MONTGOMERY COUNTY—Continued

 

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than nineteen of these associations, some of them with large capital, are doing a prosperous business. These associations have contributed largely to the prosperity of the city, and have enabled hundreds of working men to secure homes who probably otherwise would have never attained that desirable end. Dayton is noted for the large number of laborers who own their homes.

 

No greater boon can be conferred on a city than an abundant supply of pure, cold water. Dayton in this respect is fortunate. By a system of drive-wells, so deep as to be beyond the reach of contamination, an inexhaustible supply of water has been obtained which chemical analysis has shown to be free from all impurities. Holly steam-pumps force this water to every part of the city. By attaching hose to fire-plugs located at the street corners, water may be thrown over the highest buildings. This, in connection with q non-partisan and most efficient fire department, makes Dayton practically exempt from disastrous fires.

 

Dayton has superior street railway facilities, seven lines, two of which are electric. These roads run over twenty-seven and one-half miles of double track, or fifty-five miles of single track.

 

THE SOLDIERS’ HOME.

 

The National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was originated April 21, 1866, from a joint resolution of the two houses of Congress. A board of managers was appointed of nine citizens of the United States, not members of Congress, no two of whom should be residents of the same State, nor residents of any State other than those which furnished organized bodies in the late war. The ex officio members of the board, during their terms of office, are the President of the United States, the Secretary of War and the Chief Justice. This board was vested with authority to establish besides a Central Home for the Middle States, sectional branches thereto, in view of the wide extent of territory to be represented by the just claimants of such a benefice.

 

In the following November, 1866, the EASTERN BRANCH was opened near Augusta, Maine, and in the course of the succeeding year the CENTRAL BRANCH, near Dayton, Ohio, and the NORTHWESTERN BRANCH, near Milwaukee. Three years later the SOUTHERN BRANCH was founded at Hampton, near Fortress Monroe, Virginia. This was established from the increasing number of beneficiaries and the necessity felt for a milder climate for a certain class of diseases. By an act of Congress, passed in 1884, another branch was established, the WESTERN BRANCH, located at Leavenworth, Kansas. This partly grew out of a clause in that act, which directs the admission to the Home “of all United States soldiers of any war who are incapable of earning a living, whether the in­capacity resulted from their service or not”

 

The SOLDIERS’ HOME at Dayton, the Central Branch, is by far the largest and most important branch in point of numbers. The citizens contributed $20,000 towards its establishment. Its land area is 627 acres-nearly that of a mile square. Its location is three miles west of the court-house in Dayton, on the gentle bounding slopes of the great Miami valley, which is here some five or six miles wide. It is a unique place; a small city mainly of gray bearded men, few women, and no children, excepting those of the families of the officers.It is a spot of great beauty, from its location, its fine buildings, its green-houses, flower beds, and for the display of the triumphs of landscape gardening. These fea tures render it a great place of attraction in summer for visitors, who come by thousands in excursion trains from all parts of Ohio and the adjacent States of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, etc. The other Branches have like attractions in the way of landscape adornments with pleasant walks and drives, and whatever contributes to the comfort of the veterans, and are like places of resort for the public. The visitors at the Dayton Home number annually over 100,000.

 

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Avenue” and the other the T. D. & B.—the first entering from the east side and the last from the north. On reaching the Home the visitor alights at a handsome depot. Near it is a fine hotel for the accommodation of visitors, and in close view a large open space, where is a flag-staff with the American flag unfurled, waving, over siege guns and mortars, with pyramids of shot and a battery in position as in battle.

 

Standing almost in front is the Headquarters’ Building, an imposing brick structure, 130 by 41 feet, three stories in height. The first story is used for the offices, the governor—at this Writing, 1891 Col. J. B. THOMAS, the treasurer and secretary. The second and third stories are used for a library and reading-room is 104 by 41 and 19 feet from floor to ceiling, lighted by ten windows each on the north and south sides, making it light, airy and cheerful; at night it is lighted brilliantly by a cone reflector.

 

This room contains the noted “Putnam Library,” contributed by Mrs. Mary Lowell, of Boston, Mass., as a memorial to her son, killed at Ball’s Bluff early in the war, and also the Thomas Library, contributed by the old soldiers and admirers of Gen. Geo. H. Thomas. Unitedly these libraries contain about 15,000 volumes. This room is handsomely frescoed, hundreds of pictures hang on its walls, its tables are strewn with the leading magazines and newspapers, and in cases and around are many interesting relics of the war:

 

“Upon leaving the library, and looking to the right, the beautiful “Memorial Hall” and Home Church are in full view; and beyond, on a knoll, shaded by forest trees, stands the Chaplain’s residence. Still farther to the right the magnificent and commodious hospital charms the beholder; and a little farther on the neat cottage of the Resident Surgeon, surrounded by a lovely lawn, completes the picture in that direction. As we look to the northwestward, we behold the Soldier’s Monument, rising from a hilltop in the distance, which marks the place where the heroes sleep.

 

“Keeping the same position we now turn to the left and observe a rustic arbor, the springs, the flower garden, the fountain, the conservatory and the lakes, upon which are numerous swans and other water fowl; and still letting the eye sweep onward, we behold the rustic bridges, the beautiful groves of forest tress, the deer park, with more than fifty deer, elk, antelopes, buffaloes, etc.; the Veteran Spring, the Governor’s residence, embowered in trees and flowers, the residences of the treasurer, the secretary, and the steward, all located on the borders of the grove.

 

“To the left is the long line of neat and comfortable barracks where 4000 veterans rested from the fight; the large and comfortable dining hall, kitchen, bakery, laundry, workshops, the Home store-building, the Quartermaster and Commissary store-building, the tasteful band pagoda, surrounded by a charming lawn, while the whole grounds are interspersed with broad, well, paved avenues and shaded paths, combining to make this splendid picture complete. Strolling beyond the woods and immediate confines of the institution, we come to the farmer’s residence, the vegetable garden the barn, the stable, and the well-fed stock that graze upon the Headquarters, Building, which we have already described, we will now go on to give a description of the principal buildings of the Home.”

 

The Memorial Hall is used as an opera house, a place of public entertainment for lectures, music and theatricals. It is a magnificent structure, with a seating capacity for 1600, beautifully painted and frescoed. The stage is fitted up with beautiful scenery and all the other appliances for first-class amusement.

 

The Church is a fine Gothic structure, and said to have been the first church built by the United States Government anywhere. It will seat 1000 persons. The basement is fitted up for a Catholic chapel. single

 

The Hospital is the largest single building of the Home, and will accommodate 300 patients; beside this are several branch hospitals. The wards are perfectly warmed and ventilated, and everything supplied for the comfort and health of the inmates, and it as believed to be one of the best hospitals in the country.

 

 

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A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE U. S. SOLDIERS’ AND SAILORS’ HOME, NEAR DAYTON

 

Its area is about a mile square, and it is a town of some 5000 people, with but few women and children. The Hospital is the long building on the right with several towers. To the left of it is the Church and Memorial Hall. To the left of these appears the Campus, a large open space. Facing the Campus is a line of barracks; above these appears the Dining Hall, a huge square building. The vessel at the left hand lower corner indicates the lake. The monument at the upper right hand corner, with circling doted spots for grave stones, stands in the centre of the Cemetery. In summer multitudes of flower-beds ornament the grounds, tenderly cared for by grim-visaged veterans who in youth shouldered muskets and marched to the war.

 

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fully carved in Italy, representing the four arms of the service, viz.: Artilery, Infantry, Cavalry, and Navy. The entire cost of the monument was $16,000 from 16,000 veterans, each paying one dollar. The base is surmounted by tablets, on which are engraved the names of all who are buried in the cemetery.”

 

Schools and Labor.—An excellent feature of the institution is a school where the veterans are taught various useful branches. Here men who lost their right arms are taught to write with their left, while instruction is given in book-keeping, wood-carving, as well as telegraphy, and most trades can be acquired here It has been the steady policy of the institution to encourage labor of every kind by establishing workshops and by making the cultivation of flowers and fruits, etc., one of the features. About a dozen different trades are carried on, including printing and bookbinding.

 

The Dining Room building in its two dining rooms has a capacity for seating 3000 persons. All the cooking and serving is done by the veterans, and the food is of the best and in great variety, The cost of food is about seventeen cents per day to each man. In amount it is great. A recent dinner for 4300 veterans consumed of beef over 2000 pounds, of bread, 2700 pounds, of sugar, 240 pounds, of potatoes, 50 bushels, of coffee, 1200 gallons, and 900 pies.

 

The post-office does a large business, the annual receipts of pieces about 140,000, and the laundry work is also great. The weekly wash averages 36,000 pieces. Machinery, moved by steam, and steam itself accomplish marvels were in the line of domestic labor.

 

Since the organization in 1867 to June, 1888, the number admitted were 22,397, and from nearly every State. The largest from Ohio, viz., 7510; Pennsylvania, 3662; New York, 3579; Indiana, 2187; Illinois, 1091; Kentucky, 811, etc. A larger part of these as at all the branches were foreign born, mainly German, Irish and English. In their newly-adopted country they were generally without family ties, and when disabled while fighting for its flag, they were “doubly entitled as loyal foster-sons of the mother Re­public to a full share of its bounties.”

 

The number of veterans enrolled in 1888 at the Central Home was 5936, and present for duty, 4500, the rest being off on furlough, largely visiting their families and friends. The cost of running the institution in 1888, exclusive of repairs, was $705,270.21 or $131.18, per man, including shelter, food, and clothing.

 

THE GREAT HARRISON CONVENTION, 1840.

 

Never in the history of the Northwest has there been a more exciting presidential campaign than that which preceded the election of General Harrison, and nowhere was the enthusiasm for the hero of Tippecanoe greater than in Dayton. A remarkable Harrison convention was held here on the date of Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, and tradition has preserved such extravagant accounts of the number present, the beauty of the emblems and decorations displayed, and the hospitality of the citizens and neighboring farmers, that the following prophecy with which the Journal began its account of the celebration may almost be said to have been literally fulfilled:” Memorable and ever to be remembered as is the glorious triumph achieved by the immortal Perry, on the 10th of September, 1813, scarcely less, conspicuous on the page of history will stand the noble commemoration of the vent which has just passed before us.”

 

Innumerable flags and Tippecanoe banners were stretched across the streets from roofs of stores and factories, or floated from private residences and from poles and trees.

 

INCOMING CROWDS.

 

People began to arrive several days before the convention, and on the 9th crowds of carriages, wagons and horsemen streamed into town. About six o’clock the Cincinnati delegation came in by the Centreville road. They were escorted from the edge of town by the Dayton Grays, Butler Guards, Dayton Military Band, and a number of citizens in carriages and on horseback. The procession of delegates was headed by eleven stage coaches in line, with banners and music, followed by a long line of wagons and carriages. .Each coach was enthusiastically cheered as it pawed the crowds which thronged the streets, and the cheers here responded to by the occupants of the coaches. Twelve canal boats full of men arrived on the 10th, and every road which led to town poured in its thousands. General Harrison came as far as Jonathan HARSHMAN’S, five miles from town, on the 9th, and passed the night there. Early in the morning his escort, which had encamped at Fairview, marched to Mr. HARSHMAN’S and halted there till seven o’clock, when it got in motion, under command of Joseph BARNETT, of Dayton, and other marshals from Clarke county.

 

GEN. HARRISON’S ESCORT.

 

 

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Ohio, chief marshal, met the general and his escort at the junction of the Troy and Springfield roads. The battalion of militia, commanded by Capt. BOMBBERGER, of the Dayton Grays, and consisting of the Grays and Washington Artillery, of Dayton; the Citizens’ Guard, of Cincinnati; Butler Guards, of Hamilton; and Pequa Light Infantry, were formed in a hollow square, and Gen. Harrison, mounted on a white horse, his staff, and Gov. Metcalf and staff, of Kentucky, were placed in the centre. “Every foot of the road, between town and the place where Gen. Harrison was to meet the Dayton escort, was literally choked up with people.”

 

The immense procession, carrying banners and flags, and accompanied by canoes, log cabins furnished in pioneer style, and trappers’ lodges, all on wheels, and filled with men, girls and boys; the latter dressed in hunting-shirts and blue caps. One of the wagons contained a live wolf, enveloped in a sheep-skin, representing the “hypocritical professions” of the opponents of the Whigs. All sorts of designs were carried by the delegations. One of the most striking was an immense ball, representing the Harrison States, which was rolled through the streets. The length of the procession was about two miles. Carriages were usually three abreast, and there were more than 1,000 in line.

 

“GRANDEST SPECTACLE OF TIME.”

 

The day was bright and beautiful, and the wildest enthusiasm swayed the mighty mass of people who formed the most imposing part of 46 “this grandest spectacle of time,” as l. Todd, an eye-witness, termed the procession. The following description of the scene, quoted by Curwen from contemporary newspaper, partakes of the excitement and extravagance of the occasion: “The huzzas from gray-headed patriots, as the banners borne in the procession passed their dwellings, or the balconies where they had stationed themselves; the smiles and blessing and waving kerchiefs of the thousands of fair women who filled the front windows of every house; the loud and heartfelt acknowledgments of their marked courtesy and generous hospitality by the different delegations, sometimes rising the same instant from the whole line; the glimpses at every turn of the eye of the fluttering folds of some one or more of the 644 flags which displayed their glorious stars and stripes from the tops of the principal houses of every street; the soul-stirring music, the smiling, heavens, the ever-gleaming banners, the emblems and mottoes, added to the intensity of the excitement. Every eminence, housetop and window was thronged with eager spectators, whose acclamations seemed to rend the heavens.”

 

“Second street at that time led through a prairie, and the bystanders, by a metaphor, the sublimity of which few but Westerners can appreciate, likened the excitement around them to a mighty sea of fire sweeping over its surface, `gathering, and heaving, and rolling upwards, and yet higher, till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heavens.’”

 

AN AUDIENCE OF SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND.

 

After marching through the principal streets, the procession was disbanded by Gen. Harrison at the National Hotel, on Third street. At one o’clock the procession was reformed and moved to the stand erected for speeches. Upon a spacious plain east of Fourth street and north of Third, Mr. Samuel FORRER, an experienced civil engineer, made an estimate of the space occupied by this meeting and the number present at it. He says: “An exact measurement of the lines gave for one aide of the square (oblong) one hundred and thirty yards, and the other one hundred and fifty yards, including an area of nineteen thousand five hundred square yards, which, multiplied by four, would give seventy-eight thousand. Let no one who was present be startled at this result or reject this estimate till he compares the data assumed with the facts presented to his own view while on the ground. It is easy for any one to satisfy himself that six, or even a greater number of individuals, may stand on a square yard of ground. Four is the number assumed in the present instance; the area measured it less than four and one-half acres. Every farmer who noticed the ground could readily perceive that a much larger space was covered with people, though not so closely as that portion measured. All will admit that an oblong square of one hundred and thirty yards by one hundred and fifty, did not at any time during the first hour include near all that were on the east side of the canal. The time of observation was the commencement of Gen. Harrison’s speech. Before making this particular estimate I had made one, by comparing this assemblage with my recollection of the 25th of February convention at Columbus, and came to the conclusion that it was at least four times as great as that.”Two other competent engineers measured the ground, and the lowest estimate of the number of people at the meeting was 78,000; and as thousands were still in town, it was estimated that as many as 100,000 were here on the 10th of September.

 

HOSPITALITY OF DAYTONIANS.

 

 

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help us.”A committee was appointed t take charge of the baskets of the farmers, who responded liberally to this appeal.

 

THE SPEAKERS.

 

The convention was addressed by man noted men. Gen. Harrison was a forcible speaker, and his voice, while no sonorous, was clear and penetrating, and reached the utmost limits of the immense crowd. Gov. Metcalfe, of Kentucky, was a favorite wit the people. A stonemason in early ;life, he was called the “ “Stone Hammer,” his indicate the crushing blows inflicted by his logic and sarcasm. The inimitable Thomas Corwin held his audience spellbound with his eloquence and humor, and Robert C. Schneck added greatly to his reputation by his incisive and witty speeches.

I

In 1842 another Whig convention was held in Dayton, which nearly equalled in numbers and enthusiasm that of 1840. The object of the convention was to forward the nomination of Henry Clay for the Presidency. Mr. Clay was present and addressed an immense audience on the hill south of Dayton, now occupied by the Fair Grounds. At a morning reception for ladies, at the residence of Mr. J. D. PHILLIPS, where Mr. Clay was staying, a crowd of women of all ranks and conditions, some in silk and some in calico, were present. Mr. Clay shook bands with them all, afterwards making a complimentary little speech, saying, among other graceful; things, that the soft touch of the ladies had healed his fingers, bruised by the rough grasp of the men he had received the day before.

 

BIOGRAPHY.

 

DANIEL C. COOPER was born in Morris county, N. J., November 20, 1773. He and one brother constituted the family. Mr. COOPER came to Cincinnati about 1793 as the agent for Jonathan DAYTON, of New Jersey, who was interested in the Symmes purchase. He obtained employment as a surveyor, and his business gave an opportunity to examine lands and select valuable tracts for himself. In 1794-1795 he accompanied the surveying parties led by Col. Israel LUDLOW through the Miami valley. As a preparation for the settlement of Dayton, he, by the direction of the proprietors, in September, 1795, marked out a road from Fort Hamilton to the mouth of Mad river. During the fall and winter he located one thousand acres of fine land near and in Dayton. In the summer of 1796 he settled here, building a cabin at the southeast corner of Monument avenue and Jefferson street. About 1798 he moved out to his cabin on his farm south of Dayton. Here, in the fall of 1799, he built a distillery, “corn cracker” mill, and a saw mill, and made other improvements. ST. CLAIR, DAYTON, WILKINSON and LUDLOW, on account of Symmes’ inability to complete his purchase from the United States, and the high prices charged by the government for land, were obliged to relinquish their Mad river purchase. Soon after the original proprietors retired Mr. COOPER purchased pre-emption rights, and made satisfactory arrangements with land-owners. Many interests were involved, and the transfer was a work of time. He was intelligent and public-spirited, and to his enlarged views, generosity and integrity and business capacity much of the present prosperity of the city is due. He induced settlers to come to Dayton by donations of lots; gave lots and money to schools and churches; provided ground for a graveyard and a public common, now known as Cooper Park, and built the only mills erected in Dayton during the first ten years of its history. He was appointed justice of the peace for Dayton township, October 4, 1799, and served till May 1, 1803, the date of the formation of the county. In 1810-1812 he was president of the Select Council of Dayton. He was seven times elected a member of the State Legislature.

 

About 1803 he married Mrs. Sophia Greene BURNET, who was born in Rhode Island, and came to Marietta with her parents in 1788. Mr. COOPER died July 13, 1818. When he died his affairs were somewhat involved, but by prudent and conscientious management of his property the executors, H. G. PHILLIPS and James STEELE, relieved the estate from embarrassment, and it henceforth steadily increased in value. Every improvement of this large property benefitted the city.

 

 

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cidents mentioned in the following sketch have been mainly drawn. He was the eldest son of John and Catherine BENHAM VAN CLEVE, and was born in Monmouth county, N. J., Feb. 24, 1773. His ancestors came from Holland IN the seventeenth century. His earliest recollection was the battle of Monmouth, which occurred when he was five years old. He remembered the confusion and the flight of the women and children to the pine swamps, and the destruction of his father’s house, stock and blacksmith’s Shop by the British. The refugees in the pine woods could hear the firing, and “when our army was retreating many of the men melted to tears; when it was advancing there was every demonstration of joy and exultation. “His father served with the New Jersey militia during nearly the whole of the Revolution. He removed to Cincinnati, January 3, 1790. Benjamin VAN CLEVE who was now seventeen, settled on the east bank of the Licking, where Maj. LEECH, in order to form a settlement and have a farm opened for himself, offered 100 acres for clearing each ten-acre field, with the use of the cleared land for three years. John VAN CLEVE intended to assist his son in this work, but was killed by the Indians.

 

Benjamin VAN CLEVE, by hard work as a day-laborer, paid John VAN CLEVE’S debts, sold his blacksmith’s tools to the quartermaster-general, and tried to the beat of his ability, though a mere boy, to fill his father’s ace. Much of the time, from 1791 till 1794, he was employed in the quartermaster’s department, whose headquarters were at Fort Washington, earning his wages of fifteen dollars a month by hard, rough work. He was present at St. Clair’s defeat, and gives in his “Journal” a thrilling account of the rout and retreat of the army, and of his own escape and safe return to Cincinnati. In the spring of 1792 he was sent off from Cincinnati at midnight, at a moment’s notice, by the quartermaster-general, to carry despatches to the war department at Philadelphia. At that day such a journey was along and weary one, and although the authorities were satisfied with his services and accounts, they did not pay him until March, 1793. In connection with this visit to Philadelphia, he mentions drawing a plan of the President’s new house, reading “Barclay’s Apology,” and a number of other Quaker works, and purchasing twenty-five books, which he read through on the voyage from Pittsburg to Cincinnati; entries which are all very characteristic of the man.

 

In the fall of 1785 he accompanied Capt. DUNLAP’S party, to make the survey for the Dayton settlement. April 10, 1796, he arrived in Dayton with the first party of settlers that came. In the fall of this year he went with Israel LUDLOW and William G. SCHENEK to survey the United States military lands between the Scioto and Muskingum rivers. “We had deep snow,” he says, “covered with crust; the weather was cold and still, so that we could kill but little game, and were twenty-nine days without bread, and nearly all that time without salt, and sometimes very little to eat. We were five days, seven in company, on four meals, and they, except the last, scanty. They consisted of a turkey, two young raccoons, and the last day some rabbits and venison, which we got from some Indians.”

 

August 28, 1800, he married Mar WHITTEN, daughter of John and Phebe WHITTEN, who lived in Wayne township. In his “Journal” occurs this quaint record of the event: “This year I raised a crop of corn, and determined on settling myself and having a home I accordingly, on the 28th of August, married Mary WHITTEN, daughter of John WHITTEN, near Dayton. She was young, lively, industrious and ingenuous. My property was a horse creature and a few farming utensils, and her father gave her a few household and kitchen utensils, so that we could make shift to cook our provisions; a bed, a cow and heifer, a ewe and two lambs, a sow and pigs, and a saddle and spinning-wheel. I had corn and vegetables growing, so that if we were not rich we had sufficient for our immediate wants, and we were contented and happy,”

 

Benjamin VAN CLEVE, though self-educated, was a man of much information, and became a prominent and influential citizen. In the winter of 1799-1800 he taught in the block-house, the first school opened in Dayton. From the organization of Montgomery county in 1803, till his death in 1821, he was clerk of the court. He was the first postmaster of Dayton, and served from 1804-1821. In 1805 he was one of the incorporators of the Dayton Library. In 1809 he was appointed by the legislature a member of the first board of trustees of Miami University. He was an. active member of the First Presbyterian church.

 

His valuable and interesting “Journal,” only a small part of which has been printed, contains almost all the early documentary history of Dayton now in existence. The files of Dayton newspapers, 1808-1821, fortunately preserved by him and presented to the Public Library by his son, John W. VAN CLEVE, furnish the largest part of the material for that period of the history of the town now obtainable.

 

Mr. VAN CLEVE’s graphic description in his “Journal” of St. Clair’s defeat, is considered the best account of that terrible rout and massacre ever written, and has been published many times. His manuscript journal, written for “the instruction and entertainment of his children,” is now in the possession of his great- grandson, Mr. R. Fay DOVER, of Dayton. It is written in a beautiful hand, as legible as copperplate, and is adorned with a neatly-executed plan of Fort Defiance, drawn and colored by the author.

 

 

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John W. VANCLEVE from his earliest years gave evidence of a vigorous intellect of a retentive memory. When but ten years old his father wrote of him, “My son John is now studying Latin, and promises to become a fine scholar. At the age of sixteen he entered the Ohio University at Athens, and so distinguished himself for proficiency in Latin that he was employed to teach that language in the college before his graduation. As is not often the case with students, he was equally proficient in mathematics. In after life he mastered both the French and German languages, and made several translations of important German works. He was as remarkable for his thoroughness as for his versatility. There were few things that he could not do and do well. He was a musician, painter, engraver, civil engineer, botanist and geologist. He conducted a correspondence and made exchanges with naturalists in various parts of the United States, and collected and engraved the fossils of the surrounding country and made a herbarium of the plants indigenous to this region. Plates of the engraved fossils and the herbarium have been placed in the Dayton Public Library, which, with other specimen, of his handiwork also found there, will convince any one that his accomplishments have not been exaggerated.

 

He studied law in the office of Judge Joseph McCRANE, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. Not finding the practice of the law congenial, he purchased an interest in the Dayton Journal, and edited that paper until 1834. After being engaged in other business for a few years, in 1851, he retired and gave the remainder of his life to his studies and to whatever could benefit and adorn his native city. Unmarried and possessed of a competence he might have lived a life of idleness, but, by nature he was the most indefatigable and industrious of men.

 

While not seeking political preferment he did much public service. He was elected and served as mayor of the city in 1831-32. He also served at various times as City Civil Engineer, and in 1839 compiled and lithographed a map of the city. He was an ardent Whig, and entered enthusiastically into the celebrated political campaign of 1840, writing many of the songs and furnishing the engravings for a campaign paper called the Log Cabin, which attained great notoriety throughout the United States. He was one of the founders of the Dayton Library Association, now merged in the Public Library, and the invaluable volumes of early Dayton newspapers from 1808 to 1847, was his gift to the library: It was his suggestion to plant the levees with shade trees, and the first trees were selected by him and planted under his direction. But the chief work for which the city is indebted to him is the foresight which secured the admirable site for the Woodland Cemetery before it was appropriated to other uses. In 1840 when the Cemetery Association was organized public attention had not been generally called to the importance and desirability of rural cemeteries, and the suggestion at that time of a rural cemetery for years was in advance of the times. Woodland Cemetery is the third rural cemetery in order of time in the United States, preceding Spring Grove at Cincinnati three years. To Mr. VAN CLEVE the honor is due of suggesting the cemetery, and persistently carrying it through to completion.

 

Mr. VAN CLEVE was of large size and very fleshy, weighing over three hundred pounds. Calling one evening at a friend’s house, a bright little boy of four years was evidently much puzzled, and, after walking around him and viewing him on all sides approached with the inquiry, “When you was a little boy, was you a little boy?” The joke was so good that Mr. VAN CLEVE used to tell it on himself. Mr. VAN CLEVE died September 6, 1858, at the comparatively early a age of 57 years. Although holding no official position at the time of his death, the City Council adopted resolutions of respect for his memory and appreciation of his great services to the city.

 

Mr. VAN CLEVE was a great admirer of Corwin, and when he was a candidate for Governor in the Harrison campaign he wrote and published in the “Log Cabin,” this enthusiastic song, which illustrates the affection of the Old Time Whigs’ for their “ Wagon Boy.”

 

SUCCESS TO YOU, TOM CORWIN.

 

 

 

 

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Glass was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in his nineteenth year. He married young, and, pressed by the wants of an increasing family, he emigrated in 1817 to Ohio. He removed from place to place, having schools at various times in Warren, Miami and Montgomery counties.

 

There is something pathetic in the story of this enthusiastic and guileless scholar, who, amid the hardships of pioneer life and the bitter privations of poverty, never for a moment lost interest in classical study. Mr. J. P. REYNOLDS,—see Clinton County—one of his pupils gives a graphic description of a pioneer school-house and its teacher Francis GLASS.

 

He says: “The school-house now rises fresh in my memory The building was a log cabin with a clap-board roof, but indifferent lighted—all the light of heaven found in this cabin came through apertures made on each side of the logs, and then covered with oiled paper to keep out the cold air, while they admitted the dim rays. The seats or benches were of hewn timber, resting on upright posts placed in the ground to keep them from being overturned by the mischievous urchins who sat on them. In the centre was a large stove, between which and the back part of the building stood a small desk, without lock or key, made of rough plank, over which a plane had never passed, and behind this desk sat Professor GLASS when I entered the school. There might have been forty scholars present. The moment he learned that my intention was to pursue the study of languages with him his whole soul appeared to beam from his countenance.

 

“The following imperfect sketch drawn from memory may serve to give some idea of his peculiar manner:— ‘Welcome to the shrine of the muses, my young friend, Salve! Xaīpe! The temple of the Delphian god was originally a laurel hut, and the muses deign to dwell accordingly, even in my rustic abode. Non humilen domum fastidiunt umbrosamve ripam.”

 

Mr. REYNOLDS gives more to the same effect, but this may suffice. It was GLASS’ great ambition to write and publish a “Life of Washington” in Latin, and when Mr. Reynolds met him he had nearly completed the work. Mr. REYNOLDS, who highly esteemed him, furnished him the means to remove to Dayton in 1823, and there the life was completed and the manuscript delivered to Mr. REYNOLDS, who agreed to assist him in finding a publisher. Lengthy proposals of publication fully describing the work were printed in the Cincinnati and Dayton papers, but without result. His friend, Mr. REYNOLDS removed from Ohio and was absent for several years, and during his absence Francis GLASS died. With his inextinguishable love of the classics, shortly before his death he published in the Dayton “Watchman” a Latin ode on the death of Lord Byron, which was prefaced by the following introduction:—”To the academicians and scholars in the United States of America, especially of those who delight in literary pursuits, Francis Glass, A. M., wishes much health.” His death occurred August 24, 1824, after an illness of about three weeks.

 

In 1835, the “Life of Washington,” through the instrumentality of Mr. REYNOLDS, was published by Harper Brothers. It forms an openly printed volume of two hundred and twenty-three pages. That such a work in Latin should have been written by a country school teacher remote from libraries and compelled to teach an ungraded school for his daily bread is certainly one of the curiosities of literature. Eminent scholars have pronounced the style terse and vigorous, and the Latin classical. It was introduced into many schools as a text book, and the writer {Robt. W. Steele) remembers its use in the Dayton Academy in 1838. It is now out of print and rare but a copy may be found in the Dayton Public Library.

 

Another remarkable literary production is that of which Mr. Addison P. Russell writes as follows:—”I have in my possession a very well preserved copy, in English, ‘Of the Imitation of Christ,’ by Thomas A. Kempis, printed in this place (Wilmington, 0.), by Gaddis Abrams, in 1815. Think of it! A religious classic printed in the wilderness, in the midst of milk-sickness, floating logs and rattle-snakes. “

 

GEORGE CROOK, General United States Army, son of Thomas CROOK, was born in Wayne township, Montgomery county, Ohio, September 8, 1828, and died in Chicago, March 21, 1890.

 

He worked on his father’s farm and attended school until nineteen. In one of his early campaigns Robert C. SCHENCK was a guest at the Crook farm house, was attracted by the boy, and appointed him a cadet at the West Point Military Academy. by He was graduated July 1, 1852, and for a number of years was on duty with the Fourth Infantry in California.

 

 

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tiles. At the breaking out of the civil war he held a captain’s commission’ and returned East to become colonel of the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry. He served in the West Virginia campaigns, in command of the Third Provisional Brigade, until August, 1862, and was wounded in the action at Lewisburg. His next service was in Northern Virginia and Maryland, during August and September, 1862, and he especially distinguished himslef at Antietam, being brevetted lieuenant-colonel in the regular army for his services.

 

In 1863 he was serving in Tennessee, and in July of that year he was transferred to the command of the Second Cavalry Division. After various actions, ending in the battle of Chickamauga, he pursued Wheeler’s Confederate Cavalry from the lst to the 10th of October defeated it, and drove it across the Tennessee with great loss. In February, 864, he assumed command of the Kanawha district of West Virginia, where he was almost constantly in action of one kind or another. In the autumn of the same year he played a prominent part in Sheridan’s Shenandoah campaign, and received the brevets if brigadier and major-general in the United States army in 1865 for his gallant and effective conduct. From March 26 until April 9 he had command of the cavalry of the Army if the Potomac, and was engaged at Dinwiddie Court-house, Jettersville, Sailor’s creek and Farmville, and was present at the surrender of Appomattox.

 

He was mustered out of the volunteer service January 15, 1866, and was subsequently commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-third Infantry, since which time his ser vices have been intimately associated with Indian campaigns. He conducted them so successfully that he gained the sobriquet of “The ally Indian Fighter.” In 1872, when assigned to the Arizona district to quell Indian disturbances, he sent an ultimatum to the chiefs to return to their reservations or be wiped from the face of the earth.”

 

In 1882 he forced the Mormons, squatters, miners and stock-raisers to vacate the Indian lands and encouraged the Apaches in industrial pursuits. In the spring of 1883 the Chiracahuas intrenched themselves in the fastnesses of the mountains on. the northern Mexican boundary and began a series of raids. Gen. CROOK struck the trail, and, instead of following, took it backward, penetrated into and took possession of their strongholds, and as fast as the warriors returned from their plundering excursions made them prisoners. He marched over two thousand miles, made four hundred prisoners, and captured all the horses and plunder.

 

During the two years following he had sole charge of the Indians, and during that time no depredation occurred. He set them all at work on their farms, abolished the system of trading and paying in goods and store-orders indulged in by contractors, paid cash direct to the Indians for all his supplies, and stimulated them to increased exertion. The tribes became self-supporting within three years. He was appointed major-general April 6 1888, and soon after was placed in command of the division of the Missouri, with bead, quarters at Chicago.

 

The Dayton Journal gives the following personal description of Gen. CROOK:

 

He was quiet, unostentatious and self-possessed under all conditions, especially so in the presence of the enemy. In a fight he blazed, and looked the soldier that he was. His presence was confidence and inspiration to his command. But out of uniform he was so simple and unostentatious, almost shy, that those to whom he was unknown could not have suspected such a modest man to have been one of the great soldiers of the United States army. His personal and social characteristics were very charming, and in congenial company he surprised people by the extent of his information and vigor of his discussion of public questions. But it is likely that he will go into the history of his country mainly upon the solid and brilliant reputation he acquired in Indian warfare. No man in that service was so consummate a master of it as he was.

 

Gen. Sherman said of him:

 

“George Crook was always a man on whom we could depend,” said he. “He was the most successful man in dealing with the Indians that the United States ever had in its service. The Indians respected and trusted him, and he could bring them around or make them amenable when every one else failed. During the rebellion Crook had charge of the Second Cavalry Division, stationed in Northern Alabama, and did excellent work. During my fifteen years as commander-in-chief of the army. I had ample opportunity to find out Crook’s good traits, and I never found him anything but a man who could be depended on in every emergency.”

 

 

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girl. She had Southern sympathies, for her mother was a member of a notable old Virginia family who lived at Moorfield.

 

During Crook’s stay at the hotel he was much attracted by the young lady, but she was a spirited girl, and refused to be gracious to the Yankee, though at heart she liked him.

 

The eldest of Boniface DAILY’S children was a son James, who was devoted to the cause of the Confederacy. He took offence at the persistent and open attentions of Crook his sister, and finally organized a band of about fifty young and daring spirits like himself, and saw that they were well mounted and armed. When everything was ready about a dozen of DAILY’S band crept into the hotel after midnight, seized Gen. Kelly and Capt. CROOK, gagged them, and in a few momentswas they were all on their way to Richmond. The Federal lines were passed without detection, and the prisoners were safely landed in the Confederate capital. Afterward ward they were exchanged.

 

Crook went into active service and was badly wounded. He was sent to Oakland with other wounded officers, and singularly enough was quartered at Glade’s Hotel. Miss Mary then showed her true feelings, and enursed her brother’s late captive through what at one time was thought to be a fatal illness. When he recovered he proposed, but was refused, her political sentiment still being in the ascendant. Twice after that they conqueror of Cochez and Geronimo attacked the fair fortress, and at last it surrendered. The General has been happy in his married. life.

 

ROBERT CUMMING SCHENCK was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, October 4, 1809, and died in Washington, D. C., March 23, 1890. His ancestor, Roelof Martense SCHENCK, emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam in 1650. His father, Gen. Wm. C. SCHENCK, was an officer in Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison’s army, and one of the pioneers of the Miami valley. He died in 1821, and Robert C. was placed under the guardianship of Gen. James Findlay, of Cincinnati. He was graduated at Miami University in 1827, and remained at Oxford as a tutor for three years longer, then studied law with Thomas Corwin, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Dayton. He served two years in the State Legislature, and was elected to Congress as a Whig, serving from 1843 till 1851. President Fillmore then sent him to Brazil as minister plenipotentiary. While serving in this capacity he distinguished himself as a diplomat by taking a conspicuous part in the negotiation of treaties with Paraguay, Uraguay and Argentine Republic. After two years in Brazil he returned to Ohio, but took no part in politics. When the civil war broke out he at once offered his service to the government, and was commissioned a brigadier-general by President Lincoln, May 17, 1861. He served with his brigade in the first battle of Bull Run. He next served in West Virginia under Gen. Rosecrans, and did some brilliant fighting at McDowell and Cross Keys. Gen. Fremont then intrusted him with the command of a division, and, while leading the first division of Gen. Franz Siegel’s Corps, at the second battle of Bull Run, his right arm was shattered by a musket-ball. He would not allow himself to be carried from the field until his sword, which had been lost when he was wounded, had been found and restored to him. This wound destroyed the use of his right arm for life, incapacitated him for military service until December, 1862, when he took command of the Middle Department and Eighth Corps at Baltimore, having been promoted major-general September 18. Gen. SCHENCK and Gen. Ben Butler had many similar characteristics-great ability, readiness, wit, humor, sarcasm, full information, boldness, originality and ,he like. Butler in command at New Orleans and SCHENCK at Baltimore had trouble with the rebel women.

 

Whitelaw Reid, in “Ohio in the War,” tells how SCHENCK settled them:—

 

The men dared not insult the soldiers, but many women did, relying on their sex to protect them. Finally they came to wearing rebel colors and displaying them upon the promenades, and upon occasions when such exhibitions were particulary annoying. Without issuing an order patterned after General Butler’s noted proclamation at New Orleans , he made a more skillful and much more discreet use of similar means, which is thus described in Reid’s “Ohio in the War:”

 

 

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ladies wearing the same badge she was to salute her affecionately as a sister in the unholy calling, and for these services she was to be liberally paid. The effect was marvellous. In less than a week not a respectable woman in Baltimore dared to show herself in public ornamented by any badge of the rebellion, and from that time to the end of SCHENCK’S administration that particular difficulty was settled.”

 

After performing effective service in the Gettysburg campaign, he resigned his commission on December 3,1863, in order to take his seat in the House, to which he had been elected over Vallandigham. He was immediately made Chairman of Military Affairs, and during this and the following Congress his position enabled him to do good service for the Union cause. He was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses, and throughout these exciting times, during and after the war, he took a leading part in proceedings in the House. Hon. James G. Blaine, in his “Twenty Years in Congress,”says:—

 

“Robert C. SCHNECK was an invaluable addition to the House. He was at once placed at the head of the Committee on Military Affairs, then of superlative importance, and subsequently made Chairman of Ways and Means, succeeding Mr. Stevens in the undoubted leadership of the House. He was admirably fitted for the arduous and difficult duty. His perceptions were keen, his analysis was extraordinarily rapid, his power of expression remarkable. On his feet, as the phrase went, he had no equal in the House. In five minutes’ discussion in committee of the whole, he was an intellectual marvel. The compactness and clearness of his statement, the facts and arguments which he could marshal in that brief time, were a constant surprise and delight to his hearers. No man in Congress during the present generation has rivalled his singular power in this respect.

 

“He was able in every form of discussion but his peculiar gift was in leading and controlling the committee of the whole.”

 

In 1871 General SCHENCK was appointed by General Grant Minister to Great Britain, in which capacity he served with distinction until 1876. It was during this period that he was appointed a member on behalf of the United States of the celebrated Joint High Commission, which assembled at Washington and effected a treaty providing for the Geneva Conference, a measure which, by the substitution of arbitration for war in the settlement of a serious controversy between two powerful and warlike nations, marked an era in the development of the spirit of a true Christian civilization.

 

On his return to the United States General SCHENCK practiced law in Washington, D. C., participating but little in public affairs. Throughout his public career he regarded Dayton as his home and took an active interest in its affairs. He was the real father of the National Home for Volunteer Soldiers and Sailors, being the first to suggest it to Congress and see securing the co-operation of General Benjamin Butler in the most beneficent public measure in the history of nations.

J

ames FINDLAY SCHENCK, brother of General Robert C. SCHENCK, was born in Franklin 0., June 11, 1807; died in Dayton, O., December 21, 1882.

 

“He was appointed to the U. S. Military Academy in 1822, but resigned in 1824, and entered the navy as a midshipman March 1, 1825. He became passed midshipman June 4, 1831, and lieutenant December 22, 1835, and in August, 1845, joined the “Congress,” in which he served as chief military aide to Commodore Robert F. Stockton at the capture of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Pedro, Cal. He also participated in the capture of Guaymas and Mazatlan, Mexico, and in October, 1848, returned home as bearer of dispatches. He was commended for efficient services in the Mexican war. Lieutenant Schenck then entered the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and commanded the steamer “Ohio” and other steamers between New York and Aspinwall in 1849-52. He was commissioned commander, September 14, 1855, and assigned, to the frigate “St. Lawrence” March 19, 1862, on the West Gulf blockade.

 

“On October 7, 1864, he was ordered to command the “Powhatan” in the North Atlantic squadron, and he also received notice of his promotion to commodore, to date from January 2, 1863. He led the third division of the squadron in the two attacks on Fort Fisher, and was highly commended for his services. Commodore SCHENCK had charge of the naval station at Mound City, Ill., in 1865-6, was promoted to rear­ admiral September 21, 1868, and retired by law June 11, 1869.” (Ap. Biog. Ency.)

 

 

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through Europe. On his return to Ohio he practiced law in Cincinnati for eleven years in partnership with Rufus King. In 1859 he went to Texas, and on November 20, 1860, he addressed a large gathering of people at San Antonio, advocating in the strongest and most pathetic language He the perpetuity of the National Union. He received many letters threatening his life, and later was confined as a political prisoner in the guard-tent of Maclin’s battery of artillery. He escaped to the North and was appointed colonel of the 93d O. V. I. He was severely wounded at the battle of Stone River.

 

In 1863 he was nominated and elected Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with John Brough, and on the death of the latter succeeded to the office of Governor. He is a man with a fine sense of honor, tall and elegant in person, of brilliant qualities, and the ideal gentleman personified.

 

THOMAS JOHN WOOD was born in Munfordville, Ky., September 25, 1823; was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy; received the brevet of 1st lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Mexican war; served in 1848-49 as aide-de-camp to Gen. Win. S. Harney. He served as captain in the First Cavalry in Kansas during the border troubles, And on the Utah expedition under Albert Sidney Johnston till 1859.

 

In 1861 he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers and placed in command of a division; took part in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, also the battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862, where he was wounded.

 

He commanded a division in the 21st Corps, Army of the Cumberland, at the battles of Chickamauga and Mission Ridge, receiving the brevet of brigadier-general for Chickamauga. He was engaged in the invasion of Georgia and was severely wounded in the action of Lovejoy’s Station. He commanded the 4th Corps in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, receiving the brevet of major-general for the latter. He was promoted major-general of volunteers in January, 1865, and was mustered out of the volunteer service September 1, 1866. He retired from active service with the rank of major-general June 9, 1868, and that of brigadier-general March 3, 1871. He is now a resident of Dayton. (Abridged from Ap. Biog. Ency.) During the war period and until his death, June 17, 1871, at Lebanon, CLEMENT L. VALLANDINGHAM was a resident of Dayton. A sketch of his career is under the head of Columbiana County, in our first volume.

 

Miamisburg in 1846.—Miamisburg is ten miles southerly from Dayton, on the Miami canal and river, and the State road from Dayton to Cincinnati. This locality was originally called “Hole’s Station,” and a few families settled here about the time Dayton was commenced. The town was laid out in 1818; Emanuel GEBHART, Jacob KERCHER, Dr. John and Peter TREON, being the original proprietors. The early settlers were of Dutch origin, most of whom emigrated from Berks county, Pa. The German is yet much spoken, and two of the churches worship in that language. The river and canal supply considerable water power. The town is compactly built. The view was taken near J. ZIMMER’S hote—shown on the right—and gives the appearance of the principal street, looking from that point in the direction of Dayton. A neat covered bridge crosses the Miami river at this place. Miamisburg contains 1 Dutch Reformed, l Lutheran and 1 Methodist church, 1 high school, 12 mercantile stores, 1 woollen and 1 cotton factory, 19 grist mill, 1 iron foundery, and had in 1840, 834, and in 1846, 1055 inhabitants.—Old Edition.

 

 

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Top Picture

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

THE GREAT MOUND NEAR MIAMISBURG.

 

Middle Picture

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846

STREET VIEW IN MIAMISBURG

 

Bottom Picture

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

STREET VIEW IN GERMANTOWN.

 

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of about 40 apple, and a few peach and forest trees.The view from the summit is beautiful. At one’s feet lays the village of Miamisburg, while the fertile valley of the river is seen stretching away for miles.—Old Edition.

 

In July, 1869, a number of resident citizens made another effort to determine the nature of this mound. They sunk a shaft five or six feet in diameter from the top to two feet below the base. They found eighty feet from the top a human skeleton, in a sitting posture facing due east.A cover of clay several feet in thickness, and then a layer of ashes were found, and deposits of vegetable matter, bones of small animals, wood and stone surrounding it.

 

At twenty-four feet a triangular stone, planted perpendicularly, about eight inches in the earth with the point upward was discovered: Around it at an angle of about forty-five degrees and over-lapping each other like shingles upon a roof, were placed stone averaging about a foot in diameter, all rough, but of nearly uniform size, and similar to those quarried in the neighboring hills.

 

The work of sinking the shaft continued from day to day until a depth of sixty-six feet was reached. This was down to two feet below the natural surface as surveyed, as nearly twenty feet had been cut from the cone in former explorations, its original height must have been over eighty feet.

 

It had been determined to remove the skeleton before closing up the shaft, but upon examination it was found in condition to render this impossible, and it was allowed to remain.

 

The Miamisburg Bulletin published a series of interesting articles on the explorations at the time they were made.

 

MIAMISBURG is ten miles southwest of Dayton, on the Great Miami River, Miami & Erie Canal, and on the C. H. & D., and C. C. C. & I. Railroads. It is the centre of the Ohio seed leaf tobacco producing district. City Officers: 1888, Lewis H. ZEHRING, Mayor; A. C. SCHELL, Clerk; Geo. T. MAYS, Treasurer; Wm. DALTON, Marshall; H. ROSS Street Commissioner. Newspaper: Bulletin, Independent, Blossom Bros., editors and publishers; News, Democratic, Chas. E. Kinder, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 United Brethren, l Reformed, l Lutheran, l Catholic and 1 Methodist. Bank: (H. Groby & Co.)

 

Manufactures and Employees.—Miamisburg Binder Twine and Cordage Co., 205 hands; Hoover & Gamble, agricultrural implements, 185; Bookwalter Brothers .& Co., carriage wheels, etc., 46; D. Grobe, builders’ wood-work, 8 ; Miami Valley Paper Co., 42; The Ohio Paper Co., 54; A. Kuehn, lager beer, 4; The Kauffman Buggy Co., carriages, etc., 63.

 

Population, 1.880, 1396. School census, 1888, 925.Thomas A. POLLOK, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $700,300. Value of annual product, $1,544,500.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887:

 

Germantown in 1846.—Germantown, named from Germantown, Pa., is thirteen miles southwest of Dayton, in a beautiful valley, surrounded by one of the most fertile sections of land in the West. It is steadily improving, and is noted for the substantial industry and wealth of its citizens. This thriving town was laid out in 1814, by Philip GUNCKEL, proprietor, who previously built a saw and grist mill on Twin creek, and opened a store at the same place.

 

Most of its early settlers were of German descent, and emigrated from Berks, Lebanon and Centre counties, Pa. Among these were the GUNCKELS, the EMERICKS, the SCHAEFFERS, etc., whose descendents now comprise a large proportion of the inhabitants. The village is handsomely laid out in squares, the houses are of a substantial character, and the streets ornamented by locusts. It contains 2 German Reformed, l Lutheran, 1 Episcopal Methodist and 1 United Brethren church, a flourishing academy for both sexes, l book, 2 grocery and 5 dry goods stores, 1 newspaper printing office, 1 brewery, 1 woollen factory and about 1200 inhabitants—Old Edition.

 

 

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Turing industries are carriages, buggies, agricultural implements, tobacco and cigars.

 

Newspapers: Press, Democratic, E. B. HARKRIDER, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 German Reformed, 1 Lutheran, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 United Brethren. Bank: First National, J. W. SHANK, president, J. H. CROSS, cashier. Population 1880, 1618. School census, 1888, 408. J. F. FENTON superintendent of schools.

 

VANDALIA is eight miles north of Dayton. Population, 1880, 315. School Census, 1888, 104

 

BROOKVILLE is thirteen miles northwest of Dayton on the D. & U. and P. C. & St. L. R. R. It has 1 Lutheran, 1 United Brethren and 1 Methodist Episcopal. Population, 1880, 574 School census, 1888, 248.

 

NEW LEBANON is ten miles west of Dayton. Population, 1880, 76.

 

FARMERSVILLE is fourteen miles southwest of Dayton, on the C. J. & M. R. R. It has five churches. Population 1880, 794. School census, 1888, 130.

 

CENTERVILLE is nine miles south of Dayton. Population, 1880, 294