The revolution came to the Ludlow’s doorstep early on in the war with General George Washington utilizing the Morristown vicinity as an encampment for the Continental Army in the winters of 1776-1777 and 1779-1780. It’s possible that a young Ludlow may have been inoculated against smallpox as a result of Washington’s efforts to keep smallpox out of his army’s camp. Cornelius served in the war, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the New Jersey Militia.
Ludlow completed his schooling and also purportedly attended college, though details of his higher education are unknown. Along the way he gained a reputation for his intelligence, integrity, and surveying skills.
On Oct. 15, 1788 Judge John Cleves Symmes and his business partners Jonathan Dayton and Elias Boudinot finalized the purchase of 311,682 acres of land between the Great Miami and Little Miami Rivers from the Continental Congress.
Before the land making up the “Symmes Purchase,” also called the “Miami Purchase,” could be sold, it had to be surveyed. Ludlow accepted an offer from Thomas Hutchins, Surveyor General of the United States, to do the surveying and departed for the Northwest Territory.
He landed at Yeatman’s Cove, opposite the mouth of the Licking River, along with Symmes, Mathias Deman, Robert Patterson, and John Filson. Ludlow set about surveying the boundaries of the purchase, while Filson began preparations for laying out the town to be established there, which was to be called Losantisville.
While this work was underway, Filson, Patterson, and Symmes headed out to scout the surrounding wilderness. Filson never returned, vanishing into the old growth forest, supposedly having been killed by Native Americans.
The void left by Filson in the land developing enterprise filled by Ludlow, who was selected by the other members of the company to take his place. Ludlow now found himself personally involved with the Symmes Purchase as the owner of two-thirds of Losantisville.
With Arthur St. Clair being appointed governor of the Northwest Territory, Ludlow proposed to him a new name for Losantisville, Cincinnati. As a member of the Society of Cincinnati, a fraternal organization of Revolutionary War officers, St. Clair eagerly accepted this proposition.
Ludlow set to work surveying the entirety of the Symmes Purchase, reporting back to and regularly corresponding with Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, on his progress. This work was done concurrently with the fighting of the Northwest Frontier War and the Symmes Purchase was very much part of the battlespace causing Ludlow to unsuccessfully petitioned for military protection on multiple occasions.
Fort Hamilton was established in September 1791 as the first in a series of military supply and communication outposts leading north from Fort Washington. The previous year, Ludlow had built a blockhouse on the wilderness trail leading north from Ft. Washington, called “Ludlow’s Station.” The blockhouse was located along Mill Creek, in what is today Cumminsville, and later became a waypoint between the two forts. Ludlow also later built the family homestead, Ludlow Mansion, on the site.
The final report on the completed survey was submitted to Alexander Hamilton on May 5, 1792. Ludlow by that time had acquired the rank of colonel in the militia.
Jonathan Dayton was the proprietor of the Northern part of the Symmes Purchase and on July 27, 1794 transferred part of this land to Ludlow. Ludlow laid out the town of Fairfield on this parcel on Dec. 17 of the same year. The town was soon renamed Hamilton in honor of Alexander Hamilton, sharing a name with Fort Hamilton.
As the sole proprietor of the town, Ludlow appointed Darius C. Orcutt, who had been a packhorse driver for St. Clair’s Army, to act as his land agent. This opened up Hamilton for settlement by the first waves of pioneers. Ludlow officially platted Hamilton on April 28, 1802 in Hamilton County.
With the signing of the Treaty of Greenville and the end of the war, the Symmes Purchase agreement had to be altered. President George Washington signed over the land patent to Symmes on Sept. 30, 1794. The government once again called on Ludlow, this time to survey the boundary line below which the Native Americans had ceded their lands.
The following year, the Army abandoned Fort Hamilton and local pioneers pulled down the fort’s timbers for use in the construction of their log homes. Ludlow acquired the property where the fort had been previously located.
Ludlow, along with Dayton, St. Clair, General James Wilkinson, and William McMillan purchased land at the confluence of the Great Miami and Mad Rivers from Symmes in 1795 only to find out that Symmes didn’t actually own the land he had sold to them. This forced them to acquire the title to the land directly from the federal government, which they did before jointly founding Dayton. Ludlow again did the surveying.
Ludlow married Charlotte (Chambers) Ludlow of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania on Nov. 10, 1796 and in the eight years of their marriage, they had four, possibly five, children.
Crossing over to the West Side of the river, Ludlow began surveying the lands still owned by congress in 1798. To aid him in surveying what would become western Butler County, he recruited Samuel and William Ludlow, his nephews and another relative, Daniel C. Cooper.
With the official establishment of Butler County in 1803 came a debate between Hamilton and Rossville regarding the location of where the County seat would be located. By offering to donate the land of the former fort site for a public square, graveyard and church, as well as offering money to defray the cost of building a proper courthouse, Ludlow tipped the scale in favor of Hamilton.
However, Ludlow would not live long enough to see this offer through, dying at Ludlow Mansion on Jan. 24, 1804 around the age of 40. His remains were interred in the Presbyterian graveyard in Cincinnati before later being relocated to Spring Grove Cemetery, which was practically the backyard of Ludlow Mansion.
His administrators, Charlotte, who married Rev. David Riske in 1810, John Ludlow, and James Findlay, saw to it that this was done as part of the December 1808 term of the Butler County Court of Common Pleas.
The remains of Hamilton’s pioneers began being buried in the Hamilton Burying Grounds soon after and a new courthouse was erected on the donated land between 1813 and 1816.
With the removal of most of the graves to the newly established Greenwood Cemetery throughout the 1850s, Hamilton Burying Grounds became a park, known as “Ludlow Park,” “Symmes Park,” due to it being the final of resting place of Captain John Cleves Symmes of Hollow Earth Theory fame, and “Fourth Ward Park” at various times.
Ludlow was an honoree at the 2025 Hollow Earth Fest in April.
Brad Spurlock is the manager of the Smith Library of Regional History and Cummins Local History Room, Lane Libraries. A certified archivist, Brad has over a decade of experience working with local history, maintaining archival collections and collaborating on community history projects.
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