Transcription contributed by Martie Callihan 28 Oct 2004

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The first settlement within the limits of Warren County is involved in some obscurity. Many of the earliest settlers had purchased their lands long before it was safe to settle upon them. They may have made frequent visits to their lands, and perhaps have begun the work of clearing and making improvements, before becoming permanent residents thereon.

Several written accounts concur in representing the settlement at Bedle's Station as the first in the county. The only block-house in the county for protection against the Indians was here erected. It was built of logs, and constructed in the ordinary manner of block-houses. The distinguishing feature of block-houses was that the upper part of the building above the height of a man's shoulder projected one or two feet over the lower part, thus leaving a space through which rifles could be thrust on the approach of enemies. Bedle's Station was about four miles west of Lebanon and one mile south of Union Village, and was a well-known place among the early inhabitants. The date usually given for the commencement of this settlement is September, 1795. Although this is one month after Wayne's treaty of peace, it should be remembered that it could not at that time be known that the Indians would respect the treaty. Hence the block-house was erected. William Bedle, who, in connection with his son and sons-in-law, established this station, was a native of New Jersey. At what time he came to the Western country is unknown. In Littell's Genealogies of the Passaic Valley of New Jersey, it is stated that " William Bedell sold his lands in October, 1792, to his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Littell, and, with his son-in-law and son (James) and their families, removed to a section of land that he purchased of Daniel Thompson for $250, between the two Miami Rivers, in Warren County, Ohio, where they all settled." The family surname is variously written, but Bedle is the most common orthography in the Warren County records. There were several families of this name among the early settlers of Turtle Creek Township, and all of them were from New Jersey. William Bedle probably purchased from Daniel Thompson a land warrant issued by Symmes, as his deed for Section 28, Town 4, Range 3, was executed by Jonathan Dayton and dated November 30, 1795. At the time of the erection of Bedle's block-house, White's Station, on Mill Creek, was probably the nearest and most accessible settlement.

Family traditions give September, 1795, or the month following Wayne's treaty, as the date of the settlement of Mounts' Station, on the south side of the Little Miami, two and one-half miles below the mouth of Todd's Fork. Here, on a tract of broad and fertile bottom land, William Mounts, with his family and four other families, established themselves, and were afterward joined by others. They erected their cabins in a circle around a spring, as a protection against the Indians.

In the spring of 1796, settlements were made in various parts of the county. The settlements at Deerfield, Franklin, and the vicinities of Lebanon

Among the earliest white men who made their homes in the county were those who settled on the forfeitures in Deerfield Township. They were poor men, wholly destitute of means to purchase land, and were willing to brave dangers from savage foes, and to endure the privations of a lonely life in the wilderness to receive gratuitously the tract of 106 2/3 acres forfeited by each purchaser of a section of land who did not commence improvements within two years after the date of his purchase. In a large number of the sections below the third range, there was a forfeited one-sixth part, and a number of hardy adventurers had established themselves on the northeast corner of the section. Some of these adventurers were single men, living solitary and alone, in little huts, and supporting themselves chiefly with their rifles. Others had their families with them at an early period. Tradition gives the date of the settlements on some of the forfeited tracts as prior to Wayne's treaty, and, while the exact history cannot now be learned, it is not improbable that some of the claimants of forfeitures may have begun a clearing and erected some kind of a dwelling not long after Wayne's victory over the Indians, and prior to the building of Bedle's block-house. Under the terms of sale and settlement of the Miami Purchase, claimants of forfeitures were required to make and continue improvements thereon for a period of seven years, when they were entitled to receive deeds therefor. The claimants were permitted to reside in some station of defense. Several claimants in Deerfield Township were unsuccessful in perfecting their titles to the tracts on which they had made improvements.

It may be safely assumed that September, 1795, the date given in Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, is not far from the correct date of the first settlement of Warren County. The following dates exhibit the progress of settlements up the Miamis:

August 20, 1794, Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers.
December 17, 1794, Hamilton laid out at Fort Hamilton.
August 3. 1795, Wayne's treaty of peace.
September, 1795, Bedle's Station commenced.
November 4, 1795, Dayton laid out.
Spring of 1796, Waynesville, Franklin and Deerfield settled.
April 1, 1796, permanent settlements at Dayton commenced.
April 7, 1796, first cabin raised in Greene County.

As soon as it became known that the treaty of Greenville had secured peace, and that block-houses and pickets were no longer necessary, the tide of immigration, so long delayed by savage hostility, flowed in, and before two years elapsed, the pioneer's ax rang out in every township between the Miamis, and settlements extended up Todd s Fork far into the Virginia Military District.