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

pioneers had foot treadle looms and wove woolen, cotton and linen cloth. Freeman G. Cary described“...Our dress in those times was indeed rough and coarse, and manufactured by handlooms in ourdwellings from tow flax and wool of our own raising. Many a day have I dressed flax to make ourclothes.” Spinning was done by hand and the thread could be made of a mixture of wool and flax, or ofeither fiber alone.William Cary established a saw mill (1820) on the creek that still flows behind Pearce’s AutoCenter on the east side of Hamilton Avenue between Marlowe and Ambrose Avenues. It was a treadmilloperated by oxen. As the team walked in a circle on a wheel with a 30 degree angle, the motion operateda perpendicular saw. This saw mill produced the lumber for the 1823 Mill Creek bridge built inCumminsville. A grain mill was added but the power was not sufficient to saw and grind at the same time.Later this mill was replaced by a steam saw and a grist mill added, both of which burnt shortly after theywere built. Cary spoke of a cherry tree near Cedar and Lantana that was six feet in diameter. He had a pairof parlor tables, bookcases, a bureau, a tall clock and a bedstead built from the wood of this tree. Thenearest other mill was Goudy’s, built 1795, along the Mill Creek at the bottom on Winton Road.“Logs and grists were converted into lumber and meal for a certain share. George C. Miller’s wagonand plough factory, Adonijah Peacock’s plough factory, Melendy’s fanning mill shop, Luman Watson’sclock factory, Riley & Reed’s picture and looking glass frame factory, and Edward Kimball’s turningfactory, all in Cincinnati, were supplied with lumber from this ox mill.” 25Mr. Powell started a pearl ash and black salts factory. He leased lands from Cary and built a homeon the site of the College Hill Presbyterian Church. His factory was between Hamilton Avenue and theDavey mansion on Linden Drive. He collected ashes from the residents and made lye by leaching theashes.Maple syrup and molasses were made. Sap was collected and poured into sassafras troughs, and ironkettles were used to reduce the sap water to syrup and sugar. The kettles were suspended from poles overa fire or set in a stone archway with a fire burning underneath the arch.Captain Brown had whiskey stills located on Rankin’s farm. Stephen Jessup also had a distillery andsmall grist mill. David Gray had a distillery in the valley south of Moses Gray’s house. This areaabounded with orchards of peaches, pears, apples and cherries. Less than perfect fruit was taken to bemade into brandy, which had a ready market. Since currency was scarce, a portion of the brandy, corn orwood was left with the miller or brewer as his payment.Bartering was the main way of transacting business. The money of that time was the Spanish silverdollar. A blacksmith could cut a dollar coin in half or into five wedge shaped pieces, one of which theblacksmith kept as is payment. A 1/5 piece was called a ‘sharpskin.’ A dollar coin could also be cut into1/8’s, a ‘bit.’ One bit was worth 12 cents, 2 bits represented 25 cents. No small coins were available forchange in Cincinnati until Yeatman’s store brought a barrel of pennies from Philadelphia in 1795.Early cabins were upgraded as the families prospered. Walls were whitewashed, mud and stickchimneys were replaced by those of stone. Iron lard lamps replaced those made of scraped turnips, logbenches gave way to split bottomed chairs. Feather beds with woolen covers, calico curtains, skinscovering a floor of wooden planks or hard packed dirt - these were signs of fashion.In his Early Annals, Freeman G. Cary lists others he remembers: Seth Gard, men by the names ofKeen, LaRue, Sparks, Walker, Coons, Wagoner, Raymond, Vansant, Finney, John Jessup and his sons,Stephen, Isaac and David, Indian Daniel Jessup, the father of John, so named because he was takencaptive by Indians, John Hawkins, Peter and John Laboyteaux, Peter (the tailor) Laboyteaux, JohnSnodgrass, Samuel and Jedidiah Hill, John and Aaron Lane, Danforth Witherby and his sons, John,Luther, Branch and Oliver, William and James McCash, Bradbury Robinson and sons, Solomon Smith,Arad Lawrence, John Wolf, William and Jacob Badgley, Solomon Eversul who died at age 101, EzekialHutchinson, James and Israel Ludlow, Andrew Mack, Isaac and Clark Bates, John Riddle, Isaac Perry,Joel and Jacob Williams, William Woodward, Samuel Merry, Thomas Hofner and his sons, John,25 Historical Sketch of College Hill and Vicinity, Samuel Fenton Cary, 1886.28