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IN PIONEER DAYS.A GLIMPSE OP CINCINNATI ACENTURY AGO.Life Then Meant Hard Work, Privation and Constant Danger—AnOld Lady's Recollections of Her( Childhood. - _ 1 ,The following letter, full of interest at this time and never before in print, was written for the children of Mrs. Reeder some years before her death, which occurred October 6, 1872, in her eighty-fourth year, at the home of her granddaughter, Mrs. James Secrist.ot Pleasant Ridge. Mrs. Harriet Fureeson, of Dayton, O., is the only child of Mrs. Reedier now living:Having read many misstatements in regard to the first settlement of Cincinnati, I have concluded to give you a correct account of matters of which I have a personal knowledge. My father, mother and seven children came down the Ohio River from Pennsylvania, and landed at Cincinnati, then called Losantiville. on the 8th day of January, 1789. The first persons we saw after landing were Mr. McMillen and Mr. Israel Ludlow, one of the proprietors of the place. These two gentlemen were the surveyors of the Miami Purchase. Israel Ludlow came down to our boats, and invited our family up to stay in their cabin until we could get oar cabin built.Mother went to see the cabin, but as there did not seem to be room enough on the ground fioor to spread our beds, she thought we could be more comfortable by remaining on our boats until the ice began to run. Then we were obliged to go ashore and contrive some other way to live. What few men there were got together, knocked our boats to pieces and built us a camp, where we lived for six weeks; then my father built ns a large cabin, which was the first cabin large enough for a family to live in. My father intended to have built his house on the corner of Walnut and Water streets, but not knowing exactly where the streets were he built his house right in the middle of Water street. The streets were laid out, but the woods were so very thick, and the streets were notopened, so it was not known exactly where the streets would be.They took the boards of our camp, and made floors in our house. There were three little cabins without any floors, where the surveyors and chain carriers lived. There were three other females besides my mother, their names were Mrs. Deraint, Mrs. Connv Zenes, afterward married to Mr. McMillen and Mrs. Presthal, a German woman, and my mother, Mrs. Rebecca Kennedy, which made four females at that time, there were but two families that had small children. They were the German family and my father’s. My father landed with three boats, one loaded with flour, one with other provisions and one for the family. At that time the soldiers were stationed at North Bend. They were in a starving condition, from the want of bread. They heard thatmv father had landed with a boat load of flour and meal. Some soldiers were sent up to my father to get several barrels of flour. •My father told them he had not brought flour here to sell, but to save his children s lives here in this dismal forest. They had their guns with them, and said they were sent to take it by fores if he would not give it up. Mv father then took down his gun and told them he would stand in defense of the flour. They then went back to North Bend and Judge 8yrames, who resided near the fort, wrote my father a letter and told him to roll out as many barrels of flour as the soldiers wanted and be would see that it was replaced. Then my father gave them as much as they required, and it was replaced in due time. My father was for several years an independent farmer on Broadway street; the land in that region was then much better adapted to raising corn, potatoes and flax than it is now.My father established the first ferry at this point at a very early period. He ferried all the militia and cattle for the array over the river. Thomas Kennedy kept the ferry on the other side, and my father, Francis Kennedy, kept the ferry on this side; between the two, they did all the business during the three campaigns of Gen. Harmar, Gen. St. Chur and Gen. Anthony Wayne. I can remember distinctly the encampment of Anthony Wayne in our city (as it now is), and how the soldiers were harnessed into teams and hauled logs for the barracks. My father was drowned, near the close of the war, while ferrying cattle over the river for the army. It was published in the papers that Mr. Joel Williams had the first ferry, but he did not. He was here before my father, but he did not have tha ferry until after my father’s death.Shortly after his death Joel Williams made application to court for license to run the ferry boat. The court would not grant him license until it knew whether my mother would wish to keep the ferry. The Judge sent her a note to know if she wished to continue the business, but she, thinking it would be too much trouble to attend to it, the court granted him a license. The papers also stated that Mr. Bprigmau had the first store, but that is a mistake. The names of the first persons that kept store were Smith A Findlay, afterward Gen. Findlay. Mr. Conner kept another and Col. Gibson’s store was on the corner of Main and Water streets. Maj. Ziegler kept another. He was a German officer out of the army. These stores were all kept several years before Mr. Sprigman kept store.Joel Williams and Isaac Feltie kept the first good taverns in the place; they kepton Water street. 1 heard it announced that Mr. Smith, if I do not mistake the name, was the first Sheriff and hung the first man. But he was not. Mr. John Ludlow was the first Sheriff and hung the first mat), named Maze, that was hung in Cincinnati. The blood ot Mr. VanClief was the first that was mingled with the soil. I can remember seeing the men carrying him in on a litter of brush. The second man that was killed was Mr. Elliott. 1 can remember well when no one dared to go to meeting, where the First Presbyterian Church now stands, without tbeir guns. They were liable’to a tina if they did not take them with them because they were in so much danger from th$ Indians. The men always sat with their guns standing between their knees, all through the meeting to b« ready for any outbreak of tbo Indians.Our church seat* were logs hewn off as smooth as they could make them, No line cushioned settle in those days. I am going to mention a few persons that were here in very early days. I have never heard their names mentioned; Dr. Kllison, one of the first physicians; Dr. Merrell and family, Dr. Hoel and family, Mr. Blackburn and family, Mr. Garrison and family, Mr. McHenry and family, Jacob Reeder and family, Stephen Reeder and family, Daniel Kitcheli and family, Mrs. Phoebe Flint, daughter of Daniel Kitchell; Samuel Dick and family, Isaac Anderson and family, Mrs. McKnight and sous. These were all very early aettlers, and I felt it my duty toname them.The flint summer after we came here, which was 1780, the people suffered a great deal from the want of oread; as for meal, they had none at all, only as they killed gunie in the woods. That whs all they luid to eat. Every Sunday morning my mother gave the German woman it bavin full ofmeal, to make bread for iter children. Thenthey lived on game the rest of the week.When 1 was eight years old, I went to North Bend to stay with my sister. Mrs. George Holland, 1 had the ague, so they
Newspaper Details
Weekly Cincinnati Times
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Thu, May 24, 1888
Page 6
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 18 Dec 2021
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