Sycamore Township

Formation And Geography

The original Sycamore township was a new creation of the general reorganization "of the townships of Hamilton county, after the erection of Ohio as a State and the setting off of Butler and other counties from the territory of Hamilton county. It was defined as comprising "all that fractional township No. 5, in the first entire range, and four tiers of sections on the eastern side of town four, same range; also, so much of the second entire range as lies north of the same." These tracts include the whole of what is now Symmes township, and all of the present Sycamore township, except the two westernmost tiers of sections. The township was but little larger then than it is now, having thirty-nine full and twelve fractional sections, the latter lying altogether on the west bank of the Little Miami river.

Sycamore township is now bounded on the east by Symmes, on the south by Columbia, and on the west by Springfield townships. Butler county bounds it for about two and a half miles on the north, and Warren county for three and a half miles. It is an approximately exact parallelogram of seven sections long by six broad, thus containing forty-two sections. Some unevenness is manifest in the original running of the section lines, and the section corners on the east line of the township are considerable north of the northwest corners of the same sections in Sycamore. This breaks up the north line of the township badly at the northeast corner; it otherwise is pretty nearly a right line. The present township comprises the whole of town four, in the first entire range, and the southernmost tier of sections in town three, of the second entire range. Sections numbered only seven, thirteen, nineteen, twenty-five, and thirty-one, are thus, as in Springfield, duplicated in the township. It is the largest township in the county, having a total of twentynine thousand two hundred and ninety-one acres, or nearly a square mile more than forty-two exact sections contain. Springfield, which is the next township in size, and contains just as many sections, has but twenty-five thousand eight hundred and ninety-six acres - one thousand five hundred and fifty-five less than Sycamore, and nine hundred and eighty-four, or more than one and a half square miles, less than it would have were all its sections full and exact. The irregularity of surveys in the purchase could hardly be better illustrated.

The Miami canal leaves the township at the northwest corner of section thirty-two, in Lockland, having flowed through all the westernmost tier of sections north of that, in a course of nearly six miles. The Cincinnati & Springfield railroad, - otherwise the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis, or Dayton Short Line railroad - comes into the township at the south part of Lockland, half a mile south of the canal, and runs diagonally across the two western tiers of sections and part of the third, leaving Sycamore about two and one-third miles from the northwest corner, after traversing the township a length of a little more than six miles. The Marietta & Cincinnati railroad has only about half a mile of track in Sycamore, crossing the extreme southwest corner, between Madiera station, in Columbia township, and Allandale, in Symmes. The Miami valley, or Cincinnati & Northern railway, spans the entire township with nearly eight miles of track, crossing the Montgomery pike and entering Sycamore exactly at the centre of the south township line, and making gradually northeastward until it leaves the township precisely one mile west of the northeast corner, or two miles east of the point of entrance. The Montgomery, Lebanon & Dayton turnpikes, with an abundance of admirable wagonroads and otherwise, intersect the township in all directions. No stream of large size touches the township. The East fork of Mill creek, with one of its larger tributaries, heads in the counties to the northward, and flows through the northern and western townships to a junction with the West fork a little way beyond the township line, near Hartwell. Carpenter's run flows toward the East fork from the direction of Montgomery. Three or four small affluents of the Little Miami, on the eastern side of Sycamore, penetrate the township to the breadth of one to three miles. The southernmost tier of sections is almost altogether devoid of water courses. The general character of the surface of the township resembles that of Springfield and the Hamilton county plateau. On the west, however, the Mill Creek valley in which lie the Miami canal and the Short Line railway, is broad and flat; and parts of the southeastern and eastern districts are on the low ground of the Little Miami country. The rest of the township is emphatically hill country, though not of a description unfitting it for the production of large and valuable crops and for stock-raising. Most of the township is given up to farming, not much of it, away from Reading, being devoted to suburban residences, and this place, with Montgomery and Shawn, being the only villages of account in the entire township.

Justices Of The Peace

In the creative act of the county authorities in 1803, the electors of the new township were directed to meet at the house or John Ayres, in the village of Montgomery, and choose three justices of the peace.

The First Immigrant

to the territory now covered by Sycamore township was James Cunningham. He was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Kentucky while still a comparative youth, about 1785, there engaging, with four others, in building cabins for settlers, about four miles back of the present site of Covington. They were presently assailed by the Indians and one killed, when Cunningham and the remaining three decided to abandon their business in that quarter and settle upon the Beargrass creek, near where Louisville was afterwards founded. He was there married to Miss Janette Park, of another Pennsylvania family, in 1787, and in the second year thereafter, the first year of Cincinnati or Losantiville, and on the twenty-sixth of May, 1789, he entered a land-warrant which entitled him to locate on a half-section of land, which he chose on the west half of section twenty-eight in what is now this township, in the valley of the East fork. He soon began improvements upon his place, assisted by Arthur, Andrew, and Culbertson, his brothers-in-law and three of the first settlers of Reading village. They were the first to make a clearing in Sycamore township. It is supposed, as there was then comparative peace between the white settlers and the Indians, that Cunningham moved his family to the place and resided there until the Indian troubles of the next winter, when he removed to Cincinnati, where he is known to have bought a lot and built a cabin near the corner of Walnut and Second streets. He afterwards entered the Government service for a year or so as a teamster, and in the fall of 1793 removed finally to his farm, where the rest of his life was passed. He built and ran the first saw- and grist-mills in this part of the county, and about 1808 had a distillery in connection with the grist-mill. Among his surviving descendants are: a son, Francis Cunningham, lately living north of Sharon, on the old place, near the county line; two grandsons, Elmore W. Cunningham, of Cincinnati, and James F. Cunningham, of Glendale; and a granddaughter, the wife of Mr. Andrew Erkenbrecker, of Cincinnati.

James Carpenter was also a very early comer to the sections embraced in Sycamore township. He located on section fifteen, west of Montgomery, probably in the autumn of 1793, or the spring of the next year, and removed thither from Columbia. Adjoining him on the west was Price Thompson, a soldier of the Revolution, who located a land warrant on the northeast quarter of section twenty-one, November 26, 1792. Other pioneers here were David and Abner Denman, whose sisters married Thompson and Benjamin Willis. Another of this party, Elihu Crain, a distant relative of Thompson's; and Richard and Samuel Ayres. For the sake of company and mutual protection they put up their cabins near each other, where the sections fifteen and sixteen corner with sections twenty-one and twenty-two, or about where the Plainfield school-house is. Others who came to the settlement after Indian hostilities ceased are mentioned by Mr. Olden in his Historical Sketches, as James and John ^ Mathers, Daniel and Nathaniel Reeder, Joseph Mc- Knight, Morris Osborn, Moses Hutelings, Matthias Crow, Henry, Benjamin, and Isaac Devie, Nathaniel Jarrard, and Samuel Knott, all of whom date by residence here back of 1797. He adds that "the settlement was never annoyed hy Indians, and there was nothing to encounter but the wild animals and the almost interminable forest."

John Campbell, who built a fortified station on the Great Miami, opposite Miamitown, also made a settlement in Sycamore, probably in the summer or fall of 1793, on the forfeiture part of section twenty, southwest of Cunningham's. But few settlers clustered around him for years; he did not consider it necessary to fortify his cabins; and the history of his improvement here is wholly uneventful.

Some other early settlers of Sycamore were John Goldtrap, on section twenty-two, where now is the Jacob Shuff place; James and John Wallace, on section twentyone, now the Cooper farm; the Park brothers, with or neaj Cunningham, on section twenty-eight; and near Montgomery Ely Duskey, Moses and Joseph Crist, Joseph Tallman, and Andrew Lacky.

William R. Morris was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 12, 1836. His father is of Scotch extraction, and his mother of Irish descent. William R. Morris, sr., married Sarah Lydia Powers, sister of Hiram Powers, the sculptor. William R. Morris, jr., was one out of a family of nine, three sons only surviving to maturity. In May, 1865, he married Hattie, daughter of Captain Charles Ross, of Cincinnati, one of the old pioneers. Mr. Morris is the father of three sons and four daughters. Educationally, he attended St. Xavier college, Cincinnati, and Oxford college, for three years each, preparing himself for the bar. For several years Morris engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Toledo, though he is now a gentleman of rest, enjoying the fruits of his industry, residing at Carthage, Ohio.

Fortified Stations

Henry Runyan's, about a mile and a half north of Reading. Mr. Olden says: "Near the spring, east of the Dayton turnpike, stood the old station-house." Mr. Runyan was a Virginian, but emigrated from Kentucky, where he had lived since 1784, and had there been married to Mrs. Mary Bush, of Bourbon county. Upon two land warrants. May 9, 1790, he located the west half of section nineteen, the northernmost section of that number in the township, being fourteen miles from the Ohio, and then a long way back in the wilderness. It is believed that he did not move upon the tract within the period required by Symmes' contracts, and that he consequently forfeited a little over fifty-three acres in the northeast corner of it. He soon, however, put up his cabin and made a clearing, and in 1792, according to his son Isaac, who is still surviving at a very advanced age, he removed permanently to the place. Mr. Olden thus presents some of the recollections of Isaac Runyan:

Mr. Runyan remembers the first school-house in the neighborhood. It was built of buclieye logs, and stood in the field south of Mr. John Rick's present residence. It was a rude cabin, with the ground for a floor. The benches were made of slabs, with wooden pins for legs. A lew openings were left in the sides of the cabin, which, being covered with greased paper, served for windows. There Mr. Runyan took his first lesson in Ditworth's speller and reader.

The first religious meetings were held in the woods, where the people seated themselves on logs or on the ground, as they found most convenient. The first preacher that came to the settlement was a Mr. Cobb. The men dressed in the hunting-shirt and knee-breeches, and the women wore the petticoat and short gown, all made of linsey-woolsey, or homespun cloth.

The principal sports or recreation among the men were had at the log-rollings and cabin and barn-raisings, and consisted chiefly in wrestling, jumping, pitching quoits and target-shooting. Spinning and sewing-parties, apple-bees and corn-huskings, after the country had been settled a few years, were frequent, where not only the young of both sexes, but often the old and middle-aged, were brought together, when, after completing the work which the company had been invited to perform and partaking of a bountiful supper, they all joined and spent the remainder of the evening, and often the entire night, in plays and dances that formed the social glee. The dance consisted of

"N.ie cotillion brent new frae France," but the genuine old Virginia reel. And those who joined in the dance paid the fiddler, whose charges were fi.xed and well established at a fi' penny bit, or si.x and one-fourth cents, a reel. *

Voorhees' station was situated upon section thirtythree, near the present towns of Lockland and Reading. It was not a block-house, or even stockade, but a large, strong log cabin, which answered for both residence and defence, and was frequently mentioned in the early times, in speech and print, as Voorhees' station. This cabin is said by Mr. Olden to have been situated on the west side of the East fork of Mill creek, several hundred yards east of Mr. Breck's residence in Lockland. He further says: "This old house was torn away in 181 7 by Thomas Shepherd, who then owned the place, and the logs sold to Adrian Hageman, who used a portion of them in the erection of a house on lot No. 49, next south of where the new Catholic church stands in Reading. This house is still standing; it was weatherboarded many years ago, and is now occupied by John O'Neal, the constable.

- almost enough in itself to make an effective garrison. Abraham Voorhees was the head and front of it; and with him were his sons-in-law, Thomas Higgins and John Rynearson, with their families, and his five sons, Abraham, Miney, Garret, John and Jacob. They began their improvements in the spring of 1794, and in the fall of the same year moved their families to the station. They were soon after joined by another and still larger family, nearly all of them adult persons. The parents were Henry and Margaret Redinbo, of the Pennsylvania German stock, who removed from Reading, in that State, in the spring of 1795; their eight sons were Solomon (drowned on the journey westward), Frederick, John, Phillip, Samuel, Andrew, Henry and Adam; and the daughters were Ann, Barbara and Margaret. In August of the same year they obtained a deed from JudgeSymmes of the south half of section twenty-seven, west of the Voorhees tract, built a cabin and log barn on the property since owned by Dr. Thomas Wright, and there settled. The parents both lived to the age of ninety-four years, and died in the same year, 1828 or 1829.

The younger Abraham Voorhees was a blacksmith; and as soon as the progress of settlement, or the near prospect of it, would justify, he built a shop near his cabin, on the east side of the new road running from White's to Runyan's station. Mr. Olden says this shop was "at a point where now stands the dwelling and storehouse of James Browne, on the northeast corner of Main and Columbia streets, in Reading. There he carried on his business for several years, using a hickory stump as an anvil." He also, in partnership with his brother Miney, built and ran a pioneer saw-mill on the west bank of Mill creek, in what is now Conklin's addition to Lockland. The elder Voorhees laid out upon his land the adjacent village of Reading about 1798, and had it called at first Voorheestown, but allowed it afterward to be named Reading, at the suggestion of the senior Redinbo, from the latter's birthplace in the Keystone State.

During the autumn of 1794, William Moore, who was a great hunter, and who made his home at Covalt's station, on the Little Miami river, while out on one of his hunting excursions, wandered to the Great Lick, as it was then called, about a mile and a half east of White's station, and on the lands now owned by John Hamel, in the southeast quarter of section thirty-two. He there killed a deer, which he skinned, and had prepared the saddle for packing, and while in the act of washing his hands in the brook, and at the same time amusing himself by singing an Indian song he had learned while a captive among the Shawnees, he was suddenly alarmed by a voice joining in the song in the Indian tongue. He instantly sprang to his feet and ran for the thick wood on the west, closely pursued by several Indians. As they did not fire, they evidently intended capturing him. The foremost in the pursuit was quite a small Indian, but very fleet on foot. He was gaining rapidly on Moore, when, fortunately, they came to a large fallen tree, the body of which was some lour feet in diameter. Moore placed his hand upon the log and leaped it at one bound. The Indian, being unable to perform this feat, was compelled to go round the tree. This gave Moore a fresh start, and after a long and closely contested race, he reached White's station, with the loss of his gun and coat, and also his game.

Early Religion

Baptist society, or religious organization of any kind, in the township. It was formerly a colony dismissed from the Baptist church in Columbia in 1797. Elder James Lee, pastor of the Miami Island church from 1799 to 1801, often preached at Carpenter's run. Mr. Richard Ayers was one of the laymen representing this church at the meetings in 1797-8, to form the Miami Baptist association, and was one of the committee to draft "general principles of faith, practice, and decorum," as the basis of an association. The membership of the Carpenter's run church was reported at the associalional meeting in Columbia, September 6, 1799, as thirty-two. The association met with this church in 1801, when it numbered thirteen churches and four hundred and sixty-seven members, of whom one hundred and thirty-one, or more than one-fourth, had been baptized within a year. It is said that a very few members of this church were affected with the "falling" experience during the strange New Light revival of 1801-3 in the Miami country, which is described in our chapter on Springfield township. Some of the early pastors of this church were: Elder John Soward (Seward?) 1 800-1; Elder Stephen Card, 1803; Cyrus Crane, 181 1-26 (for one year, 18 14, Abraham Griffiths). The Mount Carmel church, whose meeting-house is not far south of the Carpenter's run site, long since superseded the pioneer society.

Some of the early settlers near Montgomery - as the Crists, Tallman, Durkey, and Lackey - organized a church in their neighborhood very early, which was known as the old Sycamore Presbyterian church until 1803, when it changed its designation to the Hopewell church.

Major James Huston, jr., farmer and teacher, the oldest of twelve children, was born of Irish parentage, November 20, 1819, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The parents, Paul and Mary (Carruthers) Huston, moved to Hamilton county in 1823, where they lived seven years; and thence to Logan county, Ohio. James Huston received a good frontier education in the schools of that day, and received a careful training at home. In 1837 he came to Hamilton county and found work on a farm, and in 1838 taught school one year in Warren county. In 1840 he went to New Orleans but returned to Ohio via Lebanon, Tennessee, where he taught school for six months and in 1841, resumed work in the schoolroom in Hamilton county, where he remained in that profession until 1850, when he went to California, by way of Panama, and where he remained digging in the mines until 1852. When he returned he came to Hamilton, and again taught school. At the breaking out of the war he entered the service as captain of company I, in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. In 1861, he was elected member of the Ohio legislature and reelected in 1863. In 1870 he was appointed assistant in the county treasurer's office, and, since 1865, has devoted himself to farming in Sycamore township. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Lloyd Smethurst Brown (deceased, of Reading) a retired merchant and capitalist of Sycamore township, was born October 24, 1822, in New York. His father was a shoemaker, and at an early date settled in Columbia, Hamilton county, Ohio. From here the family removed to Cairo, Illinois, and from there to Vevay, Indiana, thence to Evansville, Indiana, where the father died, in 18 1 9, and the mother in 1822. They left an orphan. Mr. Brown went to live with his uncle, Lloyd Smethurst, near Montgomery, Hamilton county, Ohio. He learned tinsmithing, and, after two years spent at his trade, entered a store in Montgomery, where he remained until 1840, and embarked in business for himself in the same place, and, with the exception of one year in Cincinnati, remained in Montgomery until 1846, when he moved to Lockland, where he bought an interest in the Turnpike company (Cincinnati and Xenia), and was elected its secretary and treasurer, and has been devoted to the settling of estates and to the insurance business. In 1875 he was elected to the Ohio legislature, and became an honored and useful member of that body. On October I, 1840, he married Margaret A. Weaver, a native of Virginia. In 1879, after living a prominent member of society, he died.

Wesley Smizer, M. D., was born in Clermont caunty, Ohio, February 28, 1828. He was the youngest son of seven children. His father, Phillip Smizer, was a farmer, engaging extensively in agricultural pursuits in Maryland. He was an early settler in Clermont county, and died there in 1839. His mother, Mary Carmon, was a native of Ohio, and died there in 1870. Wesley Smizer, although raised a farmer, received a liberal education, and in 1849 began the study of medicine, under Henry Smizer, of Waynesville, Ohio, graduating, after a period of study of three years, in 1852. He first practiced in Paducah, Kentucky, but his health failing, at the end of eight months he was obliged to return to Waynesville, where he remained for three years. He attended a course of lectures at the Cincinnati Eclectic college, and graduated from that institution in 1856, and immediately afterwards went to Sharonville, where he has practiced his profession ever since, and has been successful in securing a large practice. He was married to Elizabeth Hook, a native of Hamilton county, in 1858. Her father, William Hook, was a prominent resident, and a successful farmer of that place.

Libues Marshall, a well-known fire insurance agent of Sharonville, was formerly in the saddlery, and harness business, which trade he learned when he was seventeen years of age; but in 1867 he took an agency for the yEtna insurance company, and has continued in the business ever since, having at this time the agency for several companies. His father was a citizen of Reading. During the War of 181 2 he was a stone-mason on the forts then erected. Libues was born in Reading, Hamilton county, December 16, 1816. In 1838 he married

Miss Belinda Voorhees. She died March 4, 1877. Of this marriage but one child survives, now married and living in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Marshall has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1842, of which he is trustee, steward, and class-leader.

H. I. Kessling, of Reading, was a native of Germany, born in Hanover, of that country, in 1821. He came to Cincinnati in 1849. His father was a good scholar and prominent man, being the mayor of the district court in Furstenan. "Mr. Kessling is a well-known baker of Cincinnati, where he operated on the corner of Clinton and Linn streets in that business for over twenty years, and still carries on that enterprise in the person of his son, who is a young man of some ability and fitness for the business. Mr. Kessling came to Redding in 1866, and bought some valuable property, intending to start a coal and lumber yard; but the advent of the Short Line railroad changed his intentions, and he has since kept a wine-room.

Daniel Lawrence, one of the most prominent men of Reading, was a native of New Jersey, born in that State April 7, 1809. His father, Jonathan, was a farmer, and had served a regular apprenticeship, and afterwards carried on the business in a successful and scientific manner. His grandfather, whose name also was Jonathan, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was born in 1757. Jonathan, jr., was born in 1776, and removed to Ohio in 181 7. Mr. Lawrence served an apprenticeship in the tanning business, and worked in Deer Creek, on the old Hunt tan-yard, for four years. In 1836 he came to Reading and followed his business until 1869, when he sold out, having during that time made considerable money. He is now enjoying a retired life. In 1840 he was married to Laura Foster, daughter of Judge Foster, with whom he lived twenty-five years. In 1866 he married Mrs. Woodruff, nee Cortlewan, granddaughter of Abram Voorhees, and by her has two children living. Mr, and Mrs. Lawrence are comfortably fixed in cosy quarters, and are highly cultivated people.

Harvey Voorhees, who lives on the same farm his father. Garret Voorhees, moved upon in 1794, was born on this place, near Reading, August 22, 1819. His grandfather, Abram Voorhees, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, September 16, 1733, and emigrated to Hamilton county about the year 1793. Garret, his son, born June 9, 1763, moved from New Jersey to Hamilton county in 1791, coming down the river in a flat-boat, and landed at the fort in Columbia, and from there the family, after the war closed, settled upon section thirty-three, in a station-house - Garret moving to where Harvey now lives in 1794. Garret Voorhees died December 14, 1861. The family experienced a series of hardships common to the settlers of Indian times. Harvey Voorhees was never married.

in Reading, is a grandson of Abram Voorhees, the early pioneer, who settled on section thirty-three. Sycamore township, about the year 1794. Jacob Voorhees, sr., father of the subject of our sketch, was a public spirited citizen, and was a colonel at one time in the army. His son, Jacob Voorhees, was born and reared in Cincinnati, where he learned and followed the trade of carriagemaking until about the year 1855, when he came to Reading, and has since that time lived a public life, filling the various offices of assessor, justice of the peace, etc., for several years. Mr. Voorhees is a prominent man and a highly esteemed citizen of his town and township.

John Cooper, of Sycamore township, was born in Mill Creek in 1820. In 1832 his father moved to Reading, and in 1853 moved to the farm upon which he now lives. In 1847 he married Miss Oliver, who is now dead. His grandfather came to Cincinnati in 1793, following in the wake of Wayne's army. He was also a spy in the Revolutionary war. His son Thomas, father of John, by his third wife, married Hannah Storrs, sister of Judge Storrs, about the year 181 1, and by her had ten children. He was a prominent man in his time, having been a surveyor of the county ; also served as county commissioner for fourteen years. In 1831 he purchased three hundred acres of ground near Reading, part of which John now owns. Mr. Cooper is and ever has been a public spirited-citizen of his county. He has filled positions of trust on the board of public works and has been identified as a leader of public improvements in general. The Cincinnati & Xenia turnpike is largely owned and controlled by him, and under his management it has been a successful, paying road.

Peter Jacob, of Reading, came from France. Was a stone-cutter by trade, and is the oldest saloonist in Reading, having been in that business in that place for thirtyfive years, and in which he has made considerable money. He served one term as mayor of the town, and has been sixteen years member of the village council, and has also filled the office of street commissioner. He had a son - now dead - who served in the war, and was also marshal of the town. Mr. Jacob owns some valuable property in the town of Reading.

H. Ihlendorf, of Reading, proprietor of the livery stables of that place, was born in Germany in 1848. His father was a prominent man of his place, and knowing the advantages of a good education sent him to college, where he became conversant with the ancient and modern languages. In 1870 he came to Cincinnati and took a course of instruction in St. Joseph's college, in the study of the Enghsh language, and was offered a position as teacher, but, preferring business to a sedentary life, came to Reading, where he first started the dairy business, but changed soon after for a livery and undertaking enterprise. He was married in 1874 to Miss Carrie Goeke, and by her has four children.

Appendix

The following statistical statement, from the returns made for the tenth census, should be read in connection with Chapter X, on the progress of Hamilton county:

County, Exclusive Of Cincinnati

John Filson. - Since the printing of the sheet containing a notice of Filson, in Chapter V, of this volume, we have found the following remark in the second edition of Collins' History of Kentucky, volume I, page 640:

A memorandum left by his brother says he was killed by an Indian on the west side of the Ohio, October i, 1788, about five miles from the Great Miami river, and twenty or twenty-five from the Ohio - a few miles northwest of Glendale, Hamilton county, Ohio.

[The possessor of this work is recommended to pass through it with pen or pencil, and correct it according to the memoranda below and the errata prefixed to the second volume. It will heighten the pleasure of subsequent reading, and prevent some misconceptions of the text.]

Page 12 - Sixth line, for " Little," read "Great." In the list of post offices, for " Banesburgh," read " Barnesburgh;" for " Newton," read " Newtown;" for *' Pleasan Ridge," "Pleasant Ridge;" for "Shannville," " Sharonville;" and insertan asterisk after " Walnut Hills," and a comma before the same.

Page 29 - Read the latter part of the sentence just before the middle of first column thus: " Their system of signals placed on lofty summits, visible from their settlements, and communicating with the great water courses at immense distances, rival the signal systems in use at the beginning of the present century."

Page 45- -Second column, twenty-third fine, for "four," read "three." First column, thirty-fourth line, for "Green township," read ' 'Springfield township, excepting the north tier of sections, which belong to another surveyed township." The statement in the text is that usually made in regard to the College township. It is, however, certainly wrong. In the Reply, published in Cincinnati in 1803, to Judge Symmes' appeal to the committee of Congress to accept the second township, in the second fractional range (now Green), as the College township, the "proprietors, " after citing the familiar clause in Symmes' " terms of sale and settlement," promising the reservation, foracademic purposes, of the entire section nearest the point opposite the mouth of the Licking, say : "Agreeably to this provision, the third towttshipof the first entire range on Mill creek, was set apart and designated on the map of the purchase by Mr. Symmes as the College township, so early as the year 1789, and for a considerable time after he refused selling it." This statement is confirmed by an appended extract from the journal of the Territorial legislature, held in Cincinnati in 1799. The township described is now, of course, identified as six-sevenths of Springfield township. Green was never the College township, except in the desire and intention of Judge Symmes, who vainly, and through several years, tried to secure its acceptance as such by the Territorial, State, or Federal authorities. The writer is very happy to be able thus to settle one of the vexed problems of local history.

Page 78 - First column, seventeenth line from the bottom, for " arrived," read "armed;" second column, twenty-fourth line, for "which," read " what,"

Page 83 - Second column, thirty-first hne, for "Colonel," read " Colonels;" next line, for "A. M. Mitchell," read " O. M. Mitchel;'' sixth line from the bottom, for " many," read "several."

Page 113 - Twenty-second Hne, for "Mori," read "Moor." Firsj column, sixteenth and fifteenth lines from the bottom, for "centre - charge," read "counter-charge."

Page 120 - First column, fourteenth and twenty-fifth lines from the bottom, for ' ' Lewell," read " Sewell;" tenth line, for "twenty-seventh,' read "forty-seventh;" second column, twenty-first hne from the bottom, for "star," read "southern."

Page 19s - Sixteenth hne, for " with them," read "them to with,'' similarly correct fourth line, second column, page 196; foot note, for "thousand," read "business;" second column, sixteenth line, for " Sunmanville," read " Summansville."

Page 199 - First column, sixth line from the bottom, for "Remkle, " read " Runkle;" second column, twelfth and sixteenth lines from the bottom, and in several places thereafter, for "Brubeck," read "Burbeck."

Page 214 - Second column, fifteenth line from the bottom, for "million," read "hundred thousand;" thirteenth line, for "forty," read "forty-two;" twelfth line, strike out "two hundred;" eleventh line, for ''fifty," read "fifty-eight;" tenth line, for "one," read "two, "and after "cents," insert "and $r, 000, 000 six per cents."

Page 255 - First column. Sixteenth line from the bottom, for "thrice," read "twice;" second column, twenty-second line from the bottom, for "first." read "just."

Page 262 - Transfer the paragraph relating to the Morgan raid from Pleasant Run to Bevis ; in the second line of the paragraph, for "occupied," read "crossed."

Page 302 - First column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for "townships," read "sections;" second column, seventh hne from the bottom, and last hne, for "Bondinot." read "Boudinot" - also in three places upon the next page.

Page 310 - First column, fourth line from the bottom, for "Bendinot and Sims," read "Boudinot and Symmes." Last line, for "now," read "late."

Page 312 - First column, thirteenth hne from the bottom, for "quarter," read "corner;" second column, thirteenth line from the bottom, for "appropriately," read "approximately."

Page 316 - First column, third line from the bottom, for "Punny,'' "read "Penny;" second column, seventeenth line, for "Lynne," read "Lyme."

Page 321 - Seventh line, for "damned." read "dammed;" twentyeighth hne. for ' 'after," read "often;" seventeenth line from the bottom, for "Spata," read "Sparta."

Page 336 - Second hne, for "finally," read "firmly;" twenty-seventh hne, in two cases, for "Erchel," read "Erckel." Second column, tv.'enty-seventh Hne, for "Kember," read "Kemper."

Page 343 - First column, eighth hne from the bottom, for "front," read "feet." Second column, twenty-fifth line, for "Flamer," read "Flamen."

Page 345 - Second column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for "Erkenbecker," read "Erkenbrecker;" twenty-first line, for "Faugman, " read "Fangman. "

Page 346 - First column, twenty-second line from the bottom, for "fort," read "forte. Second column, eightli hne from the bottom, for "Carey," read "Gary;" sixth line, for "are," read "were."

Page 351 - First column, eighth hne from the bottom, for "picture, " read "Picture." Second column, first line, for "of," read "at;" twentysecond hne from the bottom, for "horses," read "houses."

Page 3S9 - Fifteenth hne, for "fuel," read "food;" eighteenth line, for "with," read "is worth;" twenty-ninth line, for "Langworth." read "Longworth;" thirty-eighth line, for "i88o," read "1870."

Page 363 - Twenty-seventh hne, for "McCasken," read "Mc- Cashen;" twenty-third hne from the bottom, for "Lochland," read "Lockland." Second column, twelfth line, for "the," read "two."

Page 365 - Ninth line, before "once," insert for "relative," read "relation." Page 367 - First colimin, last line, for "transit," read "Transit." P.ige 36g - Second column, thirty-first line, for Elenord," read "Elenora. " Page 370 - Twenty-eighth line, put "and Gary B." after "Iowa." Page 377 - Seventh line, for "or," read "as;" first column, twentyninth line from the bottom, for "Grauque," read "Giauque;" thirtyfourth line, for "Stenell," read "Sterrett."

Page 37S - First line, after "which," insert "was;" sixth line, for "Mendham," read "Windham;" first column, si.\teenth line from the bottom, for "leading," read "reading."

, Page 379 - Second column, eighteenth line from the bottom, for "Baldwood," read "Baldwin;" ninth line, for "Cogg," read "Cogy;" sixth line, after "years," read "ago."

Page 381 - Fifteenth line, for "shown," read "shone." Page 384 - Ninth line, for "these," read "three;" second column, eleventh line, for "administrate," read "administer."

Page 388 - Twenty-sixth line, for "considerable" read "considerably;" and for "same," read "corresponding;" second line, for "only," read "one;" second column, twentieth line, for "otherwise,'' read "other ways;" seventh line from the bottom, for "Shawn," read "Sharon;" second line, for "or," read "of"

Page 393 - Fifteenth line, after "south," insert " line of the township;" first column, twenty-fourth line from the bottom, for "Vooheesetown," read "Voorheesetown;" second column, eighth line, for "and the," read "another," nineteenth fine from bottom, for "admission," read "a division;" eighth line, for "Cortelym," read "Cortelyou."

Source changes here: from 1789 History of Hamilton County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, by Henry A. Ford and Kate B. Ford, published 1881; 2,883 words in this source stream.

Sycamore Township

Major James Huston, jr., farmer and teacher, the oldest of, twelve children, was born of Irish parentage, November 20, 1819, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The parents, Pauland Mary (Carruthers) Huston, moved to Hamilton county in 1823, where they lived seven years; and thence to Logan county, Ohio. James Huston received a good frontier education in the schools of that day, and received a careful training at home. In 1837 he came to Hamilton county and found work ona farm, and in 1838 taught school one year in Warren county. In 1840 he went to New Orleans but returned to Ohio via Lebanon, Tennessee, where he taught school for six months and in 1841, resumed work in the schoolroom in Hamilton county, where he remained in that profession until 1850, when he went to California, by way of Panama, and where he remained digging in the mines until 1852. When he returned he came to Hamilton, and again taught school. At the breaking out of the war he entered the service as captain of company I, in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. In 1861, he was elected member of the Ohio legislature and reelected in 1863. In £870 he was. appointed assistant in the county treasurer's office, and, since 1865, has devoted himself to farming in Sycamore township. He isa member of the Masonic fraternity.

Lloyd Smethurst Brown (deceased, of Reading) a retired merchant and capitalist of Sycamore township, was born October 24, 1822, in New York. His father was a shoemaker, and at an early date settled in Columbia, Hamilton county, Ohio. From here the family removed to Cairo, Illinois, and from there to Vevay, Indiana, thence to Evansville, Indiana, where the 'father died, in 1819, and the mother in 1822. They left an orphan. Mr. Brown went to live with his uncle, Lloyd Smethurst, near Montgomery, Hamilton county, Ohio. He learned tinsmithing, and,.after two years spent .at his trade, entered a store in Montgomery, where he remained until 1840, and embarked in business for himself in the same place, and, with the exception of one year in Cincinnati, remained in Montgomery until 1846, when he moved to Lockland, where he bought an interest in the Turnpike company (Cincinnati and Xenia), and was elected its secretary and treasurer, and has been devoted to the settling of estates and to the insurance business. In 1875 he was elected to the Ohio legislature, and became an honored and useful member of that body. On October 1, 1840, he married Margaret A. Weaver, a native of Virginia. In 1879,>after living a prominent member of society, he died.

Wesley Smizer, M. D., was born in Clermont county, Ohio, February 28, 1828. He was the youngest son of seven children. His father, Phillip Smizer, was-a farmer, engaging extensively in agricultural pursuits in Maryland. He was an early settler in Clermont county, and died there in 1839. His mother, Mary Carmon, was a native of Ohio, and died there in 1870. Wesley Smizer, although raised a farmer, received a liberal education, and in 1849 began the study of medicine, under Henry Smizer, of Waynesville, Ohio, graduating, after a period of study of three years, in 1852. He first practiced in eight months he was obliged to return to Waynesville, where he remained for three years. He attended a course of lectures at the Cincinnati Eclectic college, and graduated from that institution in 1856, and immediately afterwards went to Sharonville, where he has practiced his profession ever since, and has been successful in securing a large practice. He was married to Elizabeth Hook, a native of Hamilton county, in 1858. Her father, William Hook, was a prominent 'resident, and a successful farmer of that place.

Libues Marshall, a well-known fire insurance agent of Sharonville, was formerly in the saddlery and harness business, which trade he learned when he was seventeen years of age; but in 1867 he took an agency for the Etna insurance company, and has continued in the business ever since, having at this time the agency for several companies. His father was a citizen of Reading. During the War of 1812 he was a stone-mason on the forts then erected. Libues was born in Reading, Hamilton county, December 16, 1816. In 1838 he married

Miss Belinda Voorhees. She died March 4, 1877. Of this marriage but one child survives, now married and living in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Marshall has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1842, of which he is trustee, steward, and class-leader.

H. I. Kessling, of Reading, was a native of Germany, born in Hanover, of that country, in 1821. Hecame to Cincinnati in 1849. His father was a good scholar and prominent man, being the mayor of the district court in Furstenan. Mr. Kessling is a well-known baker of Cincinnati, where he operated on the corner of Clinton and Linn streets in that business for over twenty years, and still carries on that enterprise in the person of his son, who is a young man of some ability and fitness for the business. Mr. Kessling came to Redding in 1866, and bought some valuable preperty, intending to start a coal and lumber yard; but the advent of the Short Line railroad changed his intentions, and he has since kept a wine-room,

April 7, 1809. His father, Jonathan, was a farmer, and had served a regular apprenticeship, and afterwards carried on the business in a successful and scientific manner. His grandfather, whose name also was Jonathan, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was born in 1757. Jonathan, jr, was born in 1776, and removed to Ohio in 1817. Mr. Lawrence served an apprenticeship in the tanning business, and worked in Deer Creek, on the old Hunt tan-yard, for four years. came to Reading and followed his business until 1869, when he sold out, having during that time made considerable money. He is now enjoying a retired life. In 1840 he was married to Laura Foster, daughter of Judge Foster, with whom he lived twenty-five years. he married Mrs. Woodruff, zee Cortlewan, granddaughter of Abram Voorhees, and by her has _ two children living. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are comfortably fixed in cosy quarters, and are highly cultivated people.

Harvey Voorhees, who lives on the same farm his father, Garret Voorhees, moved upon in 1794, was born on this place, near Reading, August 22, 1819. His grandfather, Abram Voorhees, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, September 16, 1733, and emigrated to Hamilton county about the year 1793. Garret, his son, born June 9, 1763, moved from New Jersey to Hamilton county in 1791, coming down the river ina flat-boat, and landed at the fort in Columbia, and from there the family, after the war closed, settled upon section thirty-three, in a station-house - -Garret moving to where Harvey now lives in 1794. Garret Voorhees died December 14, 1861. The family experienced a series of hardships common to the settlers of Indian times. Harvey Voorhees was never married.

in Reading, is a grandson of Abram Voorhees, the early pioneer, who settled on section thirty-three, Sycamore township, about the year 1794. Jacob Voorhees, sr., father of the subject of our sketch, was a public spirited citizen, and was a colonel at one time in the army. His son, Jacob Voorhees, was born and reared in Cincinnati, where he learned and followed the trade of carriagemaking until about the year 1855, when he came to Reading, and has since that time lived a public life, filling the various offices of assessor, justice of the peace, etc., for several years. Mr. Voorhees is a prominent man and a highly esteemed citizen of his town and township.

John Cooper, of Sycamore township, was born in Mill Creek in 1820. In 1832 his father moved to Reading, and in 1853 moved to the farm upon which he now lives. In 1847 he married Miss Oliver, who is now dead. His grandfather came to Cincinnati in 1793, following in the wake of Wayne's army. He was also a spy in the Revolutionary war. His son Thomas, father of John, by his third wife, married Hannah Storrs, sister of Judge Storrs, about the year 1811, and by her had ten children. He was a prominent man in his time, having been a

| surveyor of the county; also served as county commissioner for fourteen years. In 1831 he purchased three hundred acres of ground near Reading, part of which John now owns. Mr. Cooper is and ever has been a public spirited-citizen of his county. He has filled positions of trust on the board of public works and has been

Peter Jacob, of Reading, came from France. Was a stone-cutter by trade, and is the oldest saloonist in Reading, having been in that business in that place for thirtyfive years, and in which he has made considerable money. He served one term as mayor of the town, and has been sixteen years member of the village council, and has also filled the office of street commissioner. He had a son - now dead - who served in the war, and was also marshal of the town. Mr. Jacob.owns some valuable property in the town of Reading.

H. Ihlendorf, of Reading, proprietor of the livery stables of that place, was born in Germany in 1848. His father was a prominent man of his place, and knowing the advantages of a good education sent him to college, where he became conversant with the ancient and modern languages. In 1870 he came to Cincinnati and took a course of instruction in St. Joseph's college, in the study of the English language, and was offered a position as teacher, but, preferring business to a sedentary life, came to Reading, where he first started the dairy business, but changed soon after for a livery and undertaking enterprise. He was married in 1874 to Miss Carrie Goeke, and by her has four children.

Appendix Manufacturing Statistics Of 1880, For Hamilton

The following statistical statement, from the returns made for the tenth census, should be read in connection with Chapter X, on the progress of Hamilton county: MANUFACTURING STATISTICS OF 1880, FOR HAMILTON

County, Exclusive Of Cincinnati

Joun Fitson. - Since the printing of the sheet containing a notice of Filson, in Chapter V, of this volume, we have found the following remark in the second edition of Collins' History of Kentucky, volume I, page 640:

A memorandum left by his brother says he was killed by an Indian on the west side of the Ohio, October 1, 1788, about five miles from the Great Miami river, and twenty or twenty-five from the Ohio - a few miles Rorthwest of Glendale, Hamilton county, Ohio.

[The possessor of this work is recommended to pass through it with pen or pencil, and correct it according to the memoranda below and the errata prefixed to the second volume. It will heighten the pleasure of subsequent reading, and prevent some misconceptions of the text. |

Page 12 - Sixth line, for '' Little," read ''Great." In the list of post offices, for '' Banesburgh," read "' Barnesburgly," for '' Newton," read " Newtown; for '' Pleasan Ridge," ''Pleasant Ridge;" for '' Shannville," '' Sharonville;" and insertan asterisk after '' Walnut Hills," and a comma before the same.

Page 29 - Read the latter part of the sentence just before the middle of first column thus: ' Their system of signals placed on lofty summits, visible from their settlements, and communicating with the great water courses at immense distances, rival the signal systems in use at the bevinning of the present century."

Page 45- -Second column, twenty-third line, for "four,"' read ''three." First column, thirty-fourth line, for "Green township," read ' 'Springfield township, excepting the north tier of sections, which belong to another surveyed township.'' The statement in the text is that usually made in regard to the College township. It is, however, certainly wrong. In the Reply, published in Cincinnati in 1803, to Judge Symmes' appeal to the committee of Congress to accept the second township, in the second fractional range (now Green), as the College township, the ''proprietors," after citing the familiar clause in Symmes' '' terms of sale and settlement,"' promising the reservation, foracademic purposes, of the entire section nearest the point opposite the mouth of the Licking, say: ''Agreeably to this provision, the third townshipof the first entire range on Mill creek, was set apart and designated on the map of the purchase by Mr. Symmes as the College township, so early as the year 1789, and for a considerable time after he refused selling it." This statement is confirmed by an appended extract 'from the journal of the Territorial legislature, held in Cincinnati in 1799. The township described is now, of course, identified as six-sevenths of Springfield township. Green was never the College township, except in the desire and intention of Judge Symmes, who vainly, and through several years, tried to secure its acceptance as such by the Territorial, State, or Federal authorities. The writer is very happy to be able thus to settle one of the yexed problems of local history.

Page 78 - First column, seventeenth line from the bottom, for "' arrived," read ''armed;" second column, twenty-fourth line, for ''which," read '' what,"

Page 83 - Second column, thirty-first line, for ' Colonel,"' read '«Colonels;" next line, for ''A. M. Mitchell," read '"©O. M. Mitchel; sixth line from the bottom, for '' many," read ''several."

'Page 113 - Twenty-second line, for '' Mori," read ' Moor." First column, sixteenth and fifteenth lines from the bottom, for '' centre - charge," read '' counter-charge."

Page 120 - First column, fourteenth and twenty-fifth lines from tue bottom, for '' Lewell," read '' Sewell;" tenth line, for ""twenty-seventh,' read ''forty-seventh;" second column, twenty-first line from the bottom, for ''star," read '' southern."

Page r95 - -Sixteenth line, for '' with them," read ''them to with," similarly correct fourth line, second column, page 196; foot note, for "thousand," read '' business;'' second column, sixteenth line, for " Sunmanville,"' read '' Summansville."

Page 199 - First column, sixth line from the bottom, for ''Remkle," read ''Runkle;"" second column, twelfth and sixteenth lines from the bottom, and in several places thereafter, for 'Brubeck,' read '' Burbeck."

Page 214 - Second column, fifteenth line from the bottom, for ''million," read "hundred thousand;" thirteenth line, for ''forty," read "forty-two;" twelfth line, strike out ''two hundred;"' eleventh line, for "fifty," read ''fifty-eight;" tenth line, for ''one,"' read "'two,"and after ''cents,"' insert ''and $1,000,000 six per cents."

Page 255 - First column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for ''thrice,"' read ''twice;" second column, twenty-second line from the bottom, for ''first,"' read ''just."

Page 262 - Transfer the paragraph relating to the Morgan raid from Pleasant Run to Bevis; in the second line of the paragraph, for ''occupied,' read ''crossed."

Page 302 - First column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for ''townships," read ''sections;" second column, seventh line from the bottom, and last line, for ''Bondinot," read ''Boudinot' - also in three places upon the next page.

Page 312 - First column, thirteenth line from the bottom, for ''quarter,'' read ''corner;"" second column, thirteenth line from the bottom, for ''appropriately,'' read ''approximately."

Page 316 - First column, third line from the bottom, for ''Punny," "read ''Penny;'' second column, seventeenth line, for _''Lynne," read "Lyme."

Page 321 - Seventh line, for ''damned,'' read "'dammed;" twentyeighth line, for ''after," read ''often;" seventeenth line from the bottom, for ''Spata,"' read ''Sparta."'

Page 336 - Second line, for ''finally,'' read ''firmly;" enth line, in two cases, for ''Erchel," read ''Erckel."' twenty-seventh line, for ''Kember,"' read ''Kemper."

Page 343 - First column, eighth line from the bottom, for ''front," read ''feet."" Second column, twenty-fifth line, for ''Flamer," read "Flamen." :

Page 345 - Second column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for "Erkenbecker," read ''Erkenbrecker;" twenty-first line, for ''Faugman," read ''Fangman."

Page 346 - First column, twenty-second line from the bottom, for "fort," read ''forte. Second column, eighth line from the bottom, for "Carey," read ''Cary;" sixth line, for ''are," read ''were."

Page 35t - First column, eighth line from the bottom, for ''picture," read ''Picture." Second column, first line; for ''of,"' read '"'at;" twentysecond line trom the bottom, for ''horses,"' read ''houses."

Page 359 - Fifteenth line, for ''fuel," read ''food;" eighteenth line, for ''with," read ''is worth;" twenty-ninth line, for ''Langworth," read "Longworth;" thirty-eighth line, for ''1880," read ''1870.""

Page 363 - Twenty-seventh line, for ''McCasken," read ''Mc- Cashen;"'. twenty-third line from the bottom, for ''Lochland," read "Lockland." Second column, twelfth line, for ''the," read ''two."

Page 377 - Seventh line, for ''or," read ''as;"' 'first column, twentyninth line from the bottom, for ''Grauque," read "Giauque; thirtyfourth line, for ''Stenell,"'. read ''Sterrett."'

Page 378 - First line, after ''which," insert ''was;" sixth line, for "Mendham," read ''Windham;" 'first column, sixteenth line from the bottom, for ''leading,"' read "reading."

Page 379 - Second column, eighteenth line from the bottom, for "Baldwood," read 'Baldwin;" ninth line, for ''Cogg," read ''Gogy;" sixth line, after ''years," read '"'ago."'

Page 388 - Twenty-sixth line, for '"' considerable" read '' considerably;"' and for ''same," read "corresponding; 'second line, for "only," read "one; second column, twentieth line, for '' otherwise," read ''other ways;" 'seventh line from the bottom, for ''Shawn,"' read ""Sharon;" second line, for ''or,'' read hile' Poa

Page 393 - Fifteenth line, after "south," insert ''line of the township;" first column, twenty-fourth line from the bottom, for '' Vooheesetown," read '' Voorheesetown;" second column, eighth line, for ''and the," read ''another," nineteenth line from bottom, for "admission," read ''a division;" eighth line, for ""Cortelym," read ''Cortelyou."