Filson Fields Homeowners Association

Filson Fields

Who was John Filson?

Named for John Filson of Chester County, PA. Filson served as an Ensign in Montgomery's Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp and was taken prisoner at Fort Washington during the Battle of New York.

He worked as a school teacher & surveyor in Pennsylvania until 1783 when he acquired over 13,000 acres of western lands and moved to Kentucky. He settled in Lexington, taught school, surveyed land claims, and travelled the region interviewing settlers and leading citizens. He wrote 'The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke' during this time and travelled to Delaware to have the manuscript published. He also had a "Map of Kentucke" printed and engraved in Philadelphia. The edition including both book and map, consisted of 1500 copies and was priced at $1.50. The map was reprinted several times before 1793.

After spending several years in Kentucky teaching, surveying land, and becoming embroiled in several lawsuits and financial difficulties, he purchased a one third interest in an 800 acre tract at the junction of the Ohio and Licking rivers, the future site of Cincinnati, which he called Losantiville. Filson's survey and plan of the town survives in the layout of modern downtown Cincinnati. General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, later changed the name of Losantiville to Cincinnati in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers founded by George Washington. While on a surveying expedition near the Great Miami River, Filson disappeared, October 1, 1788, when the party was attacked by hostile Shawnees and his body was never found.

John Filson never married and he left no direct decendants.