judge of the Northwestern Territory and moved to Ohio. He had for companions in his emigration Jonathan Dayton, Elias Boudinot, Dr. Clarkson and others of New Jersey. The tract constituting what is known as "Symmes' Purchase" comprised the present cities of Cincinnati and Dayton. It embraced Hamilton, Butler, Preble and Montgomery counties, and possibly Warren. Along the Ohio river it ex tended from the Little Miami, about twenty miles above Cincinnati, to the Big Miami, about the same distance below that city. All the titles for fractions of the tract proceeded from him. Judge Symmes established his residence at North Bend, and there laid out a city, intending to make it the great commercial emporium of the West. Unfortunately for his idea, Cincinnati became a military post, the protection of which was anxiously sought by settlers. Symmes' city sank into comparative insignificance. Two of the three hewn log-houses which the Judge erected as the nucleus of his emporium were destroyed by fire. The incendiary is reported to have been a political enemy. The ruins of the stone chimneys of the cabins are yet discernible. To-day North Bend is chiefly known as having been the residence of President William Henry Harrison. Judge Symmes had for his first wife Anna Tuthill, of Southold, Long Island. From the mar riage there were two daughters, Maria and Anna, of whom the former wedded Peyton Short, of Kentucky, and the latter William Henry Harrison. The wooing and winning of the younger sister is not without romantic coloring. When Fort Washington was established at Cincinnati Harrison was stationed there. Duty called the gallant captain to North Bend, and he became a guest at the Symmes residence. It was not long until he succumbed to the black eyes of Miss Anna. She was at the time twenty years of age, small, graceful, intelligent and by general agreement beautiful. He was twenty-two years of age, with a reputation well established as a gallant soldier. The two were mutually pleased with each other, and an engagement followed, which could hardly fail to be satisfactory to the father. The Judge, in fact, consented to the marriage; but, hearing some slanderous reports of the captain, he afterwards withdrew his consent. The lovers were in nowise daunted. They resolved to proceed with their engagement. November 29, 1795, the day appointed for the wedding, arrived. Judge Symmes, thinking the affair off or declining to be present, rode to Cincinnati, leaving the coast clear. In the presence of the young lady's stepmother and many guests the ceremony was performed by Dr. Stephen Wood, a justice of the peace. Undoubtedly the father of the bride was a person of great importance at that time. He was a high dignitary of the United States government and proprietor of a tract of land ducal in proportions. The lady was beautiful, young, charming, of Eastern education and manners. The bridegroom on his side had fought his way to a captaincy, which was a much more influential argument in that day than this, especially in social circles. With these points in mind, it would not be strange if a reader, giving rein to his fancy, should picture the wedding as of exceeding splendor of circumstance. It was the very reverse. To arrive at the facts the time and the conditions of the people of the region must be considered. The West was in its densest wildness. There were no luxuries. To be comfortable was to be rich. There was no aristocracy. Store goods were scarce and at prices out of reach. Weeks of travel were required to get to and from the mills. For summer wear the settlers depended in great part upon the fibre of thistle, a certain species of which, growing spontaneously in the woods, fell down and rotted in the winter, and was gathered in the spring and cleaned and woven by the women. Indeed, the probabilities are that the company assembled to witness the marriage of Captain Harrison and Miss Anna Symmes would astonish polite circles of to-day. They arrived on horseback, each man carrying a rifle, a powder-horn and a pouch lined |