Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
Contributor: |
Dallas Bogan on 28 August 2004 |
Source: |
The following is taken from Dallas
Bogan's, "Early Transportation in Warren County," as written by Josiah Morrow. Lebanon is the county seat of Warren County. This writer believes that the subject should be covered as to how it was founded and formed. . |
Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
"A LOG TAVERN IN LEBANON--There was a log house in Lebanon which had
about as many claims to distinction as the Newcom house in Dayton. It was in
Lebanon the first well-built house, the first tavern, the first place for holding
courts, the first store, and in the first years of the town's existence the
most important resort for prospectors and settlers. This was the Black Horse
Tavern, and its proprietor was not only the first tavern keeper in Lebanon but
also one of the original proprietors of the town and the second sheriff of Warren
County.
"Of this historic building we do not have even a picture. It is known,
however, that it was built by Ichabod
Corwin, the first settler at Lebanon. It was the second house erected by
him in the place, his first cabin being built in 1796 in the northwest of the
ground now included in the town and was west of the North Branch of Turtle Creek.
His second house was built about 1799 or 1800 and occupied by Mr. Corwin
for a while as a residence and in it his daughter Lucinda,
afterward Mrs. A.H. Dunlevy, was
born December 8, 1800. Before the town was laid out in September 1802 Mr. Corwin
sold the house and fifteen acres about it to Ephriam Hathaway,
who made it a tavern with the sign of a Black Horse.
"A.H. Dunlevy who was familiar
with the building from his boyhood and doubtless saw his father holding court
in it, has given in his historical sketches of Lebanon a description: `It was
built of hewed logs, pointed with lime mortar instead of clay and covered with
walnut shingles fastened with wooden pegs instead of nails.' I once asked Mr.
Dunlevy to describe its exact location. He said it was on the east
side of Broadway, north of the present site of the Lebanon National Bank, but,
being built in a clearing before the town was laid out, it stood back of the
street. It was demolished about 1826.
"The act of the first State Legislature organizing Warren County provided
that until a permanent seat of justice was established courts should be held
at `the house of Ephriam Hathaway on Turtle Creek.' The first
official business of the county was transacted in this house by the Associate
Judge of the county on May 10, 1803, when the whole county was divided into
four townships, viz: Deerfield, Franklin, Wayne and Hamilton. The town of Lebanon
was for some years in Deerfield Township.
"In 1846, twenty years after the building was torn down, Henry
Howe made his first visit to Lebanon in search of materials for the
first edition of his Historical Collections of Ohio. Old settlers told him of
this old building as the first place for holding courts in the county and that
John Huston opened a store in it in the summer of 1803. It
was described to him as a two-story log building erected for a dwelling by Ichabod
Corwin, afterward occupied as a tavern by Ephriam Hathaway
until about 1810. It was erroneously said to have been the only house on the
original town flat when the town was laid out. It is known that Silas
Hurin, one of the original proprietors of the town, had his residence
at that time near the south-eastern corner of the plat, Ichabod Corwin
had his residence northwest and Samuel Manning east of the
ground platted for the town. The tavern was the only building in the central
part of the town as first platted.
"COURTS IN LOG TAVERNS--It was in the year 1803 that Joshua Collett,
the first lawyer in the county took up his residence in Lebanon. He became Prosecuting
Attorney, Common Pleas Judge and Judge of the supreme Court of the State. In
the same year Francis
Dunlevy, who was chosen President Judge of the Circuit embracing
the western third of the state.
"The town did not grow rapidly before the question whether it was to be
the permanent county seat was settled. Isaiah Morris, afterward
of Wilmington, sold goods for his uncle in Lebanon and he has related that the
town in June 1803 had one tavernkeeper, one lawyer, one storekeeper and one
or two other men and they constituted the entire male population. It is probable
that the lawyer and the store keeper boarded at this tavern. "The first
court of Common Pleas for Warren County was held in this tavern on the third
Tuesday of August, 1803. Francis
Dunlevy, President Judge, William C. Schenck,
founder of Franklin, was foreman of the first grand jury of the county. No cases
seem to have been tried and the next term when Jacob Burnet
of Cincinnati and Joshua Collett of Lebanon appeared as attorneys
in the first case trial in the county.
"The Supreme Court was then required by the State Constitution to hold
one session each year in every county. The first session of the Supreme Court
for Warren County was held in the tavern, October 6, 1803, two judges on the
bench. The Supreme Court then tried cases with juries in the different counties.
In the Supreme Court at Lebanon in November, 1805, a defendant was arraigned
on an indictment charging him with stealing from Ephriam Hathaway,
the tavern keeper, a pocket book and money of the value of 116 cents. The accused
pleaded guilty and was sentenced to be `whipped on his naked back three stripes.'
To the credit of Ohio it is said that public whipping as a legal punishment
was soon abolished and has never been reinstated.
"When Francis Dunlevy
of Lebanon became the first President Judge of the First Circuit he was required
to hold three sessions of court each year in six counties, viz: Hamilton, Butler,
Montgomery, Greene, Warren and Clermont. In most of these counties courts were
first held in log taverns.
"Judge Dunlevy held his office fourteen years and large
as was his circuit, it is said he never missed a court and sometimes swam his
horse over the Miamis rather than fail to be present."
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This page created 28 August 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
© 2004 Arne H Trelvik
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