Ezekiel Hughes, one acre of land, and Benjamin Cilley John Ewing, labor or materials Ed. Treadway, in work William Leeper, in materials James Oury, cash William Henry Harrison, lumber Stephen Wood, in labor John Noble, materials Allen Leeper, in labor Uz Noble, work and board hands David Noble, work John Noble, work and materials Joseph Noble, in hauling William McFerrin, labor James Anderson, in work Jacob Fenton, materials John Snider, two dollars cash and three dollars in work C. H. Williston, five gallons whiskey (three gallons used at the raising). Hugh Karr, in work Thomas Williams, cash James Goodrich, in work Six other subscribers, in work

$100 00 15 00 25 00 10 00 15 00 12 00 15 00 10 00 10 00 25 00 25 00 10 00 10 00 5 00 5 00 5 00 5 00 5 00 5 00 3 00 4 00 10 00

On the basis of this subscription the work of building was commenced at once and prosecuted with great earnestness, for the friends of the enterprise had a heart for the work. The following subscription paper indicates the pious zeal and liberality of the ladies: The female part of the society of Whitewater township, jealous of their own rights in contributing towards objects of public benefit and utility, are determined to follow the good example of their worthy lords and masters; and, as an instance, are determined to contribute their mite towards the completion of the Union Berea meeting-house, which has been erected and in part finished by the voluntary subscription of the male part of our society alone. Therefore, the subscribers will pay, or cause to be paid, unto the trustees or treasurer of the said meeting-house, for the sole purpose of completing the inside work thereof, the amount affixed to our respective names this twenty-fifth day of June, 1823. On this subscription paper are written the names of fifty-nine noble mothers and their daughters, contributing in the aggregate the sum of thirty-six dollars eighty-seven and one-half cents, no mean sum at that time, when money was so scarce and so difficult to obtain. An analysis of this sacred relic of the days of old shows that Mrs. Anna Harrison, of North Bend, the estimable wife of General W. H. Harrison, subscribed two dollars. Eight other ladies subscribed each one dollar, seventeen gave fifty cents each, thirty-three gave twenty-five cents each, and one Martha Hughes (who still survives), then a child of five years, gave twelve and a half cents. DEDICATION SERVICES. In 1823 the house of the Lord, being completed, was publicly dedicated to the service of God. This was a HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 411 great and memorable day in the religious history of the township. A large and interested audience assembled; Rev. Thomas Thomas, of Paddy's Run, and Rev. S. Slack, D. D., of Cincinnati, conducted the services, which lasted three days. For seven years ministers of different denominations preached in Berea chapel, but no religious society was organized until I830, when Rev. Sylvester Scovil, of Lawrenceburgh, established a church known as the "Presbyterian church of Berea and Elizabethtown," with John Ewing and Thomas Hunt as ruling elders, and a membership of twenty-five. The same year a Sabbath-school was established at Berea, and has enjoyed a continued existence until the present time. Berea has been useful as the place where funeral services are held, and gospel preaching on alternate Sabbaths. It is still held by a board of trustees, elected according to the act of incorporation. The present board of trustees, Messrs. John Chidlaw, Dr. H. Hunt, and Joseph Cilley, have charge of the cemetery and the chapel, which is well preserved, a lasting monument of the pious zeal and generous liberality of its honored and faithful friends and builders. OTHER RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. The first was an Episcopal Methodist church, the formation of a class in the log cabin of Alexander Guard, in 1803, by an itinerant minister, whose name can-' not be ascertained. In early days the camp-meeting in Scroggin's grove, near Elizabethtown, was an occasion of great interest and spiritual profit to the multitudes that attended. In due time a meeting-house was built, and, in accordance with the Methodist economy, supplied with the ministry of the Gospel, exciting a wide spread and beneficent influence over the community. The Miller, Guard, Hayes, Mills, Dunn, and Scroggin families were identified with this church, and many of their posterity are found walking in the ways of their godly ancestors. The Miamitown Methodist Episcopal church was organized and a frame,. meeting-house built about fifty years ago, and it continues to this day, where the society is rebuilding the house of the Lord erected by their fathers. The Disciples' church in Miamitown was organized many years ago under the efficient and successful ministry of Rev. Knowles Shaw. It enjoyed great prosperity, and still maintains an honorable and useful place among the tribes of the Lord. The Elizabethtown and Berea Presbyterian church was organized in 1830 by the Rev. Sylvester Scovil The -following persons constituted the cnurch as its original members : Mrs. Charlotte Hunt, Mrs. Mary Elder, Mr. Joseph Martin, and Nancy, his wife ; John Ewing and Sarah, his wife, dismissed from the Harrison Presbyterian church, and the following persons by examination: Mrs. Nancy Leiper, Samuel Leiper, Margaret Morrow, Eliza Barron, Hannah Elder, Deborah Coverdale, and Margaret Moore. The following were chosen trustees of the congregation : Ezekiel Hughes, John Ewing, Thomas Hunt, John S. Torrence and William Leiper. Mr. Scovil continued to supply the congregation, and at the end of the first year twenty-three new members were added to the church. The first elders of the church were John Ewing, Thomaa Hunt and Richard Hughes. In 1843, mainly through the liberality of Thomas and Jacob Hunt, a beautiful brick meeting-house was erected in Elizabethtown, and a parsonage. The following ministers have had charge of the church: Revs. A. McFarland, Charles Sturdevant, E. Scofield, H. Bushnell, B. W. Chidlaw, S. Warren, H. W. Cobb, I. Delamater, C. A. Jemison, C. E. Babb, I. Boal, I. P. Haire, John Stuart, H. M. Walker, R. E. Hawley. The Rev. James Mitchell is its present pastor, and George W. Haire, Ezekiel Hughes, John Chidlaw and William P. Rees, are its ruling elders. Among the members of this church, and for many years a ruling elder, was Joseph Lewis, a man of decided piety, well cultivated mind, and faithful in all Christian duties. He died at his home in Elizabethtown, October 3, 1866, aged fifty-seven years, having served in the eldership with ability and faithfulness for' twenty-four years. The following young men, members of this church, were educated and entered the Gospel ministry: John Noble, William Kendrick, I. P. Haire, and John Bonham. Many years ago a chapel, called Mt. Hope, was built by the Methodist Episcopal church on the hills two miles above Miamitown. The town hall has been a place of preaching by the Methodists and Presbyterians for many years. Sunday-schools were early organized in these localities, and well sustained, accomplishing much good in the Christian education of the young people. CEMETERIES. In early times the subject of permanent and improved burial places secured but little attention. Families buried their dead on their own premises, and many graves on farms scattered over the township are now unmarked and forgotten. On the gravel bank near the railroad viaduct over the Miami river, in a clump of yellow locust trees, are the graves of several of the pioneer settlers. Among them are the graves of Thomas and Mary Ewing, who owned a large tract of land on which this now neglected home of the dead was located. Thomas Ewing was a soldier of the Revolution in the Pennsylvania line. He participated in several battles and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. The cemetery at Miamitown occupies a fine location and is well improved and beautiful. Several monuments of marble and granite adorn the grounds, and a vault as a repository for the dead has been built, which will afford security against the ghouls who plunder and desecrate the resting places of the departed. On the "Oury farm" near the town hall is a public burial place in charge of the trustees of the township, and is well preserved. BEREA CEMETERY. At the old chapel is the oldest burying-ground in the township. The land was donated by Ezekiel Hughes, esq., in 1805, and deeded to the Berea Union trustees. The lots are all sold, and held by parties in this and adjoining townships. Here is the grave of Daniel G. Howell, esq., who was born in the block house at North 412 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. Bend, August 23, 1790, and died at Cleves April 16, 1866. He was the first white child born in North Bend or Miami township, where he always resided, an honored and useful citizen and a devoted Christian. On a large upright slab of Italian marble is the following inscription: "Jonas Frazee. A soldier of the Revolution ; a native of Westfield, New Jersey, born 1759, died 1858—erected by the citizens." A beautiful marble pyramid marks the grave of Colonel Benjamin Cilley, a native of New Hampshire, who died in 1857, aged sixty-two years. The family monuments of Ezekiel Hughes, esq., Rev. B. W. Chidlaw, Edward Hunt, esq., and John V. Chamberlain, plain and substantial, beautify the secluded home of the dead. In the graveyard attached to the Presbyterian church at Elizabethtown are the honored graves of the Hunts, Bonhams, Haires, Rees, Lebow, Hayes, Guards, and other pioneer families, with monuments designating the spot containing their sacred dust. WHITEWATER VILLAGES. Cadberry was a pioneer town, laid out by Henry Cad-berry in 1802—one of the very first to be planted in this State west of the Great Miami. It was in Hamilton county, but that still stretched far to the northward. Cadberry may, or may not, have been within the limits of the old Whitewater township, laid out the next year, or of the present Whitewater. Shrewsbury was another village, now utterly extinct, platted in 1803 by John Bucknell, upon the Great Miami river, but on which side we are as yet unable to learn, and so cannot locate it certainly in Whitewater township. Miamitown is situated upon the north half of section six, in the northeastern part of the township, at the point where the Cincinnati and Harrison turnpike crosses the Great Miami, fifteen miles from its mouth. It is opposite to the southwest corner of Colerain township, upon which stood Campbell's station during the period of Indian warfare. Miamitown was laid. off on the twenty-second of April, 1816, by Arthur Henry. It is thus noticed in the Ohio Gazetteer of 1819: "This town promises to become a place of considerable business." In the Gazetteer of 1841 it is said to have contained one hundred and eighty-seven inhabitants, thirty-three dwellings, one flouring- and saw-mill, one distillery, two taverns, three stores and several mechanics' shops. The macadamized turnpike to Cincinnati and the bridge across the Miami, "with two arches of one hundred and sixty feet span each," are noticed. It enjoyed a daily mail. It had one hundred and thirteen inhabitants in 1830, one hundred and eighty-seven in 1840, two hundred and twenty-three in 1850, and two hundred and seventy-five in 1880. At a celebration of the Fourth of July here, in 1817, General Harrison read the Declaration of Independence and offered the following toast: "May the fertile banks of the Miami river never be disgraced by the culture of a slave, or the revenue they afford go to enrich the coffers of a despot"—which was quite pronounced antislavery sentiment for those days and for a native Virginian. Elizabethtown, as we have seen, was settled as early as 1806, but was not platted as a village until April 15, 1817, when the town was ushered into being by the hands of Isaac Mills.* In later days it has been found necessary, in order to meet the requirements of the post office department, to give the name Riverdale to the post office here. It does not seem to have been noticed in the State Gazetteer of 1819, but in that of 1841 the following is said of it: "The Whitewater canal passes through this place. It contains several stores, two taverns, one meeting-house, and one hundred and twenty inhabitants." Eleven years before, by the census of 1830, it had one hundred and thirty-two inhabitants. It had two hundred in 1880. Berea was a little place laid out about the site of the Berea meeting-house, in 1817, by Samuel Pottinger. It was never much more than a "paper town." Valley Junction is not a surveyed town, but simply the point of union of the two railroads that intersect the township. It has a station-house and two or three dwellings. Hunt's Grove, on the line of the Whitewater Valley railroad, near the junction of the Whitewater and the Dry fork, is not a village, but a very pleasant locality, famous as a resort for picnics. POPULATION, ETC. Whitewater had one thousand five hundred and seventy-four inhabitants by the last census. In 1879 the assessed value of its lands, lots, and improvements, was seven hundred and sixty-one thousand four hundred dollars; of its chattel property, one hundred and ninety thousand seven hundred and forty-four dollars; and the amount of the tax duplicate for the year was therefore nine hundred and fifty-five thousand one hundred and forty-four dollars. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH EZEKIEL HUGHES. Ezekiel Hughes was the descendant of an ancient and honorable family in the parish of Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, Great Britain. The first of his ancestors was Evan ap Owen Fach, who died in 1680. His son, Hugh Evan ap Owen, died in 1720, and was succeeded by his eldest son Edward, who, according to the Welch custom, took for his surname the given name of his father, and henceforth the name of Hughes became the surname of the family. Edward- Hughes was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard, born in 1700, and he by his son, William, born in 1725, and he by his son, Richard, who married Mary Jones, of Pen-y-bout, in the same parish. They had three children: William, Ezekiel, and Martha. The family, for over two hundred *There was another town in Hamilton county, bearing the name of Elizabeth, laid off in 1847 by Daniel Reeder; but we are unable to locate it in any of the townships. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 413 years, had lived on a large farm called Cum Carnedd Uchaf, leased from Sir Watkin William Wynne, the great land proprietor in North Wales. The family owned three farms in the same parish; but the leasehold was so valuable that, for all these years and to this day, they have lived on a rented farm. In accord with the rights of primogeniture, William, the eldest son, became, at the death of his father, in I 807, owner of the real estate, and continued on the leasehold. Ezekiel Hughes was born August 22, 1767. His father gave him a good education, sending him to Shrewsbury, where a good school was found, that he might acquire the English language. At the age of eighteen he was apprenticed to learn watch and clock making at Machynlleth. His venerable father encouraged him to visit the United States with the view of selecting and purchasing a, large tract of land for his-future home. In April, 1795, with a good outfit and in company with his cousin, Edward Bebb (father of Honorable William Bebb, late governor of Ohio), sailed in the ship Maria, of Salem, Massachusetts, reaching Philadelphia after a tempestuous and tedious voyage of thirteen weeks. He remained in this city and vicinity for nearly a year. Congress being in session, he improved his time by acquiring a knowledge of the government and the laws of the country, and preparing for an exploring tour beyond the Alleghanies. In the spring of 1796, he left Philadelphia for the west. He travelled on foot, passing through a Welsh settlement at Ebensburgh, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, he reached Red Stone Old Fort (Brownsville, Pennsylvania), thence on a flatboat to Fort Washington (Cincinnati). This journey was performed in three months. Mr. Hughes, accompanied by his trusty and faithful friend, Edward Bebb, explored the Symmes purchase, and bought one hundred acres in section thirty-four, Colerain township, then an almost unbroken forest. Here these two adventurers built a cabin and cleared a few acres, and spent their time cultivating the virgin soil, hunting, and exploring the regions beyond the Great Miami river. In 1800 this great and fertile domain was surveyed, and in 1801 offered, by the United States, for sale. Mr. Hughes purchased two sections, Nos. 15 and 16, in Whitewater township, paying for it two dollars and five cents per acre. Having secured this fine body of land, he returned to Wales in 1803, and married Miss Margaret Bebb, and in 1804 returned with his bride to their new home on the west bank of the Miami river. In less than a year his estimable wife died, and her remains were the first interred in the Berea cemetery, a beautiful spot donated by Mr. Hughes for a home of the dead. In 1805 he was again united in marriage with Miss Mary Ewing, born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1785. Her parents, Thomas aid Ann Ewing, were from thenorth of Ireland, staunch Presbyterians. Her father was a soldier of the Revolutionary army, and participated in several battles. He was one of the early settlers of Whitewater township, lived to an advanced age, and his grave is on the farm which he owned near the Cleves bridge. Mr. Hughes leased most of his valuable lands. He was a kind and generous landlord, highly esteemed by all of his tenants; always ready to help poor, honest, and industrious men. They had a family of six sons and four daughters. Ann, the eldest, was born March 6, 1806, married Edward Hunt in 1830, and has two sons —Thomas H., Jacob H., and Mary. Richard was born in 1808, married Elizabeth Elder, died in 1850, leaving one son, Ezekiel, and six daughters—Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Margaret, Frances, and Rebecca C. Jane was born in 1810, and is now residing on the old homestead. Thomas was born in 1812, married Jane Bond and lives in Kansas. William was born in 1814, married Amarilla Robinson. He died in Iowa, in 1845, leaving one daughter—Martha H. Hughes. John was born in 1816, studied medicine, and was a successful practitioner in this neighborhood for over thirty years. He married Mary B. Clark, and died in 1880, leaving two sons, William and Richard, and three daughters, Frances, Elizabeth, and Anna. Martha was born in 1818, and lives on the old homestead. Edward was born in 1820, married Miss Mary Davis, and has a family of three sons, William, John, and Edward, and three daughters, Alice, Henrietta, and Mary. James was born in 1823, and died in 1840, a very estimable and promising young man. Rebecca was born in 1826, married Rev. B. W. Chidlaw and has a family of four daughters—Martha, who died in 1876; Mary I., Ann, and Jane Carter, and three sons —John, Benjamin, and James H. At his death, the estate, as divided by Mr. Hughes, was inherited by his children, and remains to this day, after the lapse of so many years, in their possession. In 1820, Mr. Hughes suffered a severe fall while descending the steps of the First Presbyterian church, on Main street, Cincinnati, which lamed him for life. Educated" in the Christian faith and encouraged by the godly example of his pious parents, he, early in life, embraced the religion of Jesus Christ, and lived a useful, happy Christian life, leaving for his large family the inheritance of a good name, and on the second of September, 1849, died the death of the righteous in a good old age, full of years, and was gathered to his fathers. His bereaved widow continued to reside at the old homestead, surrounded by the comforts of life and the society of her children, until her death, October 2, 1857, aged seventy-two years. She commanded her household in the love and fear of God, and her children arise and call her blessed. SUPPLEMENTARY MATTER. The following biographies, settlement notes and other paragraphs have been received since the chapters of this volume, to which they severally belong, went to press: ANDERSON TOWNSHIP. Aaron Hopper, fruit and produce commission merchant, Cincinnati, Ohio, is a native of Anderson township. His father, Abraham, settling in the centre precinct of that town about the year 1812, baying moved from New Jersey to that place, he carried on blacksmithing for about twenty years, but finally purchased four or five hundred acres of land, and farmed quite extensively before he died, which was about the year 1867. His wife died in 1861. They raised a family of twelve children, five of whom are still living, near Mount Washington. Aaron Hopper was born in 1820 ; was raised a farmer, receiving such education as the winter schools of his day afforded. He began the produce business some fifteen years ago on a small scale, more, however, for the express purpose of disposing of the products of his own farm than as a general business. For this work the winter seasons were the time, the summer time being spent on the farm; but as years advanced experience in the business was gained, and now the store-room is kept open during the twelve months in each year. In 1875, Mr. Hopper was elected county commissioner, which position he held until 1878. As one of the custodians of the county he manifested considerable interest in its welfare during his stay in office, and, notwithstanding the bribes by the hatful that were offered him, is proud of his clear record when he retired. He has filled other positions of trust, having been in officefor fully twenty yeah, as township trustee or clerk, etc. Abraham Hopper, salesman in a commission house on Sixth street, was born in 1825; has his residence near Mount Washington, where he owns a valuable farm, and was married to a Miss Johnson, of that vicinity. J. R. Silvers, of Anderson township, book-keeper for the Cincinnati Grange supply house, Third street, Cincinnati, was born April 2, 1857 ; completed his education in Lebanon, Ohio, and in Bryant and Stratton's commercial college. He was raised a farmer, but after teaching school six years, became shipping clerk for a fruit house on Sixth street, and afterwards for the Grange supply house. He was married in 1877 to Miss Emma Johnson, of Mount Carmel, Clermont county, Ohio, and has two children. His grandfather, John Silvers, came to Anderson township in an early day from New Jersey. His wife was Catharine Springer, relation of Jacob Springer, the wealthy citizen of Wilmington, Delaware. Of the six children raised, Joseph E., J. R. Silver's father, born tenth of March, 1825, was the fourth child, and a well-known citizen of Anderson township. He was married to Sarah Hawkins, of the same place, in 1850, by whom he had seven children—the subject of this sketch being the second child. Moses S. Shaw, formerly a teacher but now a prosperous farmer residing in California, is one of the best known men in Anderson township. Intelligent and humorous, he counts his many friends all over the eastern part of Hamilton county. Mr. Shaw has always taken an active interest in school affairs, and by his hilarious good nature has done much to keep down the political animosities of old Anderson. Mrs. Shaw, an estimable woman, is the granddaughter of Ignatius and Antoinette Ross, old settlers at Columbia in the early days. The graves of these old pioneers may be seen on a beautiful knoll near the Ohio, in eastern California. They died, the wife in 1827 and the husband in 1829. It is related by one of the old folks, that once upon a time Mrs. Ross was engaged boiling maple syrup, on what is now the town site of California, when, during momentary absence, the Indians stole the syrup and broke the kettles. At another time, when the Indians were threatening an attack, Mrs. Ross buried the family treasures, gold and silver, in an old kettle.. It was never taken up, and is yet to be plowed out by some astonished farmer. Aaron Hopper lives near Mt. Washington, and owns the splendid farm known as "Fruit Hill." He was born in Anderson township in 1818; was county commissioner in 1875-76-77; and has served near thirty years in township offices as trustee and on the board of education. His father, Abram Hopper, came from New Jersey to Anderson in 1812, and with Morris Sharp and James Stagg bought large tracts of land in 1814. Mr. Hopper is a public-spirited man, doing much for the comfort, good name and happiness of the neighborhood. He is also engaged as fruit dealer and produce merchant in Cincinnati. Dr. W. W. Highlands, of Newtown, was born in Columbia township, and 'came to Anderson in 1849. He was a surgeon in the late war. The doctor is an intelligent and estimable gentleman who has practiced about thirty years in Anderson township. He has served many years in the board of education at Newtown, and is now superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school. F. W. Boye, of Mount Washington and of the firm of A. A. Colter & Co., wholesale and retail grocers, of Main and Sixth streets, was born in Hanover, Germany, in the year 1833. In 1849 his father, with his family, emigrated - 414 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY; OHIO - 415 to America, and came directly to Marietta, Ohio, where he run a mill, also carried on farming, but F. P. Boye found a situation in a store, where he obtained his first ideas of carrying on business. In 1857 he came to Cincinnati and kept the books for B. P. Baker & Co., corner Walnut and Columbia streets, and afterwards for Mill & Kline, No. 56 Main street, and in 1862 came here, and in 1863 became a member of the firm. In 1863 he married Miss Sallie Colter, sister of A. A. Colter, the well-known grocer. He resides in Mount Washington in an elegant, substantial homestead of that place. Cyrus Broadwell was born May 9, 1801, in Anderson township. He spent part of his life in the south, from 1825 till 1830. He and his brother Jacob opened the first boat-store in Cincinnati, at the corner of Sycamore and Front streets, where they succeeded in building up a flourishing business, which continued until the death of Jacob, in 1840. Cyrus then retired to his farm, near Newtown, where he resided until his death, March 31, 1879. His generosity for all religious and charitable purposes is well known. Carvil Hawkins, one of the oldest citizens of the township, was born in what is now Cincinnati, but was then outside of the corporation, June 24, 1813, and married Achy Shinn March 24, 1833. Mrs. Hawkins was born May 26, 1815. His mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five. Mr. Hawkins began life as a poor orphan boy, his father dying before he was born. He worked on the Little Miami bottoms when thirteen years old for eighteen and three-fourths cents per day, and is now one of the solid men in Anderson, owning two hundred and fifty acres of good, tillatle land, and more than half a dozen dwelling houses. His entire life has been spent in the pursuits of industry, buying timbered farms, having the trees burnt into charcoal, and hauling it to Cincinnati, trading in all kinds of merchandise, and all the while engaged in farming. A great portion of his wealth was made in the thirteen years he was engaged in coal dealing. He is one of the men who have grown from childhood to old age in this county. He saw Cincinnati in its infancy, the first locomotive which entered the city, and Main and Sycamore streets when but a long row of stumps, and a rough. bluff was at their foot, and when there were but six houses between Deer creek and the Little Miami river. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, are known and admired throughout the county for their Christian charity, and esteemed Tor their interest in all philanthropic endeavors. Leonard Armstrong Webb was born February 7, 1826, on the island north of Newtown, and married May 16, 1846, Penthesilea Frost, in Harrison township, three-fourths of a mile west of the old Lee's Creek Baptist church in this county. By this union three daughters have been born—Gertrude, Adelaide, and Martha Vanelia. Mr. Webb is grandparent of one child. Educationally, he dwelt altogether in our common schools. Religiously, he has been a member of the Regular Baptist church forty-one years. His father came from Monmouth county, New jersey, in 1793. His mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Frost, came from Berkeley county, Virginia, at the same date, from Bunker Hill, a little town situated between Martinsburgh and Winchester. Mr. Webb owns a well-arranged farm of one hundred and seventeen acres, and according to good authority his dwelling occupies the highest point in the county. Charles Johnson was born in Anderson township, December 11, 1819, and married Rebecca Corbly October 17, 1841. He is the father of five sons, four of whom are living. He is of Scotch extraction on his father's side, who came from Pennsylvania in 1790, and settled in this county. His mother is of Yankee descent, was Anna Bridges in her maiden days, and was the first white child who crossed over into Anderson township and settled permanently with her parents. Mrs. Johnson is of German origin on the line of her father, and from her mother received English blood. By trade Mr. Johnson is a carpenter, but is now particularly engaged in farming and fruit-growing. He is one of those men who obtained his knowledge outside of colleges and academies, but has that rare culture which comes from experience. During the early years of the war he raised a company of volunteers, was elected captain, and served with his men in the Seventieth Ohio regiment for three years. Among the township offices he held are such as justice, school director, and other positions, which show the estimation in which he is looked upon by the people. Richard Ayres was born March 17, 1817, in the southeast corner of Anderson' township, in sub-school-district No. 3, and married December 27, 1842, Matilda Archer, of Clermont county. He is father of eight children--- five sons and three daughters—two dead. Mr. Ayres during his entire life has been engaged in farming, but dealing a good deal in real estate. He began with seventy-five acres to which he fell heir by his father's death, (the latter came from Maine in 1800), and ended with seven hundred and twelve acres. Mr. Ayres' father was a ship carpenter, the son of a Hollander. His mother was Priscilla Durham, born in Hamilton county, but was of English extraction. Her mother came from Maryland. He has been an important influence in the corn-Union schools, and has taken an active part in religious matters, giving donations liberally. He has also always interested himself in turnpike building. Abner Gerard Hahn, born in Newtown May 9, 1812, was married December 23, 1838, to Lucinda Barrow. By trade Mr. Hahn is a blacksmith, in which business he continued for twenty years. In 1836 he was a tradesman in Cincinnati, but since that time has been employed mainly in farming at Newtown. About 1844-5 he was one of the trustees of Anderson township, and at several other times has held two or three minor offices. His entire life has been spent in the vicinity of his birthplace, making him one of the very oldest residents. His descendants will not feel ashamed of their ancestor. John J., the father of William Ferris, came from Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1812, and settled at Linwood, where he lived until his death in 1857. Mr. Ferris is among the first families, and has often filled public offices. Hope M. Brown, father of Mrs. Ferris, was a 416 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. practitioner of medicine at Newtown for forty years, receiving a diploma from the Miami Medical college. On the side of the husband farming has prevailed, while Mrs. Ferris' people have followed medicine. William Meldrum Ferris, the subject of this sketch, was born at Linwood October 19, 1832, and married Sarah A. Brown May 22, 1861, by whom two children have been born, both girls. Mr. Ferris' life has been spent on a farm from early childhood, except two years as a student at Farmers' college. He is now employed in surveying, engineering and improving real estate. He ceased to farm in 1868. Linwood, principally through his efforts, has been made what it is, he being one of the first who realized profits from the sale of lots. Abram Bogart was born December 25, 1812, in New Jersey, twenty miles from New York, in Bergen county, and came to Anderson township in 1814. There he has remained ever since. He married Patsy Bridges September 22, 1836, and is father of eight children, all of whom are living, and all married. He has been a farmer from boyhood. He saw Cincinnati when forest trees stood on Fourth and Fifth streets, and saw the high water of 1832 on Pearl street. He played in a locust grove on the beach of Cincinnati on what was called Western Row, now Central avenue. Mrs. Bogart was educated in a log school-house, with greased paper window panes. Her father came from New England and her mother from Virginia. John Bridges, her grandfather, was the first white man who built a house in Anderson. Both have been members of a Christian church for more than forty years. He has divided his property among his children, and now lives retired, but is superintendent of the Clough turnpike. He is respected by everybody. Gano Martin was horn February 4, 1811, and has been married three times—first to Elizabeth A. Curry, by whom six children were born, two of whom are living, one son and one daughter. Mrs. E. A. Martin died October 31, 1851. Second, to Mrs. Elizabeth Hulick, whose maiden name was Nash, April 29, 1852. By this marriage three sons were born, all of whom still live, the eldest being married. Mrs. Martin died June 20, 1865. Third, to Rachel Highlands, April 5, 1866. Educationally, he received his instruction in an old hickory log school house; religiously, his family from the beginning devoted themselves to the Baptist church. Mr. Martin joined this denomination in 1844, and was elected deacon in 1846, which office he yet holds. In politics he has always served his country first. He was paymaster under the old regimental system for six years; has been a school director for twenty odd years; during the Rebellion was township trustee, and one of those who forced the payment of the township loan of fifteen thousand dollars for war purposes to be paid at one taxation. In the Eastern railway he granted the right of way through most of his farm, and took shares in the capital stock. In 1879 he received a stroke of paralysis, from which he is still a sufferer. But, all in all, he will leave behind him an honorable record. The father of C. C. Johnson was Jeptha Johnson. His mother's maiden name was Martha Estell, her native State, New Jersey. His father was born in Virginia. His wife's father, Abraham Hopper, was a native of New Jersey. Her mother's maiden name was Sarah Conklin, a native of Ohio, born in this county. Christopher C. Johnson was born December 8, 1837; his wife, Joanna F. Johnson, April 17, 1843. They were married October 5, 1865. Their son, Ogden E. Johnson, was born December T0, 1867. October 16, 1874, was the .birthday of their daughter, Carrie E. Johnson. All of the family were born in this county, and still reside here. Mr. Johnson followed the occupation of teacher in the common schools of Anderson township for ten years, and since 1868 has been engaged in farming. COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP. John D. Moore, born in 1836 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Came to Cincinnati in 1838; learned the shoe business in early life with E. G. Webster & Company. Remained in the shoe business until 1865—the preceding ten years being on Central avenue near Sixth street. Retired to a suburban life at Madeira. Not being suited to an inactive life he drifted into the real estate and building interest, being instrumental in subdividing and building the principal part of the town of Madeira, and engaged in improving his vacant property in Cincinnati. At present and for a number of years superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school at Madeira. Elected member of the board of education for three terms. Married to Miss Rachel Mann, of Indian Hill, now Madeira, in 1858, daughter of Joseph B. and Catharine Mann. Both of their parents, John Mann and wife and Jacob Hetzler and wife, settled here in the last century._ Major J. B. Mann was born in 1804, and died in 186o on the same tract of land his parents settled upon. Catharine Hetzler, his wife, was born in 1801, near by, and died on the same tract of land in 1875—now the residence of J. D. Moore. Major J. B. Mann was a successful farmer and business man; a public spirited citizen; a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Indian Hill; and is holding positions of trust in the community. Charles S. Muchmore, an enterprising and well-to-do farmer near Madisonville, was born in Hamilton county in 1831. His grandfather removed from New Jersey to Madisonville about the year 1800. His father, David Muchmore, about the year 1820, married Miss Sarah 'Stites, niece of Judge Symmes and daughter of Benjamin Stites. David was born in 1777; his wife was born in 1776. They reared a family of six children, Charles being the only son now living. He was reared on the farm, in which business he has been careful and very successful, and is, in matters of an agricultural character, regarded by his fellows as authority. He was married to Miss Alvira Leonard January 14, 1855, daughter of a well-known and prominent citizen of Hamilton county. Mr. Muchmore has been a member of the board of education of the Madisonville schools for the past fourteen years. Joseph Coppin, of Pleasant Ridge, now in the ninety-first year of his age, came to America by himself when A WILLIAM DAVIS MUNDELL. William Davis Mundell, of the firm of Short & Mundell. wholesale and retail grocers and produce dealers, 102 East Pearl street, was born near Mt. Washington, Anderson township, September 17, 1825. Jonathan Mundell, his grandfather, was one of the original settlers of the county; he came from Virginia to Ohio before the day log school-houses were erected, it being necessary then for the young philomatheans to assemble in squads at some convenient place and by mutual consent teach one another. Mr. Mundell was a gunsmith, a man of some genius, and one who could render service to his fellows in the early pioneer days. He settled with his family, consisting of himself, wife and five children, near Mt. Washington about the year 1795. Some pear trees planted by him soon after his arrival are still standing. He died about the year 1830. James Mundell, his son, and father of William Davis Mundell, was about two years of age when his father moved on this farm; he was reared a farmer, possessed no educational advantages, his time being taken up in tilling the land and warding off the hostile Indians, who were sometimes troublesome. In 1812 he served in the war, and received an honorable discharge from the service when it ended. In 1815 he was married to Miss Mary McMahon daughter of Francis and Mary McMahon, pioneer settlers of Columbia township. Thd old log house, her birthplace, which was then occupied by her parents, is still standingweatherboarded now—as a relic and tenement of the early days of Columbia. Mrs. Mundell was the mother of eleven children, eight boys and three girls, ten of whom lived to man and womanhood—Mary, Catharine, Andrew, Hugh, William Davis, Jackson W., John R., Martha A., Isaac N., and Oscar C. With so large a family, the duties incumbent upon her were truly irksome, but she was blessed with more than ordinary will and courage, and having that large hope so characteristic of the pioneer parents, did not become, with all her hardships, disheartened with her lot. The religion of Christ was her support in every trying hour, and her children, once a charge and a responsibility, lived to be her comfort, and to cheer her declining years and dying hour. Adjacent to the town on the mound near her father's cabin was the old Baptist church—probably the first church in southwestern Ohio—to which place of worship, when a little child, she was often wont to wend her way with her parents to attend religious service. In those days it was the custom and necessity to go armed, and her father always took with him his faithful rifle and stood sentinel at the door or house corners, with, others, to guard against the approach of hostile Indians, while the minister, old men, women and children would hold worship in the house. How many of us, in this our day, would go to church if attended with the dangers that our pioneer fathers had to encounter? Mrs. Mundell was born in Columbia township, Hamilton county, Ohio, April 25, 1797; was married in rats; joined the Methodist Episcopal church at Salem, Ohio, in 1840; and died at the residence of her son, Hugh Mundell, Clermont county, Ohio, January 27, 1874, aged seventy-seven years. James Mundell died about the year 1853. William Davis Mundell was reared on the farm near Mt. Washington. He attended school in a log house in the Salem neighborhood a few weeks or months each winter, and frequently religious worship at the same place on Sundays—the same house being used for both purposes. In the year 1843 he apprenticed himself to a Mr. Joseph Hime to learn the blacksmith trade, and was to receive about thirty dollars a year for three years for his services. The full time was served, with the exception of the last three months, which he bought off from his employer that the might attend school, feeling the need of a better education. The instruction received during these three months proved to be of incalculable benefit to him in after years. He afterwards opened up a shop in Mt. Washington, being the first blacksmith of that place. In 1850 Mr. Mundell and his brother Hugh organized a company, of six persons in all, from Mt. Washington, to cross the plains for California. The wagon for the trip was made by Mr. Mundell and Davis Whippy (one of the company), apd was so constructed that it could be used as a boat when crossing rivers. They left Cincinnati for St. Joseph, Missouri, March 25, 1850, by steamer, and at that place lay in wait three weeks organizing a force of forty wagons' of six horses each. At Fort Kearney the company disbanded, seven teams proceeding along the northern Pacific route via of Fort Laramie to the Humboldt river, from which place the original six from Mt. Washington, after throwing away their wagon, and finally Mr. Mundell and his brother alone, proceeded, crossing the desert on packhorses, a distance of forty miles, going over in the night time and reaching Carson river in the morning—Sunday—where they rested and also laid in a supply of provisions, paying for six pounds of flour the snug sum of nine dollars. At Sacramento City they sold their stock and footed it up into the mountainous region on a mining expedition, but got sick and soon returned to Sutler's Fort, where, on account of a severe illness of some two months' duration, the doctor advised a trip on the sea as necessary to a speedy return to health. i They ac- cordingly set themselves adrift in a sail vessel on the Pacific ocean, where it was becalmed for three weeks, and being disgusted with such slow progression the brothers, upon putting in at Acapulco, went aboard a steamer, reaching Panama in December, 1850, after being on the water twenty-seven days. They crossed the isthmus to Shager's river on mules, paying forty dollars for their transit. At this point they took canoes to the mouth of the river, where, in company with about sixty others, they set sail in the schooner Thorne for New Orleans. The Mundell brothers had already experienced sore disappointments in their trip west, but the trying ordeal was yet to come. The little vessel when fairly out at sea encountered one of those tremendous and tempestuous storms, and for three days and nights was driven like a feather in a gale, and turned up finally on a coral island in the Carribean sea. The captain had lost his reckoning and the vessel had been driven far out of its course and among the many dangerous coral reefs with which these waters are filled. At first, upon the stranding of the vessel, the captain supposed the bark would go to pieces in half an hour and ordered the mate to scuttle the fresh water baths, but he disobeyed orders, and this probably saved the lives of the crew as the ship was resting with one side on the reef in about four feet of water, the depth of water on the other side could not be ascertained. Lots were now cast for occupancy in the long-boat, there being but the one and that only large enough to hold six or eight persons, and these were to be taken to a little barren egg-shaped island full fifteen miles off before it could be returned for another load. The Mundell brothers were by lots cast destined to wait till the last ones. Everything shadowed forth a precarious condition, and in an act of desperation they tore off loose boards from the side of the vessel with which they constructed a scow, hastily built but large enough to accommodate about fifteen, and in this frail structure they reached the island. The crew were all saved; provisions and water at the rate of one-quarter rations were divided among them. The captain upon taking his reckoning found that they were about one hundred miles from Old Town (?) (Balize), Honduras, and that it would take at least eight days to go for rescue and return. But the time from the stranding of the vessel (a o'clock in the morning) until their rescue was about fifteen days, but deliverance carried them to Balize, from which place they sailed in a few days for New Orleans. Their stay on the barren island was attended with other dangers than those of abandonment and desolation. They were on one-fourth rations and water, and in a feverish and, to them, overheated, torrid clime, but fortune favored them with one or two showers, and the tents being up the rain-drops were collected and carefully saved. The island furnished the iguana, a species of lizard, and the couch which were of great use to them for food. At New Orleans Mr. Mundell and his brother took a steamer for Cincinnati, but, to make the circuit of accidents complete, we are in truth. bound to say that the vessel was snagged in the river. But despite ill fortune they reached home about March 1, 1851, and Mr. Mundell again resumed work at his trade. In 1852 he married Miss Pattie C. Corbley, and has since lived in Mt. Washington. During the war he served is a recruiting officer for some time, and during the Kirby Smith raid was made captain by the unanimous voice of the company, but was immediately afterwards put in charge of the regiment as colonel. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 417 mere lad. He walked in the funeral procession of George Washington in 1799, and afterwards in that of Alexander Hamilton. Has passed through all the presidential campaigns from Washington to that of Garfield. Came to Cincinnati at an early day; was one of the original members of the Pioneer association and possessing more than ordinary powers of mind. Has passed through many and varied experiences of life since that time, having always taken an active part in matters of public concern, and has always been considered a very prominent man. He lives to-day a great-grandfather and possesses more than mere ordinary faculties of mind and body. Charley B. Lewis, proprietor of bakery and lunchroom, 193 West Sixth street, came from Portsmouth, Ohio, to Cincinnati in the year 1861. His father, Thomas C. Lewis, now living, owned the rolling mills of that place, the only ones then west of Pittsburgh, in which mills Charley learned the business of machinist. The property is now owned by his brother-in-law, George Baylis, who is probably one of the wealthiest men of the State. Mr. Lewis was for three years after coming to Cincinnati a driver of a bakery wagon, for which he received one dollar a day. From this he was promoted to a clerkship, and in 1866 bought out the entire business, since which time he has owned it himself. He also owns the building No. 206. MILL CREEK. Rev. Jerome Kilgersteen, in charge of St. Aloysius Orphan asylum, was born in Cincinnati February 22, 1847, his parents being early settlers of this city. Our subject graduated from the St. Francis college in June, 1863, and was ordained in- 1870. His first charge was to St. George, of Corryville; thence to St. Stephen, of Hamilton, Ohio. From there he came to his present appointment, which he has been filling very faithfully since. John Henry Dahman, superintendent of the German Protestant cemetery, was born in Hanover, Germany, May 27, 1836. He came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1853, coming direct to Cincinnati. He was a soldier in the late civil war, enlisted in the Second Missouri cavalry, company C, where he served for four years and nine days, being mustered out as sergeant of company C. He did good service, and was honorably mustered out. He then returned to Cincinnati, where he has remained since. In February, 1879, he was appointed superintendent of the cemetery, in which position he is giving entire satisfaction, gaining the good-will of all. Re has made a good many improvements in the cemetery, and it is to-day one of the handsomest and neatest cemeteries. Anton Barkly, florist, near the German Protestant cemetery, was born in the grand duchy of Baden, January 15, 1823. He Came to America and landed in New Orleans in 1846, then went to Polk county, Tennessee; in 1847 came to Cincinnati; and in 1849 went to Nashville, Tennessee, and engaged in the gardening business. In 1863 he returned to Cincinnati, from which time his gardening business here dates. Of late years he has 53 given his attention to the florist business of which he is making a good success. He has two hot-houses in good order, one sixty by thirteen feet in size, and the other eleven by forty feet. Mr. Barkly's father was a large grower in the old country; he was also a soldier under Napoleon, and participated in the battle of Waterloo. He died in Polk county, Tennessee, at ninety-six years of age. Christian Henning, florist, near the German Protestant cemetery, was born in Hanover, Germany, March 3, 1834, where he learned the art of landscaping, gardening and florist, working at different private places on the Rhine. He then came to the United States, and landed in Baltimore. In December, 1860, he came to Cincinnati and accepted a position with one of the leading florists of Cincinnati, where he remained for some fifteen months. He afterward was gardener for some of the leading private families of the city. Then he accepted a position with the German Protestant cemetery, where he remained for thirteen years, during which time he superintended the laying out of the grounds and the erection of the buildings; after which he began his present business. Mr. Henning has just begun in the business, but is meeting with good success, ranking as a number one florist. John D. Seefried, florist, near the German Protestant cemetery, was born on the old homestead where he is now engaged in business, March 11, 1857, and is the son of John and Margaret Seefried, who came to Hamilton county and located on this farm at an early day. Our subject is a practical florist. He worked at his trade as a florist in some of the leading private places around Cincinnati. In 1877 he purchased his present business, which had been operated for some years before his purchase. Mr. Seefried has three hot-houses, size seventeen by fifty, fourteen by fifty, and eleven by fifty. He is an active worker, and is meeting with fair success in his enterprise. Henry Bertrand, florist, near the German Protestant cemetery, was born in Brunswick, Germany, August 19, 1839. Learning the florist's art in his native country, he followed this business in Leipsic, Brunswick, and Hanover, in some of the leading gardens. He then sailed for America, landing in New York city in August, 1865; thence to New Jersey, where he remained some eight months; thence to Louisville; and in 1866 he came to Cincinnati. Here he was engaged as a private gardener and florist in two of the finest private places in Cincinnati, where in the later years he was as manager. He then began his present business, now occupying three buildings, and it is perhaps one of the best and most complete houses in the florist business. Mr. Bertrand is a practically educated florist, standing at the head of his profession. He was appointed as one of the judges of the florist department of the Cincinnati exposition, where he gave entire satisfaction. Reinhold Schaefer, florist, at the rear of the stock yards, was born in Germany in 1850. At fifteen years of age, he began to learn the florist business. He spent some four years in the city of Berlin, being foreman of 418 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. private gardens. He made a study of landscape gardening. In. 1872 he came to the United States, and worked at his trade in Brooklyn, New Haven, Cleveland, thence to Cincinnati, where he worked six years for H. Harline, one of the leading florists, three years as foreman. In 1879 he commenced his present place, which, for a new place, is one of the most attractive, having two hothouses thirty-five by fifty-four feet, and one house twelve by thirty-two feet. Mr. Schaefer has made very good improvements on his new place, and is doing a very profitable business. William Schilling, gardener, was born in Hanover, Germany, September 15, 1831. He came to the United States and landed in Baltimore in 1858, coming thence direct to Cincinnati; commencing to work at the gardener's business in 1858, which business he has continued ever since, moving to his present place in 1868, consisting now of four and one-fourth acres of fine, improved land, which property he accumulated by hard work and good management in the garden business. Mr. Schilling has been married twice—the first time in 186o, to Miss Sophie Voss, a native of Germany. From this union five children were born. Mrs. Schilling died about 1877. He afterward married his present wife, Sophia Righfeld. She is a native of Germany. William Hockstedt, gardener. was born in Prussia, September 3,1832. He came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1849, thence went direct to Cincinnati. He then went on a farm in Delhi township, Hamilton county, where he remained until about 1856, when he commenced gardening, which business he has continued ever since. In 1865 he moved to his present place, which is a fine, improved gardening farm, which improvements were made principally by Mr. Hockstedt. He was married in Delhi township April 30, 1852, to Miss Louisa Kolthoff, who was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1831, coming to Hamilton county in 1852. By this marriage they have one child, William H., who was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, August 3, 1859. Mr. Hockstedt owns nearly seventeen acres of fine land situated near Cumminsville. Frederick Parker was born in England in 1818. In 1839 he came from England to America, and made his first home in Mill Creek township, Hamilton county, Ohio. Margaret Langland, his wife, was born in 1820. They have had six children—four are now alive—David F., Mary F., William, and Alexander L. David is the only one married. The names of children not living are Sarah and John. Mr. Parker has been for some time employed in the lumber trade. Herman Henry Fricke, gardener, was born in Prussia, December 15, 1824. He came to the United States and landed in Baltimore in 1847, coming direct to Cincinnati, arriving here December 25, 1847. Coming here he commenced to work on a farm as a laborer. In about 1849 he embarked in the garden business, which he has continued ever since. He moved to his present place in 1861, which is a very fine garden farm of twelve acres, located near Cumminsville. Mr. Fricke married in Cincinnati Miss Mary Liella, of Cincinnati, Ohio. By this marriage they have nine children. Mr. Fricke was trustee of Mill Creek township for two years, filling this office with acknowledged ability. He is a member of the German Protestant church. Edward Morris, gardener near Winton place, was born in Realm of St. David, North Wales, July 4, 1819. In 1832 he came to the United States and located in Washington county, Maryland, where he remained until 1839, when he moved to Cincinnati. Here he was engaged for several months as stage driver to Lebanon, Ohio. He worked for John Kilgore in the gardening business for some six years. In 1847 he entered the gardening business for himself; has been located on the present place for the last twenty-seven years. Mr. Morris married, in 1847, Miss Jane Watson, of England. She came to Cincinnati in 1831. By this marriage they have nine children. Thomas Cope, gardener, residence near Winton place, was born in Staffordshire, England, in about 1803 or 1804. He came to the United States and landed in Philadelphia in 1829; remained in Pennsylvania until 1832, when he came to Cincinnati, Hamilton county, which has been his home ever since, with the exception of four years in Iowa. In 1840 Mr. Cope commenced gardening. In 1866 he moved to his present place of six acres. Mr. Cope is one of the oldest gardeners around Cincinnati. He married in Cincinnati, in 1834, Miss Jane Lister, of England. She came to Cincinnati in 1831. She is the only one living of the family. By this marriage they have eight children living; had one son in the late civil war; he enlisted in the Second United States artillery. He was a brave soldier. In 1862 he was killed at the battle of Hanover Court House, Virginia. Lawrence Kessel, gardener, residence near Winton Place, was born in Germany and is the son of J. Kessel, who was born in Byron, Germany, in 1820, where he married Miss Susan Deal. They, with three children, in 1854, came to the United States and landed in New York city; thence direct to Cincinnati. Here he commenced to work as a private gardener, working in Clifton and suburbs, then in business for himself on a piece of land where the toll-gate is located—Spring Grove—thence moved to the place where our subject is now gardening. Here he continued gardening up to his death, which occurred in about 1878. He was respected and honored for his liberal and honest dealings. Leaving a good estate, Mr. Lawrence Kessel is working on the old homestead. Henry Beckmann, a gardener, was born in Prussia, February 21, 1826. He came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1855. From there he came to Cincinnati, and has been a resident of Hamilton county ever since. Coming here very poor, he went to work as a hired man. After working by the day for about two years, he purchased a piece of land and began gardening for himself, and to-day owns a fine improved property of over nine acres of land situated near Cumminsville which he has accumulated by hard work at the gardening business. Mr. Beckmann was married in Cincinnati in 1856, to Miss Louisa Weded. She was born HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 419 in Germany. By this union they have six children, four girls and two boys. F. Varnan, gardener, was born in Germany, March 1, 1833. He came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1848. From there he came directly to Cincinnati, commencing to work at the gardener's business which he has continued ever since. He came here in meagre circumstances, and to-day owns one of the best improved gardening farms in Mill Creek township, consisting of five and a half acres of land. Mr. Varnan was married in Cincinnati, to Miss Caroline Coldhof. She was born in Germany, having come to Cincinnati in 1851. By this union they have ten children. He has been a resident of the present place near Cumminsville since 1859. Lucas Niehaus, retired dairyman, is one of the old and respected citizens of.the township. He was born in Hanover, Germany, October 31, 1800; was married in Germany, to Anna Pheodock. In 1838, with wife and one child, he sailed for America, landed in Baltimore, and then set out in a wagon for Cincinnati, arriving here in June, 1837, after being on the road some seventeen days. Mr. Niehaus, walking the greater portion of the way, came here very poor. He went to work by the day as a laborer; he was engaged in cutting and selling wood for a number of years, and then entered the dairy business in a small way with one cow. His business gradually improved until he at one time had some ninety cows; he was doing exceedingly well, and, after continuing in the dairy vocation for some thirty years, he has retired, the business being carried on by his son, who is meeting with fine success. Mr. Niehaus has been a resident of his present home for the last thirteen years. His first wife died, and he was married a second time, to Miss Mary Lambers, of Germany, who came here in 1840. They have five children, two by the first wife, and three by the present wife. Mr. Niehaus has led a very active life. He, in later years, has suffered from pains, being unable to attend to business. John Schrenk, a dairyman, was born in Germany September, 1829, where he remained until 1853, when he came to the United States and landed in New York city. While in this country he was working in the tanneries. In 1868 he moved to Mill Creek township and entered the dairy business for himself, and with his enterprise and hard work he to-day owns a very neat dairy with fifty-four, cows, doing a very profitable business. He married Mary Klaiber, of Germany, by whom he has two children. B. H. Macke, a dairyman near Bond Hill, was born in Oldenburgh, Germany, in 1824. He came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1848, coming directly to Cincinnati. Here he commenced to work in a foundry, where he continued for some eight years. In 1858 he began the dairy business, starting with thirty-two cows; his business has increased through his management until now he owns eighty-four cows in connection with the dairy business. Mr. Mackey commenced the improvements on his present dairy farm some thirteen years ago until now he has one of the best improved farms in Mill Creek township. He was married in Cincinnati, to Catharine Sanders, of Germany, by whom he" has four children. Thomas H. Kaiser, a dairyman and one of the most successful and fair-dealing men in the business, may be mentioned. The above-named gentleman was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1831. He came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1850, thence directly to Cincinnati. Coming here in meagre circumstances he worked at different kinds of business until he entered the dairy business in 1866. Commencing with twenty cows and some six head of stock, his business has gradually improved until now he owns ninety-five head of cows and twelve head of stock. His dairy is located near St. Bernard, is very complete and kept in first class order. John Philipp Rhein, proprietor 0f the Island house near the German Protestant cemetery, was born in Germany April 15, 1828. He came to America and landed in New Orleans in 1851, thence to Cincinnati the same ):ear. Coming here in meagre circumstances, he worked as a hostler, then as an omnibus driver from Cincinnati to Mt. Auburn, which he continued some four years, when he began vegetable gardening near his present home. Here he gardened for some seven years, when he and his brother Jacob started in the omnibus business and purchased four omnibuses and horses for the same, to run between Cincinnati, Mt. Auburn and suburbs. This business increased until they had seven omnibuses in the line. Doing a good business in 1872 Mr. Rhein retired and entered his present vocation. He was was, -married to Mrs. J. Bessemer, a daughter of John Seefried, who was born in Germany, and came to America and landed in Philadelphia, thence to Cincinnati, where he worked at his trade as a locksmith ; he then moved to the farm, where he died respected and honored, one of the oldest pioneers. H. Broermann, a stock-raiser near Bond Hill, was born in Germany, came to the United States and thence to Hamilton county in 1855. He was for some ten years engaged in the dairy business ; since then he has been engaged in stock-raising, which he has been very successful in. He was married in Mercer county, Ohio (where he resided for some five years), to Miss Agnes Kramer. Mr. Broermann has been a resident of his present homestead for the last fourteen years. H. H. Macke, hotel keeper, near Bond hill, was born in Aldenbush, Germany, April 19, 1819. In 1844 he sailed for America, and landed in Baltimore, thence to Cincinnati, arriving here in 1844, about June 13th. Mr. Macke, by his hard work and good management, saved sufficient money and went into the grocery business, which he carried on in Cincinnati for some ten years. He was f0r a short time a resident of Plainville and the Four Mile house. He also carried on the dairy business for some four years. In 1861 he moved to his present homestead, where he has put up some very valuable buildings and improvements. He is engaged in the hotel and saloon business, and is one of the best-known and most highly respected German citizens of this vicinity. Mr. Macke 420 - HISTOkY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. married Mary Niehaus, who has since died. He married for his second wife Anna Gotting. He had seven children, four by his first wife, and three by the second. John H. Funk was born in Prussia, September 25,1828; came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1852, thence direct to Cincinnati, arriving here June 8, 1852. He carried on the saloon business for several years, and then engaged in the sale of glassware and queensware, at which he continued up to 1875, when he moved to his present place, where he has remained in active business since. Mr. Funk was married in Newport, Kentucky, to Miss Louisa Kramig. She was born in Germany, coming to the United States when she was about two years of age. By this marriage they have one child living. Mrs. Nancy (White) Culbertson was born in the northwest corner of Hamilton county, May 10, 1810, and is the daughter of Providence White, who was born in Pennsylvania, or Virginia, March 9, 1784. He came to Hamilton county when he was a boy, with his parents. Then there were plenty of Indians, and he had his toe shot off by them while making a trip to Fort Washington for soldiers to come and help the settlers, who were in danger. He married Catharine Tucker. Both of Mrs. Culbertson's parents are dead. She was married to William Culbertson and went to Kentucky, where she lived thirty-two years, and, in 1877, returned to near the old home, where she is now living. Her grandfather was a captain under General Washington. Charles Gries, residence Lick Run, Mill Creek township, was born in Baden, Germany, December 1, 1821. He came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1852, thence direct to Cincinnati, arriving here in December of the same year. He commenced to work with his brother, Michael, in the butcher business, where he remained for some fifteen months, when he engaged in the same business for himself, and continued in it for about ten years, when he entered his present business, grape-growing and wine-manufacturing. He now owns seven and a half acres of land in the cultivation of grapes—one of the best improved vineyards in the vicinity. His son, John, is manager of the Union Eagle wine hall, situated in the vineyard, and is a very neat summer resort. Mr. Gries' first wife was Theresa Eline, who is now dead. He married his present wife, Louisa Wyreck, in Lick Run. She was born in Germany, and came here in 1853. Mr. Gries is a member of the Catholic church. Herman Grover, farmer, residence Mill Creek, near Walnut Hills, was born in Hanover, Germany, November I, 1828. He came to the United States in 1845. He stopped in New York and Buffalo a short time, and then came to Hamilton county. He is now one of the oldest German pioneers in this vicinity, and is a member of the Catholic church. He is the son of Henry and Ann Grover. They were married in Germany, and with f0ur children came to America. Henry Grover worked on a farm, and died in 1849, with the cholera. Mrs. Ann Grover was born in 1800. The subject of this sketch owns seventeen acres of fine land. Rev. Alfred F. Blake, pastor of Grace Episcopal church, Avondale, was born in Gambier, Knox county, Ohio, May 28, 1842, and is the son of Rev. Alfred and Anna Jane ; Leonard, his father, was an Episcopal minister; he came to Ohio and located in Knox county, as early as 1828. Our subject, after receiving a thorough collegiate education, having graduated from Kenyon college in 1862, and after graduating from a the0logical seminary, he, in 1867, was ordained as minister, when he soon afterwards came to Avondale and took charge of his present congregation, where he has remained since. Rev. D. O'Meara, pastor of the Catholic church, Avondale, was born in the city of Cork, Ireland, December, 1839, and is the son of David and Mary (Casey) O'Meara. In 1860 our subject came to America and located in Cincinnati ; here, in 1864, he graduated from Mount St. Mary's college. In 1866 he was ordained as minister. He went to Mobile, Alabama, where he took charge of St. Mary's church; which church and congregation, with hard labor, he built up and left in good condition, afterwards visiting Ireland and other parts of Europe. In 1876 he returned to Cincinnati, and in March, 1878, he was appointed to his present charge, since which he has done very noble work, bringing the church out of debt. It is now in a flourishing condition. Thomas A. Stephan, head animal-keeper of the Zoological garden, Avondale, adjoining Cincinnati, was born in Dayton, Ohio, May 22, 1846, his parents being early settlers of that city. Our subject, when quite young, moved to Lafayette, Indiana. He learned a trade as a machinist, which business he followed for a short time. He at twenty years of age began his present business taking care of animals, which business he has made a study, and to-day is, perhaps, one of the finest as well as one of the best animal-keepers and- trainers in America. He has travelled with a number of leading circuses and menageries of this country—De Haven's, Heming & Cooper, Great Eastern, Great Hippodrome, Dan Rice, etc., visiting in his travels thirty-four States of the Union and throughout Canada. In 1875 Mr. Stephan was appointed to his present place, since which time he has be-become so familiar with all the animals under his charge that he can enter the dens of the most ferocious beasts. William Borman, tin-shop, Avondale, was born in Prussia, June 4, 1827, came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1846 ; remaining there for a time working at his trade as a tinner, then went to Buffalo, and in 1847 came to Cincinnati. Here he began to work at his trade. In 1849 Mr. Borman established himself in the tinner business in Cincinnati. He has filled several offices of public trust with honor and credit—six years as justice of the peace and a member of the school board some fourteen years. Mr. Borman married Miss Matilda Retsch ; he has nine children living. J. B. Cook, Avondale, was born in Hanover, Germany, March 14, 1826; came to the United States, and landed in New Orleans in 1853, and in 1854 came to Cincinnati. He came here poor. In 1862 came to Avondale and purchased an interest in the dairy business, which he continued very successfully until 1876, when he refired. He is now in the saloon business, and JACOB CLARK. Jacob Clark was born at Wakefield, New Hampshire, June 25, 1819. His great-great-grandfather, Robert Clark, came from England at the close of the Seventeenth century and settled at Stratham, the same State; was the father of five sons and two daughters : Mayhew, Benjamin, John, Satchell and Jacob, the latter, who was born April 15, 1751, is his grandfather. Jacob Clark, sr., had three sons and two daughters: John, Mayhew and Johnson being the sons; the former being the father of Jacob Clark, jr. His great-grandfather, on his mother's side, came from England at a very early day, and settled at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Thomas Cotton, his grandfather, was professionally a Free-Will Baptist preacher, and father of five children, Betsey, his oldest daughter, being the mother of Jacob Clark, jr., but who died when he was six years old. May 8, 1784, at Wakefield, New Hampshire, and married three times. By the second marriage, November to, 184, to Mrs. Cotton, who was born at Wolfboro, New Hampshire, November 17, 1793, four sons and two daughters were born, Jacob being the third son. Johnson, his father's brother, is the only uncle on this side who is living, and, out of a family of ten children, only one son remains, who lives at Salem, Massachusetts. Jacob's brothers and sisters are: John, Thomas C., Johnson, Lucy P., Elizabeth P., Isaac T.Savinia G.,and Mary B. John is dead; Johnson served as surgeon in the late war at Fortress Monroe in 1861; Savinia and Mary are both dead. Jacob obtained his early education by attending the old district school from two and one-half to five months in the year. At sixteen he left home with ten dollars—seven of which was given him by his father—and went to Dorchester, Massachusetts, but what is now Boston, and labored for two years. By means thus accumulated, he returned to New Hampshire, and attended school at Wolfboro—a select school—and also soon after at a school at Merideth village, same State, and Parsonville, Maine. In 1838 he taught at Water village, and in 1839 at Merideth. After these two years at teaching he left for Boston with ten dollars again, and served as a clerk for three years at the Elm Street house, Hanover and Broomfield. His employer,Daniel Chamberlain, offered to set him up in business, but on account of ill-health and a desire to see the west, he left Boston in 1843, and came by rail to Albany, New York, and from there to Buffalo by canal, a distance of three hundred and sixty-nine miles; then to Cleveland by steamer; thence to Portsmouth by canal, and to Cincinnati by steamer. He remained for three days in the city, and then crossed over in Kentucky, engaged to work for Colonel James Taylor three months. After this time he resided at Locust Corner, Clermont county, with the exception of three years and six months, when he came to Sweet Wine, this county. While at the latter place he acted in the capacity of school teacher for three years, and trafficked generally. February 1, 1849, he married Mary Ann Ricker, Rev. John Westeman, a travelling Methodist minister, performing the ceremony. By this marriage three sons and four daughters were born, of whom three are living—Addie, Leslie and Jewett. The eldest son married Louisa Windeler, , of Cincinnati, November 7, 1876, and lives in Clermont county, occupying a handsome residence on a high point of land, and is one of the prominent fruit growers in this section. He is the father of two sons: Jacob Raymond and George Edward. Mrs. Clark's great-gra n dfather, Jabez Ricker, was born in Berwick, Maine. Her grandfather, Samuel Ricker, was born in the same place, July 7, 1766, and came from sound English parentage. Susanna Jewett, her grandmother, was born in Londond e.r r y, N e w Hampshire, March 28, 1770, and married in 1790. Her father was horn, July 7, 1796, and married Mary Reed Wilson, November 24, 1816, of Durham, Maine, in Campbell county, Kentucky. Her mother was horn February 12, 1800. By this marriage two sons and three daughters were born ; Mrs. Clark being the fourth, who was born November 26, 1827, in Rush county, Indiana. While at Locust Corner, Mr. Clark held the office of postmaster fifteen years, though actively engaged in keeping a country store and dealing in real estate. Since 1875 he has engaged mostly in turnpikes, building most of the New Richmond and Columbia road,and is owner of twenty miles. Three Clermont county pikes have been aided much through his skill, and, as a government and county contractor, is prominent. Politically, he affiliated himself with the anti-slavery people, and has since, in the matter of public offices, been mentioned for some of the most influential positions in the county. His health is good, and from it flows a generous and warm friendship, which is eagerly sought and never found wanting. He is one of our genial men. Business tact and energy have rewarded him with unparalleled success in financial matters. His judgment is rarely at fault, and his word cannot be questioned. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 421 is one of the successful men of Avondale. He was married in New Orleans to Lizzie Behlmann, by whom he has eight children. Goswinn Bauer, wagonmaker and blacksmith, Avondale, was born in Baden Baden, Germany, April 9, 1838. Here he learned his trade as blacksmith and horse-shoer. He was foreman of the horse-shoe department of the artillery for seven years—he received a diploma for fine work. Mr. Bauer served in the army nine years, six years for himself and three as a substitute. In 1866 he came to America, and located in Cincinnati. Here he worked at his trade until 1867, when he began work in Avondale, since which time his business has gradually improved, until to-day he owns one of the leading shops of Avondale, employing a number of first-class mechanics. Jacob Haehl, blacksmith and wagonmaker, Avondale, was born in Bavaria, Germany, February 9, 1816. Here he learned his trade as a wagonmaker. He then came to America, landing in New Orleans, November 6, 1833, thence to Cincinnati, taking twenty-one days in making the trip from New Orleans to Cincinnati by steamer. Arriving in Cincinnati Mr. Haehl began to work at his trade. In 1835 he established in business for himself, and to-day is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) wagon-maker in business in Hamilton county. Mr. Haehl has been a resident of Hamilton county ever since 1833, with the exception of some five years in Indiana. He was for a number of years working at his trade near the old Brighton House, with Daniel Young, an old pioneer blacksmith. In 1865 Mr. Haehl came to Avondale, where he has remained since engaged in blacksmithing and wagonmaking, employing some four hands, and occupying a two-story building thirty-one by fifty feet in size. He was married in 1836 to Barbara Bolander. She was born in Germany, and tame to America in 1835. By this union they have ten children. Had three sons in the late civil war—Jacob, Henry and George; all were brave soldiers, being honorably mustered out. Mr. Haehl was four years a member of the school board of Cincinnati and two years overseer of the poor. Louis H. Bauer, residence Avondale, was born in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany, October 30, 1836. He came to America and landed in New Orleans in 1851. Mr. Bauer worked at the bakery trade in New Orleans, Si. Louis, and Cincinnati; at the latter place he carried on the bakery business for himself, being very successful. He, in 1877, moved to Avondale and erected his present building; here he has carried on the saloon business. Mr. Bauer was a soldier in the late civil war; he enlisted in company G, Ninth Ohio volunteer infantry, where he did good service for two years, participating in the engagements of his regiment. He contracted sickness (rheumatism), and on this account was honorably discharged. He has suffered from the rheumatism very much since, being a cripple in the hand from its of fects. Mr. Bauer was a policeman in Cincinnati five years and was a good officer. William Asmann, retired, residence Avondale, was born in Hanover, in 1811, about September. He came tc America. and landed in Baltic ore, in 1842, thence went direct to Cincinnati. Coming here in meagre circumstances, he went to work at day's labor. He managed t0 save a little money, and in 1850 he entered the grocery business on Mulberry and Main streets, in Cincinnati. Here he remained until 1858, when he moved to Avondale and opened a grocery store, being one of the first in business in this town. Mr. Asmann continued actively in business up to 1880, when he retired, being very successful. He married in Germany to Miss Annie Bruchemann, and with wife and one child, accompanied him to America. By this union of marriage they hive two children living, a son and daughter. Mrs. Asmann died in 1880. S. Newby & Son, wagon manufactory and blacksmith shop, Avondale. Among the leading manufacturing establishments of Avondale is that owned and operated by S. Newby & Son, both men being practical mechanics, learning their trade in England. Henry, the son, finished his trade as a machinist in one of the largest machine shops in the world. In 1870 this firm came to Avondale, where they erected a small shop. Since then, by their good management and attention to business their trade has steadily increased, until now they occupy a large three-story house, twenty-five by eighty feet in size, and employ as high as three hundred hands doinga general wagon manufacturing, repairing and blacksmithing business. Gustave Jander, residence Avondale, was born in Prussia, April 30, 1827. He came to America in 1849, and was for three months a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, thence in the same year came to Cincinnati; here he began to work at his trade as a saddler, which trade he learned in Germany. Continuing in Cincinnati, he in 1868 moved to Avondale and carried on the saddlery and harness business in the brick house opposite his present location, for some six years, when he soon after opened a saloon. Mr. Jander married Miss Annie Schuster, of Bavaria, Germany. By this marriage they have four children. F. J. Diss, contractor and builder, residence Avondale, was born in Lorraine, France, September 6, 1821. He learned his trade as a carpenter in his native country. He then came to America and landed in New York city in. 1840. He went to Pittsburgh and worked at his trade for some six months. In 1840 he came to Cincinnati and commenced to work at his trade. In 1852 Mr. Diss moved to Avondale and has remained one of its honored residents ever since, during which he has contracted and erected a number of prominent buildings of this place. He was the first builder boss to locate in Avondale. Mr. Diss came to Cincinnati in poor circumstances; to-day he is one of the successful builders and contractors of this vicinity. Catharine Karl, residence Avondale, and the subject of this sketch, is one of the old and respected pioneers of Avondale. She was born in Germany in about 1814. She was married in Germany to the late Frederick Karl, of Germany, and they, in company with three children sailed for America and landed in New York city in 1835, coming direct to Cincinnati. Here Mr. Karl 422 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. worked as a day laborer; he was for a short time watchman on a steamboat. In 1849 the family moved to Avondale. Here, in 1851, he began in a small way in the dairy business, and by his industry he built up a good and profitable trade. He continued in business until his death, which occurred in 1864. Thus passed away an honored and respected citizen of Avondale, leaving a wife and three children to mourn his loss. The three children are, Maggie, Amelia and Caroline. F. Spangler, residence Avondale, and the subject of this sketch, was born in the city of Brunswick, Germany, August 5, 1822. He, in 1848, came to America and landed in Galveston, where he remained but a short time, thence to New Orleans, and in the spring of 1849 came to Cincinnati, where in this vicinity he has remained ever since one of its honored and respected citizens. Mr. Spangler was for a nuniber of years engaged in the ladies' furnishing and trimming business, on the corner of Fifth and Vine streets; he was also engaged in other mercantile occupations. He was married in Cincinnati to Miss Mariah Lizzie Warner, of Albany, New York, by whom he has two children living. Mr. Spangler was very actively engaged in the late civil war; was captain in the Seventh Ohio regiment. He was promoted and served as general inspector of ammunition, where he did good duty. Mr. Spangler, in 1849, became a member of the Cincinnati Leidertafel Singing society, the third oldest singing society in America, and Mr. Spangler being the sixth oldest singer in the northwest. At an early day Mr. Spangler was presented with a beer mug trimmed with silver mounting, with an iron screw on the top, for best singing. Thomas Knott, florist, residence Avondale, was born in the western portion of Ireland, in the year 1818. Here he grew into manhood, and in 1840 came to Cincinnati, where he accepted a clerkship in a dry goods store. He remained but a short time. In 1841 he moved to Avondale, then Locust Grove, and with a capi tal of some three hundred dollars embarked in the florist business, near his present location. He states that when he commenced there were only four more in the florist business here in Avondale. Mr. Knott has remained ever since, working continuously at his occupation, and to day is perhaps the oldest florist near the city, and the oldest settler of Avondale. He has been very successful as a florist, owning one of the largest places of the kind near Cincinnati, having some fifteen large houses, under glass, and all filled with the choicest plants. One rosebush he has, which is the La Mark, a pure white rose, he cut from it, one Easter, one hundred dollars' worth of buds at a moderate figure. Mr. Knott employs six hands in the florist business. George Thale, dairyman, Avondale, was born in Hanover, May 25, 1838, came to the United States and direct to Cincinnati in 1864. Here he worked at day's labor. He was then engaged in driving a sprinkling Cart in watering the streets; then as driver of a milk wagon. Coming to Avondale, he commenced in the dairy business with forty-two cows. Since then his business has grown very extensive, and to-day he has the credit of keeping one of the best dairies in Hamilton county, owning seventy-seven head of cows, and running two milk wagons in connection with his business. Thomas Lambert, retired, residence Avondale. The subject of this brief notice was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, March 5, 1825, coming to the United States and direct to Avondale in 1850, which has been his home ever since. He is now one of Avondale's pioneers. Here he entered the nursery business, which he carried on very successfully for a number of years. He entered the grocery business in Avondale, and continued in it up up to 1878, when he retired. Mr. Lambert has been very active in building up Avondale. He has filled several offices of public trust with honor and credit. He was for twelve years assessor of Avondale precinct. He is now superintendent of streets. John Schroeder, saloonist, residence Avondale, was born near Frankfort on the Rhine, Germany, September 24, 1839. He learned his trade as a carpenter in Germany, and in 1867 came to America, landed in New York city, and then came direct to Cincinnati. Here he worked at his trade, and in 1870 he opened a grocery and saloon in Mount Auburn, continuing there until the year 1877, when he erected his present brick block, which is two stories high, and an ornament to that part of Avondale. Here he entered his present business, which he has continued since. Rev. Hilary Hoelscher, pastor of the Catholic church at Carthage, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 14, 1357, and is the son of John and Mary Elizabeth (Mitgoes) —both parents, natives of Hanover, Germany, having conic to America at an early day. Our subject, when he was two years of age, moved with his parents to Covington, Kentucky. Here he received his education, graduating from the St. Francis college in 1875, when he entered upon his ministerial studies, and was ordained as a minister in 1880, his first appointment being as pastor of the Catholic church at Carthage, which pulpit he is now filling. E. A. Brown, supervisor of Longview asylum, was born in Windham county, Connecticut, and followed farming in his native State. In 1861 he enlisted in company B, Eleventh Rhode Island infantry, where he served full time and was honorably mustered out. In 1876 he came to Hamilton county, Ohio, and received a place in the Longview Asylum as watchman. He was soon after appointed to his present position, in which place he is giving the best of satisfaction. A. L. Stephens, superintendent of the colored department of the Longview asylum, residence Carthage. The subject of this brief notice was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, July 19, 1839. He was for seven years connected with the lunatic asylum at Dayton. In 1873 Mr. Stephens accepted a position with the Longview asylum, where he has remained ever since. He has been very faithful, and is acknowledged to be the right man in the right place. John T. Colling, warden of the Hamilton county infirmary, residence Carthage, was born in Aisne, France, in 1834, where he received his principal education. In HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 423 1852 he came to Cincinnati. He was for four years an employe of the Commercial hospital, when he received an appointment from Dayton Asylum, and was superintendent of that institution for some two years, and returned to Cincinnati and was in charge of the asylum at Lick Run for two years. In 1860 he entered the employ of the Western Insurance company as assistant secretary for one year, then secretary for nineteen years, being a faithful employe. He was very successful, and took an active part in improving Carthage. He moved there in 1866. He was eight years a member of the council, and trustee of the schools for some ten years, filling these offices with acknowledged ability. In 1879 Mr. Colling was appointed to his present position, where he is giving the best of satisfaction. He was married in Cincinnati in 1856 to Miss Elizabeth Sauer, of Maryland, and has five children, four sons and one daughter. J. E. Ash, station agent Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad at Carthage, was born in Logan county, Ohio. When a young man, he went to Bellefontaine and worked in a carriage manufactory as a carriage painter. The work not agreeing with him, he left and began to learn telegraphing, which business he has followed for the last twenty-five years. He opened the office at Middletown, and was telegraph operator there until he went to Springfield. From there he came to Carthage January 1, 1862, as telegraph operator and station agent. This position Mr. Ash has filled ever since, and is to-day the third oldest railroad operator between Toledo and Cincinnati. While a citizen of Carthage, Mr. Ash has won many warm friends. He has filled several offices of public trust with honor. He was councilman one term and clerk one term. He, in connection with his station agency, operates a coal and lumber yard, which business he has been in for the last ten years. John Bickers, section boss Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, residence Carthage. Was born in Germany, having come to Hamilton county in 1852. In 1853 he began work on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad as a section hand. In 1857 he was made foreman o his present section, which position he has filled with the best of satisfaction ever since, and today perhaps is the oldest railroad section boss in Hamilton county. Mr. Bickers was a member of the Carthage council for two terms, filling this office with acknowledged ability. John McCammon, contractor and builder, residence Carthage, was born in Shippensburgh, Pennsylvania, November 9, 18r4, and is the son of Thomas and Mary (Piper) McCammon. His father was a native of Ireland, and a cabinetmaker by trade. He died in 1858, aged eighty-six years and two months. Our subject, with his parents, in 1816, came to Cincinnati, floating down the Ohio river in a keel-boat, locating in Cincinnati, where they remained until 1821, then moved to a farm in Springfield township, Hamilton county. Here Mr. McCammon remained, working on the farm. In June, 1831, he began to learn the carpenter's trade in Cincinnati, which business he continued up to 1858, when he was appointed superintendent of buildings of the schools of Cincinnati. This position he filled until June 20, 1875, during which time about all the public schools of this city were erected under his supervision. Mr. McCammon superintended the erection of the new music hall and the wings. He also superintended the erection of the gas building in Carthage. His life has been very active, and to-day, perhaps, he has superintended the erection of more prominent buildings than any one man in Cincinnati. He was married, June 14, 1840, to Miss J. Bonnel, a native of Hamilton county, Ohio. By this marriage they have had eight children, of whom six are living. In 1868 Mr. McCammon moved to Carthage, which has been his home ever since. Mrs. Hannah French, dealer in dry goods at Carthage, is the wife of the late Mr. French, who was born in England. He graduated from the Kilkenny college and soon after came to America, locating in Chicago, thence to Sandusky, Ohio, where he taught a select school. He then went to Plasdated, on the Peninsula, and here taught school and became acquainted with the subject of this sketch, Miss Hannah Slackford, who was born in London, England, and is the daughter of Thomas Slack-ford, who was a sea-faring man. They, in about 1867, came to Cincinnati. Mr. French was acknowledged to be the best Denman around Cincinnati. He taught penmanship in Covington. He entered the office of Gilmore & Dunlap, as a clerk, and soon afterwards was their general correspondent. In 1860 they moved to Carthage. Here Mrs. French commenced the notion and drug store business, being the first to start a drug store in Carthage. She continued in business up to 1879, since which time her sons have been carrying on the business. Mr. French died in April, 1878—a man respected and honored. Thus passed away one of Carthage's best citizens, leaving a wife and four children to mourn his loss. Pedro Benner keeps a drug store at Carthage. He was born in Hamburgh, Germany, in 1851, and came to America in 1855, and in 1859 came to Cincinnati, where he received his principal education, and then entered a leading drug store in Cincinnati, where he remained for several years as a clerk. In December, 1874, he commenced business for himself, in Cincinnati. In 1877 he moved to Carthage, and began business in the post office building. Here he remained up to 1879, when he moved to his present cozy quarters, which is the leading drug store of Carthage. Since Mr. Benner came to Carthage his business has gradually improved, and today he is doing a very good drug business. Edward P. Oberle, grocer at Carthage, was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 16, 1827. He came to the United States and landed in New York city, in 1853, thence direct to Cincinnati, arriving here in August of the same year. Here he learned the trade of a baker with his brother. In 1855, he moved to St. Bernard, and carried on the bakery business up to 1858, when he moved to Carthage, where he embarked in the bakery trade in a small frame house. In 1860 he built his present store and continued the bakery up to 1874, since which time he has been in the grocery business, being very successful. Mr. Oberle, in connection with the 424 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO grocery, is engaged in the lumber and coal business. He was married, in Cincinnati, to Miss Anna Mariah Schreck. She is from Germany, and came to Cincinnati in 1853. By this marriage they have three children living. Leonard Engel, butcher, at Carthage, was born in Wodenburgh, Germany, April 16, 1836. He came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1855, thence to Indiana, where he remained two years. In 1857 he came to Hamilton ,county. In 1865, he moved to Carthage. He is the oldest, as well as the most successful butcher in this vicinity. Mr. Engel has filled several offices of trust. He was elected a member of the city council, but on account of his business he resigned. He has been a member of the school board for the last four years. Chris Schmidt, gardener, at Carthage, was born in Germany, in 1837. He came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1854, thence direct to Cincinnati, arriving there in May, of the same year. He engaged in the gardening business. He was a resident of Camp Washington some ten or fifteen years. In 1870 he moved to Carthage, and in 1873 was elected to the city council, which office he has filled with honor and credit for some two terms. He was married, in Hamilton county, to Miss Mary Gruber, of Germany. They have three children. H. H. Lammers, keeper of a hotel and feed store, at Carthage, was born in Oldenburgh, Germany, in 1830. He came to the United States and landed in New Orleans in 1848; thence he came to Cincinnati, arriving there in January, 1849. Here he began to work at his trade as a wagon-maker, which trade he had learned in Germany. He continued at his trade in Cincinnati up to 1858, when he moved to Carthage and carried on the business until 1860, when he entered his present business. Mr. Lammers has been very successful while a resident of Carthage. By his hard work and good management he has accumulated a good property, and made hosts • of friends. He was one of Carthage's honored cotincilmen for one term. He is a hard worker in the Catholic church, taking an active part in the church and school. He is a director of the St. Mary's cemetery, which bids fair to become one of the handsomest cemeteries around Cincinnati. L. W. Haley, who keeps a tin and stove store at Carthage, was born in Winterport, Maine, in 1848. He learned his trade as a tinner in Waldo county, Maine, when he was eighteen years of age. In 1869 he came to Cincinnati and worked at his trade. In September, 1873, he embarked in business for himself in Carthage, where he has remained since. He is now doing a good business—employing as high as seven men---doing work for the public works in and around Carthage. Mr. Haley has represented Carthage as city councilman for one term, filling that office with honor and credit. Rev. Daniel Heile, pastor of St. Bernard's. Catholic church, was born in the province of Hanover, August 6, 1842, and is the son of Bernard and Elizabeth (Schulter) Heile, both parents natives of Germany. Otir subject, in 1867, came to America, coming to Cincinnati. He entered the St. Francis college, where he remained for several years. After receiving a thorough education, attending different colleges, he was ordained as minister July 26, 1874, at Oldenburgh, Indiana. He was for six years pastor of St. Stephen's church, of Hamilton, Ohio, when, in 1880, Father Heile received a call from his present church, where he has filled the pulpit ever since. G. H. Esselmann, superintendent of the German Catholic cemetery, at St. Bernard, was born in Hanover, Germany, May it, 1853; came to the United States and landed in Baltimore in 1871, coming direct to Cincinnati. Since then he has learned his trade as a steel polisher, working in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Mansfield, thence to Cincinnati. He was for four years connected with the St. Joseph cemetery. In 1879 he was made superintendent of the present cemetery, which position he has filled with ability since, giving the best of satisfaction. He married, in 1878, Miss Katie Estermann, she being a native of Cincinnati, her parents locating here at an early day. Joseph Wallrath, superintendent of the New German cemetery near St. Bernard, was born in the Rhine province, Germany, May, 1848; came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1867, coming direct to Cincinnati. Here he was engaged in landscape gardening, being concerned in laying out some of the finest places in Clifton. He made a visit to California, remaining a short time. He returned to Cincinnati and again entered his profession as a landscape gardener, and was made superintendent of the new cemetery, which so far is acknowledged to be one of the handsomest cemeteries around Cincinnati. Bernard Strothman, gardener near St. Bernard, was born in Hanover, April 19, 1841; came to the United States, and landed at New York city, in 1854, thence to Cincinnati. Here he was engaged by day's labor. In 1864 he entered his present business, in which he has been very successful. He built the improvements on his present place, which consists of four and one-fifth acres of land, all in good order. Mr. Strothman attends to the gardening. He married, in Cincinnati, Miss Henrietta Faurnan, of Germany, by whom he has had five children. Frank Kaufmann, grocer, St. Bernard, was born in Prussia in 1816. Here he learned his trade as a blacksmith. He soon after came to America and landed in New York city in 1848. He then went to Pittsburgh. Here he worked at his trade, and was married to Miss Mary Brandhover. After remaining there until 1850 Mr. Kaufmann, with his wife and one child, came t0 Cincinnati, where he worked at his trade up to 1854, then on the Reading road some two years, when, in 1856, he came to St. Bernard and worked at his trade for a number of years, when he engaged in the grocery business, and coming t0 Cincinnati with but little money, is to-day one of the most successful and highly respected business men of St. Bernard. He has five children. Mathias Schulhof, grocer, St. Bernard, was born in H. KNUWENER. Herman Knuwener, head of the prosperous firm of Knuwener Verhage, owning and managing the Cincinnati soda and mineral water works, is of full German blood on both sides; was born in Hanover, now in Prussia, July 23, 1848; the oldest son of William and Lizzie (Huxal) Knuwener, both natives of the same German State, and both are still living at the old home in the Fatherland. He was educated in the elementary schools, under the compulsory system of school attendance long in vogue throughout Germany. In his fourteenth year he began active life among total strangers at Diepholtz, some distance from his native place. He engaged as an apprentice in the dry goods business, serving according to the German system, not only without pay, but at his own cost for instruction in the business. For four years he sustained this burden, not being allowed the use of any money, and being pledged against the use of tobacco in any shape, his father signing a bond that he would observe an agreement to this effect. At the expiration of his apprenticeship, feeling opposed to the stern, severe military laws, which would presently have called him into needless service for three years, he resolved to emigrate to America, and again started out alone in the world. He landed in New York in 1866, came on at once to the Queen City, and for about a year did not engage in business, but improved his time in learning the language of his adopted country and taking a full course in Nelson's Business college. His acquaintance in the city, and with the English speech, then enabled him to obtain a situation in the now great dry goods store of Alms & Doepke, then a comparatively small establishment in the old building at the head of Twelfth street. He was given the honorable post of salesman at the front counter, and was otherwise very kindly treated by the firm, to whom he justly attributes the beginning of his fortunes in Cincinnati. He was with them but a year, however, and then entered as a salesman the store of Messrs.C. Steinkamp & Co., on Main street above Twelfth, in which, after only about half a year, he became a junior partner. He went out of this connection in 1874, and the house has since become extinct. Mr. Knuwener sold his interest to Mr. Steinkamp, and embarked in the soda and mineral water manufac ture, buying the business of his father-in-law, Mr. J. H. Overdyck, at 719 Home street, after the death of the latter. He conducted the business alone until 1876, when the establishment was consolidated with the similar works of Mr. Henry Verhage, on Walnut street, and the two joined their energies in a strong and prosperous partnership. In the spring of the same year, they moved to the much more spacious and convenient quarters they now occupy, at 270-2 Sycamore street, near the corner of Eighth street, where their business and popularity have grown upon their hands until they now have the largest establishment of the kind in the city and in the State of Ohio, and probably in the entire west. They have certain specialties in soda fountains (steel) not enjoyed by any other house in the city, and now supply most of the dealers in soda-water. Their business is almost exclusively with city retailers, and is a good, safe traffic, which nets them very profitable results Mr. Knuwener is the sole manager in charge of the works, and to him may be credited the success and prosperity of the firm. He has taken time, however, to interest himself somewhat in politics and other affairs, and is a member of the Lincoln club and sundry other organizations. In 188o, though a Republican, he was elected, against his inclination, in the strong Democratic Sixteenth ward, a member of the board of councilmen, in which he is now acceptably serving his constituents. When the new committee of the council was formed on the consumption of smoke, under a recent act of the legislature, he was appointed a member of this important committee. In the council he has kept a vigilant eye upon the public interests, particularly the plunder of the city treasury, and not long since moved a resolution of inquiry into the vast expense of the city advertising, which was passed and has already been productive of much good. Mr. Knuwener was married, in Cincinnati February 23, 1871, to Miss Louisa, daughter of Mr. J. H. Overdyck, a well-known German citizen, and Mrs. Henrietta (Dunker) Overdyck. Their children number two: Millie and Henry Knuwener. The family live in a pleasant residence at No. 388 West Court street. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 425 Hanover, Germany, October 8, 1811. He came t0 the United States and landed in Baltimore July 13, 1833, where he remained in that vicinity for about four years, working as day laborer. In 1837 he came to Cincinnati and worked at gardening. He soon after began teaching school, and followed school teaching for some six years. In 1850 Mr. Schulhof started in the gardening business where is now located the Catholic graveyard, which business he continued there until 1862, when he began the grocery business, which lie has continued in St. Bernard ever since, being now one of its highly honored pioneer settlers. Mr. Schulhof married Miss Catharine Dickmann, who came to Cincinnati at an early day. She was a good Christian lady, respected and loved by all. She died January 26, 1877. There are five children living—two sons and three daughters. George Young, blacksmith, St. Bernard, was born in Camp Washington December 30, 1845, and is the son of George Young, who came to Hamilton county at an early day. Our subject is to-day the pioneer blacksmith of St. Bernard. He is now engaged at the blacksmith business, employing three hands in the manufacture of wagons and the general blacksmith business. He married Miss Annie Sprung, of Cincinnati. By this marriage they have seven children living. Mr._ Young was a soldier in the late war, serving in the Twenty-second Indiana volunteer infantry, company B, for two years and a half. He was a faithful soldier, and was honorably mustered out at the close of the war. The subject of this sketch, Jacob Ries (deceased), of St. Bernard, was b0rn in Germany in 1822. He came to the United States in 1841, coming direct to Cincinnati. In 1856 he moved to St. Bernard. Here he was actively engaged in business up to his death, which occurred in 1880. He was a man liked by all for his uprightness and honorable dealings. He took an active part in the building up of St. Bernard. He died respected and loved by a host of friends. He was an active member of the Catholic church. Thus passed away a kind father and a loving husband, leaving a wife and five children to mourn his loss. He was married in Cincinnati in 1848 to Elizabeth Morio, who came to Cincinnati with her father, Michael Morio, his wife and four children. Herman Witte, a resident of St. Bernard, was born in Hanover, Germany, February 18, 1820. He learned the bakery trade, and in 1845 he sailed for America, and landed in Baltimore. Here he worked for some six months at his trade, and in the same year (1845) he came to Cincinnati, coming here very poor, having only a five-franc piece, which was soon after stolen from him. He, besides working at his trade, worked on the railroad and at other labor until he, in 1850, entered the grocery business on the corner of Race and Green streets. In 1852 Mr. Witte moved to St. Bernard, and has been one of its honored and respected citizens ever since, and is now one of the oldest settlers 0f the place. He moved in a little frame house, where he carried on business until 1861, when he built his present place of business. Mr. Witte was married in 1850 to Miss Rosena Stubbe, of Hanover, Germany. She came to Cincinnati in 1848. By this union of marriage they have had seven children, of whom four are living. Mrs. Carrie Meyer Eckert, a resident of St. Bernard, was born in Baden Baden, Germany, and is the wife of the late Val Eckert, who was born in France in 1815. He came to the United States and landed in New York city in 1834. He went then to New Orleans, and in 1845 came to Cincinnati. Coming here in meagre circumstances, he went to work at day labor. He managed well, and by hard work he accumulated a good property. In 1854 he moved to St. Bernard, where he became one of its most honored and prominent citizens, taking an interest in the building up of the town. He was married in Cincinnati in 1846 to Carrie Meyer, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Eckert died in 1878, leaving a wife and five children to mourn his loss. Mrs. Julia A. Kemper, of St. Bernard, was born in Mill Creek township, Hamilton county, Ohio, March 31, t820, and is the daughter of John Boswell, who came to Hamilton county from Maryland as early as 1812. He farmed here up to his death. Of that family there are five children living: George, Elizabeth, Mary Jane, Alexander and the subject of this sketch, who has remained a resident of Mill Creek township ever since she was born. She was married in 1841 to the late Reuben Kemper, who was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, July 28, 1813, and is the son of Presley Kemper, who was one of the pioneers of this county. Reuben Kemper was raised on the farm. He also followed the tannery business for several years, but spent the greater portion of his life on the farm. He died on the old farm respected and honored, leaving a wife and four children: Robert,, Henry, Mary E, and Sarah. Thomas Branch Weatherby, retired, a resident of College Hill, was born in Thetford, Vermont, July 20, 1802, and is the son of Danforth and Lucy (Stiles) Weatherby. Our subject, with his father and family, in 1806 started in wagons for Kentucky, but on their way, after being out eleven weeks, arrived in Cincinnati, where they located, remaining there until about 1808, when they moved to Columbus, and in 1809 returned to Cincinnati, living in a rented log cabin on the land where the Grand Hotel is now located. In 1810 the family moved to Eighth street, between Broadway and Sycamore. Here they remained until 1816, when they moved to a farm in Springfield township. In 1831 the father and mother moved to Oxford, where they both died. Our subject engaged in farming on the old farm, which he purchased in 1832, where he has remained ever since. Mr. Weatherby was married in Springfield township to Miss Mercy Van Zant. She was born in Hamilton county, her parents being among the early settlers, by whom they have had four children. A. B. Johnson, superintendent of the Avondale public schools, was born in Ogden, New York. His father was a teacher of thirty years' experience, and gave his son a good education in the schools of his native town and in those of Rochester, New York. He also learned to work on a farm, and afterwards studied book-keeping 54 426 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. and the principles of penmanship, and the knowledge thus gained enabled him to earn a sufficient amount to graduate him in the Oberlin college, which occurred in the year 1853. He taught school in the college, and during vacations on the evenings and Saturdays of each week he posted books. In 1856 he received the degree of A. M. He taught school one year after graduating in New York, having charge of the Academy of Sodus, Wayne county, of that State. In 1855 he came to Avondale, where he has been elected superintendent of the school twenty-five times in as many years, without a single opposing vote in the board of education of his place. He has been for years an active member of the teachers' association of Hamilton county; has been county examiner of teachers of his own county, and now holds the position as one of the State examiners of applicants for State certificates. His estimable wife has labored with him during these long years of toil, and done much to make the schools of Avondale what they are. John Trotter, sexton of Spring Grove cemetery, was born in Scotland May 12, 1836. In 1863 he came to America, and landed in New York; thence to Chicago, Illinois, where he remained, engaged in the gardening business, until 1867. In 1869 Mr. Trotter entered the employ of the Spring Grove cemetery as gardener. In 1871 he was made the sexton, which position he has filled very satisfactorily since. Keeshan & Weber, grocery and meat store, Avondale, is one of the leading business firms of Avondale. The meat store was established about the year 1864 and was one of the first meat markets of the place. Mr. T. J. Keeshan is a native of Ireland, having come to America when very young. He has been engaged in the mercantile business for the last twelve years. Mr. Henry Weber is one of the old pioneers of Hamilton county. He was engaged in farming in Glendale. Afterwards the firm of Keeshan & Weber was formed, since doing business in Avondale. SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. Rudolph Rhemboldt, of Springdale, formerly an enterprising business man of Cincinnati, was born in Baden, Germany, December 27, 1827, His father was a brewer and gave him a good education in this business, he having attended the colleges of Carlsruhe and Freiburg, Germany. In 1818 he emigrated to America and began in the brewer's business as teamster for Kauffman, where he remained for three years. He made a visit to Europe but returned in 1851 after a short stay, and went into the commission business on Fourth street, and soon after into the brewer's business again as one of the partners of Glass & Brauer. In 1854 he married a daughter of Mr. Kauffman, and in 1856 went into the firm of Erchenlaub & Kauffman, on Vine street, which business he conducted with success until 1877, when he retired from active life and settled on his farm. William P. Bruce, of Glendale, Springfield township, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, December 7, 1832. When eighteen years of age he formed a partnership with a Mr. Chappell in the merchandise business, and later a Mr. McIntyre was admitted, and the firm continued thus until 1865, when Mr. Bruce, in the firm of Chappell, Bruce & McIntyre, came to Cincinnati and located at 44 West Fourth street, where they kept a wholesale dry goods store. In 1873 Mr. Bruce went into the real estate business at 73 West Third street, but in 1875 removed to Glendale, where he operated until 1876 with Mr. McIntyre in the general merchandise trade, and since that time with his son, under the name of W. P. Bruce & Son. Mr. Bruce's grandfather came from Scotland and settled in Virginia, but removed to Kentucky, where his father (William P.'s), was born. The family of Bruces is a large one, and includes some of the oldest prominent citizens of that State. The grandfather was high sheriff of his county, and his numerous descendants are well and favorably known. Major James N. Caldwell, of Carthage, was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, November 17, 1817. His father, Samuel Caldwell, was a master builder in Philadelphia, from which place he moved to Cincinnati in 1794, and settled at North Bend. He afterwards kept a dry goods store in Cincinnati; but moved to Franklin in 1808, where he died in 1848. He was a prominent man, holding the offices of judge of the common pleas court, was a member of the legislature. also a State senator. J. N. Caldwell received a good, liberal education at the college of Hanover, Indiana. Was a cadet at the West Point academy from 1836 to 184o, graduating at that time and promoted to brevet second lieutenancy, and from there served in the Florida war-1840-as second lieutenant, and on frontier duty from 1841 to 1845 ; then in the recruiting service, one year after which he was placed at different posts in Texas, and promoted to the positions of first lieutenant and then to that of captain. In 1861 he entered the service as commander of the barracks at Key West, Florida, and was promoted to major of infantry February 27, 1862, his corps operating principally in Tennessee and Kentucky. December 31, 1862, for gallantry and meritorious services at Murfreesborough, Tennessee, was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonelcy. In 1863, on account of ill health and disability, he retired from the service, and was for one year—1866-7—member of the executive board of candidates for promotion in the army at Louisville, Kentucky. January 1, 1866, per special order No. 198, A. G. O., he was detailed as professor of military science at L0uisville, Kentucky, and at his own request relieved in 1869, since which time he has lived on his farm at Carthage. Elijah Vancleve is a son of Asher, who came to Colerain township, Hamilton county, in 1802. He was a local preacher, a justice of the peace, and a highly respected and very public-spirited citizen of the county. He was killed by a runaway team in 1844. Elijah was born in 1832; and after some years of maturity had come upon him, he flat-boated from Cincinnati to New Orleans for about five years. He enlisted in the Mexican war, went south one time, but was discharged on account of sickness. In the late war he entered the service of company K in 1861, as second lieutenant in the Fifth Ohio cavalry, was promoted to the first lieutenancy, and mus- HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY. OHIO - 427 tered out as captain, December, 1864. His regiment formed part of the army of the Tennessee. When twenty years of age he learned the carpenters' trade and has foll0wed the same business ever since. In 1862 he was married to Miss Adda Cummings, of New York. They are comfortably located in Glendale, and are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Vancleve is also a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity of his place. John P. Decker, the able and efficient superintendent of the Cincinnati infirmary at Hartwell, was born in Mt. Auburn, July 28, 1841. His parents were of Germanic birth, the father being born near Strasburgh and his mother near Mentz. When nineteen years of age the father came to America and in 1853 died in Cincinnati. John was raised a farmer near Hartwell, and experienced the usual hardships common to orphans (his parents were both dead when he was thirteen years of age), beginning life empty-handed and without friends. But he was sturdy, honest, reliable, and in the main successful. In the beginning of the war he was in the South, and in order to escape joined the Confederate army, where he remained about twenty-four hours, and on making his way to St. Louis entered the army under General Fremont. He also served in the Red River expedition and afterwards was with Sherman in his raid to the sea. In 1865 he was mustered out and went to work as a farmer at the infirmary. In 1871 he held the position as captain of the guard under Ira Wood for five years at the workhouse. In 1876 he was appointed as lieutenant of the police force of the Twenty-fifth ward, and in 1877 as superintendent of the city infirmary. In 1878 he was legislated out by the O'Conor legislature, and until 1880 was United States store-keeper, appointed by Amor Smith, collector of the First district, at the end of which time he was reappointed to the position of superintendent of the infirmary. His amiable wife, formerly Miss Elizabeth Smith, of Cincinnati, matron of the infirmary, is a woman well fitted for the position she holds, having worked in and filled all the minor posts of the institution previous to her promotion. The infirmary now furnishes a home for five hundred and sixty persons. George W. Baron, grocer, of Glendale, Springfield township. He was initiated into his business as clerk for Aaron A. Colter & Co., Sixth and Race streets, Cincinnati, and afterwards for five years with Abner L. Frazier & Co., No. 44 Walnut street, in the same city. Thus, with eight years' experience in all, he came to Glendale and formed a partnership with McCormick, which was continued up to January, 1880, when Mr. Bacon began business for himself. He was born in Carthage, Ohio, in 1852; received a good common school education in his own village, and in the high schools of Cincinnati. He was married to Amanda M. Langdon, daughter of William Langdon, in October, 1879. Her parents were old settlers of the county. Joseph Sampson, bricklayer and plasterer in Lockland, in which business and town he has been for the past twenty-two years. His father, James Sampson, was an old settler of the county, being eighty four years of age when he died in 1878. In 1854 Mr. Sampson was married to Miss Jane Dotey, of Carthage, at which place he lived a short time, but since then in Lockland where he has followed his business and in which he has been very successful. He is at present engaged in building a large cotton factory. One son, Albert, the oldest, is married and lives at Cleveland, and is a telegraph operator on the Short Line. His son John is in business with his father. Mr. Sampson is not only comfortably located in the town, but owns considerable property in the country. Captain Charles Ross, of Carthage, Springfield township, the well known steamboat captain and pilot, was born in 1806 in Warren county, Pennsylvania, where his parents (Scotch descent) had removed from New Jersey in 1800. In 1810 the family removed to Columbia, Hamilton county, and from there to Cincinnati in 1815. When twelve years of age he went to New Orleans, going on a barge down and walking part of the way back. After this he took several trips down and back in steamboats. In 1825 he commenced piloting steamboats to and from Cincinnati and New Orleans, and, when the river was too low, running keel-boats and flat-boats. Between the years 1825 and 1852 he commanded not less than thirty steamers of different classes, and during all that time never met with any serious accident. In Buchanan's administration he was appointed supervising inspector of steamboats, with headquarters at St. Louis. During the war he helped to get up regiments, and volunteered to help the Cincinnati surgeons to the fight at Fort Donelson, and brought back a boat-load of sick and wounded to Cincinnati. His boat plied between all the important places on the Mississippi and the Yazoo rivers, sometimes carrying troops, at other times 'bringing off sick and wounded. He did efficient service for Admiral Porter, and also transported Colonel Gar-field's regiment from the Big Sandy to the south. He was at Lexington, Kentucky, during the Morgan raids, and was at the siege of Vicksburgh; at this place he had an operation performed on his lip, to remove an epithelia or lip cancer, cutting off the whole of the lower lip. It would take a volume to recount all the romantic incidents connected with the captain's history during the war; suffice it to say he performed gallant service until he resigned, June 1s, 1864. He has traveled with many distinguished men, such as Andrew Jackson, General Scott, General McComb, General Harrison, General Samuel Houston, Colonel David Crockett, Colonel Thomas Benton, Zachary Taylor, Prentiss, and a host of others. He has now two sons and three daughters grown up, twelve grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His wife is dead. Mary I. Brown, of Wyoming, was born in Cincinnati in 1830, and when twelve years of age her father, Anthony Ireland, moved to Springfield township, where she has lived ever since. Her father, Mr. Ireland, was born in New Jersey in 1778, and settled in Ohio at an early day. He was a boss carpenter, and left many monuments of his life work in Cincinnati and elsewhere to attest to the industry and honesty of the man. In 1822 he was married to Miss Phoebe Collins, who was born in 1800, and by her had four children. He died in Lock- 428 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. land in 1862; she died in 1854. In 1862 Mrs. Brown was married to Daniel Brown, whose father was an old settler of the township. Mr. Brown was through life an active, public-spirited citizen, and was one of the first to lay out and advance the interests of Wyoming. He died in 1877. Nathan W. Hickox, of Glendale, came with his father from the battle-grounds of Wyoming in 1836 to Ohio, when but seventeen years of age. His father was a farmer, and was born near Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1793• In 1816 he married Miss Laura Waller, and in 1862 he died. Mr. Hickox, carpenter and builder, learned his trade in 1847, and followed the business in Cincinnati until 1852, since which time he has built many houses in the town in which he lives. Mr. Hickox has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for forty years, is one of the deacons, and is also superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He has been married twice, his last wife being Miss Ann Drake, of Butler county. He built himself a nice residence in 1869. J. M. Miller was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1831, and was engaged while a boy on his father's farm, attending school through the winter. At the age of eighteen he commenced teaching, and while not thus engaged attended the academy in the village during the summer months. In the spring of 1856 he removed with his family to Illinois, and while there he taught a short time; then removed to Lawrenceburgh, Indiana, where he taught eight years. In the spring of 1863 he became principal of the Camp Washington school, now the twenty-fourth district; and after four years of successful teaching, he left for a more lucrative position at Lockwood, Ohio, where he has been engaged ever since, with the exception of four years that he taught at Carthage. In 1874 he was appointed one of the examiners of the county, which position he has held for seven years. SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP. Major James Huston, jr., farmer and teacher, the oldest of, twelve children, was born of Irish parentage, November 20, 1819, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. The parents, Paul and Mary (Carruthers) Huston, moved to Hamilton county in 1823, where they lived seven years; and thence to Logan county, Ohio. James Huston received a good frontier education in the schools of that day, and received a careful training at home. In 1837 he came to Hamilton county and found work on a farm, arid in 1838 taught school one year in Warren county. In 1840 he went to New Orleans but returned to Ohio via Lebanon, Tennessee, where he taught school for six months and in 1841, resumed work in the schoolroom in Hamilton county, where he remained in that profession until 1850, when he went to California, by way of Panama, and where he remained digging in the mines until 1852. When he returned he came to Hamilton, and again taught school. At the breaking out of the war he entered the service as captain of company I, in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry. In 1861, he was elected member of the Ohio legislature and reelected in 1863. In 1870 he was appointed assistant in the county treasurer's office, and, since 1865, has devoted himself to farming in Sycamore township. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Lloyd Smethurst Brown (deceased, of Reading) a retired merchant and capitalist of Sycamore township, was born October 24, 1822, in New York. His father was a shoemaker, and at an early date settled in Columbia, Hamilton county, Ohio. From here the family removed to Cairo, Illinois, and from there to Vevay, Indiana, thence to Evansville, Indiana, where the father died, in 1819, and the mother in 1822. They left an orphan. Mr. Brown went to live with his uncle, Lloyd Smethurst, near Montgomery, Hamilton county, Ohio. He learned tinsmithing, and, after two years spent at his trade, entered a store in Montgomery, where he remained until 1840, and embarked in business for himself in the same place, and, with the exception of one year in Cincinnati, remained in Montgomery until 1846, when he moved t0 Lockland, where he bought an interest in the Turnpike company (Cincinnati and Xenia), and was elected its secretary and treasurer, and has been devoted to the settling of estates and to the insurance business. In 1875 he was elected to the Ohi0 legislature, and became an honored and useful member of that body. On October 1840, he married Margaret A. Weaver, a native of Virginia. In 1879, after living a prominent member of society, he died. Wesley Smizer, M. I)., was born in Clermont county, Ohio, February 28, 1828. He was the youngest son of seven children. His father, Phillip Smizer, was a farmer, engaging extensively in agricultural pursuits in Maryland. He was an early settler in Clermont county, and died there in 1839. His mother, Mary Carmon, was a native of Ohio, and died there in 1870. Wesley Smizer, although raised a farmer, received .a liberal education, and in 1849 began the study of medicine, under Henry Smizer, of Waynesville, Ohio, graduating, after a period of study of three years, in 1852. He first practiced in Paducah, Kentucky, but his health failing, at the end of eight months he was obliged to return to Waynesville, where he remained for three years. He attended a course of lectures at the Cincinnati Eclectic college, and graduated from that institution in 1856, and immediately afterwards went to Sharonville, where he has practiced his profession ever since, and has been successful in securing a large practice. He was married to Elizabeth Hook, a native of Hamilton county, in 1858. Her father, William Hook, was a prominent resident, and a successful farmer of that place. Libues Marshall, a well-known fire insurance agent of Sharonville, was formerly in the saddlery and harness business, which trade he learned when he was seventeen years of age; but in 1867 he took an agency for the /Etna insurance company, and has continued in the business ever since, having at this time the agency for several companies. His father was a citizen of Reading. During the War of 1812 he was a stone-mason on the forts then erected. Libues was born in Reading, Hamilton county, December 16, 1816. In 1838 he married HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 429 Miss Belinda Voorhees. She died March 4, 1877. Of this marriage but one child survives, now married and living in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Marshall has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1842, of which he is trustee, steward, and class-leader. H. I. Kessling, of Reading, was a native of Germany, born in Hanover, of that country, in 1821. He came to Cincinnati in 1849. His father was a good scholar and prominent man, being the mayor of the district court in Furstenan. Mr. Kessling is a well-known baker of Cincinnati, where he operated on the corner of Clinton and Linn streets in that business for over twenty years, and still carries on that enterprise in the person of his son, who is a young man of some ability and fitness for the business. Mr. Kessling came to Redding in 1866, and bought some valuable property, intending to start a coal and lumber yard; but the advent of the Short Line railroad changed his intentions, and he has since kept a wine-room. Daniel Lawrence, one of the most prominent men of Reading, was a native of New Jersey, born in that State April 7, 1809. His father, Jonathan, was a farmer, and had served a regular apprenticeship, and afterwards carried on the business in a successful and scientific manner. His grandfather, whose name also was Jonathan, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was born in 1757. Jonathan, jr., was born in 1776. and removed to Ohio in 1817. Mr. Lawrence served an apprenticeship in the tanning business, and worked in Deer Creek, on the old Hunt tan-yard, for four years. In 1836 he came to Reading and followed his business until 1869, when he sold out, having during that time made considerable money. He is now enjoying a retired life. In 1840 he was married to Laura Foster, daughter of Judge Foster, with whom he lived twenty-five years. In 1866 he married Mrs. Woodruff, nee Cortlewan, granddaughter of Abram Voorhees, and by her has two children living. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are comfortably fixed in cosy quarters, and are highly cultivated people. Harvey Voorhees, who lives on the same farm his father, Garret Voorhees, moved upon in 1794, was born on this place, near Reading, August 22, 1819. His grandfather, Abram Voorhees, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, September 16, 1733, and emigrated to Hamilton county about the year 1793. Garret, his son, born June 9, 1763, moved from New Jersey to Hamilton county in 1791, coming down the river in a flat-boat, and landed at the fort in Columbia, and from there the family, after the war closed, settled upon section thirty-three, in a station-house---Garret moving to where Harvey now lives in 1794. Garret Voorhees died December 14, 1861. The family experienced a series of hardships common to the settlers of Indian times. Harvey Voorhees was never married. Jacob Voorhees, the well-known justice of the peace in Reading, is a grandson of Abram Voorhees, the early pioneer, who settled on section thirty-three, Sycamore township, about the year 1794. Jacob Voorhees, sr., father of the subject of our sketch, was a public spirited citizen, and was a colonel at one time in the army. His son, Jacob Voorhees, was born and reared in Cincinnati, where he learned and followed the trade of carriage-making until about the year 1855, when he came to Reading, and has since that time lived a public life, filling the various offices of assessor, justice of the peace, etc., for several years. Mr. Voorhees is a prominent man and a highly esteemed citizen of his town and township. John Cooper, of Sycamore township, was born in Mill Creek in 180. In 1832 his father moved to Reading, and in 1853 moved to the farm upon which he now lives. In 1847 he married Miss Oliver, who is now dead. His grandfather came to Cincinnati in 1793, following in the wake of Wayne's army. He was also a spy in the Revolutionary war. His son Thomas, father of John, by his third wife, married Hannah Storms, sister of Judge Storrs, about the year 1811, and by her had ten children. He was a prominent man in his time, having been a surveyor of the county ; also served as county commissioner for fourteen years. In 1831 he purchased three hundred acres of ground near Reading, part of which John now owns. Mr. Cooper is and ever has been a public spirited-citizen of his county. He has filled positions of trust on the board of public works and has been identified as a leader of public improvements in general. The Cincinnati & Xenia turnpike is largely owned and controlled by him, and unc.er his management it has been a successful, paying road. Peter Jacob, of Reading, came from France. Was a stone-cutter by trade, and is the oldest saloonist in Reading, having been in that business in that place for thirty-five years, and in which he has made considerable money. He served one term as mayor of the town, and has been sixteen years member of the village council, and has also filled the office of street commissioner. He had a son—now dead—who served in the war, and was also marshal of the town. Mr. Jacob owns some valuable property in the town of Reading. H. Ihlendorf, of Reading, proprietor of the livery stables of that place, was born in Germany in 1848. His father was a prominent man of his place, and knowing the advantages of a good education sent him to college, where he became conversant with the ancient and modern languages. In 187o he came to Cincinnati and took a course of instruction in St. Joseph's college, in the study of the English language, and was offered a position as teacher, but, preferring business to a sedentary life, came to Reading, where he first started the dairy business, but changed soon after for a livery and undertaking enterprise. He was married in 1874 to Miss Carrie Goeke, and by her has four children. APPENDIX. GENERAL HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY. The following statistical statement, from the returns made for the tenth census, should be read in connection with Chapter X, on the progress of Hamilton county: MANUFACTURING STATISTICS OF 1880, FOR HAMILTON COUNTY. EXCLUSIVE OF CINCINNATI. \

Flour and grist-milling Lumber and saw-milling Brick and tile making Slaughtering and meat packing Boot and shoe making Paper making Agricultural Implements. Blacksmithing Carpentering and building Carriage and wagon making Coopering Saddlery Cigar making Hame making Marble cutting Tailoring and clothing Tinsmithing Soap making Jewelry Brewing, distilling, and wine making Confectionery and baking Furniture making Painting, house and carriage Stove manufacturing Planing-mill Starch making Willow ware making Bookbinders' tools Fertilizers	12 14 6 8 15 8 1 49 9 27 3 12 8 2 3 11 7 1 1 3 1 1 6 1 1 2 2 1 2	$147,300 29,400 9,200 13,500 7,650 370,000 15,000 24,570 7,450 29,150 175,700 5,325 4,500 27,500 4,500 29,000 3,675 2,900 4,000 315,000 950 7,000 1,925 2,000 2,600 700,000 575  800 362,000	$179,767 56,209 4,410 33,715 8,650 332,480 1,350 16,350 13,500 18,900 301,200 5,657 10,465 18,997 2,000 118,480 7,100 3,000 200 308,700 1,000 8,000 3,000 3,080 2,000 290,000 650 200 155,000	$263,420 97,900 21,085 47,302 20,137 530,000 4,650 48,050 36,230 38,350 466,500 23,860 20,236 37,000 8,200 142,370 13,350 5,000 1,200 422,600 3,500 12,000 9,100 8,080 10,000 750,000 2,500 2,000 226,000
Total in 1880 (excepting Cincinnati). Total in 1870 (including Cincinnati).	227 2,469	$2,303,170 42,646,152	$1,904,060 4,876,148	$3,261,670 78,905,980

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