Clearcreek Twp Incidents
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The History of Warren County, Ohio

Incidents

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Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 26 Oct 2004

Sources:
The History of Warren County Ohio
Part IV, Township histories
Clear Creek Township
(Chicago, IL: W. H. Beers Co, 1882; reprint, Mt. Vernon, IN: Windmill Publications, 1992)

Page
603

We are informed that, about the years 1815 or 1820, distilleries were almost as plentiful about Springboro as dwelling-houses. Dr. Wright states that there were, within a radius of two miles, not less than fifteen. Doubtless one reason why so much of the grain and fruit was distilled was because of the greater cost in transporting it to market in the original form. But another, and. perhaps, a more potent reason was, that it always commanded a ready sale in the form of whisky and brandy. Temperance, or, rather, total abstinence, had not become so popular as at the present time, consequently, the use of liquor as a beverage was customary among all classes and on all occasions. The clergy, even, were not exempt, but many of them considered a glass of " grog" essential to their well-being.

Jonathan Wright, like many persons of the present day, while disapproving of prohibition laws, was yet a practical temperance man. When he let the contract for building the woolen factory at Springboro, it was specified in the contract that there was to be no liquor used on the premises by any one. One day, the contractor and his men were sitting under a tree eating their dinner, and, among other things, they had a bottle of whisky. Mr. Wright, in passing by, saw it, and, without saying a word, deliberately picked up the bottle and broke it; the contractor sued him, but, when the Magistrate saw the contract, he decided that the contractor had no cause for action.

Mr. Wright was a member of the Society of Friends, and they, while practical believers in morality, do not hesitate to perform whatever they consider necessary labor on the Sabbath. In the early settlement of the country, there were some persons who were great sticklers for a strict observance of the Sabbath, and could not tolerate any variance from their views in that respect, however lax they might be themselves in regard to other matters.

Mr. Wright, Mr. Mullin and others were frequently fined for performing common labor on that day. But a more liberal spirit pervades society now. The spirit which animated the early settlers of New England is gone, it is to be hoped, never to return.

One of the most exciting times, perhaps, ever known in this township, was in 1835, when that dreaded scourge of the East, Asiatic cholera, raged so fear-

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604

fully at Red Lion. It was supposed to have been caused by eating fish which were tainted. The water had been drawn off the Miami Canal and quantities of fish were left in the pools and mud in the bed of the canal. A great many persons from the vicinity of Red Lion caught them, and nearly every one who ate them was taken with the cholera, and, as it was a comparatively new disease to the physicians here, they did not understand how to manage the cases, and, as a consequence, a large majority of them proved fatal. Samuel N. Gustin was the first victim. It is said that, although the cherry trees were loaded with fruit, that year, the birds would not touch it, and it hung on the trees and dried. The disease was confined almost exclusively to Red Lion and vicinity, and to those who had partaken of the fish.

In a pretty early day, Col. John McDannell, who had been a Colonel in the Revolutionary war, and who possessed all the hauteur of a "gentleman of the olden time," came from Dauphin County, Penn., with his family, and settled on the farm now owned by D. F. Corwin. They came all the way in a carriage, which was probably the first carriage ever brought into the township, if not the first in the county, and had a negro driver.
It was a hard matter to decide which of the two, the carriage or the driver, was the greater, curiosity. The young men used to go there on Sunday and get the negro to run the carriage out so that they could examine it thoroughly; this they continued to do until Mrs. McDannell came out and ordered them off for desecrating the Sabbath. We are not able to say whether the young ladies visited these curiosities or not. But, from the well-known lack of curiosity in the sex, it is presumable that they did not, The carriage must have been a counterpart of Holmes' wonderful "One-Hoss Shay," as it is said to be in a good state of preservation yet.

Mr. Job Mullin mentions that when Gen. Clay's troops were passing through this region, as previously noticed, the officers had their negro servants with them, and the negroes excited the curiosity of the school children more, perhaps, than the soldiers, although they had never seen either before.

This concludes our history of the township. We have endeavored to give the facts as correctly as possible, and, if any errors have been stated, it was not intentional. Of course, many incidents and facts have been omitted, but that was unavoidable. We can only hope that what we have written may prove satisfactory.


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