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In 1879 he originated and carried out measures by which the stockholders in the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad were made thoroughly conversant with the official proceedings of the management. As a member of the Legislature he secured the passage of a special act authorizing this railway company to issue a second mortgage and bonds by which the final success and completion of the road is made a certainty, as the stockholders, on May 20, 1880, voted in favor of issuing the same. In the autumn of 1879 he was honored with a special invitation to attend the unveiling at Washington City of the statue of Gen. George H. Thomas, and was present at the grand ceremonies attending the same, as the guest of the Army of the Cumberland, and remained two weeks at the national capital, making himself conversant with the workings of the government in the various departments. Dr. Bishop, by his business energy and large dealings in lands, has acquired a goodly share of this world's goods. His wealth consists mostly in real estate, of which he is an excellent judge.
Dr. Bishop has ever enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who know him ; and whether as a physician, a member of society, or a legislator, he has always discharged his whole duty with fidelity and honesty. He is justly sensitive of his honor and integrity, and can never be swerved from the path of duty, nor engaged in anything detrimental to what he esteems to be the interests of the people and good of society; hence he was ever at his post in the Legislature, doing his whole duty, and no more faithful, industrious, or upright member can be found in the present General Assembly than he. At the twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Clermont County Medical Society, held at Batavia, May 19, 1880, Dr. Bishop was unanimously elected its president for the ensuing year, an honor only accorded to the oldest and most distinguished practitioners.
HENRY V. KERR., of Scotch-Irish descent, was born in Orange Co , N Y,, Sept. 12, 1819. His parents died when he was quite young, and ho labored on a farm until he attained his majority. In 1840 ho removed to Ohio, and settled at Newtown, near Cincinnati, where he attended school, and soon engaged in teaching in Hamilton and Clermont Counties. On Jan. 5, 1845, he married Miss Elizabeth A. Harrison, at Newtown, which union was blessed with three children, all of whom are living, viz. : Anna Kerr, wife of John Wayland, editor and proprietor of the Owen County (Indiana) Journal, published at Spencer ; John D. Kerr, publisher of the Ohio State Register, printed at Washington Court-House, Fayette Co. ; and Katie Kerr, wife of Willis M. Cowen, of the firm of Dale O. Cowen & Co., editors, publishers, and proprietors of The Clermont Sun, printed in Batavia. Mr. Kerr was one of the small band of teachers who in 1848 organized "The Clermont Teachers' Institute," which has become one of the strongest organizations of the kind in Ohio, and to the success of which he has largely contributed. In 1849 he was elected superintendent of the schools of the county, and under his supervision they were greatly improved in system and efficiency. In 1853 he was elected county recorder, and was re-elected in 1856, and held this important office six years.
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In 1864 he purchased The Clermont Sun of Learner B. Leeds, and edited that journal until 1872. In 1873 he was elected to the Ohio State Senate from the Fourth Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Clermont and Brown ; was re-elected in 1875, and during his four years' service in the General Assembly was appointed upon many of the most important committees. During his last term in the Senate he purchased the Ohio State Register, at Washington Court-House, rendering valuable aid to the Democracy of Fayette County. On April 10, 1879, he was appointed State librarian by Governor Richard M. Bishop, which position he now holds. In 1847 he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and today is one of its strongest supporters. For twenty-eight years he has been connected with the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, both the Lodge and the Encampment, and in each has passed all the chairs. In the different temperance organizations he has constantly been a member, and to their success has ever added largely by his pen and voice. Early identified with the principles of the Democratic party, he always took a great interest in politics and the discussion of all questions relative to the rights of the people and governmental affairs, and in the counsels of his party his services were eagerly sought, and to his opinions great weight attached in the conducting of political campaigns and adoption of convention platforms.
SAMUEL F. DOWDNEY.
Samuel Francis Dowdney comes of good Revolutionary stock, and was born of English parents on Jan. 18, 1820, in the town of Bethel, Clermont Co., Ohio. His father and mother, William and Eliza (Frances) Dowdney, emigrated from Philadelphia, Pa,, in 1817, and settled in Ohio, coming down from Pittsburgh in an old-fashioned boat on the Ohio River to Smith's Landing, then called the " Mouth of Buliskin," where they landed, and in a few days removed to Bethel, at that time one of the most stirring villages in Southern Ohio. His grandfather, Samuel Dowdney, was born and lived in New Jersey, and served most honorably under Washington in the war for independence, and left five children : Rachel, born Dec. 14, 1785, and who died Jan. 25, 1803 ; Clayton, born Sept. 21, 1787 ; William, born Sept. 16, 1789 ; Mary, born Jan. 11, 1792, and who died the 25th of the same month ; and John, born March 4, 1794. On his maternal side,-all New Jersey people, and descended from the first settlers in that State,- his grandfather, Joseph Francis (son of a Revolutionary soldier in the " Jersey troops"), was born Aug. 18, 1767, and was on Nov.13, 1788, married to Miss Sarah Clifton, who was born Aug. 1, 1766. From their marriage was the following issue : Mary, born Sept. 17, 1789, and who died Aug. 4, 1791; Eliza, born April 29, 1791; Polly, born April 10, 1793, and who died October 4th of succeeding year ; Sarah, born July 27, 1796, and who died Feb. 1, 1815; Ann, born Oct. 31, 1798, and married Oct. 12, 1820, to William Bredwell ; and Maria, born Jan. 7, 1800, and June 2, 1817, married to George A. Winslow. Of the above, William Dowdney was married to Eliza Frances on Aug. 21, 1813, by William Stoughton, D.D., in the city of Philadelphia, where he worked at his trade, that of comb-making, and afterwards, as before stated, removed to Ohio. He worked several years at Bethel and in Cincinnati in the manufacture of combs before the invention and introduction of modern machinery superseded labor by hand. William Dowdney afterwards engaged in the mercantile business, and kept hotel in Georgetown, Hamersville, and in other towns in Brown and Clermont Counties, and died at a ripe old age, in Felicity, on Jan. 12, 1870. His wife Eliza departed this life in February, 1871, a year after her husband. When a boy of fourteen years, Samuel F. Dowdney was bound out under articles of indenture to James Houston to learn the carpenter's trade ; but in a year or two Houston went South with a load of produce and never returned, when Samuel was again apprenticed, this time to the wagon- and carriage-making business, which ho thoroughly mastered. He followed this avocation several years at Hamersville, but in 1841 he turned his attention to the profession of the law, and gave up his shop and went to Felicity to attend the school at that place, then under the charge of Edward F. W. Ellis, who fell in battle in the late Rebellion gallantly leading an Illinois regiment, of which he was colonel. In 1842 he received a teacher's certificate from the school examiners of Clermont, and taught his first school in the village of Chilo a term of eight months at twenty dollars per month, then considered a large salary for teaching. In the fall of 1843 he went to Georgetown, where he taught in the district school one session, and also kept a select school, during which time he was diligently reading law. In 1844 he entered the law-office of the late Gen. Thomas L. Hamer and his partner, Judge David G.
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Devore, where he was a student in a class with Ohio F. Jones, Perry J. Donham, and William Gilliland. On April 4, 1846, he was admitted to the bar, receiving a license to practice as an attorney-at-law and solicitor in chancery in the various courts of' Ohio, He then opened an office in Georgetown, of which place he was appointed postmaster by President Polk, filling the office until 1849, when he resigned. In July of that year he removed to Felicity, where the cholera was prevailing, to care for his sister's husband. Dr. J. W. Kennedy, who was attacked with that epidemic. The same year he began the practice of his profession in Felicity, remaining there until February, 1858, when he moved to Batavia to enter upon his dnties as probate judge of the county, having been elected to that position the preceding October. Ile was re-elected in 1860, and acceptably performed the duties of that office for six years. In 1865 he was elected to the Ohio Senate from the Fourth District, composed of Brown and Clermont Counties, over Gen. James Loudon, of Georgetown, who was then filling the office. In 1867 he was re-elected, defeating Paul Mohr, residing on the historic Collins farm, near Bantam. May 7, 1851, he married Miss Eliza Soper, a native of Maine, by which union eight children were born, five of whom are living. Charles, the eldest son, is a farmer at Pierceville, Ind., and Edward T., the second, is reading law with his father in the office of Dowdney & Parrott. In 1841 he joined the Masonic order (of which his father had been at that time a zealous member for over a qnarter of a century), and served for two years as Worshipful Master of Felicity Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 102 ; was prominent in Orion Chapter, No. 41, of Royal Arch Masons, and Connell Council, No. 18, of Royal and Select Masters. Of the two latter he is still a member, but his Blue Lodge membership is now in Batavia Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 109. In 1870 he was elected a member of the Batavia school board ; was reelected in 1873, and served six years, during which time the present elegant school edifice was constructed, the schools reorganized and put into their present prosperous condition. In 1878 he was elected mayor of the town of Batavia, and as such for two years was president of the town council, and under his efficient administration the present commodious council-chamber and mayor's office were erected, and twenty-five acres added to the plat of ground comprising the Citizens' Cemetery, adjoining the town. In 1870 he was one of the principal projectors and incorporators of " The Clermont Saving and Loan Association," with its main office in Batavia. Part of the time since its organization he has filled the office of president, and continually served as one of its attorneys. He has ever been an active politician, and identified himself with the Democratic party, to the success of which he has contributed largely by speeches and serving on the county executive committee, of which he has repeatedly been chairman. He resides in a nice cottage of modern architecture, located on the corner of Spring and Market Streets, in Batavia. Judge Dowdney was a school- and play-mate in his boyhood of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and was a law-student in after-years of that distinguished lawyer and orator who, as Congressman, appointed Ulysses as a cadet to West Point, In 1864, when Clement Laird Vallandigham visited Batavia to make a speech during the Presidential campaign, his headquarters were at the Dowdney residence ; hence Mr. Dowdney has a vast fund of political reminiscences concerning men who have swayed and ruled State and nation. He has been in the practice of the law for thirty-four years, and is one of the senior members of the bar of Clermont, and still continues actively engaged in his profession.
M. J. W. HOLTER.
About the year 1816 several worthy pioneer families emigrated from Maryland and settled in Southern Clermont, among whom were John 'Jolter and his wife, Mary Ann, who located in Washington township. This Christian couple of early settlers had the following children : John, Nelson, Lawson, Hanson, Warren, Daniel, Alfred, and Mary Ann Holter ; the latter intermarried with Jesse Hunt. Of these Alfred Hotter was married on Nov. 17, 1831, by Rev. Benjamin Lakin, to Rachel Ann Philips, a daughter of Wesley and Harriet Philips, also emigrants from Maryland.
Alfred Holter, born in 1804, was twelve Years old when his parents removed to this county, and by his wife, Rachel Ann, now living with him in easy retirement on his elegant homestead near Olive Branch, he has had the following-named children : Harriet A., deceased ; Marcellus J. W. ; Josephus N., who served in Company F, Fifty- ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, all through the Rebellion, and was after the war closed accidentally killed in Cincinnati by a wagon ; Mary Ann, married to Albert Tice, of' Boston ; Sarah E., married to M. V. McGuire, of Union township ; Adaliza. married to Daniel D. March, of Stonelick township; Rufus G., of Company F, Fifty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, killed in battle at New Hope Church, Ga., during the Rebellion ; Lizzie A., married to George M. Sinks, of Connersville, Ind. ; Sarah E., who died in infancy ; and A. H. P., the youngest.
The second in this family of ten children was Marcellus John Wesley Hotter, born .Tan. 10, 1834. He received the limited common-school education of his neighborhood, and completed his studies by one year's attendance at Farmers' College, then a noted institution near Cincinnati. He worked on the farm and grew up into a robust manhood, but under the watchful care of intelligent and Christian parents found time to supply his mind with intellectual stores, which in after-years proved of great value to him in his brilliant military career and public life. After leaving college he taught school four years in Stonelick, Miami, Batavia, and Union townships. He has served six years on the Batavia township board of education, during two of which he was its president. In 1878 he was elected auditor of Clermont County for a term of three years, and is now filling that important station. For nearly ten years he has been chief marshal of the Clermont County Agricultural Society at its annual exhibitions at Boston, to the success of which in all its departments he has ever largely contributed. He was married by Rev. W. Q, Shannon, on Sept. 24, 1861, to Helen E., a daughter and one of the thirteen children of the late Blair Jeffries and his wife Penelope.
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He has four children,-Annie Estella, Frank Banning (named for his old compatriot rn arms, Gen. H. B. Banning), George Penn, and Josephus Wright. In 1867 he took the degrees in Batavia Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., No. 136, passed all its chairs, and was one of the charter members of Houston Lodge, No. 500, at Olive Branch, and its first Noble Grand. He joined Oleander Encampment, No. 44, at Batavia in 1869-70, and has filled all its chairs. Was a representative of the subordinate lodges in the State Grand Lodge in 1877 and 1878 ; has served one term as district deputy of lodges and encampments, and assisted in organizing many subordinate lodges. The I. 0. 0. F. has had in Clermont no more active or zealous member than lie. In 1880 he was initiated as an entered apprentice into Batavia Lodge, No. 109, of Free and Accepted Masons. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Olive Branch for six years, and for a long time interested in its Sunday-school, in which, as in the church, he has held many official positions. In the late Rebellion Clermont in its thousands of brave and gallant soldiers furnished no one who excelled him in length of services or brilliancy of military record. He enlisted as a private April 15, 1861, in Company E, Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, was promoted to orderly sergeant, and served three months in Western Virginia, participating in the engagements of that memorable campaign. On Sept. 3, 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Fifty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and on October 16th was appointed first lieutenant, and so served until August, 1862, when he was made adjutant of the regiment, in which capacity he served until May, 1864, when he was captured at the battle of New Hope Church, Ga. He was held a prisoner of war at Macon, Atlanta, and Savannah in Georgia, and in the jail-yard at Charleston, S. C., where he remained until November 1st, when he was released through the Sherman-Hood exchange. He then rejoined his regiment at Tullahoma, Tenn., and came home, but was mustered out shortly after his regiment, In March, 1865, he was appointed Lieutenant- Colonel of the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry (its colonel being Henry B. Banning), and took the regiment to the field in Virginia, commanding it until Christmas, part of which time (six months) he was commandant of the post at Alexandria, seven miles from Washington. In the winter of 1865-66 he was mustered out and brevetted for his gallant services as brigadier- general. He had served four years and five months in the army, having but one leave of absence of thirty days after the fighting was all over, and he never missed a battle or a skirmish in which his regiment was engaged. He served in three regiments, holding all the positions from a private to a brigadier-general, excepting those of corporal, 2d lieutenant, and major.
Gen. Hotter was in the fight at Ivy Mountain, Ky.; at the battle of Pittsburg Landing ; at Corinth ; Perryville, Ky.; the battles preceding and at Stone River ; Tullahoma battles ; at Chickamauga, the fighting of which by infantry was opened by his (Fifty-ninth) regiment ; and Mission Ridge, where, when Thompson the color-bearer was killed, Gen. Hotter carried the colors and placed them on the rebel guns. He then went to East Tennessee, where he engaged in many skirmishes, .and the following spring entered on the Atlanta campaign, and was engaged in several battles and many minor engagements. The day he was captured by the rebels at New Hope Church, Ga, the Union forces lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners sixteen hundred and nine men out of his division, of whom one hundred and eighty were captured. In April, 1865, he was commanding his regiment, the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was forty miles from Lynchburg, Va., when Lee surrendered. He was a gallant soldier, and is a good citizen, neighbor, and popular public official, a man who in an eminent degree has the esteem and confides of the community.
LEMUEL TEASDALE.
Lemuel Teesdale, the sheriff of Clermont County, was born in New Jersey, April 6, 1838. His father, Sidney F. Teasdale, was born in the same State, April 16, 1816, and Dec. 15, 1837, married Miss Eliza Cassiby, who was born in the same State, May 10, 1817. To them were born three children,-Lemuel ; William, born July 22, 1840, who died March 15, 1866 ; and Cooley, born July 28, 1843, the last born in Virginia, to which State their parents had removed. Eliza (Cassiby) Teasdale, mother of Sheriff Teasdale, died Jan. 15, 1844. She was a lady of estimable character and loved for her many virtues. Sidney F. Teasdale Married, Aug. 5, 1844, as his second wife, Susan Peyton, by whom he had the following children, all born in Virginia : Robert, born June 14, 1845 ; Monroe, Oct. 17, 1847, and died April 20, 1878; Wesley, Nov. 18, 1848; Charles, Jan. 15, 1850 ; Martha, Oct. 13, 1852, and died July 13, 1853 ; Simeon F., Oct. 14, 1854, now deputy sheriff of Clermont County ; Loretto, Sept. 16, 1857 ; and John, Nov. 21, 1859. Lemuel Teasdale left his fatherls house in 1855, in his seventeenth year, going to Arkansas, where for some five years he was engaged with It. M. Brimmer & Co. in the stage business and in carrying the United States mails. Just previous to the breaking out of the Rebellion he returned to Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the stage and omnibus business on various routes and in carrying government mails until 1868. On the 18th of May of that year he came to Clermont County. Here, in connection with R. M, Brimmer, be operated the Williamsburgh, Batavia, and Cincinnati 'bus route, as well as that of the Georgetown, Bethel, and Cincinnati road, for one and a half years, carrying the United States mails over both, and he alone conducting the former for two and a half years. From 1872 until the completion of the Cincinnati and Eastern narrow-gauge road, in 1876, he operated the Williamsburgh, Batavia, and Cincinnati 'bus line, connecting most of the time with the Little Miami Railroad at Newtown. In 1873, Mr. Teasdale and W. H. Everhart secured the United States contract for carrying the mails in Cincinnati between all tin railroad depots and the post- office, which they operated about a year and then sold out at a large advance. Mr. Teasdale married, April 10, 1866, Miss Maggie Linn, of Washington Co., Pa., danghter of James and Jane (Pollock) Linn, of pioneer families in that part of Pennsylvania. From this marriage there have been
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three children,-Lennie J., born in Pennsylvania, July 5, 1867 ; Daisy, born Sept. 8, 1870, and died Aug. 26, 1872; Bessie, born Sept. 19, 1872, the last two in Clermont County. Lemuel Teesdale was elected sheriff of the county in 1877 over Ham Allen, another veteran omnibus man, and was re-elected in 1879, over N. B. Ross and E. F. Dooley. His term of office will expire the first Monday in January, 1882. He makes a competent official, is very prompt in his business and affable in his official intercourse with all. But few men in the county are more popular than Sheriff Teesdale, who has ever been found a good citizen and true to all trusts committed to his care. On Dec. 31, 1875, he joined Batavia Lodge, No. 55, of Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is one of its prominent members, He resides in the jail building, his own residence being occupied by Judge P. J. Nichols.
JOSEPH BICKING,
Joseph Bicking, son of Samuel and Margaret V. Bicking, was born December 29, 1824, in Brandywine township, Chester Co., Pa., one of the most famous scenes of the Revolutionary era and struggle. He removed to Jackson township, Clermont Co,, Ohio, in September, 1839, rementurned to his native State in the spring of 1841, and again removed to Clermont County in October, 1845. He was married, May 6, 1851, by Rev. Mr, Townley, to Mary, daughter of Aaron Hutchinson, Sr., one of the earliest settlers and pioneers of the county, and first among the emigrants from Mercer Co., N. J. She died in October,1852, leaving no issue, and Mr. Bicking was afterwards married by Rev. E. Burdsal to Elizabeth J., daughter of Cornelius Harlowe, and granddaughter of Cornelius Washburn, one of the first pioneers of Kentucky, and the noted frontier scout and celebrated Indian-fighter of the Northwest. By his second marriage Mr. Bicking has the following children : Samuel Miles Bicking, Florence S., Margaret C., Esther M., and Grace D. He served in Jackson township as township assessor and clerk, and after his removal to Batavia, in 1858, was deputy county auditor under the term of D. C. Bryan. He also served as deputy county treasurer during the administration of Shadrach Dial, and during the terms of William Nichols and A. M. Dimmitt es county auditor was most of the time their deputy. In October, 1871, he was elected county treasurer for two years, and in 1877 was re-elected to same office, and his last term expires in September, 1880. In all his offrcial positions he has ever been a faithful and urbane officer, true to the trusts committed to his care, and most affable in his intercourse with the public. The county never had his superior as a county treasurer, and its funds were received, kept, and disbursed by him with unswerving honesty and fidelity, and his dealings with taxpayers and all others interested were marked by an urbanity and efficiency worthy of historical recognition and commendation. In politics Mr. Bicking is a Democrat, and his influence in political campaigns has been greatly felt by his party, to whose fortunes and in behalf of whose success his sympathies and voice are ever heard, While not a member of any religious denomination, his views incline to the Presbyterian Church, to which his family belong and whose services he attends. During the war he was chief clerk in the store of the late Col. Jesse S. Dustin, and after its close was a partner with Judge S. F. Dowdney in operating the Batavia tannery, then in full and successful cperation. Subsequently he embarked in the grocery and mercantile business, in which he is now engaged in partnership with his son Miles.
In September, 1854, he joined the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, in.Angola Lodge, No. 231, at Williamsburgh, and on removing to Batavia became a member of Batavia Lodge, No. 136, in which he passed all the chairs. lie subsequently joined Oleander Encampment, No. 44, held all its chief offrces, and was its representative to the Grand Encampment of the State of Ohio. In April, 1877, he received the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason in Batavia Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 109, of which he is a leading member at the present time. Mr. Bicking has always manifested the greatest interest in the public schools, in their advancement to the highest possible grade consistent with the public good, and no citizen has contributed by his influence more to their efficiency and progress than he has done, and his many years of service in the auditor's and treasurer's offices enabled him to have a complete knowledge of the common-school system, and to know its great worth to society and to the State.
HENRY B. MATTOX.
The affable and efficient clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Clermont County, Henry Bonnel Mattox, was born April 1, 1843, Elijah Mattox about the year 1810 emigrated from Virginia, and was the only one of seven brothers who settled in Clermont, the others locating elsewhere in Ohio and in Indiana. Elijah Mattox was born in 1791, and on coming to this State and county settled in what is now Pierce township, where he now resides at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. He served in the war of 1812, and is a pensioner for gallant duty rendered in that struggle. On May 7, 1813, he was married by James Ward, justice of the peace, to Elizabeth Medaris, from which union was born Thomas Mattox, at their home at Pleasant Hill. Thomas Mattox was married April 23, 1840, by Rev. S. White, of Batavia, to Miss Nancy Ellis, of that town, and to them were born Henry Bonnel Mattox, William E., James K., Annie E., Edgar, Lida, Charles, and Philora, who died in her infancy. Henry B. Mattox was educated at the district schools, and early displayed an activity of mind that soon developed into a bright promise of a successful future. At eighteen years of age he received a teacher's certificate, after passing a thorough examination, and began teaching, meeting with marked success. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, of the Eighty-ninth Ohio Regiment Volunteers, as a private, was in many skirmishes and minor engagements, and participated in the terrible battle of Chickamauga, in the fall of 1863, where he was, with hundreds of others, taken prisoner by the Confederates. He was then taken to the famous Belle Isle den, thence to the notorious Libby Prison, at Richmond, Va., from there to the Danville inclosure, in the same State, and thence to Andersonvillc Prison,
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Georgia ; from there he was taken to Florence, S. C., and finally to Charleston, of same State, where, with other Union soldiers, he was for three weeks exposed to the fire of the Federal guns. He was a prisoner in rebel hands fourteen months and twenty-three days, during which time he suffered much at the hands of Confederate keepers ; but his good constitution and true grit enabled him to live through all those terrible scenes and come out alive with a renewed feeling of love and devotion to the Union. After the termination of the Rebellion he attended Antioch (Ohio) College, and finished his classical and mathematical studies. In 1865, 1866, and 1867 he resided in Whiteside County, Ill., and was engaged in the grain and coal business, and while there was elected and served one year as township clerk. In 1868, after his return from Illinois, he resumed teaching, and followed that calling up to January, 1879, the last five years of which time he held the office of assistant superintendent of Batavia schools. In the mean time he had read law with Judge George W. Hulick, and had been, at the September term of the Clermont District Court in 1871, admitted to the bar. On June 25, 1874, he was married by Rev. Henry Lockwood to Miss Abbie Porter, daughter of William Porter, Jr., and Asenath (Lane) Porter, of Monroe township, from which union was born one child, a daughter, Edna. In 1871 he took the symbolical degrees in J. B. Covert Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 437, at Withamsville, and soon afterwards received the capitular degrees in Batavia Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, No. 112, of which chapter he was secretary for several years. He was one of the charter members of Batavia Lodge, No. 55, Ancient Order of United Workmen, and after its institution, on Nov. 30, 1875, was for a long time its recorder. He is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., and belongs to Milton Lodge, No. 99, at Amelia. When released as a prisoner in the Rebellion he received his parole Jan. 1, 1865, and the war was over before he was exchanged. In the exciting political campaign of 1878, in which he took an active part, he was elected clerk of the Clermont County Common Pleas Court, and took his seat in February, 1879; his term will expire in February, 1882. He has made a valuable public official, and by his courtesy and attention to the duties of his office he has won the, esteem and confidence of the court, the bar, and the community at large,
M. A. WOOD.
The first settlement made in Southern Clermont, and the second permanent one in the county, was by the Wood family in Washington township. This family is of pure English extraction, coming down from the Revolutionary era with an honorable record for services to the patriot cause in the days of 1776.
David Wood, born and living in Virginia, was a soldier in " The Virginia Line on the Continental Establishment," and his son David Wood married a Miss Smith, descended from the early immigrants to that State from Germany, just before the old French and Indian war. About the year 1791, David and his brother John Wood emigrated to Kentucky and settled at Washington, then the leading town of the northern part of that State. In the fall of 1795 the two Wood brothers, David and John, accompanied by Elisha, Nathan, and Richard Manning (brothers), who had married respectively three sisters of the two brothers Wood, moved over from Kentucky into what is now Washington township and built what was called " Wood and Mannings' Station," at which time the only other building of any kind in what is now Clermont County was the log cabin of Col. Thomas Paxton, erected a few weeks before, back of the present town of Loveland.
" Wood and Mannings' Station" was built with a stockade, and was partly a fort and partly a double cabin, being used as a dwelling and also for protection against predatory bands of Indians and wild beasts. At its old-fashioned hearth of heaped logs, with its cheerful fire, in the winter of 1795-96 sat many nights Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, and Cornelius Washburn,—who had been Indian-fighters and hunters in Kentucky with the Woods and Mannings, and recounted their exploits and laid plans for future expeditions. Shortly afterwards the Buchanans, the Sargents, and other settlers came in.
John Wood was one of the three first associate judges of the Common Pleas Court, appointed in 1803, and died while filling judicial office in 1807. David Wood died at a ripe old age about 1848, leaving a son, Dr. David Wood, who had married Mary Day, a daughter of Joseph Day and Deborah (Lambert) Day, married in 1819 and both still living. Mrs. Deborah Day was a daughter of the Mr. Lambert who lived at Williamsburgh at a very early period, and who was one of three English soldiers who settled in America. Dr. David Wood died in 1854, and his widow subsequently married L, D. Page, and by him had one child,—Amanda J. Page. The children of Dr. David and Mary (Day) Wood were Hercelia, married to Thomas M. Padget ; Almina, married to Thomas J. Ashley ; Marcellus Augustus, the subject of this sketch, born May 14, 1846 ; George A. ; and Sarah C., married to Leonard B. Dixon.
Marcellus A, Wood was educated in the district and at the Felicity schools, and completed his studies at the Lebanon (Ohio) Normal School. He received a teacher's certificate at eighteen years of age, and immediately began teaching, following that calling ten successive years in Washington, Franklin, and Pierce townships, acquiring a merited reputation as one of the best educators in Clermont. He was a member all that time of the County Teachers' Institute, prominently connected with its annual sessions, and served on its executive committee and as its secretary for one year. Five years he served as assessor of Washington township, and in 1874 was elected recorder of Clermont County, and in 1877 was re-elected by nearly a thousand majority, leading his ticket by several hundred votes. His second term will expire in January, 1881, and in six years of official duties his administration of this important office has been marked by an efficiency that stamps him as an able and trustworthy official. He was married Dec. 17, 1874, by Rev. H. M. Keck, to Miss Ada H. Richards, daughter of. Robert J. and Bena (Smith) Richards, of Franklin township. They have no children, and reside at Glen Este, in Union township, on the noted " Peticolas" fruit-farm of seventy-one, acres, which Mr. Wood purchased
JAMES HULICK, SR. - Photos. by Reynolds & Kline, Batavia, Ohio. - JAMES HULIcK.
JAMES HULICK, SR.
The tide of emigration that had been streaming into the new county of Clermont, organized Dec. 6, 1800, was checked if not entirely stopped by the war of 1812; but upon the close of hostilities it began anew, especiarly from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and New Jersey. Among the many worthy emigrants from the last-named State, men of Christian minds and robust physiques, and most generally of means, were the Hulicks, whose descendants at this time are very numerous and comprise many of the best citizens and families of our county. The first to locate was Abraham Huhck, who died Feb. 18, 1871, aged eighty-one years, six months, and twelve days. He was a brother of James Hulick, Sr., who emigrated in the year 1814 and located rand, and then returned to New Jersey and brought out his father, John, and his mother, Mary Hulick, from Sussex County, in that State. His fattier, John Halick, was of English extraction; served through the Revolutionary war in the army under Washington, and was for years a pensioner of the government for his services in the "Patriot Army." His deach occurred at Batavia not quite half a century ago. John Harick was the father of che following children : James, the subject of this sketch ; John and Cornerius, who both remained and died in New Jersey; Abraham; Mary, married to Thomas Tate, and who died in the spring of 1880; Jane, married to James Gest ; Sallie, married to Charres Robinson; Martha, twice married, and living in Illinois; and Lot Hulick, who; died June 3, 1878, aged seventy-eight years, six months, and chree days. James Hulick, Sr., was married by Rev. Jesse Justice, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on Sept. 12, 1816, to Rebecca Weaver, a daughter of John Weaver, an early settler, who had emigrated from Virginia. Their children were one daughter, married to George R. Wageman, John W. (now deceased), Abraham, William W., Erastus, and James Hulick ; the rast four being among our best citizens and most successfur farmers, whire Mrs. Wageman is justly cerebrated for her excellence as a housewife and her Christian graces. When James Hulick, Sr., came to Clermont County che town of Batavia had just been raid out into rots by George Ely, its original proprietor, who came from New Jersey, where he had formerly lived in the neighborhood of the Hulicks. Mr. Hulick helped to build the first house in the town,—the Titus Everhart property. He was a carpenter and mill-wright by occupation, and at these trades hardry excelred by any workman of his day. He assisted in the erection of the "Old Stone Church" in Batavia in 1819 (Methodist Episcopal), of which he was a devoted member untir his death. In 1827 and 1828 he aided Ezekier Dimmitt in the construction of the present court-house, and was one of the men rargely instrumental in the location of the county-seat at Batavia in the spring of 1824. Abraham Hulick came out in 1811, and bought one hundred acres of George Ely, who had before purchased the Johnson Survey of one thousand acres, the site of the present town of Batavia, and was also the owner of other lands in the neighborhood. In the summer of 1814, James Hulick, Sr., came, in company with George Ely, and assisted the ratter in laying out the town of Batavia on Oct. 24, 1814, into rots, and on the 14th of November following Mr. Hulick bought one hundred and ninety-six and one-harf acres of Peyton Short, of Kentucky, for three hundred aad ninety-three dolrars, and on this land his youngest son, James Hulick, now resides. When Mr. Ely and James Hurick came out the former traveled in a wagon ironed by "Dad Tice," then a jour bralksmith in New Jersey, and was until very recentry a resident of Batavia, where he worked at his trade even after he had passed fourscore years. In all enterprises for the benefit of rerigion, education, and the general advancement of society, James Hulick, Sr., was in the foreground, and it is difficult to estimate the results of the rabors of such a man ; but in the pious raising of good children who have become pillars in the church and exemplary members of society, and in his pioneer work, reclaiming the fertire soil from the forests, we see the impress of his mind and hands, and he is justly remembered as a noble benefactor to his race. He was a grand type of the pioneer who left his old home and associations in the East to assist in laying the foundations of a new commonwealth in the western worlds; and in his labors he was nobly aided by his good wife, Rebecca, in whom he ever found a loving companion and helpmeet. Born in 1787, tie died Nov. 21, 1875, aged eighty-eight years, and his departure was preceded only a short time by his beloved wife.
The memory of the ord pioneers who wrought so hard amid difficulties and dangers should ever be kept green by those who reap the reward of their labor.
JAMES HULICK.
One of the best known citizens and most successful farmers of Clermont County is James Hulick, who was born May 7, 1829, on the old Hurick homestead in Batavia township, and on which he now resides, about one mile from the town of Batavia. His education was similar to that received by all the country children twoscore years ago, when reading, writing, and ciphering to the singre rure of three were the chief elementary branches taught. He worked on the farm, and earty acquired a knowledge of practical agriculture in all its varied branches. He was married March 21, 1861, by Rev. William Q. Shannon, to Elmira Furler, daughter of Wirliam B. Fuller, by whom he has the foltowing chirdren, arr living: Serona H., Wilriam 0., Libie, Lot, and Buena, the youngcst. When he arrived at his majority he connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal church of Batavia, in which in his infancy he had been baptized by his christian parents, and of which he is now a reading member, contributing largely to its spiritual and materiar success. For over twenty years he has been a member of Batavia Lodge, No. 136, I. 0. 0. F., and in which he has passed alr the chairs. He has served a rong time in the township board of education, and as clerk of his school sub-district, and has exerted his influence for the advancement of the cause of education. He was one of the projectors of the Cincinnati and Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway, and has been one of the directors of the company almost from its first organization, and has crung with are fidelity to its fortunes, and rabored most zealously for its final success. In 1880, at the spring election, he was chosen by a large majority as one of the two trustees of the Batavia Township Cemetery. He is a generar farmer ; is one of the rargest and best potato producers in the county, and in 1879 manufactured from the products of his own rand over thirty-three hundred garlons of sorghum molasses, in the making of which he is not surpassed in Ohio, and his brand of morasses ranks as the finest in the markets. He owns chree hundred and seventy acres of land, three hundred of which is the home farm where he rives surrounded with the comforts of an eregant home, of witch his accomprished wife and happy children are the attractions chat reward him for his induscry and labor. He has been most successful in all his business ventures, to which he has ever brought a critical and prudent judgment, aided by good sense and a profound knowledge of human nacure. He was among the first in che county to introduce and selr agricurtural imprements and machinery of every variety, in which speciar branch of business his sares were enormous and his profits rarge, and in which he made the bulk of his handsome fortune. When he began trading in machines the competition was very small and continued so for years; but in the course of time clermont was overrun with others in the same rine of busiUess selling at low rates produced by an unhealthy competition, and thereby reducing the profits. He was the son of James and Rebecca (Weaver) Hurick, his father being Engrish and his mother German. The character of James Hulick stands out in bold relief as chat of a Christian gentleman, and it has been the secret of his success in life; and his upright reputation as a man marks him as a noble scion of the old pioneer Hulick famiry, so rong and so honorably known in che bright annals of the county as interwoven with its progress and advancement in arl moral, sociar, and educationar matters.
W. W. PERKINS.
William Wesley Perkins was born in Bracken Co., K: May 7, 1813, and was the son of William Perkins, who sere in the war of 1812, in the 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment Kentucky militia, from the 26th of August, 1812, to the 13 day of March, 1813. His grandfather on his mother's sic Philip R. Rice, was born Oct. 10, 1757, in the county King William, Va., and served in the Revolutionary we and was at Yorktown at the surrender of Lord Cornwal with his army to Gen. Washington. The father and moth of the subject of this sketch both died in the year 1815, lea ing him and his only brother, Levi M. Perkins, both rear by their grandfather, Philip R. Rice. He served his tit with J. E. McCormick, in Augusta, Ky., at the tailoring business, and came to Felicity, in this county, Aug. 9, 1837, and there opened his trade, which he carried on successful for many years, during which time he added much to t improvement of that town by the erection of many substan tial buildings. He was married, Oct. 27, 1837, to M Frances Moneyhon, of Augusta, Ky. He received the syi helical degrees of Masonry in Felicity Lodge, No. 107, and A. M., in 1842, of which he was subsequently Worshiful Master. He took the capitular degrees in Arion Chapter, No. 49, of Felicity, and in Connell Council, No. 19, of sai town, was made a Royal and Select Master. He removed Batavia in October, 1853, and acted for one year as deputy sheriff under Sheriff G. W. Richards. In 1854-55 he kept 1 a year the noted "Clermont Hotel." In 1855 ho was elect sheriff of Clermont County, and was re-elected in 1857, being the only Republican who that year carried the, county. I four years' administration as sheriff was never surpassed before or since by any incumbent in that office in the efficient promptness, and fidelity with which its duties were discharge During his two terms as sheriff he purchased the elegy farm he now owns, and which he has greatly improved a beautified in its pleasant surroundings. To W. W. and Frances (Moneyhon) Perkins have been born three childre Edwin, William, and Philip Rice. The first two served the Union army in the Rebellion, from Sept. 1, 1861, to Nov. 1, 1864, in Company F, commanded by Capt. Thomas M. Lewis, of the 59th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Edwin Perkins was promoted to be first lieutenant, and served as quartermaster of his regiment from March 17, 1863, to Nov. 1, 1864, at which time he and his brother William were both discharged by reason of the expiration of their term of service. Philip Rice Perkins, his youngest son, enlisted Feb. 4, 1865, in the 5th Ohio Cavalry, and was discharged at Charlotte, N. C., Oct. 13, 1865. So it appears as an honorable record that his three sons and only children served their country in the great Rebellion of 1861-65, his father fought in the war of 1812, and his grandfather participated in the seven long years of the Revolutionary struggle, and witnessed the final surrender of the British forces. His sons Edwin and William were both in the battles of Pittsbnrg Landing, April 5-6, 1862; Stone River, Dee. 30, 1862, and Jan. 1, 1863; Chickamauga; Lookout Mountain ; Mission Ridge ; at the capture of Atlanta ; and other minor tights and skirmishes innumerable. Mr. Perkins served for four years as assistant assessor of the 6th Ohio district of the United States Internal Revenue Department, under Daniel H. Murphy and Col. Carr B. White, and the government never had a more prompt, honest, efficient, and popular officer than he. In 1880 he was elected one of three directors of the Batavia township cemetery, established near Batavia. The Masonic order in Clermont has no member better known than ex-Sheriff Perkins, his thirty-eight years' connection with this ancient fraternity, during nearly aH of which timc he has acted in important positions in the order, having brought him into contact with almost every one of his craft in the county. He is the present High Priest of Batavia Chapter, No. 112, of Royal Arch Masons. W. W. Perkins, from a poor boy with no advantages, has by his good character, determined will, and industry made an honorable name, accumulated a fair portion of this world's goods, been by the government and his fellow-citizens honored with important positions of rank and profit, and secured for himself a reputation for honesty, public spirit, and charity unsurpassed by any citizen of the county.
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in the spring of 1880 and to which he immediately removed. He belongs to no denomination, but his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1876 he joined Batavia Lodge, No. 136, of I. 0. 0. F., and has passed all its chairs. He is a Democrat in politics, and has taken the liveliest interest in all political campaigns. By being accidentally thrown' from a spirited horse in August, 1867, his left leg was broken so as to require its amputation. Mr. Wood, as a man, neighbor, citizen, and public official, has the confidence and esteem of the community in an eminent degree, and it would be difficult to find in Clermont a man who stands higher in the public estimation than he.
JOHN J. HOWARD.
Associated with his father, Col. William Howard, in the practice of the law, and under the firm-name of Howard & Howard, is John Joliffe, named for that former eminent attorney of the Clermont bar and distinguished agitator in the anti-slavery cause, Joliffe. John J. Howard was born in Batavia, June 27, 1855, and was the second son and child of William and Amaryllis C. (Botsford) Howard. He received his preliminary education in the high school of his native town, was two years at Hanover College in Indiana, in the preparatory department and freshman class, and one year as sophomore at Dennison University, at Granville, Ohio. He then commenced reading medicine under Dr. James C. Kennedy, of Batavia, and attended one course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, but on account of a severe accident, crippling his hand, he gave up the medical profession and began the study of law in his father's office, and at the September term of the Clermont County District Court in 1877 was, with James B. Swing, Charles T. Jamieson, and William Britton, admitted to the bar as arl attorney and counselor-at-law. He was married Oct. 11, 1875, to Miss Delia D. Dustin, a daughter of the late Col. Jesse S. Dustin, of Batavia, by which union he has two children, both suns, William Dustin and Lou Carlton. In December, 1878, he took the degrees in the I. 0. 0. F., in the Batavia Lodge, No. 136. In October, 1878, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Clermont, over Capt. William A. Townsley and Turpin D. Hartman, and was the youngest man ever elected to that office in the county. His father, Col. William Howard, was elected to the same position in 1845 and 1847. John J. Howard's term as prosecutor will expire in January, 1881, and although now a comparatively young man, his administration has been marked by ability, vigor, and energy, and success in his prosecutions has characterized his holding this most important station. An unusual number of criminal cases and several of capital offenses have been tried and prosecuted by him during his term, and with an ability and success that have redounded to his credit as an able, prompt, and painstaking official, and given him the confidence and respect of the public. The firm of Howard & Howard have a very large and lucrative practive, and is one that holds the esteem of the community in an eminent degree r its faithful and conscientious discharge of all business intrusted to it.
JOHN W. DUCKWALL.
In the year 1815, Daniel Duckwall, then in the twenty- fifth year of his age, came from Virginia on horseback, possessing only his horse, saddle, and five hundred dollars in money, and located near Batavia. Here, on Aug. 6, 1816, he was married by Rev. Philip Gatch to Miss Keziah Dimmitt, a daughter of Ezekiel Dimmitt, one of the first three persons who, in the spring of 1795, purchased lands in Clermont County. He bought at that time, by title-bond, the Johnson survey of one thousand acres, adjoining Batavia, and comprising the beautiful farms in the bottom now owned by the four Duckwall brothers. Daniel Duckwall died in 1849, leaving the following children : Phoebe, married to Thomas Marsh ; Mary, to Thomas Fletcher ; Moses H. ; Ezekiel D, ; Caroline, married to Dr. J. M. Witham ; George W. ; John Wesley ; and Mattie, married to J. J. Mull. Mrs. Keziah (Dimmitt) Duckwall died some two years ago, but her children are all living,
John Wesley Duckwall was born July 30, 1832, and received the usual education the common schools then afforded. He was married March 8, 1859, by Rev. John W. Fowle, to Lamira Hall, daughter ofsi the late and highly- esteemed Col. John Hall, of Mount Carmel, by which union he has one daughter, Kate. In 1851, in his nineteenth year, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Batavia, then under the pastorship of the Rev, Mr. Meredith, and from that day has been one of the most liberal and prominent members of that denomination in the county. For a very long period he was a trustee of the church, afterwards becoming a steward, which latter position he now fills. He has ever been greatly interested in Sunday- schools, and r sonic eight years he was the efficient treasurer of the Clermont County Sabbath-School Union. No man in Batavia has been more closely identified than he with the progress and advancement of its schools. For the past fourteen years he has been a member of the school board, during eight years of which he has served as its treasurer, still occupying that position. In 1873, since his connection with the board, the present fine school edifice was erected, and to him in an eminent degree are the people indebted for its construction and adornment. For sixteen years he has been one of the controlling spirits of the Clermont County Agricultural Society, during three of which he was a director, two its vice-president, two its president, and nine its treasurer, which office he yet holds. Mr. Duckwall has a fine farm of some two hundred acres adjoining the town, and is a model farmer, but still finds time to trade annually in large amounts of grain and agricultural products generally. He, with three brothers, George W., Moses H., and Ezekiel D., have some seven hundred acres of the finest bottom-lands in Ohio, including some extending back to the hills, and constituting one of the most beautiful landscapes met with in that part of the country. Mr. Duckwall is one of the best citizens in the county, and is distinguished r his identification with all moral and Christian movements, and all enterprises of a public character conducive to the welfare of society and the public good.
282 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
JOHN S. PARROTT
John Shannon Parrott on his maternal side is of French extraction, and on his paternal, of English, and is descended from the Parrotts who in the seventeenth century emigrated to America from near Stoney, Buckingham Co,, England. His father, Edmund Parrott, was born Feb. 22, 1815, in Bedford Co., Pa., in the beautiful Cumberland Valley, and was the son of John and Rachel (Stigers) Parrott, who emigrated in 1827, to Knox Co., Ohio, and settled near Mount Vernon, with their five sons and three daughters. Edmund Parrott married, in 1839, Margaret Lafever, daughter of William and Mary Lafever, of French descent, who settled near Fredericktown, Knox Co., Ohio, in 1806, moving there from Alleghany Co., Pa., but originally coming from New Jersey. Edmund Parrott died July 6, 1863, but his widow still survives, living at Felicity, in this county. They had the following children : John Shannon (named after ex-Governor Wilson Shannon), born Sept. 4, 1840 ; William Lafever, born Feb. 20, 1842 ; Thomas Benton, born in 1843; Amanda Lafever, born Jan. 7, 1845 ; Mary Ellen, born April 18, 1848 ; Annie, born Sept. 2, 1851 ; and Elizabeth Rebecca, born Dec. 8, 1854. Of these, Amanda, who married Henry Beckley, is deceased ; Mary Ellen married, in 1864, Rev. S. S. Newhouse, of the Christian Church of Felicity, where they reside ; Annie married William Shinnaberry, residing near Mount Vernon ; and Elizabeth Rebecca married, in 1878, S. F. Kennedy, of Felicity, where they now live. John Shannon Parrott was brought up on a farm, had a good common-school education, and completed his studies at the high school of Mount Vernon, In 1865 and 1866 he read law in the office of that distinguished statesman, lawyer, and soldier, Gen. George W. Morgan. July 27, 1869, he came to Clermont, and from that year to 1874 was principal of the Felicity schools, which under his able supervision reached a high position of excellence, and second to none in the county. In 1873, at the September term of the Clermont District Court, he was admitted to the bar. In 1875 he was elected clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Clermont County, moved to Batavia, entered upon the duties of his offrce in February, 1876, and held this position three years, making one of the most effrcient officers that ever filled that important position, On retiring from the clerkship he formed a partnership in the practice of the law with Judge S. F. Dowdney, under the firm-name of Dowdney & Parrott, and at the present time is in the enjoyment of a large and lucrative practice. He was married June 20, 1871, by Rev. S. S. Newhouse, to May Kennedy, daughter of Dr. John W. Kennedy, from which union have been born three children, viz. : Edmund Kennedy, Dale Howard, and Louisa Kennedy. He joined the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows,
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Quindara Lodge, No. 316, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, sixteen years ago ; passed all the chairs, and joined the Encampment in Felicity, in which order he has enjoyed like distinction. In 1878 he received the symbolical degrees of Masonry in Batavia Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 109, and in 1879 and 1880 was elected its secretary, which station he now fills. His great-grandfathers on both sides were in the patriot army of the Revolutionary war, his great-grandfather Parrott being at the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, and his great-grandfather Lafever being engaged in the Cowpens battle, under Morgan. His grandfather, John Parrott, served through the war of 1812. Since his removal to Clermont County, in 1869, Mr. Parrott has taken a great interest in educational matters, and for years actively participated in the exercises of the Teachers' Institute, serving one year as its vice-president, also as a member of the executive committee. Like his ancestors, Mr. Parrott is a Democrat of the Jackson and Jeffersonian school, and since 1861 has taken great interest in Ohio pohtics, with which he has been closely identified. In 1876, 1877, and 1878 he was one of the three Democratic executive committeemen of Clermont, and the warm and successful campaigns of 1876 and 1877 were largely indebted to his executive ability and energy as displayed in the canvass of this county. Mr. Parrott is living in his new residence, on Main Street in Batavia, just below Masonic Hall, and pays the closest attention to his profession, now engrossing his entire time and studies.
ABRAHAM HULICK.
Abraham Hulick was the third in a family of six children, whose parents were James Hulick, Sr., and Rebecca (Weaver) Hulick, and was born in Batavia township, Aug. 26, 1822. He was reared on his father's farm, received a good education in the district schools, and attended several terms of the Batavia school. He was married by Rev. John W. Clark, on May 16, 1844, to Miss Irane G. Stone, who was born July 2, 1824, in the State of Connecticut, and in the same year of his marriage moved upon the elegant farm which he now owns. To Abraham and Irene G, (Stone) Hulick there have been born eleven children, all living, to wit : Jane S., born March 7, 1845, and married Oct. 21, 1868, by Rev. R. K. Deem, to Joseph W. Ransom ; James and Hermon Stone (twins), born March 13, 1845; Herman Stone, married Jan. 9, 1873, to Anna Belle Conklin ; James, married March 7, 1874, to Lorilla Agnes Liggitt ; Rebecca, born March 20, 1852, and married May 29, 1872, to Henry W. Davidson ; Melle S., born Aug. 27, 1853 ; George W,, born Oct. 10, 1854 ; Albert, born Jan. 31, 1860 ; Elmer Ellsworth, born July 28, 1863 ; Effie Kate, born July 26, 1866 ; and the youngest, Clifford Grant, born June 24, 1868. Abraham Hulick was converted in 1842, at the celebrated camp-meeting at Olive Branch in the summer of that year, and from that day to the present has been a most zealous and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is now connected with that denomination at Boston, whose circuit embraces that town, together with Elmwood and Summit, and is a steward, class-leader, and trustee under its jurisdiction. He is also superintendent of the three Sunday-schools at the points above named, and was one of the originators and projectors of the Clermont County Sabbath-School Union, organized in 1867, and has ever since labored diligently r its success, much of which is due to his good works and untiring industry. The cause of temperance always found in him one of its warmest supporters by his precept and example, and from the " old Washingtonian" movements to the present " Temperance Alliance" he has always been a member of some society laboring for the suppression of intemperance. Greatly interested in educational matters, and believing that a diffusion of knowledge prevents crime, the common schools find in him a strenuous advocate, and for ten years he has been a member of the township board of education, and has actively assisted in raising to a high standard the character and tone of our schcols. He resides in the extreme northeast part of the township, on the Deerfield road, midway between Owensville and Batavia, his post-office address being at the rmer place. He has one hundred and ninety-one acres in his farm, and in practical farming he is hardly surpassed in the county. He is a general farmer and makes a specialty of no particular production, but raises corn, wheat, potatoes, oats, etc., besides fruits of all varieties and of the greatest abundance. He takes all his products to Cincinnati in his own wagons, where they bring the highest market prices.
He has a beautiful residence, pleasantly located in an excellent neighborhood, and with his family enjoys the competence secured by his industry and careful management.
WILLIAMSBURGH.
THIS is one of the townships erected by the Court of Quarter Sessions, at its first meeting in 1801, with an area which has been diminished from time to time by the formation of Tate, Batavia, and Jackson ,townships, in Clermont, and Brown County, on the east. These divisions constitute the present boundaries of Williamsburgh, in the order named, from south to east, and the reduced territory comprises 18,696 acres of land. The surface is mainly constituted of upland, whose general level is broken by the East Fork of the Little Miami, which courses through the township near the centre, in an almost southerly direction, and along which are small tracts of bottom-lands. The contiguous lands are in some places too hilly to admit of favorable cultivation, but in general there is but little waste land, and the soil is usually fertile, being to a large extent a light clay, admixed with loam. The township was
284 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
originally heavily wooded, and fine belts of timber yet abound. Its manufacture has been one of the principal sources of wealth. The East Fork has tributary streams, the largest being Clover Creek, which forms in part the boundary between Tate. Kain Run, on the west, and Crane Run, on the east, are brooks whose volume has been diminished by the clearing up of the country.
THE PIONEER SETTLERS.
From all accounts, James Kain and his family were the first permanent settlers of the township. James Kain removed from his native place, Lancaster Co., Pa., in 1790, stopping at Red Stone Fort, where he raised a crop, and then came to Columbia. In a year or so he removed to Newtown, and in the fall of 1796 to Williamsburgh. The year previous, and the early part of 1796, he had worked at this place, building a cabin in the village and clearing a considerable tract of land for Gen. Lytle on Kain Run, which was long afterwards known as the " big field." He was also the first inn-keeper, and was an active, energetic man. He died April 10, 1815, aged sixty-six years. He had three sons—Daniel, John, and Thomas, the latter born while he was living at Columbia-and three daughters,— Mary, Elizabeth, and Sarah,—all of whom came with their parents, and all being at that time unmarried. Two of the sons, Daniel and John, were in Wayne's army when he defeated the Indians, and Daniel served in the war of 1812. In 1811 he received a captain's commission from Gov. St. Clair, and on the 1st of June, 1804, Governor Tiffin renewed his commission. On the 28th of November, 1809, he was commissioned as major of Second Battalion, Fourth Regiment, First Brigade, First Division of militia ; and although he became a colonel in 1820, he was most generally called major to the time of his death, March 11, 1843. He was twice married : the first time to Mary Hutchinson, by whom he had sons named James and Joseph, and a daughter, who was married to Israel Foster, and became the mother of the bishop. For his second wife he had Eleanor Foster, and children named William, Henry, and Thomas (the former two yet hving in the township), and daughters who married Samuel Ellis, John Miller, W. G. Gage, and George Davidson.
John Kain married Elizabeth Raper, and in 1815 opened a public-house in the village, which he kept until his death, Feb. 6, 1846. This house is yet kept by his youngest son, John W. His other sons were named Thomas, Samuel, James, George, and Daniel. His four daughters were married to Daniel Smith, Thomas J, Morris, Lewis Ellis, and William Peterson, all sons of well- known pioneers,
Thomas Kain, the youngest of the three brothers, married Mary Herbert and settled at Batavia, where he carried on wool-carding and other enterprises; he died there, leaving sons named James, John W., Jefferson, George, Milton, and Charles H., and several daughters.
Elizabeth Kain married Daniel Campbell, who was killed in the war of 1812, and she subsequently became the wife of Samuel Cade, who removed to the West.
Sarah became the wife of Capt. Stephen Smith ; and Mary (or Polly, as she was most generally called), who was the first white woman in Williamsburgh, of James Perrine. The latter came from Middlesex Co., N. J., in December, 1802, landing at the mouth of Bullskin. In the fall of 1803 he took a trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans in a pirogue, loaded with bacon for the Piatt Bros., of Cincinnati, and walked back through the Indian country. On the 4th of July, 1804, he married Polly Kain, and after a few years removed to Batavia, where he served as justice of the peace many years. He died at Williamsburgh, Dec. 7, 1864, in his eighty-fifth year. Mrs. Perrine died at Batavia at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. John Jamieson. She was born in Pennsylvania, June 13, 1785, and died Dec. 1, 1871. In 1802 she joined the Methodist Church, and preserved a consistent membership until the end of her life, being at that time the oldest member in the county. James Perrine had six sons and two daughters,—Daniel, who removed to Illinois ; Joseph A. (commonly called " colonel"), a resident of Bethel since 1827; James and John, who removed to the West; Thomas, who died at Memphis, in 1838 ; Holly, who died at Williamsburgh, in 1878; Catharine, married John Jamieson in 1821 ; and Elizabeth, Aaron Leonard. In 1805 the father of James Perrine settled on Barnes' Run, on a farm of 100 acres, which was his home until his death, in 1823. He had served seven years in the struggle for American independence, and was a brave man. Besides James he had sons named Arthur and Ralph, and four daughters, who married, Martha, Isaac Dye ; Eleanor, Joseph Holman ; Elizabeth, John Gill ; and Ann, Andrew Hickey. The latter two were also among the pioneers.
Archibald McLean was born in Lancaster Co , Pa., in 1779. In 1796 he moved with his father, Hugh McLean, to Columbia, Ohio, and a little later in the season to Newtown, from where, three years later, he moved to his final place of abode, a few miles east of Williamsburgh. Here he died, Oct. 19, 1855. He was one of the original members of the Presbyterian Church at Williamsburgh, and served it as an elder forty-seven years. His family consisted of four sons and two daughters, named William S,, Archibald, Thomas E., Robert N., Jane, and Margaret.
Gen. William Lytle, the proprietor of Williamsburgh village, came from Lexington, Fayette Co., Ky., in the summer of 1800, to reside on his farm south of the village and contiguous thereto, He made extensive improvements, and had several hundred acres of land cleared within the next few years. The frame house, which yet occupies a conspicuous place on the farm, was his home, and at that time was the finest in this part of the State, The small stone building was his private office. In 1810 he removed to Cincinnati, where he lived until his death. His family, consisting of sons named John, William, Robert, and Edward, and two daughters, were among the leading citizens of that city. In a general chapter will be found a sketch of the life of this celebrated pioneer.
John Lytle, a brother of the above, assisted him in making surveys in this part of the county, and spent the winter of 1795 at what is now Williamsburgh, leaving for his home in Kentucky in June the following year. Four years later he and his mother returned here to live, and found a home first on the William Lytle place. He soon
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after married Dorcas Waring, a sister of R. W, Waring, and the mother went back to Kentucky. John Lytle then moved to and improved what is now called the Dubois farm, east of the village, where he lived until 1817, when he occupied the large brick house on the corner north of the square, which he had erected meantime, Here he lived a number of years, when he again moved, this time to the William Lytle place, which had been occupied after the general's removal by Elijah Hankins.. John Lytle died Jan. 30, 1843, at the age of seventy six years, and his wife survived him a number of years. Their family consisted of five sons and one daughter, who became the wife of Dr. Erastus C. Sharp, and lived and died in the village.
The oldest son, William, married a (laughter of Daniel Everhart, and yet resides near Afton Station ; Thomas W., the second son, married a Miss Waters, and died near the village; John W. married a daughter of the Rev. John Wiseman, and lived west of the village until his death, Dec. 8, 1875, which was caused in the following sad manner: It appears that one of his neighbors had borrowed his saddle to ride to Batavia. Returning home late in the evening, Mr. Lytle relieved him of the saddle, saying that as he was going to the barn he could as well hang it in its place. lOn entering the stable one of the horses became violently frightened, and began kicking and stamping him until life was almost extinct, so that he lived but a short time after he was rescued. His death was deeply deplored, for he was universally esteemed. His family yet occupies the place, and with them lives Joseph Waring, the youngest of the Lytle brothers. Rowan Lytle, the fourth son of John, married a daughter of Daniel Everhart, and since 1843 has lived on the farm which is yet his homestead, on the hill east of the village.
When Gen. Lytle and his brother were engaged, in 1795-96, in laying out Williamsburgh, they had in their employ Adam Bricker, a full account of whose life appears elsewhere, who lived first in a tent near the village, but afterwards erected a cabin, probably the first in the township, which stood near the mill. In 1805 he married Rebecca Hartman, and seven years later moved on a farm of 100 acres, two miles from the village, which is at present occupied by his son, Robert M. Here he died in August, 1843, at an advanced age, and Mrs. Bricker about seven years later. Of their ten children, nine grew to mature years, namely, John, who died near the homestead ; Hartman, who removed to Union City ; Robert M., already mentioned ; William, who lives on the Bethel road ; Thomas, who removed to Delaware; Isaac, to Southern Indiana; and daughters, who married Elijah Homan, Nathan Hill, and William Gray.
Adam Snider was one of Bricker's comrades and came to Williamsburgh about the same time, 1795. He was an unmarried man, but usually kept house by himself, and his cabin had a ground floor, while the single room of which it was composed afforded a place r him, his dogs, cats, and chickens, all living happily together. For a long time he lived on the lots now occupied by William S. McLean and was the court-house janitor.
Ebenezer Osborne, the father of Lydia, was a tailor and lived on lot 324. His family consisted of four children : two daughters—Lydia, aged eleven, and Matilda, seven years—and two younger brothers,—Josiah and John,—the latter probably an infant at the time Lydia was lost. This sad event, the only one in the history of that day invested with tragic interest, occurred on the 13th of July, 1804. It appears that it was customary r the Osborne children, alone or accompanied by some of the neighbors' little girls, to drive up the cows which grazed on the commons around the village. On the afternoon of the above day the two Osborne girls, accompanied by the girls of the McKaslen family, set out on this duty, following the paths which led to the "big field," about a mile from the village, where the cattle were supposed to range. They were guided in their movements by the tinkling of the cow-bells, and were, perhaps, led off by this means from the main path, and in that way the McKaslen girls became separated from the Osborne girls, and struggling to find their way home, finally came upon a blind path, which they followed, and before night reached the house of William Hunter, in Jackson township, more than six miles from Williamsburgh. Not so fortunate the Osborne girls. They became bewildered, separated, and the elder one hopelessly lost. The Rev. James B. Finley, who participated in the search for the child, has left on record such a graphic account of the scenes and events which followed that we produce it to a large extent :
"The elder girl supposed, from the direction the sows took, that they were going from instead of toward home. Fully impressed with this belief, she requested her little sister to stay where she was, and she would ran and bead them off and tarn them in the right direction. Bat the cows, intent on going home, could not be diverted from their course. What to do she knew not, and fearing that her sister would be lost, she left the cattle and started to go to the place where she thought she had left her. But, alas ! how did the young heart ache when, after wandering aboat for a long time and crying out her name in the woods, she could not find her. Sadly she started, without her sister, in the direction of home, as she supposed; but instead of this, the poor, bewildered child took an opposite direction, from her father's cabin. The younger girl followed the sound of the cow-bells and arrived safe at home, bat Lydia wandered oa and was lost in the wilderness.
"Night came on, casting its darkened shadows over the forest, but she came not to greet the anxious eyes of her parents, which wore growing sorrowful and dim with watching. Not a moment of time was to be lost; their child was in the woods exposed to the savages and wild beasts. The neighborhood was aroused with the alarm of `lost child !' The cry became general, like the cry of fire at night in a country village. Every heart was toached, and soon in every direction torches were seen flashing their lights into the darkness of the forest. Bells were rung, horns were blown, and guns were fired throagh the woods, if, perchance, the sound might reach the ear of the lost one. The whole night was spent in a fruitless search. The news flew in every direction, and reached the settlement where we resided, and as many as could leave home tarned out to seek for the lost child. This day was also spent in vain, though some signs of her tracks in crossing branches and miry places were discovered, all, however, iadicating that she was going farther into the wilderness. On the third day the famous backwoodsman and hunter Cornelius Washburn arrived with about five hundred others. Washburn was accompanied by his aoted hunting-dog, of which it was said he woald follow any scent his master would put him upon. At length the night of the third day arrived, but still no intelligence of the lost child. We were now deep in the wilderness, and we all made preparations for camping out that night. After lighting oar fires and taking some refreshment, we retired to rest by lying down apon the ground by our camp-fires. At daybreak we were ap again and ready for our search; bat as the collection of people was so numerous, we concluded it was best to form ourselves into companies and take different direc-
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tions, and meet at night at a place designated, and report in relation to our discoveries. Money was collected and sent to the settlements to buy provisions, to be brought to the place of rendezvous. Every day we received accessions to our numbers, so that on the seventh day it was supposed there were more than a thousand persons gathered from all parts of the country, and many from Kentucky. The seventh night was spent on the headwaters of the East Fork of the Little Miami. Washburn reported that he had discovered where the little girl had slept for several nights. The place she had selected was where one tree had fallen across another, which was lying down, and afforded a good protection. He also saw where she had placked and eaten some fox-grapes and whortleberries. To this place the whole crowd hurried. Nothing coald have restrained them, so eager were they to find the lost child, or some clue that woald lead to her discovery.
" In all these journeyings the father was present, and so absorbed in grief at the loss of his dear Lydia that he could neither eat nor sleep. Sorrow drank ap his spirits, and he refused to be comforted. When hope was kindled in his heart that his child would be found he seemed like one frantic, and flew in every direction, calling most piteously the name of his child; but she was not there,—her little feet had borne her to some other quarter of the wildwood. It was agreed the next learning that all the company shoald start out abreast, about three rods apart, with a man in the middle, and one at each end of the line, whose duty it was to blow horns at certain intervals, for the purpose of keeping the line in order. It was an immense line, extending for several miles. Each man was instructed to examine every branch and wet place, and every hollow log and thicket, to see if any traces of her were discoverable.
"Thus, day after day, and night after night, the search went on, till sixteen days wore passed away in the fruitless endeavor to find her. In the mean time some of the company, having lost all hope of finding her, returned home, but others came and filled their places, so that on no day were there less than one thousand persons on the search. On the fourteenth day, accompanied by two others, we took across to the north fork of Whitcoak, and carefully searched the banks of that stream for miles. On the morning of the fifteenth day we foand where she had crossed, by her footprints in the sand, at the water's edge. These footprints appeared to be fresh, and greatly revived our hopes. We were now distant ...rum the main body of men several miles, and while one of our number was dispatched to communicate the intelligence, we proceed to follow up a fork of the creek which puts in just where her footprints were found. Here there was an opening on the bottom-land, where there was a large blackberry patch nearly a quarter of a mile in length. Near this patch we found a neat little house, built of sticks nicely adjasted. It was covered with sticks, and over these were placed, in regular layers, pieces of moss taken from the logs and sides of trees in the neighborhood. The cracks were all neatly stopped with moss. In the centre, on one side, was a little door, and in the interior was a bed made of leaves, covered with moss and decorated with wild-flowers. All could see at once that it was the work of a child ; and we may have been childish while gazing upon it, for the tears stole freely down our checks. Here, away in the wilderness, far from human habitation, had this lost child constracted this miniature house, and thus recalled the scenes of home, and sister, and mother, and father.
"The child must have been here several days, for from her little house to the blackberry patch she had beaten quite a path, and some parts of the patch were picked quite bare. We imagined that we had at last found the ptace where the little wanderer had fixed her abode; but now that we had got in reach of the prize, how to take it was the question. To make a noise would frighten her away to some hiding place where she could not be found; for children, when lost, become wild as the antelope in his native forest, and if caught will make every possible resistance, even looking upon their best friends as enemies. Supposing that she was act fa, off, and would return to her hoase, we removed to a short distance, where we would be unobserved, and sat down to wait her coming. But there were no signs of her returning, and fearing lest we might be discovered by the lest child, we stole softly under covert, from tree to tree, and cleared the opening. Ascending an eminence, where we bad a fall view of the blackberry patch, we carefally scanned every part of it, and were satisfied that she was not there. Returning again, and making a more thorough examination, we coald discover no fresh signs of her presence, and we conducted to return to the main creek and wait for the company, and prevent, if possible, the press of the eager crowd from rushing on and destroying what signs might yet remain undiscovered. It is said there were more than a thousand men encamped along the creek that night. The encampment extended for half a mile.
"Fearing the consequences of making a disclosure of what we had seen at the blackberry patch, we kept it a secret till morning, and then taking aside the best woodsmen in the company, we led them to the house of the child. We then returned and formed the whole company into military order, and marched them out into the opening where, flanking out right and left, they surrounded the entire space and formed a hollow square. At the site of the little cabin a scene occurred which it would be impossible to describe. Here were brave, stalwart men, who had been subjected to the perils of the wilderness, contending for every inch with savages and wild beasts, whose hearts were never known to quail with fear, who, at sight of that little cabin, were melted into tears. Some, as if deeming it unmanly to weep, or to be seen manifesting so much human sympathy, turned aside, while others left the ranks to give vent to their feelings in solitade. But when the father came up to the little dwelling his own dear child had built for herself, and exclaimed, Oh, Lydia, Lydia, my dear child, are you yet olive?' a thousand hearts broke forth in uncontrollable grief.
"The result of the investigation made by the hunters was, that the signs were three or four days old. Horse-tracks were also found in the grass, supposed to be about the same age. The conjectare was that she had been discovered and taken away by some hunters, or a party of Indians. It was agreed, however, to make another effort. The company was divided, and sent out in different directions, to see if any further signs could be found of hunters or Indians. Two miles from 'Lydia's Camp,' for so it is called to this day, her bonnet was found hanging on a bush, and eight or ten miles farther off an Indian camp was discovered, sapposed to have been vacated for five or six days. The conclusion was that the child had been carried off by the Indians, none knew where. Further pursuit being considered useless, the company disbanded, and the men retarned to therr homes. Not so, however, with the father. The love of his child was to him sweeter than life. He never gave up the search, but penetrated the wildest solitudes and sought for her among the Indians till the day of his death. The lost was never found."
Of the subsequent history of the Osborne family little can be said. The father died of grief in the course of a dozen years, and Mrs. Osborne became the wife of John Charles, a well-known citizen of the northern part of the county. Josiah, the elder son, was a man of some note in his day, and John, the youngest of the family, lived to be an old man in the township of Jackson.
Nicholas Sinks came from Rockingham Co., Va., to Newtown in the fall of 1797, and opened a small tannery at that point. In 1801 he moved to Williamsburgh and purchased, in 1804, the Tom Morris property, where he kept a public-house many years, and also carried on a tannery. He followed John Lytle as the second postmaster in Williamsburgh, and was a prominent man. He died April 9, 1825. His family consisted of seven children that grew to mature years, namely,—Edward, who lived and died in Williamsburgh ; Tiffin, who died at Cincinnati at the age of twenty-three years ; Nicholas, who was a merchant at Williamsburgh, and died in 1845 ; Randolph, who removed to Bethel in November, 1829, and still resides there ; George W. has been a resident of Texas since 1836 ; Elizabeth married Dr. Boerstler, a distinguished physician of Lancaster, Ohio ; and Margaret was the wife of Samuel Justice, of Bethel.
The Snell family originated in Holland, and in that country Barron was born about 1700. He married an English lady named Elizabeth Stillwell, and emigrating to America settled in South Carolina. In the French and
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Indian wars he served in the British army, and was wounded at " Braddock's defeat." His children settled in various parts of the country, as follows : John served in the American army in the Revolution, and settled in Virginia ; Elizabeth and Mary married British officers, who emigrated to Nova Scotia after the war, taking the Snell brothers—George, David, and Daniel-with them, and after about seven years the three last named returned to Maryland, where they were married. In 1801. David and Daniel moved to Clermont County, settling on the old Chillicothe road near Williamsburgh. In the war of 1812, David served in Capt. Brady's company, and was killed at the battle of Lundy's Lane. Daniel was married to Edna Mallott, and of his eight children Nancy married Joseph Moorhead, and im migrated to Illinois in 1843 ; John and Daniel married Jane and Catherine Moorhead, and the latter moved to Illinois in 1851 ; Eliza married John Porter, and moved to Iowa; David moved to Nebraska ; and John, Peter, and Hollander lived in the neighborhood of Williamsburgh.
The Mallott family descended from a representative leader of the French Revolution, commonly called Malleut. Driven from Paris he sought a home in Maryland, and there reared six children. Of these Daniel was well educated and became a surveyor, serving as an assistant to Gen. Lytle in Clermont County before 1800. Upon his return to Maryland his glowing account of the country caused great immigration to that section, among the settlers being Dory, Peter, William, and John Mallott. Some of these settled on the East Fork below Perin's Mills, and the others found homes near Williamsburgh in the Snell neighborhood. Of the descendants of the latter was W. Warren Mallott, a poet who wrote many beautiful lines. He had a fine poetical genius and a memory wonderfully retentive, but his physical strength was so small that he did not survive long. lie sank under an attack of consumption bere he had reached his twenty-eighth year. " Thus perished one who, though young in years, was old in thought."
One of the earliest and most prominent settlers of the southern part of Williamsburgh was Peter Light, the brother of Jacob and Daniel Light, of Ohio towns up. They moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky about 1795, and shortly after to Ohio, living first at Columbia. Before 1800, Peter settled on the north side of Clover Creek, on the present Bethel road which he surveyed in 1801. Together with Jasper Shotwell and John Charles (who afterwards settled in Jackson), he drew up a plan for the first court-house in the county, and did much of the early surveying. He reared three children,—George C., David, and Susanna. The former was a person of more than ordinary note, and was a man of unusual capacity. He became a Methodist minister, and was noted for his fervid eloquence and devotion to the interests of the church whose cause he had espoused. He died at Vicksburg, Miss., in 1860, on his seventy-fifth birthday. His brother, David, married Sarah Strickland, and settled on a farm near his father, where he died more than thirty years ago, but some of his descendants still live in that locality. Susanna married William Smith, and settled on the south side of the creek, near the homestead. She died in 1868 at the home of her deceased husband, whose death preceded hers many years.
No family in Williamsburgh has been more widely or favorably known in the county than the Fosters. In 1804, Thomas, John, Isaac, and Israel Foster, and their sisters, Eleanor and Elizabeth, came to the township and found homes, first in the village. In the war of 1812 Thomas went out as an ensign in Capt. Boerstler's company, and when his commander fell mortally wounded he carried him from the field of battle to prevent the Indians from scalping him, exposing himself to the fire of the enemy's guns. For this brave act he was promoted to a lieutenancy. After the war Thomas Foster married Sarah Raper, and settled on a farm east of the village, where he died in May, 1875, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He had two sons and four daughters. One of the sons, Joseph R., died near Amelia ; and Capt. John S. moved to Washington C. The daughters married Samuel A. Pegg, of Williamsburg}, ; Henry G. Weaver, of Batavia ; Elbridge C. Ricker, of Pierce ; and Benjamin F. Penn, of Washington.
John Foster was but fourteen years of age when he came to Clermont. He married Catherine Fry, of Kentucky, and settled east of the village, where he died in 1860. Three of his sons, Isaac, William, and John, have deceased ; Israel and Thomas yet hve near the village, the latter in Brown County. He had also eight daughters, the oldest of whom, the widow of Smith Simpkins, resides near her brother Israel.
Isaac Foster married Margaret McMullen, and after residing some time in the western part of the township, removed to Missouri. The other brother, Israel, married a Miss Kain, and lived r a number of years in Williamsburgh, where he was engaged in trade, and was at one time quite an extensive merchant in Cincinnati. He died at the home of his youngest daughter, in Keokuk, Iowa. The oldest son, Sharp, became a citizen of Kentucky, and Randolph S. a noted bishop in the Methodist Church, A short sketch of his life appears elsewhere. Of the Foster sisters, Eleanor became the wife of Maj. Daniel Rain, and Elizabeth, the youngest, married Daniel Everhart. The latter came from Virginia about 1809, and was in his day one of the most prominent business men of Williamsburgh. Of his eight children, the daughters became the wives of John Gage, William S. McLean, William Lytle, Rowan Lytle, and Enoch Hankins, all well known in the history of the township. One of the sons was accidentally burned to death while a lad. George and William, after being engaged in business a number of years, moved to California.
Titus Everhart, a brother of Daniel, married a daughter of David C. Bryan, and removed to Batavia about 1815.
David C. Bryan was born on Long Island in 1771, and in 1792 married Ruth Bryan. In 1800 they moved to New Jersey, and three years later came to Ohio, settling in Williamsburgh, but in 1825 removed to Batavia, which village he helped lay out in 1814. He held many public trusts. He died in 1829, aged fifty-eight years, and his wife in 1837, at the age of sixty-six. They had four sons and two daughters, whose. names were George S., Melanethon A., David C., Thomas S., Nancy W., and Caroline. The latter's son, Thomas S., is yet a resident of Batavia, where he serves as court-crier.
Thomas S. Foote was the son of a Welshman who set,
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tied near what is now Ripley in 1798. He was a hatter, and both Thomas and his brother Andrew learned that trade, but not being pleased with the business, they abandoned it on setting out in life. Thomas commenced the study of law, and was admitted in 1806. In 1809 he removed to Williamsburgh, and began practicing his profession, and in 1813 published the first paper in the county. When the county-seat was removed, he moved to Batavia, where he died, Nov. 17, 1827. His wife, whose maiden name was Tweed, survived him many years, and also died in that village,
Andrew Foote was married to Jane Tweed, a sister of the above, and their settlement in Williamsburgh did not take place until 1811. Andrew Foote first engaged in carding and operating an oil-mill, but he afterwards became a merchant, and in 1825 removed his business to Batavia. From that place he went to Cincinnati, but finally made his home at Rockville, Ind., where he died at an advanced age.
The Tweed family` above mentioned—Archibald Tweed, his wife, and twelve children—settled near Ripley in 1798, and became among the most influential citizens of that part of old Clermont County. Robert Tweed, one of the sons, married a daughter of Judge John Morris, then living near Bethel, and also settled at Williamsburgh, where he was one of the partners in the publication of the Political Censor.
In 1806, Jacob Huber, a native of Pennsylvania (who was married to Anna Maria Boerstler, daughter of Dr. Christian Boerstler, a Bavarian gentleman of much distinction, who came to this country on account of political oppression), accompanied by his brother-in-law, Capt. Boerstler, came to Williamsburgh, bringing with them a stock of goods which they exposed for sale. Jacob Huber was for many years the owner of the mills and tannery at Williamsburgh. He was an educated gentleman and had a fine library, to which the young people had access. His children were John, Mary, Caroline, Matilda (born in Pennsylvania), Charles B., Phoebe, George, Amelia, Harriet, and Francis. Of these, Mary married Henry Hafer ; Caropline, the honored Judge Owen T. Fishback ; Matilda, Louis Horselman. Charles B., or Boers (as he was commonly called), resided at Williamsburgh until his death, in 1854, at the age of rty-eight years, He was born a rermer and a philanthropist, and was an abolitionist of the type of Salmon P. Chase and men of his stamp, with whom he was on familiar terms. His service 'n behalf of the fugitive slaves passing through Williamsburgh, on their way to freedom, is well remembered. His radical views were the result of a trip to Mississippi, whither he had gone in response to an advertisement for a foreman in a tannery. On reaching his destination he was told by the proprietor that he had just bought a good foreman in the person of a fine black. He returned home an outspoken freeman, and labored day and night to abate the evil of American slavery. Of the other children of Jacob Huber, Phoebe removed to Iowa ; Francis also moved to the West; and Amelia and Harriet yet reside in the county, the latter as the widow of Major S. R. S. West, who died a few years ago at Olive Branch.
Capt. Jacob Boerstler married Sallie Robbins, and had three children, all of whom removed from the county. He was mortally wounded at Brownstown in the war of 1812, and was thus in early lite cut off from what promised to be a career of great usefulness.
Dr, Ralph Sharp settled in the village in 1814, and died there in March, 1830. In 1850 he married Nancy Whippy, by whom he had three sons and one daughter. The oldest son, Delos Chauncey, was born in 1817, and since 1843 has been a physician in the village. Darwin H. is a saddler in the same place, and Melanethon D. a tanner. The daughter is the wife of B. N. Stockton, a well-known merchant of Williamsburgh, whose father, Job Stockton, was also one of the pioneers.
Dr. Erastus C. Sharp had sons named John Harvey and Erastus C. ; one of the daughters became the wife of Joseph Boyd of the village. The children of the late Dr. L. T. Pease were a son, Granville, and Mrs. C. H. Thomas, both residing in the village.
In 1812, Jacob Mason bought the R. W. Waring property, and soon after went to the war. In 1826 he became the owner of the home of Capt. Thomas Kain, and lived there until his death, in June, 1875, at the age of eighty- nine years.
John Carter, a pioneer, lived near the village, and died a few years ago at the age of (it is said) one hundred years,
John McAdams was born in Antrim Co., Ireland, May 9, 1737, and his wife, Ann, in Londonderry, in 1750. Of their family of ten children, Ephraim McAdams, the eldest, was born in 1767, and emigrated with his parents to America, settling in Northumberland Co., Pa., where, on the 17th of December, 1793, he married Charity M. Burt. The following year they removed to Columbia, Ohio, and in 1800 settled in Williamsburgh. His final place of abode was two miles north of the village. Ephraim McAdams was for many years an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a strong anti-slavery man. He was four times married, and had a family of twenty children, who attained mature years, -twelve sons and eight daughters,-among them Ephraim Hummells, John A., James Thomas, William, Andrew J., Isaac Newton, Joseph, Harvey, Riley, Nancy, Hannah, Julia Ann, Catharine, Delia, Mary, and Francis Manorah. Some of these yet live in the township, and their descendants, in and around Williamsburgh, are very numerous.
George Ellis, a native of Virginia, came about 1806, and married a daughter of Ephraim McAdams, settling in the village. He died after 1862. He had sons named Jacob, Stephen, Hamilton, and four daughters, who became the wives of John Johnson, W. R. Moorehead, Thomas Peterson, and Levi Armacost, all of Clermont County.
Adam Snell came a few years later, from the State of Pennsylvania, settling first on Kain Run, but finally in Jackson township, where he resided until his death. He had eons named Michael and Daniel, and a large family of daughters.
As early as 1807, Stephen, Daniel, and Mahlon Smith settled in Williamsburgh. The rmer was a millwright by trade. He married Sarah Kain, the daughter of James Kain, the pioneer innkeeper. In the war of 1812, Stephen
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Smith was the captain of a company of men that marched from Williamsburgh to the defense of the American frontier, and his company brought a large number of prisoners to Newport. Ky. Capt. Smith died in March, 1861, and Mrs. Smith in 1864. They had nine children, three of whom were sons, named Robert R., Mahlon, and Clinton D., the latter still living at Winchester, Ind. The daughters became the wives of A. S. Walker, Philip Chatterton, R. Boyd, Elijah Dennis. Thomas Foster, and William Walker, all of the eastern part of the county.
Daniel Smith was also in the war of 1812, being jnst eighteen at the time he entered the service. He was a blacksmith, and carried on a shop on the site of B. N. Stockston's store. For his first wife he had a daughter of John Kain, and for his second a Miss West. They reared a family of nine children, the sons being George, William, and Enoch.
Mahlon Smith was a teacher in the village, but died many years ago, and none of his family remain.
Jacob Smith, of another family, was the first settler on Crane Run. locating there some time before 1800, and died in the township. Of a large family none survive. He had sons named Amos, William, Samuel, John Houton, and Fletcher, whose names are familiar to old settlers. In the same neighborhood Absalom Day was one of the earliest settlers.
A little later came Shadrach Tribble, but after living in the township a number of years returned to Kentucky. Anna Tribble became the wife of Jesse Stevens, whose family were also among the pioneers in this part of the township.
Elkanah B. Holmes is the son of Lycurgus Holmes, who immigrated from New York to Columbia, in Hamilton Co., Ohio, in 1798, and there followed his profession, that of medicine. In 1805 the family moved to the eastern part of Williamsburgh, where the father died about 1813. Of his family, Mary married Isaac Colthar, also a pioneer settler ; Ameha became the wife of John Richardson ; Ebenezer, died while a youth ; and Elkanah B. is yet living, in his eighty-first year, near Henning's Mills. The latter reared four sons—Lycurgus, Allen, Cornelius, and E. B.—and two daughters,-Sarah (Harris) and Nancy (Taylor), all but one of whom live in Clermont County.
Among other settlers coming from New Jersey to Williamsburgh after the war of 1812 was Jonas Burnett, who located on the farm at present owned by Wesley Burnett, his son. Other sons were John, William, Joseph, Reuben, and Josiah. The latter died in 1849. John Burnett was a marksman of unerring aim, and in early times, when squirrels were so numerous as to be a pest in this part of the county, won a premium of 60 bushels of corn, which had been offered by the farmers to the person securing the greatest number of scalps.
The daughters of Jonas Burnett were married : Hannah, to Orson Young , Elizabeth, to Wm. H. Raper ; and Sarah Ann, to Allen Tribble ; all well known in the early history of the township.
John and Jasper Shotwell were among the earliest settler% of the township, and lived first at the village. Later they cleared up farms in the southern part of the township, and for a time had distilleries there. John Shotwell was a very fleshy man, and a great hunter. He died about 1835. His son William also died in the township ; John removed to Oregon, and Jasper to Missouri. Jasper Shotwell was the elder of the brothers, and lived and died near Henning's Mills, and soon after the family removed.
In 1814, James McNutt came from Pennsylvania and located on the Bethel road, several miles from the village. He died in 1857 ; Mrs. McNutt in 1874, at the age of eighty-one years. Five sons grew to manhood,—John, William, James, George, and Simpson,—all living in the eastern part of the county. One of the daughters married James Perry, and the other J. H. Wright, who died in Libby prison. She is at present the wife of Emanuel McKeever.
In 1817, Jacob Chatterton, from Cayuga Co., N. Y., settled in the Shotwell neighborhood and lived there until his death, in 1858. He had six sons,-Philip (yet living in the village), James, Alvin, Erastus B., Aaron, and Horatio. The latter lives at Bantam. Aaron became a minister in the Christian Church, The daughter of Jacob Chatterton married Wm. Naylor, of the southern part of the county.
George Kerns, from Rockingham Co., Va., came to Williamsburgh in November, 1804, with his wife and son, Samuel, then about two years of age. On the 16th of the following December his daughter, Margaret, was born, and is yet living in the village as the widow of' George Brintzinghoffer, being the oldest native in the place, George Kerns died in 1856. He was the father of sixteen children, ten of them sons, none of whom are now alive, excepting Thomas, who is the engineer of the new waterworks in Cincinnati.
Elijah Robbins, a cooper, was among the early settlers of the township, living in the village until his death. His only child, Sally, married Capt. Jacob Boerstler, who was killed in the war of 1812.
Ramoth Bunton was one of the first settlers of the village, coming a year or so later than the Kains. He was a Revolutionary soldier. His family consisted of a sou, James, who lived and died near Concord ; Polly (who first came to the village with Polly Kain, and shared with her the honor of being the first white women in Williamsburgh), who married Daniel Kidd, of Batavia ; and Hettie, who married Peter Sears and removed.
William McKnight was another Revolutionary soldier and pioneer settler. By trade he was a tailor, and left no family. As early as 1802, William Howard lived on the hill near the East Fork, and a deep place at that point is called Howard's Hole to this day. Samuel Howell was another pioneer, whose residence in the village gave his name to a spring, by which it is yet called. He returned to his native State, Kentucky, where he died.
John Earhart, a German, was the plow-maker of the early settlers. His skill in making wooden mould-boards was very great, and his work was in good demand. He was also a cooper and a handy and useful man generally. His sons—John, George, and Samuel—became well-known citizens.
John Naylor came to the village as a deserter from the
290 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
British army, and so warmly espoused the American cause that he went out in the war of 1812, and did valiant service for his adopted country. He married a daughter of the widow Miller and moved to Cincinnati. One of the Miller boys married a daughter of one of the Kains, and distinguished himself as a physician and a minister of the gospel.
Among the very first settlers in the Concord 'neighborhood were Leonard Raper and his wife, Temperance, whose maiden name was Holly. Leonard Raper served as a soldier in the British army during the Revolution, and was among the men surrendered by Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. After remaining in Virginia several years he migrated to the West, and found a place of abode in Williamsburgh. He was a man of good qualities, and was one of the first teachers in the township. His death occurred March 18, 1833, at the age of eighty-one years, and that of Temperance, his wife, Nov. 28, 1841, at the age of seventy-seven years. Their four daughters married into well-known families: Elizabeth, John Kain ; Margaret, John Randall ; Sarah, Thomas Foster ; and Mary, James Kain, Of the sons, several attained more than ordinary distinction. Holly was a sheriff of the county, and Wm. II. became a Methodist minister of wide celebrity. A sketch of his life appears in another part of this book, The other sons, Samuel and Joseph, lived in the southern part of the township.
At the mouth of Clover Run Samuel Ely, who came from New Jersey in 1805, settled, and died there in 1841. By his first wife he had a family of twelve children, and four by his second, viz. : Benjamin, who lived at Bantam ; James, Leeds, Amasa, Samuel, George E., Josiah, Robert, John, Joseph, and Griffith. Of the daughters, some became the wives of Wesley Burnett, David McCullom, and Daniel Long. George Ely has in his possession a powder-horn which has long belonged to the family, being handed down from generation to generation more than one hundred and fifty years.
A year later (1806) Edward Doughty, also from New Jersey, settled in this part of the township. Had sons named Richard, John, Joseph, Levi, Mathew, Edward, and three daughters, some of whom removed, but descendants yet live in the county.
From the fact that Williamsburgh was the first county-seat of Clermont, many people resided there a short time and then found homes in other parts of the county. There, too, at a later day, came many worthy families, whose history would be interesting if space allowed its being detailed here. Many of the sons of Williamsburgh families attained distinction, notably in the ministry. Of these Revs. Foster, Christie, Raper, and Swing are noted in short sketches. Others who became ministers were Enoch G. West and George P. Jenkins, of the Methodist Church ; and A. S. Dudley and George Hagman, of the Presbyterian Church.
In the early settlement of the township wild animals were very numerous, especially in the Elklick hills. Bears, panthers, wolves, and deer abounded, and a few buffaloes were seen as late as 1805. James Bunton counted nine hears on one occasion as he was returning to his home from Williamsburgh. Panthers were somewhat dangerous, and committed annoying depredations. About 1825 a panther came close to the house of Samuel Ely. James Ely, at that time a young boy, persuaded his sister, younger than himself, to go out to kill the animal. They took their father's gun and started out in the darkness to find the animal, and had not gone twenty steps until they came upon him. James fired at the panther, which raised a terrible howl, causing the children to beat a retreat, and the animal fled to the hills. In the township were several bear-wallows and deer-licks, which those animals frequented, and enabled the skillful hunter to kill them in large numbers. After 1830 the hears became very scarce, only a few remaining in the old haunts. The last one was killed by John Peterson, a hunter of skill and daring. He was returning to his home on a moonlight evening, when he saw a large black object sitting in the road not far from his house. He called his dogs and they came at once and had a lively tussle with the hear, which escaped across the East Fork. Nothing more was seen or heard of the animal until the fall of the following year, when Mr. Peterson was hunting wild turkeys in the Elklick Hills, when his dogs started up a bear, which made a sudden attack on the hunter. He aimed at him, but his rifle missed fire, and to escape the onslaught of the dogs the bear ran up a tree. Again Peterson fired, wounding the animal, which slid down the tree and attacked him. The dogs fought him off, and Bruin once more escaped. About a year later the tracks of a bear were seen, and a party of men was organized to hunt him down. An exciting chase followed for five or six miles, when the bear was killed by Mr. Peterson, who saw from the marks it bore that it was the same animal that he had tried to kill on two previous occasions.
PROPERTY-HOLDERS IN 1826.
In the appended list appear the names of citizens of Williamsburgh who held real and personal property in 1826. To the names of those who paid no tax on personal property is prefixed an asterisk, to indicate that they were probably non-residents of the township at that period.
Atchley, Joshua, No. 5252; Jas. Johnson, orig. prop.
Atchley, John.
*Armstrong, Sarah, No. 2951; Martin Hawkins, orig. prop.
*Avery, Henry, No. 2585; John Parker, original proprietor.
*Allston, Wallace, No. 4858 ; John Brown, orig. prop.
*Allston, Thomas, No. 4858; John Brown, orig. prop.
Bricker, Adam, No. 705; William Whittaker, orig. prop.
Bunton, Ramoth.
Bound, Daniel.
Burnett, Jonas, No. 2437; Thos. Overton, original proprietor.
Boyd, William, No. 910; Fred. Paskey, original proprietor.
Brewer, Peter, No. 2950; Martin Hawkins, orig. prop.
Brewer, Adam.
Beebe, Joseph, No. 8289 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Bunton, James.
Burnett, Joshua.
Bryan, Azel.
John, No. 3229; James Johnson, orig. prop.
*Butler, Lawrence, No. 5258. Lawrence Butler, original proprietor.
*Brooks, Absalom, No. 3333 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Christie, Francis.
Curlis, Timothy, No. 3229; Jas. Johnson, orig. prop.
Curlis, Asher, No. 585; William Parsons, orig. prop.
Christie, John.
Carter, John.
Christie, Andrew.
Cartis, Timothy, Sr., No. 3229; James Johnson, orig prop.
Chambers, James, No. 52:,2 ; Jas. Johnson, orig. prop.
Curtis, Pcter, No. 3229 ; James Johnson, orig. prop.
Chatterton, Jacob.
Christie, Robert.
Clark, Joshua.
Conover, Elinkim.
Cade, Samuel.
Church, Asa.
WILLIAMSBURGH TOWNSHIP - 291
*Chapman, Zachariab, No. 4782; William Lytle, orig. prop.
*Cordrey, Joseph, No. 705; Wm. Whittaker, orig. prop.
*Cordrey, Elizabeth, No. 8289 ; William Lytle, orig. prop.
*Colthar, Jasper, No. 2942 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
•Cox, Thomas, No. 2436 ; Thos. Overton, orig. prop.
*Chichester, Eleazer, No. 954 ; Timothy Peyton, orig. prop.
*Cleveland, Stephen B., No. 4442; John Donnell, orig. prop.
Day, William.
Dowdney, William.
Dennis, Lacy.
Dickey, John.
Day, Jesse, No. 2949; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Davis, Lewis, No. 5252; James Johnson, orig. prop.
Doaghty, Edwin, No.4802 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Dillon, William, No. 4250; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Dawson, William,
Darrough, Robert.
Davis, Joshua.
Daly, Washington.
*Dickey, Robert, No. 3331 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
*Dickey, Martha; William Lytle, original proprietor.
*Davis, William, No. 5252; Jas. Johnson, orig. prop.
*Debenneville, Daniel, No. 2810; Daniel Debenneville, original proprietor.
*Deal, James, No. 705; William Whittaker, orig. prop.
Ellis, George, No, 2810; Daniel Dobenneville, orig. prop.
Earhart, John.
Ellis, Benjamin.
Everhart, Daniel, No. 2810 ; Daniel Debenneville, orig. prop.
Ely, Samuel, No. 585 ;*William Parsons, orig. prop.
Earhart, David, No. 2939; William Lytle, orig. prop.
Ellis, Waters & Co.
Eicher, John, No. 705 ; William Whittaker, orig. prop.
Foster, 1saac, No, 5252; James Johnson, orig. prop.
Fry, Lewis.
Fitzwater, David, No. 1242; Jas. Gray, original proprietor.
Fields, Benjamin.
Foster, Thomas, No.5252; James Johnson, orig. prop.
Foster, John, No. 2947; William Chambers, orig. prop.
Frambes, Peter, No. 572 ; Peter Casey, original proprietor.
Fry, John.
Fryman, Nicholas.
*Flick, Peter, No. 4247 ; William Lytle, original proprietor.
*Foote, Thos. S., No. 2946 ; Alexander Hamphries, orig. prop.
Gosna, William.
Grim, Jacob.
Gorbet, Henry.
*Gibson, Thos. G., No. 954; Timothy Peyton, orig. prop.
*Gatts, Martin, No, 954; Timothy Peyton, orig. prop.
*Graves, William, No. 950 ; William Smith, orig. prop.
Howell, William.
Harry, Andrew.
Huber, Jacob, No. 2810; Daniel Debenneville, orig. prop.
Hunter, William, No. 3331 ; William Lytle, orig. prop.
Hutchinson, Aaron.
Hartman, 1saac, No. 2000; John Mountjoy, orig. prop.
Hankins, John, No. 957; William Lawson, orig. prop.
Hutchinson, Ezekiel, No. 957; William Lawson, original proprietor.
Hartman, Christopher, No. 4448 ; Wm. Lytle, original prop.
Harden, Peter, No. 5252; James Johnson, original proprietor.
Hartman, Wm., No. 4780 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Hunter, Robert, No. 4442; John Donnell, original proprietor.
Harlow, Cornelius, No. 949; Wm. Mosley, original proprietor.
Homan, Thomas, No. 705; Wm. Whittaker, original prop.
Holman, Frank.
Huchinson, Aaron, Jr., No. 957; Wm, Lawson, original prop.
Hadley, Zenas.
Hunter, David, No. 4442; John Donnell, original proprietor.
Harry, Jacob.
Hays, John.
Holmes, El kanah, No. 2950; Martin Hawkins, original prop.
*Hight, Jacob, No. 949; William Mosley, original proprietor.
*Hartman, Samuel, No. 957 ; Wm. Lawson, original proprietor.
*Hickey, Andrew, No. 2950 ; Martin Hawkins, original prop.
*Hopkins, Thomas, No. 585; Wm. Parsons, original proprietor.
*Hise, Frederick, No. 3333; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
*Hutchinson, Jacob, No. 4800; James Morrison, orig. prop.
Ireton, Obadiah, No. 4250; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Libor, John.
*Irwin, Esther, No. 4247; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Johnson, Wm., No. 585; William Parsons, original proprietor.
Jamieson, John.
Johnson, Isaiah, No. 910; Fred. Paskey, original proprietor.
Johnson, Joseph.
Johnson, John.
Johnson, Charles.
Jenkins, Thomas.
Jeffreys, William.
*Jones, Henry, No. 910; Fred. Paskey, original proprietor.
*Johnson, George, No. 3436; Thomas Overton, orig. prop.
*Johnson, James, No. 3229 ; Jas. Johnson, original proprietor.
*Johnston, Jonathan, No. 2945 ; James Thompson, orig. prop.
Kerns, George, No. 910; Wm. Zimmerman, original prop.
Kain, Thomas, Jr., No. 2946; Alex, Humphries, orig. prop.
Rain, Daniel, No. 705 ; William Whittaker, original prop.
King, Wm., No. 2528; Ambrose Gordon, original proprietor.
Kain, John, No. 910; Fred Paskey, original proprietor.
*Keith, Isham, No. 7701 ; Isham Keith, original proprietor.
•Kirby, Timothy, No. 4249; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Lytle, John, No. 2528; Ambrose Gordon, original proprietor.
Lewis, John.
Laughlin, James, No. 2947 ; Wm. Chambers, original prop.
Leeds, Timothy, No. 910; Fred Paskey, original proprietor.
Leeds, John, No. 8289 ; Thomas Overton, original proprietor.
Lambert, Joshua, No. 2949 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Light, David, No. 3333; William Lytle, original proprietor.
Lukemires, John, No. 3329; Jas. Johnson, original proprietor.
Long, Thomas, No. 2436; Thos. Overton, original proprietor.
Laughlin, Mathew.
Long, Christian, No. 4449; James Taylor, original proprietor.
Lane, William.
*Light, George C., No. 3333; Wm. Lytle, original prop.
*Lieby, George, No. 3329; James Johnson, original proprietor.
*Leffingwell, Samuel, No. 948; Joseph Jones, original prop.
*Lytle, William, No. 3345; John Harvie, original proprietor.
*Latham, Barzilla, No. 12,531; Barzilla Latham, orig. prop.
McAdams, Ephraim, No. 2810; Daniel Dobenneville, original proprietor.
McIntyre, Samuel.
McIntyre, James.
Maloy, Hugh.
McMillen, George.
Morris, David.
Mason, Jacob.
McMillen, James.
Mason, Joseph.
McKnight, John.
Maham, John, No, 1242; James Gray, original proprietor.
Millar, Elizabeth.
Maham, Samuel, No. 3229 , James Johnson, original proprietor,
McNutt, James, No. 3345; John Harvie, original proprietor.
McAdams, Samuel.
Moorhead, Elizabeth, No. 4448; John Moantjoy, orig. prop.
Mallott, David.
Mallott, Daniel, No. 4247; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
McCane, Samuel.
Moss, Robert, No. 954; Timothy Peyton, original proprietor.
Morgan, Thomas S., No 2919 ; William Lytle. orig. prop.
Morris, Thomas J.
*Mallott, Theodore. No 4247 : Wm. Peyton, orig. prop.
•Moorhead, Patrick, No. 4780 . Wrn. Lytle, orig. prop.
*McAdams, John, No. 2810 : Daniel Debenneville, original proprietor.
Needham, John, No. 4449 ; James Taylor, origrnal proprietor.
Needham, John, Jr.. No 4449;
James Taylor, orig. prop. Naylor, John.
Neal, Margaret.
Needham, William, No. 4449 ; James Taylor, orrg. prop
*Osborne, Josiah, No. 3329 ; James Johnson, orig. prop.
Page, Thomas.
Perrino, James.
Patterson, Thomas.
Patton, Andrew, No. 2345, John Harvie, original proprietor.
Pine, William, No. 2057 Nathaniel Darby, orig. prop.
Parker, William.
Perrine, Arthur, No. 2950 . Martin Hawkrns. orig. prop
Perrine, Ralph, Nu. 2950, Martin Hawkins, orig. prop.
Patterson, David, No. 4448. John Mountjoy, orig. prop.
Poole, Benjamin, No. 2,942 ; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Phillips, Thomas, Jr.
Phillips, Thomas, Sr., No. 2949; William Lytle, orig. prop.
Penn, Joel.
Pemberton, Richard.
*Peterson, John, So. 910 ; Fred. Paskey, original proprietor.
*Parker, James, No. 5252 ; James Johnson, original proprietor.
*Poage, James, No. 639 ; William Robertson, orig. prop.
*Porter, William, No. 8290 ; William Porter, orig. prop.
Raper, Samuel, No. 2436; Thos. Overton, original proprietor.
Raper, Joseph.
Railings, John, No. 8171 ; Wallace and Yancy, orig. props.
Robbins, Israel.
Ross, John T.
Raper. Holly, No. 8171 Wallace and Yancy, original proprietors.
Saxton, David.
Stevens, Allen.
Sweet, Nathaniel.
Stark, Alexander.
Sharp, Ralph, No. 5252; James Johnson, original proprietor.
Smith, Stephen.
Smith, Jedediah.
Stockton, Job.
Snider, Adam.
Smith, Ephraim, No. 957; William Lawson, orig. prop.
Snell, Daniel S., No. 2944; Samuel Coleman, orig. prop.
Smith, William, No. 957; William Lawson, original proprietor.
292 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
Shotwell, John, No. 2950; Martin Hawkins, orig. prop.
Smith, Amos, No. 2949; William Lytle, original proprietor.
Smith, 1srael.
Sinks. Widow, No. 2944; Samuel Coleman, orig. prop.
Smith, John, No. 949; William Mosely, original proprietor.
Smith, Wesley.
Sherer, Frederick.
Smith, Abram.
Smith, John, Jr.
Smith, Obadiah.
Shinn, Caleb, No. 2057; Nathaniel Darby, orig. prop.
Sweet, Elizabeth.
Sherer, Michael.
Sprague, Jacob, No. 2438 ; Thos. Overton, orig. prop.
*Shotwell, David, No. 3345 ; William Lytle, orig. prop.
*Smith, Absalom, No. 4247; William Lytle, orig. prop.
*Sprague, Timothy, No. 2436 ; Thomas Overton, orig. prop.
*Smith, Burrows, No. 3329; Jas. Johnson, original proprietor.
Tribble, Alanson, No. 2950; William Lytle, orig. prop.
Tribble, Cornelius, No. 2950; William Lytle, orig. prop.
Thornburg, Thomas.
Thomas, Phineas.
Tweed, Robert, No. 910; William Zimmerman, orig. prop,
Thomas, Aaron.
Thomas, Reuben, No. 24'36; Thomas Overton, orig. prop.
Thomson, Caleb.
Townstey, Robert.
*Taylor, W. and B., No. 995; Wm. B. Wallace, orig. prop.
*Taylor, James, No. 4800; James Morrison, orig. proprietor.
Temple, John.
Van Osdol, Robert, No. 1242; James Gray, orig. prop.
Van Eaton, David, No. 705 ; Wm. Whittaker, orig. prop.
Wainwright, Vincent, No. 5253 ; John Watts, orig. prop.
Waters, William, No. 2944; Samuel Coteman, orig. prop.
Winters, James, No. 4249; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Wilson, John, No. 585; William Parsons, original proprietor.
Wood, Joseph, No, 2950; M. Hawkins, orig. proprietor.
White, John, No. 8171 ; Wallace and Yancy, orig. prop.
Wells, Isaiah.
Waits, Charles, No. 705; William Whittaker, orig. proprietor.
Washburn, John, No. 949; Wm. Mosley, orig. proprietor.
Waits, Richard, No. 1247; Wm. Lytle, original proprietor.
Wheeler, Joshua.
Whorrell, David.
Whorreil, Richard.
*Wallace, Cadwallader, No. 961 ; Ambrose Gordon, orig. prop.
*Wardlow, James, No. 4247; Wm. Lytle, orig. proprietor.
*Washburn, Cornelius, No. 949; Wm, Mosley, orig. prop.
*White, Wm., No. 954; Timothy Peyton, original proprietor.
*Willis, Ichabod, No. 957; Wm, Lawson, original proprietor.
*Walker, Wm., No. 3329; James Johnson, orig. proprietor.
*Wainwright, Wm., No. 4801; Wm. Lytle, orig. proprietor.
At this period (1826) the owners of village lots in Williamsburgh were as follows:
Armstrong, Samuel
Armstrong, John.
Alley, Amos.
Boyd, Samuel.
Burleigh, David.
Bunton, Ramoth.
Brown, Thomas.
Boyd, William.
Bryan, George S.
Bryan, Azel.
Christie, Francis.
Colthar, John.
Carter, John.
Dennis, Charles.
Dennis, John.
Debenneville, Daniel.
Dimmitt, Ezekiel.
Earhart, John.
Everhart, Daniel.
Ellis, Benjamin.
Foote, Andrew.
Foote, Thomas S.
Foster, Israel.
Foster, ham
Grimm, Jacob.
Gibson, David.
Gibson, Thomas G.
Harry, Andrew.
Herbert, James.
Howell, William.
Howell, Samuel.
Herbert, Obadiah.
Huber, Jacob.
Higbee, Isaac.
Hutchinson, Aaron.
Hansom, William.
Hankins, Daniel
Hankins, Nancy
Jamieson, John
James, Joseph
Kain, Thomas
Rain, Daniel.
Rain, John.
Lytle, John.
Lytle, William
Line, Isaac.
Lindsey, Oliver
Morris, David
Mason, Jacob.
Martin, James
McClure, Archibald
Moorhead (heirs).
McMillen, James.
McKnight, John.
Miller, Betsey.
McAdams, Samuel.
Mehaffa, John.
Mellott, Theodore.
Naylor, John.
Osborne, John.
Perrine, James.
Phillips, Thomas.
Palmer, Thomas.
Raper, Holly.
Robbins, Israel.
Ross, John T.
Royce, Vera.
Snider, Adam.
Smith, Stephen.
Smirh, Daniel.
Smith, Obadiah.
Smith, Israel.
Stockton, Job.
Sharp, Ralph.
Sinks, Nicholas (heirs).
Tweed, Robert.
Tucker, John.
Taylor, James.
West, Stanley, and Grant.
Waters, William.
Warring, Barzilla.
The valuation of the lots was reported at $13,569, on which a tax of $79.72 was paid. The number of acres of land in the township was 35,737, valued at $91,494, and which were taxed for State purposes, $182.98 ; r county purposes, $320.22 ; and for township purposes, $34.31. The number of horses in the township was 286, and the head of cattle 451. The personal tax r all purposes was $106.02.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The principal records of the township from its organization in 1801 to 1818 have been lost. On the 6th of April of the last-named year, at the regular township-meeting, Thomas S. Foote was chosen chairman, Jacob Huber and Holly Raper, judges, and Daniel Kain, clerk ; whereupon the following persons were elected : Nicholas Sinks, William Hunter, and Thomas Kain, Trustees; Daniel Kain, Township Clerk ; John Earhart, Lister and Appraiser ; John Earhart, Treasurer ; Isaac Foster, Vere Royce, George Ellis, and David Earhart, Constables ; Job Stockton and Robert Tweed, Overseers of the Poor ; Ramoth Bunton and Jacob Mason, Fence-Viewers ; Phineas Thomas and Samuel Moorhead, Road Supervisors.
At that time David Morris was one of the justices of the peace of the township.
Since 1818 the principal officers of the township have been the following :
TRUSTEES.
1819-22.—Nicholas Sinks, William Hunter, John T. Ross.
1823-24.—William Waters, William Hartman, Daniel S. Smith.
1825.—David Morris, William Hartman, Benjamin Ellie.
1826. —David Morris, Witliam Hartman, A. J. Patton.
1827-32.—Daniel S. Smith, William Hartman, A. J. Patton.
1833-34.--John Peterson, William Hartman, A. J. Patton.
1835.—James McNutt, William S. McLean, A. J. Patton.
1836-37.—James McNutt, William S. McLean, Daniel Kain.
1838.—Jesse E. Dozier, William S. McLean, Daniel Kain.
1839-41.—Sidney S. Leffingwell, Andrew J. Patton, Daniel Kain.
1842.—Daniel S. Smith, Andrew J. Patton, Daniel Rain.
1843-44.—Daniel S. Smith, John Peterson, Jonathan Johnson.
1845.—Daniel S. Smith, A. J. Patton, J. N. Johnson.
1846.—George Harbert, James Perrine, Robert Vanosdol.
1847.—George Earhart, James Perrine, Daniel S. Smith.
1848.—Timothy Leeds, Marcus Pompella, Moses Beckwith.
1849.—A. J. Patton, Marcus Pompella, R. R. McClung.
1850-51.—A. J. Patton, D. S. Smith, R. R. McClung.
1852,—S. G. Peterson, H. 3. Noose, R. R. McClung.
1853.-S. G. Peterson, John W. Lytle, B. H. South.
1854.—H. C. Kain, H. R. Perrine, B. H. South.
1855.—Absalom Day, H. R. Perrine, William West.
1856-59.—H. C. Kahn, O. Dadley, Jr., S. S. Leffingwell.
1860.—A. S. Walker, O. Dudley, Jr., J. N. Henning.
1861.—A. S. Walker, D. S. Smith, Philip Chatterton.
1862-63.—Otis Dadley, Jr., D. S. Smith, Philip Chatterton.
1864.—H. C. Rain, David McClung, Collins Vanosdoi.
WILLIAMSBURGH TOWNSHIP - 293
1865-66.-G. A. McNutt, Otis Dudtey, Jr., Collins Vanosdol.
1867.-Isaac Ferree, Otis Dudley, Jr., A. S. Walker.
1868-69.-Collins Vanosdol, Otis Dadley, Jr., A. S. Walker.
1870.-P. Chatterton, Otis Dudley, Jr., G. A. McNatt.
1871.-Collins Vanosdol, Otis Dudley, Jr., G. A. McNutt.
1872.-P. Chatterton, Otis Dudley, Jr., 1saac Vanosdol.
1873.-S. M. Ferguson, Otis Dudley, Jr., G. A. McNutt.
1874.-J. D. McKeever, Otis Dudley, Jr., G. A. McNutt.
1875.-O. H. Harden, E. Weaver, J. W. Glancy.
1876.-D. H. Sharp, Philip Chatterton, J. W. Glancy.
1877.-D. H. Sharp, Otis Dadley, Jr., Joseph Smith.
1878.-D. H. Sharp, Otis Dudley, Jr., G. B. Beachanr.
1879.-G. A. McNatt, Otis Dudley, Jr., G. B. Beacham.
TOWNSHIP TREASURERS.
1819-22, John Earhart; 1823-24, John M. Tucker ; 1825-32, William Waters; 1833-45, Nicholas Sinks; 1846-47, Otis Dudley ; 1848, William H. Frazier; 1849-52, L. D. Salt; 1853-63, John H. Sharp; 1864-65, J. 1. Peterson ; 1866-67, E. S. Sinks; 1868, J. 1. Peterson ; 1869-72, E. S. Sinks ; 1873, D. K. Peterson; 1874- 77, J. H. Sharp; 1878, A. Beall; 1879, D. K. Peterson.
TOWNSHIP CLERKS.
1819-31, Daniel Kain; 1832, Nicholas Sinks; 1833-37, Azel Bryan ; 1838, Otis Dadtey ; 1839, Robert Tweed ; 1840-41, Otis Dudley ; 1842-45, M. A. Bryan ; 1846-54, B. N. Stockton ; 1855-65, D. H. Sharp; 1866, M. R. Sinks; 1867-70, O. E. Walker; 1871-74, S. D. McMillen; 1875, C. A. Smith; 1876, M. F. Peterson; 1877, Charles Rose; 1878, R. D. Sharp ; 1879, Corwin Smith.
TOWNSHIP ASSESSORS.
1843-44, John Jenkins; 1845, William Dennis; 1846, John W. Lytle; 1847, John 1. Peterson ; 1848-51, Vere Royce ; 1852, D. S. Smith ; 1853, M. A. Bryan; 1854, S. Graves; 1855, Daniel McMillen ; 1856-57, S. G. Peterson ; 1858, M. A. Bryan; 1859, P. C. Cheseldine ; 1860-64, Timothy M. Leeds; 1865, Joseph Deel; 1866, H. C. Kane; 1867, D. S. Smith ; 1868-70, W. H. Everhart; 1871, W. D. Courts; 1872, George West; 1873, D. Earhart; 1874, W. C. Rhodes; 1875, J. D. Willis; 1876-77, Christ. A. Homan ; 1878, James Burnett ; 1879, O. B. McAdams.
Grand jurors were set aside by the township authorities from 1819 to 1825, as follows: I'hineas Thomas, John Lytle, Robert Dickey, John Shotwell, Benjamin Ellis, John Leeds, John Wright, Amos Smith, Samuel Raper, Ezekiel Hartman, David Light, William Royce, David Patterson, Ephraim McAdams, John Earhart, Isaac Foster, Thomas Foster, Daniel Snell, Edward Sinks, Job Stockton, Daniel Kain, Jacob Huber, John M. Tucker, John Jamieson, John Foster, James Perrine.
The petit jurors r the same period were chosen from the following : Jasper Shotwell, Israel Foster, John Moorhead, George Ellis, Samuel Moorhead, Abel D. Chase, John Robbins, Isaac Hartman, John Leeds, Aaron Hutchinson, David Patterson, William Smith, Daniel Everhart, William Boyd, William 'Waters, Samuel Maham, Daniel S. Smith, Samuel Ely, John Dickey, Edward Sinks, and eight or ten others named in the foregoing list. The loss of the earlier records precludes the giving of many interesting items of pioneer local legislation which would give the present generation an idea how business was done in those days ; and, notwithstanding the larger degree of fellow-feeling which then abounded, would show that charity was not all-prevalent.
In view of the full and free liberty the people of our common country now enjoy to make and unmake their homes, wherever it will be to their interest, it is interesting to note what supervision was rmerly exercised over those who did not possess a superabundance of this world's goods. A " quit notice" or warrant to leave, in substance and rm like the following, which we here produce from the township records, was served on sundry persons as late as 1850 :
"STATE OF OHIO, CLERMONT COUNTY.
"The overseers of the poor of the township of Williamsburgh, in said county, to George Kerns, Constable, greeting : Whereas information hath been given to us by Oliver Lindsey, a householder of said township, that William Cook and Polly, his wife, have come within the limits of the township of Williamsburgh aforesaid, and are likely to become a township charge, you are commanded forthwith to warn the said William and Polly Cook to depart from this township."
"Given under our hands and seals at Williamsburgh, this Second day of August, Anno Domino 1808.
"ROGER W. WARING,
"DAVID C. BRYAN."
The warrant was endorsed :
"Served the within by reading it in the presence of William and Polly Cook, this 2nd day of Aug., 1808.
"GEORGE KERNS, Constable."
No doubt the great influx of settlers brought many to every community whom it was not desirable to possess as citizens, but it has been stated on credible authority that in a number of instances, owing to some personal feeling on the part of the inrmant, deserving poor people were rced from the township who afterwards became very useful citizens in other localities. As the evidences of prosperity increased, and the people generally became well-to-do, much more discrimination was exercised before " quit notices" were served ; and it is said that in later years only those whose pauperism was evident at the time of their coming were ordered to leave.
THE HIGHWAYS AND CEMETERIES.
Prior to the organization of the county a road was surveyed from Newtown to Williamsburgh by John Donnell, assisted by Daniel Kain and Robert McKinney ; and on the 24th of November, 1797, the Court of Quarter Sessions of Hamilton County ordered that it be established as a highway. James Kain was appointed the first supervisor, February, 1799, and again appointed Feb. 4, 1800. The location of subsequent roads is given in a general chapter, and to avoid repetition no mention of them is here made. Usually the course of these early roads remains unchanged, and most of them now, as then, are the main thoroughfares. In 1839, a few years after the final division of the township, the supervisors were Charles Cox, George Everhart, Joseph Johnson, Joseph Raper, Delos Stockton, William Ashton, John L. Snell, George Fry, and Henry Moyer. The township has a good turnpike, and railway communication is afforded by the narrow-gauge line,-the Cincinnati and Eastern,-which was completed in 1876. Stations have been provided at Afton, in the western part of the township, and at Williamsburgh village. At the latter point the East Fork is crossed on a substantial bridge. In early times this stream had to be crossed by fording it when the stages of water would permit, and by rudely-constructed ferries. At a later period a rope-ferry was employed a little above Gay Street. The first bridge at the village was built in two parts, in 1845, near the foot of Main Street, the east end of the larger bridge resting on the island and the other bridge spanning the bayou. It was destroyed by
294 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
a flood in 1859. The following year a very handsome single bridge was erected on the foundations of the present structure, which was destroyed by the rebel Morgan's raiders on the morning of July 14, 1863. The bridge at present here is a wooden covered structure, and appears to be firmly built. At the foot of Fourth Street a very fine iron bridge has just been constructed, which will prove a great convenience to the people of the northern part of the township.
The principal cemetery in the township is at the village, occupying a number of acres of well-adapted ground, and contains many handsome monuments, Here are interred the early pioneers of Williamsburgh and the surrounding country. In other localities small burying-grounds have been established.
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.
Although the manufacturing interests of Williamsburgh have never been extensive or greatly diversified, the township may lay claim to having had the first mill in the county erected within her bounds, and thus have honor as being the oldest manufacturing point. In July, 1797, Peter Wilson, of Kentucky (who afterwards became a celebrated millwright in Southern Ohio), was employed by Gens. Lytle and Taylor to come to the newly laid-out town to build a small grist-mill. This structure was composed of logs, and stood a short distance above the present mill and immediately below the darn across the stream, at a point where some of the timbers used in its construction may yet be seen. No race was employed, but the power was directly communicated to the wheel from the dam. For erecting this mill Wilson received $50 in money and a tract of land, the quantity of which is lot now remembered. But little more can be said concerning this mill. It doubtless failed to serve the purposes of the proprietors, r not many years after Gen. William Lytle began the construction of a dam across the East Fork above the new bridge, and dug a race more than a third of a mile long to a point where he built the present mill, which, at the time it was gotten into operation (soon after 1800), was certainly a most creditable affair, and furnished all the conveniences of a good mill for the people living far and hear. Year after year the power of the once powerful stream grew less, and ultimately failed to perform its work. The dam was allowed to go to decay and about 1854, while the property belonged to Sidney S. Leffingwell, steam became the motor, and is yet the operating agent. The mill has had many cwners, passing from Lytle to Jacob Huber, and from him to the below named : Daniel Everhart, George Peterson, S. S. Leffingwell, Ferguson & Lytle, Ferguson & Brooks, Huxam, Warden & Co., and many others. It is at present the property of P. Chatterton & Son, and is in good working order. It has three runs of stone, and is capacitated to grind 100 bushels of corn and 125 bushels of wheat per day. In early times a distillery was carried on below the mill, generally by the mill-owners, but which was long ago abandoned as the sentiment of the community was opposed to the manufacture of liquor.
A few miles above the foregoing mill on the same stream is a grist-mill belonging to the Dennis Brothers, which has been idle for several years. The power was improved and the building erected r a chair-factory more than twenty- five years ago by Ross & Guyer, of Cincinnati, who operated it a few years. Subsequently Varney Stockton, John Peterson, George Everhart, Reuben Rue, and Abram Clark occupied the building, and the latter owners supplied mill machinery,
About the same distance below the village, at a very marked bend of the East Fork, are the " Tunnel Mills," owned by the Barnes Brothers. As early as 1836 this property belonged to Thomas L. Shields, who proposed to establish a power by cutting a raceway through the high ridge at this point, at the lower end of which a moderate fall might be scoured, The project was soon abandoned, and for several years nothing was done. About 1840, Elijah and James Dennis became the owners of the property and began building a mill. Instead of cutting through the ridge, a tunnel several hundred feet long was made between firm layers of rock about four feet apart, and which form the roof and floor of the tunnel without any other support. A power having a fall of about twenty-five feet is thus secured in this short distance, while from the mouth of the tunnel to the mill by the course of the river the distance is nearly two miles. The mill has three runs of stone and good machinery in a three-story frame building. Besides the parties named it has also been owned by Reuben Rue and Enoch Dunn.
What is known as the Snider mill was first erected in Williamsburgh by a man named Danberry, but before it was gotten in running condition it was found that the site would not afford enough power, and the frame was taken down and put upon the Tate side a short distance below the mouth of Clover Creek, where Cornelius McCalla and Isaac Higby had a saw-mill. Subsequently Isaac Higby removed the frame to where it now stands in Tate township, on the East Fork. At each of the regoing places saw-mills were early built and kept in successful operation, while upon the smaller streams were also lumber-mills, which were worked when there was sufficient volume of water by Thomas Lytle, John Burnett, John Peterson, Samuel Raper, Benjamin Ross, and others, but most of them have long since been discontinued.
James Kain brought a small hand-mill with him from Pennsylvania, which did good service at Williamsburgh, at an early day, in grinding small quantities of corn. Subsequently it became the property of John Kain, and the buhrstones are yet lying near his old residence. About 1804 Oliver Lindsey had a horse-mill near the place where he lived, which in the course of time also became the property of John Kain, but both have long since passed away. In the southern part of the township Adam Bricker constructed an ingenious horse-mill which was much patronized about 1820, and around which the neighbors gathered as the slow process of grinding went on for social converse and to learn the news current at the houses of the patrons, who sometimes lived many miles away. The ruins of this mill have •but recently been removed from where it stood on the farm now owned by Robert M. Bricker.
In 1811, Andrew Foote established a wool-carding machine and oil-mill in the village of Williamsburgh, on the
WILLIAMSBURGH TOWNSHIP - 295
site of Curry's shop on Main Street. They were operated first by the old-fashioned sweep-power, and later by a tread-power. Enoch and John Hankins succeeded Foote, and, after 1840, Thomas Hull owned and operated the establishment many years. The manufacture of cut nails was carried on before 1820, by Benjamin Ellis, near the present Pettit place; and Daniel Smith burned charcoal on the site of B. N. Stockston's store.
The manufacture of splint-seated chairs was begun as early as 1820, in the village of Williamsburgh, by Andrew Smith, Samuel McAdams, Vincent Stevens, and Jacob and Andrew Boulware, the latter as partners. All manufactured by hand, and the product was sold to parties living near the place. About 1848, Volney Stockton began the manufacture of chairs by machinery, making from 10 to 12 dozen per week, and employing 4 or 5 hands.
In 1849, Otis Dudley & Sons erected a factory on Fourth Street, where they carried on chair-making, using horsepower until 1853, when they put in an engine, and were the first to employ steam-power in Williamsburgh. By this means they were enabled to increase their products from 15 to 75 dozen per week. The business now began to increase rapidly, and a number of persons engaged in the manufacture of chairs. Snell & McAdams erected an extensive shop in the lower part of the village, and Boulware & Wright, Smith & Bryan, W. H. Hull, William Walker, and T. W. Lytle each had shops, in some of which steam was employed and large quantities of chairs were manufactured.
At the time the business enjoyed its greatest prosperity not less than 1000 dozen of chairs were made per week and transported to Cincinnati and other points by wagon. Nearly 500 persons found occupation in the shops, many women and children being employed in seating the chairs. At first the timber used was split by hand and shaved in the woods, but after steam was employed the timber was delivered in the bolt at the factory and sawed to the required shape, and a limited quantity of chair-stuff shipped. About 1867 this important industry began to decline, and when the panic of 1873 came on it was almost entirely suspended. Since then it has again attained some of its former proportions, and the business at present gives occupation to many people of the village, while the products are scattered all over the State. David McClung and George Stevens each have small factories, making some of the finer grades of chairs and chair-splints.
S. D. Mount's Chair-Factory, in the northern part of the village, occupies a building in which Myers & Mount were formerly engaged in the business. In 1879 a fine ware-room, 30 by 90 feet and two stories high, was built to accommodate the increasing business of the firm. Steam-power is used, and all the stock required, except cane-splints, is manufactured from the rough log, The pattern-list embraces 14 different kinds of dining-room and office-chairs and rockers. Much of the work is shipped as " knockdowns," and 100 persons are employed.
Charles H. Boulware & Brothers' Factory, on Fourth Street, occupies the building in which were rmerly Boulware & Ellis and A. V. Boulware, one of the veteran chair-manufacturers. The present firm has carried on business since April 15, 1875, and at present employs 14 men in the manufacture of fifteen kinds of chairs, about one-half of which have double woven cane-seats. The firm manufactures Volney Stockton's patent chair, and has its heavy machinery in the old Hull, Warden & Co.'s shop adjoining the grist-mill. In the upper story of the same building is located
Snell & Williams' Factory, r the manufacture of variety goods in wood. This business was established, in 1874, by Oscar Snell, in a building which was in part occupied by A. P. Frazier & Bro, as a chair-factory, and which was destroyed in the fall of 1874 by fire. On the 1st of May, 1879, Byron Williams became associated with Mr. Snell, and since then the business has been much extended. The products of the factory are a large variety of step-ladders, clothes-dryers, lap tables, rustic picture-frames, and other novel work in wood. In connection are operated a planing-mill, and machinery r the manufacture of scroll work and moulding. The senior member of the firm has produced many useful devices, and has received patents for more than a dozen inventions, among them being a firearm, which has been highly commended by United States offrcials r its superior qualities and many excellencies. Another useful invention which emanated from Williams-burgh was a patent pruning-knife, manufactured by Park & Williams, and which had a wide sale in all parts of the country.
Williamsburgh Tannery.-Nicholas Sinks had the first tannery in the village, soon after his settlement, about 1802. The yard was north of the present school-house, and was at first small. It was enlarged from time to time, until it contained about 20 vats. After the death of Mr. Sinks, in 1825, Henry Sweet and others carried on the business, until the interest was merged into the Huber tannery, below the mill. This tannery was sold in 1854 to the present proprietor, M. D. Sharp, and has been carried on all the intervening years by him. It contains 24 vats, and gives employment to 4 men. About 1000 pieces of leather are oak-tanned and finished yearly. Formerly a small tannery was carried on in the southern part of the township by John Shotwell.
Williamsburgh Pork-Packing House —This enterprise was begun, in 1844, by Nicholas Sinks & Co., in a house built for that purpose, 40 by 50 feet, and supplied with the necessary conveniences. L. D. Salt & Co., Sinks & Kain, Sinks & Peterson, John I. Peterson, and others have been the successive packers. Since 1870, W. L. & W. A. Kain have been the proprietors, and pack about 500 hogs yearly. Formerly the establishment disposed of as many as 1300 hogs per year, and this industry was one of the most important in the place.
Lately attention has been directed to the culture of tobacco, and since 1875 the large warehouse of Brooks, Waterfield & Co. has been occupied by W. C. Warden, Amos Ellis, and others in preparing tobacco r the market. As many as 130 hogsheads, containing from 900 to 1500 pounds each, have been shipped in a single year.
The warehouse is 50 by 100 feet, and was built in 1870 by Stockton & Co. for a chair-factory, but. was never completed r that purpose.
296 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
HAMLETS AND VILLAGES.
Afton, in the western part of the township, is a post- office and station on the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad. It received its name at the suggestion of Sarah Lytle, daughter of William Lytle, one of the first settlers in this locality. The hamlet contains but a few houses, a store, a Methodist church, and a good school-house.
The post-office in this part of the county was first established in 1849, with the name of California, and R. W. Jenkins was the postmaster. In 1853, Robert J. Vanosdol was appointed, and a few years after it was discontinued. It was revived with the name of Afton, and William Lukemires as postmaster. In 1869, W, W. Archer was appointed, and in 1873 the present, George Bradley.
About 1848, Thomas Shields got in operation a sawmill and turning-shop at this point, which were discontinued in 1856; and near the same time Edward Hoes opened a store, which he kept until 1854, when he was succeeded by his brother, Hiram B. Hoes. This building is now used r a stable. In 1867 a store, which stood on the site of the church, and belonging to J. Archer, was destroyed by fire. Other merchants have been Alfred Morgan, Holt Brunnon, and George Bradley.
CONCORD.
This hamlet was first settled in 1815 by Robert Vanosdol, who built a cabin that year, and raised a crop of corn, which he crrbbed in the fall and left to spend the winter elsewhere. On his return, the following spring, he was surprised to find that the squirrels had eaten up all his corn. For many years the settlers were not numerous in this locality ; but, about 1836, John and Edward Compton started a blacksmith-shop in connection with the wheelwright business, and other houses and a Methodist church were soon after built. In 1840, Holly Raper opened a store, in which trade has been carried on since by Thompson & Woods, Ezekiel Slade, Benjamin Barton, George T. Layfield, and Wright Sprague, who is at present engaged in merchandising.
In 1854 a post-office was here established, with the name of Angola, which was discontinued in 1868, but again reestablished, and after a short time fully given up. The successive postmasters were Ezekiel Slade, John S. Slade, Benjamin Barton, and Wright Sprague.
CLOVER
was the name applied to a post-offrce which was established near the Clover church in 1849, wrth Nelson A. Hitch as the postmaster. Subsequently Heman Houk, A. Tribble, A. C. Dentram, and H. G. Hammond were the postmasters, The office was abolished Jan. 17, 1863. At this place Seth Maker had a store as early as 1840, and later, Hitch and Hammond carried on a large trade. These interests have been diverted by the hamlet of
HENNING'S MILLS.
At this point, about 1836, William Lines established a cabinet-shop and turning-works, which were operated a number of years. Other .houses were built about the time of the Harrison campaign, and as the people in this locality were mostly Whigs, they gave expression to their sentiments by building a log cabin, surmounted by the typical coon, and from this fact the place was first called " Coon- town." It received its present name in compliment to the real founder of the hamlet, J. N, Henning, at the time the Henning's Mills post-office was established, in 1858. Mr. Henning was also the first postmaster, and was succeeded, in 1873, by James Glancy, and in 1875 by the present, Isaac Vanosdol.
About 18$0, the first store at Henning's Mills was opened by Wm. Slye, and several years later a shoe-shop was started by Nelson Applegate. At one time Henning was largely engaged in merchandising, but sold his interests to James Glancy. The store is at present carried on by Vanosdol and Floyd.
In 1852 the manufacture of chairs was here begun on a small scale by J. N. Henning, who established a good reputation r his work, and soon required better facilities r manufacturing. He now became the owner of a steam- factory, which was being built by Philip Chatterton, and operated it until it was destroyed by fire. Subsequently three other factories shared the fate of the first. The last one was started in 1868, in connection with a woolen-mill, and both were burned in 1872. Thereafter no effort was made to revive these industries, and the place no longer possesses its rmer animated appearance. At one time the mills gave employment to more than fifty persons.
WILLIAMSBURGH
This pleasant and thriving village has a healthy location on an elevated tract of land lying in a bend of the East Fork of the Little Miami, and on the southwest side of that stream. It is on the De Benneville Survey, No. 2810, and was laid out in 1795 by Gen. William Lytle, and after the custom of that day was called Lytlestown. The present name, also showing ownership, is probably the only one bestowed by the proprietor. At the period named Gen. Lytle, as a deputy land-surveyor, was engaged in locating military warrants in this section of the country, and reseeing the eligibility of this point as the site r the future capital of the new county, which would doubtless soon be rmed, he platted the village even bere the survey of the land on this side of the river, the survey of the village antedating the De Benneville survey just about a year. In this work Gen. Lytle was assisted by his brother, John, and John Donnell, and it is said that before the termination of the survey the ground became frozen so hard that stakes could not be driven into it, causing a suspension of the survey, which was completed the following spring. This statement is made on the authority of Win. S. McLean, an old resident of the village, who received the account from John Lytle. The plat of the village embraced about 500 in-lots, 6 poles wide and 12 poles deep ; and 140 out-lots of 4 acres each, located on the west side of the village proper. A public square, of the quantity of 12 lots,—about 5f acres,-on a beautiful elevation, was set aside for the reception of the county buildings. This was fronted by a street called Broadway, four rods in width. Other parallel streets towards the river received the names of Fourth, Third, Second, and Front, all of which cross
WILLIAMSBURGH TOWNSHIP. - 297
Main Street at right angles. The latter street rms the northern boundary of the public square, which the proprietor " provided r county purposes,--that is, r the erection of the public edifices thereon for the use of the county, and such other improvements of taste and utility as the legal authorities (in such cases) of said county shall deem expedient to the use of said county for the purposes aforesaid, their legal officers and successors in office rever."
Provision was made that in case the county-seat should be removed the land should revert to the original proprietor or his representatives.
The language quoted appears in an article recording the village plat, made by Gen. Lytle, on the 24th of October, 1815, in which he says, further, by way of explanation,
That the plat of the town has before been recorded in due season and agreeable to law, but it having been suggested by some meddling person that the first record was vague and unsatisfactory, the above is placed on record to remove all doubt or ambiguity,"
Signed, sealed, and acknowledged by Wm. Lytle in the presence of Thomas Danby and Philip Gatch, the latter as a justice of the peace.
After the county-seat was permanently located at Batavia, Feb.21, 1824, the people of Williamsburgh took unrestrained possession of the square and public buildings thereon, and held undisturbed possession several years, using them for the general good of the community, when Gen. Lytle claimed the property under the terms of the dedication above given, and conveyed it to the United States Bank. That institution served a writ of ejectment, and, having obtained possession, sold it, in 1846, to Sayers Gazley and Adam S. Walker. But the village, bent on the recovery of the property r public uses, brought suit in the name of Charles B. Huber and others against the above parties, and after several years of litigation the Supreme Court of Ohio, at the December term in 1849, decreed that the title to the use of the property rested in the village rever. Part of the square now constitutes the pnblic park, and the rest of the land has been set aside r school purposes.
On the 28th of March, 1799, De Benneville received a patent from the government for Survey No, 2810, and on the 30th of June, 1800, convoyed the land to Wm. Lytle, who thus became sole proprietor of the village site. In the sale Daniel De Benneville reserved a number of choice lots in Wilhamsburgh, but never came here to live. He had served as a surgeon in the Revolution, and after the war became a resident of Philadelphia, Pa.
Gen. Lytle, having now the absolute right to convey the village lots, began selling them in July, 1800, one of the first to purchase being his friend, Wm. Hansom, of Lexington, Ky., who secured in-lot 324 and out-lot 60 for $28, current money of Kentucky, receiving his deed July 28, 1800. At this time Gen. Lytle was also a resident of Lexington, Ky., but some time in the latter part of August, 1800, he moved to Williamsburgh, and thereafter the sales of property were very brisk. Among other early purchasers of village lots were Daniel Kain, Wm. Campbell, Elizabeth and Nancy Kelly, Leonard Raper, James Carothers, Wm, Perry, David Gibson, Ann and Ephraim
38 McAdams, Amos Smith, Isaac Miller, Thomas Kain, Polly Kain,* Polly Bunton,* John Cordrey, Archibald McLean, Robert Dickey, Nicholas Sinks, Thomas Brown, John Kain, David Teal, and Owen Todd.
The settlement of the place, however, was made prior to the above date, and was among the earliest in the county. In the summer of 1796 James Kain came here from Newtown, where he had settled several years previously, to build the first cabin, which was erected on lot 43, where is now the residence of Adam S. Walker. lIe was accompanied by his daughter Mary, a young girl of a dozen years, and her companion, Mary Bunton, who did the cooking for the .workmen employed on the cabin ; and these, it is claimed, were the first white women who came to reside in the eastern part of the present county of Clermont. The Kain and Bunton families are noted at greater length in the pioneer history of the township. James Kain occupied his house in the fall of 1796, and his family was moved from Newtown in an old-fashioned Conestoga wagon, by Archibald McLean, who followed mere bridle-paths, which often made it necessary to rm wider roads, so that the trip occupied several days. The king-bolt of this wagon, probably the first that was ever used in the county, is yet in the possession of the McLean family.
Before the Kains became firmly established, a family by the name of McKaslen began building a cabin on lot 51, where James D. McNutt now lives. It is said that Gen. Lytle had offered a lot as a bonus to the first family that would locate permanently, and that the McKaslens had come to claim the reward ; but beyond this knowledge, and the belief that the children of the family were with Lydia Osborne when she was lost, no further account of them exists. Other settlers came in, and when Williamsburgh became the county-seat, in 1801, the future of the place seemed to be assured. The early lot-owners found a residence and the county officials thronged hither. Among the latter were Roger W. Waring, the son of an eminent Kentucky judge ; Oliver Lindsey, an early sheriff, who lived near the present mill ; Thomas Morris, in his afterlife a United States senator, who lived north of the present school-house, in a building which served as a home, jail, and court-room. In 1804 he removed to Bethel, and when questioned as to the reasons which caused him to change his place of abode, said, " I would rather be a king among fools than a fool among kings." In this house was born, Dec. 16, 1804, Margaret Kerns,-Mrs. Brintzinghoffer,---at present the oldest native born in this part of the county ; and here, too, lived the well-known Nicholas Sinks, with whom Israel Foster resided when his son, Randolph Sinks Foster, the eminent bishop, was born. In a modified rm the house yet stands, and is the home of John A. McAdams, About the same time the stone house on Front Street, south of Main, was built by Col. Samuel W. Davis, and yet bears tribute to the good workmanship bestowed upon its walls, being in a well-preserved condition. In former days it served as the headquarters in times of military gatherings, and its main room was set aside r use in trying those who had violated the code of that period.
* Received deeds for their lots because they were the first women in Williamsburgh.
298 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
In " Browne's Western Calendar," for the year 1809, appears this account of Williamsburgh :
"The road from Newtown to Williamsburgh is hilly, and near the town swampy. In the neighborhood of this road there are a namber of Episcopalian Methodists. Williamsburgh is the county-town of Clermont, situated on the Little Miami, 30 miles from Cincinnati and 68 from Chillicothe. The elegant frame house, the residence of Gen. William Lytle, oft an elevated spot, has a happy effect, and makes the town look pleasant. There are in the town three or four taverns, a post-office, two stores, about forty or fifty dwellings, a stone commodious coart-house, and a log prison. The Presbyterians are united in a society under the charge of Rev. — Dobbins."
The log jail was afterwards displaced by a stone building, and both it and the court-house stood until 1858, when they were removed to make a place r the present handsome school edifice. After the formation of Brown County it became evident that Williamsburgh would not long remain the scat of justice of Clermont County. Its geographical situation doomed it to give that honor to another place, and from that time its prosperity waned, so that about 1827 whoever could dispose of his property left the place. There was a stagnation of business, and real estate had depreciated to ridiculously low figures. It is said scores of village lots were rfeited to pay taxes, and at the public outcry brought only about 30 cents a lot. About this period the persons of family living in the village were Daniel Everhart, Jacob Mason, James Perrine, John Peterson, George McMillen, Andrew Hary, D. S. Smith, Wm. Waters, the Park family, John Moorhead, the Hankins family, Daniel Kain, the Huber family, George Peterson, Stephen Smith, John Kain, Robert Tweed, Job Stockton, Thomas S. Barker, John T. Ross, Wm. Howell, E. C. Sharp, Azel Bryan, Israel Smith, Hugh Maloy, Andrew Christie, Andrew Smith, Samuel McAdams, Samuel Cade, Nicholas Sinks, John McKnight, John Carter, Ralph Sharp, John Naylor, John Miller, Lewis Ellis, John Dennis, and John Earhart.
The latter was a carpenter; and among other tradesmen of that period, and an earlier day, were Job Stockton, cabinet-maker; Samuel Howell, saddler ; George Kerns, shoemaker ; Ebenezer Osborne and William McKnight, tailors; Samuel Ivens, blacksmith ; Elijah Robbins, cooper ; Jacob Harry and Benj, South, hatters ; and John Charles, Thomas Hoagland, and John Dennis, stone-masons,
In 1840 the population of the village was only 385, and ten years later it remained about the same. The next decade witnessed the return of prosperity. Population increased and property appreciated. An era of enterprise dawned upon Williamsburgh, and new life coursed through its streets, The old gave place. to the new, and once more the village took a leading place among towns characterized for their industry and enterprise. In 1870 the population was 773, and the census of 1880 will not fall much short of 1000 inhabitants. It contains a Methodist and a Presbyterian church, and the interests noted in the following pages.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
The village was incorporated by an act which was passed Feb. 5, 1847, and which provided that " so much of the township of Williamsburgh, in the county of Clermont, as is included in the in-lots of the recorded plat of said town of Williamsburgh, together with the fraction between Front Street and low-water mark, upon the north side of the East Fork of the Little Miami River, is henceforth declared a town corporate by the name of the Town of Williamsburgh."
At an election for village officers, held on Saturday, Aug. 21, 1847, at the brick school-house, M. A. Bryan and Robert Bricker were elected judges, and H. V. Kerr clerk, Fifty-six votes were polled, and the following elected : C. B. Huber, Mayor ; Otis Dudley, Recorder ; M. A. Byan, E. C. Sharp, L. D. Salt, L. T. Pease, and Peter M. Snell, Trnstees.
Subsequently R. R. McClung was appointed Treasurer, and John F. Peterson Marshal.
Since 1847 the principal officers of the village have been the following :
MAYORS.
1848, M. A. Bryan ; 1849-50, Otis Dudley ; 1851-53, L. D. Salt; 7854-57, S. G. Peterson; 1858, S. S. Leffrngwell ; 1859-65, W. M. Fryman ; 1866, Edward Collins ; 1867, John E. Offutt; 1868, A. Clark ; 1869, W. M. Fryman; 1870, McLean Boalware; 1871, Sidney Rue; 1872-73, W. M. Fryman ; 1874-75, S. G. Peterson ; 1876-79, Homer McLean.
COUNCILMEN.
1848.-L. D. Salt, C. B. Huber, John Park, B. N, South, and Robert McClung.
1849.-R. R. McClung, C. B. Huber, Mahlon Smith, Daniel S. Smith, L. T. Pease.
1850.-L. D. Salt, C. B. Haber, J. Park, P. Cheseldine, and Samuel Peterson.
1851-52.-C. B. Huber, S. G. Peterson, John Park, D. McClang, P, Cheseldine.
1853.-H. R. Perrine, B. N. South, C. B. Huber, J. Park, P. Chesel. dine.
1854.-M. A. Bryan, D. S. Smith, A. Day, D. McClung, C. B. Huber.
1855.-L. T. Pease, P. Cheseldine, A. Day, S. McClung, M. A. Bryan.
1856.-M. D. Sharp, V. Stockton, M. A. Bryan, Samuel McClung, L. D. Salt.
1857.-L. D. Salt, M. D. Sharp, M. A. Bryan, Samuel McClang, V. Stockton.
1858.-S. G. Peterson, G. A. Peterson, H. Ferguson, J. Park, George McNutt.
1859.-P. Cheseldine, G. A. Peterson, S. G. Peterson, G. A. McNutt, J. Park.
1860-61.-S. N. Ferguson, G. A. Peterson, G. A. McNutt, John Park, John I. Peterson.
1862-63,-D, McClung, G. A. McNutt, G.A. Peterson, John I. Peterson, S, S. Ferguson.
1864.-V. Stockton, John Williams, S. N. Ferguson, S. D. McMillen, G. A. McNutt.
1865.-J. H. Sharp, D. McClung, John Williams, S. D. McMillen, V. Stockton.
1866.-John Park, J. H. Doyle, W. L. Kale, W. A. Dudley, E. Zimmerman.
1867.-A. P. Frazier, S. D. McMillen, A. S. Walker, A. Beall, G. L. McAdams.
1868.-A. S. Walker, F. A. Warden, W. H. White, M. F. Mull, J. H. Doyle.
1869.-0. Dadley, Jr., J. H. Doyle, A. Beall, D. H. Sharp, A. S. Walker.
1870.-W. M. Fryman, W. A. Kam, J. B. Read, D. C. Sharp, N. McMillen, W. R. Moorhead.
1871.-S. Pettit, J. H. Ellis, A. Clark, G. M. Whittaker, Robert Blair.
1872,-A. P. Frazier, G. M. Whittaker, John Myers,
1873.-A. Clark, J. Boyd, A. Beall.
1874.-S. D. Mount, W. A. Dadley, John Archer.
1875.-A. Clark, F. J. Boyd, G. A. McNutt.
1876.-W. H. White, G. B. Beacham, Joseph Smith.
1877.-W. M. Fryman, Byron Williams, Leroy Zimmerman.
1878.-S. D. Moant, George B. Beacham, Joseph Smith.
1879.-W. M. Fryman, Byron Williams, L. H. Zimmerman.
WILLIAMSBURGH TOWNSHIP - 299
RECORDERS.
1848-51, Henry Kain; 1852-53, Edward Sinks; 1854, J. H. Sharp ; 1855-59, Otis Dudley, Jr.; 1860-61, S. D. McMillen; 1862,0. B. Huber; 4863, S. D. McMillen ; 1861-65, 0. E. Walker ; 1866-67, David McClung; 186S-69, W. R. Moorhead; 4870-71, Byron Williams; 1872, M. F. Peterson ; 1873, George IV. Jack ; 1874 -75, Charles Rose; 1876-78, R. D. Sharp ; 1879, J. D. Moorhead.
TREASURERS.
1848-55, D. H. Sharp ; 1856-64, J. 11. Sharp: 1865, J. 1. Peterson ; 1860, A. V. Boalware; 1867, E. S. Sinks; 1868-71, J. I. Peterson; 1872-79, E. B, Holmes.
The village council has taken a positive position on the qnestion of temperance. On the 2d of Augnst, 1858, an ordinance was passed "to prevent the sale of liquors and intoxicating drinks, and to prevent drunkards within the corporate limits of the village"; and at subsequent periods other preventive measures were adopted. One of the most notable of later years was an ordinance, enacted Sept, 18, 1879, which requires every place where malt, vinous, or spirituous liquors are sold to be closed from six o'clock in the evening of every Satnrday to seven o'clock the following Monday morning. A decided opposition was awakened to this measure, and its legality was passed upon by the courts of the county, which sustained the council in its efforts to repress the disorder arising from the unrestrained traffic in liquor.
Williamsburgh has been much benefited by the possession of corporate privileges, and by their judicious exercise the appearance and character of the place have been greatly changed. All the principal streets have been reduced to easy grades, curbed, and macadamized or coated with gravel, with good provision to secure their drainage. Substantial sidewalks have been constructed and street lamps erected. The public square, or park, has been planted with trees and embellished to make it an attractive place of resort.
The public improvements in general and the moral tone of the village as modified by the corporation commend those who have been called upon to direct its affairs, and place Williamsburgh in favorable comparison with other villages in the county.
STORES, HOTELS, AND THE POST-OFFICE.
James Burleigh was the first to engage in the sale of merchandise in the village of Williamsburgh, soon after 1800, He first carried his goods on his back, going from house to house, and afterwards extended his trade by employing a horse, on which he rode to the more remote settlers. As he prospered his stock was increased and opened out in a building which stood on the lot owned by Dr. J. H. Doyle. This was the first store, and, if current accounts can be credited, his manner of doing business would hardly meet with approval nowadays. No order or system was observed, and as he had a large family, all at one time or other serving as clerks, whichever article was last called r was always thrown on the top of a promiscuous heap, representing his stock in trade. Burleigh himself is represented as having been grossly fat and sluggish in his movements, so that the saying went " as big as Burleigh," The second store was opened by Isaac Lines on the Walker lot, opposite the school-house ; and as Lines was more of a hunter than a merchant, his place of business was not much of an improvement on the first. Here. too, order was set at defiance, and everything was now here, now there. Yet it is said that for those days he had a good stock of goods and lacked only the tact to make a successful merchant. Another of the early stores was kept by Benjamin White some time after 1802.
After 1812, Benjamin Ellis and William Waters engaged in trade, and were about the first to own what would now be called a store. Both were successful business men. The latter died in the village in 1835, and the rmer removed to Cincinnati. While he resided at Williamsburgh, his son, Washington, at present one of the leading bankers of New York City, was born. At that time John M, Tucker, Daniel Hankins, and others were contemporary merchants. The village was a good trading-point, and from about, 1825 to the present many persons have followed merchandising, among the most prominent firms having been Israel Foster, Andrew Foote, Robert Tweed, Job Stockton, Peterson & Waters, George & John Peterson, Nicholas Sinks and L. D. Salts, Edward Sinks and Henry Kain, Daniel Everhart, Otis Dudley and Sidney S. Leffingwell, William Everhart, Posey Cheseldine, John H. Sharp, John I. Peterson, and B. N. Stockton. The two last named have been in trade since 1836; and there are besides, as general merchants, Atchley & Holmes and Foster & McNutt. Among the grocers, A. Beall, yet in trade, is remembered as the first. William Atchley, M. F. Peterson, Joseph Knight, Ed. Clark, D. K. Peterson, Ellis & Mount have also been grocers, the latter firms being at present in that line of trade.
Adam S. Walker opened the first drug-store, The present druggists are F. W. Walker, A, Beall, and 0. E. Walker. Other druggists have been James Walker, Ellis & Sharp, and Charles Hoffman. D. A. fees and Mead Stockton are dealers in tin and hardware goods ; D. H. Sharp and George Beacham, in harness and saddlers' goods ; John Myers and William H, Fyman, in cabinet-ware ; J. P. Curry, in agricultural implements; C. A. Benn and Homer McLean, watchmakers; and John Park, gunsmith and proprietor of novelty-shop.
The first public-house in the village was kept by James Kain. As early as August, 1799, he was a regularly licensed tavern-keeper, and entertained after the hospitable manner of those times in a log cabin which stood on Front Street. On the 6th of August, 1801, the Hamilton County Court again renewed his license ; and on the 25th of August, 1801, the Clermont County Court granted him r the first time this privilege. Meantime, an opposition tavern had been started on Broadway, north of the schoolhouse, by no less a personage than Thomas Morris, afterwards United States senator ; and to him was granted, May 26, 1801, the first license by the Clermont County Court, which charged therer $8. This building has been described as consisting of three parts or connected cabins, two of which Morris leased to the county r a court-room and jail. In 1803 he was succeeded as a tavern-keeper by Nicholas Sinks, who kept the house until it was discontinued. At that time the road from Newtown to Chillicothe passed by the Sinks tavern and crossed the East Fork