“Dear Times:—I aimed to say that the first cabin was built on the ground occupied by Portsmouth, at the lower end of Front street, about seventeen hundred and ninety-five. Seventy-five was entirely too early, as a majority of your readers doubtless are aware that the first permanent settlement in Ohio was not made at Marietta or Point Harmar until seventeen hundred and eighty-eight; at Columbia, five miles above Cincinnati, until seventeen hundred and ninety-nine; nor at Gallipolis, by the French, before seventeen hundred and ninety-one.”
“Please to say that it was Aaron instead of Peter Kinney that established the first tannery at Portsmouth. I mean the father of Washington, Peter, Henry, Eli, Philander, Elizabeth, Eliza, Maria, &c., &c., &c.”
“Your compositor omitted a line in my manuscript and made me say that Thomas Hatch, instead of his father, introduced the first dray to the citizens of your place.”
“No one is more anxious or will feel more grateful than myself to have errors pointed out and mistakes and oversights rectified.”
“Adams county, from which Scioto was detached in 1802, was organized in 1797. The first Territorial Legislature was held at Cincinnati, in 1799. Union township was divided in 1812, both Portsmouth and Alexandria being in it previous to that time.”
“The first ferry legally opened in Scioto county was across the Scioto river at its mouth, by Stephen Smith, about 1805. David Gharky established a ferry over that river at the lower end of Portsmouth, in 1815.”
“Notwithstanding Benjamin Feurt informed “Scioto” that David Gharky did not arrive at Alexandria until “between 1801 and 4,” he landed there in October, 1799. Lucas, Buck, and Dever all kept ferries higher up the Scioto, within the county, at different times, all at remote periods. William Dupuy, Sr., started the first ferry across the Ohio river within the vicinity of Portsmouth, landing opposite to Market street. The first flat he used was only large enough to take in a wagon and one span of horses, say 40 feet long and 8 feet wide, which was rowed across and poled up by hand. That flat was superseded by one much larger, propelled by horse power, which has doubtless now given place to a powerful steamer.”
“The first printing press established and the first newspaper printed at Portsmouth, was by a man named Abbott, together with a partner in that business, in that long row of one story buildings near the lower end of Front street, spoken of by “Scioto” as being the building in which Elijah and Nathan Glover opened the first hat manufactory. Eli Glover was the first native-born citizen of Portsmouth who obtained a knowledge of “the art preservative of all arts,” and he was quite ingenious and did excellent work in that line of business when he was engaged in it. Previous to the printing of the Post by the long departed and lamented William P. Camden, say about 1836, the people of Scioto County had but one paper at a time, that a weekly and invariably Whig in politics. Eli Glover, Julius Bingham, Edward Hamilton and others were conductors of the newspapers of Portsmouth in days long since gone by.”
“The first large water craft built in Scioto county, was a sailing vessel, built by Stephen Simmons, at a place known as “the ship yard,” some three miles below Portsmouth, on the bank of the Ohio. Simmons was related to the Gunns, and Havillas Gunn, who was once Mayor of the city of Portsmouth, named his oldest son after him, which boy called him grandfather. The hull of the vessel was taken to New Orleans to be rigged. My recollection is that it was a failure.”
“The first steamboat built in that county was by William Lodwick, the hull of it being built at George Heoredh’s mills, on Scioto Brush Creek, some eight miles up the canal from Portsmouth, when it was floated down the Scioto river and the upper works put on at your wharf; of which I should like to say a word, but shall not do it here. That steamboat was not considered a success or profitable investment.”
“The first keel boat built at Portsmouth was constructed by Ben. and John Masters, both of them working on it themselves, on the bank of the Ohio, directly below or west of Brown’s warehouse, at the lower end of town. The water rose quite high and floated her from the stocks, saving the builders the labor of launching.”
“The first skiff builder at Portsmouth was Samuel Montgomery, father of Robert, Hetta, Nancy and Maria; the first named of the daughters becoming the wife of George Stevenson.”
“Marcus Huston, brother to Samuel, John, and their beautiful curly headed sister, whose name has escaped my memory, built skiffs at a very early day. He was lame and used a crutch and cane in walking, à la Cornelius McCoy. Would like to say a word of Mack, but shall not digress to do it. John Thompson established a tailor shop in Portsmouth many years before Mack did, but it requires more than a boy to remember when Mack opened one.”
“The first animal show ever exhibited at Portsmouth was one live tiger; not the one that Tom Steele introduced, but a real, living Bengal, which was showed on the east side of Madison street, a little north of Front. The painting on the outside was a grander sight and better show than the animal within. It represented a sailor with the cub in his arms, running for life, closely pursued by the ferocious mother of the suckling, the small boat lying on the beach and the vessel quietly riding at anchor some distance from shore. The most natural conclusion is that he escaped and succeeded in bringing the natural curiosity away from its native land. Cut silver money was then in circulation and the showman took in his breeches pocket full of it on that occasion. For the special benefit of “Young America” and the rising generation generally, permit me here to remark that that kind of coin had a peculiarly melodious ring rarely if ever enjoyed by American ears in these days of greenbacks and fractional currency.”
“The first circus that ever performed at Portsmouth was Stickney’s. The canvas was spread on the west side of Jefferson street, between Front and Second, about where father Damarin’s warehouse was burned, as he expressed it, by the carelessness of those who spent unseasonable hours at “De one pin alley.””
“The first theatre that ever wintered at Portsmouth was managed by Dyke and Jenkins, the performances being given in a large brick building on the east corner of Front and Market streets. Their performances soon exhausted the stock of plays learned and rehearsed, and dwindled down to comic songs lacking in ability and merit. Shelawoy November 13, 1868.”1
