Warren County, Ohio - Chapter 6: General Progress, 1882 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 6: General Progress

THE act organizing Warren County took effect May 1, 1803. The Legislature had elected three Associate Judges and fixed a temporary seat of justice. The first official business of the new county was transacted at a meeting of the Associate Judges - William James, Jacob D. Lowe and Ignatius Brown - at the house of Ephraim Hathaway, the temporary seat of justice, May 10, 1803, when the whole county was divided into four townships, and votingplaces established in each as follows:

The boundaries of the four original townships will be readily understood when it is stated that the north boundary of the third range extended east of the Little Miami, separated Franklin and Wayne on the north from Deerfield and Hamilton on the south; the section line which passes through Ridgeville was the boundary between Franklin and Wayne, and the Little Miami divided Deerfield from Hamilton. The whole territory included within the present boundaries of the county, exclusive of that part west of the Great Miami which then belonged to Butler, was therefore divided into four townships, nearly equal in size. Lebanon was in Deerfield Township.

The first election in the county after its organization was held on Tuesday, June 7, 1803, between the hours of 10 and 4, at which time George Harlan was elected Sheriff, and Andrew Lytle, Coroner. Three Justices of the Peace were elected at the same time in each township, except in Hamilton, to which but two had been assigned by the Associate Judges. All the county offices the first year, except those of Coroner and Sheriff, were filled by appointment. Silas Hurin was the first Treasurer; David Sutton, the first Clerk; Michael H. Johnson, the first Recorder; Allen Wright, the first Surveyor; and Daniel Symmes, of Cincinnati, the first Prosecuting Attorney. The first County Commissioners were elected on the first Monday in April, 1804, on which day Matthias Corwin, William James and Robert Berth am were chosen. Their first meeting was held June 11, 1804.

On June 21, 1803, a special election was held in the new State for the purpose of electing the first Representative in Congress, the State being entitled to only one Representative. On that day, a citizen of Warren County, Jeremiah Morrow, was el ected; and for ten years he continued the sole Representative of Ohio in the Lower House of Congress.

The first Court of Common Pleas was held at the house of Ephraim Hathaway, in Lebanon, beginning on the third Tuesday of August, 1803, Francis Dunlevy, President Judge. The following-named persons were impaneled and sworn as Grand Jurors, constituting the first Grand Jury of the county:

Several indictments for assault and battery, and one or two for affray, were found. No cases, either civil or criminal, seem to have been tried until the next term, which convened on the third Tuesday of December, 1803, when two cases, one civil and one criminal, were tried. In the criminal case, the defendant was found guilty of assault and battery. In the civil case, the plaintiff was a woman, and gained her casa There were seven cases on the civil docket, six of which were dismissed or continued. At this time, Joshua Collett was the only attorney residing in Lebanon. His name appears as attorney for the defendant in the only civil case which was tried. The names of Jacob Burnet and Arthur St. Clair, attorneys from Cincinnati, also appear in the records of the proceedings at this term. The following are the names of jurors impaneled at this term, constituting the first petit jury of the county: Ichabod Corwin, James Stewart, James Caldwell, James Bartlett, John Dennis, Francis Bedle, Thomas Lucas, Alexander Van Pelt, Samuel Manning, John Osborn, Peter Sellers and Cornelius Yorhees.

The Supreme Court was then held in every county. The first session of the Supreme Court in Warren County was held October 6, 1803, Judges Huntington and Sprigg on the bench. No cases were tried. Francis Gowdy and James Montgomery were admitted to practice.

The Supreme Court then had original criminal jurisdiction concurrent with the Court of Common Pleas, and the Judges then spent half their time on horseback, and a part of the othe. half in trying cases of assault and battery and other petty offenses. At the November term, 1805, of the Supreme Court, a defendant was arraigned on an indictment for stealing from Ephraim Hathaway, the tavern-keeper at Lebanon, one pocket-book, one Spanish milled dollar and one cut eighth part of a Spanish milled dollar, of the value of lift cents. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to " be whipped on his naked back three stripes."

The cut money referred to in this indictment was used on account of the scarcity of small coin. A cut eighth part of a dollar passed for 12 J cents. A dollar was often cut into " five quarters, ' ' or five pieces, each passing for 25 cents.

Public whipping was then inflicted under the laws of this as well as other States. It disappeared early in the legislation of Ohio; yet many emigrants from States where it was practiced seemed to think that whipping was the natural and peculiarly appropriate penalty for stealing ; and the first reported speech of Thomas Corwin was made while representing Warren County in the Ohio Legislature, and was an earnest and successful protest against the re- instatement of the whipping-post.

The Associate Judges met at various times for the transaction of business while the President Judge was absent holding court in other counties. The official business relating to probate and testamentary matters, the granting of letters of administration and the appointment of guardians was performed chiefly by the Associate Judges. For the first year, they also discharged the duties which afterward devolved upon the County Commissioners. Granting licenses was an important part of the county business. On the first day the Associate Judges met, four licenses for taverns were granted, viz., to Thomas Goodwin, Edward Dearth, David Sutton and Elijah Reeder. Within four years, there were granted licenses for thirty different taverns in the county. The sums charged for tavern licenses at this time varied from $4 to $10 per year; $10 was the fee fixed for license for one year to retail merchandise, but the merchants seem to have been far less numerous than the tavern-keepers. The only ferry licensed was at Franklin.

On the 17th of June, 1805, the Commissioners ordered that " a tax be laid a<*< jording to law, viz.: 30 cents on horses; 10 cents on cattle; 50 cents on each > 1)0 value of mansion houses and town lots." A memorandum accompanying this order gives the return of the Listers of Taxable Property: Horses, 1,767; cattle, 2,154; lots and mansion houses valued at $19,801 - the whole tax income amounting to $845.50, which was exclusive of the license tax and some other sources of revenue.

On June 26, 1805, it was ordered that the allowance for wolf and panther scalps be, for all under the age of six months, $1, and for all over the age of six months, $2.

The official business for the entire county transacted by the first county cers did not equal in amount that of one of the smaller townships at the present day. For several years after the organization of the county, all the records of the courts, County Commissioners and County Recorder could have l H en made by a single clerk.

The first letters of administration were granted June 8, 1803, to Hannah Hicks and Joseph Robertson, to administer on the estate of David Hicks, de< cojised. Michael H. Johnson, Philip Coleman and Thomas Watson were appointed appraisers of the estate of the decedent

The first will recorded was that of Robert Ross. It was executed September 20, 1803, and probated December 21, 1803. One small octavo volume contains the record of all the wills probated from 1803 until 1825.

The firet marriage license was granted July 4, 1803, to James Armstrong, who was " of lawful age, ' ' and Ebby Ligget, who had " the consent of her parents/'

The first deed recorded at Lebanon was executed by Thomas Paxton and Martha Paxton, his wife, to Daniel Artel - the family name of his descendants is Ertel - for 110 acres on the east side of the Little Miami, in what is now H;unilton Township. The deed was dated January 18, 1799; the consideration was "120 pounds lawful money of this Territory," and the grantee is stated to be in actual possession. For the first four years of the county's history, the number of deeds and mortgages recorded averaged 140 annually. At the present time, the number annually recorded exceeds 1,200.

From 1795, when John Cleves Symmes began the execution of deeds for lands between the Miami Rivers until 1803, conveyances of lands in Warren County were recorded at Cincinnati, the whole number not exceeding 250 for the eight years.

The first deed recorded at Cincinnati for lands in Warren County was from John C. Symmes and wife to Moses Kitchel, of Morris County, N. J., for Section 18, Township 4, Range 2, in what is now Deerfield Township. It was dated April 10, 1795, and the consideration for the 640 acres was $426, u in certificates of debts due from the United States."

It was not until .1851 that tlie conveyances of Warren County lands re corded at Cincinnati were transcribed and placed in tho Recorder's office at Lebanon.

Seat Of Justice

The towns of Lebanon, Deerfield, Franklin and Waynesville all contested for the seat of justice. Lebanon and Deerfield, however, were the principal contestants. Deerfield was the older and the more important place* Lebanon had the advantage of a more central location. One of the two or three bouses on the town plat of Lebanon was designated in the act creating the county as the temporary seat of justice. On the 15th of April, 1S03, the Legislature, by a joint resolution, appointed dames Barret. John Brownlee and Cornelius Snider, Commissioners, under the act of March 28, 1803, to locate the seat of justice in Warren County. These Commissioners were non-residents of the county, and owned no real estate within its limits. They were required by law to give twenty days' notice t>> the inhabitants of the county of the time and place of their meeting, and then to w proceed to examine and select the most proper place as the seat of justice, as near the center of tho county as possible, paying regard to situation, extent of population and quality of the land, together with the general convenience and interest of tie- inhabitants." They were required to make a report to the next Court of Common Pleas, but no re port from the Commissioners for Warren County is found in the records of the courts. Tradition says that two of the Commissioners were in favor of Lebanon, and one in favor of Deerfield. Whatever may have been their report, the contest was not finally settled until nearly two years later. The proprietors of Lebanon made offere of liberal donations of the proceeds of the sale of lots for the erection of county buildings in order to secure the seat of justice. What offers were made by the advocates of other towns is unknown. The contest was finally settled in favor of Lebanon by a special act of the Legislature. The act u establishing a seat of justice f< >r the county of Warren " bears the date of February 11, 1805. At the time of the passage of this act, the county was represented in the House of Representatives by Matthias Corwin and Peter Burr, and in the Senate by William C. Schenck and John Bigger. Tho House of Representatives was nearly equally divided on the passage* of this act, and a motion to reject the bill was lost by the casting vote of the Speaker.

County Buildings

First Jail. - Before the seat of justice was permanently located, the County Commissioners did not feel justified in erecting am permanent public build ings. At their first meeting, however, June 11, 1804, they decided to erect a temporary jail, and agreed upon the plan of the building. On September 14, the contract for its construction was let to John Tharp f<>r £275. and on the 30th of November, 1804, the Commissioners accepted the building completed. This, the firet county building of Warren County, stood on the northwest lot of the public square of Lebanon. It was constructed of logs, hewed one foot square and notched so as to lie dose t ogether. The floor was made of the same kind of timber. The buildiDg was 21x16 feet on the outside, and two stories high. Eighteen months later, a log house, sixteen feet square, for the use of the jailer, was built in front of the jail, by Benjamin Sayres, at a cost of $75. The jail was not a secure one, and on March 5, 1807, it was determined to inclose the building with " a wall or picket, for the better securing of prisoners." Notice of the letting of the contract for this work was ordered to be given in the Western Star . This notice, for which John McLean afterward received $1, Appears to have been the first county official advertisement inserted in that pa per. On the 3d of April, however, the order for the 44 wall or picket " to sur-

First Court House. -The seat of justice having been permanently established by a special act of the Legislature, passed February 11, 1805, the Commissioners, at their meeting in March, 1805, received the donations of the proprietors of the town for the purpose of erecting a court house. The original owners of the land on which the town was laid out, in order to secure the seat of justice, had agreed to donate each alternate lot on the original plat to aid in the erection of county buildings, and the act of the Legislature establishing the seat of justice authorized the Commissioners to accept all subscriptions and obligations, whether given for money, property or labor, in behalf of the county, and to receive, from time to time, from any persons, voluntary contributions for the completion of county public buildings. On March 16, the proprietors of the town came before the Commissioners and delivered into their hands for the use of the county, notes on various individuals, aggregating as follows:

On March 25. 1805, the Commissioners agreed upon a plan for a court house. The building was to be constructed of brick, and to be thirty-six feet square and two stories high - the first story twelve feet high, the second ten feet high. The floor was to be constructed of tile or brick twelve inches square and four inches thick. There were to be eight windows in each story, with black walnut frames, twenty- four glasses in each window of the lower story, and twenty in the upper story; a fire-place five and one-half feet wide in the lower story, and two fireplaces four and one-half feet wide in the upper story. Two summers were to extend through the house, and an upright post to be placed in the middle of each summer. The building was to be ornamented with a handsome gutter cornice. The contract for the erection of the building was let, April 27, 1805, to Samuel McCray, at $1,450; and on January 3, 1806, the house was accepted from the contractor. Six years later, a cupola was placed on the house.

This plain building was one of the first brick structures in Warren County. It stood on the northeast lot of the public square, and was the court house of the county for about thirty years. The lower floor was the court room. The upper story was divided into three compartments, and occupied by the county officers. The contract for finishing the lower story was awarded, in March, 1806, to John Abbott, at $660.

Second Jail - In October, 1807, the Commissioners contracted with Daniel Koe to erect a jail, which was built on the southwest lot of the public square. It was a stone building, and cost $990. It was forty-five feet long, twenty feet wide and one story high. It contained two apartments - one designed for imprisoned debtors, and the other for criminals, and a dungeon twenty feet square under the room for criminala This was the county prison for nearly twenty years, but in the latter years of its use it was not a secure jail. Prisoners dug out an exit under the foundations. It is related of one character who was frequently incarcerated that it was his habit to remain in the jail during the day, but. after the jailer retired at night, he would make his way home and return to the jail before it was daylight. Sometimes he was tardy in returning, and would meet the jailer, to whom he would say, w I'm a little late this morning, but I guess I'm in time to put in a whole day."

Third Jail - David Bone, in September, 1820, contracted to erect the third county prison. It was built on the lot on which the present court house stands, and northeast of the court hoijse. It was a two-story brick building, and cost about $4,000. The front rooms were the jailer's residence. In the rear were two cells in the lower story, and two in tho upper story. Each cell was lined with logs, and over the logs were fastened two- inch planks. Under one of the cells was a small, underground dungeon. This jail was not completed until 1828.

Before the erection of this county prison, the question of removing the county buildings from the public square to what was then the eastern limit of the town was agitated, and, as is usual in such cases, two factions were formed. The removal party was victorious, and ground for the county buildings on East and Silver streets was donated to the county, one of the conditions named in the deed being that w the next court house and jail of Warren County shall be erected on said lots." The jail just described was built on the new site, and for several years the jail and court house were five squares apart

Second Court House. - On November 1, 1830, a committee appointed by the Commissioners reported that they had examined the walls of die old court house, and that they were insufficient for repairs. The Commissioners thereupon resolved to build a new court housa They afterward determined to erect it on the ground donated for the purpose in the eastern part of the town. In February, 1832, the Auditor was instructed to advertise in Lebanon, Cincinnati and Dayton newspapers for proposals for furnishing the materials for the edifice. The plan of the court house at Ravenna, Portage Co., Ohio, was adopted on the recommendation of some Judges of the court. John E. Dey was appointed Superintendent of the construction, and work was commenced in the spring of 1832. The walls were so far advanced in September of the same year that serious damages were caused by a wind storm in that month to the south wall. The building was not completed until 1835. The total cost was about $25,000. When completed, it was looked upon with pride by the people of the county, and was regarded as one of the most convenient and finely finished court houses in the State. It continues to be the court house of Warren County to-day, and for forty-five years no additions were made to it, nor were any considerable sums expended to keep it in repair.

In 1879, the Commissioners issued a proclamation to the voters of the county, announcing that the court house had been pronounced unsafe, and that the erection of a new court house was deemed necessary, and that it might be found best to procure a new site therefor, more conveniently located. The questions of building a new court house and procuring a new site were submitted to a vote of the electors on the first Monday in April, 1879. The voters, by an overwhelming majority, decided both questions in the negative. The Commissioners, still believing that a new court house was demanded by the beet interests of the county, and an affirmative vote being requisite under the laws of the State before a new edifice could be contracted for, again submitted the question, unencumbered by any proposed change of site, to a popular vote in October, 1879, and again the voters gave a majority of more than two thousand against the tax for a new court house. Nothing was left but to repair the existing building, and in 1880 the house was enlarged, improved, refitted aful given a new appearence at a total cost of $13,000.

Fourth Jail - The present jail was erected about 1844. Ebed Stowell was one of the chief contractors in its construction. It is a two-story building. The front half, which is the residence of the jailer, is constructed of brick. The prison is built of cut stone, surrounded on the outside with brick. It contains six cells, which are large enough to hold four prisoners each. One of the cells in the lower story was so arranged that it could be darkened, and in the days when the laws of Ohio provided for imprisonment in the dungeon of the jail, it was used as a dungeon. This jail has been repeatedly, within the last fifteen years, condemned by Grand Jurors as both insecure and an unhealthy place for the confinement of prisoners. The cells and interior have, however, generally been kept in as clean and comfortable a condition as practicable, and it still continues the only Warren County prison.

Infirmary. - Until 1831, paupers in Warren County were under the charge of township officers, who let the contracts for the maintenance of the unfortunate poor to the lowest responsible bidders, after due public notice had been given in accordance with the provisions of the law. A farm for .poor-house purposes was purchased by the county in 1829, and the same year the construction of a two-story brick infirmary was commenced. The building was fifty-six feet long and thirty feet wide. Smith Ludlum was the contractor for its construction. A large addition was built to this infirmary in 1836. In 1845, a small brick structure was erected for the separate accommodation of insane persons cared for by the county. The infirmary was almost entirely destroyed by fire, in the day-time, December 31, 1866.

The present infirmary was commenced in 1867, and is the largest of the county buildings. It was planned by Capt. William H. Hamilton, who was one of the County Commissioners at the time of its erection. He also served as Superintendent of its construction. The building is three stories high, with a basement nine feet in the clear under the whole structure. It is nearly square, being 90x98 feet, with an open area or court in the center, 36x46 feet- It is built of brick, and contains about seventy apartments. Most of the sleeping-rooms are 12xl()£ feet. The total cost was $51,459.

The Warren County Infirmary was opened for the reception of inmates on April 13, 1831, on which day eleven paupers were admitted. The whole number admitted during the year 1831 was twenty-two. The first Board of Infirmary Directors consists of James Cowan, John Osborn and Joseph Kibby, who were appointed by the County Commissioners at their June session, 1831. Robert Porter was the first Superintendent of the Infirmary. Other Superintendents have been: A. Thomas; Bonham Fox; Aaron Stevens, 1841-1854;

,A record has been kept and preserved, giving the names and dates of admission of all the poor who have been admitted into the institution from its opening to the present time. The record also shows what persons have died and were buried at the infirmary, and the persons who have been removed by their friends or had become able to support themselves. On April 13, 1881, the semi-centennial anniversary of the infirmary, there hid been received into the institution 3,816 persons.

Orphan Asylum and Children's Home. - Mary Ann Klingling made a bequest of about $35,000 for the endowment of this institution. She died August 16, 1867, aged sixty-nine years. She was a native of Frankfort-on-the- Main, Germany, and had resided in Lebanon for about twenty years preceding hef death. Two of her brothers had been druggists in Lebanon before her arrival in this country. After their death, she had no relatives in America. She was never married, and, although possessed of considerable property, much of which consisted of real estate, she lived with great economy and plainness. Exaggerated reports of her wealth and a peculiar bonnet and dress worn by her, which may have been in vogue in Germany a generation before, attracted to her the gaze of the people whenever she appeared upon the streets. Miss Klingling was buried in the old graveyard at Lebanon, and at her own request, expressed in her will, no tombstone was erected over her grava

The will of Mary Ann Klingling, after providing for two small annuities, contained the following: " Believing that great good may be done by the erection and endowment of an orphan asylum, where poor white children who have lost one or both of their parents may receive a sound moral and Christian education, and, if necessary, be supported during their minority; and trusting that the fund set aside by this will for that purpose may receive large additions from those disposed to favor so charitable an enterprise, I do, therefore, devote to this purpose all the rest and residue of my estate."

The will further provided that if, within three years from her death, there should not be such additions made by others as would produce an equal income, then the whole amount should be tendered to the village of Lebanon, or to Warren County, or to both, the said corporations furnishing a like sum for the benefit of the asylum. But if no arrangement of this kind was effected within six years, the whole estate was to be conveyed to the German General Protestant Orphan Asylum of Cincinnati. The testatrix desired that the site of the proposed new orphan asylum be at or near Lebanon; that it be not controlled by any particular sect, and that the income of the estate be not expended in costly buildings. James M. Smith and Robert Boake were the executors of the will.

Warren County accepted the bequest and complied with the conditions on which it could be received. As the will provided only for an asylum for orphan children, an act of the Legislature was obtained enabling the county to unite with the asylum a home for indigent children whose parents were both living.

Fifty-three acres of ground, one mile west of Lebanon, were purchased for the institution in 1873, at a cost of $8,162. A building planned by Joel Evans, with rooms to accommodate 100 children, was erected in 1874, at a cost of $22,- 928, to which additions and improvements have since been added costing $8.- 500. The first Board of Trustees, appointed by the Court of Common Pleas, consisted of J. P. Gilchrist, President; Joel Evans, Secretary; Benjamin A. Stokes, William H. Clement, Lewis G. Anderson and John P. Keever.

The object of the institution is to furnish an asylum for orphans and indigent children of the county under sixteen years of age, where they will be supported and provided with physical, mental and moral training, until suitable homes in private families can be procured for them, or until they are capable of providing for themselves, or their parents or guardians for them.

Persons desiring to adopt children, or to take them as apprentices, must present to the Board of Trustees satisfactory testimonials of character and fitness to have charge of the training of such children. The Trustees reserve the right of supervision over the children sent out from the institution, and the privilege of visiting them.

The first roads in Warren County were mere traces or paths for horses. The trace of Harmar's army was used as a road at the beginning of this century. Public highways were soon located, but these for years were little more than tracks through the woods cleared of timber, with few bridges, and in the rich and fresh condition of the soil became almost impassable in the wet seasons. Wagoning, however, was a most important business, and it was common for several wagons to travel together for the mutual aid to be derived from combining teams when a wagon stuck in the mud. It was wagoning in this way, as well as driving a wagon-load of provisions for Harrison's army on the swamps of the St. Mary's in 1812, that gave the popular sobriquet of "the wagoner boy" to Thomas Corwin, who, it is said, proved himself " a good whip and an excellent reinsman."

After the admission of Ohio into the Union, Congress applied three per cent of the proceeds of the public lands sold within the State to the construction of roads in the State. This three per cent fund was applied under the direction of the

Legislature. The roads laid out and constructed by authority of the Legislature were known as State roads. The first and most important State roads in Warren County were those described in old statutes, as " the State road leading from Chillicothe by the court house in the county of Warren to the center of the College Township west of the Great Miami," and "the State road from Cincinnati to Chillicothe by James Hopkins' tavern east of the Little Miami." For opening and making both these roads, the Legislature made the first appropriations February 18, 1804. The second-named State road followed the general direction of the road now known as the Montgomery pike. Leading as it did from Cincinnati, the commercial emporium of the State, to the then capital of the State, where it united with Zane's trace, leading from Wheeling through Zanesville, Lancaster and Chillicothe to Limestone, it was for more than a quarter of a century the great route of travel eastward from Cincinnati.

Below are given the roads in Warren County which received the benefit of the three percent fund in 1820, the amount appropriated for each road and the names of the Commissioners appointed by the Legisiature to expend the money. The total amount appropriated in the State was $59,000, of which Warren County received $1,000.

On the State road from Chillicothe to the College Township west of the Great Miami, for the part west of Lebanon, $50, William Boal; for the part east of Lebanon, $50; John T. Jpck. On the State road from Lebanon byway of Jacob D. Lowe's to Cincinnati, $150; William Coulson. On the State road from Lebanon leading through Waynesville, $100; Noah Haines. On the State road from Waynesville to Wilmington, $50; Noah Haines. On the road from Lebanon to Hamilton, $75; Jonathan Tullis. On the State road from Lebanon to Wilmington, $100; (fames Wilkerson. On the State road from Cincinnati to Chillicothe, by James Hopkins' tavern, east of the Little Miami, $145; John Hopkins. On the road leading from Lebanon to Williamsburg, by way of Deerfield, $50; John Hopkins. On the road leading from Lebanon to Dayton, as far as Benjamin Carty's, $50; and from Carty's north, $25; and on the road from Carty's toward Xenia, $25; Henry King. On the State road from Dayton to Cincinnati, which passes through Franklin, $100; Samuel Caldwell. And the sum of $30 was appropriated for opening and improving a road, or so much thereof as lies in the county of Warren, from Wilmington to intersect the State road from Chillicothe to Cincinnati, at a point east of the Little Miami; Mahlon Boach, Commissioner.

For more than the third of a century after the organization of the county, we had no graveled or macadamized highways. Long after the road through Lebanon became an important stage route, the coaches stalled and were left in the mud, while not unfrequently the passengers rode the horses into town; and along the route Postmasters sat up at night awaiting the arrival of the mail due one or two days before. Stage coaches began to be important means of carrying passengere and mails on the principal thoroughfares in Ohio about 1825. After the completion of the National road as far as Columbus, about 1836, travel from Cincinnati to the Eastern cities was diverted to Columbus through Mason, Lebanon and Waynesville. The time in 1837 was forty-nine and a half hours from Wheeling to Columbus, and twenty- four and a half hours from Columbus to Cincinnati. In 1842, Charles Dickens made the stage coach journey from Cincinnati to Columbus over a macadamized road the whole way at the rate of six miles an hour. Leaving Cincinnati at 8 o'clock in the morning, the passengers dined at Lebanon, and, traveling all night, reached Columbus a little before 7 o'clock the next morning: The great novelist describes the coach in which he rode as " a great mail coach, whose huge cheeks are so very ruddy and plethoric, that it appears to be troubled with a tendency of blood to the head. Dropsical it certainly is for it will hold a dozen passengers inside. But wonderful to add, it is very clean and bright, being nearly new."

Before the first railroads in Ohio were completed, there was a demand for a more rapid method of communicating intelligence than the mail-coach. On July 1, 1837, a horse express was put on the road from Fredericktown, Md., to Cincinnati, carrying special mails from the Eastern cities. The schedule time of this express is given as follows: Forty-four and a half hours from Baltimore to Columbus, fifteen hours from Columbus to Cincinnati, by way of Dayton and Franklin. The route for the horse express was sometimes through Lebanon. Along the route, the people were on the lookout at their doors to see the blooded horses, ridden by boys, go by on the run. The inaugural address of President Polk, in 1845, was carried from Columbus to Cincinnati in nine and a half hours by special express. This is said to have been the fastest mail time ever made by horses in Ohio, being about eleven and a half miles per hour.

In 1835, the first macadamized road to Cincinnati was built. The turnpike from Lebanon to Cincinnati was completed about the year 1838, and turnpikes from Lebanon to Dayton and Wavnesville were completed one or two years later. From this time forward every year added a few miles to the macadamized roads of the county. The Cincinnati, Montgomery, Hopkinsville, Roachester and Clarksville Macadamized Turnpike Company was chartered in 1834, and the road completed to Hopkinsville about 1840. It is worthy of note that, while this pike followed the line of one of the oldest and most important State roads leading to Cincinnati, yet no bridge was built at the crossing of the Little Miami until the construction of the turnpike, when a toll-bridge was completed at Foster's Crossings. The first turnpikes were constructed by incorporated companies and were toll -roads. Since the year 1865, a large number of free pikes have been constructed, and most of the toll-pikes in Warren County have beon made free. The county has now 126 turnpikes, with an aggregate length of about 550 miles, constructed at a cost of over $500,000. The county stands among the very first in the State for the number and excellence of its graveled roads. Perhaps few villages of its size in the United States are better favored in the particular of good roads leading in every direction than the county seat of Warren County.

Of the three great improved methods of land transit - railroads, canals and turnpikes- canals were first in the order of time. Of the two great canals connecting the Ohio with the lakes, constructed by the State, one passed through the northwestern part of Warren County. The Miami Canal, begun in 1825, completed to Dayton in 1828, was an improvement of the very highest value to the northwestern part of the county and to the town of Franklin.

In February, 1830, an act was passod incorporating the Warren County Canal Company, authorized to construct a canal from Middletown to Lebanon. The line of the canal passed through a valley of unsurpassed fertility, producing vast quantities of corn, wheat, oats, barley and pork, which it was believed would be transported by this branch of the canal system. The company was organized and proceeded to construct the work. In 1836, the Legislature passed an act requiring the canal commissioners to take possession of the work, adopt it as a State work, and cause it to be completed within two years. The canal was adopted by the State in accordance with an amicable agreement be- tween the canal commissi oners and the Warren County Canal Company, the State paying the company 50 cents on the dollar on what had been expended. The company was composed of men deeply interested in having the work completed, and agreed to suffer a loss of 50 per cent on what they had expended, the whole amount being $22,000. The amount expended by the State was $217,552..

The canal was made navigable for boats about the year 1840, but the Board of Public Works, in 1852, in a special report, declared that the work could not be said to have ever been completed, and that they were satisfied that it never was properly constructed, nor was it ever in a suitable condition for the navigation of boats of over forty tons. After about eight years unprofitable operation, the canal was abandoned, chiefly in consequence of the difficulty experienced in keeping it clear for navigation.

The canal followed, for the greater portion of its course, a low but Inroad channel, by means of which geologists believe that the Great and Little Miami Rivers were once united. No locks were necessary between Middletown and the Muddy Creek Valley. There were four locks within a few miles of Lebanon. The greatest cause of the failure of the work was the introduction ink the canal of a small stream, called Shaker Run, which, in times of flood, filled up its channel with a vast quantity of earth, sometimes to the top water- line ' and extending five or six hundred feet each way from the confluence. This sc frequently impeded and delayed navigation that it virtually drove boats away from the canal. Another hindrance to navigation resulted from the fact that the Dick's Creek aqueduct was placed so high as to prevent the passage of boat* heavily laden. The canal remained in a ruinous condition after a breach had been made in the embankment at Shaker Creek, about 1848. No attempt wat made to pass a boat over it after 1850, although as late as 1852 an attempt wac made to have the State repair the work. The water for the canal, which entered at the western terminus, was drawn from Mad River, and passed through the Miami and Erie Canal twenty-one miles. The amount required was 1,800 cubic feet per minute. At the eastern terminus, the water was obtained from the two branches of Turtle Creek. A dam was constructed on the East Fork, and, on the North Fork, a reservoir was constructed, covering about forty acres. Joseph Whitehill's mill was built at a lock on this canal, about three miles west of Lebanon. The State leased the power for two runs of stones at this mill, which was valued at $15,000. The water, after passing the* mill-wheels, found its way into Turtle Creek.

The following is the last estimate made by an engineer of the costs of repairing the Warren County Canal. It was made in 1852. It is published in full, as it names the chief points along the line of the canal:

Gentlemen - Having examined the Warren County Canal thoroughly, with a view to putting it in good order and repair for navigation, I now submit an estimate of the expense of so doing:

In many places the canal is filled to the depth of two and a half or three feet, whilst at others but little deposit is found; the banks have been cut through in many places to accommodate private roads; at other points, they have been broken by freshets and muskrats. The space below the trunk of Dick's Creek Aqueduct was always too small to vent the water passing in said creek during freshets, and the consequence was the banks of the canal were overrun and frequently broken. My estimate, however, contemplates an enlargement of the water way to more than double the present. The gates of all the locks are almost entirely gone, and must be rebuit, and probably several new miter sills will have to be furnished.

Little Miami Canal And Banking Company

The navigation of the Little Miami by means of slack water and canals was proposed in the early history of the State, but it was never carried out. In 1817, the Legislature incorporated the Little Miami Canal and Banking Company, authorizing it 4 i to construct such dams and locks, and to open such canals as may be necessary for a practicable ascending and descending boat navigation on the Little Miami River from the Ohio to the town of Waynesville.,, The incorporators named in the act were Abijah O'Neall, John Satterthwaite, Richard Mather, Thomas Graham, Isaac Stubbs, Ralph W. Hunt, Jeremiah Morrow, John Elliot, Patterson Hartshorn, Zaccheus Biggs and John Armstrong. The company was authorized to carry on a general manufacturing and banking business; the capital stock was to consist of $300,000, and the subscription books were to be opened in March, 1818, at Cincinnati, Milford, Gainesboro, Lebanon and Waynesville. The company was authorized to receive tolls at the rate of 10 cents per ton at each lock. It was expected that the canal would make Gainesboro, which had been laid out two years before, a thriving town, but work on the canal was never commenced, and Gainsboro, never attained the importance anticipated by its projectors, and long ago ceased to exist as a town.

The first railroad in the Ohio Valley passed through Warren County. As early as 1832, the project was devised of forming a railroad line connecting the lakes and the Ohio River, and passing through the intermediate country between the two great State canals. For this purpose the Legislature granted a charter incorporating the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and authorized it to construct a railroad from Sandusky City, on Lake Erie, to Springfield, in the Mad River Valley. Subsequently, the Little Miami Railroad Company was incorporated and authorized to construct a railroad along the valley of the Little Miami River, extending to Cincinnati on the south, and connecting with the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad at Springfield, on the north, thus forming a railway route across the State.

act incorporating the Little Miami Railroad Company was paned March 11, 1838. The capital stock authorized was $750,000, and the followingnamed jiersons were appointed Commissioners for receiving subscriptions: Robert Buchanan, George W. Neff, Charles Schultz, of Cincinnati; William Lewis, of! Fulton; Mathias Kugler, of Hamilton County; John Emery, of Milford; Jeremiah Morrow, M. Roosa, Thomas Smith. John M. Hadden, of Warren Count v Allen Wright, of Lebanon; John Hadley, of Clinton County; Jamee Galloway, Jr., R. D. Frosham, of Xenia; Bennett Lewis, of Clifton; John Hi v ling Joseph Kyle, of Greene County; Peter A. Sprigman, James Boyle, Ch;irlt Anthony, of Springfield; John T. Stewart and Rowland Brown, oi Clark County.

Stock books were opened and the subscriptions of individual stock were liberally made. The city of Cincinnati became a subscriber to the amount ol $'200,000. Some counties through which the road passed made liberal donations, and the right of way was in many cases donated to the company by the landowners. But the company met with great difficulties and discouragements Tin* road was built amid the doubts of many of the feasibility of railroads, the opposition of some and the most depressing financial embarrassments of the company, The State first promised assistance and afterward withdrew itc proffered aid Subscriptions by farmers were paid in cattle and other live stock, which were disposed of by the company often at a sacrifice to meet the more pressing demands of creditors. With no money in the treasury, there were judgments against the company, executions in the hands of the Sheriff levies on the machinery and tools of the company, the road and fixtures in the hands of a trustee. The laborers with the shovel and pick surrounded the house of the Treasurer, William Lewis, of Fulton, demanding pay. But the courage of the President, Gov. Morrow, never gave way. He gave his time and energiei for the success of the road and refused to accept compensation for his services Laboring with a comparatively empty treasury, the company succeeded in push ing forward the work slowly. The work of construction was commenced ii 1837 , in December, 1841, the road was completed from Fulton to Milford, t distance of fifteen miles; some months later the road was completed to Foster*! Crossings; in July, 1844, the first cars were seen in Deerfield; five month more, and they had reached the mouth of Todd's Fork; in August, 1845, theroac was completed to Xenia, and, on the 10th of August, 1846, ten years after th< road was chartered, the first train reached Springfield; and two years later, th< M?id River & Lake Erie road united with the Little Miami at Springfield making an uninterrupted railroad communication from the Ohio to the lake.

In the Cincinnati Gazette of December 15, 1841, was published the fol lowing account of the first grand excursion on the first railroad to Cincinnati u Fifteen miles of this road were opened yesterday. The company had in vited the City Council and a large number of citizens to make a trip upon it and a delightful one it was. The day, it is true, was overcast, but the excite ment of the occasion, the conviction that now a work was commenced whicl would bind the extremes of the State together and give a new impulse to ita prosperity, made all hearts glad and rendered the trip joyous in the extreme

"No accident whatever occurred during the excursion. At 11 o'clock w< left the bridge at Fulton, and in an hour and a half were at Milford. W< were delayed some time at the first ascent, in consequence of the earth falling upon the track, but this only served to try and prove the power of the engine for, notwithstanding the obstruction, it bore us safely through on an ascent o 125 feet to the mile. At Milford, we tarried near an hour, and while there such of the citizens of that flourishing town as chose, were taken on a shor excursion, while those of us who had gone up, rested awhile on terra ftrma

" We have not time to go into detail, or to speak at length of this railroad. We cannot forbear, however, to thank those who, through good and evil report, persevered in urging this enterprise forward. They have acted nobly and well; and the day is not far distant when all will admit, as we believe, that this is one of the most important works which have been undertaken for Cincinnati and Ohio.

"We felt strongly, as we were whirled along at rapid pace, what a change a few years had caused in this glorious West There were men with us who could tell the tales of Indian warfare, of the hardships of our pioneer fathers, of the isolated condition of the new settlement, with all its dangers and difficulties and trials, and yet iu their day they have lived to see the power of science turning this wilderness into a garden, and bringing distant points together as if they were one neighborhood. All honor to the enterprise and energy of that people who can work such wonderful changes.

" The names of the engine and cars were appropriate. It was the blending of State and National affection. The engine was called Gov. Morrow, reminding us of Ohio, and of what self-energy can accomplish; while the name of James Madison, inscribed on the leading car, enforced the doctrine taught by his life - that State enterprise could only succeed while the people of a State were united together in harmony and affection."

After the trial trip in December, 1841, the road between Cincinnati and Milford was open to traffic, and daily trips were made, but it was two years later before any report of the operations was made. In December, 1843. the first annual report to the stockholders was made by Jeremiah Morrow, President of the company. At this time, twenty-eight miles of road were in daily use, and the company owned one locomotive, two passenger cars, eight freight cars and three hand cars; 11,271 passengers were carried during the year, and the President reported that, with the machinery on hand, it was impossible to run the train regularly or do the business offered.

When the road was located along the bank of the Little Miami, it was believed that the numerous flour-mills along that stream would furnish an important part of the freight to be carried. The methods of constructing and operating a railroad at that time were far different from those now followed, and railroad travel was far less safe and comfortable than it is at the present time. The Little Miami was first constructed with wooden rails laid with strap iron. In 1844, the President congratulated the company that, in the last contracts for iron, the size had been increased to a width of two and one- half inches by a thickness of seven-eighths of an inch. Some miles of the road were first laid with poplar rails, which proved unfit for the purpose, and soon were taken up and replaced with white-oak rails. About 1848, the old flat-bar iron was removed and replaced with the heavy T-rail. Notwithstanding all the difficulties under which the road was operated, the President, in his second annual report, when but thirty miles were in use, said that the doubts of the advantages of railroad transportation had been already dispelled by the convincing evidence of facts. The price of all marketable commodities along the line had been increased, and, in a great measure, equalized, and wheat had, for aome time, commanded the same price at every point on the road as in Cincinnati.

The Little Miami became an important railway. It became known as one of the safest and best managed railroads in the United States. It was long under the able superintendence of W. H. Clement. In 1869, the entire road was leased to the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Company for

Very different was the history of the second railroad built to Cincinnati, the Great Miami, or Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, which also touched out county. It was constructed in a little more than one year after it was put under contract. In one month a cash subscription was obtained for it in Cincinnati of three-quarters of a million of dollars, and its bonds sold at par from the start. For, when this road was commenced, in 1848, the practicability of railroads was fully settled.

The Hillsboro & Cincinnati Railroad Company was chartered in 1846, and, a few years after, had its road completed from Hillsboro to Loveland - a distance of thirty-seven miles. In 1861, this road was purchased by the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad Company. Ten and one-half miles of this line are in Warren County.

The Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville Railroad Company was chartered in 1851. The road was opened for traffic in July, 1856. The line extended from Zanesville to Morrow, about ten miles of which are in Warren County. In 1870, this road was purchased by the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railway Company.

The Cincinnati & Springfield Railway Company was projected in 1870, for the purpose of building a road to form, in connection with other railroads already constructed, a trunk line from Cincinnati to the Eastern cities. The sum of $265,000 was subscribed and offered as a donation to this company to secure the location of the road through Lebanon, but without success. The road was built through Dayton and Franklin. Only about four and one-half miles of this road are in Warren County.

The Cincinnati Northern Railway Company, having, in 1879, purchased at judicial sale, the uncompleted road of the Miami Valley Narrow Gauge Railway Company from Cincinnati to Wayneeville, for $61,000, constructed a three-feet gauge road, and commenced the running of one train daily between Lebanon and Norwood, on May 30, 1881.

Post Offices

There were no post offices within the limits of Warren County for more than eight years after the settlements were commenced. Cincinnati was for several years the post office for the whole Miami Valley. At the beginning of the present century, letters were advertised as remaining in the post office at Cincinnati addressed as follows: "John Bigger, Fourth Range;" "Thomas

Within two years after the organization of the State Government, four post offices were established in Warren County, viz.: at Waynesville, Deerfield, Franklin and Lebanon. Ten years then elapsed before any others were established. In 1812, Montgomery, in Hamilton County, was made a post office, and it accommodated a portion of the people of Warren living in the southwestern part of the county.

The first mail between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh was carried in a canoe, in February, 1794. A line of row-boats was established in that year between those points, with relays at different stations, to carry the mail. The first mails to post offices in Warren County were carried by a post-rider. The route was from Cincinnati to Lebanon, Xenia, Urbana, thence across to Piqua, and down through Dayton, Franklin and Hamilton to Cincinnati, taking a week to make the trip. The people thought themselves fortunate in having a weekly mail for some years. The mail was carried by post-riders until about the year 1825, when stage lines were started with the mails.

There are persons still living who can remember when the postage on a letter, which must be written on a single sheet of paper, between Cincinnati and New Orleans, was 25 cents, and the freight on a barrel of flour between the same points was sometimes below that figure. Most men at that time would have regarded our present mail facilities an impossibility, and especially would the prediction that letters would one day be carried from Maine to California for three cents have been regarded as a Utopian dream.

The following complete list of all the post offices in Warren County, dates of their establishment and names of the first Postmasters, was prepared by George W. Frost, of the Pension Office, from the books of the Post Office Department at Washington:

The Bench And The Bab

Biographies of some of the most distinguished members of the legal profession in Warren County will be found elsewhere in this work. It is proposed in this place to narrate, with some regard to chronological order, some facte concerning the bench and the bar of the county not elsewhere recorded. The sketch must necessarily be imperfect.

The legal business of the earliest pioneers of the county for eight yearn after its first settlement was transacted at Cincinnati. In 1796, there were nine practicing attorneys at Cincinnati, all of whom, except two, became confirmed drunkards, and descended to premature graves. Many of the early lawyers of Cincinnati who continued long in the practice attended the courts at Lebanon after the organization of Warren County. Judge Jacob Burnet says:

M It was always my opinion that there was a fair proportion of genius and talent among the early members of the bar. Some of them, it is true, were uneducated, and had to acquire their legal knowledge, after they assumed the profession. These were not numerous, but were noisy and officious, and, for some time, were able to procure a considerable amount of practice. This may be accounted for, in part, by the fact that the docket contained a large number of actions for slander, and assault and battery, and indictments for larceny, libels and the like, which generally originated among the followers of the army, who were numerous, consisting of pack -horsemen, bullock-drivers, boatman and artificers, who were not always very discriminating in the selection of counsel. "

The attorney who prosecuted pleas in behalf of the State was appointed by the Supreme Court. Daniel Symmes, of Cincinnati, a nephew of Judge John Cleves Symmes, was appointed to discharge that duty at the first term of the Court of Common Pleas in Warren County, and prepared the indictments returned by the Grand Jury at that term. The sum of §20 was the usual allowance at that time for prosecuting pleas in behalf of the State at each term. Daniel Symmes served as Prosecuting Attorney in this county for a single term. He soon after became Speaker of the State Senate, and, in 1805, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Arthur St. Clair, Jr., also of Cincinnati, succeeded Daniel Symmes as Prosecuting Attorney in the courts of Warren County, and held the same position in some of the adjoining counties. He is said to have appeared in court with a cocked hat and a sword. He was a son of the Territorial Governor, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, and was a gentleman of culture and a lawyer of ability. Although he was not a resident of Warren County, yet, as he was for several yeara conspicuous in the administration of justice in this county, the following facts concerning him, communicated by Judge Burnet to the Western Law Journal in 1848, are here quoted:

"Arthur St. Clair was a native of Pennsylvania. He had been well educated, and was, moreover, a regular bred lawyer. Immediately after he came to Cincinnati, his father appointed him Attorney General for the Northwestern Territory, the duties of which office he performed acceptably to all concerned till it was abolished by the formation of a State Government. His manners were polished, his deportment popular, his talents highly respectable, and he supported an honorable standing at the bar. He was distinguished for great Candor, which, it was supposed, he sometimes carried unnecessarily far. In 1799, he was a competitor with Gen. Harrison, then Secretary of the Territory, for the appointment of delegate to Congress, but failed to succeed by a single vote. Having acquired an independent fortune, principally by the rise of property, he retired from the bar. Unfortunately, he had been intemperate, and consequently more liable to be imposed on. His acquaintances, taking advantage of this circumstance, and of the natural kindness of his disposition, obtained his indorsements to an amount which eventually absorbed his estate, and consigned a helpless widow and family of children to poverty and want. "

It is worthy of note that Francis Dunlevy, the first President Judge of the circuit which embraced Cincinnati and the southwestern third of the State, was not a regularly educated lawyer, nor was he admitted to the bar until after his retirement from the bench. He was, however, a classical scholar, and had served as a member of the convention which formed the State Constitution, and of the Territorial and State Legislatures. He practiced law some years after his retirement from the bench.

Joshua Collett, the first resident lawyer of the county, had studied law in Martinsburg, Va. He came to Lebanon soon after the organization of the county.

Richard S. Thomas commenced the practice at Lebanon in 1804 or 1805. He represented the Warren District in the State Senate in 1806, 1807 and 1808. In 1809, he received, in the joint session of the Legislature, twenty-nine votes for United States Senator, but was defeated by Alexander Campbell, who received thirty-eight votes. Mr. Thomas moved from Lebanon to the West about 1810. He became a Circuit Judge in Illinois.

John McLean was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1807, and com-"" menced practice at Lebanon. His public life soon took him from the bar. He was elected to Congress in 1812, and jjbecame Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1816.

William McLean, a brother of John, was an early lawyer at Lebanon. He removed from Lebanon to Piqua, and was elected to Congress from Miami County, serving from 1823 to 1829. About the year 1829, he returned to Lebanon, and again practiced his profession.

Thomas Freeman came to the Lebanon bar from Cincinnati about 1809. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and practiced law with success in the Miami Circuit. His professional career was short. He died in 1818 from injuries received on being thrown from a horse, in the thirty-ninth year of his age.

Jacob D. Miller, a promising lawyer at Lebanon, died in early manhood, while representing Warren County in the State Senate, in the year 1827.

Thomas R. Ross who had studied law at Philadelphia, commenced practice in Lebanon in 1810, and was first elected to Congress in 1818. Phineas Ross, a brother of Thomas, was also a prominent early lawyer at Lebanon. He served tor some time as Cashier of the Lebanon Miami Banking Company.

Benjamin Collett was one of the brightest lights of the Lebanon bar. Judge R. B. Harlan thus writes of him: " In my view, Ben Collett is entitled to be placed as a lawyer above all the lawyers of my acquaintance. If men have a natural genius for anything in particular, he had for the law. Apparently a slow thinker, he was the most ready man in the discussion of legal subjects that I ever listened to, and when he had closed an argument upon a legal question, nothing remained to be said on that side of the subject. His superiority on law questions over all his cotemporaries practicing at our bar was universally conceded. He had such a thorough knowledge of every branch of the law as to easily make himself master of any question respecting it. He himself attributed his knowledge of the law to his having studied principles instead of mere cases. His earnest advice to young lawyers was to study the great principles on which the law is founded. His whole soul was in his profession. The books he read were mostly law books. He was a man of excellent temper. I never saw him out of humor, or heard him use discourteous language to court or bar, party or witness." This talented lawyer fell a victim to intemperance, and was cut off in the prime of life. He died June 24, 1831, aged thirty-eight years.

For twenty-five years after the organization of the county, not more than six members of the bar residing in Lebanon appear to have been engaged in active practice at any one time. The foregoing list, brief as it seems, is believed to contain the name of every attorney in the county who made a reputation at the bar or was engaged in the practice of law for any considerable time previous to 1825. There were doubtless others who became members of the bar and opened offices in the county and afterward retired to other fields of labor or removed to other localities.

In 1830, attorneys and physicians were subject to a tax of five mills on each dollar of their annual income. The records of the County Commissi oners contain a list of the attorneys practicing in Warren County that year. At that time, John McLean was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Joshua Collet, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio; and George J. Smith, President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The following is the list of practicing attorneys: Thomas R. Boss, Phineas Boss, Benjamin Collett, Thomas Corwin, Francis Dunlevy, A. H. Dunlevy, William McLean and Jacoby Ballack. The sum of 1750 is placed opposite each name as the income from the practice of law for the year, excepting those of Thomas Corwin and Jacoby Hallack, the income for the former being placed at $1,000, and that of the latter at $500. As the figures were merely estimates by the Commissioners, and not returns made by the attorneys themselves, they lose much of their value as evidences of the real profits of the profession fifty years ago.

The changes made in ten years will appear from the following list of practicing attorneys in 1840: Simon Suydam. J. Milton Williams, George J.

Smith, John Probasco, Jr., A. H. Dunlevy, Bobert G. Corwin, Thomas Corwin, Asahel Brown, Franklin Corwin, and, at Franklin, John W. Caldwell.

The following is the list for 1850: George J. Smith, J. Milton Williams, A. H Dunlevy, E. Hutchinson, Durbin Ward, William S. Mickle, Lauren Smith, Robert G. Corwin, A. G. McBurney, JohnC. Dunlevy, J. Kelly O'Neall, James M Smith and Horace M Stokes. At this time, John Probasoo, Jr., was President Judge.

Among the law firms of former years may be mentioned Roes A Corwin, consisting of Phineas Ross and Thomas Corwin; McLean & Smith, consisting of William McLean and George J. Smith; Williams & Collett, consisting of J. Milton Williams and William R. Collett; Corwin & Ward, consisting of Thomas Corwin and Durbin Ward; and later, a firm consisting of Thomas and R. G. Corwin and A. G. McBurney; Smith & Probasco, consisting of George J. Smith and John Probasco, Jr.; Dunlevy & Thompson, consisting of A. H. Dunlevy and Thomas F. Thompson.

Biding the circuit was the uniform custom of the early lawyers, whether they were old in the profession and had an established practice, or were young, briefless, and perhaps penniless, members, in search of business. , They traveled on horseback, with their saddle-bags under them, an overcoat and umbrella strapped behind the saddle, and leggings well spattered with mud, tied with strings below the knees. Traveling the circuit became less common in thedec- ade between 1830 and 1840, and finally ceased. Subsequent to 1840, it was continued only by the older lawyers, who had established a practice in the different counties of the circuit which made the toilsome journey, which took them away from their homes a considerable portion of the year, a remunerative ona Ferguson's Tavern, in Lebanon, which stood immediately east of the old court house, was a favorite stopping-place of the lawyers in the olden tima Here, in court terms, Jacob Burnet, Nicholas Longworth, Joseph S. Benham and Thomas Morris met Corwin, the Colletts and the Bosses, and the evenings were enlivened with mirth and jollity.

Lawyers' fees were low in the early days of Ohio. A charge of hundreds of dollars for an attorney's services in a single case was rare. A fee of $1,000 was almost unknown. Ejectment suits, which most frequently arose from disputed land boundaries in the Virginia Military District east of the Little Miami, were perhaps the most profitable part of the early lawyers' practice. It may be safely assumed that for twenty-five years after the organization of courts at Lebanon, $750, which was for much of that time the salary of the President Judge, was above rather than below the average annual income of a lawyer in full practice in Warren County. With the growth of population and wealth of the county, the profits of the practice of law increased.

In 1836, Judge George J. Smith was retired from the bench to the ranks of the profession by reason of a change in the political complexion of the Legislature. His salary as President Judge had been but $1,000. The Judge in after years sometimes amused his friends by relating to them the anxiety by which he was oppressed on being deposed from his office, and the concern which he felt lest he should not be able to provide a maintenance for his family by his practice at the bar, from which he had been withdrawn for seven years. His forebodings, however, proved unfounded, as his receipts from his practice during the first year after its resumption exceeded $3,000.

So far as is known, all the older members of the profession in the county were opposed to the adoption of the reformed method of civil procedure which was enacted by the Ohio Legislature in 1853. It had been under discussion in the State since its adoption in New York in 1848. It has since been adopted by more than twenty American States and Territories, and has been accepted by the British Parliament. The old system of pleading, with its conflicting and confusing distinctions in the forms of remedial actions, had long remained one of the greatest and most unnecessary burdens on the administration of justice, both in England and America. It had originated at a remote period, and was possibly contrived fur the purpose of securing to the favored few the exclusive administration of justice. The style used in pleading was awkward and clumsy from the use of unmeaning phrases, and was redundant in the use of synonyms and repetitions. The old lawyers, familiar with the artificial and technical rules of the old system, had learned to admire even its fictions, circumlocutions and contradictions, and taught it to their students as the perfection of reason and the most beautiful of human sciences. In the opinion of Edmund Burke, .the science of law u does more to quicken and invigorate the understanding than all other kinds of learning put together, but it is not apt, except in those happily bbra to open and liberalize the mind in exactly the same proportion." The lawyer's habit of constantly appealing to authorities and precedents is not the most favorable to the development of the true spirit pf progress. Certain it is that the most needed reforms in the law make slow progress. Even after the enactment of the code of civil procedure by the Legislature, the full measure of. the reform intended by it was not experienced by the profession in this county. The older and leading lawyers, whose habits of thought had been formed under the former system, made the new practice conform to the old as far as possible. Judge Nash's work on pleading and practice was for many years in general use by the profession in this county. This author was an avowed enemy of the code system of practice, and confessedly resorted to the old precedents for his forms, and substantially followed them. A generation, however, has made great changes. Experience has given proof of the wisdom of reforming the practice, and to-day not a lawyer educated under the code system would be willing to go back to the common law pleading.

Below is given a list of the President Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the circuits in which Warren County was placed under the constitution of 1802, and the Common Pleas Judges of the subdivision of the judicial district of which the county was a part under the constitution of 1852:

President Judge8 Under The Constitution Of 1802

[Since 1872, there has been a Common Pleas Judge residing in Warren County, and the names of the Judges after that date residing in the other counties of the subdivision of which Warren forms a part are omitted.]

The Medical Profession

Dr. Evan Banes was probably the first practicing physician resident in Warren County. He was at Columbia as early as 1796, and, in that year, in connection with John Smith and Samuel Heigh way, entered into a contract with John C. Symmes for the purchase of a large tract of land in the vicinity of Waynesville. He was present in the spring of 1796 when the first clearing in the woods was made at Waynesville, and it is believed that as soon as the population was such as to support a physician, he began the practice at that place. Francis Baily, in his journal of travels in North America in 1796 and 1797, gives an interesting account of his adventures in hunting bears in connection with Dr. Banes, in the forests about Waynesville, in the spring of 1797. Baily calls him Dr. Bean, but the name is written Banes in legal documents on record at Lebanon, and by his descendants in Clark County at this day. Dr. Banes was a native of Pennsylvania, studied medicine with Dr.

The following is the professional card of the first physician who settled in the Turtle Creek settlement. It appeared for seven weeks in the Western Spy , published at Cincinnati, beginning in February, 1801 :

John C. Winans, lately arrived from Elizabethtown, N. J., with a general assortment of medicines, respectfully tenders his services to the public in the line of his profession as physician and surgeon. Those who may have occasion and are disposed to call on him, may find him at the Rev. Mr. Kemper's, on Turtle Creek, where he has opened his shop ana is now in a capacity to serve them.

Dr. David Morris was born near Reading, Penn., in 1769; he settled near Lebanon in 1805, and practiced his profession, He first settled about two miles northwest of the town; in 1816, he moved into Lebanon and continued the practice. In 1818, he moved to Brookville, Ind., where he remained one year; returning to Lebanon, he continued in the practice. In 1832, he moved to a farm, two and one-half miles west of Lebanon, where he died, iD 1850, of asthma, aged eighty-one years. He was at one time a member of the Legislature. Dr. Morris was a brother of the distinguished United States Senator, Thomas Morris, of Clermont County.

Dr. Joseph Canby practiced medicine in Warren County as early as 1810. H%ri?racticed at Lebanon for twenty years. His name occurs in five different acts of the Legislature among the Censors appointed for the examination of applicants for license to practice medicine.

Dr. John S. Haller removed from Lebanon, where he had practiced a short time, and settled in the practice at Franklin about 1818. He died in 1875, haying practiced until within ten years of his death.

Dr. John Cottle came to what is now Maineville in 1818, and practiced from that time until 1843. From 1818 until about 1830, he was the only physician in Hamilton Township. He was a native of Maine and had practiced eight years before coming to Ohio. He died in 1853.

Dr. Martin Lathrop commenced practice at Waynesville about 1812, and died about eight years later. He was succeeded by his nephew, Dr. Horace Lathrop.

Dr. Calvin Morrill was a physician among the Shakers, at Union Village, from a very early day. He came from New Jersey and died at Union Village in 1833, in his sixty -ninth year.

Dr. Charles D. Hampton was born in Pennsylvania in 1792, came to Ohio in 1815, and practiced a short time at Cincinnati. In 1817, he moved to Clarksville, Clinton Co., Ohio, and, in 1822, joined the Shakers at Union Village.. He practiced exclusively among the Shakers until his death, in 1863. He was a man of strong intellect.

Dr. Otho Evans, Sr., began the practice at Franklin, in April, 1827. Before this he had practiced in Butler County, Ohio, for some six years. He was bora in Kentucky September 9, 1797 ; removed to Ohio in 1800. He was engaged in the practice for forty years.

1792. His ancestors were emigrants from Holland The Dutch language was spoken in his father's family, and John learned to speak no other tongue until his eighth year. He was educated in New Brunswick, and graduated at Rutger's College in 1809. Haying read medicine in New Brunswick, and attended a full course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, he was licensed to practice by the State authorities of New Jersey after passing the examination of the Censors of Middlesex and Somerset Counties in 1812. He practiced five years in his native State, and in 1817 moved with his family to Lebanon, Ohio. He was engaged in the practice of medicine at that place and its vicinity for a longer period than any other person in the history of the town. In obstetrics, to which he particularly devoted himself, both in New Jersey and Ohio, his practice was very large and successful. This department of the practice, on his arrival in Warren County, he found almost exclusively in the hands of women. Dr. Van Harlingen's skill did much to take this important art out of the hands of empirics, and to place it in the hands of intelligent medical practitioners He did not neglect other departments of his profession, and through the long years of his professional life, his labors were varied and arduous. He made journeys to distant parts of the county and to surrounding counties in the saddle by day and by night in the most inclement seasons; he endangered his life in crossing the flooded Miami when it was bridgeless; he passed successive days without sleep; but such were the strength of his constitution and his powers of endurance, that he has the full possession of his mental and physical faculties at the ripe age of ninety years. He retired from active practice about the year 1866.

Dr. Joshua Stevens was born near the village of Winthrop, Me., March 21, 1794. His early pursuits were farming and brick-laying. He had the advantages of a plain common-school education, which he greatly improved by diligent self-study. On the 4th of July, 1817, he left Maine and opened a select boarding-school at Bristol, near Philadelphia. Here he commenced the study of medicine, and subsequently entered the office of Dr. Joseph Parrish, of Philadelphia. He also attended the lectures of the medical department of the university, during the winters of 1818-19-20, and, without waiting to graduate, entered upon practice in Philadelphia. He decided to come West, and, in 1821, with two or three friends, floated down the Ohio in a flat-bottomed boat, bearing letters of introduction to Dr. Daniel Drake, of Cincinnati. He intended to locate in that city, but he became engaged in the practice at Monroe, Butler Co., Ohio, near which village he had relatives residing. In 1830, the Medical College of Ohio conferred upon him the honorary degree of M. D. In 1847, he removed to Lebanon, where he resided until his death Dr. Stevens performed a vast amount of professional labor and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his patrons and professional friends. He was a reader of medical journals and new books, and a frequent contributor to both journals and societies. He took an active part in the old "District" Medical Society, and for years was its President; afterward, he was for more than ten years President of the Lebanon Medical Society. He was a member of the Methodist Church. About seven years before his death, he was thrown from his buggy while making a professional visit. The accident produced concussion of the brain, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. He died at Lebanon May 2, 1871.

Dr. Moses H Keever was bom in Warren County, Ohio, April 28, 1810. He was educated at Oxford, Ohio, and Augusta, Ky. When nineteen years old, he commenced reading medicine with Dr. Joshua Stevens, at Monroe, where he continued some three years. He graduated at the Ohio Medical College in 1834, and the same year began the practice near Ridgeville.' For some thirteen years he was associated in the practice with Dr. W. H Stokes, and

Dr. Joseph G. Paulding commenced practicing in Deerfield Township - about 1838. In 1844, he was sent bylhe Associate Reformed Church, of which he was a member, as missionary to Palestine. In connection with his brotherin-law, Rev. James Barnett, he assisted in establishing missions at Damascus and Cairo. Returning to this country in 1854, he took up his old practice at Mason, where he continued, with the exception of some time spent in the army, during the civil war, until his health compelled him to retire from the practice. In 1871, he removed to Piqua, where he died in 1874. Dr. Paulding was highly esteemed as a man of science and a Christian gentleman.

Dr. Jesse Harvey commenced the practice in Harvey sburg in 1830. He was a native of North Carolina, but received his education in Ohio. He was distinguished for his knowledge of the natural sciences, zeal in the cause of education and his philanthropic efforts to elevate the negro and Indian races. In 1847, he went as a missionary of the Society of Friends to the Shawnee Indians of Kansas Territory, where he died the next year, in the forty-seventh year of his age.

Dr. Jonathan W. Davis was bom in Greene County, Ohio, on the 8th of July, 1821. He attended school but little during the early part of his life, being compelled to spend the most of hie time in labor upon the farm. At the age of twenty-two, however, he had acquired a good English education, and soon after commenced the study of medicine under the instructions of Dr. Edmund Hawes, of Mount Holly. He became a member of the Lebanon Medical Society in 1846, and, the next year, received the degree of M. D., conferred by the #hio Medical College, having attended two courses of lectures at that institution. He commenced the practice of medicine at Waynes villa During the prevalence of epidemic cholera, in the summer of 1849, his labors were extensive and almost incessant. While engaged in the discharge of his professional duty, at the distance of five miles from home, he was attacked by that dread disease at 6 o'clock P. M, July 26, 1849. He ran his horse home and died at 3 o'clock the next morning. Thus, after an illness of just nine hours, died a promising physician, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The foregoing list includes practitioners of all schools of medicine. The tax at this time was five mills on each dollar of annual income. The County Commissioners, in 1830, estimated the income of each of these physicians at $500, except John Cottle, whose income was placed at $1,000.

The Legislature passed various acts to regulate the practice of- medicine and surgery. The State was divided into districts and Censors were appointed in each district with authority to grant licenses to practice medicine and surgery. The first of these acts was passed in 1811, when the whole State was divided into five districts. The Censors named in the act for the district in which Warren County was placed were Dr. Joseph Canby, of Warren County; Dr. Richard Allison and Dr. Daniel Drake. Dr. Canby held the position of Censor for most of the time up to 1824. In 1812, Dr. David Morris, of Warren, was appointed Censor. In the act of 1813, Dr. Joseph Canby and Dr. Jeptha F. Moore were appointed; and the same names occur in the act of 1817. In 1821, Dr. Joseph Canby is the only physician of Warren named. In 1824, Warren and Greene Counties were placed tog^her in a district, and the following named physicians of the two counties were named as members of the Third Medical Society of Ohio, with authority to grant licenses to practice medicine, viz., Joseph Canby, John Ross, David MorriB, Benjamin Dubois, James Johnson, Joshua Martin, John Van Harlingen, John Collet, Jehu John, James W. Lanier, John S. Haller and George W. Stipp.

The medical system of the noted New England empiric, Samuel Thompson, was introduced into Warren County about 1828. It was termed the Botanic system, or Thompsonian system. Steaming a patient for the purpose of producing perspiration was such an important branch of the practice that the followers were frequently called steam doctors. They were also popularly termed herb or root doctors. The practitioners purchased Dr. Thompson's " New Guide to Health, or Botanic Family Physician, containing a complete system of practice upon a plan entirely new," with a patent right to the system, and, without any previous course of study, they were prepared for the practice of medicina The system was extensively introduced in Ohio between the years 1825 and 1835. Dr. Thompson's book and patent right to the system were sold at $20, and the publishers of the book at Columbus, Ohio, put forth the statement that Thompson's agents disposed of 4,319 copies in three and a half years preceding 1832, and that Dr. Thompson's share of the proceeds of his Western agency for that time was $17,500. The most important article used in Dr. Thompson's practice was lobelia, which he called the emetic herb, and the medicinal of which he claimed to have discovered. The following extract from the " Botanic Physician" gives the doctor's prescription of a stock of medicines for a family: " One ounce of the emetic herb, two ounces of cayenne, one-half pound bayberry root bark in powder, one pound poplar bark, one pint of the rheumatic drops. This stock will be sufficient for a family for one year, with such articles as they can easily procure themselves when wanted, and will enable the mto cure any disease which a family of common size may be affiicted with during that time. The expenses will be small and much better than to employ a doctor, and have his extravagant bill to pay." It is impossible to learn at this time how many of the practitioners of this empiricism were to be found in this county. They were probably most numerous in Ohio about 1832. Their practice was by no means confined to the less intelligent portion of the inhabitants, but their system soon fell into contempt The Physio-Medical School of Therapeutics of later years, whose medical college was at Cincinnati, acknowledged its indebtedness to the labors and discoveries of Samuel Thompson, and paid greater respect to his memory than any other modern medical school. The name of Elder Wilson Thompson, an early Baptist preacher at Lebanon, who practiced medicine, as well as divinity, has been associated with the Thompsonian Botanic System, but his practice does not seem to have been identical with that of Samuel Thompson.

The earlier regular doctors were of the heroic school, and made liberal use of the lancet and calomel. In their treatment, they relied on purging, bleeding, blistering and salivation. The quantities of calomel sold by druggists to some physicians of the last generation, as shown by accounts still in existence, are sufficient to startle the' modern scientific practitioner.

The medical system of Hahnemann was not introduced into the United States until 1825, and it did not have practitioners in Warren County until twenty-five years later. Thomas W. Cuscaden, M. D., who died at Lebanon in 1801, aged thirty years, was probably the first resident homceopathist in the county. Of recent years, there have been six or seven homoeopathic physicians practicing in the county.

The Eclectic School of Medicine has never had numerous representatives in Warren. Mrs. R. L. Y. Anton, M. D., of this school, who commenced the practice with her husband, James Anton, M. D., at Lebanon in 1859, was the first female physician with a diploma in the county.

The Lebanon Medical Society

On the 28th of October, 1837, in pursuance of a call addressed to the scientific practitioners of Warren and adjoining counties, the following persons met in Lebanon and organized the Lebanon Medical Society, viz., Henry Baker, John Van Harlingen, John P. Haggott, Otho Evans, John Cottle, Alvin McAllister, Joshua Stevens, William M Charters, David Baird, J. P. Compton, Xiewis Drake, Elias Fisher, Jesse Harvey, S. M. Ballard, W. B. Strout, Lucius A. Cottle, Benjamin Erwin, Moses H Keever, Aaron Wright and R. Roach. Dr. Joshua Stevens was elected President, and Dr. John Van Harlingen, Recording Secretary. The society resolved to abide by the rules and regulations adopted, and to use all honorable means to discountenance quackery, and recommended a general attendance at the meetings of the State Medical Society.

The second meeting of the society was 'held January 30, 1838, when a constitution and by-laws, a code of ethics and a bill of prices were adopted. A committee was appointed to prepare a memorial to the Legislature for the repeal of the law taxing physicians. The society was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly passed in 1837. Within two years after its organization, the society numbered twenty-eight members. The meetings were held semi-annually, and were generally well attended, from twelve to twenty members usually being present at each meeting. An attempt was made to enforce attendance by fines. The minutes of 1839 show that a member was fined $5 for absence and failure to read a dissertation, and memberships were forfeited for non-payment of fines. The society early secured a seal to be affixed to diplomas granted to the members. The diplomas were printed, not in Latin, but in English. Standing committees were appointed on the subjects of " Quackery," "Collateral Sciences" and "Improvements in the Science of Medicine." Besides reports on these subjects, there were papers read at early meetings as follows: On " Geology," by Dr. Aaron Wright; "Phenomena, Characterizing the Separate and Independent Existence of Mind," by Dr. D. Baird; "Deleterious Effects and Chemical Tests of Arsenic," by Dr. John P. Haggott; " Congestive Fever," by Dr. Joshua Stevens; "Diseases of Harveysburg," by Dr. Jesse Harvey, and "Sanguineous Congestion," by Dr. William M. Charters.

Resolved, That no applicant who has not acquired a competent knowledge of chemistry, natural philosophy, botany and comparative anatomy, shall receive the diploma of this society.

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this society that no medical school ought to confer the degree of Doctor in Medicine on any candidate who has not attained to a competent knowledge of all those branches of learning usually termed with reference to medicine, "the Associate Sciences."

The Corresponding Secretary was instructed to open a correspondence with other societies, both medical and scientific, in the State, urging them to join in endeavors to have the geological survey of the State continued.

In October, 1839, it was resolved that "the society appoint three members, whose duty it shall be to procure and preserve specimens of plants - including the whole plant - and specimens of minerals, each of whom shall deliver an address or lecture, one on Botany, one on Mineralogy and one on Geology, at three successive meetings - one addressing each meeting; said committee to be authorized to procure, at the expense of the society, Buch means for the safe keeping of whatever may be collected. " In pursuance of this resolution. Dr. J. G. Paulding made reports at subsequent meetings on Botany and Dr. Jesse Harvey on Geology. Dr. Paulding exhibited a blank-book procured for the society for the preservation of botanical specimens. The members were earnestly requested to prepare and present to the society skeletons of different animals for the purpose of facilitating the study of Comparative Anatomy.

In 1840, the society resolved " that hereafter applicants for admission shall present to the Censors either a diploma from some respectable medical college, or a certificate of membership in a respectable society of scientific physicians, or submit to an examination by the Censors. "

In October, 1842, it was resolved " that it shall be deemed a breach of medical ethics for any member of this society to attend, in consultation with any physician, who has had an opportunity of becoming a member of this association, and has refused or neglected to embrace it. " But, at the next meeting, in May, 1843. the resolution was rescinded and the following adopted in its place: "It shall be deemed a breach of medical ethics for any member of this society to consult with any person who has not evidence of such qualifications as would entitle him to membership in this society. "

In 1840, two members were expelled from the society for engaging in the sale of nostrums, the society being of the opinion " that such traffic is decidedly prejudicial to the public welfare, and when in the hands of a physician, calculated to hinder the advancement of true science and depress the character of the medical profession. "

At the October meeting of 1848, the society expressed its confidence in the purity of the pharmaceutical preparations of the Shakers at Union Village, and heartily commended them to the profession, especially the extracts of the narcotic plants and sarsaparilla. And, in May, 1849, it was resolved " that this society, so far as practicable, will make no purchases from druggists engaged in the sale and manufacture of patent medicines." In the same year, by a unanimous vote, a member was expelled for compounding and vending certain medicines, which the society regarded as secret nostrums.

The meetings of the society were held regularly for a period of about thirty years. From various causes, about 1859 the profession began to lose interest in the organization. There are no minutes of any meetings for the four years following 1859. On December 8, 1863, a meeting was held pursuant to a published call for the purpose of resuscitating the society. The organization was again placed on its feet, and from that time the meetings have been held with regularity. At times, it has been proposed to change the name to that of the Warren County Medical Society, but the charter has induced the members to retain the old name. Of recent years, the minutes give full abstracts of the discussions. Written essays have been read and verbal reports made of important cases treated by the members. The prevailing diseases and local epidemics have been considered and the leading questions connected with the progress of medicine discussed. In 1875, the number of members was twenty - four. The Presidents of the organization have been: Dr. Joshua Stevens, from 1837 to 1848; Dr. William M. Charters, 1849; Dr. Moses H. Keever,

. 1850; Dr. Elias Fisher, 1852; Dr. William L. Schenck, 1854; Dr. Joshua Stevens, 1856. Since the re-organization, in 1863, the Presidents have been Dr. John Van Harlingen, Dr. Adam Sellers, Dr. L. A. Cottle, Dr. J. L. Mounts, Dr. Isaac L. Drake, Dr. James McCready, of Monroe, Butler County; Dr. S. R. Voorhees and Dr. S. S. Scoville.

The New8Paper Press

In the summer of 1806, John McLean, afterward Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, determined to establish a weekly newspaper at Lebanon. This was a hazardous enterprise, as Lebanon was as yet a small village, with the trees and bushes still growing upon most of its streets, and the whole county did not contain probably eight thousand souls. John McLean was married in the spring of 1807, and admitted to the bar in the autumn of the same year. The exact date of the issue of the first paper is unknown. The paper was called the Western Star. Nathaniel McLean, a younger brother of the editor and proprietor, who had learned the printing business in the office of the Liberty Hall , at Cincinnati, was one of the first printers who worked on the Star at Lebanon. George Denny, father of William H. P. Denny, and Noah Crane, were also early printers on the Western Star.