If there is any guiding spirit for this “Cincinnati Curiosities” blog, it must be Mr. Charles Cist (1792-1868). In fact, I once considered naming the blog “A Cincinnati Miscellany” in homage to Cist and one of his books.

No one who explores the history of Cincinnati can avoid Charles Cist, because all Cincinnati historians rely heavily upon Cist’s writing about his beloved adopted city. To be honest, most historians of Cincinnati steal shamelessly from Charles Cist.

Just one excerpt from Cist’s voluminous writing about Cincinnati demonstrates the deep emotion he felt while gazing, in 1841, on our city enfolded in the fog of a late summer dawn:

“One of the views most worthy, perhaps, of attention, may be had at an early hour on one of the foggy mornings of August, or September. A spectator, under such circumstances, placed upon one of these hills, will find himself elevated quite above the dense vapors of the river: he will behold the sun rising free from all obscurity, while the plain below him is lost in one unbroken sheet of fog, presenting the appearance of an unruffled lake. As soon, however, as the rays of the sun fall less obliquely upon this expanse of vapor, It dissipates, and assuming the appearance of fleecy clouds passes away to rarer regions, gradually disclosing the city, the river, the villages the numerous steamboats, and all the various objects of the valley.”

That is love, pure and simple.

Our Charles Cist was born and educated in Philadelphia. Cist’s father, also named Charles, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Charles Sr. was a famous printer and publisher in Philadelphia. Undoubtedly, Charles Jr. learned to love printing and publishing at an early age.

He enlisted in the army during the War of 1812 and was mostly assigned to garrison duty. After the war, he moved west to Pittsburgh, and then to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where he ran a store and was named postmaster. In 1817, he married the former Jane White and with her had 13 children.

Around 1827, Cist brought his young family west to to Cincinnati. He operated a Sunday school, reportedly the first in Cincinnati, then clerked for McAlester & Co. and McLellan & Yorke, both grocers. A stint as a salt merchant was short-lived because Cist published the first of his statistical analyses of Cincinnati in 1841.

“Cincinnati in 1841: Its Early Annals and Future Prospects” may be the most plagiarized book in Cincinnati history. In this expansive - more than 400 pages! - volume, Cist laid out a full and detailed description of Cincinnati, beginning with its geography, geology, history, climate, commerce, finances, government, population, transportation, religion, schools, associations - even magnetism!

Cist published the City Directories for Cincinnati in 1842 and 1843. He launched the Western Weekly Advertiser in 1843, a newspaper largely focused on the pioneer history of the area but including continually updated statistics for Cincinnati and Ohio. The paper published into 1853. Cist followed his 1841 book with two more volumes of Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1851 and 1859. He also published in 1845 and 1846 a curious pair of books titled The Cincinnati Miscellany, filled with clippings from his newspaper, mostly relating to Cincinnati history. Many of the original documents Cist quotes are lost and his reprints are our only record of the city’s founders. Cist was active in Democratic politics, was elected to the school board and worked for the creation of free schools.

Although he loved the city, Cist generally lived on the suburban fringes of town. While his first home was on Race Street north of Second Street, he soon moved to Tenth Street - way out in the ‘burbs in 1831 - and later to College Hill.

When he died at his College Hill home in 1868, he was praised by both the fiercely Democratic Enquirer and the equally rabid Republican Gazette. The Enquirer noted:

“For many years he had been retired, owing to age and infirmity, and was seldom seen on our streets. Occasionally the old gentleman visited us at the Enquirer to have a communion upon the state of politics which, to the very last, he manifested much solicitude. In his death, Cincinnati loses a very conspicuous landmark in the political and journalistic past.”

The Gazette noted:

“In politics, Mr. Cist was a Democrat up, we believe, to 1850, or thereabout, when the party ceased to be Democratic. He has since voted, so far as he has been able, with the party of freedom and progress.”

Among the children of Jane and Charles Cist, was Henry M. Cist who made history in the Civil War as a leader of the Army of the Cumberland. Another son, Lewis Jacob Cist was a banker and gathered autographs and old portraits in a collection sold in New York City in 1886 and 1887. A third son, Charles E. was an attorney, clerk of the U.S. Court, trustee of Cincinnati College and Farmers’ College, and active in College Hill politics when that suburb was an independent city.

Pretty much the entire Cist family is interred at Spring Grove Cemetery.

The Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County has posted digitized copies of Charles Cist’s landmark works: