dogs in fighting wildcats and this made John McLane somewhat envious for the reputation of his own canine associates and he decided to test the valor of his dogs at the first opportunity. While out hunting one day his dogs treed a member of the species wildcat. It was the intention of McLane to drive the cat from its lair into the open where his dogs could have the opportunity to show their prowess. He laid aside his rifle and slowly began the ascent of the tree which was the refuge of the wildcat, but he had not approached to within ten feet of the varmint when it rolled itself into a ball with every hair standing on end. Viciously it glared into the eyes of McLane and screeched out a warning. After repeated attempts to distract the attention of the beast which continued to glare straight into his eyes, the doughty hunter had a sudden attack of the "buck ague" and slowly and cautiously descended the tree. After he had once regained solid earth and possession of his nerves, he shot the cat. In later years when relating this adventure, he maintained that this was the only time when he ever became frightened. It is quite probable that McLane never again attempted to test out the wildcat fighting proclivities of his dogs under such conditions.

When the General Assembly passed laws in the early part of the nineteenth century concerning the establishment of public schools, it received the most bitter opposition of John McLane. Since he was a bachelor, he could see nothing but flagrant injustice in his paying taxes for supporting schools for the children of other persons. His denunciation against the Legis-lature was very strong, and he denominated the members thereof who voted for these laws "a set of dung-hill gods" from whom he prayed for deliverance.

In the days before the War of 1812, musters of the militia of the township were held every other Saturday on the little meadow that lies in front of the Eleazer Williamson house. The militiamen were armed with hoes, pitchforks, wooden guns and with other equally deadly weapons. There,

with the aid of stakes driven in the ground at proper places, they were enabled to perform all the movements of the march and drill to the gratification of their commanding officer and the unbounded admiration of all the bystanders.

When the War of 1812 broke out Capt. Ammi Maltbie and Captain Crawford raised companies from residents of the township. The news of Gen. Isaac Hull's disgraceful surrender on August 16, 1812, at Detroit, reached the people of the township on Sabbath morning and like wild fire soon spread all over the countryside. The report had it that the Indians were advancing southward, killing and scalping as they came. On the next morning the whole country was in arms. Every able bodied man volunteered for service and each furnished his own accouterments and rations. By night not an

able bodied man was to be found in the whole township, for the volunteer companies had marched northward to Urbana to meet the Indians who were thought to be nearing that place. Soon the scare passed and they returned to their homes. Gen. William Henry Harrison by his signal victories over the British and Indians at the Thames and Lundy's Lane in Canada and Perry's victory on Lake Erie saved the West from the British.

Soon after Lincoln's call for volunteers, Bellbrook and Sugarcreek township responded nobly and began sending forth their sons to fight for the preservation of the Union. The first soldier from the township to give his life on the field of battle was James Naylor, a resident of Bellbrook. He fell at the battle of Chancellorsville, while fighting doggedly to stop Jack-son's invincible flank attack.

During the four long years of war, Sugarcreek township received its full measure of sorrow. It was a loyal township in a banner-winning county, sending, according to the published roster, two hundred and five soldiers to the front.

At present our country is in the midst of another war and again the township has been called upon to give its share of men and money. The township has responded nobly to calls in behalf of the Red Cross and other funds and has subscribed liberally to the Liberty Loans. Above all, many of its sons are now in training for service.

Among the first, if not the first denomination to have ministers in the frontier settlements, were the Baptists, and the settlement of Sugarcreek township was no exception. The first minister of the gospel in this community was Daniel Clark, a Baptist and one of the most strict of his sect. He preached here in the cabins of the settlers in the early days before the organization of the county as often as once a month. In those days specie was very scarce in the settlement and the salaries of the early ministers were made up of whatever the settlers could give. Reverend Clark's salary consisted mainly of deerskins which were then a very acceptable medium of exchange as well as a common material for clothing. In 1799 he organized in that region the first church society in this section, the Baptist (Predestinarian) church at Middle Run, which is yet an active organization, the congregation's present house of worship being in the extreme southwest corner of Sugarcreek township, just north of Ferry. It is not known what became of this pioneer minister, for his name does not appear in the first poll-book and the first enumeration sheet of the township : hence it is assumed that he left these parts for other fields before 1803.

There have been and are several religious denominations represented in the township and at Bellbrook, among which are the Baptists, above named, the Associate Presbyterians, the Methodist Protestants, the Methodist Episcopals, the Old School Presbyterians, the United Presbyterians, the Christians and the Disciples, all of which are mentioned fully in the chapter on churches.

Another early Baptist minister of Sugarcreek township was Joshua Carman. He became a resident of this locality, where he ministered to the spiritual needs of the settlers, in 1802 settling on the George Wilson farm. Among his various activities he was especially noted for the number of marriage ceremonies he performed. Reverend Carman was a fighter as well as a preacher, because he gave his services to his country in the War of 1812. His death occurred on December 1, 1844, after he had reached the ripe old age of eighty-five, and he was buried one mile south of Bellbrook.

The first marriage of any resident of Sugarcreek township was that of John Wilson, Jr., one of the first settlers of Greene county, to a daughter of Jacob Mills, who was one of the earliest residents of the northern part of Warren county. The bride was a sister to the wife of Amos Wilson, a brother to the groom. This marriage took place some time prior to 1803, hence before the organization of Greene county. It was then necessary for the' groom to make a long journey to some seat of justice for the territory and there procure the license. When the time came for the ceremony, the bride was living with her sister some twenty-five miles eastward, toward the Ross county line, and it was the intention that the party should go after her and have the ceremony performed at the old John Wilson house. Some objections were lodged against this arrangement by the women who maintained that the license would not be valid in this territory. As usual the women had their way about the matter and the party crossed the Ross county line, where Rev. Joshua Carman, the pioneer minister of the section, performed the ceremony under a leaning whiteoak tree, while the rain poured down upon them. Then the party returned to John Wilson's house where the pioneer festivities of such an occasion were duly celebrated.

In the early days wild animals characteristic of the Middle West abounded in this locality ; in fact, they were a source of food supply before the advent of swine, cattle and sheep. Here the deer came down to the Little Miami to drink, panthers skulked about in the dense forest and made the chills chase up and down the pioneer boy's spine by their screams in the evening

when he would go on an errand to a distant neighbor's house. Wolves by the hundreds made night hideous with their howling in the surrounding forest. Bruin was also represented, and his depredations into the sugar houses of the settlers gave him an unsavory reputation. Between the Wilson settlement and where the town of Centerville, Montgomery county, now stands was a bear wallow. Here these animals would roll themselves in the soft mud like hogs. Nearby was a place where the deer usually went for water, and it was here that the settlers would lie in hiding to acquire their supply of fresh meat. At this place Daniel Wilson performed one of the hunting exploits of the times by killing two bears and one deer all in one evening. Panthers and wolves were numerous and destructive to the farmer's live stock. Even after the county was organized a bounty was placed on panther and wolf scalps by the associate judges.

One of the first necessities in the pioneer community was a mill where the early settlers could grind their corn for their coarse hoe cakes, "johnny" cakes and corn "pone." The very earliest settlers of the township used a mortar and pestle, which in turn graduated into a stump-mill. The first contrivance to which the name of mill can be ascribed was built just north of Clio in section 10, township 3, range 5, on the farm then owned by Amos Wilson. This mill, which was of the "corn-cracker" variety, was propelled by hand. When the neighbor brought his corn to the mill for grinding, he furnished the motive power himself, and would pay the owner 0f the mill a small grist for the use of the "cracker."

What gave a marked impetus to the building of mills in the township and in the county was the coming of Stephen Bell, one of the founders of Bellbrook. Bell was born in New Jersey, August 18, 1774. In his early life he learned to be a millwright. He became a resident of Greene county in the early part of 1812, settling near Xenia. In 1813 or 1814 he moved to Sugarcreek township and from there plied his craft throughout the county in the valley of the Little Miami. Among the mills he built was a saw-mill for Henry Opdyke on Sugar creek in the year 1832 or 1833.

Not long after the first settlement was made and wheat became a prod-uct of the township the first flour-mill was built by William Rogers about a mile east of Bellbrook on the Little Miami, about 1809. On this same site a more substantial mill was built at a later date. This latter mill was destroyed by fire about 1870. Along about the same time a man named Staley built a mill on the Little Miami, on the then main road from Bell-brook to Xenia. This mill was rebuilt in 1839 and again in 1877-78. The Washington mill was built in 1832 by Samuel Lamme with Resin Tucker

and Thompson Vaughan as millwrights. This mill was located about two miles northwest of Bellbrook on the Little Miami. Another saw-mill was built by Jeremiah Gest in 1838.

The campaign of 1840, known in the political annals of the country' as the "Log Cabin and Hard Cider" campaign, was one of the most remark-able recorded in the history of the United States. In that year Gen. Will-iam Henry Harrison, "Old Tip" as he was affectionately called by Whigs in commemoration of his signal defeat of the Indians at Tippecanoe in 1811, and John Tyler were the Whig candidates. This campaign was conducted with great enthusiasm in the settlements where hard cider, corn pone and "johnny" cakes were dispensed with libeial hands at the Whig barbecues. At political rallies and speakings and conventions, log cabins, indicative of the democratic antecedents of the General, were placed on wheels and trundled about with great enthusiasm by the zealous Whigs.

In those days Sugarcreek township was a strong Whig neighborhood, and the Whig residents of the township were busy with their demonstrations. When the time drew near for the great Whig convention at Dayton in the fall of 1840 Henry Harmon, Doctor Clancey, Jesse Sanders, Silas Hale, Ephraim Sparks, Benjamin Allen and Henry Mills, influential Whigs of the township, decided that the township would evince its enthusiasm for "Old Tip" in a unique manner. They concluded that a gigantic canoe mounted on wheels and appropriately decorated would be a fitting emblem to represent the Whigs of Sugarcreek township at the convention. A large poplar tree was selected from the farm of Jerry Gest north of Bellbrook, cut down, slabbed off and delivered in the old Methodist Protestant log church, which stood where the parsonage of that congregation now stands. Henry Harmon and his able corps of assistants set to work and under their zealous efforts the trunk rapidly took the shape of a dug-out canoe. When it was finished, it was forty feet long, twenty-six inches deep and three feet wide, and the sides were two and one-half inches thick. Seats for twenty-four girls were fitted in the craft, which was then painted with red, white and blue stripes, running from end to end. The day before the convention the canoe was mounted on a large wagon and the finishing touches were given it. Here and there flag poles were raised and secured to the boat and live coons held in little home-made cages were secured at different places on its deck. When all was ready six horses, each with a full set of bells, were hitched to the wagon and a driver perched on the high seat held the impatient steeds in leash. The twenty-four young ladies, decorated with white and blue sashes and waving flags, took their seats in the canoe, and then the whole

equipage moved forward to its rightful place, the head of the procession. When the canoe passed the grand stand General Harrison, who was present on that occasion, waved his hand in recognition, and while shouts went up on all sides for "Old Tip" the young ladies sang Whig songs with all the volume and enthusiasm they could muster.

After the return home, the flags and banners, the latter of which were painted by Jesse Sanders, were stored in the loft of Henry Harmon's house, which later was owned by Mrs. S. O. Hale, Sr. The canoe, which had served its purpose, was taken from the wagon and launched on the Little Miami at Harner's mills where it was used as a ferry for years.

The following is the list of the names of the twenty-four young ladies who rode in the canoe : Martha A. C. Ellis, D. M. S. Griffith, Kate Hopkins Willoughby, Elizabeth Patterson Brelsford, Lavina Harmon Arbogast, Elizabeth Sebring, Caroline Sebring, Mary Dorsey, Margaret Sebring, Nan Turner Snodgrass, Malinda Snodgrass, Matilda Brewster, Amanda Clancy, Samantha Snodgrass, Elizabeth Emmons, Martha Boroff Mills, Sarah Ann Turner, Cynthia Ann Patterson Warren, Jane Girard Echelberger, Elizabeth Snowden, Martha Sembly Snowden, Mary Harmon Dunham and Phoebe Ann Austin.

The Miami valley was famous for the quantity and quality of the "tree" molasses and sugar produced, especially along the second bottom where the sugar trees throve. Thus it was that that portion of Greene county along the two Sugar creeks which form a junction near Bellbrook, eventually became a market of no mean proportions for the product of the sugar tree. In those early days the village of Bellbrook became a center for the marketing of this product in this part of the country and tons of maple sugar were hauled from that village to Cincinnati. An idea of the extent of this industry in Sugarcreek township can be gained from the following, regarded as the earliest official figures concerning the production, these being dated 1850. In the year preceding the farmers of this township "stirred off" 24,524 pounds of maple sugar and 1,457 gallons of maple molasses. Obviously the former product was even at that time a very important commodity of export in this section.

It can then be easily seen that the pioneers of Sugarcreek township in the selection of sites for their homes readily recognized the value of a good sugar grove, which was often such a source of income that it laid a substantial foundation for the farmer's financial success and enabled him to lift the mortgage from his holding. Transportation facilities in those days were so clumsy that corn could not be marketed save in the form of whisky. Eggs sold at three cents a dozen and butter was listed on the market quotations

of the day at a "fip" (six and one-fourth cents) a pound. With sugar it was different, for it sold in Xenia at from eighteen to twenty cents a pound.

In the spring of 1917 there were reported 4,111 sugar trees, from which the residents of the township made forty-eight pounds of sugar and 1,326 gallons of maple syrup. These figures exceed those returned from any other township, hence Sugarcreek township is still deserving of its name.

Sugarcreek township is preeminently an agricultural district. The census returns of 1850 give data concerning production of Sugarcreek township in 1849, but before comparing these with the agricultural statistics for 1917 it is well to recall that Sugarcreek township was almost twice as large in 1849 as it is now, because Spring Valley township was erected from it in 1856. In 1850 the number of acres of improved land in the township was given as 18,250 and the unimproved land as 13,588; whereas, the report of 1917 returns the total number of acres owned in Sugarcreek township as 16,543. It also should be borne in mind that through some apparent over-sight the report for 1917 seems incomplete in several instances.

The following table shows the live stock statistics of the township in 1849 and 1917:

1849

1917

Horses, number

Cattle, number

Sheep, number

Hogs, number

Butter, pounds

Cheese, pounds

Wool, pounds

932

2,051

4,294

6,226

58,974

3,955

9,979

732

1,485

572

3,768

26,190

-------

181

MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS.

It will be noted that no buckwheat or flax seed is now reported as being produced in the township. There probably was a considerable quantity of tobacco grown in the township in 1849, but there was no return for it in the census report; the same is true of sweet potatoes in 1917. Evidently kr this latter year this district was not the bee country that it was sixty-seven years ago, but the fact that forty-one hives succeeded in producing only fifty-six pounds of honey in 1916 shows that the return was not complete or the residents of the township take little interest in furthering the honey production.

The fact that there were several items in the one report which do not correspond with that in the other makes it necessary to deal with them miscellaneously. In 1850 there were 18,250 acres of improved land in the township and 13,588 acres that were unimproved. Bearing in mind the fact that the township was twice as large then as it is now, there were, in 1917, 16,543 acres owned, of which 12,648 acres were cultivated; 1,101 acres in pasture; 2,317, in timber; 106, in orchard, and 317, waste land. The esti-

(17)

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mated value of all the farming implements in .the township in 1850 was $32,153, but this amount will not compare with what is invested in the same at the present. In that same year the animals slaughtered were valued at $18,645.

In 1917 the farmers of the township reported eight silos and 217 tons of ensilage. In 1916 there were forty-nine acres sowed in alfalfa, and during the same season seven hundred and twelve acres of clover sod were turned under. At the same time 497,280 pounds of commercial fertilizer was used. The day when the farmer made his own cheese has passed, but large quantities of other dairy products were sold in 1917; for example, milk, 45,840 gallons; cream, 31,916, thus showing the use of the cream separator. The hen contributed her share to the general prosperity of the township by laying 41,160 dozens of eggs. Orchards produced 3,740 bushels of apples. There were nine rent-ers in the township who worked for wages and eleven farms were rented to tenants. No resident of the township was reported as having moved from the farm to the city during the year.

THE VILLAGE OF BELLBROOK.

Bellbrook is a historic little village tucked down in the grand old hills of Sugarcreek township. It is located at the intersections of sections and 2, township 2, range 6, and sections 31 and 32, township 3, range 5, on Little Sugar creek, about one mile west of the Little Miami river. From it, roads lead to Dayton, Xenia, Waynesville and Spring Valley. Its population at present (1918) is about two hundred and fifty and is apparently diminishing, according to successive census returns.

The first settler of the locality which was later incorporated into the town was Joseph C. Vance, who entered the land extending along the east side of Main street, which was then a mere path called the Pinkney road. At the time of his settlement here in the spring of 1797, he erected the log cabin on the site which later became the southeast corner of Main and Walnut streets. Following Vance came James Snoden, who later became an associate judge of the county and who in 1799. entered land on which the western part of the village later was laid out. James Clancey, another of the early settlers on the site of Bellbrook, was here prior to 1803, for his name appears on the first poll-book of the first election in the township in June, 1803. When Joseph C. Vance was appointed director of the new county seat of the county he disposed of all his possessions in Sugarcreek township, including his cabin, and moved to Xenia. At the meeting of the associate judges on May T0, 1803, when the county was laid out into townships, the court ordered that the first election on the following June in Sugarcreek township should be held in the house of James Clancey, hence Clancey was the possible

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owner of the Vance cabin at that time. It seems to be an undisputed fact that it was this cabin wherein this first election was held. It was in the same house in 1803 that the Rev. Robert Armstrong preached to the little flock of Associate Reform Presbyterians (Seceders), and it was also here that the township organization was brought about in the same year.

Finding that this cabin was thus becoming the center of the activities of the township, James Clancey decided to open up a tavern. 'Accordingly he erected a more pretentious hewed-log building to the front of the little cabin and raised his tavern sign after complying with the law and receiving his license from the court of common pleas of the county. Apparently he began business in 1816 after the platting of the village of Bellbrook, for his petition to the court for permission was submitted in that year and a careful search through the records fails to reveal any prior application. This application is as follows:

To the Honorable Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Greene county :

The Petition of the undersigned freeholders of Sugar Creek Township Humbly repre-sent to your honors that we conceive a publick house of entertainment in said Township would conduce to the publick convenience ; we therefore recommend James Clancey, one of our citizens, as a man of good character and every way Calculated to keep a publick house. We therefore pray your honors would grant him a licence for that purpose and your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray—

John Hutchinson, Andrew Bird, Joseph Gillespie, James Gillespie, David Lamme, James McBride, John Clark, John B. Tode, John Blessing, Josiah Lamme, William Standley, Alexander Armstrong.

January 22nd, 1816.

Clancey's tavern thus became the rendezvous for all the surrounding country. In 1820 Clancey sold out his business and moved to Flat Rock, Indiana, where he lived the rest of his days.

LAYING OUT BELLBROOK.

In 1814 a couple of energetic men, Henry Opdyke and Stephen Bell, became residents of Sugarcreek township, buying the land which comprises the western part of Bellbrook from James Snoden in the following year, 1815, when the old judge left the county. These two men with James Clancey, who was the proprietor of the land on the east side of the Pinkney road which later became Main street, conceived the idea of laying out a town on this site. Accordingly they set to work. It is not known who did the sur-veying, for that fact is not recorded on the original plat of the village in Vol 3, p. 471, of the deed record in the office of the recorder at the court house in Xenia. But by February 9, 1816, they had their work finished and submitted the plat to James McBride, the justice of the peace for Sugar-creek township, for certification, and he made the following entry on the plat :

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The State of Ohio,

Greene County.

I, James McBride, a Justice of the Peaece in said County, do certify, that before me personally came James Clancey, Stephen Bell and Henry Opdike, and each acknowledged the within plant of the Town of Bellbrook to be laid out for that purpose. Given under my hand and seal the gth day of February, 1816.

JAMES McBRIDE, Justice of the Peace.

On the following day, February 10, the plat and certificate were duly recorded by Josiah Grover, the recorder of Greene county.

THE NAMING OF BELLBROOK.

Tradition has it that there was considerable difficulty in choosing a name for the new village and among the names suggested were "Opdykeville" and "Clanceyville," but finally Henry Opdyke hit upon the happy suggestion of "Bellbrook," which met with instant approval. The first part

of the name is derived from the name of one of the proprietors, Stephen Bell, and the latter part no doubt come from the fact that Little Sugar creek curves around the southwestern corner of the village.

THE ORIGINAL LIMITS OF THE VILLAGE.

Originally, the town was laid out north and south along the Pinkney or Alpha road. This became Main street and it was made sixty-six feet wide. Beginning on the north the first cross street east and west was Walnut which has the same width as Main. Farther south, Franklin street, which is also sixty-six feet wide, crosses Main street in the center of the village. This street is a part of the Xenia road. There are two side streets each thirty-three feet in width, extending north and south parallel with Main, the one on the east being known as East street and the one on the west, West street. They are both thirty-three feet wide. Extending along the southern edge of the village is another, South street, but where it intersects Main street its course is changed from east to west to northwesterly. This street is also sixty-six feet wide. On the original plat there is no street extending along the north edge of the village, but when the Hopkins addition was made in 1849 High street was established and it extends westward from Main street. At some later date Maple street, which is thirty-three feet wide and which extends east and west from one side of the village to the other, was established between Franklin and South streets by widening an alley. This street was first called Hooppole street, then Battle street and finally Maple street.

SALE OF LOTS.

By the original plat of the village eighty-four lots were laid out, twenty of which were north of Walnut street, twenty-four between Walnut and Franklin streets and forty between Franklin and South streets. Lot No.

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is at the southwest corner of Franklin and Main streets. Each lot had a frontage of four rods and was ten rods deep. When all was ready for the sale of lots, the following announcement appeared in the Ohio Vehicle, a newspaper then being published at Xenia:

NOTICE.

The subscribers having laid out the Town of Bellbrook in the County of Greene, Sugar Creek Township, on the great road that leads by James Clancy's tavern, leading from Lebanon to Urbana, and -where the road crosses leading from Franklin to Wilmington. The lots in said town will be sold to the highest bidder on Saturday, the 7th day of October, ensuing. The terms of the sale will be made known on the day of the sale. The situation of the town is healthy and convenient to springs which can be easily conveyed through the town. Saw and grist mills within a mile. Adjoining town lands is a stream of water on which all kinds of machinery may be erected.

STEPHEN BELL HENRY OPDYKE. JAMES CLANCEY.

September 19, 1815.

When the day of the sale arrived, the buyers of lots found Aaron Nutt, a pioneer auctioneer from Centerville, Montgomery county, present to cry the sale. From the nature of the jokes ascribed to him and the amount of liquid refreshment which was generally dispensed on such occasions, the live-liness of the day can readily be imagined. The first lot sold was No. 1, whose location has already been described, and then the remaining were sold in order.

At the time the only house in the village was the Clancey tavern, but soon after the sale James Webb, the village blacksmith, built his house near the, corner of Main and Franklin streets on Main. Other dwellings were soon erected, among which were those of David Black, Daniel Lewis, Joseph Gillespie and Aaron Flowers. The latter had some difficulty in raising his house, for he did not have the heartiest co-operation of his neighbors in his undertaking. After the frame had been put up, it was carried off one night by his spiteful neighbors to the creek and there broken to pieces. Others who became early residents of the village were John Bell and Moses Mills.

ADDITIONS TO BELLBROOK.

As the years passed the steady growth of the town seemed to warrant the laying out of additions. The first of these was made in the latter part of 1830 and was recorded on December 25 of that year. This addition was laid out on both sides of Franklin street, just west of West street and the lots numbered from 85 to 99, hence practically an extension of the original plat of the town. It is not known who laid out. this addition, probably the original proprietors of the village.

The second addition to the town was made by John McClure in 1841.

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It comprised sixteen lots, south of the addition of 183o, west of West street and north of South street. Moses Collier, the county surveyor at that time, was employed by McClure to do the platting, which was finished on June 12, 1841. On August 14, following, the plat was certified by Edward Bennett, justice of the peace, and on the same day it was recorded at the court house in Xenia.

The third addition was made by A. B. Hopkins. It comprised eight lots lying in a part of section 2, township 2, range 6, located at the northwest corner of the village and its establishment caused the making of High street. which extends from Main westward across West street. The addition was platted on May 24, 1849, by Samuel T. Owens, the surveyor of Greene county.

BELLBROOK BEFORE 1832.

As noted before, James Webb, the blacksmith, was the first man to erect a new house on the village site and here he opened up his shop for business. If one of his neighbors wanted a horse shod, a shovel mended or a chain or plow share made, he had to bring the iron along with him, because the smith could not afford to keep sufficient material in stock. A little later his shop was used by Silas Hale, who worked there at cabinet-making. Will-iam Holmes also carried on blacksmithing in a shop which stood a little to the rear of the Mills house.

During this time there were several other business interests in the village. Robert Silvers kept a tavern in the house which Aaron Flowers had so much difficulty in building. John Sowards made hats in a shop which stood on the site of the show room which belonged to the Bumgardner carriage shop. This place of business for some unaccountable reason was called the "Old Penitentiary." The first meeting house, which belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church society, stood on lots and 2.

THE INCORPORATION OF THE VILLAGE.

Sixteen years after the plat of the town was certified, the population of the village had grown to such an extent, that it was deemed advisable to have it incorporated. For this purpose Dr. William Frazier, acting on the suggestion of Dr. William Bell and Robert E. Patterson, framed a petition to the Legislature which was signed by many of the citizens of the village. It was favorably acted upon and on February 13, 1832, the village of Bellbrook was duly incorporated. The first officers of the town were : William Bigger, mayor ; Abner G. Luce, treasurer, and Silas Hale, marshal. The present officers of the corporation, who took their seats on January 1, 1918, are as follows : J. H. Lansinger, mayor ; W. W. Tate, clerk; H. M. Turner, treasurer ; R. H. Hopkins, marshal ; A. R. Howland, assessor ; J. L. Myers,

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A. R. Howland, Jobe Anthony and D. H. Hopkins, members of the village board of education.

In the early years of its incorporation, Bellbrook did not need much funds with which to carry on its municipal activities, for on March 9, 1835, there remained "in the treasury of the corporation a balance of $2.98;" and on February 3, 1836, the coffers of the municipality were replenished by

Marshal Hale, who turned over to the treasurer $26.35, the tax for the year 1835.

FIRE PROTECTION.

In order to occupy its position as a fully fledged municipality, fire apparatus was necessary, and the bustling city council on August 1, 1836, "ordered that John R. Dinwiddie be allowed $23.1272 for fire hooks, ropes and ladders." The paraphernalia was then stored in the south end of the old log meeting house which belonged to the Methodist Protestant church society. What became of it is not recorded.

The first fire of any size destroyed what was known as the Academy which stood near the Old-School Presbyterian church in 1852. This abandoned seat of learning belonged at that time to Harrison Vaughan. In 1855 the large two-story building which stood on the first alley north of Franklin street, off of Main, and in which Ephraim Bumgardner had his carriage shop, was burned. The fire spread to the neighboring livery stable belonging to Samuel Elcock's hotel. The old Magnetic Hotel burned in 1893 and the bath house shared the same fate in 1913. The Bellbrook Inn, the competitor of the old Magnetic Hotel, burned in 1900.

THE MAGNETIC SPRINGS.

In 1882 Andrew Byrd, who had bought the old United Presbyterian church at the corner of Main and Walnut streets, began the repair of that building with the intention of making it into a dwelling house. He started to dig a well in the basement of the house but at a depth of only, a few feet encountered so strong a vein of water that digging was stopped. When all was ready for the plastering of the house, Robert Butler was employed to do the work and the water with which he mixed the mortar was obtained from the shallow well. To the amazement of Butler, the trowel which he used became magnetized so that it would pick up lath nails and after some experimentation it was found that any piece of steel allowed to remain in the water from this well for a short time would become magnetized.

Immediately the probable medicinal properties of this water occurred to Byrd and a sample of it was taken to a chemist for analysis. This analysis was quite formidable in the matter of the names applied to the various components, and these names appeared especially so when they were emblazoned

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upon large advertising posters by the promoter and a local artist. Soon the finding of this "fountain of youth" became noised about in the village and many of the citizens began to take the healing waters for all sorts of ailments. Testimonials were gathered from those. thus benefited and these recommendations were sent to the newspapers and were printed all over the country. The free advertising which thus heralded the finding of the "fountain of youth" brought a continuous stream of vistors to Bellbrook, each bringing some kind of vessel in which to carry away a portion of the healing waters. On one Sunday during the first paroxysm of excitement occasioned by the discovery of the "Magnetic Springs," as the well had been named, the streets of the village were completely filled with equipages of all descriptions, and the crowd for that one day alone was estimated at five thousand.

Byrd abandoned his intention of using the old church as a dwelling house and turned the building into a "sanitorium" to which the suffering members of the human race could come for treatment for all manner of diseases. Byrd sought to increase the flow of water by digging the well deeper and wider, but he was not so fortunate as to tap another vein of the precious water. The result was that the increased flow only diluted the strength of the water from the healing source. When it seemed that the financial suc-cess of the undertaking was on the decline, Byrd sold the old church and bath house which he had constructed nearby to the Ohmer brothers of Dayton, who turned the sanitorium into a hotel under the supervision of George McIlwain. A long addition was made to the old church on the left and the business continued to thrive. Later the owners of the hotel sold their interests to Arthur Duffy, who owned the establishment until it burned in 1893. Duffy then built a bath house on the site of the old hotel and a dancing pavilion on the hill above. When the enterprise lost its commercial value, Duffy sold bath house, pavilion and well to Michael McMullen, a wealthy member of the city council of Cincinnati, in 1909. McMullen fitted up the pavilion and grounds for a summer home. It was surrounded with well-kept lawns and the beautiful natural scenery of "Mullen Camp," as the place was called, made it one of the prettiest places in the county. But the bath house shared the same fate as the old hotel on October 21, 1913, when it, too, burned to the ground.

Of course Bellbrook had visions of growth. The Bellbrook Magnet in 1884 said : "Notwithstanding the extreme cold weather, the demand for magnetic water is still on the increase and the prospects for a boom in the spring is a fixed fact. Now is the time to buy lots."

Some lively members of the community decided that Byrd did not have a monopoly on all the magnetic water in the township and they organized

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a company, sold stock and built the Bellbrook Inn on the other corner of Main and Walnut streets, near what was claimed was another spring just as good as the original. As time passed this enterprise ceased to be a paying one and several members of the Bellbrook community have souvenirs of the discovery of the magnetic spring in the form of certificates of stock in the Bellbrook Inn. Finally, after withstanding the vicissitudes of fortune for many years, the Intl shared the fate of its old competitor, the Magnetic Hotel, for it burned sometime in 1900.

FIVE HUNDRED INDIANS IN BELLBROOK.

After Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur had bought the lands belonging to the Indians north of the Greenville treaty line by the treaty of St. Marys in 1818, certain tracts were reserved for the remnants of the Wyandotte, Delaware and Seneca tribes. But these reservations were subsequently ceded to the United States. The last of these aborigines of Ohio to leave were the Wyandottes, who turned over their lands to the government in 1842.

During the July of the next year, these Indians, numbering at least five hundred, were removed to Kansas. After they were all collected, they started for Cincinnati, and as the weather was pleasant, they made the journey overland. During that month their long wagon train passed through Bell-brook and they pitched their wigwams between the village and Little Sugar creek, where they prepared to spend the night, and during their brief stay were visited by many of the villagers. The Indians did not remain long, for by seven o'clock the next morning their great caravan had already started on its way toward Cincinnati. From there the redskins boarded a river boat which took them to Kansas, where they were met by their kinsmen who had preceded them.

THE ONLY CASE OF HOMICIDE.

The only homicide ever committed in the village or township occurred on February 20, 1858, when Andrew Kirby stabbed John Stanton with a butcher knife. The scene of the tragedy was a house in the southeast part of the village, on East street, belonging to Mrs. Cusic. Kirby immediately ran to the house of Silas Hale, who was then justice of the peace, to surrender himself. Stanton lived only a short time. At the trial Kirby was defended by Hon. Thomas Corwin, but was sentenced to a life term in the Ohio penitentiary.

THE PORK 1NDUSTRY AT BELLBROOK.

In the early days of the Miami country, pork-packing was an important industry in all the small towns of the valley. In those days the farmers drove their hogs to the slaughter houses at or near the village, the carcasses were

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then cut up, and the finished product was hauled to Cincinnati by wagon. In later years, after the advent of the railroad, the meat was taken to the nearest station and sent by to that city. In those days Bellbrook was an important local center in the pork business and and thousands of hogs were slaughtered here and sent down to Cincinnati.

This industry began in Bellbrook on a more or less extensive scale as early as 1835, when B. F. Allen erected a large brick pork house in the village. This building was used for this purpose until Allen retired from the business. As the years passed the business prospered and thousands of hogs were killed for the market in Bellbrook. The four men who were well-known cutters were Joshua Brelsford, Charles Wright, George Sebring and Eber Turner. Sharp Weller barreled the sidemeat. David Snoden had charge of the bulking of the meat in the cellar, where it was cured with lake salt. The kettles for rendering the lard were located on the east part of the building and David Raper generally had charge of this work. The cooperage came from Dayton and Centerville, the barrels and kegs being brought by teams from these two towns. The cracklings were sold to the soap factories at Dayton. After the meat was cured, it was hauled to Spring Valley to be shipped by rail to the markets. After the packing season was over, there being no refrigeration facilities in those days, the pork house was cleaned and whitewashed on the inside. It then became, on account of its size, the social center of the community, being used for singing-schools and the like. These singing-schools were taught by Newton Carman, Thomas Harrison, H. Vaughan and others, at two dollars a term.

In 1839 a slaughter house was erected at the junction of the two Sugar creeks, south of Bellbrook. This was a rough, substantial, low, one-story building, built of hewed logs, and was used for about three seasons or until a flood swept the entire establishment away into the Little Miami and the site was abandoned for slaughter-house purposes. Alexander Hopkins was the manager of the establishment. A second slaughter house was built on Alexander Hopkins' farm on North Main street, near the top of the hill, so that access could be had to the large spring there. This structure of heavy frame was erected about 1843 and in it thousands of hogs were slaughtered. The third, or Western slaughter house, which was erected about 1844, was a substantial frame building, located on the Dayton pike, just west of town near a large spring. This plant could turn out daily from two hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and fifty hogs. Alex-ander Hopkins also was superintendent of this slaughter house, William Law was "sticker," and Charles M. Rose11 had charge of the scalding. The cleaners were Tom Duffy, George Snowden, John Sebring, John Belt, Pat Kirby and others. Some lard rendering was also carried on at the slaughter house and Henry Harmon had charge of this part of the work.

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THE BUMGARDNER CARRIAGE WORKS.

Ephraim Bumgardner established a carriage-manufacturing plant in Bellbrook some time after 1840 and his enterprise was flourishing in the '50s. He had a large two-story building on Franklin street where he carried on his work. In the late '60s and the early '70s the carriage factory, then located on lots 49 and 50 on Main street, had reached considerable proportions, it then consisting of blacksmith, wood-working, paint and trimming shops, and it was. said at that time the product of its concern surpassed that of any other place in southern Ohio. It was the custom in those days for the employees of the carriage shop to board at Bumgardner's house and among those who thus sat at their employer's table in the late '60s were Horatio Kemp, Albert Blease, Alva Smith, Albert Kemp, Harry Butler, Lewis Raper, Thomas Gibbons, William Luce, "Bud" Truman, William Davis, Theodore Schaffer, Samuel Raper, Samuel Willoughby, William Willoughby, William Thorne, John Cathers, William Cathers, Patrick Gibbons, Lewis Dingler, James Maloney, Charles Cunningham, Charles Mills, Amos Harnish, Baty Weller and John Weise. This enterprise ceased some thirty or forty years ago.

A PIONEER UNDERTAKER.

In the early days before the coming of the undertaker to this section people would prepare, with the help of their friends and neighbors, the bodies of their loved ones for burial. The first undertaker in Sugarcreek township and one of the first in Greene county was John M. Stake, who was actively engaged in this business in Bellbrook for sixty years at least and was in 1897 the oldest living member of his profession in the county if not in the state.

John M. Stake was a native of Maryland, where he Was born on October 20, 0308. When he was eighteen years of age he began learning the trade of cabinet-maker, and in 1834 began plying his trade and undertaking at Boonesborough in that state. He had married in the meantime and in 1838 he removed to Bellbrook where he bought out the business of Andrew Byrd, who was engaged in cabinet-making here at that time. Stake's place of business stood at the corner of West and Franklin streets, where he manufactured coffins and furniture for many years. He was one of the first men in the county to have a hearse and the first person buried from this hearse in the township was the father of Michael Swigert, Sr., whom Stake interred in the old Beavercreek church yard. Before the day of the hearse, the coffin was called for at the shop, the corpse put in it at the residence, and then hauled to the cemetery in a common wagon. Stake made some of the early interments in the pioneer cemetery at Bellbrook, and

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in 1852 he buried the first person, Mrs. Rachel Hopkins, in the new Bellbrook cemetery. He also. buried the first person in the Catholic graveyard at Dayton. Formerly there was a graveyard located on a mound near the Tresslar mills, but it has long since been abandoned. Stake made the first interment in this cemetery and the corpse was taken across the Little Miami in a canoe, as the river was too high to be forded and there were no bridges. The first horse Stake used when he came to the village cost him five dollars, and, although it was somewhat lame, it was a serviceable animal as a hearse horse for many years. During the many years that he was in business, Stake buried between five thousand and six thousand bodies.

THE INVENTION OF THE FIRST REAPER.

It is said that Bellbrook is the place where the first machine for cutting wheat was invented. In his little work shop in an obscure part of the village the inventor, Jesse Sanders, a mechanic, had worked on the problem of perfecting a machine which would eliminate the cradle. He worked on the reaper at his spare time from 1840 until 1845, and finally it was completed. During- this time he had taken into his confidence Ephraim Sparks and Captain Fryant, who gave him some valuable suggestions on the mechanism of the machine. On the day appointed for the testing of the reaper a large crowd of the villagers and neighboring farmers congregated at the farm of Jacob Haines to see the reaper tried out; but, as the story goes, a stranger was also in their midst and he examined the reaper carefully and made many inquiries concerning its construction. The bystanders thought little of the man's actions at the time, for they were intensely interested in the little machine which had acquitted itself so well at its first test. It is said that when the McCormick Company of Chicago put a reaper of exactly the same pattern on the market in the following year, a suspicion was created in the minds of the neighbors of Sanders that the affable stranger seen on that day was none other than one of the agents of that company and had appro-priated Sanders' invention. Sanders never realized anything for his labors and died a poor man after giving to the world one of the greatest inventions of the age.

TAVERNS, HOTELS AND TRANSPORTATION.

The first tavern was the old Clancey House which has already been described. Another was called the Mansion House. This latter had a very high sign post in front with the name emblazoned on it in large characters. A part of this old tavern is now used for a dwelling, the last house on South Main street on the west side. On the northwest corner of Main and Franklin streets was the Eagle Exchange with its sign post. The Green Bay Tree, a brick building on the west side of North Main street and which is still

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standing, was also a well-known center in the earlier days. One of the most interesting of these taverns was the Eagle Exchange which still stands on the corner before mentioned. Alongside its great chimney is the old tavern bell in its little belfry, where it has hung for almost three-quarters of a century.

In the early '40s a stage line was run from Dayton to the Little Miami railroad at Spring Valley, and Bellbrook, which is four miles distant from the latter place, was a station on the stage line. The coach drawn by six prancing horses of the best blood, each in a fine set of harness and with a full set of bells, would rumble in from the west from Dayton along Frank-lin street and stop, at the Eagle Exchange. When the stage was all ready to resume its journey toward Spring Valley, the driver would wind his bugle and the passengers would clamber up into their seats, and with a parting blare of the horn, the stage would start away. Oftimes the bugler would continue his calls until they would die away in beautiful echoes among the surrounding hills.

During the latter part of the past century several railroads were projected through Bellbrook and Sugarcreek township, and at one time two surveying parties crossed their chains in the southwest part of the village. All of these activities were considered a good omen, but still Bellbrook and the entire township has no steam railroad. In the '70s many of the citizens of the town had visions of the place becoming a bustling manufacturing center, if it could only be favored by having a railroad pass through it. The town, however, was forced to wait the advent of the electric cars. The Dayton & Xenia Traction Company projected a line through the village to Spring Valley from Dayton during the latter '90s and on March 5, 1900, the first car passed through the town. The Cars began to run regularly on Monday, April 23, following, and on that day general business in the village was laid aside to greet this beginning of a new era for Bellbrook. The first car arrived at half past seven in the morning, and those of the citizens of the village to board this first car were Harry Weaver, Frank Newland, J. H. Racer, Charles Mills, Doctor Hook, Frank Pennewit, Patrick Gibbons, Mrs. John Marmon, Miss Caroline Harmon and Miss Emma Racer. Thomas Degnan was the conductor and E. W. French the motorman. During this first day eight cars arrived.

GROWTH AND DECLINE OF BELLBROOK.

The growth of Bellbrook was about normal and reached its zenith in 1850, when the population of the village was five hundred and two. The "two" were colored, and one of them was Lucretia Johnson, more familiarly known as "Aunt Cressie," who was held in high esteem by her white neigh-

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bors. The population in 1870 was 369; in 1880, 425; in 1890, 350; in 1900, 352, and in 1910, it was 238. lt is thus apparent that Bellbrook is having the same experience as hundreds of the smaller towns in the United States, where there is a concentration of population in the larger cities.

BUSINESS INTERESTS AT BELLBROOK.

About 1812, three years before the village was laid out, James Gowdy, the. first merchant at Xenia, decided to extend his business by establishing a store in the settlement which later became known as Bellbrook. He opened a store in a little log cabin which. stood at about the northeast corner of Lot No. 50, but soon found that the business would not pay and he left the place for a more promising field. The first blacksmith to locate in the village was James Webb, who came in 1815. Silas Hale was the cabinet-maker. John C. Hale, Sr., was the tanner. John Sowards furnished hats for the masculine members of the community. In 1840 the following men had stores : Benjamin Allen, Silas Hale and the firms of Harris & Allen and Harris & Larew.

In the early '70s the business interests of the village were in the hands of the following: Alexander Patterson and Harry Richards, shoe shops; Samuel Lamb, Samuel Dinwiddie and Jesse Watson, wagon shops; Samuel Lamb and Charles Killian, cooper shops; Brazil Pancoast, Jacob Boroff and Charles Miller, blacksmiths; Ross Tampsett, pump shop; John M. Stake, cabinet-maker and undertaker; Joseph Black, drug store; Thomas Austin, grocer; William Hopkins, dry goods; Campbell's grocery; Silas Hale, general store; Mrs. Farley, grocer; Ed. Kline, tin store; Ephraim Bumgardner, carriage factory and livery stable.

The business interests of Bellbrook in 1918 are in the hands of the following : Automobile dealer, J. Z. Myers; blacksmiths, Charles F. Mills and Eugene Pennewit; cabinet-maker, John Stake; carpenter, J. T. Finley; coal, W. H. Hodges; furniture, John Stake; garage, Hess Brothers; groceries, C. F. Schwarts, J. S. Turner & Son, O. R. Peterson & Company, W. H. Hodges; livery, James Crowl; physician, Dr. G. C. Hook; postmaster, H. M. Turner; restaurant, W. W. Tate ; saw-mill, John Weaver; undertaker, James Crowl.

CHAPTER XIV.

XENIA TOWNSHIP.

The four original townships of the county erected by the first meeting of the associate judges on May 10, 1803, could not long retain their original extent, and the first township organized after the government of the county had been established was Xenia township, August 20, 1805.

The erection of Xenia township was not brought about by the associate judges, but by the county commissioners, to whom the court of common pleas had turned over the county business in the spring of 1804.. It was at a meeting of the board of county commissioners held, on the date mentioned above that the following order was issued :

On the Petition of James Collier, John Sterritt, James McCoy and others, it was considered by the Board of Commissioners that there shall be one Township composed out of part Ceasars Creek and Beaver Creek Townships in the following manner :

All the part of Beaver Creek Township, East of the little Miami and above the Mouth of Massies Creek ; thence with Beaver Creek Township to the North East corner of Sugar Creek Township ; thence with the Sugar Creek Township line to the mouth of Andersons fork ; thence up the main fork of Ceasars Creek with the meanderings thereof to the East line of the County ; thence North with said line to the North East corner ; thence West to the Miami ; thence down the River to the beginning; which shall be called and known by the Name of Xenia Township, and the first election shall be held at the house of William A. Beatty in Xenia.

JOHN PAUL, Cl'k.

ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWNSHIP.

From the above order of the commissioners the extent of Xenia township can be described with a fair amount of clearness. Evidently the place of beginning was the mouth of Massies creek and then the line of the township extended due southward to the mouth of Andersons fork, a tributary of Caesars creek. The line from that point followed Caesars creek, presumably up the north branch, to a point in the northeast corner of what is now New Jasper township, which is about eight miles north of the south county line and seven miles west of the east line of the county. The locus of this point is not exactly determined by the order of the commissioners, but it was established before Silvercreek township was cut off from Caesarscreek township in 1811. From this point the line of Xenia township extended due eastward to the east boundary of the county. From thence the eastern boundary of the township ran northward to the northeast corner of the county, whose

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boundary had only a few months previously been established along the line of the southern boundary of the ninth range of townships by the erection of Champaign county. From this point the line of the township extended westward, coincident with the northern line of the county, to the Little Miami river, down which the line extended to the point of beginning, the mouth of Massies creek.

Xenia township at the time of its erection was bounded on the west by Beavercreek and Sugarcreek townships; on the north mostly by Beavercreek township and a short distance on the eastern end of the northern boundary by Champaign county (Clark county not being organized then) ; the east and a part of the south by Caesarscreek township. Some of the townships of the county have been erected wholly or partly out of territory which formerly was embraced within the boundaries of Xenia township, such as the greater part of what is now Xenia township, Cedarville township, Ross township, Miami township, New Jasper township, Vance township.

CHANGES IN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE TOWNSHIP.

Not long did Xenia township retain its unbroken extent to the eastern boundary of the county. On June 8, 1808, the commissioners erected Miami township which was set off partly from Xenia township and -partly from Bath township. The southern boundary of the new township was deter-mined by the north boundary line of section 5, township 3, range 7, and its line extended eastward to the county line. Thus Xenia township lost all of its territory east of the Little Miami and north of the present southern boundary line of Miami township.

At the same meeting of the board of commissioners on June 8, 1808, Xenia township had an acquisition of territory west of the Little Miami, from Beavercreek township. It was then "ordered that the following tract or part of Beaver Creek Township, East of the line hereafter mentioned, be struck off and attached to Xenia Township; viz., Beginning at the North East corner of Section No. 5, Township 3 & Range 7, thence south to the Little Miami." This tract now forms in part the northwest part of the township at present. The township was again shorn of considerable territory on the east by the erection of Ross township on March 4, 1811. The western boundary of the new township began at the northwest corner of Silvercreek township, where the line of Xenia township left the course of Caesars creek and extended east to the county line. From that point the west line of the new township proceeded northward to the Miami township line.

The loss of the territory comprising Ross township was partly com-pensated for by a gain of territory at the expense of Beavercreek township

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in 1816. It was then "Ordered by the board of Commissioners that so much of Beaver Creek Township as lies below the mouth of Massies Creek and running down the meanderings of the Little Miami so far that a due South line to the line of Sugar Creek Township will include the dwelling house of Jonathan Paul & Jacob Hisewonger, be and the same is hereby attached to Xenia Tp. It is therefore ordered that Moses Collier survey said line and make report thereof the 4th day of July, next, and that Robert Gowdy agreed to pay all expenses of survey &c." On December 2, 1816, the board of commissioners acted favorably upon a petition for the addition of a part of Sugarcreek township to Xenia township. The following appears on the record book of the commissioners for that date: "On the petition of Frederick Bonner & others, praying for (illegible) of Sugar Creek Township as may be East of a line commencing on the (illegible) line of Sugar Creek Township, at the corner of Beaver & Xenia Townships, and to run South until it crosses Glady Run; thence to run a South East course so as to intersect Xenia Township line about the South West corner on Caesars Creek, to be attached to Xenia Township." Thus with a few minor later changes, the western boundary of Xenia township was determined by 1817.

The eastern boundary of the township was not determined until after the erection of Cedarville and New Jasper townships, respectively, in 1850 and 1853. Before the erection of these two townships, the southeastern boundary of Xenia township was Caesars creek and the eastern line of the township was the western line of the present township. of Jefferson produced until it intersected the southern border of Miami township. The erection of Cedarville township restricted the township of Xenia within its present northeastern borders and the part of New Jasper township north of, Caesars creek was stricken off from Xenia township. Thus Xenia township was in general confined. to its present borders by 1853.

THE PRESENT BORDERS OF THE TOWNSHIP.

The present irregular shape of Xenia township has not resulted from the caprice of the surveyors who have platted it or its residents, but seems to have arisen from the formation. of the townships which have been stricken in part from its territory. The fact that certain petitioners wished to become residents of the new townships formed caused them to have the surveyor to include their farms within the newly erected political units of the county. The fact that their farms lay in that part of the county where the military surveys obtained, made the resulting line of the new townships irregular. It follows then that the western line of Xenia township is fairly regular, but the one on the east make the township look like a patch

(18 )

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in a crazy quilt. Beginning at the northwest corner of the township, the line runs east one-half mile, thence north one-half mile, thence east about one and one-half miles, thence south one mile, thence east to the river, thence abruptly southward after crossing the river a short distance about one-half mile. The line then runs southeast about three miles; thence south about a mile; thence east in an irregular course; thence in a line bearing somewhat west of south to a point not quite. a mile south of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad ; thence southwest one mile, southeast one-fourth of a mile, southwest one-fourth of a mile, southeast one-half a mile, southwest a half mile and southeast one mile to Caesars creek. From this point the line follows the meanderings of the creek for about three miles to the Peterson farm ; thence north three-fourths of a mile ; thence a little north of west three miles; thence one-fourth mile northwest to the Columbus pike, which it follows a quarter of a mile northeast; thence northwest one mile; thence a little west of north about a mile and a half ; thence north three miles to the Little Miami which it follows a mile northeast ; thence north one mile, west one-half mile, north one mile, west one-half mile and north a mile and a half to the place of beginning. This gives one a conception of the broken boundary line of Xenia township.

Xenia township is touched by eight townships. It is bordered on the northwest by Bath ; on the north by Miami; on the northeast by Cedarville; on the east by Cedarville and New Jasper ; on the southeast by Caesarscreek; on the south and southwest by Spring Valley ; by Beavercreek on the west, arid the corner of Sugarcreek township touches Xenia township on the south-west.

TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE.

In general the level, prairie-like areas of the township lie to the west and northwest of the city of Xenia and the more hilly and rolling sections are in the eastern and southeastern parts of the township. The parts of the township which are rough are found to the southeast along Caesars creek and where Massies creek cuts the northeast part of the township in the vicinity of Wilberforce. The average elevation of the township is approx-imately nine hundred and fifty feet. The lowest elevation is where the valley of the Little Miami leaves Xenia township and enters Beavercreek township, this point being here about eight hundred and four feet above sea level. The highest point in the township is ten hundred and eighty-eight, feet above sea level, which point is located about two and one-half miles southeast of Xenia on the Wilmington pike. Even though the valley of the Little Miami is wide and very productive, it is flanked by higher land which stretches away eastward in a broad plateau some one hundred feet higher than the level of the valley. A very large part of the soil of the township admits of