Wells compiles the past news clip

(Transcript for Fair Use Only)

Wells compiles the past

Historian giving township a gift

By Jennie Key Staff Reporter

[http://local.cincinnati.com/community/SLatestNews.aspx?c=100114]

Ruth Wells is working on a birthday present for Ohio's largest township.

The 85-yearold historian is compiling and organizing a new book outlining the rich history of Colerain Township in honor of its bicentennial this year.

"This is a major work," Wells said. "People don't realize how much history there is here. The story needs to be told."

Wells is setting out to tell it. And who better? She is the founder and first president of the Coleraine Historical Society and edits the Coleraine Pageant, the group's newsletter. There's not a cemetery in the township she hasn't checked out, always looking for more information about the area's founding families.

The new book, "Colerain Township Revisited" will include some information from a cookbook history published by the historical society years ago. Wells is updating the information through 1993 and is organizing the information in what she hopes will be a clearer fashion.

She has donned her detective hat, prowling the library and pouring through records from local historical societies, telephone companies, and local townships and the county.

The township's phenomenal

Please see History, A6

HISTORY

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growth, the history of some suburbs within the township and the growth of churches in Colerain Township will be part of the story of how the area has burgeoned into the largest township in the state.

Wells said the book should go to a printer late this month and books will be available later this year. Proceeds will go back to the Colerain Township Bicentennial Commission. The cost of the book has not been determined.

Coleraine Historical Society president Ann Springer said helping with the book has broadened her knowledge of her community.

"It has been fascinating," she said. "I think this book will make good reading next winter. Just curl up next to a fire and enjoy."

She said local residents are fortunate to have a history buff digging out the township's past.

"The township owes a debt to Ruth Wells it may never fully realize," she said.

DsS model news clip

Transcript for Fair Use only:

Coleraln Township resident Robert Muehlenhard      metal hooks pioneers used to pull down the 

(above) surveys his handiwork: a scale replica of      wooden chimneys when they caught fire. The Dunlap Station, Colerain Township's first settle-       model also features figurines made by the Clncln- ment. His cabin chimney (top photo) includes the     nati Genealogical Society's Joann Hughes.

Colerain's first settlement now is in man's basement

By Jennie Key
Staff Reporter

[http://local.cincinnati.com/community/SLatestNews.aspx?c=100114]

In Robert Muehlenhard's Colerain Township basement a slice of life in the late 1700s is frozen in time.

    Children are poised on the edge of a bench, teasing a couple of puppies under the indulgent eye of their mother. A farmer, pitchfork in hand, stands near the fence. The fence is important. It keeps out the Indians.
   One room of Muehlenhard's basement is given over to a scale model of Dunlap Station or Fort Dunlap, the first settlement in Colerain Township.
   Working from a plan sketched by Lt. Bartholomew Shaumburgh in 1791, the 77-year-old man has used grapevine, bamboo, wood and lots of glue to recreate the settlement.
   Muehlenhard said he started his project more than a year ago and he's still adding the finishing touches. Joann Hughes, a member of the Cincinnati Genealogical Society, made small figurines that help show what life 200 years ago was like.
   The fort originally was nestled along the Great Miami River, near where the Cincinnati Waterworks' East Miami River Road pumping station now stands. "Near as I can tell, it's where Wilhelm's barn is now built," he said.
   The plan he used to re-create the settlement and several comments about Dunlap Station's construction are included in a book, "Stockades in the Wild," by Richard Scaryhorn and John Steinle.
   "I prefer the name Dunlap Station," Muehlenhard said. "Because it's not a fort in the strictest sense of the word.
   Details about the settlement were sketchy, so Muehlenhard had to fill in what he could using his imagination and research from descriptions of other settlements.
   Muehlenhard pointed out that Dunlap Station had a design flaw that made it particularly vulnerable: the lower edges of the roofs of the buildings sloped down over the fencing. Some of the roofs were so low that dogs could jump up onto them from stumps. The flaw is noted by several sources in the stockades book.
   "It would have made more sense to build the high sides facing outward, to keep the Indians out of the fort," he said. "I'm not sure why they decided to do it this way."
   Dunlap Station saw its fair share of attacks and was abandoned twice. Settlers fled to a neighboring settlement in North Bend in 1790 after Hamilton County's worst Indian attack.
   Indians killed several settlers, butchered 75 head of cattle and burned more than 1,000 bushels of corn. The station's founder, John Dunlap, persuaded settlers to return to the settlement, but it was again abandoned in 1795, when Indian hostilities ceased. By 1801, no remains of the settlement could be seen in the cornfields along East Miami River Road.
   But local history buffs don't want this piece of Colerain Township's heritage to be forgotten. Muehlenhard hopes his model of Colerain Township's original settlement can be on display during the township's bicentennial celebrations in 1994.

Early Pioneer Settlement Forts of Ohio

Hamilton County:

Anderson's Station (1) (1790), Andersons Ferry.

Beasley's Station (1792), undetermined location.

James Carpenter's Station (1793), undetermined location.

Cincinnati Blockhouse (2) (1784), Cincinnati.

Clement's Station (1789), Terrace Park. Also known as Round Bottom Station.

Cleves Stockade (1789), Cleves. (same as below ?)

Cleves Station (1790), Cleves. A blockhouse was later built for added protection.

Coleman's Mill Station (1791), undetermined location.

Columbia Station (1) (1788), near the mouth of the Little Miami River. Built by Benjamin Stites. Completely flooded in January 1789.

Abram Covalt's Station (1790), Newtown or Bethany Town. A 20-man detachment from Fort Washington was garrisoned here in 1791.

Cunningham's Station (1) (1790), undetermined location.

Daraugh's Station (1792), undetermined location.

John Dunlap's Station (1790), Dunlap. Also known as Coleraine Station. Held off an Indian attack in December 1790.

Dunn's Blockhouse (2) (1793), undetermined location.

Dunn's Station (1) (1793), undetermined location.

William Flinn's Blockhouse (1785 ?), Linwood at Turkey Bottom on the road between Miami Fort (5) and Whickerham's Station. Stockaded in 1791. Also spelled Flynn.

Frazee's Station (1793), undetermined location.

William Gerard's Station (1790 - 1820's), near Terrace Park, on the east bank of the Little Miami River. The main house was later rebuilt with stone, and had served as a private residence until 1902.

David Griffin's Station (1792), near Carthage, located near or in Caldwell Park on the east bank of Mill Creek.

Hayes' Station (1791), undetermined location.

Howell's Blockhouse (1790), undetermined location. A hexagonal blockhouse.

Keen's Station (1795), undetermined location.

Kemper's Station (1793), undetermined location.

Losantiville Station (1788 - 1795 ?), Cincinnati, located at the present-day site of the Great American Ball Park's main parking lot. Built by Daniel, John, William, and Zachariah Hole, all brothers. The brothers later relocated to Miamisburg after 1795.

Luce's Blockhouse (1789), North Bend.

Israel Ludlow's Station (1790), Cumminsville. Located on the west bank of Mill Creek, it was an important post on the military road connecting Forts Hamilton and Washington. It was used in General St. Clair's failed campaign of 1791. Monument located at Knowlton and Mad Anthony Streets.

McFarland's Station (1794), Pleasant Ridge area of Cincinnati.

McHenry's Station (1790), Cumminsville.

Mercer's Station (1792), Newtown.

Miami Fort (3) (1788), a settlers' stockade located on the Little Miami River above Columbia Station (1).

Mill Creek Blockhouse (1) (1790), Cumminsville. (same as Ludlow's Station listed above ?)

Nelson's Station (1792), Madisonville.

North Bend Station (1789), North Bend.

Pleasant Valley Stockade (1794), Woodlawn.

Red Bank Station (1791), Madisonville.

Runyon's Station (1792), north of Sharonville.

Sixteen Corner Blockhouse (1790), undetermined location.

South Bend Station (1790), located between North Bend and Andersons Ferry.

Sugar Camp Station (1789), Shawnee Lookout.

John Symmes' Station (1789), North Bend.

Tucker's Stockade (1792), Woodlawn.

Turkey Bottom Blockhouse (1791), Linwood. (same as Flinn's Blockhouse listed above ?)

Vanvorhee's Stockade (1794), Reading.

Whickerham's Station (1790), Mt. Washington.

Capt. Jacob White's Station (1789), Carthage, a stockade built on an old Indian trail that led to the mouth of the Little Miami River. Attacked by Indians in August 1793, but held.

http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/oh-sw.html#hamilton

Spooner - Back-Woodsmen...

Spooner, Walter Whipple, principle author, with an introduction by Florus B. Plimpton.

The Back-woodsmen, Or, Tales of the Borders : a Collection of Historical and Authentic Accounts of Early Adventure Among the Indians. Cincinnati : Jones Bros., c1883. 608 p. : ill.

Note: "'Girty, the renegade', 'The doomed Wyandot', and 'Sketch of a pioneer', by William D. Gallagher and Otway Curry, respectively, are taken from 'The Hesperian, or Western monthly magazine'."--Pref.

---

"22 

... signs of any, during their progress. Passing by Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Marietta, Kanawha, Gallipolis, Maysville, and a few other intermediate settlements, they arrived safely at Columbia, their future home, in December, 1790. 

   This town, like all others in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, was at that time in its primitive state. It had been laid out by Major Benjamin Stites, its original proprietor, into blocks,—each containing eight lots of half an acre apiece, bounded by streets

Spencer's Captivity 23

intersecting at right angles,—and was expected by him and others to become some day a large city, the capital of the great West.

   It was in a small log hut in this village that the Spencer family took up their residence. The doors were of thick oak plank, turning on stout wooden hinges, and secured with strong bars braced with timber from the floor, thus forming a safe barrier to the entrance below; while above, on every side, were port holes or small embrasures, from which the inmates might see and fire upon the enemy. Of windows, there were but two, containing only four panes of glass each, in openings so small that any attempt to enter them by force must have proved fatal to the intruder.

   The new habitation had been occupied about a month,—during which time its accommodations had been greatly increased,—before any event occurred to disturb the peace or happiness of the family. Indeed, they had begun to submit to the inconveniences, privations, hardships, and dangers common to the pioneers of the West, without much repining; and, having heard of no recent disturbances by Indians in their immediate neighborhood, had begun to give over their apprehension of danger. Their fears were, however, suddenly aroused by the news of an attack made by several hundred Indians on Dunlap's Station (now Colerain); fifteen or twenty miles north-west of Cincinnati, then garrisoned by a few inhabitants, and thirty or forty soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Kingsbury.  This intelli-

24 The Back-woodsmen

gence was brought by Mr. John S. Wallace (afterward Colonel Wallace), who, at the risk of his life. left the garrison at night. passed unperceived through the enemy, and reached Cincinnati the same night. Of the volunteers. who marched immediately to relieve the garrison. one company was from Columbia. All were well mounted. and armed with rifles. knives, and some even with tomahawks. and dressed in hunting shirts; and, thus prepared. they moved off in single file. Arriving at Colerain too late to encounter the enemy, who a few hours before had raised the siege. they. after a short pursuit, returned home. The apprehensions of the citizens were by no means allayed by their fearful accounts of Indian warfare and barbarity; and the story of the burning of Mr. Abner Hunt, whom the savages had taken prisoner a few hours before their attack on the garrison, shocked them beyond measure. It is much easier to conceive than to describe the feelings of the garrison. when. after being urged and entreated by the wretched man to purchase their own safety, and, above all, his life, by surrendering to the enemy. they saw him led off. and witnessed the fearful preparations for torture; or the heart-sickening anguish of hope suddenly extinguished. and the mute despair of the prisoner, as he heard the decided though reluctant refusal of the garrison to save his life at the certain loss of their own. The Indians had tied their prisoner to a sapling within sight of the garrison. by whom his screams were distinctly heard, and built a large fire so near as to scorch him, inflicting the most

27

acute pain; then, as his flesh. from the action of the fire. and the frequent application of live coals. beanie less sensible, making deep incisions in his limbs. as if to renew his susceptibility of pain; answering his cries for water. to allay the extreme thirst caused by buming, by fresh tortures; and finally when, exhausted and fainting. death seemed approaching to release the wretched prisoner. terminating his sufferings by applying flaming brands to his naked bowels. ln this siege, which lasted two days, the Indians suffered severely in killed and wounded, without inflicting any serious personal injury on the garrison. whose principal loss was in cattle. destroyed or driven out by the enemy.

   The attack on Dunlap's Station was followed by successive depredations and murders by the Indians. In the ensuing spring. they attacked several boats, killed many persons. and took some prisoners on the Ohio. Men were killed. or made prisoners, even on the outskirts of Cincinnati. and near the mouth of Deer Creek. and many were the hair-breadth escapes from captivity or death..."

Harmer re: Kingsbury

[The Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Primitive… page 85-86]

"Fort Washington, 14th January, 1791.
Extract of General Orders:
The general is highly pleased with the cool and spirited conduct displayed by Lieutanent Kingsbury in repulsing a body of about 300 savages, who surrounded Dunlap's Station on Monday morning last and besieged it, endeavoring to set it on fire with their arrows, and keeping up a heavy fire against his small party for the space of 25 hours.

...…
This spirited defence made by Lieut. Kingsbury, with so small a force is 35 men total, old and young, sick and well, and in such bad works, reflects the greatest credit upon him and his party.

The general returns his thanks to him, and directs that the Adjutant transmit a copy of these orders by the first conveyance.
JOS. HARMAR, Brig General."