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JEFFERSON.
This township assumed its present proportions in 1809. Its name was given it by the admirers of Thomas Jefferson, whose second term of office was just expiring. At this time the first settlement of the township was only three years old, and the density of surrounding forests made it necessary for the pioneers to toil night and day in the labor of clearing a spot where they might raise the necessaries of life. They had no time for civil duties, and, fortunately, there were very few duties of that kind to be performed. Hence, the records, if there were any, were very meagre, and do not go back more than fifty years. However, it has been ascertained that in 1829, the township trustees were: James Jackson, James Graham and John Campbell. The present officers are: Joseph Miller, W. A. McWhinney and W. H. Kirkpatrick, trustees; L. W. Richey and Jacob Middaugh, justices of the peace: William J. Hohn, treasurer; S. V. Henkle. clerk; 'William Patterson and J. T. Cox, constables. The official center of the township is New Paris, where the elections are held.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
This township is the most northern of the first range, and the northwest township of the county. Indiana is on the west, Darke county on the north, Harrison township on the east, and Jackson township on the south, The surface of the township is the most broken in the county. The dividing ridge of the county, which passes through Somers, Israel, Dixon and Jackson townships, enters Jefferson in section twenty-three, passes in a direction nearly north into section twenty-two, and then east and northeast into the northern part of Harrison town-
256 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
ship, through section twelve of Jefferson. This watershed presents an eastern and a western slope to Seven Mile creek, and Whitewater, respectively. Seven Mile creek takes its rise in section twenty-two, and its waters are conducted by way of a broad and deep ditch, dug by order of the county commissioners, in an easterly direction until the Murray farm, in section twenty-three, is reached, when the course of the stream turns southward, and flows out of the township below Gettysburgh.
The most easterly branch of Whitewater, known as Little creek, draws its supply of water from the western slope of this dividing ridge, and from the eastern slope of a smaller ridge running between the branch stream and Whitewater creek.
Elkhorn creek has its source just east of the main ridge, and leaves the township in section thirty-four at the southern boundary of the township.
In the southwestern part, a spear of the main watershed runs west, and empties its southern waters into another branch of the Whitewater, and its northern waters into the creek proper.
Entering at the middle of the western boundary, and passing northeast and north through sections eighteen, eight and five, is a ridge separating the waters of White- water on the east from those of a smaller stream on the west.
Thus is the township watered by two main streams and a number of smaller branches.
A birds-eye view of the surface of Jefferson township reveals the boldest landscape in Preble county. The elevated ridges are studded with hills standing out in bold relief, and skirted with glens and valleys, through which course numerous rivulets, tributary to the larger streams in the broader valleys beyond. The southeastern portion of the township is the only considerable area of lowland. The hills are so abrupt as to be suggestive of mountainous country, and so symmetrically moulded as to be suggestive of the artificial.
One of the most extensive and charming views is obtained from any one of the girdle of hills surrounding New Paris. North and south may be seen the silvery thread of the Whitewater losing itself in the distance, while on the west the horizon loses itself in the beautiful hills of Indiana.
Another fine view may be obtained in the northwestern corner of the township. But it is impossible to locate the centers of fine scenery, inasmuch as the whole landscape is beautiful to the eye.
As an agricultural region Jefferson township ranks with the average townships of the county. As in all upland country, the soil is clayey, and requires considerable draining to cause it to produce its maximum crop. The majority of the farms are well drained, and their productiveness proportionally increased. Though much corn is raised, the soil is best adapted for the growth of small grain. The principal productions are wheat, oats, corn, hay, with some tobacco and sorghum. Stock is raised, but stock raising is not a specialty.
The area of land embraced in this township is six miles north, and nearly six miles wide, and contains about twenty-two thousand and five acres. Of this land: thirteen thousand three hundred and sixty is plow land ; three thousand six hundred and eighty-four acres, meadow land; and about four thousand nine hundred and sixty acres, wood land. The total value of all this land is seven hundred and sixty-eight thousand and thirty-one dollars, nearly. The houses are valued at seventy-one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five dollars; the mills at eleven thousand one hundred dollars, and the barns and other building at thirty-eight thousand three hundred and twenty-five dollars. The population of the township is two thousand two hundred and thirty- two.
SETTLEMENT.
This part of the county was occupied as early as 1806, by pioneers, who came from Kentucky. Jackson town, ship below was rapidly filling up with settlers from the south, and very naturally the settlement extended northward and beyond the Jackson township line. The first settlement in Jefferson was small, made up of not more than fou1 or five families. In the infancy of this century Indians were very numerous, and one of their favorite camping places was in this township near Cedar springs, their favorite resort. But the white man soon reached this territory, and the Indians were pushed across the adjoining State line. There may have been a few venturesome squatters in advance of the pioneers, but no trace of any can be found.
The States of Kentucky and Tennessee have the honor of having furnished Jefferson township with its earliest settlers. Among these original settlers were the Flemings, Irelands, Purviances, Morrisons and Mitchells.
The first settlements were made about the year 1806. Many of the pioneers of Jefferson, like those of Israel and other townships, left the south because of their hatred of slavery.
Bourbon county, Kentucky, from which many emigrated, is often called the garden of the State, and even at an early day the region was very productive. Through the labors of such men as David and John Purviance, B. W. Stone, Andrew Ireland, William Caldwell and others, churches had been founded, and with Paris as the center the community was the most promising in the State. But led on by the spirit of emigration, whose impulse was the bettering of their condition, a number of families started for Ohio, and after weary days of travel their wagons stopped in the vicinity of the east fork of Whitewater, where to-day their descendants are enjoying the fruits of their labors. The representation of these first families is very limited, and from them only could any account of the settlement be obtained.
John Purviance was born April 12, 1793. He married for his first wife Margaret Woods, who was born in 1799 and died in 1820. One of the two children born by this marriage is living. In 1838 he married Cynthia Adams, who was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, in 1810, whose parents emigrated to Ohio in 1816. To Mr. and Mrs. Purviance were born six children, four of whom are living. Mrs. Purviance is still living on the old place in section thirty-one.
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One of the earliest settlers in Jefferson township was David Purviance, the pioneer preacher 0f the New Light church, and the founder of many of the societies of that denomination in Preble county. He was born in Iredell county, North Carolina, November 10, 1766. His parents, who were strict Presbyterians, reared him in that faith and drilled him in the Westminster catechism, larger and shorter. He received the rudiments of a classical education under the tutelage of Dr. Hall, a Presbyterian preacher who was compelled to cease study on account of ill health. He taught for a while, and wrote in the clerk's office in Salsbury, North Carolina. When twenty-three years of age he was married to Miss Mary Ireland, daughter of John and Mary Ireland, a sister of David Ireland, who was among the first settlers in Jefferson township. Soon after their marriage they removed to Tennessee and settled on the Cumberland river, near Nashville. But the Indians were bad then, and killed his brother John, besides committing numerous depredations. David Purviance moved to Kentucky and settled three miles south of Caneridge meeting-house. His land, covered with a thick forest growth and a thick canebrake, was hard to clear. Here Mr. Purviance toiled, and it was not known until he entered the Kentucky legislature in 1791, that he was a great man. He made his debut in public life in a speech against the courts, which were ably defended by the eloquent John Breckenridge. He won in this, his first effort, and this victory was but an index of his future success. In 1807 Mr. Purviance emigrated to Ohio and settled in section thirty-one of Jefferson township. His efforts in establishing the church at New Paris are noted below. He could not live in Preble county long before the fame of his powerful speeches in the Kentucky legislature overtook him and became known to his friends. In the fall of 1809 he represented the people of Montgomery and Preble counties in the State legislature, and served one term of two years. In 1812, the district being changed, he was elected to the senate by the counties of Preble, Darke and Miami, which counties he served four years. His labors in the legislature were incessant. He was in the senate at the time that Columbus was made the capital of the State. He Was instrumental in securing to Oxford the location of Miami university, and for many years was a trustee of that institution. His vigorous support of the bill introduced for the repeal of the "Black laws of Ohio" made him for the time unpopular. His defence of the black people was very strong.
He was again elected in 1826, and always took a strong interest in political affairs. He served the legislatures of Kentucky and Ohio fifteen sessions. He was also on the electoral ticket in a 2, when James Madison was re-elected.
David and Mary Purviance were the parents of seven children, of whom but one, Mrs. Margaret Day, who resides in Paxton, Illinois, is living. David Purviance died in 1808, and is buried in the old cemetery at New Paris.
Elder Levi Purviance was the oldest son of Elder David and was born in Iredell county, North
33 Carolina, November 7, 1790, and died in 1873, aged nearly eighty-three. He moved with his parents to Tennessee, and thence to Kentucky. At the age of sixteen he came with his father to Jefferson township, and assisted him in the work of clearing his land. During the first year Levi Purviance cleared six acres of land, and put it in corn. In 1811 he was married to Sophia Woods, of Wayne county, Indiana. In 1812 he volunteered and served in the army at Fort Nisbit, under the command of Captain Silas Fleming. In 1823 he was ordained a minister of the gospel and continued in this work until the time of his death All this time, except ten years spent in Illinois, was spent in Ohio; five years in Miami county, five in Warren, and the remainder in Darke and Preble counties. Elder Purviance married for his second wife Mrs. Eliza Adams, of Darke county. After her death, in 1865, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, of Covington, Miami county, Ohio. Elder Purviance was the constant attendant of his father, and when David died, Levi took up the mantle. About 1852 he moved to Morristown, Illinois, and after ten years returned to Ohio. After preaching for some time in Covington, and Franklin, Ohio, he accepted a call to Eaton, and died there April 9, 1873, in his eighty-third year. -
Elder Purviance published a biography of his father, and brief sketches of nine other Christian ministers, together with the history of the great Kentucky revival, and the formation of the Christian church.
Patterson Purviance was born in Jefferson township about the year 1828. He married Dorcas Porterfield, whose parents were among the early settlers of this township.
Eli Purviance, the only surviving child of Patterson Purviance, resides with his parents three miles north of New Paris.
David Ireland was born in 1765, in the State of North Carolina. His parents were John and Mary Ireland. His father was a native of Ireland, and his mother was of Irish descent. They emigrated to Tennessee, whence they came with their son, David, in 1808, to Preble county. David Ireland was born in North Carolina, and with his father removed to Tennessee. He was a Revolutionary soldier, being only seventeen years of age when he volunteered, and was elected captain. He was married to Miss Nancy Mitchell, who was born in 1766, and died in 1875. Four daughters and five sons were born to them, but one of whom, James, is living. He was born in Tennessee, in 1805, and in 1808 came to this county with his parents, who located in section seventeen of Jefferson township, at which place his parents died. David Ireland died in 1807. James Ireland married Miss Ursula Purviance, daughter of Colonel John Purviance, who was born in 1807. To them were born five children, three of whom are living: Mary Jane, widow of Jacob P. Jones, resides with her -father and mother; Louisa, widow of Thornton P. Thomas, lives at New Paris; and David P. Ireland resides at home. The latter was in the war of the Rebellion, and fought in twenty- four battles. He was wounded at Chickamauga, suffer ing injuries from which he has not fully recovered.
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James Ireland is one of the oldest residents of the township. He now lives on the slope of the hill overlooking New Paris from the south, whence can be obtained one of the finest views in the township.
John Harvey migrated to Ohio from Tennessee, about the year 1808, and settled in Jefferson township, on the farm in sections four and five, near the old mill.
John Wasson, who came in 1810 from Kentucky, settled in section twenty-nine.
About this same time Andrew Morrison came to Preble county, and settled in this township, on the farm now owned by Eli Brawley.
James Fleming came from Kentucky about the year 1808, and settled in Jefferson township. He was during his whole life identified with every enterprise tending to increase the welfare of the community. He was one of the founders of the town of New Paris. His brother, Judge Peter Fleming, who was closely identified with every interest of Jefferson township, settled about the same time, just beyond the confines of the township, between Richmond and New Westville.
John Mitchell, a native of North Carolina, born in 1780, emigrated to Kentucky, and in 1810 came to Ohio and settled in- Jefferson township. He died in 1805. His wife, Elizabeth Bilbee, was born in 1789, and died in 1870. She was a native of New Jersey. Of their ten children Sarah, Mary, John, Franklin, and Samuel are living.
Sarah Mitchell was born in 1809, in Adams county, Ohio, and the other eight were born on the old farm of John Mitchell, where his son Samuel now lives.
John Mitchell entered eighty acres, living in a pole shanty until their log cabin was done. John Mitchell was a justice of the peace in Jefferson township for several years, and was for a number of terms township trustee. He was one of the oldest pioneers of Jefferson township, and was identified with the early enterprises of the new community.
In 1855 Samuel Mitchell married Miss Margaret Simpson, who was born in Twin township in 1838. Her father lives four miles north of Eaton. Of their four living children, Estella and Merrill Edgar are at home; Flora Ellen is the wife of William Alford, of Jackson township, and Francis Alonzo is the fourth.
Franklin Mitchell was born in Jefferson township in 1829, and in 1850 was married to Miss Cynthia Ann Mikesell, who was born in Gasper township. They have three children. His farm of one hundred and twenty- seven acres of land is situated in section sixteen. He was assessor of the township for one term, and still holds the office.
Lewis Mitchell was born in 1796, in Kentucky, and died in 1857. He emigrated to Ohio in 1807, with his parents, Elijah and Sarah Mitchell, who settled in Jefferson township. His father died in Indiana, and his mother in Jefferson township in 1825.
Lewis Mitchell was the father of ten children, and all are dead.
Adam Reid was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, about the year 1788, and settled in this township about 1810, where he died in 1800. His wife, Hannah Buchanan, was a native of Virginia. Of their five children William B. Reid is the only survivor. He was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1807, and came to Preble county with his parents, and settled on the farm now owned by Michael Reid. Mary Ann Jones, whom he married in 1832, was born in Maryland in 1813. Nine of their ten children are living. He was councilman at New Paris for one term. He owns eighty-two acres of land.
John Curry, born in Pennsylvania in 1804, emigrated to Preble county in 1810, and settled in Jefferson township. In 1832 he married Miss Nancy Ann Brinley, who was born in New Jersey in 1808. Their five children are all living-James H., William L., Achsah, Jane, wife of Alexander Barr, of Jefferson township; John P., of Dixon township; and Sylvester B. of Dayton.
Mrs. John Curry lives in section twenty-six, where her husband died.
William L Curry was born in 1839, in section twenty- six, of Jefferson township. In 1872 he married Sarah R. Duffield.
James Curry was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1782. His wife, Martha Lindsey, born in 1775, died in 1800. In 1811 they came to Ohio and settled in Jefferson township, section twenty-six. He died in 1830. They had eight children, of whom three are living: *-Elizabeth, the wife of Andrew McKee, lives in section fifteen, Jefferson township; Sarah Curry, resides in Gettysburgh, this township; Margaret, who resides in Iowa with her brother-in-law, Andrew Wolf, and Martha; Martha, born after her sister Martha's death; Jane and John are dead, who were born in Gettysburgh, this county, in 1848.
In 1866 Mr. Curry was commissioned postmaster at Gettysburgh, and remained in that office for ten years. Mr. Curry has one hundred and thirty acres of land, located in sections twenty-five and thirty-six, of Jefferson township.
Thomas W. Porterfield was born in Virginia in 1777, and died in 1872. His wife, Cynthia Ireland, was born in 1791, and died in 1869. They emigrated from Tennessee to Ohio at a very early day, and entered two hundred and forty acres of land in section eight, of Jefferson township. They arrived at this place before the woodman's axe had touched the native forest, and proceeded to build a cabin, but the Indians were so troublesome that they went back to Tennessee, and remained there until the close of the War of 1812, when Mr. Porterfield returned and cleared his land.
Hugh Marshall was born in Kentucky in 1789. In the year 1813 he emigrated to Ohio and settled on section sixteen, of Jefferson. He had married Elizabeth Pitts in 1811, and his wife and child were his only companions during the journey. The only possessions they could boast were a horse, a kettle and a feather bed. The latter was used by Mrs. Marshall as a saddle, as she rode carrying the baby and kettle. Her husband performed the journey on foot by her side. Eleven children were born to them, eight of whom are now living,
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viz.: Enoch, Hannah, Mary, John C., Isaac E, Lucretta, Rachel and Phillip. Hannah was horn in 1816 in Jefferson township, and in 1837 was married to James Brown, jr., whose father, James Brown, sr., was at one time a representative to the legislature from Wayne county, Indiana, but who died four weeks after leaving home. To Mr. and Mrs. James Brown, jr., were born four children, three of whom are still living: William A., John M. and Ella J. Mr. Brown died in 1871. His wife owns ninety-six acres of land in section thirty, of Jefferson township.
Michael Hahn emigrated to Preble county in 1816, and settled in section seven. He was born in 1780, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents came from Germany. He married Miss Rebecca Jordan, who was born in 1789, and died in 1871. He died in 1825. Two of their three children are living. Alexander resides in Darke county, and Joseph in section eight, of Jefferson township.
Joseph Hahn was born in 1812, in Cincinnati, and came to this township with his parents in 1816, where he has since lived. In 1833 he married Sarah Garretson, who was born in 1815, and died in 1806. She was born in Newcastle county, Delaware. His second wife was Rebecca A. Frist, who was born in 1816, and died in 1850. His third wife, Mary Porterfield, was born in Darke county in 1822.
John Brinley was born in New Jersey in 1782, and was married to Miss Achsah Harvey, who was born in 1782, and died in 1865. In 1811 they emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Butler county, where they remained until 1816, when they removed with their family to Preble county, and settled in section fourteen, of Jefferson township. They had nine children, four . of whom are living in this county—William, Sylvester, Nancy and Carry. William, who lives on the homestead farm of four hundred acres of land, was born in New Jersey in 1806, and came with his parents to Butler county in 1812, and to Jefferson township in 1816. His wife, Sarah Stockton, was born in Jefferson township in 1818, and to them were born eight children, six of whom are living in this township.
Their son, Sylvester B., born in Butler county in 1816, was married in 1839, to Lorinda Purviance, who was born in 1815, and died in 1807. In 1809 he married Miss Nancy Reid, who was born in Kentucky in 1832. Two of their five children are living. Mr. Brinley owns three hundred and seventy-five acres of land in section eleven, where he resides.
In 1858, and during the civil war, he was engaged in the grain and stock trade, and kept a general store.
In 1855 he gave the ground on which Brinley's station now is.
A. P. Johnson was born in Butler county in 1816, anti in 1817 came to Jefferson township with his parents, Moses and Mary Johnson, who settled about a mile and a quarter north of New Paris. In 1831 A. P. Johnson commenced to learn the tailoring trade. In 1802 he married Sarah J. Davis, daughter of Lewis Davis, of New Paris. She died in 1843. One daughter, by this marriage, is dead. In 1807 he married Anna M. Payne, of Warren county, by whom he had three children, of whom two are living. She died in 1863.
James Norris was born in Maryland in 1781, afterwards moved to Pennsylvania, where he emigrated in 1816 to Ohio, settling in section thirty-five of Jefferson township, where he resided until his death, in 1850. His wife, Barbara Weist, was born in Pennsylvania in 1782, and was the mother of twelve children, of whom only four are living--John, Abram, Elizabeth, wife of John Tweedy, who lives in Iowa; Hannah, the mother of Nathaniel Baker, and John McD. Norris, who still lives on the old place.
John McD. Norris was born in 1810, in Warren county, Ohio. In 1857 he married Louisa J. Thompson, who was born in Connecticut in 1836, and died in 1870. To them were born eight children, of whom six are living. The father of Mr. Norris came to Jefferson township when John was a small boy. Though small at the time, he remembers that when the family first came his father built a but of poles, which served as a shelter for about four weeks. The night they moved into their new log cabin a foot of snow fell.
Gideon Garretson was born in Newcastle county, Delaware, in 1776, and in 1878 emigrated to Ohio, and settled in section eighteen, Jefferson township. His wife was Margaret Moore, who was born in 1785, and died in 1823. They had seven children-Elizabeth, wife of John Duffy, living in Wayne county, Indiana; Henry, residing in Jefferson township; Mary Ann, dead; Sarah, wife of Joseph Hahn, of Jefferson township; Gideon and Joel are dead; James, living in Huntington county, Indiana.
Henry Garretson, born in Delaware in 1809, came with his parents to Jefferson township in 1818. In 1835 he married Miss Rebecca, daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth Penland. She was born in this township in 1815. To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Garretson six children were born, three of whom are living, all in the township. Mrs. Garretson's parents located in section twenty in 1810, coming from North Carolina. Mr. Penland died in 1820, at the age of thirty-six, and his wife died in 1868, aged eighty-three years.
Mr. Garretson owns two hundred and two acres of land in section seven.
William H. Garretson was born in 1846, in Jefferson township. His grandfather emigrated from the State of Delaware in 1818, and settled in Jefferson. William H. Garretson was married, in 1867, to Miss Annie E. Morrison, who was born in Jefferson township, in 1808. Her father was an early settler of the township, coming from North Carolina in 1816. Her mother came from Virginia in 1825.
To Mr. and Mrs. Garretson have been born four children, of whom but one is living, Emma May, born in 1876. Mr. Garretson is living on his father's farm, in section seven.
William Stockton was born in 1790, near Trenton, New Jersey, and in 1804 came to Ohio, stopping for a short time in Hamilton county, thence going to Butler
260 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
county, near Middletown, and in 1818 emigrated to Preble county and settled in section eleven, of Jefferson township, where his, son, William, now lives. Mrs. William Stockton is in her eighty-sixth year, and is living with her son. Her husband died in 1867.
William J. Stockton was born in Butler county in 1817, and in 1818 came with his parents to this township. In 1850 he married Miss Martha J. Adams, who was born in Preble county in 1833, and to them have been born five children, all of whom are living.
Daniel Stockton was born in Butler county in 1815. In 1836 he married Elizabeth Bowman, who was born in Maryland in 1807, and died in 1870. To them were born three children, and all are living. Mr. Stockton owns ninety acres of land in Jefferson township.
Andrew Scott was born in 1819, in Ireland, county of Londonderry, and when only two years of age emigrated with his parents to Rockbridge county, Virginia. Robert and Jane Scott, his parents, emigrated to Preble county in 1829, and settled in section nineteen, of Jefferson township. In 1836 they bought the farm where Andrew Scott now lives, in section twenty-eight. Andrew Scott married Jane McClure, whose parents were early settlers of Darke county. She was born in 1822. They have had no children by this marriage. Mr. Scott owns one hundred and ninety-six acres of well improved land.
Samuel King was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1808. His father, John King, died when he was only three years old. His mother's name was Catharine Everman. In 1818, in company with his mother, and his brothers and sisters, he arrived in this county and settled in the Fudge neighborhood, in Monroe township, Preble county, and built a cabin in the midst of the wilderness, where no clearing had been made. By his wife, Mary Norman, the widow of John Norman, he has had four children, two of whom, Ann and Samuel, reside in section thirty-four, Jefferson township.
Peter Bilbee was born in Adams county, Ohio, in 1803, and in 1820, with his parents, Peter and Isabella Bilbee, settled on the land in section twenty-three, Jefferson township, where Peter Bilbee, jr., now lives. His mother was born in Ireland, and his father in New Jersey. They were the parents of seven, children, of whom Jane lives in Indiana, and Peter and Esther, who have never been married, reside on the home place of seventy- three acres. When Peter, jr., was twenty, while in the employ of John Mitchell, he split over nine hundred and ninety rails in one day, and from that day to this has been challenging any one to beat that day's work. It has not yet been done.
John King, father of Samuel, jr., was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1806, and in 1818 settled in Monroe township, Preble county. His wife, Elizabeth Miller, who was born in 1814, and died in 1870, was the mother of six children, Samuel being the only one living in Preble county. When they settled on their place, in section twenty-one, Jefferson township, they found an old log cabin, in which they commenced house-keeping, and immediately proceeded to clear their land. Samuel King, jr., was born :n 1831, and, in 1852, married Miss Elizabeth Marzy, who was born in 1833, and died in 1876. By his second wife, Nancy C. Bernan, he had three children. Four children were born to his first wife. The farm on which he now resides consists of sixty-three acres in section twenty-one.
John Swerer was born in New Jersey in ,806, and emigrated with his parents, Peter and Agnes Swerer, about 1820. Mr. Swerer settled in Jefferson township. For several years he was a justice of the peace. His wife whom he married in 1828, was born in 1811, on the farm on which her father first settled and where her brother, Samuel now resides. To them eight children have been born, four of them living: Lewis, Warren, Agnes, and Sarah, all in New Paris, except Sarah, who lives in Miami City, Montgomery county, Ohio.
Jacob Kimmel was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, from which State he came to Ohio, and in 1826 settled in Jefferson township. He died in 1850 in Monroe township In 1826 he married Julia A. Gephart, who was born in 1808, and who died in 1807. Seven children were born to them, four of whom still survive, viz: George, Jacob, Peter and William. Mr. Kimmel owned eighty acres in Jefferson township. He was a carpenter by trade. His son, George, was born in 1827, and in 1809 married Letitia Harshman, born in 1830. They have seven children. He owns three hundred and forty-five acres of land, part of which is in Monroe and part in Jefferson township.
John M. Kimmel was born in the year 1850, in Washington township, Preble county. In 1876 he married Seraphine Ritnour, who was born in Darke county, in the year 1853. They have one child. Mr. Kimmel commenced business in Eldorado in the year 1879, keeping a clothing and gents' furnishing store. In the fiat twelve months he did a business of ten thousand dollars. His house is the only one of the kind in the township.
James Harvey Young, who was born in Augusta county, Virginia, emigrated to Ohio in 1831, and settled in section twenty-two, Jefferson township, where he resided until his death, which occured in 1852. Mary Brown, his wife was born in 1802, and died in 1870. They had four children, of whom Margaret J. and Caroline R. live in New Paris, Mary is dead, and Cyrus N. 1esides on the home place. He was born in 1838, and in 1874 married Mary McMahon, who was born in Monroe township in 1855. To them have been born two children, both of whom are at home.
In Augusta county, Virginia, in 1790 John McFadden was born, and in 1830 he emigrated to Ohio and settled in section twenty-four, Jefferson township. His wife, Elizabeth Wehrly, whom he married in 1819, was born in 1797, in Augusta county, Virginia. Of their nine children five are living: Sarah in Nebraska, Margaret, Tracy, and Susan in Indiana, Catharine, wife of R. G. D. McKemy of Eaton, and George, who resides on the home place, and was born in 1837. In 1863 he married Mrs. Rabecca Jane Pence, by whom he had two children. His first wife died in 1870, and in 1876 he married Mrs. Mary E. Detrow, widow of John Detrow. Two children
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blessed this union. He farms about sixty-two acres of land.
James Woofter was born in Virginia in 1796, and at the age of nineteen emigrated to Ohio and settled in Darke county, which was at that time comparatively unsettled, and he was compelled to undergo all the hardships of a pioneer's life. He came to Preble county from Butler county in the year 1827. His wife, Sarah Sullivan, was born in New Jersey in 1798. Three children were born to them, only one of whom, Daniel F., is now living. The latter was born in Wayne county, Indiana in 1820. In 1839 he married Hannah Harper, born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1821. Ten children were born to them, seven of whom survive. Thomas P. Woofter, their son, enlisted in 1862 in the Nineteenth Indiana battery. He died, soon after the battle of Perryville, from the effects of exposure. Mr. Daniel Woofter was a captain during the hundred day's service in the One hundred and fifty-sixth regiment of the Ohi0 volunteer infantry. He was discharged in the fall of 1860. He is the proprietor of the Sugar Valley mills, which were built in 1833 by his father, James Woofter. Charles Lincoln Woofter graduated at a Columbus school.
James Graham, the great hunter, who was considered the best shot in the township, came from Augusta county, Virginia, about the year 1822, and settled a short distance east of New Paris.
Thomas Miller emigrated from Ireland in the year 1824, and settled on a farm in the very center of the township. He died not many years ago. He has two sons and one daughter living in this county: Robert, in Eaton, Mrs. Mary Graham, in New Paris, and Joseph, a short distance east of New Paris.
Arthur Duffield, born in Pennsylvania in 1810, emigrated to Ohio in 1838, and settled in Gettysburgh, Jefferson township. For eighteen years he was engaged in the general store business, and in 1856 he purchased a farm of the Curry estate in section thirty-five, just west of Gettysburgh. He is now the owner of five hundred and eighty acres of rich land. His wife, Jane Harshman, was born about the year 1820, and died in 1803. One child was the result of this union. He married Barbara Pence for his second wife, and by her had six children, two of whom are dead.
John McKee, born in Pennsylvania in 1778, emigrated to Preble county, Ohio in 1822, and settled in section fourteen of Jefferson township, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1806. His wife, Margaret Curry, was born in Pennsylvania in 1775, and died in 1829. She was the mother of eight children, of whom are still living James, William, Josiah, and Margaret, widow of Joseph Bilbee.
William McKee was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 0, and came to Ohio in 1822 with his parents. He married Nancy Jane Curry in 1855. She was born in 1830. Her parents, John and Catharine Curry, settled in this county in 1810, and are both dead. Mr. McKee is the father of ten children, of whom seven are living. He owns eighty acres of land situated in section twenty four.
Andrew McKee was born in 1802, and in 1830 married Miss Elizabeth Curry, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1807. In 1822 he emigrated to this county with his parents. He died in 1870. Four children, all living, have been born to them. Mrs. McKee owns one hundred and thirty-seven acres of land located in section fifteen.
John Harshman, born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1792, came to Jefferson township and settled in section twenty-six, about the year 1822. He resided here until his death, which occured in 1850. He served in the War of 1812 six months. His wife, Susan (Pense), born in Virginia in 1795, died in Jefferson in 1860. They had a family of five children, three of whom are living, viz: Franklin and William in Lee county, Iowa, and Daniel W., in this township. Daniel W. Harshman, county commissioner, was born in Jefferson township in 1826; was married in 1851 to Mary Jane Curry, who died in 1876 at the age of forty-seven. His present wife was Harriet Ann Mitchell, whom he married in 1878. She was born in 1829. He had by his first wife seven children, six living. He was elected county commissioner in 1877; was a member of the township board of education ten years, and of the agricultural board four years. He was captain of militia in 1863, and afterwards elected lieutenant colonel of militia, and was out in the one hundred days' service.
Darius Jacque, was born near Kinderhook, New York, October 15, 1787. In 1806 he moved with his parents to Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where he was married March 25, 1813. In 1815 he removed to Potter county, Pennsylvania, and in 1817 removed to Ohio and settled on Duck creek, now within the corporate limits of Cincinnati. In the spring of 1820 he removed near his farm in Preble county, and as a pioneer cleared the native forest and erected a log cabin, into which he removed in the following fall. He suffered all the hardships of pioneer life. In 1833 he lost his wife, leaving him with a family of nine children, the eldest of whom was but seventeen years of age. In the same year he united with the Christian church. In 1866 he had a stroke of palsy which almost entirely deprived him of the use of his limbs. He died March 25, 1871. His son, Reuben, is still a resident of Jefferson township, and is one of the most substantial citizens.
Samuel Smith, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1802, emigrated to Ohio in 1838, and settled in section twenty, of Jefferson township. For thirty-three years he was engaged in the milling business. In 1840 he bought the mill at New Paris, formerly owned by Peter Fleming. He was also engaged in the stone and lime business, and always attended to the interests of his farm of one hundred and eighty-three acres, which he owned at the time of his death. His wife, Mary Jones, was born in 1812, and died in 1860.. To them were born ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Of these six are living, one in Philadelphia and five in Jefferson township.
Thomas J. Smith, born in May, 1801, married Miss Millie McPherson in 1863. Mrs. Smith was born in
262 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
1843. To them four children have been born. Mr. Smith is engaged in the stone and lime business, and has the largest business in the township. In 1870 he bought the north quarry, and in 1873 the one south of New Paris. Having no time to attend to agriculture, he owns but twenty-two acres of land.
William C. Smith was born in New Paris in 1805. In 1868 he married Sarah E. Rudy, who was born in 1801. To them have been born five children, two of whom are living. In 1870 Mr. Smith engaged in the lime business, and after nine years sold out to James Smith, his brother. He and James have rebuilt and are running the old mill north of New Paris, built by Silas and Peter Fleming.
James S. Smith was born in 1803, at New Paris, and in 1866 married Miss Amanda J. Wieland, born in 1848. Four of their five children are living. In 1870 he engaged in the lime business with his brother Thomas, and is also in the milling business with, his brother William.
John Smith was born in 1850, on the old farm where he now lives. In 1870 he married Miss Isabella A. Porterfield, who was born in 1855. Their three children, " Mary Eliza, John Wesley, and Anna Laura, are living. Mr. Smith's farm, of one hundred and three acres of well cultivated land, is situated in section twenty-one, quarter of a mile east of New Paris. Mrs. Smith's parents, Leander and Sarah Porterfield, reside in New Paris.
Saul Thomas was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1789. From this State he emigrated to Virginia, and afterwards moved west, settling near New Madison, in 1817. From that period until his death he has lived in western Ohio, a period of sixty-three years. The most of that time was spent in or near New Paris, where he died in 1880. For seventy years he was an active business man, and in every department of his work proved himself a man of sterling character. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, and lived under every administration of the Government from Washington to Hayes. "He has lived in the grandest period of history, and has witnessed triumphs of science, art and industry, that challenge, for their description, the most graphic pen." At the time of his death Mr. Thomas left a wife by a second marriage. During his life he was, for forty years, a member of the Masonic fraternity, by which order he was buried in June, 1880.
Edmund Kincaid was born in 1818, in Gasper township, Preble county. His parents, John and Mary Kincaid, emigrated from Rockbridge county, Virginia, to Kentucky, and in 1809 came to Gasper township, Preble county. His wife, Janet Young, was born in Butler county, in 1826. Their two children are living on the home place with their mother, Mrs. Janet Kincaid. Her husband died on the farm which he owned in section twenty-seven, Jefferson township. Mrs. Kincaid's father, David Young, was a native of Pennsylvania, and her mother, Ann, was born in Hamilton county. Both are dead.
James Paul was born in Ireland in 1780, and emigrated to the United States, and settled in Adams
county, in 1811, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1836. His wife, Sarah Brown, was born in Pennsylvania in 1786, and died in 1822. They had four children-Jane, Mary, Nancy and James.
James, the father of James H. Paul, was born in Adams county, Ohio, in 1815, and came to Preble county in 1836. He married Susan Jane Campbell, who was born in 1817, and died in 1880.
Nancy, the daughter of James Paul, sr., was bore in 1813, and came to this county from Adams county in 1835. She married Osborn Morrison in 1835, and to them three children have been born, one of whom, Alice F., wife of Perry C. Dowlar, is living near New Madison, Darke county, Ohio. Mr. Morrison was born in 1810, and died In 1871. His parents, Andrew and Martha Mitchell Morrison, emigrated from Kentucky about the year 1808, and settled in section nine of Jefferson township.
James H. Paul was born in Jefferson township in 1842. In 1861 he married Miss Margaret Jane Brinle y, he was born in 1803. Five of their six children are living, and at home. His farm consists of one hundred and eighty-three acres of land in section two, His parents were James Paul and Susan Jane, whose maiden name was Campbell. Mrs. Paul was born in Jefferson township in 1817, and died June 1, 1880. The old people had five children, two of whom are living—James H., and Catharine wife of Henry Miller, of New Paris.
Dr. Albert Hawley was born in Warren county, Ohio,. in 1822. In the winter of 1805-6 he attended lectures at the Ohio Medical college in Cincinnati. In 1806, having graduated with honor, he commenced the practice of medicine at Gettysburgh, Jefferson township, at which place he has since lived and has been practicing his profession. His first wife was Martha Porterfield, of Jefferson township. His second wife, Elizabeth M. Watt, became the mother of his five children, all of whom are living.
John Adams was born in 1795, and his wife, Adeline Bowman, was born in 1801. They emigrated to Preble county at an early day, and settled in Washington township near Eaton. They died in section one, Jefferson township, on the farm now owned by Josiah Clawson.
Israel B. Adams was born in 1828, near Westville, Preble county. In 1850 he married Nancy C. Smith, who was born in section one of Jefferson township in 1831. Two of their three children are living, both at home. Mr. Adams owns eighty acres of land in section , one.
Dural Swain, who owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in the southwest corner of section twenty-two, is the son of Jacob Swain, late of Jackson township, and was born in Pennsylvania in 1810, settling with his father in Jackson, and afterwards removing to his present residence. In 1830 he, was married to Jane Kennedy, by whom he had four children, three, of whom are living. Mrs. Swain was born at Springborough, Ohio, in 1812, and is still living.
William Swisher came to Ohio from Pennsylvania about 1805, and settled about half a mile east of, :Win-
HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 263
Chester. He had eight children born to him, three of Whom are still living, viz.: Jesse Swisher, living in Darke county, and Polly (Neff) and Annie (Myers) in Indiana. Robert Swisher, a son of the above, was born in 1805, and in 1826 he married Annie Sayler, born in 1807. He had five children born him by his first wife, all of whom are living, viz.: Martin, in Eaton; Mary Ann (Marshall), in Kansas; William, in Dixon township; Elizabeth (Taylor) in Jackson township; and Annie (Morlatt), in Indiana, In 1839 his first wife died, and in the same year he married Maria Wilson. Four children were born to theme three of whom survive, viz.: Sarah (Gard), in Dixon township; Caroline (Bradley) in Missouri; and Nancy (Paddack) in Indiana. At the time of his death in 1840 he owned five hundred and ten acres. Martin Swisher was born in 1827. In 1852 he married Jane, daughter of Jehu Rhea, born in 1828. He has had seven children born to him, one of whom is deceased. He is the owner of about four hundred acres, part of which lies in Dixon township, and part in Wayne county, Indiana. He was justice of the peace for five years while living in Dixon township. He moved to Eaton in 1879, where he now resides.
George Crubaugh, born in Pennsylvania in 1808, emigrated with his parents to Butler county, Ohio, and in 1840 he came to Preble county, and settled in Jefferson township, in section twenty-four. His wife, Almira Blackford, whom he married in 1832, was born in 1811. Six children were born to them. His present wife, Elizabeth Wade, was born in 1820. She has borne him eight children. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of well cultivated land.
David A. Wehrly was born in Monroe township, Preble county in 1824. His wife, Christina B. Reinhold, was born in Europe. Her father, Christian Reinhold, died when she was three years old. Her mother died in 1878. She came to this country, in 1838, and settled in Monroe township, near where Samuel Wehrly lives. To Mr. and Mrs. David Wehrly have been born six children, five of whom are living. David Wehrly died in 1878.
Peter Mikesell was born in the State of Maryland, in 1782, and, about 1800, emigrated with his parents to Virginia. His wife, Mary Aldrige, was born in 1779. They were married in 1807. Two of their eight children are dead. In 1817, they emigrated from Virginia to Ohio, and located in Gratis township, Preble county. In 1827, he moved to Gasper township, near the Potterf mills, on Seven Mile Creek, and there remained until his death. In au, David, the son of Peter and Mary Mikesell, was born in Virginia, and after his removal to Ohio, married for his first wife, Sarah Barnhart, who was born in 1818, and died in 1855. Ten of the twelve children, born by this marriage, are living.
Isaac McDonald was born near Springboro, Warren county, Ohio, in 1808, and settled in Jefferson town- ship in 1802, in section twenty-seven, where he owns ninety five acres of land. He has been married three times. His first wife, Miss Barbara Hopple, was the mother of two children, and died in 1805. His second wife, who died in 1871, was Polly Marshall, by whom he had two children. His present wife is Deborah Warner, by whom he has had one child, since dead.
Guy Bloom, born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1816, emigrated to Ohio in 1844, and settled in section thirty-four of Jefferson township, Preble county. His wife, Harriet Frances Jamison, was born in 1826. To Mr. and Mrs. Bloom have been born ten children, six of whom are living, and all in Jefferson township. Mr. Bloom is the owner of two hundred and sixty acres of land under a high state of cultrvation, and his farm is one of the neatest in the township. Joseph and Rebecca Bloom were the parents of Guy. They were natives of Pennsylvania, and settled in Darke county, Ohio, in 1827, where they died.
Samuel S. Richie was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1814. He is the son of Robert and Sarah Richie. His father was born in Philadelphia in 1789, and his mother, Sarah Steer, was born in Virginia in 1787. Both died in Philadelphia. In 1805, Robert Richie emigrated to Jefferson county, Ohio. They had six children, of whom Samuel S. Ritchie was the only one who settled in Jefferson township. In 1858, he settled in section seventeen. He can trace his ancestral line on his father's side to Ireland, and his maternal ancestors were from Wales.
His wife, Anna S. Shoemaker, was born in 1815, in Pennsylvania. Their nine children are all living. Elizabeth, wife of R. F. White, of New Paris; Sarah M. resides in Burlington, New Jersey; Margaret W., wife of M. J. Barger, of Vermillion county, Illinois; Anna, wife of Nathan Coffrn, of Texas; Robert, who married Anna Bell Lind, and lives in section seventeen; Grace and Charles reside at home; and Janet, wife of J. E. Mendenhall, who lives in Arkansas.
Mr. Richie owns five hundred and twenty acres of land under a good state of cultivation.
John Coblentz was born in Maryland in the year 1825, and in 1829 came to Ohio. He married Mary Jane Robertson in 1847, who was born in Preble county in 1831. They moved to Jefferson township from Darke county in the year 1869. Five children have been born them, four of whom are now living. Mr. Coblentz owns a farm of one hundred and three acres, located in section four and five of this township.
Benjamin Denmire was born in Butler county, Ohio, in the year 1820. In 1809 he married Eliza A., daughter of Frederick K. and Sally Smith, who emigrated to America from Germany at an early age. Six children were born them, five of whom are now living in Jefferson township, one of the six being deceased. Mr. Denmire owns one hundred and thirty-five acres of land located in section eleven. He has for several years held the position of supervisor, and also that of school director.
Mary, daughter of Henry and Sarah McGill, was born in 1809. In the year 1825 she came with her parents to Ohio from Virginia and settled in Jefferson township. In 1850 she married Samuel Kirkpatrick, who was born in Virginia in 1800, and came to Ohio when a young man. No children were born by this marriage. They took a child to raise—Margaret E. Reed, who afterwards
264 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
married Nelson W. Hunt, and is now living in Hillsborough, Indiana.
Hannah Brown was born in Jefferson township in 1816, and in 1837 was married to James, the son of James and Margaret (Smith) Brown. Mr. Brown, sr., represented Wayne county in the Indiana legislature in 1810, but died soon after his election.
James Brown, jr., was born in 1810, and died in 1871. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born four children, of whom William, John M., and Ella J. are living. Mrs. Brown owns ninety-six acres of land in section thirty, of Jefferson township, where she resides.
Clinton Brown enlisted the first day of April, 1860, in company F, Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until September, 1860, on account of the loss of his left arm while transferring prisoners across the Ohio river at Cincinnati. James M. and Susan Pitman were the parents of Mrs. Clinton Brown.
David Sherer, second son of Jesse Sherer, of Washington township, was born in 1838. In 1861 he married Miss Anna Thompson, who was born in 1802, in the State of Indiana. To them have been born six children, four of whom are living. Mr. Sherer resides in section twenty-seven, of Jefferson township, on one hundred and seventy-four acres of well improved land. Dennis Thompson and Elmira Grimes were the parents of Miss Sherer.
Isaac Allen Tyler was born in Geauga county, Ohio, in 1832. He was married in 1859 to Catharine Hetzler, who was born in 1830. In the same year he moved to Butler county, and, after a stay of four months, he moved again, and settled in section eight of Jefferson township. At the time of his entry he bought land and has lived on it ever since. His wife died in 1877, leaving two children—Samuel C. and John W. In 1879 he married Lavina Jane Downing, born in Darke county, in 1803. Her mother belonged to the Morrison family, who were among the earliest settlers of Jefferson township, where they settled in 1806, coming from Kentucky. They were originally from Tennessee. Mr. Tyler owns a finely improved farm in this township, and is one of the most prosperous farmers in the county.
Mitchell and Lydia Murray came from Delaware about the year 1825, and settled at Eaton. They have had thirteen children, of whom Joseph is the eldest. He was born in 1831, and in 1860 married Margaret L. Wisenbaugh, daughter of Jacob and Mary Ann Wisenbaugh, who came from Montgomery county to Preble about forty-five years ago. To Mr. and Mrs. Murray have five children been born, four of whom are living— Elmer, Mary, Alfred, and Fanny. Their son Charles Homer is dead. Mr. and Mrs. Murray lived in Eldorado after their marriage until about fourteen years ago, when they removed to their present residence in section thirty-one of Jefferson township, where Mr. Murray owns over one hundred acres of land.
Frederick Ferris, born in Vermont, emigrated to Franklin county, Indiana, in 1811, and died there in 1803. His wife, Susan Nichols, was a native of Connecticut. She died in 1831. Both died in Franklin county. Mr. Ferris served in the War of 1812, under Major Hackleman. They had eleven children, of whom Susan, William, John, Caroline, James, Mary, and Isaiah are dead; Ann, the widow of Michael Snell, is living in southeastern Indiana; Catharine is the wife of James M. Clements, of Newcastle, Indiana; Dr. Samuel Ferris is engaged in the practice of medicine in Newcastle, Indiana.
Dr. Allison B. Ferris was born May 30, 1820, in Franklin county, Indiana. He received a good education at the Franklin County seminary, at Brookville, Indiana. In 1802 he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Casterline, of Liberty, Indiana, and continued with him for four years. March 6, 1850, he graduated at the Cleveland Medical college. After his graduation he attended lectures in the winter of 1850-51 at the Ohio Medical college at Cincinnati. He practiced for a short time at New Westville, and commenced the practice of medicine in New Paris February 13, 1852, where he has resided ever since. He was married June 27, 1852, to Elizabeth E. Frazer, who died October 13th of the same year. In June, 1850, he married Elizabeth M. Banta, daughter of Solomon Banta, of Eaton. She died September I I, 1876. Their son, Charles E. Ferris, was born April 15, 1855, and married Belle Little, daughter of Josiah and Rebecca Little, of Richmond, Indiana, where the young couple reside. They have three children. May 27, 1878, Dr. Ferris was married to Miss Jennie D. McClure, daughter of Dr. Samuel McClure, of Winchester, Indiana.
W. A. McWhinney, son of the late Thomas J. McWhinney, of Jackson township, was born in 1838. In 1862 he married Margaret Cail, who died in 1876, leaving one child, Nancy R. In 1878 he was married to Mary Wisenbaugh, who was born in 1842.
Mr. McWhinney started in the dry goods Business at New Paris in 1870.
Josiah F. Clawson was born in Dixon township in 1831. His parents, John and Mary Clawson, emigrated to Ohio at a very early day, and lived in Dixon township. In 1855 Josiah married Rachel Mettert, who was born in 1838. Their three children are living.
Mr. Clawson owns seventy acres of land in section one, of Jefferson township, where he resides. Mr. Clawson's parents, Frederick and Catharine Mottert, emigrated to Ohio at a very early day.
ITEMS.
The first wheat raised in Jefferson township is said to have been sown by old man Ireland.
It is probable that the six acres of corn planted by Levi Purviance, in the spring of 1806, was the first raised in Jefferson.
The grandfather of James and the father of David Ireland, is thought to have been the first person who died in the township. He is buried on the farm of the Purviances.
In the War of 1812 Jefferson township furnished her full quota. The Indians returning to their old camp ground, drove off many of the settlers, and by making raids on the little farms that were left unprotected, by
264A - Samuel Smith
Samuel Smith, whose many charities will long be remembered by the poor families of Jefferson township, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1802. Naturally of a mechanical turn of mind, his early life was spent in the shops and factories in the neighborhood. His father, Joseph Smith, whose family consisted of six children, Ann, Hughes, Hannah Hood, Elizabeth Rieley, Easter, John and Samuel, died in 1821. After the death of his father, Samuel, always attentive to the wants of his mother, shared with her his earnings, until her death in 1831.
The man who takes care of his parents will prosper, was a favorite adage which in later years he often repeated to his neighbors. In 1827 he was married to Nancy Bunting, of Lancaster county. This union was terminated by the death of the wife in June, 1828. The offspring of this union, one child, died in infancy. He was married to Mary Jones, of Chester county, in 1833. They had ten children—Joseph C., born December 5, 1833; Anna E., born March 10, 1835; Jacob J., born August 20, 1837; Nathan J., born June 20, 1839; Thomas J., born May 31, 1801; James S., born July 31, 1843 ; William C., born January 28, 1805; Phebe E., born November 29, 1806; John, born December 15, 1850; Mary E., deceased.
Of these ten, four are dead. Anna E., died April 10, 1875; Jacob J., died rn the army October 25, 1862 ; Nathan J., died in the spring of 1860.
Three of the sons were in the army. Joseph C. was a member of the Fifth Ohio cavalry; Jacob J. and James S. volunteered in the Nineteenth Indiana battery.
Samuel Smith resigned his position as superintendent of the cotton mills on the Brandywine, and emigrated to Ohio in 1838. He purchased the farm of one hundred and three acres now known as the Smith homestead, near New Paris. About 1804 he engaged in milling, and personally attended to the business until shortly before his death, when his sons, James and William, assumed control He was engaged in the dry goods busi ness a few years, but the bulk of his estate was accumulated from the productions of the farm and mill. He was a man of uncommonly good business sense, his great and only fault being inability to deny the requests of his friends, who frequently involved him in heavy losses. His disposition seemed at times to be passionate, abusive and selfish, but the many charities to which his books and his neighbors testify, prove him to have been a kind-hearted and benevolent man. No poor man ever asked for a sack of flour and went away without it. He was known among the poor families in the community as a present helper in time of need. Mr. Smith always attended personally to his business and followed a favorite maxim, "Never do business on a slate."
In politics he was an old school Democrat, and frequently boasted of having voted for Jackson three times. In his family he was always exacting, but liberal. He was a natural mechanic, able to do anything to which he turned his hand. In this particular, he was somewhat like his illustrious cousin, Robert Fulton, the inventor of steam navigation. Fulton, when a youth, was a frequent visitor at his uncle Smith's residence in Pennsylvania, and his boyish pranks are now family tradition.
Early in 1879 Mr. Smith became affected with slow paralysis, which caused his death on the twenty-second of September of the same year. He met death as he met every crisis in business, calmly and philosophically. To do right had been his religion, and there was not a twinge of conscience to disturb the peace of his dying day. He is remembered as an honest, straightforward, outspoken and benevolent man.
The mill is now conducted by James and William, who have inherited much of their father's business tact, and "are held in high esteem by the community as upright, honest men." The whole family revere their father's memory, which will live as long as gratitude holds a place in the human heart.
HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 265
stealing horses and driving off cattle, made it very dangerous for those who remained in the township and stood their ground.
During the late civil wa1 the soldiers of Jefferson township were forthcoming and the provost marshal very seldom had the chance to "draw a bead" on a scared renegade who hailed from Jefferson.
EARLY SCHOOLS.
June 10, 1838, it was recorded that there be ten school districts in the township of Jefferson. The school system throughout the township is very effective, and the people have always had great respect for education, and from the first have availed themselves of all privileges of this kind.
The first school-house in Jefferson township was situated on the farm owned by Patrick McGrew, a short distance south of where the barn now stands. It was a pioneer log school-house of the most approved pattern of the rude architecture of the early days. It had a puncheon floor, and puncheons around three sides of the room, which were used as writing desks. There was a fire-place seven feet wide, in one end of the room, and in cold weather a sea of flame rolled out of the mud chimney that was plastered to the outside wall. Even in warm weather a smoldering fire was kept up, so that the copy books might be easily dried.
John P. Ireland was probably the first teacher. He was followed by Clements Ferguson, then a young medical student, who afterwards became the leading physician of the community.
There was a school-house near Cedar Springs, at a very early day, and it was a notable fact that all who attended that school and drank of the neighboring springs, had good health.
Thomas Burnan taught one of the earliest schools on the place north of Paris, owned by Oliver Mitchell.
EARLY MILLS.
The milling power afforded by Whitewate1 was utilized at a very early day. About 1810, John Ireland erected the first grist-mill in the township on the creek below Paris, not far from the present quarry. There was a still-house in connection with it at one time.
The New Paris mill, now owned by the Smiths, was built as early as 1823, by Silas and Peter Fleming.
Prior to 1835, James Woofter built a grist-mill about a mile north of New Paris: The mill is now operated by Captain D. F. Woofter. The mill is known as the Sugar Valley mill.
About 1800, Fletcher Doloff started a mill two miles north of Paris. There was a still-house connected with it.
Two or three hundred yards from the Doloff mill, more than fifty years ago, a "corn cracker" was put up by Robert McGrew. This afterwards became a regular gristmill. Distilling was also carried on there.
There was a woollen mill just west of New Paris in very early times, which was run by the Barber brothers at the time that it was destroyed about the year 1805.
Robert Snodgrass had a tanyard just above this mill at a very early day.
The Coblentz saw-mill is located nearly three-miles up the creek.
There is a saw-mill at New Paris Which is run by Joshua Mackey.
There is a saw-mill not far from the Woofter mill owned by Thompson Fleming.
NEW PARIS.
This is, besides Eaton, the second largest town in the county, and is the local center of the business of Jefferson township. Surrounded by a productive and thickly settled country, it has become the seat of considerable local .trade.
In the first settlement of the territory known as Jefferson township, James Fleming, an emigrant from Kentucky, entered the southwest quarter of section twenty, and soon afterwards, Andrew Ireland, also from Kentucky, bought land in the northwestern quarter of section twenty-nine. Andrew Ireland leased his land to a man named Campbell, and for awhile lived in his old State of Kentucky.
About 1816, New Westville, two miles south, and other towns not far from where James Fleming lived, were laid out, and it appeared to be necessary, as well as very desirable, that a capital be chosen for Jefferson township. It takes enterprise to conceive the plan of a new town. The founder of this town was James Fleming, and the foundation ground was his quarter section on Whitewater.
Accordingly, in 1817, Mr. Fleming proceeded to materialize his plat which heretofore had only existed on paper. At this juncture, Andrew Ireland decided to cast in his lot with that of Mr. Fleming, and make a good sized town of it. Inasmuch as both founders had come from the vicinity of Paris, Kentucky, it was decided that the name of the place should be New Paris. The plats of the two founders were only separated by the, as yet imaginary, main street.
But New Paris was not to be a "paper town"-a town in name and not in substance. So the plat of twenty lots, with a main and a number of cross streets, was acknowledged August 18, 1817, before Isaac Stephens, justice of the peace. Messrs. Fleming and Ireland had now marked out their plat on the chosen ground, and the next thing was to fill the lots with houses. They offered as an inducement to the people that the one who should erect the first house in the new town would be presented with the lot upon which he should desire to build. John H. Cottom was the man who accepted this generous offer, and immediately proceeded to erect a square log house on the lot where McWhinney's store now stands. In this house he opened a hotel in 1817. A man named Pryor soon afterwards erected a frame house on the corner opposite Cottom's hotel, on the site now occupied by Means & Johnson's store. Here the first store in town was opened and kept. It was what is now known as a general store. In those early days, before the several branches of trade could be established in a locality, it was necessary that the store contain supplies of everything required by the community. Of such
266 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
character was the first store in New Paris. The pioneers had neither time nor money to indulge in luxuries of any kind, and the shelves of even a small general store held a supply greater than the demand.
Robert Sprowls built a large frame house where Hazeltine's grocery now is. The present site of the Odd Fellows' building was at first occupied by Robert McGill's house and blacksmith shop. The tanyard on Washington street, now owned by Joseph Burgoyne was "sunk" as early as 1820, by a man named Crampton. A number of dwelling houses were built, and even at that early day the hamlet of New Paris bade fai1 to become a thriving town. For a time more business was transacted in. Paris than in the neighboring town of Richmond. A very extensive business was carried on by Chadwick's pork packing establishment, which was situated just north of the store of Means & Johnson. For a number of years more pork was packed in New Paris than in any neighboring town. Afterwards George Vaneman purchased the business, and engaged in the packing of pork on Main street, on the left of where the depot now stands.
ADDITIONS
were made from time to time as the population increased. On March 26, 1829, James Fleming and L. Ginger added sixteen lots to the north part of town.
Peter Scott surveyed fourteen lots for S. J. H. Ireland, September 26, 1829, and the plat of the addition was recorded and acknowledged on the tenth of October.
An addition of sixteen lots, comprising the southeast part of New Paris, was presented for acknowledgment October 31, 1822, by S. J. H. Ireland.
The fourth addition to this rapidly growing village was made by Samuel Mitchell, October 31, 1832. This addition comprised twenty-six lots, situated in the southwest quarter of section twenty, immediately north and east of the second and north addition.
John F. Ireland, better known as Fielding Ireland, added fourteen lots at the south end of the main cross street near the addition made by S. J. H. Ireland and Robert McGill. The plat of this addition was presented July 10, 1835. There is a record of the addition of forty-two out-lots in 1866, and in October, 1870, and lots twenty-eight and thirty were subdivided into seven lots, by John F. Ireland. During the years 1870-2, three additions were made-two by the assignees of Beam and Jay, and the executors of John F. Ireland.
On June 21, 1879, Henry 0. Hutton made an addition of in-lots from No. 180 to 203.
The lots thus added have been bought from time to time by enterprising citizens who have erected substantial, and in many instances, handsome residences.
Washington street is the north and south thoroughfare, with High street on the east running parallel with it from Main, which crosses Washington street at right angles, and runs thence east and west. Walnut street to the north and Cherry to the south of Main street, are its parallels. These streets are broad, clean, and well shaded with rows of ornamental trees. They are generally well supplied with good sidewalks, and are lighted a night by numerous street lamps.
The location of the town was most fortunate. Down in the valley, protected but not shut in by high hills, the spot in which it is situated is by nature attractive, and the skill of the artisan has added finishing touches which have made the view more picturesque.
Little did the founders of New Paris dream that they were laying out their town right in the path which would in later years be chosen by the iron horse as he rushed up the valley. But as good fortune would have it, the little town was right in the way of two railroads owned by the great Panhandle company. The Dayton & Western branch was built about the year 1851, and prior to 1860 the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis branch connected New Paris with great cities east and west, and the business enterprise of the place received a new impetus when it heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive.
Situated in a good farming region, it was natural that the markets made accessible by the railroads be supplied with the products of the broad acres all around, and it was also natural that New Paris, the principal town, should become the center of this growing trade. The Dayton & Western road built a warehouse, and one was put up north of it, by Beam and Jay, and is now owned by Thomas J. and J. S. Smith, and run by Robert Richie. The shipping business is quite extensive.
Nature has been very kind and provident, and as if foreseeing that a town would some day be built in the vicinity, has well stored the earth with strata of limestone peculiarly fifted for the manufacture of the best lime, and well adapted to building purposes; and but a short distance below town the copious fountains of water are impregnated with healing power. The limestone quarries, and the Cedar springs near by are the natural resources of the wealth and health of New. Paris.
INCORPORATION.
So rapidly did the little hamlet of New Paris grow into a thriving village that the citizens thought best to petition for an act of incorporation, and accordingly in the year of our Lord 1832, and in the fifteenth year of the village, New Paris became a regularly incorporated village, by a special act of the legislature of 1831-2. An order for an election of village officers was issued, and Lewis Davis, esq., was declared mayor, and at once proceeded to manage the affairs of the village. The earliest records have been lost, and the full list of officers elected at the first election can not be given; but it is known that the chief executor of the decrees of Mayor Davis was R. S. Tillman, the first marshal. As nearly as can be ascertained, the following men have officiated as mayor of New Paris since Lewis Davis: John G. Jameson, David J. Cottom, John Cowgill, David J. Mauzy, Peter Fleming, R. S. Tillman, Levi Johnson, A. P. Johnson, John F. Ireland, R. F. Thompson, L W. Richey, eleven years, Alfred Calkins, Jacob Middaugh, and perhaps others whose names have not been ascertained. The present mayor is L. W. Richey, who was
HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 267
re-elected in 1880. He was elected mayor in 1865, and held his office eleven years. He is also justice of the peace for Jefferson township, and attends to his respective duties at his office in New Paris. The other corporation officers are: Timothy Cronin, James Dwyer, Patterson Sawyer, Joseph Burgoyne, Joseph Wrenn, and David Rayburn, councilmen; W. G. Hahn, treasurer; S. V. Henkle, clerk; J. T. Cox, marshal; and William Patterson, street commissioner.
The population of New Paris is about eight hundred and thirty-five.
THE SCHOOLS OF NEW PARIS
are as old as the village, and have improved even more rapidly. Enterprise in a people is proof of intelligence, and the growth of these two necessary elements of. success is simultaneous. The first school-house in New Paris was situated on the branch on the east side of where the railroad now is, in the western edge of town. It was a building of the primeval days of education, but in the little log school-house some of the leading citizens of New Paris received the rudiments of a common-sense education. Many men who are living in New Paris today remember with tender interest that this was the place where they got their first insight into the three mysterious R's—Readin' 'Ritin' and 'Rithmetic. At that time geography and grammar were considered the higher branches.
In a few years it was thought best to build a larger and better school-house, and accordingly a frame building was erected nearly opposite where the Christian church now stands. This building contained two rooms, and was c0nsidered quite a fine school-house. But education was making rapid strides towards the higher planes of learning. The high school system was being established in every village, and studies which had but recently been prominent only in the curricula of colleges, became the delight of hundreds who never expected to enter college hall. Nor did the people of New Paris sneer at the high school system, but showed their good faith in it by erecting, in 1868, a commodious brick building, part of which is used by the High school. This building is located in the eastern part of town, in a large and well shaded yard. In 1878 the west side of the building received an addition, and the whole was remodelled, and is now eighty feet long and forty-seven feet wide.
Abner Hahn, a graduate of Otterbein university, at Westerville, Ohio, is the superintendent of the schools, and principal of the High school.
The course of the High school is divided into two years of three terms each. The studies embraced in the first year are: Geometry, natural philosophy, algebra, Latin, Greek lessons, trigonometry, English analysis, and physical geography; those of the second year are: Chemistry, rhetoric, Constitution of the United States, Greek analysis and Greek Testament, geology, astronomy, mental philosophy, botany, and political economy. Rhetorical exercises are given throughout the entire course. There is a good preparatory course.
There are four intermediate departments, respectively presided over by John A. Moore, W. V. Henkle, Miss Julia Kesler, and Miss Minnie Ireland. There is a large country patronage to this flourishing school.
The board of education is as follows: Jacob Middaugh, president; L. W. Richey, secretary; W. A. McWhinney, treasurer; remaining members, Timothy Cronin, Dr. Haynie, and William G. Hahn.
FELLOWSHIP LODGE, NO. 108 FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS.
The Masonic order is well represented in Jefferson township by the above named lodge. The charter members were: Thomas K. Peebles, Lewis Davis, James Sampson, James M. Knox, Thompson Fleming, and W. B. Schenck. The date of dispensation was November 1, 1839. At the first meeting the following officers were installed: Thomas K. Peebles, first worshipful master; Frederick Bowers, first senior warden; Lewis Davis, first junior warden; James Sampson, treasurer; James M. Knox, secretary; Thompson Fleming, senior deacon; William Ireland, junior deacon; Darius Shaw, tyler. John L. Davis, and Samuel W. Richey became members soon after the first meeting. The latter is still living.
The charter granted was dated October 21, 1801, at Lancaster, Ohio, and signed by W. J. Reese, grand master; W. B. Phrall, deputy grand master; Isaac C. Copeland, senior grand warden; John M. Barrere, junior grand warden; and was attested by J. D. Caldwell, grand secretary.
Fellowship Lodge held its first meetings in the second story of a frame house on East Main street, New Paris. They continued here but a short time, when the second story of the frame building belonging to Richey and Hazeltine was leased. They continued in this building which is located on North Washington street, until 1856.
On the nineteenth of April of that year they purchased of Jeremiah C. Crampton the three story frame building on the west side of Washington street, between Main and Walnut, which building they still own and occupy.
Of the charter members Thompson Fleming is the only one living.
The lodge has prospered since its founding, and now numbers about forty members. The following is a list of the officers elected in 1880: Joseph Burgoyne, worshipful master; Daniel F. Woofter, senior Warden; William R. Reid, junior Warden; Timothy Cronin, treasurer; Patrick McGrew, secretary; David Mackey, senior deacon; George McFadden, junior deacon; Samuel Reinhardt, tyler.
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS, LODGE NO. 303.
The New Paris lodge of the Odd Fellows was organized about the year 1850, and is at present in a very prosperous condition. A few years ago the Odd Fellows' building was erected on the corner of Main and Washington streets. It is a handsome brick structure, and was erected at great expense. The lower part is occupied by stores. It is the largest and handsomest business house in New Paris. The hall in the upper part is the arcanum of the order, where they hold their meetings.
The officers of the society are: John A. Moore, noble
268 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
grand; Joseph Wrenn, vice grand; William Smith, secretary; Jacob Reinheimer, treasurer.
CHURCH HISTORY.
The early settlers of this township were religious people, and the trials and hardships which they encountered during their settlement in a new country only had the effect to strengthen their convictions that religion was to them a comfort and necessity. When it is remembered that among the earliest pioneers there was such a man of God as Elder David Purviance, it will not appear at all strange that the church was organized first, even before the township. Elder Purviance, and, in fact, nearly all of the early pioneers, were fresh from a big revival at Cane Ridge church, in their old county of Bourbon, in Kentucky. Then, too, quite recently a new church had been formed of a number of dissenters from the old Presbyterian faith, and Elder Purviance and his people declared that they belonged to the
NEW LIGHT, OR CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
which Elder Purviance helped found in Kentucky. As soon as he reached Jefferson township, in 1807, he proceeded to organize a church. He had the material in. the sturdy pioneers that had come with him from Kentucky. It was customary to hold the first meetings in the grove by the big spring, just north of where New Paris now is, and where, in the year 1807, was organized the first church. in Jefferson township, and one of the first churches in the county. Among the first members were the Irelands, Purviances, Flemings, and Mitchells.
Meetings continued to be held from time to time in this temple of nature's God until about the year 1820, when a house was put up near where the first meeting had been held. The house, according to the recollection of citizens of New Paris, was a structure of frame, filled in with brick, and the room celled with planks. Prior to this time the southern wing of the congregation became so large that it was thought advisable to organize the Shiloh church, whose history is noticed among the early churches of Jackson township.
The New Paris church continued to prosper, and, in the years 7838-39, it was a respectable and happy church —notwithstanding there was some diversity of opinion on the subject of baptism.
In 7839 James McVey, a disciple of Alexander Campbell, came to New Paris, and ere long there was a division in the church, and henceforth the two organizations were known commonly as the New Lights and Campbellites. Neither party was, willing to acknowledge any sectarian name, but desired to be called Christian.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
There were only ten or twelve Presbyterians, about the year 1830, who formed themselves into a society and determined to have their chosen denomination represented by a church. Rev. John Ross ministered to them for a number of years. Among the first members were Adam Reid, Peyton Irvin, James Brown, members of the McVey family, and others. The church was first called the Beulah church, but the name was changed to the Presbyterian church of New Paris, by the old presbytery of Oxford. In 1801 Rev. Franklin Berryhill became the pastor of the flock. During the first year of his pastorate the congregation worshipped part of the time in the Christian church, and part of the time in the Methodist church. Seeing the great need of a house of worship, Rev. Berryhill stirred the people to action by a sermon from the text found in Haggai 18—" Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified saith the Lord." Within four days after this sermon was preached the sum of four hundred dollars was subscribed. Very soon a neat frame building was put up, and soon paid for. Rev. Berryhill continued to preach to this people until, in 1851, he was compelled to resign on account of failing health, and soon after removed to Greene county. He now resides near Bellbrook, and is one of the oldest ministers in the presbytery at Dayton.
The last minister of the New Paris church was Rev. David H. Greene. There are now more than fifty members.
THE PUBLIC CHURCH.
About the time of the division of the Christian church at New Paris, it was deemed advisable to build a public meeting house in New Paris. The ground on which the building stands is located on East Cherry street. It was donated to the citizens of New Paris on condition that it forever be used as a place for public worship, and that people of all denominations and creeds be permitted to enjoy the privilege of holding meetings there. A neat frame building, seventy by forty feet, was put up at an expense of about one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. Of the one hundred and fourteen subscribers, eighty-three belonged to no church, and thirty-one were members of various organizations. Preachers of every belief were allowed to preach in this church, and it was and is still often used as a place for public entertainments, and meetings of all kinds. The Campbellite or Christian church was accustomed to hold meetings there, and a few years ago a dispute arose as to the ownership of the public church, which was decided in favor of the public.
The first trustees of the public church were, Lewis Davis, R. S. Tillman, S. W. Richey, and John F. Ireland. The donors of the ground were James and Eliza Cochren.
All of the big temperance meetings, that have been held in New Paris, are held in the old church, which is still kept in good repair.
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
was organized in the public meeting house soon after it was built. Rev. J. C. McCune, of Miamsburgh, Montgomery county, effected the organization. Their house of worship is new, and is considered one of the best in New Paris. It is situated on South Washington street. The old Universalist church building stood just west of the Christian church. Rev. J. V. Guthrie was the pastor for quite a number of years. Rev. C. P. Carlton was the last regular pastor. It has been thought best to do without regular preaching, until the building is all paid for. However, services are held every few weeks. There are about seventy members.
HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 269
METHODIST CHURCH.
Quite a number of people, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal denomination, were living in New Paris and the vicinity in the early times, but prior to the year 1800, the latter class that had been formed did not feel able to build a church. Previous to this time occasional services were held by circuit riders, who passed that way. John Cottom, James Fleming, Jr., Robert McCord and others were instrumental in organizing the church, and in building a house of worship. About the year 1800, a frame house was erected on the south side of East Main street. Since that time preaching has been regularly kept up. The first preacher was Rev. James Smith, and the present pastor is Rev. T. H. Fiddler.
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
after failing to establish its claim to the public meetinghouse, was not discouraged. The congregation, with commendable zeal, decided to build a new house 0f worship. Accordingly a lot was chosen on the north side of Cherry street. As soon as the necessary funds could be raised, a handsome brick building was erected. The efforts of Mr. McVey had started the church with nearly one hundred members, mostly dissenters from the New Light church. There is no regular preaching there.
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Quite a number of the citizens of New Paris, especially the foreign population, were staunch supporters of the Roman Catholic church, and about the year 1870, with characteristic zeal, they took steps toward the building of the church, which is a brick building standing on the south side of East Walnut street. This building, both in size and appearance, compares very favorably with the other churches of town. The church is not strong enough to support a settled priest, but is supplied from time to time by priests from the neighboring city of Richmond.
THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
There are many colored folks in New Paris and vicinity, and naturally they are Methodists, and earnest ones, too. They are not so fortunate as their white brethren, and own neither house nor pastor. They hold their regular meetings in the old school-house, next to the depot, and their quarterly and other big meetings, in the public church.
THE TEMPERANCE WORK.
The people of New Paris ever handled intemperance with ungloved hands. Prayers, entreaties, legal and moral suasion have all been used as weapons against the foe. Long, long ago did king alcohol receive his marching orders from an outraged people. From time to time saloons have slyly opened their doors, and every time they have been closed, and to-day there is not a saloon in New. Paris.
In the spring of 1868, one George Clatterbuck started a saloon on Main street at a place called the "Yellow Cat," and after establishing himself he swore that he would stay. Though the men of New Paris are by no means backward, the ladies are always first in an on- slaught against liquor dealers. This time the ladies took the initiative. The following ladies assembled in an indignation meeting: Mrs. A. W. Tibbits, the Methodist pastor's wife, Mrs. John F. Ireland, Mrs. Mary Graves, Miss Ruth Graves, Mrs. Kate Braffet, Miss Nellie Whitridge, Mrs. Henderson Fleming, Mrs. Frank Burtch, Miss Anna Whitridge, Mrs. Lizzie Ferris, Mrs. J. Wilson, and perhaps others whose names have not been ascertain. After due discussion it was thought the best plan to visit the grog shop en masse and to stay there until the proprietor should understand that his submission would be the only mode of escaping their importunity. The ladies went to the saloon in the morning and remained there all day. The ladies took their knitting and crocheting with them. In the evening a number of prominent gentlemen read the, law to the proprietor, and ere long succeeded in purchasing his stock. The liquor was taken outside of Paris and turned out. Saturday night the defiant saloonist was initiated into the order of Good Templars. He soon afterwards started a beef shop and received the hearty support of the citizens.
During the crusade there was no saloon in Paris, and the ladies went to Richmond and assisted in the work there.
Since that time a Greenville man tried the liquor business in New Paris and had to quit.
About the year 1877 one of the drug stores in town became a resort for drinking men. Substantial citizens of the place raised a fund and determined to prosecute every violation of law. Evidence accumulated and no less than nineteen indictments were found. The trial, which was held at Eaton, attracted universal attention. On the morning that the temperance men and women left New Paris to attend the trial, the bells in town rang out "God speed." Suffice it to say that the temperance people were successful, and to-day no saloon is allowed within the corporal limits of New Paris.
John G. Whittier has celebrated in song the name and memory of Thomas Barber, who was killed in the west during the Kansas troubles. For many years he lived in the vicinity of New Paris. He and his brother had the old woollen mill in charge at the time that it was burned. He emigrated to Kansas a short time prior to the tragedy which ended his life. While in New Paris he was in favor of the abolition of slavery, and of course he strove to be true to his new place of abode. He strove hard to help make Kansas a free State, and his life was the forfeit. Whittier thus honors Thomas Barber:
" Bear him, comrades, to his grave ;
Never over one more brave
Shall the prairie grasses weep ;
In the ages yet to come,
When the millions in one room,
What we sow in tears shatl reap.
* * * * * * *
Plant the buckeye on his grave,
For the hunter of the slave
In its shadow cannot rest ;
And let martyr, mound and tree
Be our pledge and guaranty
Of the freedom of rhe west !"
270 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
THE PRESS
in New Paris has a history which, though rather uneventful, deserves passing notice.
In 1844 Daniel Winder started a paper, whose name was larger than its history. The New Paris Post and State Line Sentinel was the name of this four page sheet, which was devoted to news rather than politics, and to miscellany rather than either news or politics. The paper and its editor were enterprising, but lack of patronage killed it.
Mr. Winder then started a paper bearing the significant name of Reformer. Its course, too, was short, and journalism in Jefferson township remained at a stand still.
The Amateur and the Key are of recent sidate, and were edited by C. W, Bloom.
At present there is no paper edited in the township.
PHYSICIANS.
New Paris has always been the medical center of Jefferson township. Though the general health of the people is good, and the very fountains of health are situated near town, nearly all the physicians are settled here.
The first regular practitioner was Dr. Clement Ferguson, who came into the township in a very early day, as early as 1810. He was the first resident physician in New Paris, and lived for a number of years where Samuel W. Richey now resides. Dr. Ferguson was one of the first school teachers in the township, and afterwards became a very successful physician. He died in New Paris in the year 1833, and is buried in the North cemetery.
Dr. James Knox came in 1817, and Dr. David Cox in 1820.
Prominent among the early physicians were the Whit ridges-Drs. John and Peleg Whitridge, who practiced separately and in partnership for many years. They controlled a large practice, and were universally liked.
Dr. Samuel Ferris practiced at New Paris, and at New Westville for a short time, about the year 1850, and then removed to Newcastle, Indiana.
His brother, A. B. Ferris, graduated at the Cleveland Medical college in 1850, and in the winter of 1850 attended a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical college. He commenced the practice of medicine in 1852, in New Paris, where he has been ever since.
The above physicians were of the allopathic school. After them there were quite a number of physicians of the physio-medical or botanic school.
First of these was Dr. Kepler, a steam doctor of the above named school.
Twenty or thirty years ago Dr. Terry practiced in New Paris. He is now professor of the Eclectic Medical college in Cincinnati.
Dr. George Wilkinson practiced about 1840.
Dr. Moses Swank came about 1850, and remained for several years. He now resides in Indianapolis, and makes the treatment of cancers a specialty.
Dr. Eaton, who came to New Paris about fifty years ago, was of the old school. He now is in Cincinnati, and makes the treatment of the eyes a specialty. Dr.
George Bruce practiced in New Paris about thirty years ago, and is now located in Winchester, Indiana.
About the same time Dr. U. G. Miller, who is now in Lawrence, Kansas, commenced to practice in Paris.
Dr. Lesh, of the Botanic school, left the village six or seven years ago.
Dr. C. F. Braffet, the present representative of the Eclectic school, is a graduate of the Physio-Medical college. He has been practicing in New Paris since 1807.
Dr. Hampton, a Homeopathic physician, practiced ten years in New Paris and moved away in 1880.
Dr. Haynie located in New Paris in October, 1878, and is a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Medicine.
QUARRIES.
Geology indicates and experience proves that Jefferson township is very rich in abundant deposits of lime-stone, and as a matter of course, the most extensively worked quarries in Preble county are located at New Paris, along the Whitewater, where the surface of the rock has been exposed by the action of the water. The upper member of the Niagara series is well developed, and is easily reached. The building stone courses are also accessible. But the main interest, however, is •the production of lime. Large quantities of the best of lime are annually burned here, and distributed mainly to the westward by railroads leading out of Richmond, Indiana. Patent kilns are in use and the business is carried on successfully, and economically managed by Thomas J. Smith, the proprietor of the quarries, which are three in number. One of them is on the creek, south of New Paris, one- half mile. The northern part consists of building and lime-stone, and is owned by Mr. Smith; and the other end, owned by Leander Marshall, abounds in big flagstone rock. Just south of town two lime kilns are running, and north of town there is another quarry. Mr. Smith employs about forty men. This year he has shipped about four thousand perch of building stone, four thousand yards of flagging stone, and ninety thousand bushels of lime. In the manufacture of the lime are consumed about one thousand eight hundred cords of wood annually. The constant burning of lime is a good antidote for chills.
CEDAR SPRINGS.
Before the white man had set foot on the soil of Jefferson township, it was inhabited by bands of the Pottawatomies, Miami, and Wyandot Indians, who lingered in the native forests in search of the deer, wild turkey, bear and other game with which the region abounded. Even after the first white settlements had been made it was no uncommon sight to see the wigwam of the Indian in some well favored spot in the valley of the Whitewater, or in some more secluded ravine. Through the ravines leading to the creek was the distinct path made by the deer and other game on their way to the water. About a half-mile south of where New Paris now stands, might have been found, in a secluded glen, one of the most popular camping grounds of the Indians, and one-of the principal drinking places of the wild animals; for here were several strong springs of water, pure and cold.
HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 271
The Indians recognized in this water curative properties that far exceeded those of the healthful Twin valley they loved so well. Indian medicine men effected wonderful cures by sending their patients to the springs in the vicinity of Whitewater.
After the advent of the white man, for a number of years the settlers were ..too busy with their multiplied cares and labors to take much notice of the springs. But a school-house happened to be put up near them at an early day, and it was noticed that weak school-ma'ams and masters, after teaching there awhile, became remarkably healthy.
For many years, however, only those in the immediate neighborhood thought anything of the water, save that the springs were valuable for agricultural purposes.
The glorious forest trees which stood near by on the surrounding hills fell victims to the axe of the woodman, who little thought that he was shearing those hills of one of the elements most necessary to the perfection of the picturesque. But, happily, this ruthless destruction was stopped, when, in 1875, Marshall, Wetheral & Co., commenced the building of a large five-story frame hotel, and proceeded to fit up the grounds and make the water accessible.
Rapidly did the fame of the water go abroad, and almost from the first there was a crowd waiting to be healed. The pristine qualities of the water had in no wise deteriorated, and many remarkable cures were chronicled. In the fall of 1877, the property was purchased by Eli and Dr. A. F. Haldeman, and in 1878, Dr. Haldeman and Oscar Gale, esq., became the proprietors.
The grounds are well located, and are, from time to time, being improved, and in time it is hoped that this may become one of the most charming resorts in the country.
The springs are five in number and are varied in their medicinal properties. They have an inexhaustible flow, aggregating nearly ten thousand barrels a day. The Washington spring is the largest and most important, and is valuable as a curative in diseases of the liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, b0wels, and in all blood diseases.
The following is the analysis:
GRAINS.
Bicarbonate of magnesia - 1.295
Bicarbonate of soda - 0.408
Bicarbonate of iron - 0.228
Bricarbonate of lime - 0.712
Chloride of sodium - 0.121
Sulphate of soda - 0.023
Alumina - 0.027
Sulphate of lime - 0.155
Phosphate of lime - 0.266
Total - 3.302
The water of this spring compares favorably with that of the Bethesda, at Waukesha, Wisconsin, and the Spa, in Belgium.
The Sedlitz spring is cathartic; the Chalybeate, near the Washington, is a promoter of digestion, and the Glycerine spring, twenty feet from the Washinton, is used only in the adjoining bath-house and has in it much healing power.
With proper management this will become one of the most popular health resorts in the country.
BUSINESS HOUSES.
The enterprise that has ever characterized New Paris has developed and sustained quite a number of flourishing business houses. As is noted elsewhere, the first store was opened in a building opposite McWhinney's place of business. Its character was that of a general store, in which merchandise of all kinds was sold. Every village of any pretensions to business prosperity, is well supplied with general stores. Means & Johnson and J. & W. A. McWhinney are the proprietors of the general stores now in New Paris. Although Richmond is so near, they are able to maintain themselves in a good trade. W. L. Hazeltine, Samuel Beelman, and Warren Swerer are the grocers. The first floor of the Odd Fellows building is used by Jacob Reinheimer, dealer in hardware, tinware, and agricultural implements. The druggists are S. W. Richey, G. B. Roberson, and McWhinney & Morton. Of these apothecaries S. W. Richey is the oldest in the business. R. A. Richey is the business manager of the north grain house, and the lower one is under the control of the railroad company. W. G. Hahn is the proprietor of the harness and saddler shop in the rear of the post office building. Thomas L. Porterfield, W. V. Whitley, and Alfred Calkins make carriages and wagons. A; P. Johnson and B. F. Kemp are the tailors. The physicians are elsewhere mentioned. The dental surgeons are C. F. and James L Braffett and Charles Wilcox. The millinery shops are kept by Mrs. C. Johnson and Mrs. L. Hazeltine. There are two hotels, the Washington house by Mrs. E. Thomas, and the Parisian by John Corr. Mayor L. W. Richey is the only notary public in the township ; he is also the fire and life insurance agent. There are several good livery stables in town. Joseph Burgoyne is the proprietor of an extensive tanyard. J. S. & W. C. Smith do a good businsss in their flouring-mill in the north part of town. The saw-mill is run by J. H. Middaugh.
THE OLD CEMETERY.
The grove just north of the corporation line of New Paris, in which the first religious services were held, was chosen as the city of the dead. The first burial was that of Levi Moore, who was buried about the year 0. Alexander Penland, a lad who was drowned in a neighboring spring, was the second person buried in the old cemetery. Since then more than a thousand citizens of Jefferson township have laid down to rest in this silent city, for this old graveyard has long been the storehouse of death. Herein are buried the first fathers of the community, those staunch old leaders who moulded the social and religious character of the township. They do rest from their labors, but a glance from their tombs, up and down the surrounding valley proves, that their works do follow them. When the pioneers were slowly threading their way through the mountains to their new homes, they little thought that one day they would sleep on eithe1 side of that great thoroughfare—the railway. But it happened that the old cemetery was in the path of the
272 - HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
locomotive, and now many times a day do the trains rush through the " silent " city, for the track of the Dayton & Western road is directly through the graveyard. Here sleep such men as Elder David Purviance, John Adams, John H. Cottom, Drs. John C. and Peleg Whitridge, Drs. Ferguson and Knox, Andrew, David, William, and John F. Ireland, Robert McGill, Samuel R. Chadwick, the Flemings, Mitchells, and Morrisons, and very many others.
THE CATHOLIC CEMETERY
is just west of the old burying-ground, and is used exclusively by the members of the church whose belief will not allow Catholics to be buried in any but "consecrated ground." The cemetery is new and there are not many buried in it.
THE NEW PARIS CEMETERY,
as well as the north cemetery, is under the control of the township trustees. About ten years ago, inasmuch as the old cemetery was about full, and inasmuch as it was cut up by the railroad, it was deemed advisable to establish a new cemetery near New Paris. Accordingly a committee of citizens was appointed to examine the several pieces of ground offered for the new graveyard, and the instructions were to select the one thought to be the most desirable. The committee, after due consideration, reported in favor of the ten acres just south of New Paris, not far from the lime kilns. David Culton, who was a member of the committee, was the first person buried in the new cemetery. Quite a number were removed from the north cemetery, and many have been buried there since. It is now the main burying-ground of the township. It is laid off with broad gravel drives, bordered with smooth lawns, and presents a very attractive appearance. Many handsome monuments have been erected, and the people of New Paris may well be proud of their cemetery.
GETTYSBURGH
is the only community in Jefferson township, beside New Paris, that can boast of the name of village. It is situated in the northwest corner of section thirty-six, on what is known as the old national road. The town was laid out in the fall of 1832, by John Curry, a native of the State of Pennsylvania. The maiden name was Harrisburgh, which in late years became Gettysburgh, after Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania. Of course, Gettysburgh was always intended to be the largest town on the road, and the founder determined that it must outstrip the neighboring hamlet of Orangeburgh, and the stillborn Belfast, laid out in the same year of 1832.
Orangeburgh was laid out by G. Johnson and Thomas Norris. Belfast has always been a "paper town." Both towns were laid out in section thirty-four. Of Orange- burgh it may be said that the town cannot be "seen for the houses, and of Belfast, the houses cannot be seen for the town.
But Gettysburgh has not passed into oblivion. The house in which Abraham Dine resides is the first house that was built. It was put up by a man named McKey. Fifty years ago Semuel Paxton put up a tavern where B. F. Morgan now lives. This hostelry was well patronized at that early day, when there was considerable travel over the national road. McClure's store was put up shortly after the town was laid out. A man named Wright built a store about the year 1830, which was afterwards
kept by George Watt.
Dr. Watt was the earliest physician. Gettysburgh has one hundred and seventeen people, all told.
Ebenezer is the name of the post office, which was established in Gettysburg,' July 2, 1866, with W. L. Curry, postmaster. The only resident physician is Dr. Albert Hawley. B. F. Werhly is the proprietor of the general store, and is also the postmaster.
The tile factory and saw-mill which are located in the village are owned by William Price. The tile factory was moved from Jackson township, near New Hope, in' the winter of 1879-80. The saw-mill was started about thirty-two years ago. It was a steam mill with an "up and down" saw, but has since been provided with a circular saw.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Old father Alexander Porter never allowed himself to get very far away from a United Presbyterian church. When he went outside of Israel township, and could not take a United Presbyterian church with him, he was wont to gather material and found a new church.. More than sixty years ago Mr. Porter founded such a church near where Gettysburgh now stands. The old church stood in the graveyard just south of Gettysburgh in section thirty-five. The building was of log, and has now entirely disappeared. For some time after the house was built it was without a floor, and the congregation used to sit on the sleepers.
For nearly twenty-five years Rev. Richard Boyce preached at Gettysburgh, in connection with the church at Richmond, Indiana. Rev. James McNeal was the next preacher, and for a time after he left the church depended upon occasional supplies.
The next thing that happened to this church was its change of name. At this time Rev. John Wiseman, a Presbyterian minister, commenced to preach to the Gettysburgh congregation in the afternoons, as he passed through from Camden to New Paris, the two churches of his care. The people liked Mr. Wiseman, and soon came over to the Presbyterian faith, dropping their original name, United Presbyterian.
About the year 1807 the present frame building was erected at Gettysburgh. About four years ago the church was repaired, and is now a very neat little structure. Rev. David Tawney, Rev. Caleb Jones and Rev. David Green, have supplied the church during the last few years. There are now about fifty members. The present eldorship is as follows:. John Mc D. Norris, Henry Petry and George Miller.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
About the time of the organization of the old United Presbyterian church, the Methodist church was organized. The first meetings were held in the log barn of Jonathan Porterfield, situated north of Gettysburgh, on the farm now owned by Daniel Harshman. Robert
272A - EDWARD S. STOTLER
was born February 13, 1825, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. His father, Jacob Stotler, removed to Preble county with his family in the fall of 1833, and settled on the farm now owned by William Campbell, east of West Alexandria, where he resided until his death. Edward's educational advantages were quite limited, attending only the common schools of his neighborhood. He remained on his fathersis farm until the fall of x849, when, with a number of others from the same vicinity, he went to California. The journey was a very tedious one. He went by the Panama route, and made the trip on a saiting vessel, being nearly three months on the water. Many of the passengers were stricken with cholera, and a number died of the dreadful disease. He remained in California nearly a year, during which he was in poo1 health much of the time. A short time after his return his father died, and the farm was subsequently bought by our subject and a sister. Sometime afterward Mr. Stotler sold the farm and located in Wesi Alexandria, and for several years following was not engaged in business. In the spring of 1857 he rented for one year, in company, with Mr. J. H. Gale, the Halderman mill, on Twin creek. This venture proved quite profitable, and in the fall of 1858 he formed a partnership with Mr. Gale and Deitnch Glander, under the tirm name of E. S. Stotler & Company, and erected a grist-mill on Twin creek, east of West Alexandria. At Mr. Gale's death the other members purchased his interest and continued to operate the grist-mill and sawmill for a number of years, when Mr. Stotler succeeded to the ownership. He continued the business until the spring of 1880, when he sold the flouting-mill to J. M. Kinsel & Company. During this time he was also engaged in farming, having bought the Johnson farm, on Twin creek. 1n 1866, in company with Mr. Glander, he erected the brick block on the southeast comer ot Dayton and Main streets, and was associated with Mr. Glander and E. S. Derby, in the dry goods trade, for a short time. Of late years he has been principally engaged in the lumber trade in connection with his saw-mill, and in the growing of tobacco, being one of the rargest producers of tobacco on Twin creek. He has been treasurer of Twin township for a number of years, and is a member of the town council of West Alexandria. Mr. Stotler's business life has been a remarkably successful one, having from a moderate beginning acquired independence. His success is plainly attributable, not to fortuitous circumstances, but to the possession of an abundant capital of energy, industry and business sagacity. The writer has met few men more actively industrious than he, and he has never yet found it necessary to have a law-suit. Mr. Stotler was married on the thirty-first of May, 1857, to Sarah A. Halderman, and settled in West Alexandria, where Mr. Derby now lives. His wife died four years afterward, April 1, 1861, at the age of twenty-seven years, ten months and nineteen days. She bore her husband two children: John H., born June x6, 1858, and Sallie E., born October 26, 1860, died July 20, 1875. The accident which caused the death of this beautiful child, was an extremely sad one. She was in the gristmill with other children, when in some manner her clothes became entangled in the king shaft. When extricated :he was crushed in a terrible manner, the bones in her limbs protruding through the skin. The shock caused paralysis, so she suffered little or no pain, but death soon followed.
HISTORY OF PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 273
McCord, a local preacher, had much to do with the organization. Rev. — Chalfant preached for a time in the old log school-house, in the north part of Gettysburgh. Soon after the organization, the church, a frame building, was built. The present pastor is Rev. T. H. Fiddler, who also has charge of the New Paris church.
The Sunday-school is a union one, with the Presbyterians, and is in a flourishing condition.
CEMETERY.
The Gettysburgh cemetery was started as soon as the church was organized. The first person buried therein was Robert Curry, who died in 1816. This cemetery contains the ashes of most of the settlers of the part of the township in which it is situated. Herein are buried James Norris, John Curry, William Thomas, Elder Rufus Harvey, John McCord, David A. Wehrly, James Melling, J. S. Preble, Alexander Barr, and many others, whose graves are unmarked.
BRINLEY'S STATION
is on the Dayton & Western road, in section eleven, about three miles and a half north of Gettysburgh. In 1855 Sylvester Brinley donated the ground, upon which the station is built, and it received his name. January 23, 1860, the post office was established, and Sylvester Brinley made the first postmaster. The office was kept in Mr. Brinley's store, which was erected in 1858. The store is now owned by J. C. Minnick, who purchased it in 1875. Mr. Minnick is the present postmaster
PLEASANT HILL UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.
Among other denominations represented among the early settlers was that of the United Brethren in Christ. The class was organized in a school-house on the State line, about a mile and a half south of the church building, which is located in the northwestern corner of Preble county, in section six of Jefferson township. The church was organized by Rev. Isaac Robinson, who was then a missionary of the United Brethren church. There were originally fourteen members. James Alexander was the first class-leader, and James Trammel was steward. February 10, 1800, the deed of the church property was witnessed. The building is of frame, and is regularly opened for public worship. There is a graveyard adjoining the church, which was started about 1805. Mrs. Elizabeth Baker, mother of Thomas Baker, was probably the first person therein buried. The cemetery has recently been fixed up.
The pastors of the church have been Revs. Isaac Robison, Frederick Bonebrake, William Ault, Adam Hetzler, John Huffman, J. R. Brown, G. L Gilbert, J. D. Bottles, G. L. Gilbert, two terms, J. C. Miller, T. F. Bushong, D. E. Myers, F. M. Fowler, .W. K. Albright and E. H. Kaylor. There are at present about eighty members.- A great many have gone off from time to time to the Friendship, Madison and Palestine churches in Darke county.
In the neighborhood of the Pleasant Hill church there is an extensive
TILE FACTORY,
which was started in 1878. It is owned by James Baker, and a very large business is carried on. The land in Jefferson township has been greatly improved by draining during the last few years, and great thanks are due to both this factory and the one at Gettysburgh, previously mentioned.