Warren County, Ohio - Chapter 6: General Progress, 1882 (part 2 of 2)

The first printing-press in Lebanon was of the Ram age pattern, with a frame of oak and a bed of stona This press was purchased by John McLean in Cincinnati, and there is reason to believe, although it is not certainly known, that it was the firet printing-press brought to Cincinnati, in 1793, and which was used in printing the Liberty Hall , and, about 1806, was superseded by a Stanhope press, imported to Cincinnati from England. The old wooden press purchased by John McLean remained in the Star office long after it had ceased to be used; but finally it was sold, about the time of the close of the civil war, and removed to a Western State, and its whereabouts are now unknown. This press was worked with a bar, and it was a hard day's labor to work off with it 300 copies of a small-sized newspaper. Thin splits of wood, similar to those used for the seats of chaira, were used in place of leads to separate the lines, and the type was inked with pelt-balls in place of the modem rollers.

There is not known to be in existence a single copy of the Western Star , while it was edited by John McLean, and we have not, therefore, even one 8f>ecimen of the editorial writing of the young lawyer whose opinions from the Supreme Bench, in after years, commanded the respect of the whole nation. It is probable, however, that the paper contained little matter written by the editor. Judging from what is to be found in the files of the few other newspapers printed in Ohio at that time, editors thought it more important to select for their readers long columns of intelligence from Europe, six weekB old, than to write concerning what was transpiring around them. Local matters and home news seem to haVe been considered beneath the dignity of newspaper publication. It should be remembered, too, that a little village in the woods did not furnish many thrilling matters for the reporter's pen.

The oldest copy of the Star in existence is dated September 10, 1810. The paper was then edited and managed by Nathaniel McLean. The issue referred to is a small folio, printed on strong but coarse paper, now yellow with age. It contains no editorial matter and no local intelligence whatever, except such as may be gleaned from the advertisements. It has intelligence from Europe more than two months old, and intelligence from New York and St Louis three weeks old. The only matter aside from the advertisements prepared for the issue is a communication proposing Thomas Worthington for Governor, Jeremiah Morrow for Congress, John Bigger for the State Senate, and Matthias Corwin, Michael H. Johnson and David Morris for the Lower House of the General Assembly. The advertisements contain nine notices of estray horses taken up, and their appraisement, at from $20 to $35, and a reward of cents for a runaway apprentice. Offers are made to pay 50 cents for wheat, and notice is given that good rye whisky, at 40 cents per gallon, will be taken in exchange for goods at Lebanon.

The controversy concerning the seat of justice of the county had caused considerable strife, but before the Star was first issued, the controversy had been settled in favor of Lebanon, and these lines may have been suggested by the termination of this controversy. It was necessary, at that time, when mail routes were few, that newspapers should be distributed by a carrier, and it is said that the first issue of the Star was distributed to the subscribers by Fergus McLean, the father of the editor, who carried the papers on horseback. It is stated by 1 E Dun levy that, about 1807, while George Denny was a printer in the Star office, a large book for the Shakers, entitled w Christ's Second Coming," was printed at Lebanon. The book contained five or six hundred pages of fine type.

After publishing the paper for about three years, John McLean sold the Star to his brother Nathaniel, who continued the publication, at first in connection with Noah Crane, and afterward in connection with Rev. Adjet Mc- Guire, a Methodist clergyman. About 1812, the proprietors were Nathaniel McLean and Samuel H. Hale, afterward of Wilmington, Ohio. Subsequent partners of Mr. McLean in the paper were Henry Lazier, William Blackburn, Samuel Blackburn and Joseph Henderson. About the year 1814, Nathaniel McLean disposed of his interest in the paper to his brother, William McLean, a lawyer of Lebanon, but he did not long remain a proprietor. From 1816 until 1828, Abram Van Yleet, George Smith, John Eddy, William A. Camron and William Sellers were connected with the publication, each for a longer or shorter time. In 1826, Jacob Morris and A H. Dunlevy became the proprietors. In 1834, Dunlevy sold his interest to William H. P. Denny, who was editor and proprietor until 1858. The subsequent proprietors have been Dr. James Scott, Dr. William H. Corwin, Seth W. Brown, Alfred Clements and William C. McClintock. Mr. McClintock began his connection with the paper in partnership with Clements Hardy, in 1870, and, since 1873, has been the sole owner and publisher. In 1870, the first cylinder press was procured, and in 1875, steam-power was first employed in 'he press work

It is impossible now to give a complete list of the various newspapers published in Warren County previous to the civil war. Some of them were published for a few months only. Others maintained an existence for some jeara Among them were the Farmer , the Ohio Argus (which was moved from Lebanon to Franklin in 1834), the American Democrat , the Spirit of Freedom, the Second Sober Thought , the Buckeye Mercury , and the Democratic Citizen. The last-named newspaper was destroyed by a mob at the beginning of the civil war. In later years, notwithstanding the increased circulation of daily papers, six or seven weekly papers have been published in the county at the same time.

The Lebanon Patriot is a Democratic newspaper. It was edited and published for several years by Edward Warwick, .who was succeeded by A. A- Roland, the present editor and proprietor. Several unsuccessful efforts had been made to maintain a Democratic journal in Warren County. Among other efforts, Judge Keeling for awhile published a Jackson paper at Lebanon. The Lebanon Patriot was established in 1868, by Gen. Durbin Ward, who not only purchased the press and printing materials, but maintained the paper at his own expense until it was placed on a self-sustaining basis.

The Lebanon Gazette was started in 1877, by William H. P. Denny, who, two years later, sold it to William D. Mulford and J. C. Van Harlingen. It is now published by the Gazette Printing Company, and edited by George M. Johnston. It is a Republican journal.

William H. P. Denny has perhaps been longer identified with the newspaper press of Warren and neighboring counties than any other person. In 1821, when a boy, he went with his father, George Denny, a printer, to Wilmington, Ohio, aDd set type on the Galaxy until the fall of 18z3. The paper passed into the hands of Hon. J. N. Reynolds, who changed the name to Wilmington Spectator. He remained a short time in his employ. Next he worked with Griffith Foos and Archibald Haynes, for J. B. Semans, in 1826 and 1827, who published the Wilmington Argus. In 1829, then in his eighteenth year, he commenced the Clintonian , an independent little paper, which created considerable sensation. This he published until 1831, when he sold out to John Crichfield, then County Auditor. In the fall and winter of 1823-24, he went to Lebanon to complete his apprenticeship with Camron & Sellers, but, disagreeing with them, left in the summer of 1824. For twenty-six years he was connected with the Star , as apprentice, editor and publisher. In 1858, he sold the venerable journal to Hon. James Scott, and removed to Dayton, where he published the Dayton Daily and Weekly Gazette until 1871, when he again sold out, and located at Circleville and commenced a new paper, the Circleville Union. This he continued for five years, holding, while resident of that interesting little city, the responsible position of Postmaster for seven years. He resigned in 1871, and purchased the Wilmington Journal , which he published for several years, and, in 1877, returned to Lebanon, where he started the Lebanon Gazette , which he disposed of to Mulford & Van Harlingen. In 1880, he went to Georgetown, Brown County, where he started the Georgetown Gazette. While a resident of Warren County, Mr. Denny represented Warren and Greene Counties in the State Senate in the years 1842 and 1843.

Education

The character of the pioneer schools of the county has already been described. To illustrate the manner in which subscription schools were opened and maintained, the following advertisement from a Lebanon paper is copied. The date of the advertisement is March 7, 1817. Westfield was the name then recently adopted for the town now known as Red Lion:

Notice. - The inhabitants of Westfield, together with the adjacent neighborhoods, will please to observe that as soon as practicable the subscriber intends opening a school at the brick schoolhouse at the customary price of two dollars per quarter, one-half in produce at market price. Those who may wish to encourage literature may send a short or longer time, discretionally with themselves, of which there will be an accurate account kept, and strict attention paid, by

There was much opposition throughout the State, in its early history, to the principle of supporting free schools by taxation. The first law in Ohio authorizing taxation for school purposes and providing for the management of schools by local officers elected by the people, was passed in 1825; yet, in 1837, there were no free schools in the State outside of Cincinnati, and, excepting in the larger towns, where good private teachers were encouraged, but few schools afforded, even for three or four months in the year, instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic. The country schools in Warren County were perhaps not inferior to those of any other county in the State, yet the greater portion of the children of the county, were under the instruction, for two, three, four or five months in the year, of teachers who were generally young men, and, with some exceptions, were without the education, culture or training to fit them for the proper conduct of elementary schools. In 1838, Samuel Lewis, the first State School Superintendent, wrote in his annual report: " Every possible variety is found in the character of the teachers, and the kind and manner of instruction. There is this encouragement, however: The people are very generally convinced of present defects, and seem determined to remedy the evils. There are but few places where a teacher can be employed who does not pretty well understand English grammar and geography, in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic."

From the best attainable sources of information - the early school statistical reports being incomplete and inaccurate - it would appear that in the year 1840, the average monthly wages of male teachers in Warren County were about $20; of female teachers, about $14. From this time, the wages gradually increased, until they attained their maximum in 1870, the average monthly wages of teachers in the elementary schools for that year being reported at $45 for gentlemen, and $34 for ladies. In 1880, they were $39 for gentlemen, and $32 for ladies. In 1880, there were in the county 103 schoolhouses, valued at $114,000, and containing 149 schoolrooms.

The first teachers' institute in the southern part of Ohio was held at Cincinnati in February, 1847. The first teachers' institute in Warren County was held in the hall of the academy at Maineville. in the summer of 1852, and was continued five days. Among the teachers of the county who were instructors at this institute were Josiah Hurty, of Lebanon; C. W. Kimball, of Maineville; W. T. Hawthorn, J. S. Morris and C. W. Harvey. Lectures were delivered by L. A. Hine and C. Knowlton. Prof. James E. Murdoch, the distinguished actor and elocutionist, gave an evening entertainment of select readings, which highly delighted the large audience of teachers and citizens present. Resolutions were adopted requesting the court to fill the vacancies then existing in the Board of County School Examiners with practical teachers; favoring the establishment of lyceums and libraries in every town and neighborhood, and recommending every teacher to acquaint himself with the phonetic system, with a view to its practical introduction. The report of W. T. Hawthorn, Secretary of the institute, concludes as follows:

" Thus has terminated the first institute of Warren County. Those only who were present can fully appreciate the rich treat that was there afforded It is not yet nine months since the association was organized by a few enterprising teachers, who, 'solitary and alone,' have faithfully attended the regular monthly meetings, while other teachers have looked on. wondering what good a teachers' association could do. Those who attended know, and the community, through them, will soon feel the benefits of this institute. Now that the work is fairly under way in our county, we cordially invite those teachers who have heretofore held back to unite in a good cause and aid in revolutionizing the common schools of our county. The exercises were highly interesting and instructive. The best methods of teaching the different branches was discussed. The attendance of the citizens evinced their interest in the exercises. A respectable number was in attendance all the time, and often a large audience. Each evening, the spacious hall, lighted at the expense of the citizens, was crowded until a late hour. "

Since 1852, annual county teachers* institutes have been held, with increasing success and widening influence for good as their objects and advantages became known. Among the distinguished men not connected with the schools of the county who have assisted at these institutes as instructors and lecturers, may be named Dr. A. D. Lord, Prof. Daniel Vaughn, E. E. White, John Hancock, John Ogden, W. D. Henkle and W. H. Venable. At times, nearly the whole work of conducting the institute has devolved on the fhree County School Examiners. The institute fund provided by the school law, -consisting of two-thirds of the amount received from the 50-cent fee paid by applicants for teachers* certificates has usually been found sufficient to defray the entire expenses of the County Teachers' Institute.

The Warren County Teachers* Association, organized in 1851, has continued in existence until the present. Its meetings are held monthly during the school year. The exercises are generally of a practical character, and mere speech-making is discouraged. Both the annual institutes and the monthly meetings of the association are attended by the most progressive and energetic teachers of the county.

While the common schools of Ohio have always been intended to be strictly undenominational, the question of religion in the public schools is one that has -caused considerable discussion. The question whether the Bible should be formally read and the schools opened in the morning with religious exercises has, in portions of the county, caused rancorous animosity. There has never been any legislation on the subject in Ohio, the legal decision of the question being left under the laws to the local Boards of Education, who may prescribe, allow or forbid such exercises. In Warren County, the local boards have seldom taken action on the subject, and the matter has been left, generally, to the discretion of the teacher. The question was most vehemently discussed soon after the passage of a resolution, in 1869, by the Cincinnati Board of Education, forbidding the reading of the Bible and other religious books in the public schools of that city. This resolution led to a contest in the courts, whioh lasted four years, and was settled by a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio sustaining the resolution. The spirit of the elaborate opinion of the court was averse to Bible-reading and religious instruction in public schools supported by common taxation. Of late years, a large majority of the teachers of Warren County have voluntarily refrained from Bible-reading, religious exercises and religious instruction in the public schools.

County Softool Examiners. - A system for the examination and certification of teachers has existed ever since the passage of the first law in Ohio for the support of education by taxation, but the number of Examiners and the method of their appointment have fluctuated. Strangely, however, the law has uniformly styled the persons appointed, School Examiners, although their duty has been confined to the examination and the granting of certificates of qualification to teachers. In 1825, the law provided for the appointment, by the Court of Common Pleas, of three Examiners, and enumerated the branches of study in common schools as w reading, writing, arithmetic and other necessary branches of a common education. " In 1829, the number of Examiners was placed at not less than five nor more than the number of townships in the county. In 1834, the number of Examiners was limited to five, but it was made the duty of the Examiners to appoint a suitable person in each township to examine female teachers only. The act of 1836 provided for three Examiners in each township, but in 1838, the law again provided for three School Examiners for the whole county, which has continued to be the law until the present time. In 1853, the appointment of Examiners was vested in the Probate Court, and applicants were required to be examined in " orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar. " Previous to 1853, the examinations of applicants for teachers' certificates were conducted in a very loose and unsatisfactory manner. For many years, a single member of the Board of Examinerh could examine any applicant at any time the application was made, and write out a certificate of qualification. Intelligent men, however, were generally appointed Examiners. The first Board of Examiners appointed under the act of 1825 consisted of A. H. Dunlevy, John M. Houston and Phineas* Ross. Among others who held this office previous to 1853 may be mentioned Judge Collett, Gov. Morrow, Jonathan K. Wilds, Lauren Smith and Thomas F. Thompson.

Since the passage of the act of 1853, more care has been taken in the licensing of teachers for the public schools. Regular meetings have been held for the examination of applicants, at which at least two of the Examiners must be present. Applicants are examined in all the branches named in the law fixing the qualifications of teachers. A register has been kept, and is preserved, giving the names of all persons who have received certificates of qualification in Warren County since the 3d day of May, 1853, and the dates and grades of their certificates.

Religion

Religious statistics and materials for a history of the progress of religion are not readily accessible in a country where there is no State-Church or Governmental support of religion. The State of Ohio requires full statistical reports to be made annually of the condition and growth of the schools maintained by public taxation, but the chief matters pertaining to religion, which have been noticed by State or National statisticians are the number of church organizations and church edifices, the amount of church sittings or accommodations for public worship and the value of church property; and our information concerning these is derived chiefly from the census returns of the United States since 1850.

According to the census of 1850, there were, in Warren County, sixty church edifices valued at $82,400; in 1870, these had increased in number to seventy -three, and were valued at $267,730. It thus appears that in twenty years the cost of churches increased much more rapidly than their number.

The aggregate church accommodations, or sittings, in the county, were returned in 1850 at 22,265, and, in 1870, at 26,050. Comparing these figures with the population of the county at the same dates, and makiug but a slight deduction from the population for infants, the sick and the infirm, it appears that at both periods there were seats in the churches for more than the entire population of the county who could attend public worship.

The statistics of churches given in census returns do not in all cases agree with the statements put forth by the denominational organs of the various sects. The census superintendents have their own point of view and apply tests different from those known to the compilers of religious year-books and registers. It should be borne in mind, too, that reports of the number of church edifices, their accommodations and value are not always true measures of the religious activity of a community. A strong denomination with numerous churches, may ofteu strengthen itself by suffering a weak church to cease to exist when it becomes unable to support itself. There are churches which find a place on the rolls of a denomination, and may be enumerated in census returns, which, having a legal title to an edifice, and maintaining some kind of an organization, have ceased to gather congregations, to support a minister or to conduct any of the services of public worship. It is not easy to determine the number of churches in a given area for the reason that it is not easy to determine what constitutes a church to entitle it to a place in an enumeration. On this point, the superintendent of the ninth census of the United States remarks: "A church to deserve notice in the census must have something of the character of an institution. It must be known in the community in Which it is located. There must be something permanent and tangible to substantiate its title to recognition. No one test, it is true, can be devised, that will apply in all cases; yet, in the entire absence of tests, the statistics of the census will be overlaid with fictitious returns to such an extent as to produce the effect of absolute falsehood. It will not do to say that a church without a ohurch-bnilding of its own is, therefore, not a church; that a church without a pastor is not a church; nor even that a church without membership is not a church. There are churches properly cognizable in the census which are without edifices and pastors, and, in rare instances, without a professed membership. Something makes them churches in spite of all their deficiencies. They are known and recognized in the community as churches, and are properly to be returned as such in the census."

The most numerous denomination in Warren County is the Methodist Episcopal, which has a church in almost every neighborhood. Next in numbers are the Presbyterian, Regular Baptist, Old School and New School, and the Christian. By the last-named is meant the Christian denomination, formerly frequently termed New Lights, and not the followers of Alexander Campbell, or Disciples of Christ, who are also popularly called Christians. Of the Disciples of Christ there are but one or two small organizations at present in the county. Other denominations found in the county are the Orthodox Friends, Hicksite Friends, Universalist, United Brethren, Roman Catholic,. Lutheran, Reformed (late German Reformed), Cumberland Presbyterian, Free-Will Baptist, United Presbyterian, Methodist Protestant and the Shakers. Several of the last-named have but a single church organization within the limits of the county. A small number of persons are believers in the phenomena known as spiritual manifestations, and occasionally meet for religious exercises or to receive spiritual communications, but no regular organization of Spiritualists is known to exist in the county.

It is difficult to determine whether at the present time a larger or smaller proportion of the entire population are members of church than in the past generation. In the southwestern portion of the county, sworn exhibits of the membership of each church receiving the benefit of the ministerial land fund are made annually. From these exhibits, it appears that in the two original surveyed townships comprising seventy-two square miles, in the central part of the county and embracing the towns of Lebanon, South Lebanon and Union Village, 28 per cent of the entire population are members of s6me religious society. It is estimated that fully two-thirds of the communicants of churches are women and minor children, and thus the burden of supporting the churches falls upon a small proportion of the adult male population, heads of families and property owners. The Presbyterians and Baptists built the first meeting-houses in the county, but the Methodists soon followed. The early Methodist ministers were generally men of but little education, but their zeal and perseverance overcame every obstacle. The itinerant plan of their ministry proved best calculated for the spread of the Gospel throughout the thinlyscattered population of a new country. They established preaching stations before churches could be erected, and the little clearing was scarcely commenced and the little cabin scarcely built before the Methodist circuit-rider made his appearance, formed a class, and taught the worship of God. The Quakers formed an important element in the pioneer population. They taught a religion without forms and ceremonies and established churches without a priesthood or a sacrament. Their habits of industry and frugality, their attention to useful arts and improvements, and their love of human liberty, were highly commendable and made them valued members of the community; but their opposition to the amusements, recreations and dress of polished society has prevented the sect from increasing with the growth of population. The Christian denomination in the county is an offshoot from the Presbyterians; of late years it has not increased in numbers. The Presbyterian was the most important and influential church in the earliest settlement of the county; its ministers stood first in education and ability, and, had it not been for the disastrous effects upon the denomination of the great Kentucky revival, it would probably have been the largest sect in the county.

Great changes have taken place in the mode of public worship since the first rude churches of hewed logs sprung up beside the green fields. In the former days, sermons were from an hour and a half to two hours in length, while the other services were protracted by long prayers and commentaries on the chapter read from the Scriptures, to a length that would now be thought unendurable. Often there were two services separated by an intermission of fifteen minutes. During both services, horses, in the absence of a society for the prevention of cruel by to animals, stood, without food or water, haltered to trees from which they gnawed the bark. The autumn sun was low in the horizon before the benediction was pronounced and the worshipers departed, some to distant homes. The singing was not artistic. The innovation of singing hymns without lining them out caused many a difficulty in the older churches. Sometimes there was a compromise between the opposing parties, and one hymn each Sunday was sung without being read line by line, and the others in the old way. Anew tune, which all could not sing, caused some to grieve. The introduction of a choir or of a musical instrument caused serious dissension. Instrumental music was not common in the rural churches until after the introduction of the cabinet organ. The sin of wearing elegant attires and adornment with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, was a favorite topic in the pulpit. Flowers on the sacred desk would have been considered as ministering to a worldly vanity. The most beautiful comedies and the sub- iimest tragedies to be seen on the stage were declared unfit for Christian eyes. Many pastimes and divertisements which scatter sunshine and sweetness over the cares and hardships of life were regarded as inconsistent with the seriousness, gravity and godly fear which the Gospel calls for.

It cannot be doubted that there was less harmony among the different -denominations formerly than now. The religious men of former generations were sincerely and intensely sectarian. They believed that they had "thus saiththe Lord " for their distinctive tenets. They believed themselves to be and were determined to remain rigidly "orthodox" - a term which, according to Dean Stanley, " implies, to a certain extent, narrowness, fixedness, perhaps -even hardness of intellect and deadness of feeling, at times, rancorous animosity." Sermons were more controversial and doctrinal than now. It can hardly be doubted that, with the increase of culture and refinement in the clergy and laity, have come a larger religious sympathy and a higher and a broader view which would break down the party wall of sectarianism and sweep away the petty restrictions on thought and opinion.

The early Presbyterian and Baptist Churches were severely Calvinistic, and their pulpits dwelt more frequently and more strenuously than their modem successors on the five points of their creed - predestination, particular redemption, total depravity, effectual calling and the certain perseverance of the saints. The terrors of the eternal torment of the wicked were more frequently and more vividly portrayed than in the modem days. The belief in a material fire in hell for the future and endless punishment of the unregenerate was common in all the churches. The doctrine of a literal fire in hell was preached by Rev. J. B. Findlay and other early Methodist preachers, in which they followed the explicit teachings of the sermons of Johii Wesley. It is doubtful if a person known to be a disbeliever in eternal punishment would have been suffered to remain a member of any of the early orthodox churches; to-day a belief in the final holiness and happiness of all mankind is not an insurmountable bar to a place among the laity of the evangelical denominations. Excepting the Quakers, nearly all the religious persons among the pioneers were rigid Sabbatarians, and the first day of the week was not with them a day for social enjoyment or recreation. Too often it left with it upon the minds of the young no pleasing memories. Children who were kept constantly at work six days in the week, by poor parents who had bought land on credit, and must pay for it with hard labor, were required on Sunday to go to church, a considerable distance on foot, to listen to long sermons; and, after returning home, to spend much of the rest of the day on their feet reciting the catechism, or to sit and hear read the Bible and Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest.

But let us not judge the religious men of former days harshly. They were noble men and the county owes them a debt of gratitude. The high place in -education, morals and religion Warren County has ever maintained is due largely to the life and work of the early religious teachers. We cannot believe in all things as they believed, but we cannot fail to recognize their virtues and their worth.

Most of the changes in the religious beliefs and modes of worship that have taken place since the establishment of the pioneer churches are not such as result in modifications of creeds and articles of faith. They are the result of inevitable tendencies, and are brought about, not so much by theological discussions, as by the changes in human modes of thinking, feeling and believing, which, taken together, we call the spirit of the age. The advance of the refinements of civilization may render the religious doctrines of good men in one age repugnant to those of the next.

lished in Warren County. There were but few previous to 1830. Some denominations did not at first look upon them with favor. Until comparatively recent times, no provisions were made in the erection of churches for the accommodation of a Sunday school ; but now no church edifice is considered complete without ample rooms for the instruction of infant classes and other classes, and a general assembly room for the entire school. The Sunday school has thus exerted a great influence on church architecture. In 1850, seven Sunday school libraries were reported in Warren County. These have increased in numbers and in size until they have become the most widely diffused libraries^ and their books the most widely circulated in the county. They are found, not only in the towns, but in almost every rural church, and many Sunday schools with libraries are established without being in connection with any church. Unfortunately, the books selected for these libraries are generally not of a high order of literature, and only a minority of them furnish strong and wholesome intellectual food for growing minds. In 1879, there were sixtyfive Sunday schools in Warren County, having 500 teachers and a total enrollment of 5,000 pupils.

The Warren County Sabbath School Union was organized at a meeting held at the Congregational Church in Lebanon, May 17 and 18, 1864. The object of the union, as declared in its constitution, is " to unite all evangelical Christians in the county in efforts to promote the cause of Sabbath schools, in co-operation with the State Sabbath School Union, aiding in establishing new schools where they are needed and awakening an increased interest and efficiency in Sabbath school work. " The association holds annual conventions of two days' sessions, which are usually largely attended.

Notwithstanding the wonderful fertility of the rich, virgin soil when the old forests were cut away and the genial and vivifying rays of the sun shone upon the first crops planted by the hand of man, agriculture was not the road to wealth with the early settlers of the Miami Valley. The great embarrassment under which the pioneer farmer labored was the difficulty of getting the products of his soil to a market. In spite of roots and stumps, sprouts and bushes, the newly cleared land brought forth bountiful harvests; but the wagon roads were imperfect, canals and railroads unthought of, and the distance by the Ohio River to the principal markets so great, the navigation so difficult, tedious and hazardous, that the early farmer had little encouragement to increase the products of his fields beyond the wants of his family and the supply of the limited home market created by the wants of the inhabitants of the neighboring towns and the newly -arrived emigrants. The average time required for a journey by a flat-boat propelled by oars and poles, from Cincinnati to New Orleans and return, was six months. The cargoes taken in these boats were necessarily light; the boats could not be easily brought back, and were generally abandoned at New Orleans and the crew returned by land, generally on foot, through a wilderness of hundreds of miles. A large part of the proceeds of the cargo was necessarily consumed in the cost of taking it to market. Beeswax, skins and feathers were the principal articles that could profitably bo transported by wagons to distant markets. Hogs and cattle were driven afoot over the mountains, and, after a journey of a month or six weekB, found an uncertain market in Baltimore. Com rarely commanded more than 10 or 1 2 cents per bushel; wheat, 30 or 40 cents; hay was from $3 to $4 per ton; flour from $1.50 to $2 per hundred; pork from $1 to $2 per hundred; the average price of good beef was $1.50 per hundred, while oats, potatoes, butter and eggs, scarcely had a market value, and the sale of cabbage and turnips was almost unheard of. But the early farmers supplied their homes liberally with the comforts of pioneer life; they lived independently, and, perhaps, were as happy and contented as those who have the luxuries brought by wealth and commerce.

The proximity of a spring, rather than the claims of taste or sanitary considerations, usually determined the location of the first residence of the pioneer farmer; and the log stable and the corn-crib, made of rails or poles, were apt to be in close proximity to the residence. The first fences, both for the fields and the door-yard, were made of rails in the form of the Virginia, or worm, fence. This, in a new country, where timber, readily split with the wedge and maul, was abundant, was the cheapest and the most durable fence. Unsightly as it is, it is yet superseded to a limited extent only by post-and-rail, board or wire fences, or hedges.

Agricultural implements were at an early period necessarily few in number and rude and simple in construction. The plow first used was of rude construction - often made on the farm with the assistance of the neighboring blacksmith. It had a wooden mold-board and a clumsy iron share. It took a strong man to hold it and twice the strength of team now requisite for the same amount of work. The cast-iron plow was slowly introduced. The early harrows were made of bars of wood and wooden teeth, and were rude and homely in construction. Sometimes, in place of the harrow, a brush, weighted down with a piece of timber, was dragged over the ground. The sickle was in universal use for harvesting grain until about 1825, when it was gradually superseded by the cradle. The sickle is one of the most ancient of farming implements; but reaping with the sickle was always slow and laborious. For the twenty years succeeding 1830, there were few farmers who did not know how to swing the cradle and scythe, but during the next twenty years reapers and mowers, drawn by horses, became almost the only harvesters of grain and grass. The firet reaping machines merely cut the grain; a raker was necessary to gather the grain into sheaves ready for the binders. Self-raking reaping machines soon followed, and, about 1878, self-binding machines were introduced. Of the two old-fashioned methods of separating the grain from the straw - the flail and tramping with horses - the latter was the most common in this county. To-day, instead of this slow and wasteful method, a horse or steam-power thresher not only separates the grain, but winnows it and carries the straw to the stack, all at the same time.

The soil of Warren County is well adapted to a miscellaneous agriculture, and all its branches are pursued, the cultivation of grains and the raising of stock. Com is the leading grain crop, and of stock, hogs are more generally raised than any other. The first crop usually raised by the early farmers on newly-clearpd land was corn. Most of the county has been found well adapted to wheat, and this crop is seldom a total failure. Barley has been, for many years, one of the leading and most profitable crops in large areas, and the county has long stood among the first in the State in the production of this grain. Nearly all the large breweries in the State are found in the Miami Valley.

The capital invested in domestic animals constitutes a large item in the wealth of the county. Improvements in breeds of all the farm animals have kept pace with the improvements in agricultural implements and methods of tilling the soil. After the land had been generally cleared of the forests, the necessity of oxen ceased, and interest in the improvement of the horse commenced. The possession of good horses - elegant, strong and speedy - became a matter of pride with the farmer. Speed was not considered of special value in the horse until the improvements in the public roads rendered possible the use of the modern light carriage. The improvements in the horse are doubtless largely due to the infusion of the blood of the thoroughbred, which was early introduced into Warren County. The Morgan, the Cadmus, the Bellfounder, the C. M. Clay and the Hambletonian stock, were also common at different periods; but whatever breed has been introduced, the tendency has always been to amal> gamate it with the stocks already in use. The strains of blood have not therefore been kept distinct. The farm horses, or horses for general purposes, found throughout the county, are of a most uncertain blood, but it is certain that they have been greatly improved within thirty years in style, action, form, temper and endurance, and no county in the State can now exhibit a greater number of fine horses for the purposes of the farm, the road and the carriage.

Cattle

The cattle of the early settlers were introduced from various quarters, immigrants from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky bringing many with them; and it is believed by some that cattle raised by the Indians previous to the first settlements by the whites, were an element in the original or common herds in the West. Of course, they were a heterogeneous collection, yet, in process of time, the stock was assimilated to the locality, acquiring local characteristics, by which the experienced cattle-dealer determined from their general appearance the region in which they were reared. The early farmers suffered their cattle to wander through the woods and uncultivated grounds, browsing for their living, and thus some of the native grasses and shrubs were extirpated by being cropped off early in the spring before their flowers and seeds were formed. In winter, the cows were not housed nor sheltered, but found their subsistence at a stack of wheat-straw, or in the corn-field, after husking time; or, at best, were fed twice a day in an open lot with fodder and unhusked com. The practice, which is still common, of securing the com before it is fully matured by cutting off the stocks near the ground and stacking it in the field, is said to have originated with the cattle-feeders of Virginia.

Warren County early felt the effects of the interest manifested in different parts of Kentucky and Ohio for the improvement of the stock of cattle. The Shakers, at Union Village, having large landed estates, and more abundant means at their command than any single farmer, took the lead in the introduction of improved breeds in all kinds of farm animals. The Patton stock of English cattle, early in this century, doubtless found their way from Kentucky to the Miami Valley, and were crossed with the common cattle. Some of the early descendants of the Kentucky importation of English cattle, made in 1817, were brought to Warren County; the long horns first; afterward, the short-horns. Excellent short-horn cattle continued to be introduced until there is hardly a neighborhood in the county in which more or less of their cross is not found. In 1854, Robert G. Corwin, in connection with the Society of Shakers, made an importation direct from Scotland of fine herds of thoroughbred short-horn cattle. Of late years, the Jersey cows are coming into favor, on account of the richness of their milk, especially in the towns and on farms adjoining the towns.

Sheep

Sheep were raised by the early settlers before the wolves had disappeared, and old men still living remember to have seen wolves in pursuit of sheep. The journals of the Shakers show that Merino sheep were introduced on their premises August 2, 1812. Jeremiah Morrow, then a Member of Congress, soon after introduced them into Deerfield Township. The number of sheep in the county continued to increase until about 1850, since which time they have decreased in numbers.

Swine

The raising of hogs has proved so well adapted to the agriculture of the county that on almost every farm it has been carried on, and the animal has been' made to serve both as a popular and cheap article of food, and a means of condensing for the market a large part of the extensive crops of Indian com. Of all domestic animals, the hog comes to maturity quickest, requires least skill and care to handle, and has been most generally relied on in the regions around Cincinnati for domestic consumption and for profit. The fact that the celebrated Poland-China breed of hogs originated in Warren County and attained the development which has given it so high a reputation in the two counties of Warren and Butler, renders a full history of Warren County hogs desirable. The principal authorities which have been followed in the preparation of the following historic account, are the report of Hon. John M. Mi lli kin, of Hamilton, Ohio, to the National Convention of Swine Breeders, held at Indianapolis in 1872, and a paper published in the Western Farmer by Cephas Holloway, the venerable business manager of the Shaker Society at Union Village.

The swine of the early settlers were long and slim, coarse, large boned and long-legged, with erect bristles on the neck and back. They were active and healthy and capable of making heavy hogs, but two years or more were required for them to mature. Until a short time before being butchered or driven to market, they were suffered to run at large in the woods, subsisting as foragers. They were sometimes known as " razor-backs. "

Some time during the war of 1812, Col. Thomas B. Van Home, who was. in command at Fort Erie, purchased two Russia pigs, and, carrying them in a basket to Pittsburgh, brought them thence by water to Cincinnati, and raised them on his farm one mile east of Lebanon. About the same period, the Byfield breed was also introduced in the Miami Valley. These two improved breeds, the Russia and the Byfield, and, to some extent, the Bedford, were profitably crossed with the common bristle breed.

In 1818, John Wallace, then a trustee of the Shaker Society, visited Philadelphia on business, and was shown what were called the Big China hogs; he was pleased with them and purchased four hogs, and brought them the same season to Union Village. These four hogs were entirely white, except one, upon which were some sandy spots, in which appeared small black spots. They were represented to be either imported or the immediate descendants of imported stock, and are believed to have been the first China hogs in Southwestern Ohio. Subsequently, other China hogs were introduced. They were extensively raised and crossed with the best breeds then existing, and the product of these crosses constituted a breed of fine qualities, which was generally known as the "Warren County hog," sometimes as the "Shaker hog." These bogs increased in good qualities and were extensively bred in the great cornproducing regions of WTarren and Butler Counties.

The Berkshires were introduced into Warren County in 1835 or 1836, by Mr. Munson Beach, who operated, in connection with his brother, Louis Beach, then a prominent merchant in the city of New York. Subsequently* they made other shipments of the same stock to Warren and Butler Counties. The Berkshires introduced by the Messrs. Beach were generally black, with occasional marks of white, either on the feet, the tip of the tail or in the face. They were muscular, active and round-bodied hogs, and, in most cases, had sharp-pointed, upright ears. Some families, however, were large in size, deep in their bodies, with ears that lopped.

The Irish Grazier breed of hogs was imported direct into Southwestern Ohio by William Neff, Esq., of Cincinnati, about 1839. The Graziers were white, with only an occasional sandy spot which appeared about the eyes. Mr. Neff committed some of these hogs to the care of Mr. Anthony Keever, whose farm adjoined the Shaker lands on the south. Mr. Keever was a judicious breeder, and, esteeming the Grazier highly, he bred them and crossed them liberally.

These two breeds - the Berkshires and Irish Graziers - were extensively used in making crosses by the best breeders in Warren and Butler Counties, and, to some extent, in Clinton and Hamilton Counties. Having been carefully bred and intermixed with the descendants and crosses of the Big China with other breeds, the stock thus produced constituted the true and original basis of what is now known as the Magie or Poland-China hogs.

Many of the most successful breeders of these hogs resided in the vicinity of Monroe, near the Warren and Butler County line. Since 1840, no new blood has been introduced. In 1870, the Illinois Swine Breeders' Association resolved to call these hogs the "Magie breed" (pronounced Magee), from the name of one of the nfoat successful breeders of the stock in Butler County, but Poland-China is now the established name. The first part of this name, however, is a misnomer, as the best authorities agree that there never was a breed of hogs known as the Poland in the Miami Valley, and no Poland cross entered into the formation of the breed. The first part of the name is believed to have originated from the fact that a Polander, residing in Hamilton County, having purchased some of the Shaker or Warren County hogs many years ago, disposed of them to purchasers who named them Poland or Polander hogs. The National Convention of Swine Breeders of 1872 retained this misnomer for the reason that the great mass of breeders so called the breed, and to change a' name generally used is difficult.

These celebrated hogs have been exported from the Miami Valley to many different States and foreign countries. They have been sent to Australia, and, in 1879, received the highest premium at the great stock exhibition of New South Wales.

The following is the first general review of the agriculture of the county known to have been made. It was prepared by William R. Collett, Esq., an intelligent farmer, soon after his election as the first Secretary of the County Agricultural Society, in 1849, as a report to the State Board of Agriculture, and is in the form of answers to inquiries by the Secretary of the State Board:

2. Wheat. - The usual average product of wheat per acre in this county is from twelve to fifteen bushels. The most approved varieties are Mediterranean, golden straw or Kentucky rock, blue stem, and red-chaff bearded; of these, the Mediterranean is the heaviest, often weighing from sixty-two to sixty-four pounds per bushel, but it is considered inferior to the others for flour, on account of the dark color of its husk or bran.

This variety also ripens earlier than either of the others; the golden straw ripens next. Hitherto the Mediterranean has escaped injury from winter killing as well, if not better than any other kind - has been less injured by the fly, and has never been affected by rust until the present season. The crop is most liable to injury from rust. The past season all varieties suffered from this cause, and the whole crop of the county is not over half the usual average yield. The most effective manner of preventing rust is to sow a variety that ripens early.

Early sowing, deep covering, and a ridge or uneven and rough surface are considered the best guards against winter-killing. Our farmers used formerly to be satisfied if thev had all their wheat in by the 10th of October. Now, many sow in August, and nearly all are done before the 20th of September.

The Mediterranean having suffered but little the past season from rust, and having, notwithstanding the general failure of all the other varieties from this cause, yielded above the usual average of the county, has become a great favorite. Probably one-half of all the wheat sown the present autumn is of this kina. I have cultivated it the past three years, and it has never yielded me less than twenty bushels per acre, nor weighed less than sixty pounds per bushel. The rye complexion of its kernel, and the weakness of its straw, are

8. Com. - The usual average yield per acre is forty-five bushels. The crop, this year, has been generally estimated from five to ten bushels below the average, but so far as gathered has exceeded the expectation of the farmer, and will approach very nearly to an average yield.

Our farmers generally plant what they call the "large yellow, " and "large white" corn, having no other generally received distinctive names for the different varieties. There is more yellow corn raised than white. As a whole, the yellow corn ripens earlier, and is more sound and more weighty. The white will yield more to the acre, and is preferred by our housewives for meal. I suppose the aggregate amount grown in the county is about 2,150,000 bushels, and its value $537,500.

4. Oats. - The usual average yield, about twenty-five bushels. A little less the past year. Aggregate of the county is probably 35,000 bushels.

per acre about eighteen bushels. Winter barley yields from twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre; spring barley half less. Usual price m the nearest market about 00 cents per bushel. The amount sown is yearly increasing. i

6. Grass and Hay. - The grasses most approved for meadow, are timothy, and a mixture of timothy and clover - the former for horses - the latter for cattle and sheep. For pasture, a mixture of timothy and clover is usually sown; but herd's grass and orchard grass are beginning to be used. Timothy is usually worth $4 to $0, ana yields one and one-half tons per acre.

7. Root crops - Potatoes usually yield from eighty to one hundred bushels per acre. Neshanocks have generally been preferred, but rot badly, and I think are not so good for the table as formerly. I have tried cutting off the tops and application of salt as a remedy for rot, without any apparent effect. Early planting is preferred.

8. Fruit. - The fruit of our coimty is pretty good; but our farmers exercise too little care and judgment in selecting such kinds as are really good, and adapted to our soil and climate. On the whole there is a gradual improvement.

9. Seeds. - Have no data from which to make any accurate statement. Clover seed is, to a small extent, an article of export. Timothy is not produced beyond the home demand. Very little flax grown.

10. Dairy Products. - There is a growing attention to the production of milk and butter for the Cincinnati market. Very little cheese made. No means of ascertaining the amount of butter manufactured. The native cows generally preferred for the dairy.

11. Sheep and Wool. - The books of the Auditor show that there are 28,634 sheep in the county ; these would yield at least 3£ pounds of wool per head (washed on the sheep's back), worth 25 cents per pound. Total value, $23,262. Decrease in two years, 2,127 head. Merinos preferred - considered hardier than Saxony sheep - fleece heavier. Quality improving. Dogs destructive.

12. Pork. - 41,717 hogs were returned for taxation this year; estimating these to average 240 pounds when slaughtered, and to be worth 2f cents per pound, the whole would weigh 10,012,080 pounds, and the total value is $275,332. Our farmers generally feed late, and I have put the average, perhaps, too low. We think our stock as good as, if not better, than that of any other county or State. We have for more than thirty years had what is now called the "Old Warren County stock," which is generally thought to be a mixture of the China and Russia breeds, and on this have crossed the Berkshire, Irish Qrazier, and Cheater County (Penn.) White.

18. Beef. - -No means of ascertaining the facts inquired after under this head. Some few individuals, and also the Society of Shakers in this county, have for several years given especial attention to this branch of business, and find it profitable; and our farmers are slowly learning that it is more profitable, and quite as easy to raise a good animal as it is a poor one. Durhams are preferred.

14. Horses and Mutes. - I suppose about 2,000 horses are annually produced in our county, and that about 1,200 are exported. The average value of horses at three years old is about $60.

15. Implements. - Threshing machines have been in use many years, and new kinds with separator and fans attsrchea have recently been introduced and approved. Rollers are coming into more general use. A few are experimenting with wheat drills, and sub soil plows are beginning to be inquired for, though lew have been introduced.

16. Other Improvements. - Have heard of no experiments in the renovation or enrichment of soils, but there is, manifestly, increased attention paid to rotation of crops, clovering, and preserving and applying barn-yard manure. Under-draining has, within a few years, been resorted to by several of our entei^rising farmers for the recovery of their wet lands, and with encouraging results. How this can be done most thoroughly, most permanently, and, at the same time, most cheaply, is beginning to be an Important question with many of us, and I hope that by another year we can give our quota or facts having a bearing upon these points.

of reporting under this head, that we have just now organized a county agricultural society, with most nattering prospects of the general co-operation of our farming population.

17. Mills, etc. - There are thirty-two flouring mills, some of them large; forty -eight gaw-mills; four woolen factories; two paper mills; four distilleries; one oil mill.

The greater part of our surplus production reaches the Cincinnati market, which is about thirty miles distant from the center of our county. Part is conveyed by the Little Miami Railroad, which passes through the east and southeast portions of the county, and part goes by the Miami Canal, which cuts the northwest portion of it; not a little also is transported thither by wagons, over turnpike roads. Recently, corn has been shipped northward by canal, and a few live fat hogs have been sent by railroad to Boston. Our wool is mostly sold or traded to our dry goods merchants, who ship it to Philadelphia.

County Agricultural Society And Fairs

Previous to the organization of the Warren County Agricultural Society, in 1849, several exhibitions of agricultural and mechanical products were held at Lebanon. One of these, which was announced as the first Warren County Fair, was held November 15, 1839, in Osborn's Grove, east of the town; others were held at the foot of Broadway. These exhibitions were not large, but they did something to awaken the spirit of improvement.

The WTarren County Agricultural Society was organized at a meeting held in the old Town Hall at Lebanon, December 1, 1849, the call for which had been publisl^d in the Western Star and the Buckeye Mercury. About seventy persons paid $1 each to constitute themselves members. A constitution was adopted and the following persons were elected as officers; President* Ezra Carpenter; Vice President, Isaac Evans; Treasurer, William Eulass; Secretary, William R. Collett; Managers, Jacob Egbert, James M. Roosa, Edward Noble, George Kesling and William B. Strout. A committee of four persons in each township was appointed to solicit members, and John A. Dodds was appointed delegate to the State Board of Agriculture.

The first annual fair of the society was held on the farm of John Osborn, one-half mile east of Lebanon, on September 26 and 27, 1850, and was deemed a respectable exhibition. The total receipts of the society reported after the close of this fair were $354.50, of which sum $214 had been received from membership fees, $25 were donated by the Shaker Society and $115.50 were received from the County Treasury. The second annual fair was held on the same grounds, September 9 and 10, 1851. In 1852, the society leased ten acres of ground from Robert G. Corwin, Esq., for fair purposes, and built a tight board-fence, eight feet high, around five acres of the same, and erected within the inclosure a frame building, eighty feet by twenty-four feet. The first fair on these grounds, which constitute a part of the present fair grounds, was held on September 22 and 23, 1852, and was more largely attended than either preceding exhibition. An admission fee of 15 cents was charged for all persons not members of the society. The price of single admission tickets was afterward raised to 25 cents, and later, to 50 cents.

Addresses were delivered at the fairs in 1851 by Robert G. Corwin, Esq. : in 1852, by Judge John Probasco; in 1854, by Dr. John Locke, then a resident of Lebanon, and, in 1855, by John M. Millikin, Esq. The annual addresses were afterward discontinued. In 1858, the society reported a mem- .bership of 1,300, twenty-two acres of ground, leased for seven years, with improvements thereon worth about $2,000. At the fair of 1857, $800 were awarded in premiums, the largest of which was $30 for the best-conducted experiment of oneAighth of an acre of Chinese sugar-cane, with the product in sugar or molasses. A premium' of $25 was awarded to R. C. Fuller, of Franklin, for the best " Essay on the mode of cultivating and managing farms in this vicinity so as to produce the largest profits on investments in land. " On May 13 and 14, 1858, a horse fair was held, at which there were 175 entries of good horses from Warren and adjoining counties. In 1872, Theodore Thompson, of Franklin Township, received the premium for the beet five acres of wheat - number of acres, thirteen and one- third; number of bushels produced, 400; average per acre, 30 bushels; the soil was Great Miami bottom.

The society now owns the fee of thirty acres, and has erected many structures thereon. Fairs have been held every year since the organization of the society, excepting two years while the civil war was in progress. Public interest in the annual fairs has constantly increased. The total receipts of the fair of 1850 were 1354; of 1855, $544; of 1870, $3,000, and of 1880, $5,000. For several years past, from $2,500 to $3,000 have been paid annually in premiums, more than one-third of which has been for fast horses. The following figures are taken from the Secretary's report of the fair of 1881:

The Warren County Horticultural Society. - This society was organized at a meeting in the Mechanics* Institute Hall at Lebanon March 30, 1887. The following are the names of the first officers: President, Dr. James Scott; Vioe

Presidents, William Ritchey and James B. Graham; Secretary, George W. Frost ; Treasurer, Charles A. Smith; Executive Committee, Samuel Irons, George Longstreth, Benjamin Dawson, Moses Harlan, John T. Mardis and Dr. James Clark. The society holds regular monthly meetings. During the first ten years of the history of the society, several exhibitions of fruits, flowers and garden products were given under its auspices. The exhibition of the society held at Lebanon in August, 1874, during the meeting at Lebanon of the State Horticultural Society, was one of more than usual interest, and was continued for two days. Since 1875, the society has co-operated with the County Agri cultural Society in its annual fairs, and has given no annual horticultural exhibitions independent of the fairs. In 1877, the society ceased to hold its meetings in a public hall, and adopted the plan, which has been continued until the present time, of meeting at the residences of the different members, according to a schedule agreed upon before the beginning of each year. At each meeting, an essay is read and discussed; fruits, flowers and vegetables, in their season, exhibited; general questions relating to horticulture are discussed; a dinner is served, and considerable time given for social enjoyments. The meetings are both pleasant and profitable. The society has recently largely increased its membership, and it exerts a good influence in the improvement of the gardens, orchards and dooryards of the county.

Growth Of Population And Wealth

These figures exhibit in a striking manner the faot that, twenty-five years ago, the county reached a position when its population manifested a decided tendency to remain stationary. This has been the case with all the older agricultural counties of Ohio. While there has been in Ohio a marked increase of population from its first settlement, in recent years the increase has been confined to those counties in which there were either unoccupied lands, mining and manufacturing inteiests, or cities. As long as the county could offer immigrants a large tract of unoccupied territory, it grew in population with marvelous rapidity, but the ratio of increase became less with each decade until

1870. The slight decrease between 1860 and 1870 is doubtless due to the effects of the great civil war. The influx of population to the cities is one of the most important and striking features of the progress of population in modem times. The rapid increase of population in three counties adjoining Warren is due to the growth of the three cities, Cincinnati, Dayton and Hamilton. Gen. James A. Garfield, in a letter published in the Ohio Statistical Report of in Ohio is found in the growth of eleven of the largest cities, and that, subtracting the growth of these cities, the population of the eleven counties in which they were situated had remained nearly stationary. In one-third of the older counties, the population had for ten years remained nearly stationary, and in several counties there had been a positive decrease. "All the merely agricultural districts," said Gen. Garfield, " are suffering a constant drain of population to supply the growth of cities and towns. " \

Warren County, however, made some increase between 1870 and 1880. What effect on the increase of population the development of manufacturing interests at Franklin and the opening up of railroad communication with the county seat may have, time alone can determine.

[Names of villages are indented and placed under the townships in which they are respectively situated, and the population of the township includes, in every case, that of all villages within it

The villages marked with an asterisk (*) are unincorporated, and their population is given only approximately, as their limits cannot be sharply defined. ]

The assessment of property tinder the laws for the collection of taxes affords an imperfect means of comparing the wealth of the county at different periods. It gives by no means the market value, being generally muoh below the selling price. It is, however, the best means at our command to show the growth of the wealth of the county. Subjoined are the statistics for several years, giving the total value of all real estate, both in the towns and in the country:

Yeah

A change in the mode of assessing property was adopted in 1846, after which the valuation approached much nearer the true value than in the preceding years. This accounts for the great rise in values between 1841 and 1846. Prior to 1826, real estate in Ohio was put upon the duplicate for taxation for State purposes only. All lands in the State were divided, for the purposes of taxation, into three grades, called first quality, second quality and third quality, and a uniform rate of taxation was fixed by the Legislature for all lands of the same grade. For six years succeeding the organization of Warren County, the rate of taxation on lands of the first quality did not exceed 1 cent per acre, and at no time prior to 1826 did it reach 4 cents per acre. There were re- valuations of the real property of Ohio in the years indicated in the table. The value of property is given in the table as it was returned by the Appraisers and before it was equalized by the State Board of Equalization.

Names Of Towns And Politics

The political history of Warren Comity may be summed up in the statement that the majority of her voters were at first anti -Federalists, or Jeffersonian Republicans, and, in later years, Anti-Democratic. The names of the political parties to which a majority of the people belonged at different periods, are anti -Federal, or Republican, from 1801 to 1828; National Republican, from 1828 to 1834; Whig, from 1834 to 1855; and Republican, from 1855 to the present time.

When new political parties were being formed, about 1828, the voters of Warren County were for awhile nearly equally divided between the Jackson ^nd the anti- Jackson parties. At the October election in 1828, the Jackson candidates for the General Assembly and for Governor received a small majority, but at the Presidential election, in November of the same year, the Adams men succeeded in giving their candidate a majority of thirty-seven votes in the county. The next year, the county took its place among those which were thenceforward decidedly anti-Jackson.

The history of political parties in the two counties of Butler and Warren presents a curious subject for the sociologist. These two counties were created by the same act of the Legislature; they were settled about the same date; they lie side by side, and have the same fertile soil; for more than a quarter of a century, they were alike in politics, and gave similar majorities for the same State and national tickets; but about 1830, they separated in politics, and from that time forward have never given majorities for the same party. For fifty years, Butler has been decidedly Democratic, and Warren decidedly anti -Democratic.

The method of nominating candidates for office is a subject of interest and importance. Previous to 1828, candidates were generally placed before the people without the intervention of a party caucus, a political convention or a primary election; yet, in the bitter contest over the formation of a State government in 1802, the Republicans of Hamilton County nominated ten candidates for members of the convention called to form a constitution. After the establishment of a newspaper at Lebanon, the names of candidates for county offices and members of the Legislature were usually announced by themselves or their friends in that paper for several weeks prior to the election. Sometimes there were seven or eight candidates for a single office, but usually there were but two or three. The personal popularity of the candidate and his fitness for the office were of more importance than his views on national political questions. Although the Republicans outnumbered their opponents more than two to one, Federalists were sometimes elected county officers and members of the Legislature.

In 1824, the leading men of the county, who had before been united in their efforts to elect Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, were for the first time divided in their choice for President. The name of Francis Dunlevy was placed on the Electoral ticket for John Quincy Adams; John Bigger and young Tom Corwin supported Henry Clay;' Judge Kesling supported Andrew Jackson; and Thomas R. Ross, who preferred Crawford, in the absence of an Electoral ticket in Ohio for Crawford, also supported Jackson, while the friends of all the Presidential candidates united in the support of Jeremiah Morrow, who was that year a candidate for re-election to the office of Governor, and received nearly the whole vote of the county. It is worthy of note, too, that, although Henry Clay received fewer votes in the county than either Adams or Jackson, yet John Bigger, who was a supporter of Clay, and whose name was placed on the Clay Electoral ticket, was this same year elected a Representative of the county in the Legislature.

The first national political convention in the United States for the nomination of candidates for President and Vice President was held by the National Republican party at Baltimore, December 12, 1831. At that time, Warren and Butler Counties constituted a Congressional district, and, some weeks before the assembling of the Baltimore convention, there was held, at a tavern near the line separating the two counties, a mass meeting of the opponents of the administration of Jackson, at which Gov. Morrow was appointed to represent the district in the national convention. He accepted the appointment and attended the convention, which nominated Henry Clay and John Sergeant for President and Vice President.

In 1828, party lines were closely drawn between the Adams men and Jackson men. Rallying committees were appointed in the various townships for the purpose of getting out a full vote at the election for President. At that time and for many succeeding years, one of the most hotly contested questions at issue was which was the old Republican party. Both parties claimed to be the original Jeffersonian Republicans. Federalist, the name of the party to which Washington and Hamilton belonged, had long before become a term of reproach.

In 1828 or the year following, for the first time in the history of elections in the county, an effort was made to elect members of the Legislature as partisan supporters of a particular candidate for President, and a Jackson ticket was nominated at a caucus of the party leaders. This method of choosing members of the General Assembly seems to have been distasteful to the majority of the staid yeomanry at that time, but before many years elapsed, the Whigs, who controlled the county, began to make party nominations, both for legislators and county officers. At a large Whig mass meeting, held at Wayneeville in 1840, John Probasco was nominated for the Legislature, and candidates were selected for county officers to be elected that year.

Nominations were made by the Whigs at mass meetings for several years. The balloting for candidates at these meetings was conducted in a loose manner, and there were abundant facilities for fraud. A living witness narrates having seen, in a mass meeting held in a grove north of Lebanon, one voter deposit forty tickets for his candidate in the hat which served as a ballot-box.

The primary-election system was introduced by the Whigs before the death of their party, and it has been continued by the Republicans until the present time. At the primaries, Judges and Clerks of the election are chosen, pollbooks are kept, tally-sheets made out, and formal returns are made to a County 'Central Committee.

The political campaign of 1840 was one of peculiar interest to the Whigs of Warren County. The county furnished that year the successful candidates for Governor and member of Congress, while the successful candidate for President resided in the adjoining county of Hamilton. The bitter contest between the opposing parties began early in the spring, and was continued with increasing excitement until the Presidential election. Harrison and Tyler had been nominated at Harrisburg December 0, 1839. Corwin was nominated for Governor at a great mass meeting at Columbus, February 22, 1840. The public mind was soon put in commotion by mass meetings and mass conventions, some of which were of enormous size. A very large mass convention of the Whigs of the Fourth Congressional District, composed of the counties of Warren, Clinton and Highland, was held at Wilmington May 22. For two or three weeks before the meeting, local committees were at work throughout Warren to have a large delegation from the county in attendance, and their efforts were successful. It was estimated that there were 10,000 persons present at the convention, a large proportion being from Warren County. The people went on foot, on horseback, in wagons, and in log cabins and immense canoes placed on wheels, drawn by six horses. They carried banners, flags, coon-skins and kegs of hard cider, and sang doggerel ballads made for the occasion, accompanied with the noise of drums, fifes and fiddles. There were three large canoes and one log cabin from Warren County at the Wilmington convention. Nathaniel McLean, of W arren County, was President of the meeting, and Thomas Corwin was the orator. Before the address of Corwin, the main business before the convention was transacted. The people from the three counties, being separated into three meetings, appointed fifty delegates from each county for the purpose of nominating a candidate for Congress. The delegates, having met, reported to the convention that they had agreed upon ex-Gov. Jeremiah Morrow as the candidate for the unexpired term of Hon. Thomas Corwin, and also for the ensuing full term. This report was then unanimously confirmed by a vote of the whole convention. J. Milton Williams, Esq., of Warren County, had, in a speech in Wilmington the previous evening, declined being a candidate for Congress.

The largest mass meeting held in the United States in this campaign, noted for monster assemblies, was at Dayton, where the body of people assembled covered ten acres by actual measurement. Thousands of the Whigs of Warren County attended this immense gathering. In September, Gen. Harrison, Gov. Thomas Metcalfe, of Kentucky, and others, addressed a Whig meeting in a grove north of Lebanon, at which about five thousand were present. Gov. Wilson Shannon and Senator William Allen addressed a Democratic meeting at the same place in this campaign. It was during this campaign that Corwin, the Whig candidate for Governor, became most widely known as a popular and effective political speaker. One of the best of the poetic effusions of this memorable political contest was by John W. Van Cleve, of Dayton, and was sung to a popular air. The opening stanza was:

1828 - For Governor, Allen Trimble, National Republican, 1,358 ; John W. Campbell, Democrat, 1,420; total, 2,778. For President, John Q. Adams, National Republican, 1,833 ; Andrew Jackson. Democrat, 1,796 ; total, 3,629.

1879 - For Governor, Charles Foster, Republican, 4,225 ; Thomas Ewing, Democrat, 2,449 ; Gideon T. Stewart, Prohibition, 24 ; A. Sanders Piatt, Greenback, 4 ; total, 6,702