Pioneer Life in Dayton and Vicinity, 1796-1840 ... Illustrated

Preface

. At the suggestion of a friend, I have undertaken to collect reminis cences of the early history of Dayton, including the names and personal history of the pioneers of the township and county previous to 1840, when Dayton assumed the proportions of a city, receiving her charter in 1841. So far as I can learn by careful inquiry, I am the only person living in Dayton whose father was here the first year of its settlement ( 1796 ), and having known personally some of the original settlers, — Granny Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. George Newcom, William Van Cleve, Jerome Holt, and others, — it seemed good for me, in the centennial year of the first surveying party ( 1895 ), to undertake this work, reviving mem ories of the heroic pioneers, the hardy men and women who braved the dangers of a new and unbroken wilderness.

When possible, I have endeavored to trace the history of each family down to the present day, not making mention of any whose connection with Dayton commenced after 1840. There are many whose history I was anxious to give, but could not do so, being unable to secure the necessary data. Others whom I would have been glad to mention, had their names been suggested to me, and without whom a history of Dayton is hardly complete, have unfortunately and unintentionally been overlooked in the work of writing a history of this kind. I can only say to them that it is a matter of great regret to me that such is the case. My idea has been that the people have made the town, and their individual history is the history of the town. I have been at great pains to look up all the oldi-r citizens in Dayton that I could hear of, as well as my own acquaintances; 1 have written many letters to people who once lived here, but are now resid ing elsewhere, and have made every endeavor to reach all who were in any way connected with the development and growth of our " Gem City."

Dayton is a city of homes. The people who came here have many of them married here, made their money here, spent it here, and died here. There has never been a bubble boom — inflated only to burst, leaving the town in a state of helpless depression. For assistance I am under obligations, first, to James C. Keber for T

PREFACE.

VI his kindly suggestion; also to John H. Patterson, Edward Brenneman, Wickliff Belville, Frank Bruen, Charles A. Stone, Mrs. Annie Lowe Rieman, Mrs. W. D. Bickham, Mrs. Anner Bacon Carroll, Mrs. Henrietta Dover Simpson, Prof. A. W. Drury, D.D., W. A. Shuey, and to many others, for valuable information and almost priceless documents freely entrusted to my care. For historical facts and data I am indebted to Curwen's "Sketch of the History of Dayton " ; " The History of Montgomery County " ; John Littell's Family Records, etc., of the Passaic Valley of New Jersey; " Western Address Directory," by W. G. Layford ; " Sketches of Pioneers of Southern Ohio," by Judge Barclay Harlan ; " Historical Collections of Ohio," by Henry Howe ; " History of Dayton, Ohio," published by the United Brethren Publishing House; Dr. Drake's "Cincinnati"; Kirch well's "Valley of Virginia"; Chase's Statutes; "Biographical Cyclopedia and Portrait Gallery of Ohio," edited by J. Fletcher Bre man; "Pennsylvania Genealogies," Egle; Stewart's "Memoirs of Vir ginia " ; early Dayton papers, court records, records of deeds, etc.

I wish also to acknowledge my obligation to my daughter, Elizabeth B. Edgar, without whose assistance this volume could not have been published, and to Miss Minta I. Dryden, librarian of the Dayton Public Library, and the assistant librarians, for their uniform courtesy and valuable aid. I have endeavored to be accurate as to dates, family names, etc., but, to quote from Henry Howe, " whoever expects to find this volume free from defects has but little acquaintance with the difficulties ever attend ant upon procuring such materials I must here close with the observation that I have passed the allotted age of human life, and, although in sound health, cannot expect for many more years to witness its mysterious, ever-varying changes." John F. Edoar. Dayton, Ohio, June 1, 1896. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Introductory

La Salle —Treaties with the Indians— General George Rogers Clark — Indian Hunting-ground — Gist — John Cleves Symmes's Purchase — Boundary Lines — No. 1 Miami Land Warrant — Surveyors — Major Stites — Venice — Death ol John Van Cleve — Fort Recovery — Battle of "Fallen Timbers"— General Wayne's Victory — Daniel C. Cooper and John Dunlap — —Spring of 1796 — Israel Ludlow and Party — Naming the Town— Copy of an Old Certificate, 13

Chapter II. The Settlement And The First Settlers

William Hamee — Birth of Dayton Hamer— Jonathan and Edward Mercer — George Newcom and Party — Samuel Thompson — Mary Van Cleve — The Pirogue — Arrival of the Party — The First House in Dayton— Agreement Between Colonel Newcom and Rohert Edgar — The Tavern— Official Positions — Thomas Davis — John Davis — First Death — William Chenoweth —John Dorough — Daniel Ferrell — James Morris — Solomon Goss — Abraham Grassmirc — John Van Cleve and Family — Benjamin Van Cleve — First Recorded Wedding — Obituary ut Mrs. Thompson- Mrs. McC-ttre — William Gahagan — Daniel C. Cooper— Headgates — Digging a Race — First Mill Started — Article of Agreement — Mrs. Sophia Greene Burnett— First Colored Person — New Plat of Dayton — Transfers of Property — Governor Melgs's Order — Robert Edgar — The (iuarry — Mrs. George's Death — Biographical Sketches, 22 CHAPTER in.

DAYTON TOWNSHIP FORMED. Dayton Township— Boundary Line— James Brady -Tax on Single Men — —Andrew Lock — Blockhouse — Officers of the Town — Location of the First Settlers— General Brown — Original TopogTaphy — Household Furniture— Nuggins— David Lowry's Trips to New Orleans — Ebenezer Wead — John Stewart Wead— John Miller— George Adams— Blockhouse — Dr. CONTENTS VIII 48 77 John Hole — Hole's Station— Jerome Holt— Census— State of Ohio—Wil liam King — Rates of Ferriage — William Ruffin — Five Families in 1802 — Philip Wagner — John Bradford — Daniel Miller— John H. Williams- James Lockhart Williams — Harbert S. Williams — James Bracy Oliver — John Neff— Henry Leatherman— Gilbert Kennedy — Isaac Spining— Commission of Governor Edward Tiffin — Charles Spining — John Whit ten Van Cleve— Woodland Cemetery— Bachelor's Alley, -

Chapter IV. Montgomery Separated From Hamilton County

Local Officers— Order Issued by the Court— Montgomery County Formed — County-seat — First Election — Second Election —Sheriff— Contract for New Jail — Prisoners Escape — First Term of Court — New Court-house- Furniture of Court and Jury Rooms — Curwen's Description — First Appearance Docket — Letters of Administration — Third Term of Court — Grand Jury — Court Docket — Colonel Robert Patterson — Luther Bruen — David H. Bruen — Luther Barnett Bruen — Henry Brown — Female Charitable and Bible Society — Robert Patterson Brown — Henry' L. Brown — Judge A. Barr Irwin — Captain Hugh Andrews — Nathan Worley — Joseph H. Crane — Joseph G. Crane — Mathias Deunison — Jefferson Patterson — David McConnaughey — John C. McConnaughey — Aaron Baker — David C. Baker — Philip Gunckel — Lewis B. Gunckel —John Martin Shuey — Martin Shuey — Adam Shuey — Rev. William J. Shuey, -

Chapter V. The Town Of Dayton Incorporated

Act of Legislature — Town of Dayton — Meetings of Council — Charter — Flood of 1805 — Licenses — Ferries — Colonel John Grirnes's Tavern — Taylor Street Bridge — Alexander Grimes — Colonel David Reid — Daniel Riser's Tavern — General Fielding Loury — John Howard — Fielding Loury, Jr. — David Squier — Timothy Squier — Matilda Owens — William Roth — Matthew Patton — Joseph Peirce — Jeremiah Hunt Peirce— Joseph Crane Peirce — Horatio Gates Phillips — Dayton Hydraulic Company — Jonathan Dickinson Phillips — John G. Lowe — George S. Houston — Charles Russell Greene — John Rench — Jonathan Harshman — Jacob S. Brenner— William George — Sarah George — First Sunday-School Superintendent—William Bomberger— William G. George — Augustus George — Abraham Darst — William Eaker— George W. Smith— George Umbaugh— Henry Butt — Peter Lehman — DavidLehman — Samuel Boogher — Daniel G. Boogher — Jesse Boogher — Lewis Kemp — George W. Kemp — John Folkerth — Justice of the Peace — Russel Folkerth — John Bonner — George Fryberger — Valentine Fryberger — James Steele — First Opera-house — Robert W. Steele — A Few Important Changes — Roads Opened —Repertory — Paul Butler — Henry Disbrow — First Carding-machine— Weaving Establishment — James Hanna — Peter Bellaw — A Manufacturing Town — Secret Society — First County Convention — Mail Route— Postage — List of Postmasters — 1809— Three Physicians — Rev. James Welsh, M.D. — List of Medicines — Dr. P. Wood — First Drug-store — Service at the Court-house — Repertory Discontinued— Ohio Centinel — CONTENTS IX Oluo Republican- Fourth os July Celebration -Census for 1810-Town Election -Sidewalks Made-Two Tickets -Names of Suburbs-Standard Half-bushel — State Corduroy Road — Dr. Este— Earthquake Shocks- David Llndsley-John Perrine -James Perrine -Stephen Johnston - 106

Chapter VI. The War Of

1812. Enrollment — James Madison — President's Call— General Munger— Dayton the Headquarters — First Companies to Arrive — Governor Meigs's Arrival -General Hull -Camp Meigs-Hull's Surrender-Seventy Brave Men-Governor Meigs's Order-Wagon Boy of Ohio-Shirts Made by the Ladies-First Recruiting Office-Peace Declared -Population Increased- Current Prices -Charles Tull-Eddy Fairchlld- Henderson & Elliott— Rolling-pins, 156

Chapter VII. Dayton To

1840. John Ensey — Alexander McConnell — Benjamin Kiser — Daniel Kiser— Henry Diehl — John Rouzer— John Compton — Thomas Cottom — Leven Cottom — William Tyler — James Grimes- William Huffman — William P. Huffman — Sam uel Shoup— Joel Ohio Shoup — Samuel Tate — Mary A. Darst — Obadiah Burlow Conover— Temperance (Question — Harvey Conover— Wilbur Conover— Obadiah M. Conover — Hiram Strong — Collins Wight — The Dayton Manufacturing Company — Directors — New Charter — The Dayton Branch of the State Bank — Directors — Dayton National Bank — Directors — Workingmen's Association — Bible Society — Second Flood — Dr. A. Coleman — Revenue of the County — New Courthouse- Social Societies — First Market-house — Market bouse Moved — Moses Stout — David Stout — Moses Simpson — Robert Strain —Daniel Stutsman — John Grove Stutsman — First to Do Gas-fitting — Jonathan Stutsman — Robert McReynolds — Thomas Morrison— Shinplasters — David H. Morrison—Thomas G. Carpenter — Silas Broadwell — Ephraim Broadwell — David Heck — Henry Stoddard — George B. Holt — Dr. William Blodget — Dr. Job Haines — Samuel Forrer— James H. Mitchell — John Bimm — Robert J. Skinner— Ohio Watchman — Bridge Across Mad River — Ferries- Bridge Company Incorporated — Toll-house — First Stage Line— First Show — First Circus — Elisha Brabham— Cut Money — Lewis Hamblin Brown — Bible Society Formed — Cooper's Mills Burned— Fire Department—First Fire-wardens— The Gridiron — Thespian Society, - - - 162

Chapter VIII. Dayton To 1840 — Continued

Location of the Canal — First Canal-boat Built, Alpha — Suppers and Toasts — First Steam Packet, Enterprise — Aqueducts — Cost of Canal — Census in 1820-30— Two Newspapers — Jepbthah Regans — Richard N. Comly — Dayton Journal— Major W. D. Bickham — Log Cabin— Flood of 1828— First X CONTENTS 19! 242 Book Published — John Dodson — Augustus George — Dayton Temperance Society— Extracts from a Letter — Lovell Bebee— Emson Brown — Under ground Railway— James F. Thompson — Gorton Arnold — John W. Dry den—Andrew Wiggim — James Dodds — John Engle— Rev. Thomas Winters — Rev. David Winters— Valentine Winters— Thomas Clegg — —Exhibition of Gas — William Westerman— Peter Perlee Lowe — Edward W. Davies — Andrew Gump — Edward Weakley — Dayton Evening Herald — Henry Herrman— Charles Soule — Benjamin Wicks Mead — Peter Light —David Stone — William B. Stone — John Belville— Dr. Hibbard Jew ett—John W. Harries — David Altick — Gideon Beall— Joseph Weston- Frederick Boyer — Thomas J. S. Smith — John Bidleman— Thomas Brown— James Findlay Schenck — Robert C. Schenck — Dr. John Boyd Craighead — Daniel W. Iddings— Joseph Barnett — Harrison Convention — Hezekiah Loomis— James Decatur Loomis —Peter Post Conover — Peter Odlin— Eliam E. Barney — Augustin King— Colonel Edward King- James Greer— Christopher Thompson — Frederick Gebhart— Hiram Wyatt — John Achey — David Laymon — William Hoff — Francis Ohmer — William Dickey — Horace Pease — William Clark — Beniah Tharp — Jacob Sturr — Thomas Mathison — Miss Maria Boyd — Charter Amended — Locomotive Exhibition — Morris Seely — Philip Keifer — Alexander Swaynie— The National Hotel — Calvin Francisco — Cholera— Flood of 1832 — David Zeigler Cooper — Wild-cat Currency — Dayton Philharmonic Society — Joseph Wheeler — Colored People Mobbed — National Road — Dam Across Mad River — Race Dug by the Soldiers of 1812 — Original Map — The Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company— First Locomo tive, "Seneca"— Census of 1796 and 1896— Retrospect, -

CHAPTER LX. CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND LIBRARIES.

Beaver Creek — Shakers — Presbyterians — First Meeting-house— Burying Ground — First Sunday School — Methodists— First Minister— Camp-meeting of 1819 — First Town Clock — Baptist Church — Christ Episcopal Church — New Light Society — German Reformed Church — First United Brethren Church — United Brethren Publishing House -First English Lutheran Church -First Catholic Priest — The African Methodist Episcopal Church — First and Second Schools — Dayton Academy — Manual-labor School -Public-school Tax — The Old Eastern School— Central High School— Dayton Library Association — Dayton Lyceum — The Mechanics' Institute - The Adelphic Society — Public School Library, - ILLUSTRATIONS. John F. Edgar, - - Frontispiece Opposite Page First House in Dayton, ........ 24 General Wayne's Ice House at Greenville, Ohio, - - - - 25 Couet-house in 1858, --.-..... 80 Main Street, Looking North from Below Third Street, 81 First Presbyterian Meeting-house in 1804, ----- 144 First Presbyterian Church in 1896, ------- 145 Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Sc^uier, .--.--- 160 The Henderson & Elliott Shop, ------- 161 ("anal-boat, ---------- 200 Old Hay Market, 201 Thomas Morrison's Shinplasters, ------- 234, 235 Original Map, Showing Change in Bed of Mad River, Etc, - Page 238 Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, ...... 246 First Colored Methodist Episcopal CnuRCH in 1840, - - - - 247 Old Eastern School, --------- 252 Steele High School, --.--.'--- 252 Dayton Public Library and Cooper Park, ----- 253 Shinplaster of Vincennes Bank of Indiana, - - - - - 254 Map of Dayton, -.....--.. 255

Chapter I. Introductory

In 1669 La Salle, a Frenchman, discovered the Ohio River, and the French consequently claimed all the territory watered by it and its tributaries as belonging to France. The English resisted, claiming that the discovery of the Atlantic coast gave them the possession of the whole con tinent, and, to strengthen their claim, in 1664 made treaties with the Iroquois Indians of the Six Nations for the purchase of all their lands, for which they received legally executed deeds. Seventeen years later a treaty of peace was signed between the Iroquois and French, which ena bled the latter to keep possession of the Great Lakes. In 1726 the English made another treaty, which they claimed confirmed the treaty of 1664, and eighteen years later, in 1744, made another treaty at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by which they purchased the Ohio basin for four hundred pounds (twenty thousand dollars).

This treaty was con firmed at a village called Logstown, in Pennsylvania, in 1752. At the close of the War of the Revolution, by the treaty of Versailles, which secured the independence of the United States, Great Britain relinquished her claim to the Ohio Valley. From 1752 the Indians were complete masters of all the Northwest Territory. They made frequent raids into Ken tucky and West Virginia. In 1780 General George Rogers Clark led an expedition of Kentuckians to Ohio. One of the officers who held command under him was Captain Robert Patterson, one of the founders of Lexington, Kentucky, and of Cincin nati, Ohio, — the father of Colonel Jefferson Patterson. This expedition was successful, defeating the Shawnees at their town of old Piqua, west of Springfield, Ohio, where it is said the great chief Tecumseh was born. .

In the fall of 1782 the Indians were so troublesome that General Clark raised one thousand Kentuckians, and led a second expedition into the Indian country, Colonel Patter son accompanying the expedition. They saw no Indians and were not molested until they reached the mouth of Mad River, where, on November 9 of that year ( 1782 ), they had the first skirmish on the site of Dayton, in which the Ken tuckians were victorious. In 1786, the Indians still being troublesome, Colonel Logan, of Kentucky, raised another force, Colonel Robert Patterson having command of one brigade. This expedition was also successful. Among the Indians taken captive was a lad whom Colonel Logan took to his Kentucky home, and to whom he became much attached. The boy took the name of Logan, and was for life a strong friend of the whites.

After a few years he was allowed to return to his tribe, and became the friendly Shawnee chief Logan. He was mortally wounded in the War of 1812, while in com mand of a detachment under General Harrison against some Indian allies of the British. On returning from the expedition in 1786, Colonel Logan encountered a party of Indians in camp at the mouth of Mad INTRODUCTORY 15 River, Tecumseh, then about fourteen years of age, being with them. After a slight skirmish, the Indians were driven up Mad River, the whites thus gaining the second victory on the site of Dayton. The party remained here for two or three days, examining the land with a view to settlement. In 1784 Virginia, claiming the territory northwest of the Ohio by purchase from the Indians, ceded it to the United States. Tradition says that the land bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the east and west by the two Miamis, and by Mad River on the north, was reserved by all the Indian tribes as a hunting-ground.

It was the home of all kinds of game, — bear, deer, elk, panthers, wolves, wild turkeys, birds, and fish, — and it is probable that no wigwam was ever erected here. The Indian villages were numerous west of the Great Miami and east of the Little Miami. The Indians claiming this Miami Valley were called the Miami tribes. The word Miami means, in the Indian language, "mother." The Miamis belonged to the Algonquin tribe, and came here from Michigan. They were noted for their intelligence and force of character, and were at the head of a powerful confederacy. Their principal village was near Piqua, Ohio. In 1751, when Gist, the agent of the Virginians who formed the Ohio Land Company, visited this valley, he wrote: "The land upon the Great Miami River is very rich, level, and well timbered, some of the finest meadows that can be.

The grass here grows to a great height on the clear fields, of which there are a great number, and the bottoms are full of white clover, wild rye, and blue grass." In his account of his visit to the Indian village near Piqua, he says: "It is accounted one of the strong est Indian towns upon this part of the continent. The Twightwees [or Miamis] are a very numerous people, consisting of many different tribes under the same form of government." The remnants of the Miami tribes are now domesticated and living on farms in Miami County, near Peru, Indiana. In the winter of 1786 Mr. Benjamin Stites, of Red Stone, Pennsylvania, on the Monongahela, having been to the mouth of Mad River, probably with General Clark, and being impressed with the fertility of the soil and beauty of location, went to New York with the intention of purchasing from Congress a tract of land on the Great Miami River.

On becoming acquainted with John Cleves Symmes, then a member of Congress from New Jersey, he repre sented to him the character of the Miami Valley, and solicited his influence and cooperation in effecting the purchase. Mr. Symmes preferred having some personal knowledge of the country before he would engage in the enterprise, and accordingly crossed the mountains and descended the Ohio River as far as Louisville, Kentucky. In July, 1787, Congress authorized the sale of lands in the Northwest Territory in tracts of not less than one million acres, and John Cleves Symmes made application on August 29, 1787, in his own name, for the purchase of the lands (the consideration being sixty-six cents per acre) lying within the following limits : "Beginning at the mouth of the Big Miami River, thence running up the Ohio to the mouth of the Little Miami, thence up the main stream of the Little Miami River to the place where a line to be continued due west from the western termination of the northern boundary line of the grant to Messrs. Sargent, Cutler & Company shall intersect the said Little Miami River, thence due west, continuing the said northern line, to the place where the said line shall intersect the main branch or stream of the Big Miami River, thence down the Big Miami River to the place of beginning."

INTRODUCTORY 17 Mr. Symmes must have felt confident that there would be no check in his negotiations for these lands, as on the 26th of the following November he issued a manifesto announcing his purchase and a plan for colonization. The next month the first land warrant was issued, as follows : "No. 1, Miami Land Warrant. "[Seal.] This entitles Benjamin Stites, his heirs, or as signs, to locate one section, in which the fee of six hundred and forty acres shall pass, subject to the terms of settlement. "December 17, 1787. (Signed,) "John Cleves Symmes. (Countersigned,) "Benjamin Stites." On the warrant is found the following note : "Speshel. — At the point betwixt the mouth of the Little Miami and the Ohio, in the pint." The Treasury commissioners, however, denied having made a contract with Judge Symmes, and were disposed to repudiate his claim.

In the meantime Mr. Symmes, in July, 1788, had started west with a colony of sixty persons in fourteen four-horse wagons, arriving at Pittsburg on August 20. After a short stay there and at Marietta, they went on to Limestone, Kentucky. Judge Symmes, being anxious to know more of the Miami country, in 1788 organized two companies of surveyors, with Captain John Dunlap and Major Benjamin Stites in command, who explored the valley from the mouth of the Great Miami to Honey Creek. Major Stites, remembering former impressions of the land around the mouth of Mad River, commenced negotiations for its purchase, and suc ceeded in interesting others in his purpose to locate a colony at that point. On June 13, 1789, he purchased of Mr. Symmes, for John Stites Gano, William Goforth, and himself, the whole of the seventh range of lands, for which they were to pay eighty-three cents per acre, and at once commenced plans for a town, to be called Venice.

One of the stipulations was that a road should be opened to the mouth of the Tiber (Mad River). The town was to be laid off in squares, each square to contain eight half-acre lots. The streets were to cross at right angles. At the center of the town spaces were to be left at each of the four quarters for market-house and public square. One square was to be given to the first Baptist church in the town, and "each denomination of pious and religiously disposed people, who worship the God of Israel, formed in the town within two years after the founding of the settlement" was to receive one half-acre lot. Three half acre lots were to be given for "a capitol, a court-house, and a gaol." Half-acre lots were to be sold for four dollars each. The articles of agreement for the above were signed at the blockhouse, near Columbia, commanded by Major Stites, on June 13, 1789; but owing to Indian troubles and Mr. Symmes's failure to meet his obligations to the Government, the scheme fell through.

The last surveying party previous to Wayne's treaty at Greenville, August 20, 1795, was sent to the Miami country on August 7, 1789. It consisted of Mr. Matthews, a sur veyor, with four assistants and a guard of seven soldiers. While eating breakfast one morning they were fired upon by Indians in ambush, a bullet passing through the bosom of Mr. Matthews's shirt, just grazing the skin. As the men rose to their feet the forest seemed to be filled with savages; another volley was poured upon them, and six of the soldiers fell dead. Out of the party of twelve six only remained, and they returned at once to Cincinnati. In 1790 and 1791 numerous parties of Indians were INTRODUCTORY organized for raids on the frontier settlements at Marys ville, Cincinnati, etc., the mouth of Mad River being their principal and' favorite rendezvous.

They were constantly skulking around Cincinnati, watching for an opportunity to kill or steal. It was in one of these raids that John Van Cleve, grandfather of our deceased fellow-citizen, John W. Van Cleve, was killed at Cincinnati. In the spring of 1793 it was felt that a decided effort must be made to conquer the Indians, and General Wayne was made commander-in-chief of the Western army — about three thousand six hundred men. On Christmas day, 1793, a detachment of this army encamped on the ground made memorable by St. Clair's defeat. A reward was offered for every human skull found, and over six hundred were gathered by the soldiers. A fort was built on this ground, appropriately called Fort Recovery. Early in 1794 General Wayne, hoping to avoid the terrors of Indian warfare, sent three men acquainted with the sav ages, — Freeman, Trueman, and Hardin, — to make overtures of peace to the Indians, but they were most inhumanly murdered.

From this time on General Wayne was busily employed preparing for an engagement, until on August 20, 1794, he met the British, Spanish, and Indians com bined, on the banks of the Maumee, in the battle of "Fallen Timbers," and succeeded in putting the entire army to rout. This was certainly a victory over the British and Spanish, who had joined with the Indians hoping to crush out General Wayne. The British, for the sake of trade, refused to give up their forts south of the Great Lakes until 1796, and continued to supply the Indians who fought against St. Clair and Wayne with provisions, muskets, cannon, and ammunition, and frequently numbers of painted Canadians accompanied the Indians to the battle-field. The evil influence of the British did not cease until after the War of 1812. After General Wayne's victory on the Maumee and the treaty of Greenville, August 20, 1795, which had a decided influence on the settlement of Dayton, General Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, afterwards United States Senator from that State, General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, General James Wilkinson, of Wayne's army, and Colonel Israel Ludlow, of Morris ** County, New Jersey, contracted with Johu Cleves Symmes for the purchase of the seventh and eighth ranges between the Miami rivers.

They employed Daniel C. Cooper, a surveyor, to be their agent. On September 21, 1795, two surveying parties started from Cincinnati, one in charge of Daniel C. Cooper, and the other under John Dunlap. The first night they camped at Voorhees's Station, nine miles out of Cincinnati, and the next morning separated. Benjamin Van Cleve accompanied the Dunlap party, to "run the boundaries of the seventh and eighth ranges between the Miami rivers." After being out for five or six days, their packhorse was stolen by the Indians durin" the night, and they were compelled to carry all their luggage to the mouth of Mad River, which they reached on Sunday, the 27th. Mr. Cooper's party, consisting of two chain-carriers, — Jerome Holt and Robert Edgar, — one man with an ax, and a hunter, who was also cook ( whose names I cannot recall), was "to locate and mark a road, partially cutting out the underbrush, from Fort Hamilton up the east bank of the Miami River to the mouth of Mad River."

I have often heard my father say that the road then laid out is practically the present Cincinnati road throuo-h Miamisburg and Middletown. This party reached camp on one day, and started on their return trip the next INTRODUCTORY morning. In the spring of 1796 three of the party — Cooper, Edgar, and Holt — came to Dayton and made it their permanent home. Dunlap, with his party, consisting of Benjamin Van Cleve, William Gahagan, David Lowry, Jonathan Mercer, and Jonathan Donnell, remained survey ing in the neighborhood for several days, and reached Cincinnati on the 6th of October. On November 1 Israel Ludlow accompanied a surveying party to the mouth of Mad River, and on Wednesday, November 4, 1795, laid out the town, calling it Dayton in honor of Jonathan Dayton, one of the proprietors. Cur wen says the town was divided "into two hundred and eighty inlots. one hundred feet front by two hundred feet deep, and fifty ten-acre outlots, which lay south of Third Street and east of St. Clair Street."

The next day those of the party who expected to settle here drew lots for location, and acted as proxy in drawing for others who expected to locate here in the spring, the proprietors giving to each bona-fide settler one inlot and one outlot, provided they would clear and fence the same. Judge Symmes had made this agreement, which on his part was not fulfilled. The following is a copy of one of his certificates: "This will certify that Robert Edgar has complyed with the conditions of settlement in the town of Dayton and is entitled to receive a deed for the following lots so soon as the Honorable John C. Symmes shall obtain a patent from Congress, including the premises, viz. : Town lot numbered on the plat of said town Thirty-two, and ten-acre outlot number Five. "For the proprietor, "D. C. Cooper.