History of Hamilton County Ohio
CHAPTER XX CIVIL LIST OF HAMILTON COUNTY
From 1790 to 1795 the block-house and garrison at North Bend afforded protection to the adventurous pioneers seeking homes in the Northwestern territory. The land west of the Great Miami river had been ceded to the United States, but not yet conveyed. The Shawnees and Wyandots, reluctant to leave their favorite hunting grounds and the graves of their sires, still remained the occasion of danger and alarm to the squatter population at North Bend.
The Indians gradually disappeared, and in 1795 the Nimrods of North Bend, attracted by the abundance of game in the unbroken forests beyond the Miami and Whitewater rivers, built their cabins, and with their families squatted on Government land. Jeremiah Chandler, from South Carolina, a soldier of the Revolutionary army, a bold, daring man, tired of the pent-up Utica at the North Bend settlement, built the first cabin in what is now Whitewater township. Its location was near the west end of the suspension bridge. A spring of pure water and the “salt lick” a mile away, where his sure rifle could almost any day bring down a fat buck, determined the site of this first civilized habitation in the bounds of the township.
During the spring of 1795 the following families squatted south of the cabin Jeremiah Chandler had built: John Burham, James Dugan, John White, and Joseph Brown. In 1796 Alexander GUARD, Thomas MILLER, Joseph Rolf, Joseph HAYES, James Buckelow and John McNutt; in 1798 Isaac Mills, Hugh Dunn, John Phillips and Daniel Perrine. From 1796 to 1800 the following squatters built cabins on the west side of the Miami; The first was built by Stephen Goble on land afterwards bought by Ezekiel Hughes; Hugh Karr, from Ireland, built near the Cleves bridge; Joseph Grey, Joseph Raingweather, John and Andrew Hill, I. Ingersol, E. Eades, Benjamin Welch and Hugh Bucknell.
When the land was sold many of these families left, but, after the lapse of eighty-five years, descendants of John Benham, A. GUARD, Thomas MILLER, Joseph HAYES, Hugh Karr, Andrew Hill and I. Ingersol, who purchased land, are to be found, honored and useful citizens of the township.
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