JOSEPH HOUGH, AN EARLY MIAMI MERCHANT
By R. PIERCE BEAVER
There were many forces which bound the
Miami country to
the South--the political dominance of
men of southern birth,
family ties, ecclesiastical relations,
the attitude towards the negro,
and above all commercial relations. The
last influenced all the
other forces and brought with economic
dependence on the South
a common way of thinking with it,
especially in matters of
economics and politics. This
relationship began with the first
years of development. After Anthony
Wayne's victory and the
Treaty of Greenville, settlement was no
longer forced to cling
to the bank of the Ohio River at
Cincinnati, Columbia, and North
Bend, but speedily spread over the rich
lands of the two Miamis.
A number of foodstuffs could be produced
in abundance, but for
other things, especially manufactured
articles, the region depended
on Philadelphia or other eastern
markets. However, it was im-
practical to transport to the East the
products given in exchange
for these imports, and the only market
available was one to which
approach was furnished by a natural
water route, New Orleans.
About ten years after the opening of the
hinterland the Cincin-
nati wholesale trade began, and this,
with the later rise of indus-
tries, made the section less dependent
on the East, whereas the
volume of exports to the South steadily
increased. With these
exports went a feeling of good-will
towards, and common interest
with, those persons who received them.
Nevertheless, for the first
score of years, until the industries
developed sufficiently to meet
local needs, the manufactured articles
came from the East, and
this dependence on East and South alike
necessitated almost an-
nually a triangular journey for the
merchant.
The early Miami merchant then played a
much more im-
portant part in determining the interest
and destinies of his region
than he could ever have imagined. He was
usually, in those early
(37)
38
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
years, a young man of little capital,
adventurous and energetic.
Very often he was a Pennsylvanian who,
emigrating to the
western country, carried with him a
supply of goods, and, chanc-
ing to dispose of it to his advantage,
remained in the business.
The merchant bought his stock of goods
in Philadelphia, labori-
ously transported it by wagon to
Brownsville or Pittsburgh, where
he purchased a boat, and floated his
cargo to Cincinnati. Then
again he had to procure wagons and haul
his goods to some in-
terior village which he had chosen
through the advice of friends
or which, as was often the case, was
determined for him by
chance. Once located, the goods were
offered for sale if a store
room could be secured, and immediately
new difficulties arose.
There was little ready money in the
country, and the merchant
was offered in exchange for his wares
wheat, corn, whisky, and
pork. There was no local demand for
these, and the only method
by which the merchant could dispose of
them was to turn the
grain into flour or whisky, pack the
pork, and ship these products
to New Orleans for sale in the South or
for reshipment to the
Atlantic States or Europe. The small
merchant usually accom-
panied his boats, and personally sold
his cargo. Some men became
interested in speculations in the lower
Mississippi region and
invested a part of the income from their
expeditions. The trader
then had to return home by a dangerous
and difficult overland
route or go by boat to Philadelphia and
there purchase a new
supply of merchandise, for Philadelphia
continued to be a fa-
vorite outfitting market even for many
years after the wholesale
business in Cincinnati was well
developed. The normal cycle
then was: from the Miami country to New
Orleans, to Phila-
delphia, and then back to the Miami
Valleys.
Joseph Hough, of Pennsylvania Quaker
origin, was a typical
merchant of the early period, and
engaged in the trade from 1806
to 1825. In 1852, the year before his
death, at the request of his
friend James McBride, the historian of
the Miami country, he
wrote a sketch of his life and
adventures.1 This narrative well
1 A copy of this manuscript is in the
possession of Joseph Hough's great
granddaughter, Mrs. Mary Millikin
Beckett, of Hamilton, Ohio, who kindly pro-
vided a copy for the present study.
After the narrative had been edited in the
present form, the writer discovered that
certain portions of it had been previously
published in a sketch of Hough's life in
a History and Biographical Cyclopaedia of
JOSEPH HOUGH 39
illustrates the activities of the Miami
merchant and the complica-
tions of his business. While not having
the value of a contem-
porary document, it has the value of
reviewing the period as a
whole and of describing the main
features of the subject. As
the sketch is a simple narrative and has
no thesis to defend, it
is perhaps freer from error than the
memoirs of some old men,
who remember the past in the light of
after-events.
For his early life, the journey to
Hamilton, and his begin-
ning in business, the letter to McBride
is adequate.2
I was born near Brownesville in Fayette
County, Pennsylvania, on the
26 of February, 1783, and resided there
with my parents until I was five
years old, at which time my parents
removed to Washington County, in said
state. My parents continued to reside in
Washington County until I was
about fifteen years old, at which time
my father died. My father had been,
for several years, in easy
circumstances, but like thousands of others, was
not content to "let well enough
alone," and about two years before his
death, engaged in the mercantile
business. He knew nothing of the busi-
ness, and the consequences were, as
might have been expected, that he
sustained considerable losses. After his
decease, it was soon ascertained
that it would take nearly all his estate
to pay his debts, and the result
proved to be, that there were left,
after all his debts were paid, but a few
hundred dollars. I rejoiced that there
was even that amount left, which
would assist in the support of my aged
Mother and my three sisters, all
of whom were younger than myself. My
mother only survived my father
about eighteen months, and the small
pittance which had been left of my
father's estate had proved sufficient,
to give her the comfort of life as long
as she lived. It was a consolation to me
to know that such was the fact.
Shortly after the death of my father, I
knew that I had nothing to
rely upon for a living, but my own
unaided exertions. I determined at
once, in no manner to be a charge upon
my aged mother, and shortly bound
myself as an apprentice to Israel Gregg
of Brownesville to learn the trade
of a clock and watch maker. I engaged to
serve him until I was twenty-
one years old. When I had served out my
alloted time, I found myself
twenty-one years old--a free man, and
out of debt. Not-withstanding I was
without a dollar, I did not despair for
a moment. I felt as independent
as I have at any period since. I asked
neither advice nor aid from anyone.
Knowing well that I had no time to idle,
before the expiration of my ap-
prenticeship, I had engaged to work at
my trade with another clock and
watch maker in Brownesville. On the first
morning after my time was
out I commenced journey-work and
continued to work at my trade for
about two years. During that whole time
I lost (Sundays excepted) only
two days. In these two years I earned
and saved over and above my ex-
penses about one thousand dollars and
was debtor to no man.
Butler County, Ohio (Cincinnati, 1882), 166-8. However, the source of these
quotations
was not given, and the material was not
well arranged. Nevertheless, the writer
abandoned the thought of publishing the
narrative, since some paragraphs of it were
already in print. But, coming upon it
after some years, and reading it again, it
seemed that the narrative was worthy of
publication in a form more complete, more
carefully prepared, and more easily
available than that of the county history.
2 See also the biographical sketch in
the History of Butler County, loc. cit.
40
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Previously to this my brother Thomas had
been selling goods on com-
mission, for several years, and at this period he had
just closed up that
business, and had realized about two thousand dollars.
He proposed to
me a partnership in the mercantile business--combining
out capitals--to
which I agreed, and we there-upon
determined to remove to Lebanon in
Warren County, in this state (Ohio). Our
object in removing west was
to better our pecuniary circumstances,
the same reason that has influenced
others and which continues to be the
motive power that is propelling the
mighty masses of people westward to fill up the vast,
fertile domain that
yet invites and is able to receive and sustain almost
innumerable millions
of freemen. In our removal from
Brownesville and Settlement in Hamil-
ton, there were but few incidents, that
were not common to those who, like
ourselves, were seeking new homes in the
West. My brother and myself
left Brownesville about the first of
June, 1806, for Cincinnati, in a small
flat-boat. We had with us a small stock
of merchandise, purchased in
Philadelphia with which we designed to
commence business, hoping to re-
plentish the same from time to time, as
required, and we expected to con-
tinue in business as partners an
indefinite period of time. The Mononge-
hala and Ohio rivers were both very low.
As neither of us had the least
knowledge of the channels of the rivers
we frequently grounded on the
bars, and were consequently compelled to
be in the water to pry off our
boat, almost every day. Our trip was,
therefore, a very tedious one and
we did not land at Cincinnati until the
last of June. Cincinnati contained
then, about one thousand inhabitants. It
is now the Queen City and can
boast of a population, approaching, one
hundred fifty thousand! We soon
busied ourselves in preparing to reach
our proposed location. We procured
wagons to carry our goods to Lebanon,
and shortly after they were on
their way, my brother and self started
out on foot, to overtake them, it
being out of the question to hire horses
to ride, as there were no livery
stables. We travelled out on the old
Lebanon road, expecting to over-take
our wagons where Reading now stands.
Night over-taking us, we took the
road leading to Jacob White's mill, on
Mill Creek, nine miles from Cin-
cinnati. We were not apprized of our
mistake until we reached the house
of Jacob White, some time after dark. We
introduced ourselves to him,
and after some conversation he fully
understood our difficulty. He treated
us with all the hospitality and kindness
we could have desired. After find-
ing out our views and purposes he told
us that he was certain we could
not procure a house in Lebanon in which
to open our goods, and advised
us to go to Hamilton, as John 'Wingate
(since, Gen. Wingate) had just
quit business, and that he had no doubt
but we could rent his house. We
determined to follow his advice, and
left his house early next morning to
over-take our goods, before the wagons
would start. When, however, we
arrived at the place where the wagons
had remained over night, they had
gone. I hired a horse and over-took them
in time to turn them towards
Hamilton on the old Deerfield road. At
that time there was no road even
surveyed between Lebanon and Hamilton. I
returned to my brother and
we both made our way to Hamilton, where
we arrived on the first day of
July, 1806.
We rented Mr. Wingate's store room and
opened our goods for sale,
and continued our sales until the death
of my brother. He was attacked
with bilious fever on the 4th day of
September and died on the 17th day
of the same month, being a resident of
the county of only a few days over
two and a half months. Four days after
his decease, I was taken down
with the same disease and my life was,
for some days, despaired of, but
JOSEPH HOUGH 41
after a lingering illness of near five
weeks, I became able to transact busi-
ness. I became Administrator of my
brother's estate--settled it up--and
settled up the business of the firm of
"Thomas & Jos. Hough." I gave to
my younger sisters my share of my
brother's estate and the fees allowed
for settling the same.
From this time until the autumn of 1825,
with the exception
of a little more than three years,
Hough, sometimes alone and
again with a partner, carried on a
general mercantile business in
Hamilton. There was much competition,
for there were more
merchants than the community needed,
and, though failures were
common, there were always others to take
over the ruined stores.
In 1830 when the population of the twin
towns, Hamilton and
Rossville, amounted to only 1708, there
were twenty-three mer-
cantile establishments with a few more
specialized retail stores in
addition.3 In 1810 the
population of Hamilton was 242 and in
1820, 660. However, the products of the back country to some
distance north and east, and to a great
distance west--far in the
direction of Indianapolis--were hauled
into the village and sold
or traded for supplies. Once or twice a
year it was necessary
for the merchant to obtain new stock.
Hough described the
situation as follows:
The difficulties connected with the
merchantile [sic] business of the
early periods to which I have referred [sic],
cannot be realized by the mer-
chants of this day. We had to travel on
horse-back from Hamilton to
Philadelphia, a distance of six hundred
miles, to purchase our goods. We
were exposed to all kinds of weather and
were compelled to pass over the
worse possible roads. When our goods
were purchased, we had to engage
wagons to haul them to Pittsburgh, a
distance--by the then roads--of three
hundred miles.
At that early day the road from
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was
exceedingly bad. It was only graded and
turnpiked from Philadelphia to
Lancaster. The residue of the road in
many places was very steep and
exceedingly rough. From thirty to
thirty-five hundred pounds were con-
sidered a good load for a good
five-horse team. There was only a weekly
line of stages from Philadelphia to
Pittsburgh and the time occupied in
going from one place to another was six
days.
... The transportation of goods over the
mountains occupied from
twenty to twenty-five days, and cost
from six to ten dollars per hundred.
Our goods being landed at Pittsburgh, we
usually bought flat-boats or keel-
boats and hired hands to take our goods to Cincinnati
and we then were
able to have them hauled to Hamilton at
from fifty to seventy-five cents
per hundred! We were generally engaged
three months in going East--
in purchasing a stock of goods, and
getting them safely delivered at Hamil-
3 James McBride, Notes on
Hamilton, 1831 (Hamilton, 1898), 42-43.
42
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ton. Those three months were months of
toil and privation and of ex-
posure of every kind.
In illustration of the truth of the
above remark I must state that in
one of my trips from Pittsburgh to
Cincinnati, I was thirty-nine days on
a keel-boat with six men besides myself
to man the boat. I believe the trip
was in the fall of 1816. The river was
then as low as it has ever been
known, on many of the ripples in the
deepest channel, if channel it could
be called, there was scarce one foot of
water. My boat drew one foot
and a half after taking out all such
articles as we could carry over the
ripple in a large canoe, which was the
only kind of a lighter we could
procure. Consequently, we had to scrape
out channels, at the low ripples,
of sufficient width and depth to float
our boat. We usually found out
the deepest water on the ripple and then
all hands would engage in making
the channel. When we passed such a
ripple we reloaded our goods and
proceeded to the next, when the same
labor had to be performed and the
same exposure endured. The extent of the
labor which had to be per-
formed in order to pass our boat can be
best understood when I state that
we were frequently detained three days
at some of the worst ripples.
After the receipt of our goods at
Hamilton our difficulties were by
no means all over-come. In order to sell
them we were compelled not only
to do the ordinary duties of merchants
and to incur its ordinary responsi-
bilities, and risks, but had to become
the produce merchants of the country.
We were compelled to take the farmers
produce and send or take it to
New Orleans, the only market we could
reach. It was necessary for the
merchant to buy pork and pack it; to buy
wheat, buy barrels and contract
for the manufacture of the wheat into
flour, and then build flat-bottomed
boats and with great expense and risk of
property, commit the whole to
the dangers of the navigation of the
Miami, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers.
The dangers of the trip and the
uncertainty as to financial
success of the enterprise caused some
merchants to sell their
goods to others who were more willing to
undertake the venture.
In the early winter of 1811 Hough,
already experienced in such
enterprises, formed a partnership with
McBride for the purpose
of "buying wheat and flour and shipping of flour to New Or-
leans." It proved to be a profitable undertaking. The state of
the crops, Indians, weather conditions,
and many other things
played their part in the speculation. In
the first year of the
venture it happened to be Indians and
earthquakes. On April 1,
1812, while floating down the
Mississippi with his cargo, McBride
wrote to his aunt, Miss Mary McRoberts:4
About the first of March last I received
a letter from you, and omit-
ted answering it until now, which was
not occasioned, or owing to negli-
gence, but because I thought the
intelligence I would have to give would
occasion you some little uneasiness, as
at that time I was engaged in making
4 James McBride, to Miss Mary McRoberts,
April 1, 1812, printed under the
title "A Voyage down the
Mississippi," in Historical and Philosophical Society of
Ohio Quarterly Publication (Cincinnati, 1906-), V (1920) no. 1, p. 27.
JOSEPH HOUGH 43
preparations to make a voyage to New
Orleans and am now so far on my
way. Last winter I entered into a
co-partnership with Joseph Hough, of
Hamilton, with the intention of carrying
on the business of merchandizing;
we purchased a quantity of flour and
whisky in the Miami Country and
located two flat boats on the Miami river which we have
brought out of
that stream and are thus far on our
voyage. When we go to New Orleans
we shall sell our cargo, go round by sea
to Philadelphia and purchase goods
and return with them to Hamilton.
As you have no doubt heard very alarming
accounts about the earth-
quakes and other dangers of descending
the Mississippi river, I suppose
you would have looked upon me as going to certain
destruction. Thank
kind providence, I think we have now passed those
dangers, and if some
untoward accident does not overtake us
we shall pass safely to New Or-
leans and if flour bears the price,
which I understand it does, we shall make
something very handsome. Our cargoes
consist of seven hundred barrels
of flour and some whisky and pork which
we purchased in the Miami
country on very reasonable terms, as the
reports prevailing of the dangers
to be encountered from Indians and
Earthquakes had so much frightened
the people that none would venture to
encounter them. These stories I
considered improbable, but have since
found too much reality to exist in
them, particularly those relating to the
earthquakes.
Hough made the journey to New Orleans,
"before steam-
boat navigation could be relied upon to
bring one to Louisville,
fourteen times." This means up to
1819, for in that year he
made his first steamboat voyage back up
the river. Thirteen of
these voyages were made by flatboat and
one by barge. After
1825 he journeyed to Vicksburg and back
twenty-nine times,
dying on the last trip.
The river country was very sparsely
settled in the earlier
years of Hough's travels. He described
it as follows:
The first time I descended the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers I left
Cincinnati in December, 1808, with five
flat-boats, all loaded with produce.
At that time there were but few settlers
on the Ohio River below the
present City of Louisville. The cabins
on the river below Louisville were
few and far between. There were only two
small villages between Louis-
ville and the mouth of the Ohio. One was
Henderson, known then by the
name of Red Banks, and the other was
Shawneetown. It was a village
of a few cabins and used as a landing
place for the Salt works then carried
on on the Saline River back of
Shawneetown. The banks of the Mississippi
from the mouth of the Ohio to Natchez
was still more sparsely settled
than the country bordering on the Ohio. New Madrid, a
very small village,
was the first settlement below the mouth
of the Ohio. There were a few
cabins at the little Prairie--a cabin
opposite to where Memphis now is, and
on the lower end of the bluff where
Memphis now is there was a small
Stockade Fort called Fort Pickering,
garrisoned by a company of Rangers.
Cabins were to be seen at the mouth of
White River, at Point Chico and
at Walnut Hills, two miles above where
the city of Vicksburg now is.
From the latter place to Natchez there
were cabins to be found at the
distance of fifteen or twenty miles
apart. The whole country, bordering
44
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
on the Mississippi River from the mouth
of the Ohio to Natchez might be
regarded as an unbroken wilderness. The
Indians seldom visited the banks
of the river except at a few points
where the river approaches the high
banks.
In the narrative there are these
paragraphs concerning the
coming of the steamboat:
I was at New Orleans in the Spring of
1816 when Capt. Henry
Shreve of Brownesville, Pennsylvania was
at the wharf in that city with
the Steamboat Washington, a new boat of
one hundred and fifty tons burden.
She was then preparing for her trip up
to Louisville. The price asked for
a cabin passage was one hundred and
fifty dollars and for freight--five
dollars per hundred pounds!! I regarded
the price as most exhorbitant
and declined taking passage with him. I
therefore bought a horse, and
travelled home by land. Capt. Shreve
made his trip at that time in twenty-
five days and on his arrival at Louisville
the citizens gave him a public
dinner for having made the trip in so
short a time. In a few remarks he
made on the occasion he told them he
believed the time would come when
the trip would be made fifteen days! He
was regarded as being insane
on that subject. The prediction received
no countinance as the point was
regarded as impossible.
My first trip on a steam-boat from New
Orleans was made in the
Spring of 1819 with Capt. Israel Gregg,
(the person to whom I bound
myself as an apprentice) on board the
steam-boat Gen. Clark. We were
nineteen days in making the trip and
perfectly satisfied with the result.
Those engaged in steam-boat navigation
of the great rivers at the
present day know but little, if
anything, of the difficulties that were en-
countered by Capt. Shreve and the other
pioneers in Steam-boat Navigation.
Wood could not be obtained. No wood
yards had been established. The
officers were often compelled to take
the crews into the woods and cut
and haul a sufficient quantity to last
the usual time of running. The wood
thus obtained was necessarily green and
wholly unsuited for making steam.
The officers had everything to learn in
relation to their business. Engineers
had no science and but little experience in operating
an engine. Pilots were
generally flat-boat men who knew the
channels of the river imperfectly
and nothing about the management of a
steam-boat. In fact, Capt. Shreve
labored under so many difficulties that
it is not to be wondered at that he
should have occupied twenty-five days in
making the trip.
The merchant did not always journey from
New Orleans
to Philadelphia, even in the early days
of dependence on the
eastern market. Sometimes he returned
home directly by the
difficult and dangerous route through
the Indian country, im-
periling both life and profits.
Concerning it the narrative dis-
closes the following information:
In returning home, we had either to
travel through the Choctaw,
Chickasaw and Cherokee nations of
Indians, or else go by sea either to
Philadelphia or Baltimore and from
thence home by land....I traveled
home by land eight times. We were
usually about thirty days in making
the trip. We were compelled to camp out
without tents, regardless of rain
JOSEPH HOUGH 45
or any other unfavorable weather, and to
pack provisions sufficient to last
us through the Indian nations. The first
two trips I made by land, there
were neither ferries nor bridges over
any water course from the Bayou
Pierre at Port Gibson in the Mississippi
Territory to George Colberts ferry
over the Tennessee River. When we came,
in our route, to a water course
which would swim our horses we threw our
saddle bags and our provisions
over our shoulders and swam our horses
over. Not-withstanding the diffi-
culties and dangers of these trips our
spirits never flagged. The excitement
incident to the trip sustained us and we
were always ready to enjoy a
hearty laugh whenever the occasion
provoked it.
In 1825 Hough judged that there was
greater opportunity
for profit in the mercantile business in
Vicksburg, Mississippi,
and closed his store in Hamilton.
However, he followed the
trade there only three years, and then
began speculating in Mis-
sissippi lands, and he continued this
until his death.
r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~