A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

John Harrison’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Irwin (Harrison) Buckner, gave an interview to the TimesStar, May 16, 1940. At that time it was hoped to make this home a national shrine. Mrs. Buckner hadseveral articles of furniture from the old homestead and the hand written will of her great-greatgrandfather,Benjamin Harrison who owned the estate he called “Berkeley” on the James River inVirginia.She remembered her grandfather as “ generosity itself. In fact it was his signing of notes for friendsthat in his later years caused shrinkage of his holdings. There used to be fine orchards at “The Point” 6 Butnone of the great yield was sold. The neighbors were at liberty to come and take what they wished.” Thishouse was demolished in 1959.There is a second John Cleves Symmes 7 of this area that gets confused with the Judge. This JohnCleves Symmes was his nephew; son of the Judge’s brother, Timothy. Timothy was a silversmith, andspent most of his life in New Jersey. Timothy had three sons by his first wife, Abigail Tuthill (sister ofSymmes wife Anne) - Daniel, William, and Celadon.Celadon was the first settler at what is known as Symmes Corner, now part of Fairfield in ButlerCounty, Ohio. Celadon originally purchased a lot in Cincinnati for $8, built a shop and worked for a yearat his trade as a silversmith. He sold the shop and lot and went to work for his Uncle Symmes at NorthBend in 1790. He became the overseer of the farm and guarded the surveyors as they worked. He wasn’tpaid a wage, but received a section of land in Butler County in exchange. During the time he lived atNorth Bend he was often in danger from the Indians and wild animals. On one occasion his dogs werefighting a wounded mountain lion. When the dogs were losing the fight, Celadon seized the forepaw ofthe mountain lion and stabbed it to death. Celadon’s son, Benjamin Randolph Symmes, built the firsttavern/hotel in Butler County, still standing as the Savings of America Bank at the crossroads of PleasantAvenue and Nilles Road.The second John Cleves Symmes was the half-brother of Celadon. He was born in Sussex County,New Jersey in 1780. In 1802 he entered the United States Army as an ensign. He was promoted toSecond, then to First Lieutenant, and in 1812 was commissioned a captain. He served through the War of1812. Early in his military career he was sent to the southwest. While stationed at Fort Adams, fifty milesbelow Natchez, he fought a duel with another officer in 1807. He was shot in the wrist and never fullyrecovered its use.In 1816 he retired from the army and went to St. Louis, where he furnished supplies for the troops inthe upper Mississippi and traded with the Fox Indians. From 1819 to 1824 he lived in Newport,Kentucky. In 1824 he moved to his farm near Hamilton, Ohio. This was a section of land which his uncle,John Cleves Symmes, had given him. Judge Symmes gave each of his brother Timothy’s eight sons aportion of land. The farm was sold after Captain Symmes’ death to pay his medical expenses.While in St. Louis, Capt. Symmes had developed “The Theory of Concentric Spheres, Polar Voids,and Open Poles.” “To all the world: I declare the earth is hollow and habitable within; containing anumber of solid concentric spheres, one within the other, and that it is open at the poles twelve or sixteendegrees ....I ask one hundred brave companions, well equipped, to start from Siberia, in the fall season,with reindeer and sleighs, on the ice of the frozen sea; I engage we find a warm and rich land, stockedwith thrifty vegetables and animals, if not men...”This theory wasn’t well accepted by the scientific community. Jules Verne used this idea for hisbook, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” printed in 1864. Symmes gave many lectures on his hollowearth theory throughout the United States and Canada and, his health impaired, returned to his farm nearHamilton, where he died May 29, 1829. He was interred in the old burying ground with military honors(now a park). His son, Americus Symmes, had a monument erected over his grave. It is of freestone,6 North Bend, Ohio7 Thanks to Mrs. Ruth J. Wells who wrote The Symmes Family in Vol. 5, #4, Oct. 1969 of the Coleraine Pageant. Portions of her textare used here as well as the notes from her 1970 presentation on the Symmes family for the Butler County Historical Society. Thanks also toKaren Forbes Nutting, and Mrs. Ruth Cummins.11