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will, which never yielded where principle and the sense of right were involved. She possessed an active mental organization, grace and dignity in manner and bearing, combined with marked personal beauty.
Christian Heineken was born in Bremen, Germany, Oct. 10, 1720, and on May 22, 1760, married Ann Dix, a lady born of aristocratic ancestry, residing in Cirencester, West England. From this union was born the subject of this sketch, Sept. 12, 1767. She was christened in the parish of St. John, Hackney, London. Educated in the best English schools of her day with young ladies of rank, she became a prominent personage in society in the great British metropolis, and on Jan. 14, 1794, was married to Francis Donaldson, then a lawyer of note and ability in the London courts.
With her husband and seven children she left the comforts and luxuries of a prosperous home in Wales, and crossed the ocean to find another in America, where, freed from the monarchical institutions of Great Britain and the oppressive ceremonies attendant in their train, they might enjoy the civil and religious liberty and opportunity for independent thought and action that this, a republican government, afforded them.
After the death of her beloved husband, Francis Donaldson, Jan. 5, 1824, she resided in Hamilton County, and at her home, near Cincinnati, on the Avondale road, she departed this life, April 30, 1844.
Her son Christian and family lived with her, and adjoining was her son William.
She took an active part in the anti-slavery agitation, begun in the United States more than half a century ago, and by her means, voice, and great social influence largely contributed to swell the increasing volume of unrelenting opposition to negro slavery in America. Many a poor, despised slave she assisted to his or her freedom, and in her the downtrodden black man found a friend. The Donaldsons-herself, her sons and families—were among the leaders in the abolition movement in Cincinnati and Clermont County. Their lives and property were often saved by their heroic conduct or high position in society from the minions of the accursed slave dynasty, then all-powerful in church and state.
Her action at the time the mob destroyed The Philanthropist, published by the lamented James G. Birney, on July 30, 1836, is worthy of recognition in Ohio's annals. Birney could not even attempt his paper in Kentucky, his native State, as he had wished, but was promised support and protection by the Donaldsons and other friends if he came to New Richmond, which he did. They kept their word faithfully, even some of the pro-slavery men being manly enough to insist that the mob from another State should not molest him while in New Richmond.
The paper was removed to Cincinnati, under the advice and counsels of the Donaldsons, to give it a wider field for circulation and influence, and there published some three months, when, July 14th, the press-room was broken open, the press and materials defaced and destroyed. July 23d a meeting of citizens was convened at the lower market- house to decide whether they would permit the publication and circulation of abolition papers in the city. At this meeting a committee was appointed, who opened a correspondence with the conductors of The Philanthropist,- the executive committee of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, of which William Donaldson was a member,—requesting them to discontinue its publication. This effort being unsuccessful, the committee of citizens published the correspondence, to which they appended resolutions, stating that they had used all means for persuasion and conciliation in their power, and deprecated violence, though their tone was rather indicative that it ought to follow and crush out that sheet.
July 30th, very soon after dark, a concourse of citizens assembled at the corner of Main and Seventh Streets, and broke open the printing-office of The Philanthropist, scattered the type into the streets, tore down the presses, and completely dismantled the office.
All the residences of leading abolitionists, such as A. Pugh, Dolby, Birney, and the Donaldsons, were visited, and these pioneer leaders of freedom and their families hooted at and threatened.
At Donaldson's—the ladies were at home alone-the mob made an effort to gain admission to the house ; they were met at the door by Mrs. Donaldson and her two daughters, who assured them that the gentlemen were not within, but if they were not willing to believe their word they could search the house; but the firm, truthful manner and quiet dignity displayed rebuked their rough rudeness, and they left the house unmolested.
Mrs. Donaldson was a Unitarian in her religious belief. She and her family were among the prime movers in organizing the first congregation of that faith in Cincinnati, gave liberally towards building a church, and were earnest and active as members. Mrs. Donaldson was constant in reading and studying the Divine Word up to her decease, and but few women of her day were so well versed in the Scriptures as she. She possessed a clear, vigorous mind, was an intelligent and interested observer of the political events of Great Britain and the United States of the present and past century.
Her society was most entertaining and instructive, her memory an inexhaustible storehouse of facts, and her habit of reading, kept up to the last, made her as much at home in discussing the current topics of the day as she was in relating past events in British and American history.
Of clear perception, with sound judgment, she was ever found on the side of right and justice ; her principles, embodied in convictions, were dearer to her than life; she was the earnest advocate, in word and deed, of enterprises that tended to advance the moral and social welfare of mankind.
The death of this noble woman, so richly endowed with physical beauty, with an active mind thoroughly cultured, and a spirit fully attuned to the Father's will, severed one of the most interesting links that connected two nations and two centuries, leaving hallowed memories of a long, useful, and blameless life to be revered, and most worthy of imitation.
426 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO
WATTS McMURCHY.
George McMurchy was born in Campbelton, Argyle-. shire, Scotland, in 1803. He was well educated at the famous University of Edinburgh, and came when a young man to America, first settling at Stirling Creek, in Brown Co., Ohio. Here he learned the trade of wagon-making, and then went to Mississippi, where he opened his business. There he married Miss Esther Farley, whose family were near relations to the late Gen. Robert E. Lee, of Virginia. Shortly after his wife's death, in 1832, George McMurchy came North, and located at Nicholsville, of this county, where he had two large manufacturing establishments turning out wagons, plows, etc., and he annually shipped several boat-loads South. He at last sold this business, invested in Cincinnati property, and went to surveying and civil engineering, in which art he was proficient. He laid out McMurchy's addition to New Richmond, and with Grubb & Donaldson erected an extensive flouring-mill on the site of the present New Richmond distillery. He died June 20, 1862, and was one of nine brothers who emigrated from Scotland to this country, of whom William died of cholera in 1832, and all but two are now deceased, Donald, a large builder at Jeffersonville, Ind., and Peter, who owns very extensive flour-mills at Shawneetown, Ill. He was an active anti-slavery man, a zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, and of exemplary character. A good citizen and first-class business man. He was also interested in all reforms, and voted the Free-Soil ticket when it only had thirty votes in Ohio township.
Watts McMurchy, son of George and Esther (Farley) McMurchy, was born in Mississippi, March 18, 1832, and his mother died at his birth. He was kindly cared for by her relatives and friends until hp:: sixth year, when he came North to his father at Nicholsville, who in the mean time had married Rebecca Shannon, by whom he had the following children : Margaret, married to Robert McKinlay , Marion ; William ; and Maria, married to James Byrns. Watts attended the district schools, in which his last teacher was N. M. Preble, after which he attended one session at Parker's Academy and one at Cary's Academy at College Hill. When about sixteen years old he clerked on the steamer " Lancaster," in the New Richmond and Cincinnati trade. He afterwards went to California, where he remained fifteen months, mostly in the mines, and returned at the solicitation of his father. He then went to Cincinnati, and learned ship-building with Alexander Temple, in which business he continued two or three years, and until he met with an accident in launching a boat that disabled him from further work. He then speculated in timber, dealing, buying, running, and selling same on the Big Sandy and Kanawha Rivers. He now opened out the lumber business in New Richmond. In 1854, on August 22d, he was married by Rev. 0. E. Newton to A lmira E. Dimmitt, daughter of John and Harriet (Knowles) Dim- milt, by which union were born the following children George Watts McMurchy (an attorney of New Richmond, and of the legal firm of Lennin & McMurchy), Hattie Knowles McMurchy, Esther Farley McMurchy, James Byrns McMurchy, and Katie Dimmitt, the latter deceased in her infancy. In 1855, in connection with N. M Preble, he built the large saw-mills, and continued in that business until the breaking out of the Rebellion. In that war he raised a company, the third reported in Ohio, Co. C, of Twelfth Ohio Infantry, of which he was captain. At the expiration of the three months' service he again recruited it for three years in same regiment, and went with rt to Virginia. After the battle of Carnifex Ferry he com manded the regiment from that point to Big Sewell Moun tain, and thence to Hawk's Nest. In 1862 he resigned his commission in the service on account of his father death, which compelled him to come home to settle up hrs estate. He now operated and controlled the New Rrch mond wharf and tannery, and was in other general busrness, speculating in grain, etc. He was one of the organize', of the First National Bank of New Richmond, in which he was a director for many years, as well as vice-president and one of its managers. He has served as mayor of hr. crtyo and repeatedly been a member of its council and school board. He built the Arcade in 1878, and has ever beet, largely interested in the growth of his city. He was in 1853 made a Mason in Buckeye Lodge, No. 78, and has served as its Worshipful Master. He received the Royal Arch and other capitular degrees in the Batavia Chapter He belongs to the New Richmond Lodge, A. 0. I: W No. 43. He with his family are members of the Chris tian Church. For thirty years he has been closely connected with the business interests of his city, and in a great degree has contributed to its prosperity by his gen erous public spirit.
Owing to a stroke of paralysis some two years ago he has retired from active business, but still continues in general trading and speculation. Originally an old-line Whig, he is now a strong Republican, and one of the most active
OHIO TOWNSHIP - 427
workers of his party. In the campaign of 1872 he was. a Liberal Republican, and supported Horace Greeley for President, and was a delegate to the convention nominating him, and an alternate delegate to the one that nominated Hayes in 1876. Although an active politician, he never has been a candidate for office, but about 1863 was appointed by the government general inspector of liquors and tobacco for Ohio sixth district, which position he held some five years, and resigned when the business of the office had been so cut down as not to be remunerative.
D. E. FEE.
At the beginning of the present century there emigrated to this county from Virginia, before Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State, four brolhers, William, Thomas, Elisha, and Elijah Fee, who, with their numerous descendants, were destined to play a most conspicuous part in the eventful history of Clermont. William Fee, on Sept. 15, 1805, purchased of Maj. Nicholas Carter, the patentee, his survey of four hundred acres, and on April 19, 1817, in connection with Rev. Peter Hastings, laid out the town of Felicity, —named and christened in honor of the Fees. He was a representative from Clermont in the Seventh General Assembly of Ohio, that assembled at Chillicothe, Dec. 5, 1808; a senator in the Ninth Legislature, that met at Zanesville in December of 1810 ; and a representative again in the Fourteenth General Assembly, that sat at Chillicothe in the winter of 1815-16 ; but the latter was contested by one Christian Miles, an elector, on the ground of Mr. Fee's holding a lucrative office, that of inspector, and he was decided ineligible. But Mr. Fee was again promptly reelected by his constituents, and resumed his seat Jan. 3, 1816. He held various local positions of trust and importance in the early days of the county, and left three sons,— Thomas, Arthur, and Jesse Fee. Of these Arthur was the father of the Rev. William I. Fee, presiding elder of the Ripley district of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a preacher of great influence and eloquence. Jesse Fee was married on Dec. 31, 1822, by Rev. John Powell, to Miss Maria Knowles, a sister of Alonzo Knowles (the latter a well-known lawyer of Clermont, and had seven children), of whom one son died in infancy, two daughters—Mahala and Emily Dorcas—died unmarried, and four sons—O. P. S., D. E., Martin T., and Luther K. Fee—are living.
Mrs. Maria Fee, an excellent woman, died many years ago, but her husband, Jesse,-" Uncle Jesse," as he was universally called,-died in March, 1880, over fourscore years of age. His second son, Darlington Edward Fee, was born at Felicity, Oct. 11, 1832, and was there educated by such able teachers as Edward F. W. Ellis, killed at Pittsburg Landing while colonel of an Illinois regiment, and Rev. Bellville, a classical instructor of great note. At twelve years of age he began clerking for the firm of Knowles & Fee (his uncle and brother), and afterwards for Dimmitt (Moses S.) & Fee. In 1853 he went into partnership with his brother, in the firm of O. P. S. & D. E. Fee, which afterwards merged into Fallin (J. S.), Fee & Co., and at last into O. P. S. Fee & Co. (of O. P. S., D. E., M. T., and L. K. Fee), which firm continued at Felicity in general merchandising until 1869, when D. E. Fee removed to New Richmond and was elected president of the First National Bank of that village. This position he held about ten months, when he resigned and was unanimously chosen cashier of the same institution, which place he has held ever since, having been annually re-elected by a unanimous vote. While residing at Felicity he served several years as clerk and afterwards treasurer of Franklin township. In 1861 he was elected on the Democratic ticket as treasurer of Clermont County, leading the ticket of his party and receiving in his own township all but sixty-three votes in a poll of some eight hundred. In 1865 he was re-elected county treasurer, again leading his ticket some three hundred votes. He has since served two years as treasurer of Ohio township and six as treasurer of New Richmond, being the only Democratic treasurer that village has ever had.
In 1853 he became a member of Sewanie Lodge, No. 95, I. O. O. F., and afterwards of the Encampment in the same village, Felicity. Of the latter he was a charter member, and in both he has repeatedly passed all the chairs. In this order he served with great popularity as Chief Patriarch of Ohio for one year, and he has often been a representative in the Grand Lodge and Encampment of the State and in the Grand Lodge of the United States. He is a devoted member of the fraternity, and to it he has largely contributed in time, money, and talents. He also belongs to New Richmond Lodge, No. 43, of the Ancient Order of
428 - HISTORY OF CLARMONT COUNTY, OHIO
United Workmen. He very early joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which, in this county, for fourscore years the Fees have been active memberse and from whom have gone forth many eminent ministers.
In June, 1873, he married Miss Kate D. Dimmitt, of Mason Co., Ky., a daughter of Dr. Addison Dimmitt, by whom he has two sons and a daughter. Mr. Fee started in life with a capital composed only of energy, honesty, and a clear business mind, and has achieved a marked success, and has a business character and reputation second to none in the county. In the banking and business circles of Southern Ohio he is universally known and esteemed for his ability and integrity. In the past year he has refused the offers of several banking institutions of Cincinnati to accept in them cashierships of great responsibility and of greater financial profit to him than the one he now holds, but he refuses to leave the village of his adoption and the happy surroundings of his pleasant home.
DAVID WHITE.
For over three-quarters of a century the name of David White has been honored and respected in Southern Clermont, two persons of note bearing it. David White, Sr., was born in Virginia in the year 1774, and about 1796 emigrated to Ohio and settled in Adams County, on Brush Fork, where he married Nancy Cummings. To them were born, in Adams County, Mary, on Jan. 11, 1799, who married Walcott Lewis, and Elizabeth, on June 18, 1800, who married Elisha Lewis. In 1802, David White, Sr., with his wife and two children, moved to Clermont and settled upon the famous Waters survey, in Ohio township, near where Lindale now is, and which survey in later years was the subject of so much litigation from its defective title. To them were born, in Clermont, Rebecca, on April 15, 1803, who married Gorge Casteel ; Margaret, on June 24, 1806, who died when a little girl ; David White, the subject of this sketch, on March 17, 1808 ; Alexander, on Feb. 7, 1811, who Hies in Indiana ; Nancy, on June 19, 1813; and Margaret on March 23, 1818. His first wife having died, David White, Sr., was married on October 22, 1818, by Timothy Rardin, justice of the peace, to Peggy Bradley, by whom he had the following children : William, born June 2, 1821, living near Lindale; Caroline, born April 13, 1824, and married to Samuel B. Sims ; Fanny, born March 26, 1826, who died unmarried ; Harriet Jane, born March 21, 1830, married first to Thomas Hamilton, and after his death to a Mr. Jenkins.
David White, Sr., in pioneer days, from 1796 to 1810, was the most famous hunter and remarkable shot with his rifle in Adams and Clermont Counties. He served as justice of the peace of Ohio township from 1815 to 1838, and finally declined any further re-elections. His magistrate's commissions, signed by Governors Thomas Worthington, Ethan Allen Brown, Allen Trimble, Jeremiah Morrow, Duncan McArthur, and Robert Lucas, are still preserved as heirlooms by his son David. In 1829 he was elected county commissioner and served three years, having for his colleagues Samuel Perin, Zebina Williams, Samuel Hill, and John Randall. He was in the war of 1812, and was an ardent Jeffersonian Democrat. His many long years in public life, his connection with the litigation attending the Waters survey of Ohio and Monroe townships, his unequaled use of the rifle, and his many good qualities as citizen made him well and favorably known, and for two decades and a half he was a power of influence in the county. He died in the fall of 1851, at the age of seventy-seven years, respected and esteemed by the whole community.
David White, the fifth child of David White, Sr., had but limited educational facilities, but those he improved at a time when schools were few and books almost unknown. His zeal for study, however, overcame all difficulties, and he acquired a mastery of the English branches. He was married to Fanny Dillon, a granddaughter of that early large land-proprietor, Zachariah Chapman, on June 8, 1826, by Ichabod Temple, justice of the peace, and by this marriage the following children were born : Edward, Dec. 31, 1829; Betsey, Nov. 12, 1831, and married to Littleton Hancock ; Rebecca, April 28, 1833, married to Isaac Dunham ; Nancy, Aug. 28, 1835, and who died in her eighth year ; Alexander, Dec. 5, 1837, married to Julia Ann Boatman ; Andrew, April 7, 1840, unmarried and living with his father ; Mary, May 18, 1842, married to David H. McKibben, deceased ; William, May 7, 1844 ; Phoebe, in 1846, and married to Rufus Vail. In December, 1829, he moved on to the farm he now owns, which his father had held and owned twenty-two years before, and where for fifty-one years he has resided and to which he has added largely by subsequent purchases. His beautiful farm of some three hundred acres is on the New Richmond and Ohio turnpike, just between Mount Pisgah and Lindale, lying principally in the Waters survey. His residence is a substantial two-story brick dwelling, lying back from the pike and in the centre of his lands. His family
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attends the Baptist church, to whose support, though not a member, he is a regular contributor. He is a decided Democrat, and cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Jackson in 1832. He has always refused to be a candidate for any office, though taking the liveliest interest in
the politics of the country. For fourscore years his family —his father and himself—has occupied the land he now owns, and in all that time has always stood high in public esteem as connected with good citizenship and furnishing public-spirited men and first-class practical farmers.
PIERCE.
THIS township forms the southwest part of the county, its southern border being washed by the Ohio River and Hamilton County forming the western boundary ; on the north are Union and Batavia townships, and on the east Monroe and Ohio, Pierce having been a part of the latter until 1853, making it the youngest township in the county. The southern and western parts of Pierce are hilly, with an irregular surface (except along the Ohio, where is a narrow belt of meadow-lands), whose rugged nature unfits a part of it for general cultivation, yet adapting other parts for the culture of the grape and the larger fruits. Northeast of the centre are level uplands, containing fine farms and good improvements. The principal stream is Ten-Mile Creek, flowing through the township from northeast to southwest. It has several tributary streams, and formerly had a considerable volume of water, which was made to do service in operating a number of mills. In the western part of Pierce, flowing south, is Nine-Mile Creek, a small but rapid and, at times, troublesome stream. Nearly every part of the township is well drained.
PIONEER SETTLERS.
From the fact that Pierce was for so long a time a part of Ohio township, much of its pioneer history appears in that connection. The John family was one of the first to settle within the bounds of the present township. James John, a native of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Kentucky in 1794, and two years later settled at the mouth of. Nine- Mile Creek, where he owned 300 acres of land. He was accompanied by several of his brothers, who soon went to other parts of the State. He died in the course of six or eight years, leaving a family of seven children,—five sons and two daughters,—viz.: Thomas, David, Lemuel, William, and John, and daughters who married Isaiah Ferguson and James Fitzpatrick. The eldest son, Thomas, married Sarah Witham, and resided on the homestead, which is at present owned by the Latham heirs. He died about forty years ago, and was the father of Dr. Thomas John and his brothers James, Morris, and William D., the latter yet living in the township, at Pleasant Valley. David, the second son, married Martha Shaw, and lived on Nine-Mile until his death, leaving a large family ; Lemuel, the third son, was a cabinet-maker, and died at Cincinnati ; and the other sons died in Pierce.
The ancestral line of the Denham family, like most famides of early settlement in this country, comes down mostly to us by tradition, and while in the main it is probably correct, yet in much of that relating to past centuries there is at least uncertainty. No doubt, however, is felt as to the nationality of a few preceding generations.
The family is of Spanish descent. The original name in Spain was " Don Singleton." Some time towards the close of the sixteenth century one of the ancestry of this Don Singleton family had become eminent, at least noted, as an active member of the Liberal party, or it might have been then termed the rebel party in that century. He was arrested, tried, and banished. After sentence he escaped and fled to Scotland, where he assumed the name of Don Ham, which finally became the single name "Donham."
A son or grandson of this expatriated ancestor removed to America, and became a resident of that part of the new country now known as New Jersey.
This first American ancestor was twice married in New Jersey. By his former wife there was born to him but one child, christened by name John. By the second marriage there were three sons and one daughter. The sons were William, Jonathan, and Nathaniel. The name of the daughter is to the presentr generation, here in Ohio, unknown. John, the elder and half-brother, by some means succeeded in getting into possession of the entire estate of his father, and remained on the homestead, said to have been a large landed estate, but, we suppose, not very valuable at that period.
The brother Jonathan married and remained a resident of New Jersey. The other brother, William, married and removed to the northern part of the State of Alabama. We have no farther account of either of them.
This Nathaniel Donham, the first of that Singleton family (now Donham) in the direct ancestral line whose Christian name is known here at this time, married Mary Sutton in New Jersey, and for his second wife Keziah Crossley, of the same State. He removed to. Pennsylvania, and from there to Ohio. He made this move westward by passing over the Allegheny Mountains, following the military road " cut out" by the English pioneers for the march of Gen. Braddock's army on his advance from the seaboard to Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh), during the war known in the early history of this country as the " British war with the French and Indians." He settled temporarily on the Monongahela River, about sixty miles above Pitts-
430 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
burgh, near Ten-Mile Creek, about where the old village of Mapleton is located, in Greene Co., Pa. Here his first wife died, and here he married his second wife, and here the younger members of his family were born. He came to that State about the time of the Declaration of Independence. At that early period but few if any of the necessaries or comforts of life could be found in this wilderness, and the settlers were compelled to procure in limited quantities such indispensable things as could be brought over the mountains " from the East." This of necessity led to the establishment of a transportation line of packhorses.
Nathaniel, as we are told, became an enterprising conductor of one of these then fast lines of transit, engaged in carrying in pack-saddles, lashed to horses, those necessary commodities through this long wilderness to his good people at their home in the woods. After a few years in this service, and having accumulated a httle means, he emigrated still farther into the West, came down the Ohio River with most of his family, and landed at the mouth of the Little Miami, A.D. 1794, twelve miles above Cincinnati. In a short time he made his way about twelve miles up that little stream, and established a home on what was then, and is still, known as the " Round Bottom" of the Little Miami River.
The annual decay of vegetation grown on this luxuriant valley tended to produce malarial fevers, especially in the fall season, This fact induced him to make one more move, into his final home on the waters of Ten-Mile Creek, now Pierce township. Here he spent the remainder of his days in clearing his lands and raising crops and caring for his family. He lived a quiet, unpretentious life, and his remains lie in the country church-yard at the foot of the hill, marked only by a single rude stone monument.
As before stated, Nathaniel Donham, of New Jersey, was twice married. He had born to him by the first marriage three sons and one daughter. The daughter never came West. The sons were David, John, and Lewis. By the second marriage there were six sons and one daughter, Mary, Henry, Abel, William, Amos, Robert, and Jonathan Singleton, Of these, five of the brothers served in the war against Great Britain A.D. 1812, to wit: Abel, Amos, Robert, and Jonathan S. All of the family are at this time dead, Jonathan S., the youngest and last, having died A.D. 1856.
Of the eldest brothers, David and Lewis remained in Greene County, Pa., and died many years since. They each left a small family, who, as far as we are advised, never removed from that oounty.
Of the children who settled with their father, Nathaniel, in Clermont Co., Ohio, John, the eldest, began early in life to acquire a landed estate. His home, through his long life, was on the waters of Ten-Mile Creek; Ohio township, near the last residence of his father. He was a very industrious and frugal man, By his industry and economy he acquired several large and valuable farms ; in fact, became one of the most extensive land-holders in the county. Ho was twioe married. The maiden name of his first wife was Sallie Jennings.; that of the second was Elizabeth Brown. By the fanner wife he had sons Isaac, David, and Jonathan, and daughter Mary. By the second wife he had eons Nathaniel and John, daughters Margaret, Sarah, Jenetta, and Elizabeth. He was at one time a member of the Ohio State Senate.
Henry married and removed to Clay Co., Ind., early in life. He never had any children. He was also a farmer, and acquired a fair estate.
Abel married Elizabeth Ferguson, and early began his life as a farmer on the headwaters of Ten-Mile Creek, Ohio township. He also acquired a good, valuable farm, upon which he spent his long and industrious life. Reared three sons, John, Lewis, and Abel, and eight daughters, Mary, Keziah, Hiley, Elvira, Cynthia, Julia, Sarah, and Nancy.
William married Sarah Arthur, and founded a home for himself on the western hills of Ten-Mile Creek, near Pleasant Hill. By the time he arrived at middle age he had also acquired a good farm of rich, well-improved land. Reared seven sons and three daughters. Sons were George, Abijah, Joseph, Ira, Darias, William, and Abel ; daughters were Rhchel, Keziah, and Melissa. He and all of his family removed to Clay Co., Ind.
Amos, while a young man, removed into Brown Co., Ohio, and there married. Had three sons, Dennis, Ewell, and Robert. He went South about the year A.D, 1832, and it is supposed died soon after.
Robert married Ruth Ferguson, and purchased in a few years a good farm adjoining the home of his brother John, and for many years continued to add to his acres by purchase until he had by the time he arrived at middle age a large farm, well improved. He, also, was an industrious and enterprising farmer, and did much to encourage and support good common schools in the country ; served for several years as county commissioner of Clermont County, and was a man much respected throughout the county. Reared a family of seven sons, John, Isaiah, Nathaniel, Isaac, Robert, Zachariah, and Thomas. Two of these—Isaac and Zachariah—died unmarried. Four daughters, Nancy, Eliza, Mary, and Ruth.
Jonathan S. was the youngest, of the family ; was a child when his father came West. When a good-sized boy he went to live with his brother John, who had then already acquired a good farm. His inclination was more for trading, particularly in live-stock, which business he followed until he succeeded in purchasing himself a good farm on the eastern hills of Twelve-Mile Creek, in Ohio township. This he enlarged by additional purchases until he had acquired several hundred acres. Throughout life he made stock-raising his principal business; did much by way of importing into Southern Clermont its best stock of horses and cattle, He was twice married,—the first wife, Hiley Ross ; the second, Elizabeth Ayres. There were no children by the former, By the latter there were raised four sons and seven daughters. The sons were Perry J., Harrison L., Erasmus J., Robert W. The daughters were Hiley Ann, Evaline, Eliza M., Florella J., Caroline E., Harriet L., Cordelia E. His widow is the only surviving mother of any of the eleven families, is now eighty-three years of age, and is drawing a pension from the government on account of services of her departed husband in the
EBEN S. RICKER
In the aatiquity aad celebrity of its honored lineage and ia honorable associatioas wlth the material growth, political developmeat, and literary aad social culture of the county, no family in Clermoat has ever surpassed that of Ricker, which has always beea in the foreground of all movements for the advancement of the county materially, as well as in everything pertaining to educational progress. The Ricker family is fouad very early in the Puritan settlements on Massachusetts Bay, aNd occupies a promiaent place in the annals of New England in its earliest history aad all throogh the Colonlal period, including the Revolutionary war, in which great struggle it was found batning on the side of humanity and the rights of the people. In Great Britain it is traced through a remarkable and distiaguished pedigree back to the time of William the Coaqueror, and its achievements adora maay of the brightest pages of Eaglish history. This famous family, desceaded through the Weatworths,-illustrious personages on the pages of English annals,- sprang from Rynold (or Reginald) de Wynterwade, a baron of great wealth, high renown, and strong power, who lived at the zenith of his greatness in 1066, at the time of the invasion and conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy. The next seven succeeding heads of this famous fondly were Henry de Wyntword, Richard de Wentworth, Michael de Wentworth, Heary de Wentworth, Hogh Wentworth (who died in the year 1200, A.D ), and William Wentworth. Twenty-one mare generations followed of this ancient and celebrated fancny, until we find Elder William Wentworth, the first f the name in America, nn historical accooat of whom placed his first knowa appearance in New England in the year 1639, nineteen years subsequent to the landiag f the historic "Mayflower.'' Mary Wentworth, fourth generation from Elder William Wentworth, nnd a granddaughter of Timothy Wentworth, married Jabez Ricker, by whom she had ten chndren. Jabez was born 1742, and died 1,38. Deborah, also of fourth generatioa from Elder Wnliam Wentworth, married Joseph Ricker. Samuel Ricker, son of Jabez and Mary (Wentworth) Ricker, was born in Berwick, Me., July 7, 1766, nnd mauled, Jan. 17, 1790 Susana, daoghter f Benjamin and Maly Jewett, who wren born in Londonderry, N. H., March 12,, 1770. To this coople, the first of the family to settle in Clermont, were buns seven children,-Rufus, April 3, 1791, in Sanford, Me., and who died June 29, 1846, and laid out Davenport, Ia., where he was judge ten years. Jabez, born May 25, 1794, in Poland, Me.; was never married ; taught the first school at Union School-House, in Monroe township of this county ; and was drowned, Jan. 12, 1821, in the Arkansas River. Benjamin Jewett, bora in Poland, Me., July 7, 1796, was the hither f the late Maj. Ethridge G. Ricker, and died oct. 19, 1861. Snmuel, born Feb. 3, 1,00, in Poland, Me.; senator in Louisiana in 1840; consul-general at Frankfort eight years. Simne, born in Poland, Me., Nov. 1, 1,02, waffled John Fitzpatrick, and died Sept. 10, 1854. Eben S. Ricker, the sobject of this sketch, born in Poland, Me., March 9, 1805: and the youngest, Darius, born April 25, 1810, and died July 15, 1855. Snmuel and Susana (Jewett) Ricker, parents of above seven children, emigrated from Maene to Clermont County in 1814, and settled at Pleasant Hill, then in Ohio, now Pierce township, where some of their descendants reside to this day. They were a most worthy couple, with the marked characteristics of their respective families, Snoam (Jewett) being of the noted Jewett fancily tan well and favorably known in American and English history, and which for many generations had intermarried with the Wentworths and Ricker. Simnel Ricker, after a long and useful life of seventy-two years, died at Pleasant Hill, March 30, 1838, and his beloved wife survived him till Oct. 20, 1855, when, in her eighty-fifth year, loved and mourned by a vast number if relatives and the whole community, she departed this life. Eben S. Ricker inherited the noblest qoalities of blood from a long line of illustrious ancestors, nnd by a life of study added to his naturnl genius became one f the most cultured men of Clermont, and dedicated his life to science, literature, and the service of humanity. He was liberally educated in the best schools of Southern ohlo, and had access to the best families of Cincinnati. He married, Feb. 10, 1828, Harriet, daughter f John and Mary Pumpelly, who was born in the State of Maine, May 11, 1803, and sprang from one f New England's oldest and most respected families. The issoe of this union was Celia Pumpelly Ricker, born May 21, 1830, and married, Aog. 24, 1854, to Dr. Hiram Prease, of Napoleon, Ohlo ; aad Ellen Tree Ricker, born Mny 16,1835, and mnrried, Oct. 9, 1856, to Dr. Z. Freeman, of Cincinnati. Eben S. Ricker taught school for maay years in his younger days, and acqoired aa enviable reputation as Clermont's most successful educator. Ile was one f the first to discard the old systems of tyraanical rule and arbitrary government that recognized nothing in the youth but depravity, and to institute a new method that had for its corner-stone the broad foundations of humanity. He appealed to the hearts of his pupils, gaiaed their affections, studied their temperaments and dispositions, and hence he. needed no iron sway of discipline to govern or control his scholars, who loved aad respected him, and as a necessary consequence made rapid progress under his administration. lie early became prficieat in mathematics, aad the best surveyor in this part of the State. This study was his speciality, and to it for years the best energies of his powerful mind were directed. The bosom friend of the late Gen. O. M. Mitchell, after the lamented death of this renowaed scholar and soldier Mr. Ricker was offered the presidency of the Cincinaati Observatory, the finest astronomical and mathematical institution in America, tut the state of his business compelled him to decline this distinguished honor. Mr. Ricker made a glorious name by his early identification and connection with the anti-slavery cause, in which his warm heart, ever beating for distressed and down-trodden humanity, led him to hike part, and work wnh the old-time abolitionists and liberty men, like Salmon P. Chase, Samuel Lewis, Levi Coffin, Dr. John G. Rogers, the Donaldsons, Jacob Huber, aad other noted chieftains of the then despised abolition party, working for the freedom of the negro slave. With Wesley he believed negro slavery to be the sum of all villanies and the greatest of human wrongs, aad he was ootspoken and iadependent; hence he engaged in the anti-slavery struggle with great earnestness aad zeal, and in him the enslaved African race found a faithful friend and helper. In the first years of the Liberty and afterwards the Free-Soil party in Clermont, he was repeatedly its candidate for county surveyor for the purpose of keeping up and strengthening its organization, lint after the creation of the Republican party and there was a probability of his being eleeted he refosed to be a candidate, as he wns averse to holding office. He lived to see his works successful and his hopes end in fruitioa in the blotting out of the accorsed institution of slavery, although to effect it the heart's blood f the nateon was pcnred out in torrents. Its was particularly interested in agrieulture and horticulture, nnd his fine farm was a picture of neatness, system, and beauty, and his must pleasant surroundings of trees, shrubbery, lawns, flowers, and fruits marked his fine tastes, and pointed him out as a man of culture and refmement. He was the first to introduce the osage hedge into the county. He also gave much attention to sorghum culture,. on which he wrote a book, and was offered the presidency of the American Sorghum and Cane Association, held et St. Louis, which he accepted, but on account of being unable to attend its session nt its meeting in February, 1879, an essay of his on the production of this cane was read by Col. Coleman, a paper of marked ability, and a unanimous vote of thanks was tendered Mr. Ricker for his essay, which was the subject of much discussion in the country, and brought him a deserved reputation. In 1878 he mule the tour of Europe with his daughter, the accumplished Mrs. Dr. Freemaa, and her husband and son, and in his trip took full nnd copious notes f his observatione of persons and things, and which he intended for publication, but his death the ensuing year, before he had completed his book, preveated. Mr. Ricker kept a diary all his life, and the next to the last entry in it was Feb. 10, 1879, the fifty-first aUniversary of his marriage, and in it he speaks of the previous year as one of the moat eventful in his life, and refers to his extended tour through Europe. He was a splendid mathematician and took a high rank among the scholars and literati of the country, and though self-educated mostly, he was a student to his death, and but few of the professors in our colleges and universitiies surpassed him in breadth and depth of learaing. On religious as upon all other topics he was liberal, had his own opinions, was a member of no church, but accorded the free rights of ealightened conscience to others, and took it for himself in all spiritual matters. Years ago, before sectarianism reared its opinionated head, he projected the Pleasaat Hill Sabbath-school, founded its library from his own meaas, and was at its head as teacher; this he did as a means only for the improvement and guidaace of the yoong in good morals, aad to lead them in correct walks of life. A Republican in politics, he cordially sustained the government in its war for the suppression of the Rebellion, and on the Union as upon other topics he was a frequeat coatributor to the press aad the periodicals. He died March 1, 1879, and in his death scieace and literature lost a warm friend aad society a good citizen. He sprang from a family which bears a stainless reputation fur hoaesty and integrity, and is equally noted for its ability. Concerning complex traits f character, it may be justly said of Mr. Ricker that the record of his noble life is a problem from which they are readily determined. Solving, we find that he possessed a charaeter for industry comprehending faithfulness yet transcending it, aad a perseverance both energetic and untiring. Personal coatact with the man revealed immense social and professional enthusiasm, noble generosity, and a fine, sympathetic nature. He was a man of genius aad ability, of positive character and magnetic influence, and one who, having taken a position, maiatained it with his whole streagth. To these qualnies must be added that high sease of honor which forbade the sacrifice of principle to policy. He was a man of large heart, of strong and active mind, and of high and earaest purpose. His affectlon for his famiry and friends was most sincere. He held his convictions with the stroagest grasp and avowed them with the utmost independence aad coorage, heace his life was a useful one and the world greatly benefited thereby. Mr. picker's eldest daughter, Celia Pumpelly, now the wife f Dr. Hiram Freese, graduated at Ciacinnati Eclectic Medical College in 1854. Dr. Z. Freeman, husband of ElleU Tree, Mr. Rickets second daughter, was born July 17, 1826, in Nova Scotia, aad was the fourth son of Zohith and Darinda Freeman. The Premiums are of pure English descent, and descended from Edmund Freeman, born in England in 1590, aad who emigrated to America in 1631, settling at Saugus, now Lynn, Mass. The Freemans in Great Britain have a very great antiquity, and their descendants in New Eagland and Nova Scotia are very numeroos, and eminent in scieace and literature, and their family genealogy has been elaborately set out in an elegant published volume. Dr. Z. Freeman is Professor of Surgery in Ciacinnati Eclectic Medical College, which position he took at twenty-one years of age, the youngest medical professor in the United States, and which he has so ably filled for a third of a century. His son, Leonard Ricker Freeman, born Dec. 16, 1860, is a student in the Cincinnati McMakin University. His. Dr. Z. Freeman is distiaguished as an artist in carving, aad her name appears in the book giving the names of the Cincianati ladies who contriboted and did the magaificeat carving upon the organ in Spriager's Cincinnati Music Hall, a monument to their taste and artistic skill.
Mr. Ricker's wife, Harriet Pumpelly, was a descendant of John Pumpelly, the first of his family to come to America, aad who married Miss Eppen Hillibrants Meijer, daoghter of the governor of Gronigen. This beautiful lady, from whom all the Pompellys in America are descended, was born in the qoeen's palace when her father nnd mother were visiting Windsor Castle. Mrs. Dr. Z. Freeman is assisting in compiling the data to publish the Pumpelly genealogy in book form, and is ia correspendence with its author, Professor Raphael Pumpelly, the dlstinguished professor of Harvard University, and one of the most eminent scientific men in the world. She partakes largely of the culture and scholarship of her father, Eben S. Ricker. The tour in Eorope, in 1878, of the Tourjee educational party, of which Eben S. Ricker, Dr. Freeman, wife, and sou were members, has been ably written up by L. L. Holden, in a neat volume.
PIERCE TOWNSHIP - 431
war of 1812, and is, for one of' her age, quite healthy and active.
Hezekiah Lindsey was born in Westmoreland Co., Pa., Jan. 5, 1781. In 1800 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Laycock, and settled south ofsi the Ten-Mile Creek. He opened a farm from the dense forest, and often said " that he worked so hard in chopping and burning logs that he would be so black when he came in at night his own dogs would not know him." He enlisted as a soldier, and marched to the rehef of Fort Meigs in 1812. He soon became a prominent member of the Ten-Mile church, which he joined in 1804, and was elected and ordained a deacon, which position he held with honor and fidelity for fifty-five years. Up to the time of his death his door was always open to the wayfarer, and he gave with liberal hand to the widow and orphan. His residence was the home of the ministers and laymen of his church. His wife died in 1828. He then married Elizabeth Ritchie in 1830, with whom he lived until his decease, and reared a large family, of whom Rev. Stephen Lindsey (Baptist minister) is one. Deacon Lindsey deceased May 22, 1865, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Perhaps no settler in this part of the country was better known or more respected than he, as his philanthropy and Christian character shone out in all his walks and made him beloved by all who knew him. The church records show that he kept the church and furnished supplies ten years for $4. He led the part of the membership that seceded from the Old-School Baptist in 1840, organizing themselves into the New-School Baptist, which finally removed, a majority of the membership building the new Baptist church at Amelia ; many of the members remain and still worship at the Ten-Mile church. Once, when they first organized in the country, in 1819, a Freemason was admitted into the church. Deacon Lindsey was deputized to lay the matter before the General Baptist Association, which convened at Hamer's Run in 1820. The following is the query and the answer of the Association. Query: Is Freemasonry consistent with the commandments and examples left by Jesus Christ for his disciples to follow, or is it not? Answer : The Association advise that their brethren who have connected with the Freemasons, or any other unnecessary institution, humbly withdraw from them, and that we all freely forgive them on their so doing."
Rev. William Robb, a Baptist minister, was one of the earliest settlers on the upper waters of Nine-Mile, locating there about 1800. Among the sons he here reared were Peter, John, William, James, and George Robb, nearly all of whom deceased in the county. Two of the daughters married Joseph Arthur and Andrew Gray. William Robb was an active, useful man, and was greatly respected by his neighbors.
Elijah Ward, a native of New Jersey, emigrated to Hamilton County before 1800. In 1813 he purchased 110 acres of land on Pleasant Hill, where he made his home, dying in that locality in 1862. One of his daughters married George Idlet, of Monroe, and of his sons, Sanford is a prominent citizen of Western Pierce ; Elon resides at Palestine, James H. in Monroe, Stephen removed to Missouri, William to Indiana, Elijah to Illinois, and John Wesley died at Pleasant Hill. In 1815, Nehemiah Ward, the father ofsi Elijah, Sr., came to Pierce, and remained until his death, about 1840. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and had been engaged at the battle of Trenton. At his death he was upwards ofsi ninety years of age, and his wife, Elizabeth, became a centenarian. For a time alter 1817 Lewis Ward, another of his sons, lived in Pierce. A sister of the Wards was the wife of Thomas Oilskins, who settled in the northwestern part of Pierce about 1818. He was the father of Dr. Cyrus Gaskins, of Amelia ; Dr. John Gaskins, of Adams County ; William Gaskins, of Withamsville ; and of another son, Sylvester, living in Indiana. John Gaskins came from Bedford Co., Va., in 1824, and purchased the improvements made by a man named Ridley, in the upper part of Pleasant Valley. Here he died in 1879, and his family yet occupy the place.
Along the Hamilton County line Joshua Durham, who is yet living at Cherry Grove, aged ninety-two years, was a pioneer. The farm he improved is now occupied by his son Daniel, and other sons, Stephen and Joshua, live in Union township.
John Behymer, the eldest of a large family of this name, came from Virginia in 1805, and settled on Ten-Mile Creek, his home place being now occupied by Maj. Ricker's family, where he resided until his death. Of his family was Jacob Behymer, who improved the farm now owned by John Behymer ; and other sons were Elias and Daniel Behymer, yet living in Pierce. Jonathan Behymer, a brother of John, removed to the West after having lived a number of years in the township. A third brother, Daniel, lived on the farm now occupied by Elias Behymer. Solomon Behymer, the fourth of the brothers, settled in the northern part of Pierce, and members of his family yet remain in the towUship. Joel Behymer was born in 1789, and lived north of the central part of Pierce. He died in January, 1876, leaving 10 children, 44 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren, Other members of this numerous family were Joseph, Samuel, Nathaniel, and Enoch, and the descendants at one time constituted a large proportion of the population of Pierce. Samuel Beckett, a nephew of the Behymers, came to Pierce in 1815, but returning to Virginia, remained in that State ten years, when he again took up his abode in Pierce, living there at the age of eighty-six years, and being one of the oldest men in the township.
Elijah Mattox came from Virginia to Kentucky, and in 1810 settled a mile and a half from Pleasant Hill, where he died in 1842. He was a local Methodist preacher, and having been twice married, had 17 children, which attained mature years. Of these a son, Elijah, is living near Pleasant Hill, in the eighty-sixth year of' his age. Other sons, John, William, Lewis, Miles, and Edmund, removed to the West, and Jabez died in Tate.
John and Isaac Short, natives of Virginia, also became residents of Pierce in 1810, the former settling on the W. H. Wellman place, He was a great hunter, and many adventures are related of his skill. Of his family of six sons, Samuel removed to Indiana, Ephraim removed to the same State, William died on the homestead, in 1816, Isaac lived near Amelia, and Jacob removed to the West. The sons of Isaac Short, Sr., also removed to the West, but
432 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
a number of the descendants of these families yet remain in the county.
In the same locality, Thomas Woods, a Revolutionary soldier, was among the pioneers. At his house some of the early Methodist meetings were held.
Fred Eppert, from Rockingham Co., Va., immigrated to Pierce in the fall of 1806, and after living a while at the forks of Ten-Mile, settled on the place now owned by E. Cole. He died in 1846. His family, when he came to Clermont, consisted of three children,—John, Jacob, and Elizabeth,—and six more were born in the township. Of the latter, William was born Jan. 26, 1807, and has resided in Pierce ever since, serving for many years as a justice of the peace. The other children were David, Peter, Samuel, Mary, and Sarah, but none, except William, survive.
Daniel Kirgan, an Irishman, settled on the Ohio pike, west from Amelia, in 1809, having a part of his farm in Batavia township. One of his sons, Alexander, was killed while assisting in raising a building for Stephen Lindsey. Others of his sons were named John, Thomas, David, and William, and of their descendants some yet live in Pierce.
William Nash, after living a short time on Indian Creek, before 1800 and after, at the age of fifteen years (about 1810) came with his parents to the northern part of Pierce, where his father was killed by the falling of a tree while he was clearing his farm. Other sons were James and Henry, all of whom settled on the tract purchased by their father. The daughters—Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Nancy— married members of the Kirgan and Robinson families. William Nash was the father of Lewis Nash, a prominent farmer of Pierce, and but few members of this once numerous family now remain.
The settlement of Chapman Archer, on Ten-Mile Creek, was made at an early day. He was of Irish descent, but came from Virginia about the beginning of the present century. His only son, Benjamin, deceased a few years ago. The daughters married Alfred West, Ezekiel Lewis, Edward Morin, Michael Behymer, and Richard Ayres.
The present N. Corbley place was improved by John Reese, who settled there about 1810, and removed to Clay County in 1836. Michael Lower and his sons, Peter, Jacob, and John, were also pioneers on the Ten-Mile soon after 1800, but all removed at an early day except Peter, who drowned himself in the Ohio while in a state of insanity.
About 1800, James Fitzpatrick r ettled on a farm on the south side of Ten-Mile, adjoining Hezekiah Lindsey's. Of his sons, Thomas, John, Reese, and William, the latter is yet living at Withamsville. His daughters married Samuel Beckett, Benjamin Behymer, and Wilham Townsley.
About the same time Henry Fitzpatrick, r. brother of James, settled on the present Ebersole place. He removed to Indiana, and his son, Solomon, to Monroe township.
The Tinkles—Charles and Henry—were pioneers on Ten-Mile, but sold out to Joseph Fagin, and John Kinzie made the early improvements on the Ricker place.
Samuel Ricker, of Poland, Me., was born in 1766. In 1790 he married Susanna Jewett, and twenty-four years later settled in Pierce, at what is now Pleasant Hill, where he died March 10, 1838. Of his children, Rufus removed to Illinois, in 1818 ; Jabez was drowned in the Arkansas River, in 1821 ; Samuel moved to New Orleans ; Darius lived and died in Cincinnati ; Susanna married John Fitzwater ; Benjamin was a merchant at Pleasant Hill, living in that locality until his death. He was the father of Maj. Ricker, of Locust Corners. Ebenezer S,, the fifth son of Samuel Ricker, died at Pleasant Hill, March 1, 1879, at the age of seventy-four years, and his widow yet occupies the homestead. He was an extraordinary mathematician, and an intimate friend of the astronomer, O. M. Mitchell, whom he often assisted with his suggestions. He was much interested in sorghum culture, and was the author of a monograph on that subject. He was an original antislavery man, and a worthy associate of Salmon P. Chase and Levi Coffin. His only children became the wives of Dr. Z. Freeman and Dr. Hiram Frease.
Jonathan Rathbone, a Nantucket sea-captain, settled in the northeast part of Pierce some time after 1812, and lived there until his death, when his family removed. About the same time Capt. David Folger, also a retired seaman, settled on the farm which is now owned by the heirs of William Temple. On a third farm there settled Darius Butler, who came from Martha's Vineyard, living in Pierce until his death. Several of his daughters married into the Temple family, and yet reside in that locality.
Samuel Hayforth, from Maine, came about 1813, settling near Lindale.. His son David removed to the West, William died in Pierce, and Cyrus yet lives at Mount Pisgah. In the same locality Mark Stinchfield, an early teacher, was a pioneer.
Martin Pease, for twenty years a sea-captain, came from Martha's Vineyard in 1814, settling on 200 acres of land near Amelia, which had been somewhat improved by Jonas Mann, who removed to Indiana. The house he had built in 1812 was occupied by Capt. Pease until his death in 1853. He was the father of G. M. Pease and Benjamin Warren Pease, both of whom died at Amelia ; of William B. Pease, yet living at Amelia ; and of Dr. Leavitt Thaxter, of Williamsburgh. The daughters married Timothy Sprague, John 0. Butler, Henry Jernegan, L. D. Salt, Cyrus Fairfield, and John F. Offutt, all well known in the southern part of the county.
Tristam Pease, a relative of the captain's, settled near Amelia about the same time, living here until he had attained an honored age. He was the father of William Pease, Esq., of Batavia.
With Capt. Pease came five other families, constituting the Massachusetts colony. David Jernegan settled on an adjoining farm. He was the father of Henry Jernegan, the founder of Utopia, and of David, who occupies the homestead, His daughters married Joshua Cushman and C. W. Bond.
John O. Butler lived first a mile from Amelia, but helped Jernegan build a mill at the village, and after residing there some time moved to West Virginia, He was a son of Joseph Butler, who lived in Pierce, and the brother of Lemuel and Henry Butler, who died at Amelia.
Walter Butler, of another family, settled on the New
BENJAMIN ARCHER.
In the year 1604, Gabriel Archer emigrated from England and located in Virginia, at what was then called "Archer's Hope," and was the first of this old English family known to have settled in America. From his descendants of the main or collateral line was Chapman Archer, among the first pioneers of Clermont County, and who came to Ohio not later than 1797, and settled in what is now Pierce township, on the place where his grandson, James S. Archer, now resides. Chapman Archer in the early days of the county was one of its best citizens, and very largely instrumental in the growth and development of the wilderness into the cultivated farms that now adorn it, and was for many years a leading magistrate.
His son, Benjamin Archer, was born Oct. 5, 1815, on the land his father had first entered, and which since has never been out of the family possession. Benjamin was raised on the farm and given a good common-school education, being especially proficient in mathematics. He was married on Dec. 23, 1841, by Rev. Whittington B. Hancock, to Keziah Sargent, daughter of James Sargent, an early settler of the county. He was often called on to fill township offices, and in 1857 was elected county treasurer, which position he filled for two years with fidelity and efficiency. He was among our largest and best farmers, and with rare taste he had his lands most carefully tilled, and all his improvements and surroundings in the neatest condition. He gave special prominence to fruits and grapes, and was the first to introduce the culture of the latter into the county. He was also the first man to encourage the immigration of Germans into Clermont, and at one time had ten German families on his lands. He died April 17, 1874, on the farm where he had been born fifty-nine years before, and which he had lived to see become one of the best in the county, with an elegant residence on it, and the then most spacious wino cellar in this part of the State. While a member of no church he liberally contributed to the support of all in his neighborhood, and was a man of high honor, unblemished character, and unswerving integrity. He was a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, and belonged to Milton Lodge, No. 99, at Amelia, which owed its prosperity largely to his zeal, and fraternal watchfulness and care. He also was one of the projectors of the beautiful cemetery at Amelia, and his cdltivated taste is seen in the neat and elegant style in which it is laid out and kept up. The county agricultural exhibitions found in him a warm friend in their official boards as well as among their largest exhibitors. No man in Clermont stood higher in the public estimation than Benjamin Aroher, whose hospitality and gentlemanly bearing were known and esteemed by the entire community. By his marriage with Keziah Sargent he had five children, of whom three are living. Of thesee Chapman C. Archer is a prominent attorney of Cincinnati, of the firm of Archer & McNeill. Chapman C. was the eldest and attended Farmers' College, near Cincinnati, read law, and was admitted to the Hamilton County bar in 1867, and has practiced his profession with great success ever since. He was elected in 1873 a representative to the Si xtyfirst General Assembly, as one of the ten members from Hamilton County, and was the yodngest member of the Legislature. As a legislator he achieved a marked success, and was on the most important committees of the House. Like his father, he is a Democrat, and has ever been greatly interested in politics. He has been a director of a bank, president of the Mandfacturers' Insurance Company, and a director in two others,— Phoenix and Merchants'. Rosa J., the only daughter of Benjamin Archer, married William H. Woodlief, for many years a leading merchant and business man of Clermont, but now living in Franklin Co., Kan., where he owns and operates one of the largest stock farms in that State. She is a beautiful woman of rare domestic graces, and her husband is a most energetic and successful business man. James S., the youngest, married Rosa, daughter of Hiram D. Tone, and lives on the homestead place of his father, Benjamin Archer. He is a neat farmer and occupies the old Archer mansion. After the death of his wife, Keziah, Benjamin Archer mar ried Anna E. Boyd, by whom he had no childrene and who survives him, residing near Amelia.
GEORGE DUCKWALL.
Photo. by Reynolds it Kline, Batavia, Ohio.
The Duokwall family is especially noted in Clermont for its large possessions in real estate and for furnishing many of the best farmers and citizens of the county. Originally from Pennsylvania, this well-known family emigrated in the eighteenth century to Virginia, and located in Bath County of that State. Jacob Duckwall was the first who came to Ohio, and after him followed his brothers, Lewis, Daniele and David, and from these four have descended the members of this worthy family who are scattered over the countye and all of whom are men of high standing in the community. Lewis Duckwall and his wife, Susannah Wagner)( Duckwall, came to Clermont in 1814 or 1816, and settled at Branch Hill, on the East Fork, near Batavia. Lewis was both a farmer and blacksmith, and was also ordained a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died about the year 1830, and his wife in 1862. Their children were four sons, George, John, William, and James Duckwall, and two daughters, Mary, married to Simeon Weavere and Catharine, to Christian Zugg. George Duckwall was born Oct. 30, 1805, and was raised on a farme receiving but a very limited education, but ho employed his evenings in reading all the books that came within his reach. He was married March 4, 1827e by John W. Robinson, the then noted Batavian magistrate, to Elizabeth Foster, daughter of Capt. Thomas Foster, of Williamsburgh, and Sarah (Raper) Foster, by which marriage he became the father of the following children : Holly, who died in his fourth year ; Kate A., married first to Charles Butler, and after his death to Robert Carnahan ; Joseph Foster Duck- wall, now living in Munciee Ind.; Thomas Duckwalle now residing at Columbia, Hamilton Co., Ohio ; and Sallie, married to Aaron A. Coltere of Mount Washington, near Cincinnati, where she residese her husband having died a few months ago.
George Duckwall was the second time married, his first wife having died March 4, 1841, to Catharine Anne Weaver, daughter of William Weaver, on March 17, 1842, by Rev. Wesley Rowe. By this last union he has had the following children : William W. Duckwall, of Union township, near Mount Carmel ; James Polk Duckwall, living with him at his home placee and who is a first-class business man, being a director of the Cincinnati and Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railway Company ; Lizziee unmarried and at home ; Rev. Bedford Lewis Duck wall, of New York State, an eminent clergyman of the -Methodist Episcopal Church, and a fine scholar ; and Truman Fowble, who died aged twenty-two years ; besides two children who clied in infancy. In 1834, George Duckwall removed front Batavia to Pierce township upon the fine farm of some two hundred and thirty-seven acres he and his children now own, and on which he has ever since resided. Most of it at that time was an unbroken forest, but he has reclaimed it from a state of nature, and to-day none in Clermont excel it in fertility. As a farmer George Duckwall is unsurpassed in Southern Ohio. He is of German extraction, and has the characteristics of his race, honesty, thrift, and industry combined with a clear judgment. Years ago he served as captain in the mihtia. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, upon whose ministrations his family are regular attendants. In politics he is a Democrat, and cast his first Presidential vote, in 1828, for Gen. Jackson. His fine residence is a two-story brick edifice built in 1817, and was the first structure of the kind erected in the township. It has since been remodeled and enlarged, and so beautified as to be one of the most spacious and beautiful in the county. Located on Pleasant Hill, in a healthy region with most desirable surroundings, his residence attracts the attention of all. Years ago his farm twice received the first premium from the County Agricultural Society as the best in Clermont. He is a general farmer, but gives considerable attention to fruits and berries. His farm lies some two and a half miles from the Ohio River, and his residence is only three-fourths of a mile from the New Richmond branch of the narrow-gauge railroad, and bis land extends nearly to it. His house is known far and wide as a genial seat of hospitality, and of a family occupying the first rank in the county in social and business life.
PIERCE TOWNSHIP - 433
Richmond road, on the place now occupied by his son Edwin, in 1817. He was born at Martha's Vineyard in 1792, and immigrated to Columbia in 1814, coming from there to what was then called the " Yankee Settlement." His first habitation here was a little but constructed of rails, while the roads at that time were barely more than blazed paths. He had three sons,-Walter, Charles, and Edwin. The former married Sabina Butler, and deceased in 1877 ; Charles married Lydia Bradbury, and is also dead ; Edwin is the husband ofsi Elizabeth Humee and reared five children, two sons dying in the Union army. The daughters of Walter Butler married Reuben Myrick, G. M. Pease, and William Eppert, Esq.e of Pierce.
Abner Butler, of still another family, came at the same time and settled in the same locality. He was the father of Fernando C., George, and Timothy Butler, the latter living in Missouri, the former two remaining in Pierce. A sketch of Abner Butler appears in another place in this book.
Jonathan Dunham, another of the New England colony, settled in Batavia township, in the neighborhood of Union chapel.
In addition to the foregoing, a number of persons settled in Pierce whose names may be seen in a general list of property-owners of Ohio township in 1826.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The township of Pierce was created by the county commissioners at a meeting held Dec. 8, 1852, on the petition of John C. Smith and others, and was named " in honor of Franklin Pierce, President-elect of the United States. Said order to take effect, as to the division, from and after the 1st of September, 1853." Until this period the territory belonged to Ohio township.
April 4, 1853, the first township election of Pierce was held at the stone school-house on Ten-Mile Creek, Moses Bennett, William Fitzpatrick, and Benjamin Archer, Judges ; and David Kirgan and E. S. Ricker, Clerks. James Vail and William Eppert were elected Justices ; William Fitzpatrick, Moses Bennett, and William Gaskins, Trustees ; E. S. Ricker, Clerk ; Benjamin Archer, Treasurer ; William R. Townsley, Assessor ; George Fishback, Constable.
May 28, 1853, the trustees enacted an ordinance to prohibit tippling, intemperance, and the vending or selling of spirituous or any kind of intoxicating liquor in less quantities than one barrel, under penalty of a fine of from $5 to $50, or imprisonment in the county jail, or both, at the discretion of' the court.
At the close of the township's first fiscal year orders had been paid to the amount of $499.57, leaving a balance in the treasury of $471.91.
Since the organization of Pierce the principal township officers have been :
TRUSTEES.
1854-55.-William Fitzpatrick, William (hulking, Newton Corbley.
1856-58.-Michael Behymer, James T. Woods, Reuben Laycock.
1859-61.-Benjamin Cord, B. W. PeaSe, Reuben Laycock.
1862.-Benjamin Cord, John Ferguson, Reuben Laycock.
1863.-Benjamin Cord, Stephen Lindsey, Reuben Laycock.
1864-65.-Benjamin Cord, James H. Ward, Reuben Laycock.
1866-70.-Frank Schweitzer, M. Gardner, Thomas Heron.
1871.-Stephen Parvin, M. Gardner, A. D. Butler.
1872.-W. D. Alexander, M. Gardner, A. D. Butler.
1873-74.-Frank Schweitzer, M. Gardner, A. D. Butler.
1875.-John Lusk, Coffman Moore, F. M. Lindsey.
1876-77.--John Lusk, Perry J. Gaskins, F. M. Lindsey.
1878-79.-John Lusk, John J. Armstrong, F. M. Lindsey.
TOWNSHIP CLERKS.
1854-57, E. S. Ricker; 1858-62, W. W. Ricker; 1863-68, William Mansfield; 1869-74, C. W. Kirgan ; 1875-77, W. E. Mattox ; 1978-79, E. R. Pearce.
TOWNSHIP TREASURERS.
1854, Benjamin Archer; 1855, T. W. Rathbone; 1856-57, Benjamin Archer; 1858-60, John Wagner, Sr.; 1861-64, Michael Behymer; 1865-68, Eben Behymer; 1869-70, A. P. Fetter.
TOWNSHIP ASSESSORS.
1854, Jacob N. Leeds ; 1855, John Behymar ; 1856-57, John C. Smith; 1858-59, William Lewis; 1860-61, Thomas Mattox ; 1862, William Wood; 1863, Benjamin Behymer; 1864, William Gaskins ; 1865, William Lewis; 1866-68, F. M. Davidson ; 1809, Henry Behymer; 1870, J. McRoberts; 1871-72, S. M. Gaskins; 1873, William Lewis; 1874, Joseph Kirgan; 1875-77, William Fitzpatrick; 1878-79, Theodore Searles.
PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
The township made provision for the care of its highways at its first meeting in 1853, by appointing as supervisors Daniel Redmond, Sanford Short, 0. P. Belgium., Newton Corbley, James Nash, James Light, Michael Behymer, William Alexander, Reuben Laycock, John Holder- field, and Alanson Hill. The same number of districts has been maintained to the present, and in 1879 the supervisors were W. D. Gaskins, Marcellus Smith, James Archer, Elijah Behymer, Alexander Sehuey, John Siegle, J. N. Robinson, David Brunk, Nathaniel Windsor, John Hessay, and Michael Sullivan.
The citizens of Pierce availed themselves of the provisions of the Free Pike laws, and a number of miles of Unproved roads were built, the principal ones being the Nine- Mile Creek pike and the road up Ten-Mile Creek to Lindale. The superintendents of these improved roads have been John Gaskins, Morris John, and H. B. Robb. There is also an excellent toll-pike through the township, along the Ohio. In 1873 out of 168 votes, relating to the voting of aid for a railroad through Pierce, but 5 were opposed to the proposition. Subsequently, when the Cincinnati and Portsmouth Railroad and the Ohio River division of the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad were projected through the township the individual support was very liberal. The former road has stations at Amelia and at Cleveland's, a mile east, and is a great accommodation for the people of the northern part of the township. The latter road is along the valley of the Nine-Mile Creek to its mouth, whence it passes up the Ohio to Richmond. It has stations at four or five points along the route in Pierce, and affords the people of the southern and western parts a handy outlet.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
The first mill in the township was built before 1799 by James John, near the mouth of Nine-Mile Creek. Its capacity was small, and having been built too near the Ohio the back-water from that stream destroyed the power, and in
434 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
a freshet the mill was ruined. About twenty years later, Thomas John, the eldest son of James, built a saw- and grist-mill, a mile above the first site, which did a good deal of service in their day ; and the grist-mill was last operated in 1874 by W. D. John. In former days a distillery was also here carried on. Twenty-five years ago a saw-mill was operated below this point by Thomas Littleton. The upper waters of Nine-Mile were made to operate a mill which was best known as Gaskins', although the improvements were first made by the Parvin and Denham families. Thomas Beckett last operated this mill, which, on account of the feeble water-power, was abandoned a score of years ago. On the west fork of Nine-Mile a man by the name of Wright built a small mill, which was afterwards operated by Samuel McCord ; but this, too, has long since been discontinued.
On Ten-Mile Creek the present Wagner mill was built by John Wagner ; but a saw-mill at this place was first operated by John Behymer at a much earlier period. The former only has been continued within the past dozen years. Not far below this site was another power which had been improved by Samuel Behymer ; nothing but the frame of the mill remains ; and up this stream was the mill of Nathaniel Behymer, long since gone down. Near by is at present a store kept by S. II. Peoples, although the first in trade there was James John. At the place locally known as " Pin Hook," Daniel Behymer had a gristmill, the power of which was supplied from a large reservoir, the mill being operated only until the water was exhausted. On the south fork of Ten-Mile, Joseph Behymer had a saw-mill, to which a grst-mill of small capacity was added by N. Behymer, and above, on the same stream, Joseph Fagin had a saw-mill. For many years Fred Eppert had a horse-power mill on the present E. N, Cole farm, which was a great convenience in dry seasons.
At Amelia, on the Batavia aide, Jernegan & Butler put up a steam saw-mill about 1830, to which grinding machinery was afterwards attached. The power was removed about 1850, but the building yet remainse and was last used as a fruit-drying establishment. On the Pierce side, at the east end of the village, David Jernegan had saw- and gristmills (steam power), whose operation was continued until not many years ago, and the property still remains. Farther eastward is the steam saw-mill of Aaron Cleveland, yet in working order. Formerly carriage-shops were carried on in an extensive manner by William D. Sutton, Stephen Sutton, W. B. C. Stirling, and Lewis Roberts ; and at present Ephraim Short at d Perry Reeves conduct this industry. In this part of the village were the " Cincinnati Forging-Works," whose manufacture was an article popularly called the " Fifth Wheel," an appliance to the running gear of carriages which met with considerable favor. The works have been removed to Columbia. South of Amelia, Thomas Kirgan bad a tannery of a few vats and saw- and grist-mills of small capacity, but which were not without the elements of usefulness in their day.
In 1849, Joseph Budd began the manufacture of bricks at Palestine on a large scale, employing steam-power to grind the clay, although the moulding was done by hand. From 20 to 30 hands were engaged. Budd sold out to Godfrey Hegner, who completed the saw- (circular) and grist-mills the former had begun, and for about ten years carried on the three interests quite extensively. the products being conveyed to Cincinnati on barges. In 1864 the property was destroyed by fire, and since that period but little manufacluring has here been carried on but coopering.
A mile above this point is one of the most complete brickyards in the State, having a landing on the Ohio, a station on the railroad, and a number of houses and shops. The place is locally known as Blairsville. In 1874, John M. Blair, of Cincinnati, purchased here thirty acres of land, on which is a clay of superior quality, extending to the depth of twenty-five feet, from which can be made brick whose reputation among builders is not excelled, and which has given the products of the yard a wide sale. The entire work is done by steam-power,--drawing the clay from the pits, grinding, moulding, etc. There are three machines, capable of moulding 35,000 bricks per day, which are burned in six of Wingard's patent clamps, the heat being furnished by regular furnaces, and the fuel is coal and coke. By this method beautiful bricks of uniform quality are produced. Employment is given to sixty men, and most ofsi the bricks are transported to Cincinnati by steam-barges. J. M. Bushong is the yard manager, and Burr Blair is general superintendent.
HAMLETS AND VILLAGES.
The hamlet of PLEASANT VALLEY, commonly called Nineveh, is on Nine-Mile Creek, several miles above its mouth. It contains half a dozen houses and a United Brethren church. Some time after 1835, George Floro sold off 15 or 20 lots from his farm, on which the hamlet was built, there being at one time more houses than at present ; and the various trades were carried on, Wm. Gaskins and Daniel Redmond being the blacksmiths and wagon-makers, and John & Behymer had a cooperage.
In about 1844, John Gaskins began merchandising at Pleasant Valley, and continued until 1868. Since 1878 Wm. 1). Gaskins has here been in trade. Earlier than this, about 1842, Wm. D. John and Darius Littleton opened a store farther down the streame where afterwards were in trade John Behymer, Jonah Woods, and Cyrus Gaskins. At this stand Wm. D. John was the last, discontinuing business in 1877. Nearly opposite another store was opened by Gaskins & Robb, where was last John F. Monjar, the hamlet proper being at present without a store.
As physicians there have been at Pleasant Valley Dr. Thomas John, after 1850, and for a short period Dr. B. Gaskins, at a later day.
PLEASANT HILL.
This hamlet has a beautiful location on the uplands, near the centre of the township. It was laid off from the farm of Benjamin Ricker, who had the first store in this locality soon after 1830, This store is yet continued, the merchant for the past nine years being A. P. Felter. Others here engaged in trade were E. Ricker, Erastus Short, and Jacob Clark, The hamlet contains, besides a Methodist church,
JOHN R. FOSTER
Is the first decade of the present century there emigrated to Williamsburgh township, from Virginia, four young men seeking their fortunes and aiding to build up and develop the new country. These young men full of buoyant life were the Foster brothers,—Israel, Isaac, John, and Thomas,—sons of Thomas Foster, an emigrant from England, who married Nancy Twigg in Virginia, where his son, Thomas Foster, was born Feb. 13, 1789. He first bought forty acres of land from ex-Sheriff Daniel Kain, and subsequently, in eonnection with his brothers 1saac and John, purchased of Gen. William Lytle four hundred and eighty-six acres. His brother Israel married Polly Kain, and by this union was born Randolph Sinks Foster, D.D., the learned and eloquent bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the war of 1812 Thomas Foster served as ensign in Capt. Boersler's rifle company, and on Capt. Boersler being killed at the battle of Brownstown, Thomas Kain was promoted to its command and Ensign Foster raised to a lieutenancy. Thomas Foster was married to Sarah Raper, a sister of the noted ex-Sheriff Holly Raper and of Rev. Wm. H. Raper, the distinguished Methodist divine, and a daughter of Leonard Raper and Temperance (Holly) Raper, the latter a native of Wales. Sarah (Raper) Foster, wife of Thomas, and mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in a block-house connected with one of the military stations in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania, the scene of Indian depredations and eneounters. Her father, Leonard Raper, received his education in London, England, at the finest schools in that great city, where he became an eminent mathematician. Leonard Raper after coming to America was made a surveyor under the government in the Northwest Territory, and removed to Columbia, just above Cincinnati, and afterwards to Williamsburgh in this county. His wife, Temperance (Holly) Raper, was one of the matron pioneers of the West, and among the first Methodists in the Northwest Territory. She was a woman of exemplary piety, of great faith and devotion, and a patriot mother of the Revolution, as her subsequent history in sending her three boys out in the war of 1812 to fight for her country abundantly shows.
To Thomas and Sarah (Raper) Foster were born the following children : two sons,—Joseph Raper and John S., who married Margaret C. Thompson, of Georgetown, Ohio, and was onee sheriff of Brown County, a captain in the Union army, and now resides in Washington Court-House, Ohio ; and six daughters,—Sarah, who died unmarried ; Elizabeth, married March 7, 1827, by John W. Robinson, justice of the peace, to George Duck wall; Mary Ann, married by Rev. John A. Baughman, May 6, 1834, to Samuel A. Pegg; Eleanor, married by Rev. G. W. Maley, Nov. 10, 1836, to Henry G. Weaver ; Margaret, married by Rev. Levi White, Dec. 13, 1838, to Maj. Elbridge G. Ricker; and Mahala, married March 5, 1846, by Rev. J. W. Clark, to Benjamin F. Penn. Thomas Foster was the second time married on Dec. 13, 1847, by Rev. Henry Wharton, to Mrs. Elizabeth Kain, relict of John Kain. He died May 25, 1875. During his life he was one of the best practical farmers, and by his industry and skill accumulated a goodly portion of this world's goods, and, what is far more desirable, gained an honored and respected name. 1n his aetive business days he owned and sold many of the best farms in Clermont, two of which are specially noted, those conveyed to Daniel Turner, on the East Fork, and to George Duckwall, on Pleasant Hill. Joseph Raper Foster was born July 20, 1816; was raised on a farm, but received a good education in our district schools then rapidly gaining prominence and excellence, and subsequently attended Augusta (Kentucky) College, and had for college mates Col. William Howard, of Batavia, William S. Gregg, Esq., of Moscow, and his cousin, Bishop Foster, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but failing health compelled him to leave that institution before he had completed his course of study. He was married by Rev. Robert Cheney, July 13, 1837, to Miss Susan Ricker, a daughter of Benjamin Jewett Ricker and Mary Reed (Wilson) Ricker. The former was born in Poland, Me., July 7, 1796, and the latter in Durham, of the same State, Feb. 12, 1800. They were married in Campbell Co., Ky., Nov. 24, 1816. Mrs. Susan (Ricker) Foster is a descendant of the famous Ricker ancestry that settled in New England early in the seventeenth century, and intermarried with the noted Jewett stock, and were descended from a most honorable lineage in England in direct line from Reginald de Wynterwade, a famous baron living in 1066 at the time of the Conquest by William the Conqueror, down through the Wentworth family, so illustrious in British and American annals. Her grandfather, Samuel Ricker, moved to Clermont just after the close of the war of 1812, and settled at Pleasant Hill. 'lo Joseph R. and Susan (Ricker) Foster were born two children,—a son, Joseph Raper, who died in infancy ; and a daughter, Mary A., married to Major E. G. Penn, of Amelia, who filled the position of clerk of the Clermont Common Pleas Court from 1860 to 1863, and was one of the best business men of the county. Joseph R. Foster for thirteen years served acceptably as magistrate, proving himself to be an able official. In 1863, 1864, and 1865 he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Cincinnati, and after his marriage kept store for years at Amelia. He was a methodical farmer of excellent managing abilities and good taste ; also an extensive dealer in real estate, in which his unerring judgment rendered him suecessful. At the camp-meeting at Olive Branch in 1837 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and remained up to his death a consistent and zealous member, serving for years as a trustee and steward. He was the first lay delegate from Clermont to the Cincinnati Annual Conference held at Dayton, Ohio, in 1871. He served a long time on the township board of education, and was largely instrumental in promoting and advancing the cause of education, in which he was greatly interested. Temperance found in him a warm advocate both by precept and example. In all public enterprises and moral reforms he led the way as a pioneer of advanced thought and action. He contributed largely of his time, talents, and means to the Bantam fair, and was honored with the leading positions in its management. In politics he was a pronounced Republican, actively supporting the government in the suppression of the Rebellion. In his death, which occurred at his residence in Amelia, on Sept. 18, 1871, a valuable citizen, good neighbor, kind father, and loving husband was lost. Thirty-four years a most exemplary member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, his hospitality to the preachers and his liberality in support of the cause of religion and sound morality were proverbial, and endeared him to the community in which he lived and died honored and revered by all.
PIERCE TOWNSHIP - 435
a public hall, a good school building, and eight or ten comfortable residences.
The physicians here have been Drs: Moore, Gray, and the present Dr. Joseph Ricker, living south of the hamlet towards Palestine.
The post-office bears the name of Locust Corner, and had as its postmaster in 1848 John Wagner. In 1855 Jacob Clark was appointed, and in 1871 A. P. Felter. The offrce is supplied with a daily mail from the New Palestine office.
AMELIA.
This village has a pleasant situation on both sides of the Ohio turnpike, which here forms the boundary-line of Pierce, and is consequently partly in Batavia township. It was never regularly laid out, and has been built along its single street in a somewhat straggling manner, being in length about a mile. It contains fine Methodist and Baptist churches, a handsome Odd-Fellows' hall, a good school building, and a number of residences, whose general appearance and attractive surroundings are not excelled in the county. The people are orderly, industrious, and intelligent, many of them being of New England origin, the first settlers here being principally from Maine and Massachusetts. The locality was first known as Milton, a corruption of Milltown, from the hamlet which sprung up around the mills of Jernegan and Butler. The name of Amelia was applied when the post-office, which bore that title, was here estabhshed, the term being selected in compliment to Amelia Bowdoin, the respected consort. of Wesley Bowdoin. In 1841, Greenbury C. Short was the postmaster, and the office, which has daily mails supplied by the Cincinnati and Portsmouth Railroad (which has a station at Amelia), is at present in charge of J. R. Hicks, The intermediate postmasters, in the order named, were William D, Sutton, Cyrus Fairfield, W. B. C. Stirling, James McMahon, W. W. Sutton, W. Reeves, Wilham Pease, J. White, W. T. Corley, and B. Behymer.
The first goods were sold by John S. Johnston about 1833, in a building which stood on the site of Dr. Moore's residence. His entire stock in trade was contained in a large-sized trunk, yet he succeeded as a merchant here and in other parts of the county, and is of present a banker at Union City. William Hicks (father of Alexander and Lewis Hicks, attorneys of Cincinnati) had a good store at an early day, and later a number of parties were here engaged in merchandising, some only for short periods. Among these were Cyrus Fairfield, William D. Sutton, Harvey Perin, John Avey, Clement & Robinson, W. W. Ricker, and Increase Morse. At present there are in trade David Thomas and William G. Hall, dry goods ; Joseph White and James Hicks, grocers ; and A. C. Moore, druggist.
At an early day, Joshua Cushman erected a two-story brick house, at the intersection of the New Richmond road with the Ohio turnpike, in which, in later years, a public- house was kept by Thomas Sheldon and Alexander McKibben. The latter was an Irishman, and while he kept the place it had a bad reputation, being a resort for drinking characters, not only of the county but of Cincinnati. During the cholera plague, an omnibus-load of persons came from that city to spend a Sunday in the country, most of whom became sick and died of the cholera in the course of the day. This house was closed after 1850, and has since been demolished. While it was yet kept public, Jacob Crist opened a tavern and stage-office in the house at present kept as the "Smith House," in which he was succeeded, in 1846, by J. E. Offutt, and seven years later by James Ely, who continued until his death, in 1879. The latter two kept it as a temperance house ; and here have always been the headquarters for the Georgetown stages. The present " Offutt House," near by, was opened in 1870, by J. E. Offutt, who has continued the proprietor. From 1838, for four or five years, Dr. A. V. Hopkins kept an excellent public-house ; and not many years ago James F, Foster had an inn near the centre of the village. In the western part of Amelia public-houses are at present kept by O. Tuttle and Mrs. Silas Winans.
Dr. A. V. Hopkins was the first permanently located physician at Amelia, coming from Batavia before 1840, and livrng here until his death, about ten years ago, The present physicians are Dr. Cyrus Gaskins (eclectic) and Dr. A. C. Moore (allopathic), both able practitioners. Other well-known physicians have been Drs. Hubbell, Allen, Wright, Beulah, and W. M. Ingalls, the latter having been a practitioner until a short time ago.
William Townsley was an attorney a short time at Amelia, and the present attorney is M. A. Leeds.
The only regularly laid out village in the township is
PALESTINE.
It was laid out on the 11th of September, 1818, by Zachariah Chapman and Christian Ebersole on the Ohio, a little more than a mile above the mouth of Nine-Mile Creek. The plat consisted of 52 lots and two streets, running parallel with the river,—Front and Main,—with five intersecting cross-streets. The proprietors reserved the right to ferry across the Ohio at any point along the length of the village. Although the original village-site was never fully occupied, in certain speculative periods a number of additions were made, some of the lots selling at extravagant prices, but bringing no benefit to any one save the owners of the real estate on which the lots were located.
July 19, 1848, Thomas J. Oxley made an addition of 102 lots on Ten-Mile Creek, reserving a large space for a public market.
The same year Christian Stile made an addition of 137 lots to the foregoing, with a street called New Richmond, sixty feet wide.
Aug. 24, 1848, H. E. Wilson's first addition was made ; Sept. 16, 1848, his second addition ; and March 1, 1849, his third addition.
Joseph Fagin made an addition Oct. 23, 1849 ; and May 8, 1849, Joseph H. and Samuel Craighead made an addition to H. E. Wilson's second addition, reserving lot No. 55 for church or school purposes. In the spring of 1849, Oxley's, Wilson's, and Fagin's additions were renumbered. Very many of these lots have been vacated, and now appear as ordinary farming-lands, Palestine being but a place of a few dozen houses, and having no business importance. In 1837 the owners of houses at this place were Zachariah Chapman, Thomas Cade, Lydia Dryden, and
436 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
Thomas Kirgan. Chapman and Ebersole owned the entire George Washington survey, upon which Palestine is loca ted, and both lived at this place for a time, Chapman removing to Amelia, where he died.
Christian Ebersole lived on the hill overlooking Palestine until his death, after 1840, when his son Jacob occupied the homestead ; his brother Abraham died in Hamilton County, and Christian yet resides in Cincinnati.
It is said that John Behymer had the first store at Palestine, in the house belonging to L. W. Mooar, which was the first frame house in the place, and was put up in 1820. At the upper end of the village Samuel Larrabee began trading, and continued many years. A part of the house he occupied is now the property of Henry Springer, but the original site has been wasted away by the action of the river waves. In this part of Palestine Frank Heiselman is at present engaged in merchandising ; and on the turnpike, near by Palestine, Jacob Fetzer has a store, and since 1869 has been the postmaster of the New Palestine office, which has a daily mail from Cincinnati. Other officials were, 1850, W. R. Lindsey ; 1853, William Cotton ; 1857, James H. Grant ; 1861, William R. Lindsey ; 1865, J. T. Townsley ; and 1868, John Pearce.
At Fetzersis store are blacksmith- and wagon-shops, carried on by Jacob Fetzer ; and at Palestine proper, William T, Wood manufactures sieve- and riddle-hoops, employing several men. From 1840 to 1850, L. W. Mooar had a cooperage, and that trade is at present carried on by several parties.
The hills outlying the bottom-lands at Palestine have been divided into small farms belonging to industrious Germans, who are largely engaged in fruit culture and chiefly in vineyarding, the products being made into wine, or carried to the Cincinnati markets, distant but fifteen miles. At Palestine is a landing for river steamers and a station of the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad.
SECRET ORDERS.
The first organized body was a lodge of Odd-Fellows at Amelia, which took the former name of that village.
MILTON LODGE, No. 99, I. O. O. F.,
was instituted Feb. 3, 1848, with Robert Boyce, Samuel L. Apple, John M, Robinson, Thomas B. Garlinghouse, Henry Avey, and D. S. James as charter members, the latter being the Noble Grand. Among the early initiates were Joseph White, Freeman Haskell, Charles Butler, Enos Smith, John M. King, Jesse Hunt, Lamander Park, Stephen Gudgeon, S. M, Leeds, William Bragdon, Jacob Potter, R. J, Phillips, A. B, Jones, William D. Sutton, J. L. Hors- man, David White, Leander Jeffries, Joseph Temple, William Crank, J. Corbley.
In the mein the lodge has been prosperous, owning at present a fine hall, a handsome cemetery, and has a good membership, Since its institution it has been presided over by the following Noble Grands :
1848, D. S. James, Robert Boyce ; 1849, S, L. Apple, Enos Smith ; 1850, Benjamin Archer, D. White; 1851, P. S. Jones, James Monjar ; 1852, J. Milton McGrew, W. B, C. Stirling ; 1853, Ira Ferguson, Jotham Bragdon ; 1854, F. M. Robinson, William Arthur ; 1855, William Hayford, Joseph White ; 1856, B. Pompella, Solomon Beckett ; 1857, C. M. Farland, Erin' Cole ; 1859, B. W. Smith, T. W. Rathbone ; 1860, J. L. McKay, William Gaskins ; 1861, P. M. Hill, Edward Butler ; 1862, John Wagner, C. Moore; 1863, William Nash, C. Moore; 1864, John Brunaugh, Joseph White ; 1865, S. L. Apple, William Crank ; 1866, James Dillon, Robert Jeremiah ; 1867,
E. G. Penn, B. F. Moyer ; 1868, J. D. Stapleton, John S. Butler ; 1869, David Doughty, C. Gaskins ; 1870, A, C. Moore, J. S. Robinson ; 1871, W. W. Ricker, F. M. Edwards ; 1872, C. W. Kirgan, L. A. Kirgan ; 1873, S. Dial, G. W. Rymell; 1874, J. W. Wiltsee, -James Coulter; 1875, George Schmitz, Hugh West; 1876, W. T. McDonough, A. S. Corbley ; 1878, E. J. Hancock, B. L. Harris; 1879, E. L. Bennett, S. T. Prentice ; 1880, B. Behymer.
AMELIA LODGE, No. 299, F. AND A. M.,
was organized under a dispensation in 1858, receiving a charter the ensuing year, the following members belonging at that time : John h. Taylor, A. V. Hopkins, Abraham Miles, Lewis Weaver, Presley Tedrow, John Brunaugh, F. M. Robinson, J. W. Hopkins, W. W. Hopkins, and F. L. Weaver. Among the Masters were F. M. Robinson and W, G. Hall. At the breaking out of the late war so many of the members went into the army that the organization of the lodge could only with difficulty be maintained, and in 1865 it was allowed to wholly go down.
AMELIA ENCAMPMENT, No. 45, I. O. O. F.,
was instituted March 8, 1851, with charter members as follows: Aaron B. Jones, J. Milton McGrew, Joseph Hatfield, Charles S. Hatfield, Peter S. Jones, Harvey Sutton, Benjamin Archer, James Monjar, and Nathaniel Temple. In January, 1880, the encampment had 29 active and 23 dormant members, and the officers were W. W. Sherman, C. P. ; G. W. Rymell, H. P. ; L. A. Kirgane S. W. ; J. W. Foster, J. W, ; A. C. Moore, Scribe ; and James Coulter, Treas.
The records of the encampment prior to 1871 are not accessible, but since that year the Chief Patriarchs have been Albert Fagin, David Doughty, Abner Judd, Geo. Schmitz, L. A. Kirgan, George W. Rymell, James Coulter, John Pease, Gavrard Pease, William McDonough, J. W. Foster, E. I. Hancock, John Brunaugh, Joseph Boden, O. S. Tuttle, and J. S. Butler.
The following brethren have been representatives to the Grand Encampment of the State : 1865, P. S. Jones ; 1866, J. D, Hatfield ; 1867, P. S. Jones ; 1868, B. Pumpelly; 1870, S. L. Apple; 1872, '76, '77, A. C. Moore; 1879, M. E Grand High Priest, Dr. A. C. Moore.
The encampment holds its mectings in the comfortable hall of Milton Lodge, and has among its numbers some of the brightest members of the craft in the county.
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
One of the first school-houses in the township stood on an island of the Ten-Mile Creek, below the old meetinghouse. It was scarcely more than a hut, having when
Photos. by Reynolds & Klne, Batavia, Ohio.
ABNER BUTLER.
Abner Butler was born April 2, 1790, in Edgartown, Mass. He came to Clermont County in 1814, with his widowed mother, brother and sisters, at the same time those old sea-captains, Martin Pease, Pinkham, and Rathbone emigrated, and who came from near the same locality, Martha's Vineyard. He was married to Tabitha Moredock, Jan. 14, 1818. She was born March 18, 1801, and by her he had the following children : Fernando C., Albert Dean, Sarah Jane, Timothy, Elizabeth, George More- dock, Mary Margaret, and Laura Ann Butler, all of whom are living save Sarah Jane, who died with the cholera Aug. 15, 1851. He was a good practical farmer, owning one hundred and fifty-two acres in Pierce township, most of which lie had cleared from the unbroken forest and converted into a beautiful homestead. He was an indulgent father, a good neighbor, and a believer in an all-wise and just God, and favored the Universalist doctrine, though a member of no church.
He died Nov. 29, 1870, and left an ample competence for his widow. In politics he was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and believed in a plain, economical government. During the fifty- six years of his residence in the county he witnessed great changes, seeing the wilderness give way to beautiful farms, and enterprising towns and villages spring up.
A. D. BUTLER.
Albert Dean Butler, the son and second child of Abner and Tabitha (Moredock) Butler, was born in Ohio township (now part of Pierce), in this county, Sept. 6, 1823. He was married by Rev. W. Y. Emmet, of Cincinnati, April 20, 1848, to Louisa Pumpelly, who was born June 30, 1828, in Maine. She was the daughter of Bernard and Rhoda (Chase) Pumpelly, and came to Clermont with her parents in 1838. Albert enjoyed the confidence of his father, Abner, who made him the executor of his will. He has served several years as trustee of Pierce township, also as a member of its school board, and as a director in the Agricultural Fair at Bantam. He is a thorough farmer, and his fine farm lies on the New Richmond and Ohio turnpike, of which he was formerly president, about six miles from Batavia. He and his wife have never had any children, but have reared George Everett Daily, son of a deceased sister of Mr. Butler, and also reared Amelia Chase Mellen, now a young lady of fifteen years, and a niece of Mrs. Butler. Mr. Butler is an admirable business man, of fine tastes and clear judgment, and his success as an agriculturist is shown in his elegant homestead and improved style of farming.
PIERCE TOWNSHIP - 437
first used, in the summer of' 1814, no doors or windows. The teacher was Isaac Sampson, an Irishman of convivial habits, and the pupils were chiefly furnished by the Eppert, Behymer, Donham, Lindseye and Fitzpatrick families, some of the pupils being young women grown. Several years later another school was opened on the Joseph Behymer place, which was first taught by John Brown and James Stewart. On the Short farm another school was opened not long after, and about the same time the school on the Michael Behymer place and the one north of Lindale. Among the teachers of this period were Daniel Bailiff, William D. Richards, E. S. Ricker, Benjamin Ricker, and John Douglas.
A commendable degree of' interest has been manifested in schools, and higher education has been encouraged to the extent of establishing and maintaining a local academy at Pleasant Hill. The building (a respectable frame) was erected about 1845 by a joint-stock company, composed of the citizens of this part of the township, chiefly the Rickers, Duckwalls, and Behymers. The first session of school was taught by John Ferguson ; and other teachers were W. W. Ricker, Geo. W. Hulick, and Broadwell. The academy was generally well attended, but since the common schools have become so excellent no school has there been maintained. For the past ten years the building has been used as a public hall. At Amelia, in 1879, a select school was taught in the Odd-Fellows' building by F. M. Robinson, which was attended by thirty pupils.
In 1853 the first board of education was organized, with the following members, the first-named of each list of local directors being the clerk :
District No. 2.—James T. Wood, Abram Gaskins, John Gaskins.
District No. 3.—William D. Sutton, Elias Nash, Vincent Troy.
District No. 4.—John Wagner, Benjamin Archer, Fernando Butler.
District No. 5.-Andrew Coombs, Absalom Leeds, Thomas W. Rathbone.
District No. 6.—E. G. Ricker, John Behymer (3d), Michael Behymer.
District No. 7.—Wm. Eppert, Isaac Vail, B. W. Pease.
District No. 8.—A. J. Morin, George Weir, Emory Cramer.
District No. 9.—C. P. Hayford, E. B. Warren, John Cox.
District No. 10.--James Morin, James Lewis, Reuben Laycock.
District No. 11.—Jacob Ebersole, Philip Lindsey, Isaiah Lindsey.
Andrew Coombs was the president of the board, and E. S, Ricker clerk. An enumeration of the youth of school age showed 539 females and 547 males. The amount paid for tuition was $1311,25.
The sub-districts have been enlarged, the number in 1879 being but eight. William C. Coombs was president of the board of education, E. B. Pearce clerk, and the associate members were Christian Ebersole, W. D. Gaskins, Lewis Nash, F. C. Butler, Hiram D. Tone, A. S. Corbley, and John F. Townsley.
The township is provided with a fair class of school buildings, and in some districts they are rather above the average. In 1879 the entire amount appropriated for the support of schools was $6920.35, of which $2406.75 were paid to teachers for their twenty-nine weeks' services that year. No report was rendered of the number of pupils enrolled and other statistics pertaining to the schools.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
The oldest religious society in the township, and, indeed, one of the oldest in the county, was organized Sept. 2, 1802, at what is now Withamsville, in Union township. This afterwards became
THE FIRST TEN-MILE REGULAR BAPTIST CHURCH,
for years the most important religious body of Pierce. At the date above given the covenant of church fellowship was signed by Maurice Witham, William Robb, Abraham Ridley, Mary John, Patience Ridley, Catherine Bennett, Olive Bennett. To this small membership were added, as the country settled up, William Abercrombie, Timothy Ridley, Nathaniel Reeves, Nicholas Prickett, James Bennett, Josiah Prickett, Nathaniel Donham, Hezekiah Lindsey, Nathaniel Witham, William Donham, William Laycock, Hugh Ferguson, Samuel Long, John Donham, Hiram Gray, John Gilman, Abel Denham, Samuel Tibbitts, John Crawford, Sanford Tewell, Peter Fagin, Mary Gray, Mary Reeves, Hannah Reeves, Sally John, Lavina Fagin, Peggy Priekett, Mary Donham, Betsey Gilman, Susan Scoville, Catherine Behymer, Ann Ridlin, Lucy McCord, Mary Ferguson, Eliza Lindsey, and Polly Wood.
Rev. William Robb was the first pastor of the church, although the Rev. Maurice Witham also preached when occasion offered, and in 1804 assumed the pastorate. In December, 1809, he was succeeded by William Robb, whose connection with the church was long continued, and about 1830 Elder Isaac Ferris became the pastor ; and thereafter among the ministers of the church were W. B. Hancock, Elder Hopper, John W. Riley, George Sapp, and William Spaldon. In addition to these, " Mark Stinchfield was given, in 1817, hberty to improve his public gift in the bounds of the church ;" the same privilege was granted to Hezekiah Lindsey and John Wheeler.
Among the early deacons were the brethren Prickett, Ridley, Lindsey, Laycock, and Gray. Until 1825, Sanford Tewell was the church clerk, followed by Abel and Robert Donham, Thomas Littleton, and H. Gray.
In August, 1803, John Warren, James Bennett, and William Robb were appointed to build a meeting-house ; and until this could be done the meetings were held at the house of James Bennett. The records do not state that a meeting-house was erected, but there is a tradition that a log house was put up for the use of the church' at Withamsville ; but as the location was not central for the membership, in 1812 two and a half acres of land were purchased from the farm of Samuel Behymer, on Ten-Mile Creek, on which to erect a new meeting-house. It appears to have been occupied first in 1814, but was not supplied with a stove until 1820, when J, Donham was authorized "to procure iron to make a stove." The house was used
438 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
as a place of worship until 1851, when Henry Gray, A. Fagin, and E. Behymer, as a building committee, were authorized to erect a new meeting-house at Ten-Mile, 30 by 40 feet. It is a frame building, and yet stands in that locality, being at present used by a society of Christians.
In March, 1840, the church enjoyed a most remarkable revival which resulted in 42 baptisms. But in August of the same year the membership was diminished by 30 members who withdrew in consequence of a letter sent to the Association, relating to church government, to which they would not subscribe. For a time these worshiped in the old meeting-house, but at the end of a year a small house was built in the same neighborhood which these Old- School Baptists occupied until their organization was abandoned, about twenty-five years later.
Meantime, the death of the older members and the changes in population had materially affected the prosperity of the church, and the question of changing the place of worship was seriously considered, On the 4th of' July, 1868, it was voted that the church interests be transferred to Amelia, and on the 5th of December of the same year the first meetiUg there was held at Odd-Fellows' Hall, March 25, 1871 ; a reorganization of the Old Ten-Mile Church followed, and the present
AMELIA BAPTIST CHURCH
was formed, with Thomas Littleton, Emma Beokett, Nancy Bogart, James Williams, Richard Kelley, Susan Hanley, Mary and Amanda McDonald, Sarah Windsor, Hannah Peoples, Martha Bonham, Maria Fagin, Nancy and Lucy Gray, Nancy Swem, Eben and Lavina Behymer, Hannah Bennett, Diadema Behymer, and Margaret Doughty, as members.
At this time the Rev. E. R. Hera was the pastor, and continued that relation until February, 1878. For a time the pulpit was thereafter filled by supplies, but on the 5th of July, 1879, Rev. J. Hawkins became the pastor, and yet continues.
Since its location at Amelia the church has been prosperous, having at present more than 100 members, while the aggregate number who have belonged has been 160. The church clerk in 1879 was Dr. A. S. Moore, and the deacons, A. S. Corbley, William Hancock, and George De Garmo.
The present comfortable meeting-house occupied by the church was consecrated Oct. 20, 1873, the sermon being preached by the Rev. J. R. Bautnes.
THE CHRISTIE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT AMELIA.
Prior to 1844 the Methodists of this part of the county had their connection with Union chapel. In the year named a new society was organized by the Rev. William H. Lawder, having among its members John S. Johnson, Davidson Sutton, William B. Pease, John Brunaugh, David Jernegan, John E. Offutt, Michael Short, Jonathan Dunham, Tristam Pease, and, in most cases, the wives of the foregoing. The same year a brick meeting-house was built by a committee composed of Wesley Bowdoin, David Jernegan, and William B. Pease, at a cost of $1600. This was the place of worship until the fall of 1879, when the building was remodeled and enlarged by adding ten feet to the front, and four feet to the height of the walls. Stained windows were provided, the walls frescoed, and the house newly seated, making it one of the most attractive churches in the county. At its consecration it received the name of Christie Church. in honor of the esteemed Rev. William B. Christie, one of Clermont's most eloquent Methodist ministers ; and the sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Payne, of Delaware College. The property is valued at $5000, and in 1879 was controlled by trustees Benjamin Frazee, C. Moore, James Hicks, Warren Penn, Ephraim Short, Richard Rymel, and David Jernegan. The parsonage of Amelia Circuit was purchased in 1834, and remodeled in 1870. At Amelia are 130 Methodists, forming four classes, having as leaders William B. Pease (for forty-five years), Ephraim Short, Richard Rymel, and David Jernegan. A flourishing Sunday-school has William G. Hall for superintendent.
The church at Amelia and other Methodist societies in this part of' the county have sustained various conference and circuit relations. In 1798 the Rev. John Kohler was sent to this part of the State by the Kentucky Conference, to organize Methodist classes and prepare the way for the ministers of the Miami Circuit, which was established the following year, with bounds limited only by a four-weeks' ride. In 1808, Miami Circuit was divided and White Oak Circuit formed, embracing Amelia and all Methodist Churches in Southern Clermont and Brown County. This relation was continued until 1830, when New Richmond Circuit was formed, from which Amelia received its ministerial supply until 1850, since when it has come from Amelia Circuit, of the Ripley District of the Cincinnati Conference. Below is a complete list of circuit preachers and presiding elders who have preached at Amelia and in the surrounding country :
PREACHERS IN CHARGE.
1799-1800, Henry Smith; 1801, E. Bowman, Benjamin Young ; 1802, Elisha Bowman; 1803, John Sale, Joseph Oglesby; 1801, John Meek, Abraham Amos; 1805, Benjamin Lakin, Joshua 'leggin; 1806, Benjamin Lakin, John Collins; 1807, Samuel Parker, Hector Sanford; 1808, David Young ; 1809, John Johnson ; 1810, 1saac Pavey ; 1811, Benjamin Lakin, Eli Trentt; 1812, W. Griffith, Reuben Rowe; 1813, R. W. Finley ; 1814, Robert W. Finley, D. Sharp ; 1815, John Strange, S. Chenoweth; 1816, John Strange, Isaac Pavey; 1817, W. Griffith, James Simmons ; 1818, B. Westlake, S. T. Wells; 1819, F. Landrum ; 1820, William Page, L. Swormstedt; 1821, A. W. Elliott, Z. Connell; 1822, William Page, Benjamin Lawrence; 1823, D. D. Davidson, Samuel West; 1824, G. W. Maley, J. Everhart; 1825, G. R. Jones, W. J. Thompson; 1826, G. R. Jones, Levi White; 1827, A. W. Elliott, Levi White ; 1828, A. W. Elliott, A. F. Baxter, James Smith; 1829, B. Westlake, A. F. Baxter, J. W. Finley ; 1830, William D. Barrett, James Leeder, B. Frazee; 1831, John Collins; 1832, John Collins, John Ulin ; 1833, Isaac C. Hunter, H. E. Filcher ; 1834, John Collins, William T. Hand; 1835, Z. Connell, G. W. Maley ; 1836, Z. Connell, Robert Cheney ; 1837, D. Whitcomb, W. Parrish ; 1838, Levi White, E. D. Roe ; 1839, Levi White, G. R. Jones; 1840, G. R. Jones, Wiliam H. Fyffe ; 1841, Ed. Estell, Wesley Rowe; 1842, William Simmons, Ed. Estell ; 1843, William H. Lawder, J. A. McLaughlin; 1846, J. W. Clarke, Jos. Gasner; 1847, Jos, Young; 1844, William H. Lawder, J. Barton ; 1845, J. W. Clarke, Gasner, C. W. Sears; 1848, Nathaniel Westerman, Joe. Catch; 1849, Nathaniel Westerman, Levi P. Miller; 1850-51, John W. Fowble, Truman S. Cowder; 1852, N. W. Tibbetts, E. D. Roe; 1853, J. S. Pengrine, J. C. Maddy; 1854, J. S. Pengrine, J. M. Sullivant; 1855, Levi P. Miller, M. Biller; 1856, .T. W. Fowble, L. B. Miller ; 1857, J. W. Fowble; 1858, William E. Hines, Jesse R. Hall; 1859-60, B. Glaseock, W. Q. Shannon; 1861, A. V.
PIERCE TOWNSHIP - 439
Beall, James Armstrong; 1862, J. C. Maddy, James Armstrong; 1863, M. P. Zink, J. Stephenson ; 1864, W. Young, R. M. Thompson; 1865, William Young, H. C. Middleton; 1806, Albert N. Sparh, H. C. Middleton ; 1867, A. N. Sparh, W. Rutledge; 1868, J. W. Sullivan, W. Rutlege; 1869, J. W. Sullivan, J. C. Maddy; 1870, J. M. Robiason, C. Kalbfus ; 1871, J. M. Robinson, J, R. Hunter; 1872, E. F. Hill, L, M. Davis, S. McDonald; 187374, L. Prince, W. P, Jackson ; 1875, L. M. Davis, W. T. Baker ; 1876, L. M. Davis; 1877-78, Frank Leever ; 1879, John Vanoe.
ELDERS.
1799-1802, William McKendrye; 1803-5, William Burk; 1806-9, John Sale; 1910-12, Solomon Langdon; 1813-14, S. Parker ; 1815, John Sale; 1816-17, M, Crume; 1818-20, John Sale ; 1821, John Strange; 1822, J. B. Finley ; 1823-26, John Collins; 1827-30, G. R. Jones; 1831-32, James B. Finley ; 1833, Thomas A. Morrie; 1834-35, Leroy Swormstedt; 1836-39, William B. Christie; 1840-42, William II. Raper ; 1843-40, M. Marlay ; 1847-50, Joseph M, Tremble; 1851-54, J. F, Wright; 1855-58, William Young; 1859 -62, John W. Fowble; 1868-66, James Kendall; 1867, J. G. Black; 1868-70, S. Bennett ; 1871, Alexander Mahara; 1872-73, J. K. Chalfant; 1874-75, Granville Moody ; 1876-79, W. 1. Fee.
PLEASANT HILL METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Among other early Methodists in this part of the county were Thomas Medaris, Samuel Ricker, Elijah Mattox, Richard Cord, Elijah Mattox, Jr., Thomas Woods, Thomas Manning, John, Michael, and Daniel Behymer. The first meetings were held at the house of Samuel Ricker and other places until about 1830, when a small brick meetinghouse was erected near where is now the academy building. Ten or twelve years later the present house of worship was erected to afford the growing society larger accommodations. Recent repairs have placed the house in good condition, and it is controlled by trustees Daniel Behymer, Michael Behymer, John Behymer, Henry Behymer, Benjamin Mattox, Hiram Tone, and Thomas Mattox. The church has about 80 members, belongs to Amelia Circuit, and has Thomas Tone as a local preacher. Hiram Tone is the superintendent of the Sunday-school.
At Palestine a small meeting-house was built about 1835, in which the Methodists and other denominations preached, having also organizations which were not long continued. The last to attempt services there with any regularily were the Baptists. About ten years ago, through the efforts of the Rev. Spaldou, a small society was formed, which has already gone down, and only occasional preaching is there held by the Methodists and United Brethren.
THE NINE-MILE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH
was incorporated Dec. 23, 1870, with John Gray, Thomas Rose, Aaron Hopper, A. W. Hibben, and George Sheldon trustees, and the Rev. P. F. Johnson pastor. A house of worship was begun northeast of Pleasant Valley, which was never completed, the society having transferred its place of worship to Hamilton County.
THE PLEASANT VALLEY UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.
Formerly members of this faith held meetings in a log house above Pleasant Valley, and later at the brick schoolhouse, where the church was formed in April, 1877, by the Rev. S. F. Kuhns, about 30 persons uniting in church fellowship. Jacob Behymer was selected as the class-leader. On the 7th of April, 1877, the church became a corporate body, with J. M. Behymer, George Behymer, E. B. John, Lewis Behymer, John Welch, and James E. Parvin as trustees. About this time the present church edifice, a frame of respectable proportions, was begun, and consecrated the following November by Bishop Dixon. The church has at present about 100 members, who are under the pastoral direction of the Rev. S, McCorkle, whose predecessors were the Revs. D. N. Howe and S. F. Kuhns. The stewards are Charles Troy and Ezra John. For many years a Sunday-school has been maintained in this neighborhood, which has for its present superintendent Josephus Reed.
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT TEN-MILE
has a growing congregation and an increasing membership. It has but recently been organized. The old Ten-Mile Baptist meeting-house has been repaired, and is used as the place of worship. Close at hand is a neatly-kept burial-ground, and at other points in the township are appropriate burial-grounds, cared for by religious societies and individuals of the neighborhood in which they are located.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ELBRIDGE G. RICKER.
The Ricker family is of pure English extraction, being honorably associated with the Puritan annals of New England from the landing of the " Mayflower" in 1620 to the successful close of the Revolutionary struggle. This noted family was connected by marriage and intermarriage with the Jewett stock, and traces its lineage back in Great Britain to the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, and through the illustrious line of Went- worths to Reginald de Wynterwade, a baron of great power and wealth of that day.
Samuel, son of Jabez and Mary (Wentworth) Ricker, was born in Berwick, Me., July 7, 1766, and on Jan. 17, 1790, married Susana, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Jewett, who was born March 28, 1770, in Londonderry, N. H. In 1814, Samuel Ricker moved with his family to Pleasant Hill, Clermont Co., Ohio, where he died March 10, 1838, and his with, Susana (Jewett), died Oct. 20, 1855. The following were their children : Rufus, born April 3, 1791, in Sandford, Me., and who died June 29, 1846 ; Jabez, born in Poland, Me., May 25, 1794, taught the first school in Union school-house in Monroe township, was never married, and was drowned Jan. 12, 1821, in the Arkansas River ; Benjamin Jewett, born in Poland, Me., July 7, 1796 ; Samuel, born in Poland, Me., Feb. 3, 1800 ; Susana, born in Poland, Me., Nov. 1, 1802, married John Fitzpatrick, and died Sept. 10, 1854 ; Eben S. Ricker, born in Poland, Me., March 9, 1805, and 'who married, Feb. 10, 1828, Harriet, daughter of John and Mary Pumpelly, and died March 1, 1879; and the last child, Darius, born April 25, 1810, and died July 15, 1855.
Benjamin Jewett Ricker was married, Nov. 24, 1816, in Campbell Co., Ky., to Mary Reed Wilson, born in Durham, Me., Feb. 12, 1800. He died Oct. 19, 1861, and she died in December, 1859. Both for over half a century were
440 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their children were Ethridge Gerry Ricker, bow in Clermont Co., Ohio, July 31, 1818 ; Susan, born in Rush Co., Ind., Dec. 22, 1821, and married to Joseph R. Foster ; Adaline Wilson, born Nov. 16, 1824, in Rush Co., Ind., and married to Benjamin Frazee; Mary Ann, born in Rush Co., Ind., Nov. 26, 1827, and married to Jacob Clark ; and William Wilson Ricker, born in Clermont. County, Aug. 1, 1832. He was liberally educated at the best schools in Southern Ohio, but made farming his occupation, in which he became one of the most noted agriculturists in the State. Fruits, berries, and grapes were a specialty with him, and he carried their culture to an excellence that gave him a marked reputation. He very early identified himself with the antislavery cause, and among the freedom agitators was known for his warm advocacy of lhe rights of the negro slave. In 1855 he was elected to the Ohio Legislature as representative, together with William West, from Clermont, and in the House made a useful member. He was in Ohio one of the founders of the Republican party in 1854-55, and had a great influence in shaping its councils in a manner that led to its success in that State. In 1863 he was elected treasurer of Clermont County, and for two years made an efficient officer, receiving and disbursing the public funds with scrupulous honesty and care. In the war of the Rebellion he was major of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, and by his gallant conduct in the service won a glorious name. He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1833, and unlil his death was a zealous and consistent member.
He was often a member of the township board of education, and in the educational cause, as in temperance and all other moral reforms, he took an active part, as is illustrated by the fact that when a member of the Legislature he taught a Sunday-school class of convicts in the Ohio penitentiary. For quite a period he had charge of the experimental farm of Farmers' College, at Cincinnati, of which he was for years one of the board of directors and professor of agriculture. He was a man of comprehensive views, high character, and inflexible integrity. He left an honored name, and the impress of his career of usefulness will long be felt in the county, and his memory respected for his good deeds and unstained public life. He died March 10, 1876, and his widow still resides at the elegant homestead at Pleasant Hill, some two miles from the Ohio River, and three- fourths of a mile from the New Richmond branch of the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad. He was married by Rev. Levi White, Dec, 13, 1838, to Margaret Foster, daughter of Capt. Thomas Foster and Sarah (Raper) Foster, and a granddaughter on the paternal side of Thomas Foster, an early emigrant from England to Virginia, and on the maternal side a granddaughter of Leonard Raper, educated in London, England, and a government surveyor in the Northwest Territory. From this union of the Wentworth-Jewett-Ricker house with the Foster-Raper (Twigg-Holly on the female side) stock, all of honored lineage, were born the following children Benjamin Jewett Ricker, born Sept. 14, 1840, enlisted in the Union army as a private in the Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteers, promoted to the rank of orderly sergeant, then to a lieutenancy, then to be captain, and finally major, and at the battle of Fayetteville, in West Virginia, Sept. 10, 1862, he was shot through the left hand, through the right arm, and through the right side. After the close of the Rebellion he was admitted to the Clermont bar, and having removed to Topekae Kansas, there practiced law with great success for seven years, until the death of his father compelled his return to Clermont to look after the large estate of the deceased. The second child was Rozella A., born April 1,1842, and married to Dr. Edwin Freeman, of Cincinnati, where he has a large practice as a physician, and is the professor of anatomy in the Eclectic Medical College of that city and a surgeon in the Ninth Army Corps. Ile has two sons, Foster Ricker and Edwin, and one daughter, (Rozella Margaret. The third son, Thomas Foster, was born Sept. 23, 1843, and in the Rebellion, as a brave soldier fighting for the Union, lost his left leg in battle at Atlanta, Ga., in August, 1864, and died at home May 11, 1874, never having fully recovered from his wound. Maria Ricker, fourth child of E. G. and Margaret Ricker, was born July 24, 1845, and died unmarried July 8, 1872. Edward, the fifth child, was born Oct. 8, 1846. The sixth child was Joseph Trimble Ricker, born May 18, 1848, married Miss Kate Winspeare, of Pierce township, whose parents were from New York State, and by her he has one child, Benjamin Jewett Ricker, the only great-grandson of Benjamin (Benjamin .Jewett Ricker, son of Samuel). He is a physician, and resides at Pleasant Hill, where he has an extensive practice. The youngest child, Sallie Foster Ricker, born Nov. 22, 1855, married William T. Simpson, of College Hill, Cincinnati, a son of the well-known Robert Simpson, the leading life-insurance agent of Ohio. The Elbridge Gerry Ricker mansion is pleasantly located in Pierce township, and its elegant surroundings mark the taste of the hospitable dwellers therein, as well as the discerning judgment of its owner for so long a period, now deceased, but living in his spotless reputation and memory, and in worthy descendants true to their long line of honored ancestors.
LEWIS NASH.
Among the earliest pioneers of Clermont County was the father of William Nash, who about 1795 emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky. William Nash, born in 1794 in Maryland, was but three years old when his parents, in 1797, removed from Kentucky and settled on Little Indian Creek, in this county, where he remained until his sixteenth year, when his parents moved to what is now Pierce township, and purchased what is known as the Elias Nash farm. Then a solitary bridle-path was the only road from Little Indian to Cincinnati, whither the early settlers went on horseback to trade, and at which little backwoods village they bought their salt, packing it by the half-bushel back to their cabins on horses. From where Moscow now stands to the Queen City of the West hardly a tree had been cut. William Nash, of German extractione married in 1822 Miss Ruth Lewis, at the residence of the well-known Chapman Archer, and with her he lived upwards of threescore years. They were the parents of the following children : Lewis, the subject of this sketch ; Ezekiel ; Wilham, deceased ;
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John B., died in infancy ; Elizabeth (deceased), first married to John W. Hulick, and the second time to Gano Martin ; Annie (deceased), married to Joseph Martin ; and Angeline, who died when about eight years old. William Nash was a good farmer, and in his occupation took pride and made it a success, and by his industry and frugality acquired a competency, and gave a good home to each of his five children who reached maturity. He was a man of high integrity, whose word was as good as his bond ; in politics a Jackson Democrat, and in rehgion a Baptist. He
died in August, 1878, in his eighty-fourth year of age, at the residence of his youngest son, Lewis Nash, with whom he made his home some time prior to his death, and his wife, Ruth, died some two years previous. Lewis Nash, youngest son of William and Ruth Nash, was born March
16, 1828, and was married June 9, 1850, to Rebecca, daughter of Samuel Weaver. She died October 29, 1855, leaving one child, George W. Nash, of Moscow, in this county. On November 6, 1856, he was married to a sister of his former companion, Catherine M. Weaver, by whom he had three children,—Ida E., Rosa B., and Eben F. Nash. His second wife died May 8, 1867, and on May 17, 1868, he was married to Clara L. Moore, daughter of James C. Moore, for many years county surveyor of Clermont. Mr. Nash for several years has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, and belongs to Milton Lodge, No. 99, at Amelia. Is a member of no church, a decided Republican in his political proclivities, and greatly interested in educational matters. His occupation is that of farming and general fruit-growing, and he is hardly surpassed in the county in the cultivation of raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries, the production of which he makes a specialty. In 1880 his crop of strawberries exceeded five
hundred bushels, for which he found a ready market in Cincinnati, only fifteen miles distant. His berries be ships to the city by wagons at night-time, where in the morning they are offered by the commission houses fresh to customers. The fruit and berry culture in Clermont has become exceedingly profitable to those farmers of tact and taste who, like Mr. Nash, understand thoroughly their raising and care. Mr. Nash is one of our best citizens, a man of great public spirit, and his fine homestead, with its commodious residence and tasteful and pleasant surroundings, mark him as a model farmer, whose industry, careful management, and educated taste have secured him the substantials of life and a happy, delightful home.
JACOB EBERSOLE.
In the early part of the eighteenth century the Ebersole family emigrated from Germany, and settled in the State of Maryland, where its members became large and prosperous planters. Christian Ebersole married in Maryland, emigrated about the year 1795 to Maysville, Ky., and afterwards to near Lexington, in that State, where his son, Christian S. Ebersole, was born in 1799, and in 1802 he moved to Ohio, setthng near the mouth of the Little Miami River. In 1808 he erected the old Ebersole homestead mansion, now occupied by Thomas Brooks. He had three sons, Christian S., Abraham, and Jacob, and several daughters, one of whom, Catherine, was the second wife of the late Robert Fee, of Moscow, and three of whom died in the summer of 1843,—one of these, Elizabeth, being very beautiful and accomplished. Christian Ebersole was one of the earliest settlers and pioneers of Columbia township, Hamilton Co., Ohio, and died shortly before 1840, his wife having died in 1821. Christian S. Ebersole, brother of Jacob, settled in Oakley, on the Marietta Railroad, in 1843, but sold out and located where he now is, at Madisonville, in 1871, where he continues to hold the homestead property of one hundred and eighty acres, besides several valuable tracts of building property in Madisonville and elsewhere. His residence is a handsome cottage, in the centre of a lot of ground one hundred feet square. It is built in a tasty and roomy manner, and finished in a style of luxury quite inconsistent with the humble name given to it by its opulent proprietor,—" The Log Cabin." Jacob Ebersole was born in Columbia township, Hamilton Co., Ohio, Oct. 25, 1812, and received a good education, and in after-years became a man of extensive reading and varied research. On Sept. 3, 1843, he was married by Rev. Edward Scofield to Lydia Ann Rogers, daughter of Dr. John G. Rogers and his wife Julia (Morris) Rogers, and granddaughter of Hon. Thomas Morris, United States senator from Ohio from 1833 to 1839. By this marriage were born two children,-Elizabeth, married to Hon. Wayland W. Sutton, a merchant of Cincinnati, and George Ebersole, in the commission business in that city. Mrs. Lydia Ann (Rogers) Ebersole died some three years subsequent to her marriage, and on June 5, 1850, Jacob Ebersole was married in Richmond, Madison Co., Ky., to Elizabeth Rachel Hall, daughter of Joseph Hall, originally from Connecticut, and of his wife, Mary (Walker) Hall. Elizabeth Rachel (Hall) Eber-
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sole was born in Maysville, Mason Co., Ky., and was a lady of many accomplishments. Her mother, now Mrs. Jones, but previous to her second marriage Mrs. Joseph Hall, was originally Mary Walker, and was born in County Antrim, Ireland, where she was the schoolmate of Sarah Ann (Molyneaux) Rogers, present wife of Dr. John G. Rogers, and also the late prominent New Richmond merchant, Hugh Gilmore, and his wife Jane (Hays).
The venerable Mrs. Jones, now in her eighty-first year, is living with her daughter, Mrs. Jacob Ebersole, and relates with great interest the incidents connected with the immigration of the Gilmores, Hays, Walkers, and Molyneauxs from the counties of Antrim and Down, in Ireland, in the early part of the century, and who settled in Clermont. Mrs. Elizabeth Rachel (Hall) Ebersole was a bridesmaid at the marriage, in 1843, of Mr. Ebersole to Lydia Ann Rogers, and seven years later was herself Mr. Ebersole's bride. Jacob and Elizabeth Rachel (Hall) Ebersole had seven children, to wit : Mary Hall, died in infancy ; Anna Maria, born March 26, 1852, and on June 14, 1871, married to Thomas A. Griffith, of the Clermont bar, prosecuting attorney of the county from 1871 to 1875 ; Jennie Feemster Ebersole, born Aug. 28, 1854; Christian Shough, born April 10, 1856 ; Joseph Hall, born Dec. 27, 1857 ; Charles Coons, born Nov. 22, 1859 ; and Mary Louise, born Feb. 5, 1862. Jacob Ebersole's father gave him four hundred acres of land in Pierce township, lying four miles below New Richmond, in Washington survey, and which he (Christian Ebersole) had purchased From the heirs of President George Washington. To this Jacob added until he became the owner of five hundred and sixteen acres. He built his beautiful residence in 1851, overlooking the river and commanding one of the finest views to be seen in the beautiful Ohio Valley. Jacob Ebersole died July 12, 1861, and his wife, with her unmarried children, resides on the homestead, near New Palestine. He was a member of the Baptist Church, to which he contributed liberally. Of a generous and social disposition and lively temperament, few men in the counly in his day were more esteemed than he. In his family the noble qualities of this large-hearted man were beautifully illustrated in the concord and love that clustered about its hospitable hearthstone. He took an active part in politics, was originally a Whig, then a Free-Soiler, then " Know-Nothing," and on the organization of the Republican party identified himself with its fortunes, In 1854 he was elected a director of the County Infirmary, serving three years, and in that time had as his colleagues Peter S. Jones, Edward Sinks, Thomas W. Abernathy, and the venerable Dr. A. V Hopkins. In the early anti-slavery days he took an active part as one of the pioneers for " freedom to the negro," and with Dr. John G. Rogers, Eben S. Ricker, Thomas Donaldson, and other " Liberty" chieftains, he occupied the, foreground in the little army opposing the institution of slavery and its advance into the free Territories. Charitable and liberal, kind to the poor, a good citizen and most friendly neighbor, his death in the prime of manhood was a severe loss to the county and a terrible stroke to a loving family.
MICHAEL BEHYMER.
Michael Behymer was born May 8, 1812, in what is now Pierce township, and was the son of Joel and Eve (France) Behymer, who were early settlers on Nine-Mile Creek. His grandfather, John Behymer, was one of the earliest pioneers, having located before the year 1800 in the county, then a part of Hamilton.
Joel Behymer had four sons-Henry, Eben, Benjamin, and Michael—and six daughters: Elizabeth, married to James Robb ; Mary, to William Arthur ; Nancy, to John Robb ; Susan, to William Nash ; Lydia, to Thomas Heron ; and Malinda, to Wilson Thompson Gray.
Michael Behymer was married on Nov. 5, 1835, by N. E. Walton, justice of the peace of Ohio township, to Mary Ann Archer, daughter of Chapman and Sophia (Behymer) Archer. The spring following his marriage he moved to the farm on which he now resides, and which has been his
home ever since. Their children have been Benjamin, who died in infancy ; Cassie, married to John R. Woodlief, Esq., ex-sheriff of the county and a prominent member of the Clermont bar ; George W., married to Belle Riley ; Madison, who died in infancy ; Chapman, killed in 1862 by a kick from a horse ; Flora, married to Jasper, son of Hiram D, Tone ; Bennett and Edgar, both unmarried, and living at home.
Mr. Behymer and wife are both zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the three sons, George W., Bennett, and Edgar, belong to the J. B. Covert Lodge, No, 437, F. and A. M., of Withamsville. Mr. Behymer's farm embraces one hundred and eighty-seven acres of rich land near Pleasant Hill, and is in one of the best neighborhoods of the county. He is an excellent farmer and pays special attention to the cultivation of berries, which production is more profitable to the producer, and is attended with less severe labor, than the generality of farm products. His farm lies some two and a half miles from the Ohio River, and near the New Richmond branch of the Cincinnati and Eastern Narrow-Gauge Railroad, and may justly be ranked one of the best in Clermont. Mr. Behymer has won the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens by his life of industry, integrity, and fair dealing; and in all public enterprises and movements for the general good of society he is ever to be found in the foreground. His elegant residence, with handsome surroundings, is on Pleasant Hill, midway between Donhamsis Hill on the east and Hopper's Hill on the west.
UNION.
UNION is one of the townships bordering on the Hamilton County line, the second from the Ohio, and having for its northern boundary the East Fork of the Little Miami. It was erected with its present proportions from Ohio township in December, 1811, with Batavia on the east and, since 1853, Pierce forms the southern boundary. In this part the surface is level, and the township retains this characteristic until within a few miles of the East Fork, when it becomes broken and rugged, but immediately bordering on that stream are fine meadow-lands whose beauty and fertility are not surpassed in the county. Some parts of the uplands are clayey and their fertility is variable, but generally the soil is productive, and Union ranks well agriculturally. In the western part it is especially adapted for market- gardening, and considerable attention is paid to that industry. The streams are small, draining northward into the East Fork. They are, in the order named from the east, Shaylor's, Salt, and Hall's Runs.
PIONEER SETTLERS.
The settlement of Union was effected about the beginning of the present century, and was more general in the southern part than in other sections, one of the most notable settlements being at Withamsville. The Rev. Maurice Witham, a native of Maine, here secured a tract of 1000 acres of land, which he and his family came to occupy in 1800, receiving a patent for his extensive domain Nov. 28, 1803. After settling his children around him he went to Chillicothe to purchase an adjoining tract of land, but died in that town in 1807, without effecting his object. He was one of the original members of the old Ten-Mile Baptist Church, and shared the early pastoral labors of that body with the Rev, William Robb. Of his eight children two were sons,-Nathaniel and Gideon,—and the daughters married : Catherine, James Bennett ; Olive, John Bennett ; Hannah, James Warren ; Abigail, Gibbons Bradbury ; Sarah, Thomas John, of Nine-Mile, in Pierce ; and Martha, Robert Lane, of Olive Branch. The two eons and the first four daughters helped form what was long known as Witham's settlement. Nathaniel Witham, the eldest son, married Jemima Lane, and settled on the farm now owned by James Lee, but died at Withamsville, July 28, 1847, Of his family, Maurice was an attorney and a merchant at Withamsville, dying in 1853 ; Gideon, a justice of the peace, yet resides here ; Birdsell is a physician at Mount Cannel ; Nathaniel G. is a fanner at Withamsville ; James M., a physician at the same place ; Jefferson C. and Samuel L., farmers ; George W., a merchant in Illinois ; Hannah married Alonzo Knowles, of Felicity ; Mary Ann married Nicholas Gatch, of Milford ; and Lomira married Samuel Rich, of Illinois.
Gideon Witham, the second son of Maurice, married Esther Dutton, of the eastern part of the State, and lived near Tobasco until his death, about 1862. His sons—Jesse D., Nathaniel, William D., Lewis D.—also located in that part of Union. His daughter Lucy married Robert Kyle, of Union, and Amanda, George Hunter, of Indiana.
James Bennett, the husband of Catherine Witham, was a native of Vermont, and came to Union in 1801. Both of the parents died at Withamsville, and of their children, Moses, James, and Francis removed to Illinois ; Elisha became a distinguished physician at Withamsville ; Reuben lived in the same village ; Susan was the wife of Dr. William Deane ; Hannah, of Otis Preble ; Abigail, of Lewis Martin ; and Catherine, of Thomas Gray.
John Bennett, the husband of Olive Witham, was also a New Englander, but was no relative of James Bennett. They settled on the present Whippy farm, but removed to Hamilton County at an early day.
Hannah Witham's husband, James Warren, came in 1801, and lived on a farm adjoining the Bennett place, where both died some time about 1830. They had seven children,—John, who died on the homestead ; Ichabod, removed to Monroe ; Lawson L., a merchant at the Gum Springs ; Henry, who died at Withamsville a short time ago ; the daughters, Hannah, Sarah, and Susan, married into the McCord, Keyes, and Hall families.
Gibbons Bradbury was also a native of New England, and settled on the Witham tract east of the village, the homestead yet being occupied by his son, Thomas. Another son, Ichabod, settled in Pierce ; and Gideon moved to Illinois. Of the daughters, Sarah became the wife of Aaron Fagin, who was a great merchant in St. Louis ; Huldah married James Pollock ; and Rachel, Edward Williams. The descendants of the above families became very numerous, constituting for many years the principal part of the population of Southern Union, and yet form a considerable proportion of the inhabitants residing around Withamsville.
About the same time (1801) John and Isaiah Prickett and William Beasley settled near Withamsville. At this time the latter was an old man, and both the Pricketts deceased many years ago. John had children named Nicholas, Elias, Isaiah, John, Samuel, Polly, and Sarah, most of whom located in this neighborhood, leaving numerous descendants. Of Isaiah's family, Nicholas, a man eighty years of age, yet lives near Withamsville ; John was drowned at Palestine ; Paul became a Baptist minister ; Jacob went into the regular army ; and Isaac removed to Indiana.
William Hall, a native of Virginia, was one of the first settlers east of Witham's. He was a large land-owner. His
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son John lived on the Batavia pike, east of Mount Carmel, until his death a few years ago ; Edward was a minister of the Christian Church, and an able writer ; William resided near the homestead, but died in Cincinnati a few years ago ; James removed to Indiana, and his daughter Elizabeth married John Apple, of Batavia township.
Farther east lived, in pioneer times, Jotham Bragdon, also a large land-owner. One of his sons, William, yet resides near Bethel, and grandchildren live in Union.
Some time about 1825, John Miles, a Revolutionary soldier, came to Withamsville, and resided here many years, dying, it is said, at the age of one hundred and eight years. He was a peculiar man, and oft expressed a wish that he would die either on July 4th or January 8th (Jackson's victory), and that at his burial a bottle of whisky and a plug of tobacco should be placed in his coffin. He died on the 8th day of January, and his wife attended to his other wishes. Although she was eighty years of age, she married again a man by the name of Rupert, also an octogenarian.
Daniel Durham, born in Maryland, near Baltimore, emigrated to the West at the time of the first settlement near the mouth of the Little Miami River. In 1800 he purchased 300 acres of land for $600, and built a log cabin thereon, near the present site of Tobasco, in Union township. In 1807 he added to his tract until his farm comprised 800 acres, which were originally a dense forest, where roamed at will the panther, bear, and all the animals known to the locality. Here in his rude cabin he reared a family of nine children. His first child, Sarah, married Jonathan Frazier, and settled near Perin's Mills, rearing a large family ; the second, Ellen, married Joseph Martin, settling in Hamilton County, near the Clermont County line ; the third, Elizabeth, married Alexander Morrison, who lived in the same locality ; the fourth, Samuel, married Susan Ayer, and took charge of a tract of land ceded him by his father, near Tobasco.
Joshua Durham (at present hying), now in his ninety- second year, was married to Elizabeth Woodruff, and moved on the waters of Nine-Mile Creek, on the line between Union and Pierce townships, then a dense woods. He cut and prepared his logs for his house all in one day, put it up the second, and took possession of it on the third, He cut a log out in the rear end and tacked greased paper over it for a window, making the door out of clap-boards and hanging it on wooden hinges. There were but three houses in that whole region of country, which were occupied by Wilham Robb, John and D. Loyd. Wild animals abounded in great numbers, wolves being very annoying and dangerous. They killed and devoured three valuable dogs that Durham had procured to rid his premises of the pests. He had no road except a bridle-path, blazed out through the woods, from his house to the settlement of Columbia. Living consisted principally of game, meat being the rule and bread an exception. When the former was wanted they would shoulder their rifles, and going but a short distance from the clearing, select and kill the choicest deer of a herd. Pork was very low ; a large hog weighing from 200 to 300 pounds, would sell for $1. Turkeys were so plenty they were hardly thought worth kilhng. Bread was procured by taking from a half to a peck of corn to a hand-mill in the Miami settlement, where each would take his turn at the crank, turning it like a grindstone to crush the grain. The first wheat was produced by Daniel Durham, who raised a small patch, which he beat out on a sheet with clubs, blowing the chaff out by throwing it up in the wind, and then ground it on an old coffee-mill, running it through a coarse meal-sieve, mixing with water, and baking.
The Rev. Win. Robb spoken of above lived in Pierce, and the Loyds lived northwest of his place. Reuben Loyd removed to Lockport. The daughters married Levi Van Eaton and David Kirgan. Earlier than any of the above was Wm. Reed, who lived on the edge of Hamilton County. Where is now Tobasco, Isaac Van Eaton settled about 1799, but before many years moved to Hamilton County, and the farm passed into the hands of the George Stockton family, who erected the stone house which yet stands on it. West of Van Eaton, about the same time, settled William Whittaker, a Pennsylvanian, who here reared sons named Spencer, a surveyor in the West ; Isaac, a teacher of good reputation ; and others, all of whom removed.
Directly south, John White, of Virginia, located in 1800, and lived here until his death, in 1833. Of his sons, George, Robert, John, James, and Zaccheus removed to Indiana, Thomas and William died at Tobasco, and Reuben yet lives on part of the homestead. On the east was the farm of James Ward, a local Methodist minister, who settled here in 1799, and remained until his death. Most of his family removed, but one of his daughters married Elias T. Fisher, the first postmaster in this part of the county, and father of N. S. Fisher, of Tobasco.
The George Stockton before mentioned was a son of Richard Stockton, an aged man, who settled very early north of Tobasco, dying not many years thereafter. Another son was named Joseph. They were natives of New Jersey.
Near here was the Kyle tract of 1000 acres of land. This family was originally from Pennsylvania, but settled in Kentucky about 1792, where Robert Kyle, the purchaser of the Mosely survey, died. As his sons came of age they settled in Union, Samuel, the eldest, coming in 1810. In 1814 he built the large stone house which is now owned by Martin Markley. He was an officer in the war of 1812, and for years a general of the militia. Gen. Kyle died in Union, and his family removed. John, the second son of Robert Kyle, came to Union in 1811, and died in May, 1855. His second wife, Mary Kyle, yet resides with her son-in law, Nathaniel G, Witham, vigorous in body and mind, at the age of eighty-two years. Thomas, the third son, came a little later and improved the farm now owned by his son, Robert B. Robert, the fourth of the Kentucky heirs, came to Union in 1814 and settled on the farm which he yet occupies, at the age of eighty-six years, so vigorous that he is yet able to engage at his favorite sport, fox-hunting, riding as erect as a young man. Zaccheus, the youngest of the five brothers, has lived in Union since 1840, occupying a farm near Mount Carmel, at the age of eighty-two years,
At Tobasco lives another man of great age, who has gone
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beyond the fourscore years, eight winters, and Henry Hopper is to-day the oldest citizen of the township. He came from New Jersey in 1830.
On a farm south of Tobasco, Capt. Davis Whippy, from Nantucket, Mass., settled about 1814, and died there in 1837. His sons John, Joshua, and George have also deceased. He had daughters who married Dr. Ralph Sharp, Joseph Pancoast, Levi Wilmington, Joseph Kyle, and Robert Jones. The Whippy family is yet represented in this part of Union.
A little north of the village of Mount Carmel Timothy Day, a native of New Jersey, settled about 1800, and remained until his death. He had sons,—Elias, Aaron, Timothy, and Artemas, the latter being the only one to remain in the locality, and deceased a few years ago. Several of the daughters married into the Edwards family. On Hall's Run John Day was a pioneer, and was the father of Daniel and Jeremiah Day.
Jacob Broadwell, the father of Cyrus, Lewis and Jacob, was one of the earliest settlers in Hamilton County, in the Mount Carmel region, and Moses Broad well, his brother, was the pioneer tanner on Hall's Run. He had sons named David and John, neither of whom remained in this locality. A cousin of the elder Broadwells, John, lived north of Mount Carmel in early times. He was the father of Mahlon and Henry, the latter dying here a few years ago.
South of Mount Carmel, were Dominicus Abbott and his brother Elisha, large land-owners. The latter had served under Gen. Wayne. None of their descendants remained in Union.
Soon after 1800, John Rose settled on a tract of 105 acres of land in the western part of Mount Carmel, which was from this fact called Rose Hill. He had sons named Timothy, Luther, Davidson, and John, the latter yet living here, at the age of eighty-four years. The daughters married Edward Dodson and Lewis Broadwell.
At a later day Nathan Sutton, another native of New Jersey, settled south of Mount Carmel, where he reared sons named Jeremiah and Davidson, and daughters who married Artemas Day, George Phillips, and Samuel Edwards, the widow of the first named still living at Mount Carmel. In 1800, James Phillips settled on the county line, south of Mount Carmel. He was a millwright and a miller, putting up some mills on Dry Run for the Armstrong family. He had sons named John Y., Joseph, William, James, Moses, and George. His daughters married John Whittaker and Morgan Anderson. Nathaniel Johnston, the father of John Johnston, the banker of Union City, was also a pioneer in this neighborhood.
In 1832, Campbell Johnson, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, who had been a merchant at Cincinnati, moved to the Mount Carmel neighborhood and engaged in farming, introducing many fine breeds of cattle. He died here in 1843. His eldest son, John, was in the Mexican war, and is to-day a successful attorney in Cincinnati ; and Robert, the youngest son, born in Union, also became an attorney in Cincinnati, and in 1876 was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court of that city, discharging the duties of that office to the great satisfaction of the bar and the people. Another son, James, after being a merchant in the northern part of the county, moved to Illinois, where he is a large farmer.
Joseph Avey came from Maryland to Kentucky in 1794, and about four years later settled in Miami township, on the George S. Swing place. About 1800 he moved to Union township, to the place now occupied by his son, John G., where he died Aug. 28, 1859, at the age of ninety-three years. Nine of his children grew to mature years, viz. : James, who removed to Indiana after 1837 ; Joseph, who lived and died near Olive Branch ; John F., born on the homestead in 1806, and for the greater part of his life has resided there; Elizabeth, the wife of William Fisher, of Butler County; Sally, the wife of Dr. L. Spence; Presocia, the wife of Harvey Perin, of Miami ; Keziah, the wife of D. Sutton, of Union ; Martha, the wife of Rev. John H. Hull, of Indiana.
Jacob Teal, a brother-in-law of Avey, came with him from Maryland, and settled temporarily in Miami, but finding the location unhealthy purchased a tract of land on the hills in Eastern Union, where now lives Oscar Johnson. He died about thirty-five years ago, having reared three sons and three daughters. Jacob, the eldest son, first lived on a part of the homestead, but before his death became a large land-owner. Samuel, the second son, was a blacksmith, and carried on his trade below Perin's Mills until his death. The youngest son, Jesse, lived and died on the homestead. The daughters married : Sarah, Joseph Jaynes, of Miami ; Elizabeth, William Potter ; and Ann, 'William Vorheis, of Batavia.
At the mouth of Shaylor's Run lived at a very early day Maj. Shaylor, who had served in the Revolution. He died about seventy years ago, and his family removed. Along this stream lived a number of early settlers, among them Jacob Fox, who claimed to be a centenarian ; Thomas Robinson, also an aged man ; and Peter Emery, whose family removed after his death.
To the west lived John McGuire, who came from York County, Pa. Of his sons, Nathan, of Batavia, is the only one living in the county.
Stephen Robinson came from the neighborhood of Lynchburg, Va., in June, 1810, and settled on a tract of 300 acres of land, which was so densely timbered that there was scarcely an opening. For a time the family lived in a tent, but in the fall of the year it moved into a good log house, which stood many years. Stephen Robinson died in 1828, and his wife a few weeks later, and both were interred in the Teal burying-ground. The eldest son, John W., became a prominent business man in Batavia, but moved to Missouri, where he died ; Zachariah died at Boston, in Stonelick ; William H., the third son, yet lives at Batavia ; and Stephen, the fourth son, died in the fall of 1823, in Union. Of the daughters, Elizabeth married David Dial, of Batavia ; and Lucy, Simeon Sanders, of Union.
Holman Rice was a native of Virginia, but came from North Carolina in 1813, settling on the place now occupied by J. W. Hunt, where he died in 1845. Of his family, William T. yet lives near the homestead in Union, James H. at Mount Carmel, and Mary H. is the widow of Joel Behymer, of Pierce.
446 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
George McMahan came with Rice and settled on an adjoining farm. He was a popular man in his time. His sons, Jesse, Perry, William, Nathan, and James, all removed to the West. South of these Robert McFarland, an early school-teacher, was a pioneer. He and his sons, Cyrus and Andrew, died in this locality, and his daughters removed to the West. In the Olive Branch neighborhood the West family, although not among the earliest settlers, were very prominent at a later day, and a sketch of the veteran Rev. Samuel West, who died at the age of one hundred and one years, and his gallant son, Major S. R. S. West, appear at another place in this book. The latter was the father of 'Col. S. A. West, of Milford, and of John Kugler West, of Union. He died March 21,1878, greatly esteemed for his many good qualities. Along the East Fork William Malott opened a farm about 1800. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and died on this place. Of his sons, Zedekiah and Thomas removed ; Isaac was a ship-carpenter at Cincinnati, and William remained on the homestead until his death. Several of the daughters married into the Jones family. A mile from this place John Malott made his first settlement, but at an early day removed to Brown County. He had also served in the Revolution. One of his sons, Hiram, located near Mount Cannel.
William Jones, a Virginian and a Revolutionary soldier, came to Union in 1807, locating on the farm now occupied by his son Thomas. Here he died, upwards of one hundred and two years of age. Lewis Furlong came from Virginia in 1811, and having taken a title bend for a piece of land, went to the war of 1812. Afterwards he returned and improved the farm now occupied by his son, D. Furlong. Other sons were Lewis, Robert, Zechariah, David, and William. North, on the East Fork, Robert Cazell was one of the early settlers. He was the father of David, Thomas J., and William Cazell.
Samuel Davis came from the Blue Ridge country, Virginia, about 1800, and settled near the mouth of Shaylor's Run, where he lived until his death, about 1825, having reared eight children. Thomas Davis settled on Shaylor's Run, where he had a mill and a small distillery. He moved to Indiana. Near by Henry Davis made some improvements, and died on the farm which is now occupied by his son Shadrach. The rest of the family moved to Illinois. The third son, John, moved to Indiana, to which State William, who had made some good improvements near East Liberty, also removed. Joseph Davis, another son, settled near the mouth of Hall's Run, where he lived until his death, in 1855. He served as L. lieutenant in the war of 1812. In his family were ten sons, viz, : Mathew and William, living in Indiana ; Jeremiah, Joseph, Samuel, and Thomas, deceased in the township ; Henry, Robert F., and Ira I., yet living along the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad, in Union ; and George W., living in Cincinnati.
Of another family of Davis' was Eli, who settled north of Mount Carmel in 1812, and where hved until recently a son, Alfred E. The eldest son, Noah, yet lives at Pendleton.
Isaac Edwards, a native of Scotland, came from New Jersey to Miami about 1800, purchasing 500 acres of land where is now Newberry. After living there a few years he sold it and purchased 1000 acres at Newtown. Subsequently he became the owner c f a tract on the East Fork, in Union, on which his son Isaac settled and lived until his death, in 1855. Of his family, Isaac occupies the homestead, John died in Milford, Thomas removed to the West, and William lives near Newtown. The daughters married David Furlong, Ira Davis, Ira Perin, and Isaac Turner.
In 1814, Michael Turner, a Pennsylvanian, purchased a farm on the East Fork, which had been improved by Moses Frazier, a Baptist clergyman, on which he lived until his death, in 1856. He was the father of Daniel Turner, of Miami township. Other sons were John, Jackson, Isaac, and William ; and the daughters married Henry Leaf, Uriah Baldwin, William Bamford, Samuel Perry, and Henry Carpenter.
Other familieso doubtless, deserve mention as pioneers, but the necessary data could not be obtained. Their names appear in the following
LIST OF PROPERTY-HOLDERS IN 1820,
in which those who paid no personal tax are indicated by an asterisk, to show that they did not at that period reside in Union, but may have become settlers soon after :
Apple, John, No. 2053; Nathaniel Darbey, original proprietor.
Apple, Wm.
Apple, Henry, Sr., No. 2058 ; Nathaniel Darbey, orig. prop.
Apple, Christopher, No. 2058; Nathaniel Darbey, original proprietor.
Apple, Henry, Jr.
Apple, John, Jr., No. 7090; Abraham Bowman, orig. prop,
Abbott, Dominicus, No. 1115; Wm. Mosely, orig. prop.
Avey, Joseph, No, 9031; Thomas S. Hinde, orig. prop.
Abbott, Thomas J.
Abbott, Thomas, No. 3856; F. Peyton, original proprietor.
Apple, Andrew.
Apple, Henry.
Avey, James G., No. 9031; Thos. S. Hinde, orig. prop.
Apple, Andrew, Sr., No. 2053; Nathaniel Darbey, original proprietor.
Bickle, Jacob.
Brown, Ezekiel.
Broadwell, Elias.
Broadwell, John, No. 2434; Edw. Carrington, orig. prop.
Bias, Garret, No. 1115; William Mosely, original proprietor.
Bennett, James, No. 1134; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
Bradbury, Gibbens, No. 1134; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
Bradbury, Icbabod.
Bradbury, Samuel, No. 1671; Edward Stephens, original proprietor.
Bradbury, Benjamin.
Bickle, George.
Bickle, Catherine.
*Barney, Daniel F., No. 9031; Thomas S. Hiude, original proprietor.
Blicard, Henry
Black, George D.
*Broadwell, Jacob, No. 2434; Edward Carrington, original proprietor.
*Samuel Phillips, No. 1115; Wm. Mosely, original proprietor.
Baits, Daniel, No. 3856; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
*Beagle, Christian, No. 3856 ; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
*Bragdon, Benjamin, No. 1671; Edward Stephens, original proprietor.
Buchanan, John, No. 1671; Edward Stephens, original proprietor.
Buckingham, Enoch, No. 430; Robert Powell, orig. prop. Crossley, Robert.
Chivis, Daniel.
Chapman, Robert.
Clark, Lydia, No. 1115; Wm. Mosely, original proprietor.
Benjamin, No. 2434; Ed. Carrington, orig. prop.
Clark, Daniel.
Crumbaugh, Mary, No. 3856; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
Crumbaugh, John, No. 3856; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
Clifton, Thomas.
Cazel, Robert, No. 2271; John Obannon, orig. prop.
Davis, William, No. 1771 ; Jos. Winlock, original proprietor.
Durham, Joseph.
Davis, John.
Davis, Joseph, No. 1935; John Hardin, original proprietor.
Davis, Eli, No, 2434; Ed. Carrington, original proprietor.
Davis, Henry, No. 1771; Jos. Winlock, orig. prop.
Davis, Elizabeth, No. 1771; Jos. Winlock, orig. prop.
DR. ELISHA BENNETT, of Withamsville, one of the oldest practitioners of this county, comes of English descent on the paternal and maternat side. James Bennett, his father, was born in Maine, on Doc. 8, 1766, and was married in that State to Catharine Witham, born Sept. 2, 1774, and emigrated to Ohio about the year 1800, settling in what is now Clermont County. This pioneer couple had eleven children,—six boys and five girls,—of whom only four now survive, the subject of this sketch and three others living in Illinois.
Catharine (Witham) Bennett was the daughter of Elder Maurice Witham, a pioneer minister of the regular Baptist Church, who emigrated from England, and from that part where flows the Witham River, and which doubtless took its name from a very early race of Withams in the tenth century. Elder Maurice Witham comic to Clermont at the beginning of the present eentury, and purchased one thousand aeres of land,—the entire survey of Churchill Jones,—on which now stands the village of Withamsville, and which, on its division, was mostly given in farms to the uncles and aunts of Dr. Elisha Bennett. James Bennett died Sept. 16, 1841, aged seventy- five years, nine months, and eight days; and his wife, Catharine (Witham), on Feb. 24, 1847. Dr. Elisha. Bennett, the fourth son of his parents, was born on the farm which forms a part of the village of Withamsville in the year 1809, and has, with the exception of about one year, always lived on part of the farm where he was born seventy-one years ago. After receiving a common-school education he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. William Doan, his brother-in-law, an eminent physician, who afterwards was representative and senator in the Ohio Legislature, and from 1839 to 1843 a member of Congress. After completing his medical studies he located for a short time in the far West, where the Indians were numerous, practicing his profession for one year, when the health of Dr. Doan having failed to such a degree that he was unable to attend the numerous calls of a very extensive practice in Clermont and Hamilton Counties, he called Dr. Bennett to his assistance, who returned to this county, and has until very recently practiced his profession.
He was united in marriage Aug. 27, 1836, by John McGuire, J. P., to Miss Hannah Smith, of this county, and of this union were born ten children, three of whom now survive, viz.: William D. Bennett, engaged in the insurance business and general speculation; Dr. Cass A. Bennett, a rising physician of promise and ability ; Harvey R. Bennett, the youngest, yet unmarried, and engaged in the mercantile business. About the year 1833, Dr. Elisha Bennett was appointed as adjutant on the staff of Col. William Thomas, and after serving some time on his staff was promoted, in 1839, to be lieutenant-colonel, and finally to be colonel of the regiment, which office he held until the Legislature of Ohio did away with the militia law, and the doctor with others was legislated out of office. In 1851 he was elected a representative from Clermont to the Fiftieth General Assembly of Ohio by the Democratic party, and the first under the new constitution adopted that year. He made a most valuable and upright member, and served with much credit on several of the most important committees of the House.
He has ever been a consistent Democrat, and a strong advocate of the rights of the people, a firm believer in economy and retrenchment in all the expenditures of the government, and in a strict construction of the constitution, and opposed to high salaries on the part of public officials. Through integrity and honesty he stands foremost among his fellow-citizens, always contributing to public charities and enterprises with a liberal hand. By industry and economy he has secured a most ample competency for life, and possesses an estate of large value for his children. Though for some years greatly afflicted with a nervous disease affeeting his voice, he has borne his sufferings with that remarkable patience so characteristic of his strong mind and kind disposition. There are but few physicians in our land who have undergone more privations than Dr. Bennett in a practice of nearly fifty years. On one occasion, while traveling on a visit to one of his patients, his horse was brought to his knees by a stroke of lightning, yet the doctor eseaped serious injury, being only temporarily blinded by the vividness of the flash. On another occasion his dwelling-house was struck by lightning and eonsiderably injured, yet he and his family were not hurt. May we not attribute the deliverance of the doctor from these and frequent kindred perils to the fulfillment of that which is written in Holy Writ : "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land," for surely no person ever treated with more loving kindness and respect their parents than did Dr. Beanett. This characteristic of the doctor was not confined to his parents, for he was proverbially kind and profoundly respectful to all old people with whom he came in eontact. He has made friends in a large circuit of country, and there is hardly a household far and near but that has known his friendly greetings and kind visitations. His early practice extended over a large part of Clermont and Hamilton Counties when physicians were scarce, especially able and successful practitioners. His honest life, his public services, his humane character, and his medical career in behalf of humanity wrll make him a monument more enduring than brass or marble.
JOSEPH DAVIS.
An early pioneer of and half a century a resident in, Clermont County was Joseph Davis, born near Romney, in Hampshire Co., Va., in 1782. With his parents he emigrated to Ohio in 1803, and coming down the Ohio River in a flat, they landed at the mouth of Crawfish, aUd Joseph settled in Union township, on Shaylor's Run. Joseph being in his twenty-first year, and with the capital only of willing hands and an axe, went to work and soon saved money enough to purchase some land in Hardin's Surveye on the East Fork, between the present villages of Perin's Mills and Milford. On May 1, 1806, he was married to Rachel Fowler, and when they moved into the log cabin on his new purchase to begin housekeeping he carried all his household goods on a horse, and his wife followed on foot with her dishes of pewter in her apron. The cabin he had erected at first had no floor, and their beds were made with sticks and saplings, as were also their tables. There were born to them ten children, all boys,- Matthew, Jeremiah, Joseph, Samuel, Thomas, Henry, Robert F., Ira I., George W., and William B., who all lived to manhood but one, and the five youngest of whom are still living. When he came into that part of Union • township it was all a wilderness, but he reclaimed his purchase from the unbroken forest, and added new lands until he had bought and owned over four hundred acres at his death. For the first few years he made his own salt at Salt Run Creek, and wheat bread and coffee were rarities kept for Sunday morning. In the war of 1812, Joseph Davis served nearly two years as first lieutenant in Capt. Hosbrook's company, raised around Milford and the adjacent country in Hamilton County, and participated in the siege of Fort Meigs in the Maumee Valley, and was under Col.
Croghan in his gallant defense of Fort Stephenson or Sandusky. His wife, Rachel (Fowler), died Dec. 25, 1837, and on April 16, 1838, he married Rebecca Vail, by whom there was no issue. He died July 18, 1845, universally respected for his honesty and integrity, and greatly esteemed as a good citizen and enterprising farmer. While a member of no religious denomination, he was a moral man, and aided in sustaining the churches and liberally paid the preachers. He served many years as justice of the peace in Union township, and it is to be said to his great credit as an enlightened magistrate that no appeal was ever taken in any case from his docket, and it was his constant practice to prevent litigation and settle all disputes without the intervention of a suit if possible. 'Squire Davis was public-spirited, and having arisen from a poor boy to be one of the solid, substantial men of the county, he took a great interest in all public improvements, particularly in schools, in which in his young days the facilities for education were very few.
His eighth son, Ira I. Davis, resides on his farm in Clay's Survey, adjoining the one where is the old Davis homestead now owned by the seventh son, Robert F. Ira I. Davis was born Oct, 10, 1827. He was married by S. H. Whitmore, a justice of the peace, Dec. 27, 1852, to Lydia A. Edwards, daughter of Isaac Edwards, Sr., by whom he had three children. After the death of his first wife he was the second time married, and on March 9, 1862, by Rev. A. U. Beall, to Phebe A. Cross, daughter of Josiah Cross, by whom he had two children. Since her death, in 1872, he has remained a widower. He is a good farmer, with the characteristics that made his honored father a man of note and respected in the community.
UNION TOWNSHIP - 447
Dart, George.
Day, John, No. 706; Robert Brown, original proprietor.
Day, Elijah.
Day, Phoche.
Doan, Wm., Jr.
Douglas, Wm.
Day, Aaron C., No. 2058 ; Nathaaiel Darbey, orig. prop.
*Day, Timothy, No. 2434; Edw. Carrington, orig. prop.
*Davis, Thomas, No. 1771 ; Jos. Winlock, original proprietor.
Emery, Peter, Jr.
Edwards, Isaac, No. 2434; Edw. Carrington, orig. prop.
Emery, Peter, Sr., No. 2058; Nathaniel Darbey, orig. prop.
Emery, Charles.
Emery, John.
*Ebersole, Christian, No. 1134; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
Ferree, Moses.
Fox, James. Furlong, Lewis, No. 2434; Edw. Carrington, orig. prop.
Frazee, Joseph.
Frazee, Jonah, No. 1935; John Hardin, original proprietor.
Fisher, Elias T.
Farrow, Charles.
Fee, Robert.
Fountain, Mathew, No. 9031 ; Thomas S. Mnde, original proprietor.
*Ferris, Andrew, No. 7090; Abraham Bowman, orig. prop.
*Ferris, Joseph, No. 7090; Abraham Bowman, orig. prop.
Garland, Peregrine, No. 2745; John Graham, orig. prop.
Guthrie, William.
Genoways, James B., No. 3856; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
Gould, James.
*Gest, Jacob, No. 2434; Edward Carrington, orig. prop.
*Crotch, Philip, Jr.
Hays, Gabriel, No. 2058; Nathaniel Darbey, orig. prop.
Hughs, Evan.
Ball, William, No. 1671;. Edward Stephens, orig. prop.
Hunter, John, No. 637; William Taylor, original proprietor.
Hunter, Reuben.
Hatfield, William.
Hellman, John, No. 3856; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
Hatboro, John.
Higginbotham, George.
*Hankins, Daniel, No. 674; Matthew Clay, orig. prop.
Jones, Benjamin.
Jenkins, Zephannah.
James, Isaac, No. 434; Robert Powell, original proprietor.
Jones, William L., No.2434; Edward Carrington, original proprietor.
Johnson, Nathaniel, No. 2434 ; Edward Carrington, original proprietor.
*Jolley, John, No. 637 ; William Taylor, original proprietor.
Ketchum, Jeremiah, No. 1771 ; Joseph Winiock, original proprietor.
Kyle, Robert, No. 666 ; R. and J. Morrow, orig. props.
Kyle, Thomas, No. 666 ; R. and J. Morrow, orig. props.
Kyle, John, No. 666; R. and J. Morrow, orig. props.
Kyle, Joseph, No. 637; William Tay lor, original proprietor.
*Kirby, Timothy, No. 2434; Edward Carrington, orig. prop.
*Kyle, Zachariah, No. 666; R. and J. Morrow, orig. props.
Lewis, Phineas.
Loyd, Reubene No. 637; William Taylor, original proprietor.
Ludlow, Platt.
Link, Andrew.
*Lane, Shadrach, No. 9031; Thomas T. Hinde, original proprietor.
McClure, Richard, No. 9031 ; Thomas T. Mode, original proprietor.
Malott, William, Jr., No. 2721; John Obannon, orig. prop.
Malott, Isaac L.
Malott, Zedekiah.
Meguire, John, No. 674; Matthew Clay, orig. prop.
Merril, Joseph.
Malott, Abner.
Malott, Richard, No. 9031 ; Thos. T. Hinde, orig. prop.
Medaris, Oliver, No.3814; James Herron, original proprietor.
Malott, John, No. 9031; Thomas T. Hinds, orig. prop.
Morrill, Alfonso.
Miller, John.
MeDaniel, Jesse.
Morris, Joseph, No. 2058; Na. thaniel Darbey, orig. prop.
McCord, Rachel.
McMahen, George, No. 1671 ; Edward Stephens, original proprietor.
McFarland, Robert, No. 1671 ; Edward Stephens, original proprietor.
* Millspaugh, James, No. 1771; Joseph Winlock, original proprietor.
*Mathews, George and Charles, No. 1138; George Mathews, original proprietor.
Potter, Mathias.
Perry, Joseph.
Perry, Nathan.
Porter, Philip.
Phillips, Joseph.
Price, Peter.
Preble, David.
Preble, Otis.
Prickett, Josiah, No. 1134; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
Prickett, Nicholas.
Prickett, John, Sr,
Phillips, William.
Pratt, William.
*Porter, Elias, Jr., NO. 9031; Thomas S. Hinde, original proprietor.
Robinson, Thomas, No. 1771 ; Joseph Winlock, orig. prop.
Robinson, Stephen, No. 3914; James Herron, orig. prop.
Robinson, Zaohariah, No. 3814; James Herron, orig. prop.
Rubart, Reel.
Robb, William, No. 637; William Taylor, original proprietor.
Rhoads, Ezekiel M.
Rice, Holman, No. 1671; Edward Stephens, orig. prop.
Smith, William.
Sheffe, Ruth.
Shaver, Ludwick.
Steward, Amasa.
Steward, John, No. 3514; James Herron, original proprietor.
Smith, Benjamin.
Sheldon, Thomas.
Stockton, George W., No. 637; William Taylor, orig. prop.
Steward, Cornelius.
Sigmund, James.
Smith, Orin, No. 3878; James Gunner, original proprietor.
*Shaylor, Samuel V., No. 9031; Thomas S. Hinde, orig. prop.
*Shearer, George, No. 1671 ; Edward Stephens, nrig. prop.
*Seldin, Miles, No. 676; Samuel Seldin, original proprietor.
*Sealy, Joseph, No. 1771 ; Joseph Winlock, original proprietor.
*Steward, John, No. 1771; Joseph Winlock, orig. prop.
Troy, Christopher, No. 1771; Joseph Winlock, orig. prop.
Turner, Michael, No.430; Robert Powell, original proprietor.
Thomas, Walter, No. 2745; John Graham, original proprietor.
Thomas, Amos, No. 1935; John Hardin, original proprietor.
Thomas, Elias.
Teal, Jacob L., No. 9031 ; Thomas S. Hinde, original proprietor.
Teal, Jacob, No. 9031 ; Thomas S. Mode, original proprietor.
Teal, Jesse.
Temple, Robert.
Temple, Ebenezer.
Thomas, James, No. 1671; Edward Stephens, orig. prop.
Thomas, William.
Vail, Isaac, No. 9031; Thomas S. Hinds, original proprietor.
*Vance, Samuel C., No. 9031 ; Thomas S. Hinds, orig. prop.
Wilson, Benjamin.
Wilson, M. C.
Williamson, John, No. 3856 ; Francis Peyton, orig. prop.
Wilson, Savil, No. 1115 ; William Mosely, original proprietor.
White, George.
Whitaker, Christiana, No. 637; William Taylor, orig. prop.
Ward, James, No. 637 ; William Taylor, original proprietor.
Ward, John.
Witham, Nathaniel, No. 1134 ; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
Witham, Gideon, No. 1134; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
White, John, No. 637; William Taylor, original proprietor.
Whippy, David, No. 1134 ; Churchill Jones, orig. prop.
Whippy, John.
Warren, John, No.1134; Churchill Jones, original proprietor.
Williamson, Benjamin.
Williams, William, No. 430; Robert Powell, orig. prop.
*Wilson, Benjamin, No. 3814 ; James Herron, orig. prop.
The number of acres reported for assessment were 15,505, valued at $60,006, on which were levied a State tax of $120.01, and a county tax of not quite double that amount. The number of horses were 224, worth $8960; and cattle 400, valued at $3200. The entire tax on personal property was only $67.07.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The records of Union from its organization, Dec. 4, 1811, until 1853, are missing. In the last-named year the annual meeting was held at the school-house in District No. 4, and the following elected : R. Perin, Samuel Kyle, and Thomas W. Duckett, Trustees ; Harvey W. Sutton, Clerk ; Robert Temple, Treasurer ; Samuel Lane, Assessor ; and Wm. Hall, Constable.
Since this meeting the principal officers have been :
TRUSTEES.
1854.—R. Perin, Thomas W. Duckett, John W. Gest.
1855.—H. Davis, Jesse Teal, John W. Gest.
1856.—N. G. Witham, Jesse Teal, H. Broadwell.
1857.—N. G. Witham, Samuel Lane, Jr., E. D. Phillips.
1858.—Peter Crumbaugh, Zaccheus Kyle, E. D. Phillips.
1859.—Peter Crumbaugh, L. L. Warren, E. D. Phillips.
1860.—John S. Jenkins, Jacob L. Teal, E. D. Phillips.
1861.—John W. Kyle, S. D. Davis, E. D. Phillips.
448 - HISTORY OF CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
1862.-John W. Kyle, S. D. Davis, P. S. Jones.
1863.-Andrew Beagle, S. D. Davis, Wm. Fitzpatrick.
1864,-Thomas Bradbury, James Paxton, Andrew Beagle.
1865-66.-Wm. Fitzpatrick, B. W. Teal, Andrew Beagle.
1867.-Joseph Kyle, B. W. Teal, Andrew Beagle.
1868.-Joseph Kyle, T. M. Teal, Moses Elstun.
1869-70.-J. H. Whitaker, J. M. Teal, Wm. Walker.
1871.-Lewis Ludlow, Reuben White, R. F. Davis.
1872.-N. G. Witham, Andrew Beagle, R. F. Davis.
1873.-R. D. Hewitt,, Lewis Gelvin, R. F. Davis.
1874.-A. J. Miller, Wm. Prickett, R. F. Davis.
1875-76.-John Ayres, Wm. Prickett, Benj. Marriott.
1877.-John Ayres, Lewis Gelvin, Benj. Marriott.
1878.-John Ayres, J. M. Teal, Benj. Marriott.
1879.-A. C. Davis, J. M. Teal, L. Gelvin.
TOWNSHIP CLERKS.
1854, P. S. Jones; 1855, Samuel Teal; 1856, John S. Lane; 1857-60, Samuel L. Teal; 1861-62, James McMahan; 1863-66, E. G. Gest; 1867-69, N. G. Witham ; 1870, S. T. Witham; 1871-72, John C. McGuire; 1873-75, S. T. Witham; 1876, John W. Hunt; 1877-78, C. C. McGuire; 1879, J. W. Hunt.
TOWNSHIP TREASURERS.
1854-55, Robert Temple; 1856-60, W. H. Cumback ; 1861-62, Daniel Brinkley; 1863, M. Elstun; 1804-69, P. S. Jones; 1870, J. F. Perdrizet; 1871-72, P. S. Jones ; 1873, M. Simmons; 1874-75, W. A. Wood; 1876-79, J. F. Perdrizot.
TOWNSHIP ASSESSORS.
1854, John S. Lane; 1855, G. V. Witham; 1856-58, John S. Jenkins; 1859, P. S. Jones; 1860, James Givens; 1861, John S. Jenkins; 1862-63, B. W. Teal; 1864, H. B. Jones ; 1865-66, J. D. Hatfield; 1867, Merit Johnson; 1868-70, G. H. Warren; 1871, George Carter; 1872, John A. Morrison ; 1873, C. F. Manning; 1874, P. S. Jones; 1875, Herman Blanchard; 1876, C. C. Manning; 1877- 78, A. W. Hill; 1879, R. D. Sapp.
The loss of the records precludes the giving of interesting information pertaining to the early roads and other township interests ; but a brief account of some of the most prominent thoroughfares may be found in a general chapter of this book. The widely-known Ohio turnpike gives the people of the southern part of the township a good outlet, and caused many fine improvements to be made along its line. Bisecting the township near its centre is the Batavia pike, another toll-road, and one of the finest highways in this part of the State. The Nine-Mile free pike has been extended from Pierce through Western Union to intersect this road at Mount Cannel, and is the longest line of improved road in the township. Union is well supplied with railway facilities. The Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad follows the East Fork, and has stations at South Milford, Elstun's, Davis', Cohoon (opposite Perin's Mills), and at East Liberty. The Cincinnati and Portsmouth enters the township near Mount Carmel, thence runs northeast to Glen Este, Willowville, and Olive Branch, having stations at the points named ; and, lastly, the Ohio River division of the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad runs through the southwestern part of the township, liming a station at Tobasco, These roads, although but recently constructed, have aided wonderfully in developing the resources of the township. Union maintains a fine cemetery at Mount Moriah, on the Ohio pike, near Tobasco. It contains more than six acres, and is substantially and attractively improved. At other points, generally in connection with church-yards, are small burial-grounds.
HAMLETS AND VILLAGES.
The hamlet of Willowville, on the Batavia turnpike, in the eastern part of Union, has about half a dozen houses and a store, kept by Charles McGuire. Here James Stewart was engaged in merchandising as early as 1835, and others followed for short periods. In 1866 a post-office, bearing the name of the hamlet, was established and placed in charge of Jacob Meyers, but it was soon discontinued. At Glen Este, in the same locality, a post-office has been opened since the completion of 'he railroad, and at that point Charles Conklin has, also, a small store.
EAST LIBERTY
is a small hamlet on the East Fork, near the northeast corner of' the township, and owes its existence to the milling interests at that place, no particular effort having been made to found a village. But since the Cincinnati and Eastern Railroad has located a station here a village has been regularly laid out. The plat was made by Daniel Baldwin in March, 1877, and embraced 6.07 acres of land, forming 21 lots. The streets were named Woodward, Nealy, Baldwin, Harrison, and Hayes.
The water-power of the East Fork here was first improved by John Bills, who put up a small mill some time about 1825. Subsequently John Baker. who had been Samuel Perin's miller, became the owner. The latter sold out to Mathias Kugler, who erected the present mill and gave the locality the name of East Liberty. The present owner of the mill is Philip Huffman. It has a good capacity, and can be operated ten months per year. While Kugler owned the mills he had a store and a large distillery, and the place was the seat of a business which was as important as any carried on in the county. The distillery has long since been discontinued and the buildings removed. For a time there was no store at the mills, but for the past few years R. Sapp has been here engaged in merchandising.
In addition to the extensive distillery of' Kugler at East Liberty, which embraced also a large cooperage, the distillation of liquor was formerly carried on in this part of the township by Thomas Davis, Isaiah Vail, William Vail, and Robert Cazel. Davis had a saw-mill on Shaylor's Run, where the lumber was formed into rafts and floated down the river. On Salt Run were some rude salt-works, operated at an early day for Gen. William Lytle by John Malott, and other small industries have been carried on in this part of the township, all being discontinued when the water-power failed, in consequence of the clearing up of the country.
TOBASCO
is near the southwest corner of the township, on the Ohio turnpike, and is a station of the C. & E. R. R. (Ohio River division). The place had its beginning at the cross-roads which separated the farms of John White, William Whittaker, James Ward, and Isaac Van Eaton. On the Ward farm Elias T. Fisher secured a few acres and put up a cabinet-shop, before 1820, in which he carried on his trade. Soon a blacksmith-shop was erected by James Hunter and a wagon-maker's shop by Michael Hahn, and the place began to assume importance as a busy hamlet. At present a smithy is carried on by Frank Johnson and carpenter and
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building-shops by N. S. Fisher and Robert Jeremiah, each employing a number of men.
John Manker had one of the first stores in the hamlet, near the present toll-gate, about fifty years ago, selling goods in one end of the house and keeping a tavern in the other. Some time about 1845 another store and tavern was opened in the building which is now partly occupied by Tobasco Grange. Samuel McLaughlin was the first there in trade and the last J. D. Witham, about 1868. A number of other persons have here merchandized, meantime. In the year last named R. Jeremiah and W. M. Parks opened a store in the present business house, and were followed by Ben Moore, Z. D. Kyle, and the present D. Sheldon & Co. In the depot building R. White has carried on a grocery- store the past year ; and these two places constitute the mercantile interests of the hamlet.
The Withamsville post-office was first at this place at the house of Elias T. Fisher, and after its removal to Withamsville proper an effort was made to secure an office for this hamlet, which about the time of the Mexican war was oalled Tobasco. The project did not succeed until recently, and Douglas Sheldon was appointed the first postmaster of the Tobasco office. The mail is supplied by the Eastern Railroad daily. The building of that road caused a demand for village lots, and on the 28th of February, 1878, Reuben White laid out 25 lots on the west side of Nine- Mile turnpike, the area being nearly 14 acres. Since that time a number of new houses have been built, and Tobasco has entered upon a promising future. A mile cast, on the Ohio turnpike, is the village of
WITHAMSVILLE,
So named for the Witham family, the original settlers there.
No attempt was made to found a regular village, but the place attained its size and importance in the course of time simply as a country settlement and trading-point. At present there are two churches and the usual adjuncts of a village of a few hundred inhabitants. The widow Britton was the first to engage in trade, about 1816, and was followed two years later by Nathaniel Witham. After merchandising for a time he went out of trade, but in 1828 opened another store, which he had until 1842, when Maurice Witham was his successor for a dozen years. About 1830, Otis Preble and Nathaniel Temple opened a store on the lot now occupied by the Fitzpatrick building, the site having been occupied for merchandising ever since. The present building was erected about 1869 by W. H. Woodlief, who carried on an extensive business. The present firm is William M. Fitzpatrick & Son. The building is three stories high, the second story forming a public hall, and the third belonging to the Masons. David Preble opened another store in 1830, making three in the place, the aggregate business for those times being large. Five or six years later Dr. William Doane and James Ward opened a store in connection with their mill, on the site now occupied by Odd-Fellows' Hall. This building was afterwards purchased by the citizens for a free church, which has long since passed away. Among other merchants in the village have been Peter Jones, Erasmus Short, and at Gum Springs, west of the village, L. L. Warren. In 1868, E. Bennett & Sons engaged in trade where is now H. R. Bennett. Here, also, is kept the post- office, which was established at what is now Tobasco. In 1830, Elias T. Fisher was the postmaster ; in 1841, James Ward, Jr. : 1845, Otis Preble ; 1847, Nathaniel Temple ; 1851, Lamanda Parks ; 1853, J. C. Witham ; and the successive postmasters have been P. S. Jones, L. L. Warren, W. L. Hall, P. S. Jones, II. L. Donham, Lamanda Parks, W. H. Woodlief, A. B. Smith, and William P. Whittaker. A daily mail is supplied.
At the Gum Springs John E. Williams opened the first public-house, and was followed by James Wilson. About the same time Nathaniel Witham entertained the public in connection with his store. Benjamin Tatman began keeping public-house in part of the present stand, where among the successive landlords have been Lamanda Parks, W. A. Ryan, William II. Lane, William J. Behymer, John Weil.
Among the mechanics at Withamsville have been blacksmiths, John Thompson, Isaac and Thomas Gray, William McMurchy, Madison Hall, and, for the past thirty-five years, A. B. & J. W. Jones. For the same length of time P. S. Jones has been a wheelwright, the two shops producing a large amount of work. Other wheelwrights have. been John Webster, Isaac Gray, and George Wilmington.
Twenty-five years ago Jones & Wilmington had a large shop for the manufacture of Windsor chairs, which they carried on a few years, employing a dozen hands. Since that period P. S. Jones has been the undertaker of this part of the county, and G. V. Witham the cabinet-maker. East of the village James Simpson had a carding-machine, operated by horse-power, and William Hall had a horsepower mill. At the village, about 1835, Doane & Ward had steam saw- and grist-mills on the site now occupied by the Methodist Episcopal church, which were extensively operated several years. After being the property of William Hall some time they were demolished.
About 1818, Dr. William Doane, who had studied medicine with Dr. Porter, of Ohio township, located here as a practitioner, and in time was elected to Congress from this district. One of his pupils was Dr. Elias Bennett, who engaged here in practice in 1830, and continued until 1878, but still lives as a retired physician at Withamsville. Dr. Doane died here June 20, 1847. From 1847, for a few years, Dr. J. C. Webber was a practicing physician in the village, and later Drs. H. L. Donham and J. C. Collins. Since 1851, Dr, J. M. Witham has followed the profession, and since 1873 has had associated with him his son, F. P. Witham. In 1879, Dr. C. A. Bennett, son of the veteran Dr. .E. Bennett, commenced his career as a practitioner, the three last named being the present physicians.
MOUNT CARMEL
is a long, straggling village on the Batavia turnpike, near the Hamilton County line. It is located on a high but level tract of land, and consists of two parts, locally known as East and West Mount Carmel, which were built on lots secured from the farms in this locality, no village having ever been regularly laid out. The growth of the place has been slow but constant, and at present there are several churches, a fine graded-school building, and a few hundred