50 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. he died. Judge James Barrett continued to make his home with his elder son, James, until May, 1822, when he died leaving his wife, Elsie, a widow. Judge Barrett was buried on the old farm in one' corner of the orchard in the rear of what is now the Dinsmore Bigger farm, and there is nothing to mark his grave. Near by is the grave of Nancy, wife of James Barrett, Jr., who died May 19, 1864, aged seventy-seven years. Her husband, James Barrett, Jr., died in Allen county. His house taking fire, he was found. dead in the yard. 'The first half-section of land spoken of in this sketch was near Coldrain in Hamilton county, and was set off in Mr. Barrett's will for Eleanor and Hannah, his daughters. in the city of Xenia, in the old part, are three streets running north and south, from Water (or Third) street to Church street, that were named in honor of Greene county's first associate judges, James Barrett, William Maxwell and Benjamin Whiteman. The. first `street east of West street is Barrett, the next street east of Barrett is Maxwell and the first street east of Detroit is Whiteman. May their names never be changed is the prayer of the compiler of this sketch. A VISIT TO THE GRAVE OF JACOB SMITH. A good old-fashioned name, and strangely familiar, can there be any story connected with that lonely grave? Such was the thought that passed through the mind of the writer of this sketch as cne clay he was waiting at Harbine's Station on the Xenia and Dayton branch of the great Panhandle railroad for the train for Xenia. We had been conversing about the old pioneers of Beavercreek township and old graveyards. My companion, Mr. John R. Ridenour, said, pointing in the direction of the building that was used as the first court house of Greene county, "About two hundred yards south of that building are two graves that are not marked. I do not know whose graves they are, but I have heard that one of them is the grave of one of the first settlers in Beavercreek township, but his name I cannot recall." Looking at my watch, I found that I had one hour to wait, so concluded that I would go and investigate. Arriving at the place, I saw extending up the south line Of the Harbine farm a strip of land apparently twelve feet wide by one hundred feet long, which looked as if it might have been used as a graveyard. Here and there were indications that someone had been buried. No mark—save about the length and width of a body—was seen. A hollow or depression of earth showed that someone was sleeping there, the long sleep of death. About the middle of this graveyard was the grave of our subject, Jacob Smith, and by his side that of his wife, Patience Smith. Removing the weeds and vines which grew in front of the stone, we observed at first sight that he was a Mason, on the face of the stone being engraved the square and compass, the gavel, the open book and trowel, and the following inscription : In memory of Jacob Smith, who died the 12th of December, 1819, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. For twelve years he represented the county of Greene Mae state senate. He was a useful citizen and died lamented. His actions were squared by justice ; he kept his passions within compass. In him faith, hope and charity were united." Patience. Smith survived her husband till March 23, 1835, when ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 51 he also laid aside life's burden and was laid to rest beside her husband. Although these were on the margin of an open field which had been cultivated from time to time, yet from the time that the and, had become the property of Mr. Harbine, the graves had been respected. Yet here were indications showing by the near approach of the marks of the plow that it lad been a. great temptation to the different tenants to take just one more round from he rich earth which had had. such a longest. When the Masonic brethren were told of this lonely grave, and whose it was, they were not long in making. arrangements to have the bodies moved to their own lot in our own beautiful Woodlawn, Xenia, which was done October 14, 1898, by the brethren of Xenia lodge. Dr. W. C. Galloway de-livered a fine address at Woodlawn on that occasion. Never can the writer of this sketch forget the morning of the above date when the people began to assemble near the spot that will ever be historic on account of its being, as it were, the cradle of Greene county's judicial history, near the house of Peter Borders, the- county's first court house. They met not to bury Jacob Smith, these Masonic brethren, but to remove whatever might remain of him to a more suitable place for the interment of die who had been of so much note in the county of his choice, and which he had so highly honored. Nearly eighty years he had been buried and his wife sixty-three. Would there be anything remaining of what had been placed there by loving hands so long ago? And while the cold wind of that early October morning came sweeping across the Beavercreek prairie, chilling those who were standing around and warning them of the near approach of winter, the men employed continued in silence their work. The remains of Mrs. Smith were first found at a depth of our feet and six inches to the bottom of he grave. Those of her illustrious husband were soon after brought to the light at a depth of six feet. Tradition says "as was :he height of a man so deep should his ;rave be." Nothing remained in either grave. of coffin or casket, except here and here small pieces of wood and a few brass buttons, from Mr. Smith's coat. After the remains of Mr. Smith had been carefully uncovered they were seen to be complete, a Perfect skeleton; the bones of the hands and arms were crossed just below the breast, the head turned slightly to one side and a small pyramid of bones at each foot. In remov-ing the bones from the grave, of course the skeleton was taken apart. It was with peculiar emotions that the writer held the skull of Jacob Smith and gazed into the sightless eyes and at the mouth and chin which de-noted that he had been a man of strong will and great firmness of character. In the "old records of the county!" is to be found here and there the following story of his life in part : Jacob Smith was a native of Frederick county, Virginia. Late in the fall of 1798 he and his wife, Patience, with their family turned their footsteps from their old Virginia home to find a new borne in the then far west country. In 1800, after having stopped for about two years at Red Stone and "Old Fort" in Pennsylvania, he reached the Miami valley and located his home in Beavercreek township, Greene coun-ty, near the present town of Alpha. There he reared a large family. His eldest son, John Smith, was a charter member of the Xenia lodge (Masonic) and was sheriff of 52 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. Greene county, Ohio, from 1819 to 1824. He removed to Springfield, Ohio, where he died May 4, 1852, and was buried with Masonic honors. The other children of Jacob Smith were: sons, Josiah B., Isaac, Seth and Jacob, Jr. His daughters were : Rachel, wife of James Collier, one of Xenia's pioneers; Ann, who married Samuel Kyle, grandfather of Harvey and Samuel Kyle, our fellow townsmen, and he was also the great-grandfather of Wilbur O. Maddux, of Xenia, who is also a Mason; Elizabeth, who married Joel Dolby, the grandfather of the Rev. Francis Clemens, who was present the day his grandparents were removed; Sarah was married to Henry Snyder; Lydia married Jacob Staley ; Hannah married Rev. Edward Flood : Mary married George Taylor. In all, eleven children reached adult age and all were worthy of their illustrious father and good mother. The political life of Jacob Smith was an interesting one. At the first meeting of the court, May 10, 1803, among the number present that day was Jacob Smith. In the meeting of the court, December term, 1803, we find the names of Jacob Smith and others attached to a petition for the laying out of a road from Springfield to Yellow Springs, thence to Owen Davis' mill to intersect the Pickney road. Although this was not the first road in the county it was the first to be established by the legal authority of the county. The act passed by the general assembly, February 14, 1804, creating the office of county commissioner. We find Jacob Smith one of the first commissioners chosen for Greene county. On October 8, 1805, Jacob Smith was chosen state senator at the annual election by a handsome majority. Altogether he served Greene and Clinton counties as senator nine terms as follows : In fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, fifteenth and sixteenth general assemblies. The last canvass he made for that position was October 13, 1818, when he was defeated by the Hon. William R. Cole, of Clinton county, who was a son-in-law. of Josiah Elam, a soldier of the Revolution. This was about one year before his death. He was also the owner of the Owen Davis mill, which he sold to our old townsman, James A. Scott, in 1815. EX-COMMISSIONER AND ASSOCIATE JUDGE, JAMES SNOWDEN. On the early records of Greene county, Ohio, the first enumeration taken by James Collier of the free white male inhabitants over the age of twenty-one years appears the names of James and Jacob Snowden. Of Jacob little can be learned, but of James Snowden there is much that has been left on record. It has been stated by one that he was one of the first associate judges of Greene county. That is a mistake, he was an. associate judge, but not one of the first. He was one of the first commissioners of Greene county when that office was created, and served until 1808. James Snowden settled first northwest of Bellbrook about 1799. He came from New Jersey and built a cabin just nOrth of the present residence of Henry Harman, being southeast of center of section 2 (2.6) . His lands embraced all of the east part of the. above section, being then all the western part of Bellbrook, which he in 1815 sold to Stephen Bell and Henry Updyke. He was appointed associate judge first in 1809. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 53 and his associates on the bench were David Huston and James Barrett. It is said in 1810 Presiding Judge Hon. Francis Dunlavey and Mr. Snowden differed somewhat in regard to an oath ; Mr. Snowden refused to be sworn, whereupon the judge ordered the sheriff to lock him up. This Sheriff Collier refused to do, and thereupon the judge had them both put behind the "bars" for contempt of court. It is said that he was very punctual in attending court and had an aversion to riding and would walk all the way to Xenia and back through the then unbroken forest. He was once prevailed upon to take a horse, and on starting he neglected to mount, but slipping the bridle rein over his arm he proceeded to walk, leading the horse. The judge, no doubt, fell into deep cogitations of legal lore, and the horse concluding his company more ornamental than useful slipped his bridle and turned his attention to the more pleasing prospect of the then unexplored pastures of the Miami bottoms. In the meantime the judge pursued his way alone, until reaching the end of his journey he found the empty bridle hanging on his arm. It is said that Mr. Snowden after disposing of his land in 1815 removed to Indiana, where he died. His trips to Xenia on foot are thus graphically described by one of the early writers of the time, John A. Taylor : "Now James, the son of Jupiter, got him up early in the mornings, put a few unleavened cakes in his script, grasped his staff and setting his face toward the sunrising took up his march for the great city of X-Zeninia." These chronicles were at the time published in a paper printed in Xenia, and abounded, it is said, with much genuine wit and pleasant humor. The paper of which we speak was called "The Greene County Gazetteer," and was edited by Nathaniel McLain. The office in which it was printed stood on Main street not far from the present book store of Mr. West. It had a good circulation in this part of the county, and was carried by a boy on horseback. When it was "muster day" in Xenia, General Whiteman was there bedecked in his glittering regimentals ; and the newsboy for some unaccountable reason never arrived home until after dark. JAMES GALLOWAY, SR., A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION. James Galloway was born in Pennsylvania, May 2, 1750. He emigrated to Kentucky shortly after the commencement of the war of the Revolution and to Ohio in the year 1797, settling in Greene couny, about five miles north of Xenia, and west of the Little Miami river, opposite the present Miami Powder Mills. He died August 6, 1838, at the good old age of eighty-eight years, and was buried in the old Massies creek church yard, four miles northeast of Xenia. He was in the service of the United States during the Revolutionary war eighteen months in the capacity of hunter for the army to procure game. Mr. Galloway is said to have possessed many of the traits of Daniel Boone. He was also with General Roger Clarke in his second expedition against the Indians at Old Chillicothe in 1782. Daniel Boone was also along with this expedition and in his narration states : "When General Clarke, at the falls of the Ohio, heard of it (the defeat of the whites at the Blue Licks), he ordered an expedition to pursue the savages. We overtook them within two miles of their town and we would 54 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. have obtained a great victory had not some of them met us when about two hundred poles from their camp. The savages fled. in the utmost confusion and disorder and evacuated all their towns. We burned Old Chillicothe to ashes, Piqua, New Chillicothe, Willstown, entirely destroying their corn and fruits, and spread desolation through their country. We took seven prisoners, ten scalps and two whites." One time he came face to face with that arch. traitor to his race, Simon Girty, who, observing that Galloway was unarmed, accosted him thus : "Now, Galloway, d—n you, we've got you," and in-stantly fired. Galloway received a dangerous wound, and was supposed by Girty to have been killed. He, however, wheeled his horse and made for camp, a mile distant, which „he reached in safety, but in a fainting condition. The ball passed through his shoulder and lodged some place near the back of his neck. He carried, the ball many years and it was extracted by Dr. Josiah Martin. Mr. Galloway was first married to Miss Rebecca Junkin, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 23, 1778, and to them were given the following, children : James, Samuel, William, Andrew, Anthony, and two daughters, Rebecca and Ann. Anthony and Ann were born after he came to Ohio. His first wife dying, he afterward married Miss Tamar Wilson, April 13, 1817. Of this later marriage there was no issue. He was honored by his fellow pioneers to an office of trust in the county, that of county treasurer, which he continued to fill from the first organization of the county in 1803 until the. middle of June, 1819, when he gave way to Mr: Ryan Gowdy. In the year 1810 he erected the old stone house that used to be on the hillside near the powder mills, and which many yet living remember to have seen. He was a man of deep religious convictions, and those convic-t-ions he carried out in life by doing acts of kindness to his neighbors and in working for the good of humanity. To him is the psalm singing portion of the community under obligation for his untiring- efforts in bringing first to this county the Rev. Rob-ert Armstrong and other preachers of that faith, and making his home theirs. During his long and useful life he was ever ready to help those deserving of help. MAJOR WILLIAM A. BEATTY, FIRST TAVERN-KEEPER IN XENIA. The granting of licenses for keeping tavern and selling merchandise was still retained as the duty of the associate judges, and at the first court of asso-ciate judges held in Xenia on the 15th day of November, 1804, four tavern licenses were granted, one to William A. Beatty for keeping a tavern in the town of Xenia, for one year from the first day of October last past, on his paying eight dollars and fees." This was the first tavern in Xenia, and seems to have been opened on the 1st day of October, 1804. This house was a hewed-log, double structure, two stories high. It stood on the south side of Main street, very nearly opposite the middle point of the public square. The length. was from east to west, and width from north to south, and its west end was about forty--five feet east of the southeast corner of Main and Detroit streets, where the Xenia National Bank now (1900) stands. This building was not only a dwelling house and tavern, ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 55 but it was also Greene county's second place of holding court. Courts were held in it from the 15th of November, 1804, till the completion of the first court house proper on the 4th day of August, 1809. The court was held in the west room of the second story. August 20, 1805, Xenia township was organized, and the first election for Xenia township and the town was held at the house of William A. Beatty. Previous to this Xenia was in Caesarscreek township and the few voters then in the town voted at Caesarsville, which was located near the home of the late Paris Peterson, southeast of Xenia. The first court was held in this building November 15, 18̊4, and continued to be used as such until the completion of the building that had been commenced by Mr. William Kendall in 1806, and was com-pleted August 14, 1809. Mr. Beatty was also director of the town of Xenia, being the successor of General Joseph C. Vance, who removed to Champaign county in 1805, at the organization of said county, and continued to act as such until 1817, at which time he removed to Brownstown, Jackson county, Indiana. He died intestate and insolvent in November, 1821, leaving, at the time of his death, his widow, Jane Beatty, who afterward married Robert Holmes, a resident of Scott county, Kentucky, also the following children, to-wit : John A., who died without issue; James F.; William S.; Josiah G.; Samuel M.; Mary L.; and Francis. Josiah and James F. remained in Xenia for some years. The balance of the family went to Kentucky after the marriage of their mother to Mr. Holmes. William A. Beatty came from Georgetown., Kentucky, to. 'Xenia, Ohio, some time in the summer of 1803. OWEN DAVIS, THE OLD MILLER ON BEAVER CREEK. No name is perhaps of more historic interest than that of Owen Davis. In the early settlement of Greene county came men who had the courage and hardihood to face danger and even death, if need be, that this garden spot of the state that we now call Greene county might be reclaimed from its wild and primitive state in its condition as a wilderness and be made to bloom and blossom as a rose. They came, they saw, and as a result of their courage and perseverance we see the forest has disappeared and in its place we behold waving fields of grain, beautiful homes, towns grown into cities, with the sounds of industry on every hand, where used to be the solitary- path of the Indian. We now behold roads, pikes, railroads and electric car lines leading from cities to towns and hamlets, and the surface of the earth that less than one hundred years ago was a wilderness, the habitation of wild animals, and a more savage race of people, now traversed by a net work of improvements, only excelled by that which we can see at night in the starry- firmament above, which God, the creator of all, has placed there for our admiration and wonder. Before the organization of the county came Owen Davis, and settled in what is now known as Beavercreek township. The earliest date that we find of the Davis family (those from Wales, who were related to the subject of this sketch) we find in Mr. John F. Edgar's "Pioneer life in Dayton and vi-cinity from 1796 to 1840." It is an able and interesting work of the pioneers of that section. On page 22 he says : "During the winter of 1795 and 1796 forty--six men 56 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. agreed to settle in Dayton. In the spring of 1796, when the time came to start, only nineteen responded, and they set out in three sections, two overland and one by- wafer. On, March 21, 1796, the party in which was the Davis family started overland and were about two weeks on the road. Thomas Davis, the senior member of the family, was a native of Wales. He was in the Revolu-tionary war, was taken prisoner and was exchanged at Philadelphia. He settled near the bluffs two miles south of Dayton, where he died in the fall of 1803, and Hannah Davis, his widow, was appointed to settle his estate. This Thomas 'Davis was a brother of Owen Davis, the old miller, who came later in the fall of 1799 and settled in Beavercreek township, Greene county. Owen Davis had married Letitia Phillips, and had but two children, a son, Lewis, who never married. a short sketch of whom will be found in this book, and a daughter, Cath-erine, who was the wife of General Benjamin Whiteman. They were married in Limestone (or Maysville), Kentucky, in 1793, Mr. Whiteman at that time being twenty-three years of age. Thomas Davis had a son. Owen Davis, named after his brother Owen, who was married March 16, 1809, to Miss Jane Henderson, by Rev. Joshua Carman. who 'was a Baptist preach-er and lived in Sugarcreek township, Greene county. This Owen Davis was the grand-father of Mrs. Fredrick Beaver and Mrs. Stillwell, of Dayton, and James Popenoe, senior's, first wife, who died in 1820, was also of this branch of the family. After the coming of Mr. Davis and his son-in-law, Benjamin Whiteman, in 1799, it was not long until he had his historic mill erected on Beaver creek, and it is said that this mill drew customers from a radius of thirty' miles, and we know that the members of the Dutch Station in Miami county brought their corn here through the woods, camping out at night. Mr. Davis is spoken of by them as having been a genial, accommodating man, often remaining up all night to oblige them. This mill was finished in the winter of 1799. Two block houses were built a little east of the mill with the intention, should danger necessitate, to. connect by a line of pickets so as to include the mill. Mr. Davis often started his on the Sabbath and ground corn for the customers who had Come a long distance. To this some of his extremely religious neighbors protested, even threatening him with prosecution. Mr. Davis re-plied that as soon as steps were taken in this direction they would go without their meal and flour. This argument proved effective and the subject was dropped. The building known as the house of Peter Borders, where the first courts of Greene county were held, was erected by his son-in-law, Mr. Whiteman, a short distance south of the mill and. about one hundred from the south line of what is now known as the Harbine farm, and about two hundred yards east of Beaver creek. A little to the northeast of this building was- a small ten by twelve house, which was in the time of holding court used as a jury room. About two hundred yards northeast of the old court house Stood the block house, which on the 19th day of August, 1803, was made, use of for a jail, the first institution for that purpose in the county. Owen Davis and his son-in-law, General Benjamin Whiteman, in the year 1805 disposed of their property in Beavercreek town-ship and removed to Miami township, where they- spent the balance of their days. Mr. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 57 Davis had not more than settled in his new home, the present site of the town of Clifton, Ohio, until he commenced to erect the first mill in Miami township, the stone foundation of which ( 1900) can be seen near the sawmill east of the present Clifton mill. Previous to his removing from Beavercreek township he had sold his mill property to Jacob Smith, who in 1815 sold the same to our old townsman, James A. Scott, and his brother John. Owen Davis was a soldier of the Revolution and a fearless Indian, fighter, and at a meeting of the first court of common pleas proper, August 2, 1803, we find that he pleads guilty to a charge of assault, and is duly fined eight dollars for the same. The cause of the fight was Mr. Davis had charged a man from Warren county of stealing hogs. After the fight he went into the court room and addressing his illustrious son-in-law, General Benjamin Whiteman. who was one of the associate judges, said : "Well, Ben, I've whipped that hog thief ; what's the damage?" and farther added, shaking his fist at the judge, "Yes, Ben, if you'd steal a hog, I'd whip you, too." In enumerating the early settlers of Miami township, Greene county, the name of Owen Davis should not be forgotten. In the old historic graveyard, Clifton, Ohio, not far from the north line and near the middle of said 'graveyard, is the grave of Owen Davis, who was a native of Wales, and was born October 13, 1751, and died at his home near Clifton, Ohio, February 18, 1818, aged sixty-six years, four months and five days. And by his side his wife, Letitia Phillips Davis. who died September 8, 1824, in the seventy-fifth year of her age. JOSIAH GROVER, SECOND CLERK OF COURTS. The first trace of the Grover family, the ancestors of Josiah Grover, clerk of courts from 1808 till 1829, was when Josiah and Benjamin Grover had settled and were living near Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The former was the father of Josiah and Benjamin Grover,. who in the year 1804 came and settled in Xenia. Their parents had emigrated to the state of Kentucky and had located near Danville. Josiah Grover, Sr., married Miss Mary Anderson about the years 1720, and to them were given five chidren, two daughter and three sons. The eldest of these was Sarah T., who married Colonel John Paul, the founder of Xenia, Ohio, and Madison, Indiana (a sketch of whom appears in this book). The second, a daughter, Jemima, who married a Mr. Mockley. The third, a son, Josiah, who married Martha McClure. And in addition to these were two sons, Benjamin and Abraham. Benjamin came to Xenia with his brother Josiah, and was a useful man in the new town. On the lot now owned by Mrs. James Kyle (mother of Charles Kyle, Esq.), he erected the first school house of logs in 1805, and was the first to teach school in Xenia. He afterward served the county as commissioner in 1813 and 1814. Josiah Grover, the third child and first son of Josiah and Mary Anderson Grover, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, in 1770. Josiah Grover and his wife, Martha McClure Grover, had given to them eight children : Abraham, who married Miss Dunham ; John Paul, who married Miss Juliet Beall ; James Liggett, who married Miss Nancy Ann. youngest daughter 58 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. of Hon. John Alexander, and who also was the successor in office to his father as clerk of courts of Greene county, Ohio, for seven years, and was a minister of the gospel in the Methodist Episcopal church, where he Was a man of note and loved by all. He was for years the efficient librarian of the state library at Columbus from 1872 until the day before his death, which occurred May 5, 1897, at the age of ninety-one years. He was born in Xenia, December 12, 1806. His youth and early manhood were spent in Xenia; at the age of eighteen he had graduated from the Xenia Academy. The fourth child was a daughter, Sarah Paul, who was born in Xenia in 1810 and died at New Albany in 1873, aged sixty-three years. She married George H. Harrison, who was a native of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and who was born in February, 1809, died at New Albany in 1854. He is said to have been a teacher of rare ability. He was for some years a resident of Xenia, as his son, James G., was born here September 29, 1834, and they removed to New Albany in 1839. The fifth child was a son, Oliver Hazard Perry, who was killed in the Mexican war. The sixth child, a son, Benjamin Whiteman, married Letitia Sheets. The seventh and eighth sons were twins, Nelson Ira and Reade Ellis. Josiah Grover is sometimes mentioned as Judge Grover. The reason for that was, under the old constitution of the state, the clerk of courts had all the work to do which the probate judge has to do to-day under the new constitution. In addition to the work of clerk of courts he was county re-corder, master commissioner, that is held court at different points to take depositions, etc. And he was also one of the associate judges for the years 1806, 1807 and 1808. The old Josiah Grover home is yet (1900) still standing, the house now occupied by Coleman Heaton. Mr. Grover removed from Xenia to Madison, Indiana, in 1830, to the city on the Ohio river which his honored brother-in-law, John Paul, had found-ed. On the hilltop near Malison is resting all that is mortal of this illustrious man and his loving helpmate, and by his side Colonel John Paul, the founder of the two cities, Xenia, Ohio, and Madison, Indiana. REMEMBRANCE WILLIAMS, A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION AND FIRST SETTLER NEAR XENIA. Remembrance Williams was born near the Potomac river, Harrison county, Virginia. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and was with Washington during that distressing winter at Valley Forge. After the close of the war in 1790, he, together with his family, emigrated to Kentucky, settling a few miles back of Louisville, in Nelson county, where he continued to reside until the year 1800, when he removed to Ohio, crossing the Ohio river at the mouth of Licking river, and from that point came direct to what is now Xenia, and, entered a section of land, what is now known as the Silas Roberts' farm, and near what is called the middle spring he built his cabin. That was three years before Xenia was surveyed and laid out as a town. In the fall of 1803, when Joseph C. Vance came to survey and lay off the new county seat for Greene county, part of the north line. of the new town was the south line of the land of this old pioneer. 'His family at this time consisted of his wife, Eleanor, and sons John, Remem- ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 59 brance, Garrett, Jesse and Robert. They had but two daughters, Margaret, who married Thomas Branham, and Hannah, who married Sidion Mericreif. In 1814 he removed with his family, with the exception of his eldest son, John, to Jefferson county, Indiana, and settled near Dupont. He had disposed of part of his land in Greene county, previous to removing, some to his son John, Ryan Gowdy, Samuel Gamble, and in 1817 he sold the remaining two hundred and sixty-nine acres to David Connelly. His son Remembrance, Jr., and Jesse later returned to Ohio and settled near Mechanicsburg, Champaign county. Remembrance. Williams, ,Sr., died on his farm in Indiana February 2, 1843. John Williams, his eldest son, was born in Virginia, April 4, 1783, and died in Xenia, Ohio, April 6, 1826. He was the father of the following children : Mary, who was married to Samuel Gana; Eleanor, wife of David Medsker; Cassandra ; Catherine, wife of Wilson B. McCann ; Margaret, wife of James McCarty; Elizabeth, wife of William B. Fairchild. The last named is the only one now (1900) living. Four sons of the old pioneer were soldiers in the war of 1812, namely : John, Remembrance, Garrett and Robert. JAMES POPENOE, SR. His first visit to the present site of Xenia was in the year 1799, when he was one of a number of daring explorers and Indian fighters from Kentucky who paid this part of the country a visit and passed over the ground where Xenia is now located. Mr. Popenoe, with his brother, Peter, came to Greene county to locate permanently some time previous to 1803 and settled in Beavercreek township. His brother Peter took the first enumeration of all free white males. over the age of twenty-one in 1803. Peter settled in what is now Clark county and afterward removed to the state of Missouri in 1806, and was killed by the Indians. James Popenoe's political life was an interesting one. The first elective office which he held was that of coroner of Greene county, he being the first to occupy that position, which was in the year 1805. He was also a soldier in the war of 1812 under General Harrison. In the year 1815 he was elected sheriff of Greene county, being the successor of Captain John. Hivling, which office he filled with acceptance until 1819, when he gave way to John Smith, son of Jacob Smith, who had bought of Owen Davis the first mill that was built in the county, and who was also owner of the house of Peter Borders, where the first courts of Greene county were held. While he was acting as sheriff in 1816 Mr. Popenoe built the well known home of Hon. R. F. Howard, which was located on Main street, lot No. 19, and which place, April 2, 1831, he sold and conveyed to Dr. Joseph Templeton. That house was the birthplace of many of his children, and is yet, in 1900, standing and in good condition. In the year 1819 and 1820 Mr. Popenoe represented Greene county in the Ohio legislature (in the house). In the year 1824 he was again elected sheriff of the county and continued to act as such until 1829, when he gave over the office to James A. Scott. It is said in history that Captain John Hivling and Mr. Popenoe were treasurers of the county. That is a mistake. The sheriff ofttimes acted as collector of taxes, for which he received a percentage in addition 60 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. to his pay as sheriff, and that fact must have missed the compiler. Mr. Popenoe removed to Centerville in 1830. Peter, his eldest son, removed to Lawrence, Kansas, where many of his descendants are yet living. James Popenoe, Jr., is yet living at Centerville, Ohio, a hale, hearty, old man, aged eighty-two. And still another son, Willis Parkison Popenoe, resides at Topeka, Kansas, aged eighty-seven, who was born in the house before mentioned. Mr. Popenoe in addition to other property owned what was called the "Indian Riffle farm," west of Xenia on the Little Miami. He was born August 20, 1777, and died at his home near Centerville, Montgomery county, Ohio, August 19, 1848, and is buried in the old graveyard near that place. LEWIS DAVIS, MIAMI TOWNSHIP'S FIRST SETTLER. In the history of Jefferson county, Indiana, is found the following history of Lewis Davis, which says that "he was one of the original proprietors of the town of Madison, Indiana ; was a man of middle age when he met John Paul at the sale of lands at Jeffersonville in the spring of 1809. Where he was born or where he died is not known. He left Madison some time in 1812 or 1813 and went to Xenia, Ohio, to reside. Afterward he resided in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1817 he was there, as is found by a deed conveying his entire remaining interest of lands in Madison, Indiana, to Lewis Whiteman, bearing date of November 24, 1817. On October 8, 1813, Davis had" sold one-half of his interest in Madison to Mr. Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, he then being a resi-dent of Greene county, Ohio." From the history of Greene county, Ohio, and old records we gather the following about Miami township: Lewis Davis was perhaps the first settler in this township, as he came in the early- days of this century. While at Dayton, then a small hamlet, he met an Indian just arrived from the Yellow Springs, by whom he was informed of the extraordinary natural advantages in its immediate vicinity. The savage further explained to him that the springs were located near a branch of the Little Miami. river. Accompanied by a friend, he followed the instructions given by his dusky informant, and upon the discovery of the springs went to Cincinnati and entered the land. He was frequently engaged in sur-veying land, accumulated considerable prop-erty-, and was considered an upright and enterprising citizen. Unfortunately he fell a prey to the wiles of King Alcohol and was completely ruined thereby. He finally removed to Bellfontaine, Ohio, where he ended his days. His last resting place is thus described by one who discovered it accidentally : "On the left hand side of the state road, six miles west of Bellfontaine in an open forest, in a sandy knoll surrounded by a rail enclosure and covered by an oval shaped bowlder perhaps six feet in diameter; beneath this stone reposes all that remains of Lewis Davis, unhonored, unwept and un-known." For years he had lived the life of a pauper, and when he saw the. grim vision of death approaching he expressed a desire that this spot should be his last resting place. He was the only son of Owen Davis, the old miller on Beaver. ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 61 RECOLLECTIONS OF XENIA IN 1809 BY REV. JAMES TOWLER AND JOHN MILLS. Rev. James Towler was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, April 18, 1768, and died on his farm northwest of Xenia, July 9, 1836, aged sixty-eight years. A pioneer in the wilderness, he built the second house that was erected in. Xenia, what was known as the old Crumbaugh house, where now stands the wholesale grocery of Eavey & Company, Fredrick Bonner doing the carpenter work for the same in the fall of 1804. At the recent centennial of the settlement Of Greene county held in Xenia in 1897 there were tools that had belonged to Frederick Bonner, Sr., on exhibition as relics, and some of them he had used in finishing this house. The records of the county show that James Towler, of Petersburg, Virginia, bought of John Cole, of Dinwiddie county, Virginia, three thousand acres of land situated on the waters of Shawnee creek, and at his coming to Greene county soon after he purchased of Joseph C. Vance lot No. 39, on which the aforesaid house was built, Mr. Towler was an earnest Methodist, and in the early records of the First Methodist Episcopal church, Xenia, his name appears as a member of the official board of said church. He afterward connected himself with what was known as the Radical or Protestant church. He was a preacher in that denomination, and used to go among the Indians, and at one time brought a couple of Indian boys home with him to have them educated. They remained in Xenia for some time, forming many acquaintances, and then returned to their tribes. Mr. Towler donated to the Radical church a strip of- land for a graveyard, situated near the present residence of Norman Tiffany, and nearly two hundred of the residents of Xenia were buried here. He was the first postmaster of Xenia, Ohio. The following is a copy of a letter that was written by Mr. Towler to an eastern friend and is in the possession of Mr. Ira C. Harper, of Allegheny, Pennsylvania. A copy was procured by Mr. Warren K. Moorehead, our young friend, who is searching around for all sorts of antiquities. Mr. Towler was at that time postmaster of Xenia : "XENIA, OHIO, May 8, 1809. "This town is the seat of justice of Greene county. It was laid out in the fall of 1803 by Joseph C. Vance, and contains at this time twenty-eight families and one hundred and fifty souls, a court house of brick, forty feet square, with a cupola. The town is washed by Shawnee creek, a branch of the Little Miami river, from whose mouth we are three miles, and fifty-five miles from Chillicothe. In the county are nine grist mills, nine sawmills, one fulling mill and one nail factory. Never failing and excellent springs are numerous. The Yellow Springs, which are deemed a natural curiosity, are nine miles north of this place. It takes its name from a yellow or pale red sediment, which it emits from the water, and of which a large bank in found below the spring, over which the water has a fall of seventy feet into a hollow. It is believed the spring affords a sufficiency of water to turn a grist mill the year round, and is said to be impregnated with copper, copperas and iron. It is considerably visited during the summer season, and affords relief for sore eyes, rheumatism, etc. It is diuretic, and the sedi- 62 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. ment when ground in oil, paints as well as Spanish brown. The 'falls of the Little Miami (which is about three miles distant, falls over a rock twelve feet perpendicular, and the whole distance, two hundred feet) are of considerable importance to this county. There are remains of artificial walls, and mounds, in several parts of the county. "Our trade is chiefly in hogs and cattle, which are purchased by drovers for the eastern markets and Detroit. There are two stores in the town, which I consider a great evil, as they keep our neighborhood drained of cash. We have extensive prairies. Wolves have been bad on our sheep. Corn, wheat and rye are' our principal crops. The .soil is generally good and pretty equally divided into upland and bottom. The settlers are principally from. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Kentucky. Religion, Methodist, Seceders and Baptist. The county is twenty miles long, twenty miles broad, and is about one hundred and ten miles from Lake Erie." In connection with what has been said by Mr. Towler, of Xenia and Greene county at that date (1809) we will add yet another testimony, that of John Mills. His father, Jacob, was one of the first to settle near what is now called Greene countv, whose coming was in the year 1796. The land he first entered was over the line in Warren county. He came from Kentucky with John Wilson, and his sons, Amos, Daniel and George, where they located as a colony. In the subsequent division into states and counties the purchase was found to be in the southwest corner of Greene county, near Clio, or Ferry, as it is now (1899) called, while the purchase of Daniel :fell into Montgomery, and Jacob Mills' into Warren county. And yet they worked together, assisting one another in providing themselves homes. In 1809 Jacob Mills came with his family from Warren county to near where Clifton is now located in Miami township, Greene county, bringing with him his three sons, John, Daniel and Thomas. History is silent in regard to his parting with his old friends, John Wilson and his sons, and why he had left that part of the state where he had spent some thirteen years of pioneer life. And yet the distance was not so great but what they could visit one another. We find that shortly after the coming of Jacob Mills to Miami township in 1809 a singing school had been organized in Xenia, and the teacher of said school was David Wilson, oldest son of Daniel Wilson, their old neighbor, and it was no wonder that John Mills, then a lad of fifteen, wanted to go; for three reasons, first, to see his old playmate, David ; second,' to see the Xenia girls ; and lastly, to see the town, which was pretty much of a town at that time, with its about thirty log cabins and a brand new court house. The singing school was to be held in that new court house, and as John wanted to go he went. And we are very glad that he did, for it is to. him that we are under obligations for furnishing us a description of Xenia as he saw it in the year 1809. He must have had a splendid time. Young folks in this age think that they have good times, not more so than they,—don't know whether John took his best girl along or not, but we will let him tell his own story. He says : "The singing school was held in the new court house, and the girls came with their beaux on horseback, dressed in linsey, and a few of the elite appeared in calico, then the ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 63 extreme of fashion, aspired to by a few. And the boys arrived there all right, for the girls who had acted as guards of honor (rear guards) would not let them fall off. `Oh blessed days' when horses were made that would carry double." John said that they had a grand time and returned home over about Clifton with enlarged views of life and creation generally. Years afterward, at his home in Jamestown, Ohio, John, then a steady old man, gives us from memory his recollections of the long ago. He says : "During the winter of this same year, 1809, while in Xenia, I saw a man selling cider at twelve and one-half cents a quart, in front of the court house. A large stump was standing in the street, by the side of which he had a fire, in which he heated several rods of iron, and when he would make a sale he would hold the iron rod in the cider to bring it to a drinkable temperature." He states also at that time all houses in Xenia were built of logs, except one frame dwelling that stood where now is located the grocery of Harner & Wolf, the property of James Gowdy, and the brick courthouse. In front of what used to be the Second National Bank, on the southwest corner of Greene street, fronting on Main, was a stagnant pool of water, a general rendezvous for geese, ducks and hogs. Opposite the courthouse was a two-story hewed log house kept by Maj. William. A. Beatty as a tavern. On East Main street, on the present site of Trinity church, Henry Barnes, Sr., had built a log cabin in the woods. In contrast with the price that dry goods are now selling for, and what they cost then, young men of this age are favored. Mr. Mills says the material of which his wedding shirt was made cost a dollar a yard ; same material can be bought to-day for six or eight cents per yard. The highest price paid for labor then was from fifty to seventy-five cents per day, and scarce at that while every species of merchandise was from ten to twentyfold higher than at present. Salt hauled from Cincinnati was (four barrels by a four-horse team) four dollars per bushel. THE COMING OF THE GOWDY FAMILY. In February, 1845, James Gowdy (then sixty-eight years of age), beng solicited by some of his children, gave the following account of his ancestry, and contemporary connections : "My progenitors on my father's side were Welsh and Irish.' They emigrated from Ireland in A. D. 1707, and settled in the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania. My grandfather's Christian name was James. He had four children who lived to maturity, viz. : Adam, who died young and single; John (my father) ; Robert and Jane. My father was born on the fifth day of November, 1742, in New Castle county, Delaware, and removed, with some others of the family, into Pennsylvania, about 1760, where he married Abigail, the youngest daughter of John Ryan, about 1772, with whom he lived about forty-two years, and had eleven children, six sons and five daughters, all of whom lived to marry and raise families, except Mary, who was born in Lancaster county. Pennsylvania, on the 13th of April, 1775, and died in Greene county, Ohio, the 9th day of June, 1812. James was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 20th day of May. 1777; Samuel, born 9th of January, A. D. 1780; 64 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. Robert, born on the 4th of April, 1782; Martha, born on the 27th of January, 1785, mar-ried John Jolly; and had one son, James; Jane, born on the, 31st of May, 1787; John, born on the 3d of August, 1789; Alexander, born on the 2d of April, 1792; Ryan, born on the 3d day of February', 1795; Abigail, born on the 17th of July, 1797; Sarah, born on the 6th of March, 1803. This in brief is the beginning of the large connection of that name, coming to. Greene county, Ohio,. in 1805." JAMES GOWDY, THE FIRST MERCHANT 1N XENIA. James Gowdy, the subject of this sketch, eldest son of John and Abigail Gowdy, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th day of May, 1777, and died at his home, in Xenia, Ohio, December 24, 1853, aged seventy-six years, and is, buried in the old Associate Reformed graveyard, East Third street. The first trace. that we find of Mr. Gowdy as a merchant, is when he en-tered into partnership with his brother, Samuel, in the mercantile and cabinet busi-ness in the fall of 1802. at Mt. Sterling, Montgomery county, Kentucky. The broth-ers carried on the above business on a moderate scale there for three years to some advantage, having the post office to keep part of the time. In the fall of 1805 James took part of the goods and removed to Xenia, Ohio. His brother, Samuel, having closed their business in June, 1806, also came, with the balance of their stock, to Xenia. They also had their younger brother, Ryan, to assist them in their work in the store, he then being a small boy. They were the first merchants who made a permanent stand with store goods in Xenia. They continued in business as partners with mutual satisfaction for five or six years, and increased their store capital and gained so-me real estate in town, and land in the country, until the spring or summer of 1814, when they dissolved partnership by mutual consent, and each of them ran stores of their own for five or six years, when Samuel sold his store and settled on a tract of woodland near the town. James Gowdy continued in the business, with the aid, of his younger brother, Ryan, and an apprentice, John Ewing, who was related to his first wife. When Ryan became of age, he left the store and a second apprentice was taken, William Perkins. Mr. Gowdy had several partners from time to time. John S. Perkins was also one of Mr. Gowdy's apprentices. John R. Gowdy (eldest son of Samuel) was taken in as a member of the firm on the 5th .of July, 1833, which partnership continued until near the time of his death, in March, 1834. Then Alexander G. Zimmerman and John A. Gowdy (son of Robert) were taken into partnership under the firm name of Gowdy, Ewing & Company and continued until the 42th of August, 1836, when John A. Gowdy settled with the firm and moved to Illinois. The above firm continued until the 19th of July-, 1838, when James Gowdy, Sr., sold out his interest in the firm to John Ewing and Alexander Zimmerman, and took the firm's share in a. branch store which they had established in Jamestown, Ohio, about eighteen months before, in which store John McBride had an interest of one-half. James Gowdy attended the store. During the above time ,of thirty--six years in the mercantile -business., he had reason to be thankful that he had had no serious misfortune in busi- ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 65 ness, excepting some considerable losses sustained by crediting persons who- became insolvent, or proved dishonest. During this time he purchased several lots in Xenia, and his father's farm, two and one-half miles west of town, and a small farm between the two last mentioned places, and put up some valuable buildings in town, and some cheaper ones which he rented at a moderate price. Mr. Gowdy was a loser by his Jamestown store, and it was discontinued in 1844. Altogether he was in the dry goods business for forty-four years. He had married Joanna, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Townsley, January 27, 1814, with whom he lived three and one-half years until her decease and that of their only child, a daughter, which took place on the 25th of July, 1817. His wife was then twenty-eight years old. He married a second time, November 11, 1819, Miss Sarah Brown, who resided at the time in Clark county, Ohio. She was the daughter of John and Margaret Brown, late of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, where she was born and reared, and with whom she lived nine years or more, until the time of her death, March 6, 1829, at the age of forty years. She was the mother of his children, six sons and one daughter, viz.: John Brown, James Ryan, George W., Abigail Joanna, Samuel Philander and his twin brother, not named. He was married the third time, on the 23d day of April, 1832, at Mansfield, Ohio, to Miss Jane Purdy, daughter of Patrick and Jane Purdy, of Richland county, Ohio. They lived a married life eleven years until her death on the 24th of July, 1843, aged fifty-one years. Of this marriage there were no children. In the war of 1812 he was a soldier in the company of Capt. Daniel Reeder. He was also treasurer of the Greene County Bible Society for over thirty years, and during all that time his labor was untiring and valuable. For twenty-three- years he was treasurer of the Greene County Colonization Society, and his zeal in that cause was ardent. He had been a member of the Associate Reformed church since its first organization, and contributed of his means to the erection of three successive buildings for that church. In all the benevolent enterprises of the day for the relief of the suffering and the good of his fellow men, or the spread of the gospel, Mr. Gowdy could be relied upon. And, now, in concluding this sketch of this old pioneer father, listen to his own words : "On a review -of my past life, what shall I say, but that goodness and mercy has followed me all my life long? If I should count the instances, they are more than can be numbered by me. Upon the whole review of my eventful life, I have much reason to set up my Ebenezer, saying: 'Hitherto hath the Lord helped me,' and trust that He will not leave me when I am old and gray-headed grown, till to this age His strength and power to all to come, I have shown." RYAN GOWDY. He was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, on the 3d of February, 1795, and died near Francona, June 6, 1863, aged sixty-eight years. He came to Xenia, Ohio,. with his brother, Samuel, in the spring of 1806. His eldest brother, James Gowdy, had come to Xenia the year previous, and had established himself in the mercantile business near the corner of what is now known as Greene and Main streets. He had 66 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. purchased lot No. 34, and had his cabin store opened and ready for trade. Young Ryan, then a lad of eleven years, accepted a clerkship in his brother's store, and there continued until he was of age, when he commenced business for himself. He made his mark in improving Xenia. In 1827 he built that large and substantial brick house on the southwest corner of Main and Detroit streets, known as the "Nunnemaker corner," (present site of the "Allen building)." His next move was to the northwest corner of Detroit and Market streets (present site of the Reformed church), where he opened a store and made more improvements. Subsequently he purchased a large brick house on Main street, opposite the courthouse (the same buiding that was burned on the night of the 3d of August, 1845, and. in which two young men, James Kenney and. William Steele were murdered). Here, in partnership .with his brother, Col. John Gowdy, he opened another store. A few years later he went to Missouri, but did not remain long in that state. Returning to Xenia he opened a grocery and provision store on the northeast corner of Main and Whiteman streets (present site of William Hannon's grocery). In 1833 he was elected commissioner of. Greene county, and on the 4th of July, 1836, he met with the board for the last time. While he was a member of the board a costly and for those days a very superior county jail, was erected, a little back of the northeast corner of the public square. It was also mainly through his efforts and influence that a large two-story brick market house on the north side of the public square was built. He was also in the years 1819 and 1820 treasurer of Greene county. In 1848 he wound, up his business in Xenia, sold out, and the next year went to California by the overland route, and from thence to Oregon, a flying trip, but soon returned to San Francisco. He was unfortunate in the land of gold. In a letter he wrote in 1851, he said he had traveled hundreds of miles in California, and could find nothing which he could do. He returned in 1852. Though a business man of early training and mature experience, he preferred teaching school, and became a successful instructor. In this pursuit he was so successful that he never lacked for employment. He had been teaching in Richland county some three years previous to his death. He was taken ill of typhoid fever. During his sickness of five days he was conscious to the last, expressed a desire to see his brothers, naming one of them. His last words in declining to take medicine, were: "No use; it would not do any good." Of his prospects in another state of existence he was entirely reticent. In his younger days without being foppish he went generally elegantly dressed, the "glass of fashion and the mould of form." He had some eccentricities, was versatile, fluent in conversaton, of ready wit, original and mirth-inspiring humor, and when he chose, of pungent sarcasm. He had transacted much business, traveled far, gone through many ups and downs in his journey through life, and was well versed in the knowledge of human nature. After life's fitful fever he sleepeth well. JOHN HEATON, SR. In the first enumeration of Caesarscreek township, taken in 1803, appears the name of John Heaton. From the old records we find that his place of nativity was Vir- ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 67 ginia; that previous to his coming to Ohio he married Sarah, daughter of John Warden; he had also purchased in Caesarscreek township eighty acres of land. Some time in the year 1823 he died, and was buried in the "Old Mercer graveyard," about four miles south of Xenia, on the Bullskin pike. He left his widow, Sarah Heaton, with the following children : three sons and six daughters, namely : Ebenezer, John and Joseph Heaton; Elizabeth (Heaton) Millard; Sarah (Heaton) Worrel, Lydia (Heaton) Eaton, Phebe (Heaton) Elam, Parmelia (Heaton) Rogers, Hannah (Heaton) Peterson. His will was recorded May, 1823, in Book E, page 70. His wife was later buried at his side in the "Mercer graveyard." These are the ancestors of the Heaton family, in Greene county. JAMES COLLIER. James Collier was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, on the 4th day of January, 1774, and died in Xenia, Ohio, April 17, 1851, aged seventy-seven years. In 1786 his family emigrated from Virginia, their destination being Kentucky, but on account of his mother's health, they stopped on the River Holstan, in what is now East Tennessee, and there remained until the following summer, when the journey was resumed until they reached their destination in Kentucky, some eighteen miles north of Crab Orchard. Here he passed his early youth and manhood on' the frontiers of what has been so aptly called the "dark and bloody ground," among a people who, for enterprise, hardihood and self-reliance and true heroism of character, have never been surpassed in the annals of the human family. It was a nursery that produced soldiers and men equal to the days of chivalry. SERVES AS A SPY. In 1794, being twenty years of age, he served as a spy in the Nich-a-jack campaign. He was with Col. William Whitley, who had organized in Lincoln county, Kentucky, some six hundred brave Kentuckians. Mr. Collier's place as a spy was in advance of the army that was advancing against the Chikamongas Indians while General Wayne, with a well appointed and disciplined army from Ohio, was marching to join them. The result of Wayne's victory, at the Maumee Rapid's, in Ohio, is so well known that it is needless to repeat. But it is a fact of local history that it is well worth preserving that he who is the subject of this sketch and whose body is now laid to rest in our own beautiful Woodland, was also there two years later, March 15, 1796. ARRIVES AT MIAMISBURG. At Holes Station, in Montgomery county, Ohio, on the 11th of April, 1796, Amos Wilson raised his log cabin, the first ever erected for the residence of a white settler within the present limits of Greene county, , and soon after he assisted to raise the third house built in the same neighborhood. This is conclusive evidence that our old pioneer friend and fellow townsman of Xenia was well acquainted with John Wilson and his boys, and his coming into Greene county was at the time the Wilsons first settled here. These houses or cabins were erected near the present village of Ferry, southwest 63 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. of Bellbrook, Ohio. Two months later Mr. Collier made a trip to Fort Defiance, in. June, 1796, traveling on Wayne's trail, or military road. He performed the journey alone and on foot, sleeping on the ground, with no shelter but his blanket; he was armed, and had no other dependence for self-protection 'but his trusty rifle, and his courage and presence of mind. The object of his lonely journey- through the wilderness was the recovery of stolen horses, an object which he failed to accomplish. He returned some time during the same month and took up his residence in this county, at which time there were not more than a dozen settlers within its present borders, nor Was the county organized until seven years afterward. There can be no doubt but what Mr. Collier made his home for a while in the Wilson and Mills settlement, near Clio., or Ferry, as it is now called. We next find him located on the farm of Capt. Nathan Lamme, a soldier of the Revolution, whose land was north of the present town of Bellbrook. We have also from the old records of the county evidence that he was present at the house of Peter Borders, on Beaver, when the county was first organized, and was appointed to take the enumeration of Sugarcreek township. He received that appointment May 10, 1803, and commenced the work August 3, 1803, and finished on the 10th of the month, reporting the names of seventy-one, who, at that time, were residents of what is now Sugarcreek, then comprising all of Spring Valley and a portion of what is now Xenia township, that were over the ages of twenty-one years. Seven days' work! We are filled with wonder and surprise when, we. read his report. And think of the condition of the country at that early day! Covered with the primitive forests, no roads, or pikes, as now nothing but bridle paths for pack horses, that led from one settlement to. another. FIRST ELECTION IN SUGARCREEK. On the 21st of June, 1803, the electors of Sugarcreek township held the first election in the township, at the house of Mr. James Clancey, whose cabin at that time was located on the present site of the town of Bellbrook. Our honored old pioneer was one of the candidates for the office of town-ship lister, and Joseph C. Vance, the father of Governor Vance, was a candidate for clerk at the same election. MOVES TO XENIA. In the spring of 1805 he takes his departure from Sugarcreek township, and moves to Xenia. He was at this time acting as deputy sheriff, under William Maxwell, who had on the 17th day of December, 1803, resigned his position as associate judge, and had been elected sheriff of the county. Capt. Nathan Lamme had previous to Mr. Maxwell's election, been the sheriff (by appointment), but finding that it interfered too much with his large landed interest, had resigned. Mr. Collier continued to act as deputy until 1807, when he was elected sheriff. SHERIFF OF GREENE COUNTY. Mr. Collier served out the constitutional term. While he held this office the county was the temporary residence of certain desperate characters, whose lawless acts of vio- ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 69 lence and crime, had driven them to the frontiers beyond the jurisdiction of laws, or out of reach of the ministers of justice. Numbers of them were confederated together at different points, forming a chain of communication, all the way from Kentucky to Canada. They would warn each other of approaching danger ; would mutually assist each other in rescues, escapes and concealments. They would receive, conceal and convey stolen property from one to the other, which rendered detection and conviction very difficult. Several daring robberies were committed in the county. It was no unusual circumstance in those days for citizens, on retiring to rest, to bar the door securely, and place a gun and ax at the bedside ready for self-defense in case of a nocturnal attack. An instance of their audacity and success may suffice to illustrate the state of the times. JOHN WOLF ROBBED. Thirteen robbers, armed to the teeth, with faces concealed with black crepe, one night entered the house of John Wolf, Sr., a citizen near the site of the village of Byron, and robbed the owner of about four hundred and fifty dollars in specie. Not satisfied with the amount of booty obtained, they threatened the owner of the house with torture, proposing to pinch his fingers in a vise, unless he informed them where more money could be found. They would have carried their threats into execution but for the opposition and influence of one of their number, more human than the rest. Mr. Collier was instrumental in breaking up their association and driving them from the county. His vigilance, intrepidity and perseverance was such that they had neither rest or security. He, with his assistants, hunted them from their hiding places, surrounded their houses in the night season, and arrested every one he could lay his hands on, until, finally, they were all either captured or driven from the county, and the citizens were left in peace and security of life and property. Mr. Collier continued to act as sheriff until the election of 1811, when he gave way to Capt. John Hivling. CORONER OF GREENE COUNTY. He was, in 1814, elected coroner of Greene county, and continued in that office until the year 1820, when he was succeeded by David Connelly. He was again chosen coroner in 1826, and continued in that office until 1830. REMOVES TO XENIA. We will now return to the time when Mr. Collier removed from Sugarcreek to Xenia. It is said that the first person buried in the pioneer graveyard at Bellbrook was the wife of James Collier. He afterward married the daughter of Jacob Smith, who was a man of note in the early history of the county. The same Jacob Smith, whose body our Masonic brethren removed from the Harbine farm and reinterred in Woodland cemetery, Xenia, in 1898. It must not be supposed that Mr. Collier had not been in Xenia previous to 1805 ; his duty as deputy sheriff would oftimes bring him to Xenia, and besides that we find in the old records of the county the following "On the 15th day of November, 1804, Joseph C. Vance conveyed to James Collier lot 70 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. No. 60, see book 3, pages 3 and 4, Records of Deeds ; and again a year later on the 8th clay of November, 1805, William A. Beatty, director of the town of Xenia, conveyed to James Collier lot No. 58, book A, page 156. ERECTS HIS CABIN. On lot No. 60, facing on Detroit street, about twenty feet back from the inside line of the sidewalk, Mr. Collier erected in the summer of 1805 his cabin, a one-story, hewed-log, with two windows down stairs, and with a door in the center, with what is called one-half window up stairs over the two windows to give light into the attic ,room above. That building is still standing in Xenia to-day (1899) and belongs, I believe, to a Mrs. Middleton, and is the first house east of the colored. high school building, East Market street, Xenia. It has been weatherboarded outside, and is still in pretty good condition. When they were removing the old Collier house the original home of Mr. Collier was just back of it, and was bought by Mr. Middleton and removed to its present site. It was in this building that Mr. Collier and his young wife, nee Rachel Smith, daughter of Jacob Smith, commenced their married life. We find the following in the records of the probate court, under date of June, 5, 1805 ,;`Married by the Rev. Joshua. Carman, James Collier to Rachel Smith." A SOLDIER OF THE WAR OF 1812. It seems quite natural to see the name of James Collier enrolled among the nation's defenders in the war of 1812, as will be seen from the following taken from the official records: "I do hereby certify that James Collier did volunteer under the proclamation of the governor and the circular of General Harrison, on the 15th day of September, 1812, and the said Collier did act the part of a faithful soldier during his Continuance in my company, and is hereby charged. Given under my hand this the 5th day of January, 1813. Daniel F. Reeder, captain." THE OLD COLLIER HOUSE. This house was built the summer after his return from that tour of duty in the army. When first erected it consisted of one room and hall fronting on Detroit street, with two rooms in the rear. It was a wooden frame, built over with brick; as was jokingly said at the time of its erection, it was "a frame house weatherboarded with. brick." It was opened as a public house before being finished, the front room being the bar-room. In 1814 the south end was built. Reuben Hixon, who removed to Lebanon,. made the bricks, and some brickmasons from Kentucky put them up. Mathew Alexander, the father of Captain John Alexander, did the wood work. The north end was built some years later. At the time the first part was erected there were two other brick houses in Xenia, besides the court house; one of them stood where (1859) John F. Patton's drug store used to stand, and the other on the ground now occupied by John Knox's saddle shop, or near that. The court and bar put up at the Collier House from the commencement, and it was far known and noted as a tavern. Recruiting officers boarded at the Collier House in the time of the war of 1812, and a British ROBINSON'S' HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 71 officer and his servant, who were prisoners of war, were there on parole. Court mar-shals, courts of inquiry and courts of appeal were frequently held in this house by militia officers. The office of commissioner of insolvents was kept in it until the law abolishing imprisonment for debt went into operation. The first regular ball in. Xenia came off at the Collier House. Such was the scarcity of females who could, or would, dance that girls were enquired after, and brought to town from a distance of eight or ten miles. It was kept by Mr. Collier as a public house for twenty-nine years, and for a while the regular mail stage stopped there. The building next to where now stands the Reform church, and which formed an addition to the Collier House, was built by Phillip Good, father of Judge Good, of Sidney, Ohio. Dr. Joshua Martin lived in it when he was first married, and continued to live there until he had a house built, which he occupied until the time of his death. Peter Pelham, Esq., one of the Greene county commissioners in 1812, and for several terms afterwards, and also who was the first auditor of Greene county in. 1820, also lived in this house. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1747. and he was noted for his ardent piety, benevolence and numerous charities. He died in 1822. Many of the oldest citizens of Xenia still remember the old land mark, extending north from the Galloway buildings to the south line of the present Reform church on Detroit street. In the files of the Torchlight, of July, 1859, appears a notice that it is to be sold, "this noted property will be sold at public sale by the executors of the estate of the late James Collier." No building in Xenia has a history which equals in interest the history .of this now dilapidated structure. It is a relic of the old times, the times of bridle-paths and corduroy roads, of horseback traveling and saddle bags, dating before turnpikes had entered in-the imagination of men in the west. Mr. and Mrs. Collier never had any children to brighten their home, and the ones we have had in our county by that name were the children of his younger brother, Moses, who was ten years younger than James, a sketch of whom will appear further along. And as so much could be said of James Collier, we will for fear of wearing the patience of the reader close this history by adding a tribute to his memory as furnished by his old and intimate friend, Thomas Coke Wright, who says, when asked if he had anything to say, after the death of his old friend, in the year 1851: "He, like many of the old pioneers, had his: strong points of character, which stamped him with originality. The incidents of his early life evinced that he was enterprising and resolute. He originally had a good constitution and much hardihood and powers of bodily endurance., which enabled, him to endure cold and the inclemencies of the seasons with impunity. If while hunting in the tall woods of the west, night finding him far away from any human habitation or shelter it made little or no difference to him. Kindling a fire from a flint and steel, he would pass the night without a tent or blanket, or other covering than the canopy of heaven. He possessed much firmness and decision of character, and when his mind was made up, his purpose fixed, it was no, easy matter to turn his determination. He possessed the faculty of concentration in a great degree, and whatever he engaged in he pursued with all his mind and all his 72 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. might. If employed in some out-door labor and it came on to rain, and his mind intent on the business on Band, he has been known to continue on as though unconscious that any rain was falling. In all his dealings he was strictly honest, and truth was an idol with him. Not one particle would he swerve from the literal naked facts and would tolerate neither ideality nor embellishments, but adhere to the simplicity of truth in all his narrations and statements. "Most cordially did he detest falsehood and meanness in every station in life; he was always the good honest worthy citizen, discharging every duty as a public officer and private citizen. to the best of his skill and ability, faithfully and honestly. In his friendships he was sincere and true, and his attachments ceased only with life. His memory was very retentive, and was richly stored with a vast number of facts and incidents, historical and biographical, concerning early times in the west, which he could relate with an accuracy and minuteness of detail that was truly surprising. He could point out and correct more errors, which have found a place in western history, than perhaps any other man now living, and could his biography have been written, connected with all the information he possessed, it would have proven a treasure to western history. It would have numerous facts, now lost forever, and corrected divers errors in accounts already given to the public, which will now go down to history as true. For instance, Butler in his history of Kentucky says : "In the attack of Colonel Bowman made on Old Town in July, 1779, the Indian chief, Black Fish, the one who had headed an expedition against Harrodsburg, and had taken Boone prisoner, Was killed." Whereas, that same Indian was killed .in Kentucky early one Sunday morning, within three miles of where Mr. Collier was at that time. He had broken into a settler's house, and was engaged in a desperate struggle on the floor with the owner of the premises, when his daughter, a brave young woman, seized a 'hunting knife, flew to the assistance of her father and stabbed the Indian. The Indians were ashamed to have it known that their famous war chief had fallen at the hands of a white squaw, concealed his rank and name at the time, and afterwards countenanced the report that he had fallen in battle. "Judge Burnet in his notes says that early in 1796 the British government surrendered the northern post, including Miami and Detroit. The posts were delivered to General Wayne, while Mr. Collier was at Fort Defiance in June, 1796. General Wilkenson one morning reached that post and sat upon his horse in company with his staff officers on the banks of the Auglaize river opposite the fort until a salute of fifteen rounds had been fired from a twelve pounder. He had been to Detroit, and in conversation with Mr. Collier Informed him that the inhabitants of Detroit treated him with coldness and reserve, except one young Frenchman, who invited him to his mother's house, where he was received with kindness and treated with hospitality. And farther the post would have been surrendered to him, but for the want of men he could not take possession. In the following September he saw General Wilkenson on his way to Detroit with part of two regiments of men to take possession ; the surrender was made of course to him in pursuance of the stipulations of Jay's treaty made in 1793." ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY - 73 HIS LAST ILLNESS. For a year or so previous to his death he had been infirm, and was frequently subject to severe attacks from which his recovery seemed doubtful, and it was a common remark among his friends that the old pioneer was failing fast. Still from every attack he recovered again, so as to be up and about, until about seven weeks previous to his death he was again prostrated with dyspepsia. As the days progressed his system wasted away to a mere shadow ; he took not a particle of nourishment for twenty-three days, yet he continued to live with a tenacity beyond any example ever seen by the many friend's who were in attendance or daily visited him. He continued perfectly in his senses, and was not only resigned to die, but willing and impatient for that event to take place. At length worn out nature yielded, and he fell asleep without a sigh or struggle. And thus he has gone, one of the early pioneers of Greene county, who was here nearby when the first improvement was made within its limits. On each memorial day in our own beautiful Woodland can be seen two flags and the flowers that are still put there to commemorate the brave acts of the two brothers who were both soldiers in the war of 1812, James and Moses Collier. MOSES COLLIER. The younger brother of James Collier was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, on the 4th day of January, 1784. In 1786 when he was but two years old his family emigrated from Virginia, their destination being Kentucky, but in consequence of his mother's 'health they stopped on the river Holstan, in what is now east Tennessee, and there remained until the following summer, when the journey was resumed until they reached the place of destination in Kentucky some eighteen miles north of Crab. Orchard. Here he continued to reside with nis parents in Lincoln county and spent his early youth. The next we hear of our old pioneer friend was in 1797, when he was making his home with his brother James on the land leased from Captain Nathan Lamme. He was then a mere boy, thirteen years old, and his brother James twenty-three, and it is said by a Bellbrook historian that they lived in a cabin near the present residence of John Kable, north of Bellbrook, being central part of section 33-3, 6. Moses is said to have been remembered as the first assessor of the township. (That is a mistake, as the book which contains that enumeration has been found, and is now the vault of the auditor's office, and shows that it was James and not Moses.) In the fall of 1805, at the October election, we find for the first time the two Collier brothers, James and Moses, voting in Xenia township. This was the first vote cast by Moses in Greene county, and he was now twenty-one years old. A year previous he had bought of Joseph C. Vance, director of the town of Xenia, lot No. 128, now owned by President Fay, as the Miami Powder Company. He was one of the best surveyors that Greene county ever had, and he served the county in that capacity from 1817 until 1829, when he was elected: to represent Greene county in the lower house of the legislature. He was afterward elected surveyor of the county in 1834, and continued to act 74 - ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY. as such until the year 1840. He was married, September 19, 1810, to Miss Elizabeth Small, by Rev. Joshua Carman, The result of this marriage was six sons and four daughters : Franklin, David, James, Jr., Albert, Theodore and Ira, sons, and daughters, Mrs. Pugh Sterritt, Mrs. Daniel Job, Miss Ruth Collier, residing at Yellow Springs, and Mrs. Joseph Linkhart, of Xenia. After little more than half a century of married life he died at his residence on Clifton road, November 28, 1861, after a brief illness. For more than half a century lie resided here, and during the long period had ranked worthily among the best ; men in the county. In addition to what has been said before, Moses Collier filled the position of clerk of the court of inquiry of the militia of Greene county. Away back in the years 1810-11-12, when the county was under the old system of valuation, he was assessor of real estate, making his last assessment in 1840. He was among the first men in the then town of Xenia in 1816 to enroll his name as a stockholder in the first library association that was organized in the town. Later on, upon the organization of the old Xenia Lyceum, he contributed many valuable works, and contributions were more important in that day when books were scarce than it would be now. Of the early settlers of this county Mr. Collier was about the last one left, and lie was at the day of his death standing almost alone as the representative of the men who felled the forest and opened the fields of the Miami valley. He was a soldier for a brief tour in the war of 1812, under Captain Robert McClelland, to go to the relief of Fort Wayne. At his funeral a large concourse of neighbors and friends followed his remains to the last resting place in Woodland cemetery, Xenia, Ohio. SUGARCREEK TOWNSHIP. So much can be written of this township that one is at a loss where to commence. We find that on the l0th day of May. 1803, Greene county's first associate judges met in the house of Peter Borders, in Beavercreek township, on the farm known at this time ( 1900) as the Harbine farm, for the purpose of laying off the county into townships. This township was the place of commencement ; Sugarcreek was designated as No. 1. It was and had been the gateway into the county of almost all of the early pioneers. And in order to avoid repetition of what has been written in the former part of this book as to its organization and boundaries and who were the people that were living in the county at that time would refer the reader to that description. Most of this work has been compiled from the old records of the county that had been carted away to different out of the way places in the court house which was this year ( 1900) torn down, as well as in the one that was torn away in 1842, and which had been built in 1806. It has been said that "Moses Collier was remembered as being the first to take the enumeration of Sugarcreek township." That is a mistake. James Collier was the one who made that enumeration, as his book has been found, and in it, he says, "I commenced the work August 3, 1803, and completed it August 10, 1803." In this connection we quote from a statement furnished by John L. Elcook, assisted by Silas Hale, in 1874. He says : "Some seventy years ago the spot where