of the Little 'Miami, a little below the Union bridge, where Philip Turpin's mill was afterwards erected.

Soon after Coleman started his grist-mill, another, but of different character, was built on Mill creek, near Cincinnati. A horse-mill existed in that town at a very early day, near the site of the First Presbyterian church, and some of the meetings of that saciety were held in it.

The first cases of capital punishment in the county occurred at the southeast end of Fort Washington in -178g - the .execution of two soldiers, John Ayers and Matthew Ratmore, for desertion. The first execution by the civil authorities was that of John May, in Cincinnati, near the close of the century, by hanging, under sentence 'for the murder of his friend, Wat Sullivan, whom he stabbed with a hunting-knife during a drunken brawl at a of Sixth and Main streets. He was hanged by Sheriff Ludlow, at the spot on the south side of Fifth street, east of Walnut, where B. Cavagna now has his grocery store, and where the first jail stood. The country for fifty miles around turned out its population to see the execution.

Other "first things" will be recorded in connection with the special histories of Cincinnati and other parts of tbe county, where full notes will be made of these to which we have given rapid mention.