Histories

WARREN COUNTY, OHIO, AND SOME OF ITS CITIZENS

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN FOR THE WARREN COUNTY  BICENTENNIAL BY MR . JOHN ZIMKUS AND THE HONORABLE PAT SOUTH,  WARREN COUNTY COMMISSIONER.  WE THANK YOU FOR PERMISSION  TO USE IT.

The early pioneers and settlements are the foundation of Warren County’s rich history. So on our county’s Birthday, we celebrate the communities and people of our past and present.

Ohio was the first state created from the Northwest Territory on February 19, 1803 and established on March 1, 1803. Warren County was established by an act of the first General Assembly of the State of Ohio, passed March 24, 1803. It was one of the first twelve counties formed in the new State of Ohio from a portion of what had been Hamilton County. It was named for General Joseph Warren who was a physician and Major General during the American Revolution. He lost his life at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

What is now Warren County, 2,000 years ago was home to the prehistoric Hopewell culture. They settled on the high bluffs overlooking the Little Miami River and along its banks. Later the area became hunting grounds for the historic Miami, Shawnee and Fort Ancient Indian tribes. A portion of that area today has been preserved and is known as the Ft. Ancient State Park.

1750 brought one of the first Europeans to see the county, the frontiersman and the surveyor Christopher Gist. When the American Revolution came to an end, the area became part of the Northwest Territory. The territorial capital was nearby Cincinnati. After the Treaty of Greenville was signed with the Indians in August of 1795, hundreds of settlers flooded into the rich Little Miami and Great Miami valleys of Warren County.

Those who settled east of the Little Miami River were in the Virginia Military Lands. They were mostly veterans of the Revolution from Virginia. They were rewarded for their service to their young nation by being given land in the Ohio County. The pioneers who homesteaded between the Great Miami and the Little Miami rivers from the northern part of Lebanon south to the Ohio River were mostly from New Jersey. They bought land in Judge Cleves’, Symmes Miami Purchase.

Warren County is known for its production of two very important products. It is not only still known today for its fertile, rich soils and ample water supplies that allow agriculture to remain our leading industry 200 years later, but is equally know for its production and cultivation of leadership, serving the local, state, national and international levels of our government. Warren County was well represented in the 1801 Territorial Legislature and the Ohio Constitution Convention. She produced military heroes, U.S. Ambassadors, Governors, State & US Cabinet Members, Supreme Court Justices and candidates for the U.S. Presidency.

Quakers from Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas settled in the northern part of our county and were attracted here largely because Ohio, like the rest of the Northwest Territory, prohibited slavery. The first Shakers arrived to the county in 1804.

In 1803 Ichabod Corwin built the first Warren County courthouse. It was a log structure known as the Black Horse Tavern. It was not only the courthouse and a tavern, but traveling merchants brought their woven materials, sugar, spices and whatever else that could be transported easily and set up shop at the Tavern. At that time it was located between Silver and Mulberry Streets on the east side of Broadway in Lebanon.

December 23, 1803 - Jonas Seaman purchased a license at the Black Horse Tavern for four dollars to open “a house of public entertainment.” Located on Lot No. 58 in Lebanon, it was for a log cabin tavern, which he called the Golden Lamb. Today it is recognized as Ohio’s oldest inn and its oldest business in continual operation.

April 2, 1804 - Matthias Corwin, William James, and Robert Benham are elected the first Warren County Commissioners on this first Monday in April 1804. They met at the Black Horse Tavern and one of the first actions taken by the Board was to erect a county jail. In that same year, Franklin’s first post office was built. It still stands today as a reminder of our past.

January 3, 1806 - The first official Warren County Courthouse was accepted from its builder, Samuel McCray. The cost was $1,450. It is located on the northeast corner of Lebanon’s town square. It was 36 foot square and two stories high. The lower floor was the courtroom. The upper floor had three compartments for the county officials. A cupola was added in 1812. In 1835, the Commissioners dedicated the county’s 3rd courthouse that still stands today on the corner of North East & East Silver Street in Lebanon. Original cost was $25,000. In 1829, the Commissioners purchased 108 acres of land on the outskirts of Lebanon for an Infirmary. That farmland today is home to the Warren County Government Campus.

While Warren County ranked first in the State for new job creation between 1975-1995 and has consistently ranked the second fastest growing county in the State of Ohio for the last decade, realizing a 40% growth rate, we take great pride in the fact that 60% of our county’s land mass remain used as farmland, park, open space and recreation. Tourism, Farming and Manufacturing are our top three industries. Two Hundred years after Warren County was established, she still retains a historically preserved and charming ambience of days gone-by - a feature that has retained generations of families and attracts so many new people who call Warren County - “Home.”

Famous People From Warren County

Laura Bellini - (1848-1931) Born Laura Woolwine in Lebanon in 1848, “Madame Bellini” was an opera singer of note on two continents. She changed her name after studying in Milan, Italy and traveled all over Europe with a repertoire of 100 operas. She returned to Lebanon after the illness and subsequent death of her parents, and remained there for the rest of her life. Her greatest joy is said to have been singing at the centennial celebration of Lebanon in 1902.

Clem Bevans - (1879-1963) This Hollywood character actor of the 1930s and 40s was born Clement Guy Blevins in Cozaddale in southern Warren County. After working in Vaudeville and on Broadway he made his first of over 100 films in 1935. Bevans often played old codger role in “B” westerns. Some of the major films he was in were “Sergeant York,” “The Yearling,” “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” and “Paleface.” He also had parts on such television shows as “Bonanza” and “The Twilight Zone.”

Samuel Bigger - (1802-1845) Bigger was born on a farm south of Franklin. His father, Col. John Bigger, frequently represented Warren County in the Ohio legislature and served as speaker of the house. A graduate from Ohio University, young Bigger moved to Liberty, Indiana in 1829. After establishing a law practice in Rushville, IN, he was elected to the Indiana legislature in 1843 and then reelected. In 1840 he was elected to one term as governor of Indiana. He is buried in Fort Wayne.

Milton Brown - (1804-1883) Brown was born in Lebanon. Some time after 1820 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee and studied law. After a few years he opened a law practice in Paris, TN. He later moved to Jackson, TN where he became a judge in 1835. Brown was elected to Congress in 1840 and was reelected twice. He was a founder of Southwestern University (later Union University) and Lambuth College. Both schools are in Jackson, TN.

Charles Clark - (1811-1877) Born in Lebanon, Clark was educated in Kentucky and moved to Mississippi in 1831. A brigadier general for the Confederacy during the Civil War, he was severely wounded and captured in the Battle of Baton Rouge. Feeling his wound was fatal, the Federals allowed him to return home. Though an invalid, he was elected governor of Mississippi in 1863 and remained in office until the end of the war.

Dr. Mary Leah Cook - (1869-1964) She was born in a log cabin on New Burlington Road, north of Waynesville. After attending Earlham College, she taught for a year before moving to Oregon with her family. She later relocated in Chicago and worked there for a number of years. In 1908, at the age of 40, she became Warren County’s first woman doctor after graduating from the University of Illinois. Mary Cook then moved to Waynesville where she practiced medicine for the next 50 years. In 1961 the Wayne Township Library, which she helped start in 1917, was renamed the Mary L. Cook Library.

Thomas Corwin - (1794-1865) He was a nephew of one of Lebanon’s founders, Ichabod Corwin. His family moved to the area, from Kentucky, in 1798 when he was four. After studying law with Lebanon’s first lawyer, Joshua Collett, he was admitted to the bar in 1817. Corwin served as Warren County prosecuting attorney, a member of the Ohio legislature, a U.S. senator, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and President Lincoln’s minister to Mexico. He was one of the most dynamic public speakers of his time. Corwin is buried in Lebanon. The town of Corwin in Warren County is named after him.

Francis Dunlavy - (1768-1839) Dunlavy became the first teacher in the entire Miami Valley in 1797 when he established a log cabin school near what would soon be Lebanon. He was elected to the Northwest Territorial legislature in 1801. As a member of the constitutional convention in 1802, he was one of principal writers of Ohio’s first constitution. For 14 years, beginning in 1803, Dunlavy served as a president judge for ten counties in southwest Ohio. He is buried in Lebanon.

Merie Earle - (1889-1984) A cousin to character actor Clem Bevans, Merie was born Goldie Ireland in Morrow. Given the nickname “Merie” as a child, she did not begin her professional acting career until after her husband, Laurence Earle, had died. She was 76 years old. She appeared in over a dozen films and scores of television shows. She had the semi-regular role of “Maude Gormley” on “The Waltons” and was a frequent guest on “the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” She acted until her death at 95.

Dr. John Evans - (1814-1897) Born in Waynesville, Evans moved to Indiana after becoming a doctor in 1838. There he helped establish the first insane asylum and school for the death in the state of Indiana. Evans moved to Chicago and helped establish Mercy Hospital and the Illinois Medical Society. He was founder and first president of Northwestern University. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him the second governor of the Colorado Territory. In that position, he played a role in the establishment of Denver University. The towns of Evanston, IL and Evanston, CO are named after him.

Major General Edwin Forrest Harding - (1886-1970) Born in Franklin, Harding graduated from the West Point in 1909. Early in his military career he served in the Philippines, in Montana, as an instructor at West Point in China. Upon returning to the U.S., he taught at the Army Infantry School at Fort Benning. At the beginning of World War II he was a major general in charge of the 32nd Infantry Division. He retired from military in 1946 to his home in Franklin. He willed his home to the Franklin Area Historical Society, which now operates as the Harding Museum.

William Elmer Harmon - (1862-1928) Harmon was born in Lebanon. He grew up on the western U.S. Army posts in which his father was stationed. He graduated from Lebanon High School in 1881. Together with his brother and uncle, he went in the real estate business in 1887. By 1900 he was a multimillionaire and their real estate firm was said to be the largest in the world. He devoted the rest of his life in aiding others. He established the Harmon Foundation with its special emphasis on helping young people. Among his many philanthropic efforts, Harmon set up 119 playgrounds in small towns in 34 states. He built his first in Lebanon in 1911.

Woody Harrelson - (1961- ) Harrelson graduated from Lebanon High School in 1979 and has a degree in English and theater arts from Hanover College in Indiana. He first went to New York City to try and break into show business but with little success. In 1985, however, he won the part of “Woody” on the hit television show “Cheers.” Harrelson won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for this role in 1989. He has made nearly two-dozen films. Harrelson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1996 film “The U.S. vs. Larry Flint.”

Alfred Holbrook - (1816-1909) Holbrook founded the Southwest Normal School in Lebanon, Ohio in 1855. It later changed its name to the National Normal University and was in existence for 62 years. Holbrook was an innovator in education. He avoided such tried and true teaching methods as tests and lectures. His students were encouraged to debate topics and delivered numerous recitations. Cordell Hull, secretary of state during FDR’s administration; Myers Y. Cooper, governor of Ohio; and A.B. Graham, founder of the 4H Club are just a few of the distinguished students who attended his college. Holbrook is buried in Lebanon.

Coates Kinney - (1826-1904) Kinney was called the “Poet Laureate of Ohio.” Born in New York, his family settled east of Springboro when he was 13. He attended the Springboro Academy. He then taught school, studied law with Thomas Corwin and attended Antioch College. After the Civil War he became professor at Judson College in Illinois. He returned to Ohio, entered state politics, and then operated a newspaper in Xenia. Kinney wrote three volumes of poetry, but is best remember for the 1849 poem “Rain on the Roof” written in the Warren County community of Mount Holly. He is buried in Corwin, OH.

Frank Lickliter II - (1968- ) A golfer on the PGA Tour, Lickliter is a graduate from Wright State University in 1991 with a degree in sociology. In 2001 he finished in the top 30 in the PGA Tour money list based on his career-high eight “top-10″ finishes and his victory of the Kemper Insurance Open.

Ralph Phillips Lowe - (1805-1883) Born in Warren County, he graduated from Miami University in 1829. In 1838 he moved to Muscatine, Iowa and practiced law. Later he relocated to Lee County, Iowa where he served as judge in 1852. Lowe was elected the fourth governor of Iowa in 1857. While in office he helped establish a state agricultural college that would later become Iowa State University. He sat on the court bench until 1867, serving four years as its chief justice. In 1874 he moved to Washington D.C.

A. G. McBurney - (1817-1894) Andrew G. McBurney was born in Hamilton, County. He moved with his family to Lebanon in 1803 and learned the trade of cabinet making. Self-educated, his desire to better himself led him to study law with an attorney in Lebanon. He eventually became a law partner to Thomas Corwin. His reputation and skill as a lawyer grew rapidly and he was twice elected to the Ohio senate. In 1865 he was elected lieutenant governor of Ohio. In 1871 he was co-counsel with the famed Civil War “Copperhead” Clement L. Vallandigham in a murder trial. He was the only witness to see Vallandigham accidentally shoot himself in the Golden Lamb. McBurney is buried in Lebanon.

John McLean - (1785-1861) Born in New Jersey, his family came to what is now Ridgeville when he was 14. In 1807 McLean founded The Western Star, Ohio’s oldest weekly newspaper, in Lebanon. That same year he became a lawyer. He served as a U.S. congressman, a member of the Ohio Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court and as U.S. postmaster general. For 31 years he sat as an associate justice on the famed “Dred Scott Case” helped make him a favorite of the antislavery movement. Three times McLean’s name was put in nomination for the U.S. presidency. In 1858, McLean lost the republican nomination for President to Abraham Lincoln.

Jeremiah Morrow - (1771-1852) Morrow was born in Pennsylvania, but for most of his life he lived near Foster in the Little Miami River. He helped write Ohio’s first constitution. For ten years he was Ohio’s first and only U.S. congressman. He also served as a U.S. senator, governor of Ohio, and as a president of the Little Miami Railroad. The town of Morrow in Warren County is named after him, as is Morrow County in north central Ohio. The Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, over the Little Miami River, in Warren County is the highest bridge in Ohio.

William Augustus Newell - (1817-1901) Newell’s parents moved to Franklin from New Jersey shortly before his birth. Before he was three his family returned to New Jersey, settling in New Brunswick. He graduated from Rutgers College in 1836. After attending the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, he practiced medicine in Allentown, NJ. In 1846 he was elected to Congress. Newell became governor of New Jersey in 1856. In 1865 he returned to Congress. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to return to the New Jersey governorship in 1884. He returned to New Jersey in 1885.

Dolly Noble - (1861-1930) Born Dolly Woolwine in Lebanon, she was younger sister of opera singer Laura Bellini. She studied acting in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. While in Cincinnati, she met the noted actor Milton Noble and soon joined his theater company. In 1880 they married and soon became one of America’s most popular acting couples of the late 1800s. The two made their home in Brooklyn, NY.

Gordon Ray Roberts - (1950- ) Roberts graduated from Lebanon High School in 1968. He served as a rifleman in the 101 Airborne Division during the Vietnam War. In Thua Thien Province on July 11, 1969 he earned the Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism in action at the risk of his life.” He is the youngest living recipient of the Medal of Honor. Roberts is currently a major in the U.S. Army.

Marty Roe - (1960- ) Roe is the lead singer of the country and western group Diamond Rio. A 1979 graduate of Lebanon High School, Roe attended college in Nashville, TN. After graduation he became a member of a band that performed at Opryland in Nashville. In 1991 the group reorganized as Diamond Rio and issued their first CD. The band has earned more awards than any other country group of the 1990s. They have received eight Grammy nominations and numerous country vocal group of the year awards. In 1998 Diamond Rio became the first band since 1984 to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Robert Cumming Schenck - (1809-1890) Schenck was the son of William C. Schenck, one of the founders of Franklin. In 1827 he graduated from Miami University and then taught there. After studying law with Thomas Corwin, he was elected to the Ohio legislature and later to Congress. He became the U.S. minister to Brazil before the Civil War. During the war he fought in both battles of Bull Run. He left the military in 1863, with the rank of major general, to take a seat in Congress. After several terms he accepted the position of U.S. minister to Great Britain in 1870.

William Henry Venable - (1836-1920) This 19th century educator and poet was born three miles southwest of Waynesville. He was educated at Lebanon’s National Normal University and later taught there. He was a principal of a school in Indiana and taught for a number of years in Cincinnati. In 1886 he began lecturing and writing in cities across the Midwest. He authored 22 books of poetry, philosophy, history, and other subjects. He gave the key address at Lebanon’s centennial celebration in 1902.

Russel Wright - (1904-1976) Wright was on of the most important American Industrial designers of the 20th century. He was born in Lebanon and was a 1921 graduate of Lebanon High School. After attending one year a Princeton he left to join a theatrical set studio. He then began his career as a designer and never looked back. Over the years he worked with furniture, dishes, glassware, silverware, linen, lamps, art pottery, and much more. He was the first designer to successfully market his creations using his own name as a well-defined brand.