(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 250 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. in 1806, and is still living, at the advanced age of seventy-four. The children are Sarah Muchmore, Martin V. Hess, G. W. Hess, Lottie Searles, and Amanda Hess. Mr. M. V. Hess was elected township clerk in 1868. Two years later he became township treasurer, which office he has since held, with the exception of two years. He is the present incumbent. Isaac Edwards emigrated from New Jersey to Ohio, and settled in Clermont county about 1805. Two years afterward he came to Anderson township, where he died in 1827, being a leading man of his time. His wife was Hannah Martin. She died in 1837. The surviving children are William Edwards, of Anderson; Rebecca Horn, of Knox county; Elizabeth Day, of Van Buren county; Samuel and Edward Edwards, both of Anderson township. Edward Edwards was born in 1812, on the old homestead, where he yet lives. The farm consists of two hundred and ninety-six acres of rich bottom lands. His wife's name was Eliza Glansey. The children are Euphemia Jones, Laura Jewett, Harry Edwards, Melvin Edwards, and Clara Hammel, all living at the present time in Hamilton county. William H. Ayres was born in the year 1849. Leaving school at the age of nineteen, he entered the employ of Mr. W. R. McGill, and still holds his position, respected by all who know him. The first representative of his family in Ohio was his grandfather, John Jones, whose wife was Hattie Durham before her marriage. R. W. Hibben first settled in Anderson township in 1839. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and came from that city to Ohio. He died in 1844. His wife's name was Rebecca E. Goodman, and they have seven children living. Duke G. Hibben, the son of the preceding, was born in South Carolina in 1829. At the age of ten he came to Anderson township, and still remains on the old homestead, surrounded by many friends. Samuel Shaw settled at Newtown in 1828. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth, but emigrated from there to Ohio, where he lived until the time of his death in the year 1848. He was the proprietor of a hotel for thirty-one years. His wife was Isabel Jefferies. Five children are living. The son, Moses Shaw, was born in 1833. In 1861 he was married to the daughter of Jacob Ross. 'He has always followed the business of farming. Elisha Miller settled in Anderson township in 1812. He followed the business of blacksmithing and farming, and has given the art of wood carving a deal of attention, receiving a diploma for the finest carving on exhibition at the tri-State fair of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. He was married, in 183-, to Hester J. Hopper, daughter of Abraham, who is noticed elsewhere with the Hopper family. He is a man respected by all The oldest house remaining in the township is a hewed log house near the site of Gerard's station, which was built in 1805 by Josiah and Samuel Holley. It is much in repute as a veritable relic of the olden time, and one of the most venerable dwellings in Hamilton county. The first mill in the county was Wickersham's (some say Coleman's), upon, or rather in front of Nathaniel Wilson's survey No. 2,204, at the rapids of the Little Miami, about two miles from its mouth and below the mouth of Clough creek, not far from the present site of Union bridge. Colonel Taylor says his father, General James Taylor, was at the mill in 1792; and further: He went with a servant with two bags of corn to have it ground. The mill, he said, was a rough affair, constructed out of two Kentucky flat-boats, which made meal of a very coarse character. He said travelling to that spot at that day was not considered very safe, as Indians had been seen a few days before on the trail leading to the mill from Fort Washington, and in fact had killed a man. Philip Turpin, who settled on Crittenden's survey No. Oro, about 1795, subsequently built a flouring-mill near the spot where Wickersham built his mill. Said mill stood there until within the last ten years, when (187o) it was torn down by his heirs. The Turpin mill, which was a very fine one for its day, and did excellent service for two generations, was built about 1805. In the same year the first ferry over the Little-Miami was established in the vicinity by the Holleys before mentioned, which they leased for one hundred dollars in cash and one hundred gallons of whiskey. This beverage was then made in considerable quantity at a large distillery half a mile from Turpin's mill, upon or near the site of the old block-house. All ferries across the river in this region have long since been superseded by bridges, the finest of which is the Union bridge, between Mount Washington and Linwood, so-called from the former union of Hamilton and Clermont counties in sustaining the expense of the construction of a bridge built in 1836, at the old Flinn's ford, about a mile below the present site of the bridge. It was a plain wooden structure, which was removed in 1875; and in that year and the next the fine suspensi0n bridge now used was erected upon its more eligible site by the Cincinnati Iron Bridge company. Its expense, seventy-nine thousand eight hundred dollars, was sustained by Hamilton county alone, a bonded indebtedness being created therefor, •upon authority granted by the legislature. It is three hundred and fifty-three feet long, and every way a substantial and graceful structure. The river, on the Miami front of Anderson township, is also spanned -by two railway bridges, erected for the Cincinnati & Eastern and the. Cincinnati & Portsmouth narrow-gauge railroads. There is also a wagon bridge for the turnpike near the mouth of the Little Miami, and another across the river at Plainville, from which a plank sidewalk .connects it with Newtown—an improvement made by the enterprise and liberality of the citizens of the latter village. EARLY RELIGION. The Miami Island church, the second church of the Miami association in order of time (afterwards Little Miami Island church, and finally simply Miami), on one of the islands in the river of that name, was formed about 1795, by settlers of the Baptist faith removing from Columbia, and was served at first by Elder John Smith, of the latter place, who had then or a few years afterwards a mill at the island, about eight miles from Columbia. He was also pastor from 1801 to 1804. Elder James Lee was pastor from 1799 to 1801. Elder John Corbly, who had settled a few miles below Milford, preached here for some time afterwards. In 1808 Moses Frazer was HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 251 called as pastor, and was still with the church when it was dismissed in 1816, with eight others, to form the East Fork Baptist association. James Jones was pastor in 1816. In 1799 the membership here was reported to the Miami association as sixty-two, nearly twice the number 0f any 0ther church in that body, and almost exactly one-third of the entire membership of the association, although it then consisted of six churches. William Milner was a lay-delegate from this church to the meetings in 1797-8, to organize the association, and was on the c0mmittee to draft its "principles of faith, practice and decorum." The association met with the Island church October 20, 1798, when the rules were adopted, and so the associati0n was fully constituted. The venerated name of Rev. Philip Gatch will ever be associated with the records of pioneer settlement and early religious movements in Hamilton and Clermont counties. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time in the Little Miami valley. Mr. Gatch was born near Baltimore, Maryland, March 2, 1751, of Prussian stock on his father's side and Burgundian on his mother's. He was converted under Methodist influences in 177 2 ; began to speak as an exhorter in the same year; the next year was sent into New Jersey as the first itinerant of the church ever sent into the State. lie and the Rev. Mr. Walters, then laboring in Virginia and Delaware, were, indeed, the first preachers recruited for the Methodist itinerancy in this country. At the conference of 1774, held in Philadelphia, he was one of five received into full connection. January 14, 1788, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Smith, of Powhatan county, Virginia. After much laborious and able service at the east, part of the time under severe persecution, being often threatened, once dangerously assaulted, and once plastered with tar, he engaged in farming for a. time ; emancipated his slaves in December, 1780, removed to Buckingham, Virginia, and improved a large farm. In 1798 he resolved to emigrate to the Northwest Territory, and set out for the land of hope October 11th, of that year, with his brother-in-law, the Rev. James Smith, and family, and a near friend, Mr. Ambrose Ransom and his family. Thirty-six persons, white and colored, were in the colony. After many tribulations, by land and water, they reached the Little Miami valley. Says Mr. Gatch in his journal: From Williamsburgh we passed on to Newtown, and for some days pitched our tents in Turpin's bottom, and there, with those who were with me, were accommodated with a small shop used by a mechanic. On Sunday morning after our arrival the boats landed. My heart was dissolved into love and gratitude to God for his care over us on our journey, and bringing us safely into this desirable and distant land. I rented a house in Newtown, and we were treated kindly by the people, though they cared little for religion. The land which I had taken in exchange for my faun in Virginia did not answer for a settlement, so I purchased a tract in the forks of the Little Miami river. His residence in Anderson township was, therefore, brief, lasting only till the middle of the next February, when his cabin was finished and he moved beyond the East fork into it. His history thenceforth belongs mainly to Clermont county, which he served long and ably in public stations, as justice of the peace, associate judge of the court of common pleas, member of the first constitutional convention, and otherwise. He remained identified, however, with the religious interests of the lower Miami valley, preaching regularly at Newtown and other places, though not as a circuit preacher until circuits were regularly established and appointments made to them, and frequently preached thereafter. He died in the fullness of years and honors December 28, 1835, and was laid to rest beside his venerable wife, in the burying-ground upon his farm. In this connection the following recollections of Mr. Gatch, concerning early Methodism on the Little Miami, will be read with interest: The conference did not appoint a preacher to Miami circuit in 1800. There were at the time four or five local preachers in the Miami country, and they went everywhere preaching the word. They systematized their operations, preached not only on Sabbath, but also on other days, held two-days' meetings, and kept up a routine of quarterly meetings. They were much encouraged in seeing the pleasure of the Lord prosper in then hands. Those popular meetings were held at different points, but most of them were held in the forks of the Miami, and it was matter of astonishment to see the numbers that attended; women would walk twenty and even thirty miles to attend them. The whole care devolved on three families; each would have frequently to provide for from fifty to a hundred people. The men at night quartered in barns and out-buildings, while the women lodged in the cabins. It was a striking scene to witness the breaking up of one of these night meetings. The people, though coming from a distance, had no way of returning in the darkness but by dim paths or traces, some of which had been first formed by the tread of wild beasts. To obviate this difficulty they would procure fagots made of bark from the trees or splinters made fine and rendered highly combustible; these would be fired up on starting home, and in every direction they might he seen like so many meteors, bounding amid the thick forest and gilding the foliage of the loftiest trees, while the air would often be made vocal with their songs of rejoicing and praise. Bishop McKendree, in one of his letters, speaks of a meeting at Mr. Gatch's house in June, 1802, which some women walked thirty miles to attend. A powerful revival occurred at this meeting. Another remarkable service was held in 1805, under an awning in front of Mr. Gatch's cabin, by Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat, and their traveling companion, the Rev. J. Crofford. When each of these had preached at the same service, it was insisted by Bishop Asbury that Mr. Gatch should preach also, which made four sermons in succession. And yet, says Mr. Gatch, "so precious was the word of the Lord in those days that the congregation evinced no uneasiness, but paid the greatest attention to all the discourses." He elsewhere writes : "The first circuit that was formed here extended over a tract of country from the Ohio up the Miami rivers to Mad river, and the labors of the preachers who travelled it were great. Now [1827] there are seven circuits within the bounds of the first one." The quarterly meetings were held commonly at the house of Mr. Gatch, when his patient, dev0ted wife would have to provide for the entertainment of fifty to one hundred persons. NEWTOWN. This is the oldest town in the western part of the county, and by far the oldest in Anderson township. A cluster of settlers, as we have seen from Mr. Gatch's narrative, was here as early as 1798; and no great while after that, we may presume safely, the place was almost, if not quite, as populous as in 1830, when it contained one hundred and sixty-one people. It was laid off on 252 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. General Massie's survey, No. 2,276, in the north part of the township, and on the border of the Little Miami bottoms at the foot of the hills, in 1801, by General James Taylor, and was by him at first called Mercers-burgh, in honor of General Mercer, of Revolutionary fame. The most easterly part of the present site was first built up, and bore the name of Mercersburgh; but afterwards the whole of the site was occupied under the designation of Newtown. The first hewed log house in Anderson township was built near Newtown on the premises now occupied by Mr. E. J. Turpin, by Isaac and David Jones, immigrants from Hampshire county, Virginia. A stone building was erected at Newtown in 1813 for the use of the Methodist Episcopal church. When a new meeting-house was put up on the same site in 1861, the stones used for this basement were taken from the old building. Rev. John Strange was the first circuit-rider to serve the Methodist charge here. The Revs. Philip and James Gatch, and other pioneers of Methodism in the Miami valley, also often preached here. "Mother Jones" is remembered as the first Methodist woman in or near the place. Newtown has also a Regular Baptist and a Universalist church, the latter which contains also an Odd Fellows' hall. The fine school-house now occupied, was erected in 1860, and received an addition in 1880. It contains five school rooms, three of which are occupied. The principal of the scho0l is Mr. J. C. Heyw0od, who has held his place with much acceptance for several years. The first school-house in the place stood at no great distance from this one. One of the earliest teachers here was Eli Davis, a native of Salem, New Jersey, who rem0ved to Hamilton county from Lexington, Kentucky, and taught school for several years with marked success, as he was thorough in discipline and scholarship. He won equal popularity as a justice of the peace, in which capacity he served for several years. In 1808 he married Ruth Long, and after a further residence of four years at Newtown, he removed to Union township, Clermont county, where his remaining years were spent. At one of the early fourth of July celebrations in New-, town, Colonel Clayton Webb was the reader of the Declaration of Independence, and Mr. William de Courcy, of Clough creek, was orator of the day. Newtown has a population of four hundred and twenty-seven, by the census of 1880. MOUNT WASHINGTON. The advantages of this locality, as a suburban residence for business men of Cincinnati, were early apparent. It occupies one of the highest tracts 0f land in the county, and at some points commands views stretching along the river valleys five miles in each direction. The highland reaches westward almost to the banks of the Little Miami. King's Pocket-book of Cincinnati says of this place: It is noted for its beautiful rolling private grounds, perfect drainage, and consequent good health; also for its fine avenue of evergreens and deciduous trees, with probably the finest collection of magnolias in the county. It has a town hall, a fine graded public school, young ladies' seminary, and three churches." The original village of Mount Washington was laid off in 1838 by James C. Ludlow; but large additions have since been made to it. The municipality was incorporated November 14, 1867, and it has since had a full village 0rganization, with mayor, common council, b0ard of health, etc. Captain Benneville Kline was mayor for several years, in the earlier day of its corporate existence. About 1840 the post office of Mount Washington was established, that at Salem, or "Mears," a mile distant, upon which the inhabitants had chiefly depended for their mails, being vacated in favor of the new one. S. J. Sutton, the merchant of the place, was the first postmaster, and his clerk and deputy, NIL W. B. Dunham, then filled the post for twenty-five years, from 1852 to 1876, when he was succeeded by the present incumbent, Mr. John Roell. Mr. Dunham was also one of the early school-teachers in this region, having taught in a country school-house upon the site of the present public school building, as long ago as 1836. While postmaster he did also a general merchandizing business, and is still living, retired from business, at his old home in Mount Washington. One of his sons, Mr. J. H. Dunham, perpetuates in a manner his services to education, by printing the Public School Journal, an educational monthly magazine edited in Cincinnati by Professor Wilson, of the public schools, and published by Messrs. Henley & Chadwick, of that city. Mr. Dunham's printing-office and the Mount Washington Canning company, a large establishment previously mentioned in these notes, now furnish the chief industries of the place. The present school-house, upon a site occupied for fifty years for purposes of education, was erected under the auspices of the Odd Fellows' organization to sonic extent. The schools occupy four rooms under the charge of Mr. A. W. Williamson, principal. A Methodist Protestant church was erected here in 1861, a small, plain, frame building, and was used more or less continuously, by this and the Baptist denomination, until about 1872, when it was abandoned. A Catholic congregation here, together with one each at Newtown, California, and Columbia, is served by the Rev. Father B. Engbers. The Methodist Episcopal church. here is ministered to, at this writing, by the Rev. John H. Story. We append a sketch of the Mount Washington Baptist church, kindly furnished by its pastor, the Rev. B. F. Harmon: This church began its life in 1866 as a mission of the Columbia Baptist church, under the direction of its pastor, Rev. B. F. Harmon. Its meetings were held at first on Sunday afternoons in the Protestant Methodis1 church, which was hired for the purpose. The mission grew steadily in interest and numbers until 1869, when it was constituted into a separate church, and was recognized by a large council composed of the pastors and representatives of the city churches and others in the vicinity. Great interest and unanimity marked the sessions of the council. The church immediately called to its pastorate the Rev. B. F. Harmon, who has remained with it continuously to the present time. The same year was distinguished by the dedication of a new church building. It is a two-story brick edifice, and is accounted a model of taste and beauty. The church property is valued at ten thousand dollars, is free from debt, and an ornament to the beautiful village in HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 253 which it is located. Several extensive revivals have occurred in the history of the church, and its growth has been steady and healthful. One of the most notable citizens of Mount Washington, in the present generation, was Dr. Leonard W. Bishop, a native of Cheviot, in Green township, but who removed to this locality in 1849, to practice medicine. It was a terrible cholera year, and he soon found abundant opportunity for professional activity. He was a thoroughly public-spirited man, and one of his projects was that of a fine academy in the place. During the war he was secretary of the Anderson township relief society, of which Captain Kline was president,. and aided to keep the township clear of all drafts and to disburse large sums for the assistance of soldiers' families. After the battle of Pittsburgh Landing a large meeting of citizens of the township was held at Mount Washington, to consider the best means of sending relief to the two companies from the township that were in that hard-fought action. Dr. Bishop was unanimously deputed to go to the front with suitable supplies for the Anderson men, and to bring back their dead, sick and wounded. At Cincinnati he fell in with Dr. Comegys, of that city, who was about to leave for Pittsburgh Landing in an official capacity, and was by him appointed a surgeon on his staff, which gave him superior facilities of movement within the lines of the army. He found the Anderson companies, and promptly relieved their wants. Within two weeks he had fulfilled his mission, and returned with his precious charge of disabled and dead heroes. At another large meeting held after his return, he received a unanimous vote of thanks on behalf of the people of Anderson township, which was all the compensation he asked or received for his services. He was thereafter often summoned to Cincinnati to assist the army surgeons in the work of the hospitals. After the war he removed to Mount Carmel, in Clermont county, where we believe he now resides. The Rev. Francis McCormick, formerly a neighbor of Rev. Philip Gatch, on the East fork of the Miami, and, like him, one of the pioneer preachers of Methodism in the Northwest Territory, spent his last days near Mount Washington, whither he removed in 1806. He was an old Revolutionary soldier, who had served under Lafayette at Yorktown. At his cabin beyond the East fork, in 1797, it is said the first Methodist class organized in Ohio was formed. The people of Mount Washington formerly reached the city principally by omnibus t0 the Little Miami railroad at Plainville, and thence by rail; but since 1878 they have been more conveniently served by the Cincinnati & Portsmouth narrow-gauge railroad, which has a station half a mile below the village. The place had three hundred and ninety-three inhabitants in the year 1880. CALIFORNIA. This place, sometimes erroneously called Caledonia in old documents, was laid out in 1849, by Joseph Guthrie, John W. Brown, and Thomas J. Murdock, in the southwest part of the township, upon the Ohio river, about a mile below the mouth of the Little Miami, and upon Bennett Tompkins' survey number three hundred and sixty-five, one of the first, as has been noted, to be settled in the township. The place is about eight miles from Fountain Square, in the city of Cincinnati, which furnishes it with a goodly share of its residents, and also the opportunity for some manufacturing to advantage. The first business of importance here was the Molders' Union foundry, which was established on the co-operative plan while the town was still new, by a number of striking stove-molders from Cincinnati. Mr. James C. C. Hollenshade, a prominent citizen connected with the business, had warmly espoused their cause, and was employed to conduct their enterprise at California. They organized a regular corporation, of which he was made president and business agent. He opened the stock-books for the molders, subscriptions of stock to be paid in work, and Mr. Hollenshade relying upon his own credit to secure the means for building the foundry, procuring the necessary machinery and stock, and running it until money was in the treasury of the company for his repayment. This he successfully accomplished, and ran the establishment to satisfaction the first year, paying the full bill of prices as stipulated to all the workmen. He then resigned to go into the wrought-iron and hard• ware business in Cincinnati; and the enterprise in due time went the way of nearly all similar undertakings. The prospects of the place since, however, have at times looked up quite bravely; and in 1871 (May 1) the California Building and Savings Association, No. 1, filed its certificate of incorporation in the secretary of State's office at Columbus, for operations at this point. The Richmond turnpike passes this place, as also the projected line of die Ohio River & Virginia railway, and the Cincinnati & Portsmouth narrow-gauge has a station but a mile distant. St. Jerome's church (Catholic), supplied, as before noted, by the Rev. Father Engbers, is located here. The tenth census allows the village three hundred and seventy-six people. OTHER POST OFFICES. The post offices of the township, not already indicated, are Cedar Point, Fruit Hill, Cherry Grove, Pleasant Valley, and Sweet Wine. The first-named of these is of very recent establishment, and has Mr. R. A. Shannon for postmaster. It was formerly Taylor's Corners at the junction of the road from Mount Washington to the Ohio turnpike, and takes its present name from the fine cedar trees at the point of junction. These were planted by Mr. Taylor, an Englishman who settled there about 1845, and put up a large frame building for a grocery store and residence. This locality became celebrated far and wide, especially for its beautiful garden and grounds, and was long maintained by its proprietor, who finally sold it and removed to the west. Sweet Wine takes its unique name from one of the chief products of the colony of Germans in the southeast of the township, who are mainly its patrons. POPULATION. The population of Anderson township, by the census of 1880, was four thousand, one hundred and forty-one, 254 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. against four thousand and seventy-seven ten years before. A comparative statement of the number of its inhabitants, during the several years in which the federal censushas been taken, will be found, as in the case of other townships of Hamilton county, at the close of chapter X, in the first part of this work. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. THE TURPIN FAMILY. Three brothers came from Yorkshire, England, probably in the seventeenth century, and settled in Chesterfield county, Virginia. One of them was Philip, father of Thomas Turpin, who married Obedience, daughter of Martha (Goode), a branch of the famous Goode family, in the Old Dominion. He was father of Thomas, jr., who was wedded to Mary Jefferson, a lady reported to have been 0f the blood of the great Monticello statesman. They were parents of a family of ten children, among whom were two Philips. The first died young; the second survived to manhood, married Caroline Rose, became a physician in and near Richmond, Virginia, and the "Dr. Turpin" whose name is identified with the early settler ment of Anderson township. He never was a proprietor here, and never visited the Miami country; but was assignee of an extensive "army right," or land-warrant (No. 1007) granted to John Crittenden, a lieutenant "in the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment,"—that is, in the Revolutionary war—in consideration of military services. The following, the original of which is in the possession of E. J. Turpin, esq., is the primal document in the case: On February 7, 1785. I hereby acknowledge having sold unto Doctor Phillips Turpen my military right, consisting of two thousand six hundred sixty-six and two-third acres, meaning the warrant, the expenses of which he is to defray, and which I hereby oblige myself, my heirs, exers and adminitrs. to make a right so soon as such right can be made. I also acknowledge the receipt of seventy-three pounds for the same out of the sum of one hundred Pounds, which is the sum agreed on. Given under my hand. Test JOHN CRITTENDEN. FRANCIS HARRIS. Among the children of Dr. Turpin was Philip Turpin, his only son, he having two daughters besides. To him, at about the time he attained his majority, the father presented, by assignment, the right to one thousand acres in the Virginia military district, under the Crittenden warrant. Young Philip made several trips on horseback, near the close of the century; to and from the Miami valley, sometimes visiting Lieutenant Crittenden at Lexington (this was the father of John J. Crittenden, the celebrated lawyer and statesman); and finally, it is believed in the year 1797, he set his pioneer stakes down upon the rich tract below Newtown subsequently patented to him, and began improvement on it. After a few years he removed to the Kentucky shore for a more healthful location, and resided on the hills opposite the mouth of the Little Miami. In 1799, October 9, his patent to the Survey No. 416, upon which he had located, for one thousand acres, was granted and signed by John Adatra, President of the United States and Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State. Mr. Turpin was married in 1807, to Miss Mary Smith, of a family that had just immigrated to Kentucky from New York. His father was a slave-h0lder at the old home, and shortly after his marriage sent out to him a young colored girl named Gracie, as a house-servant. This woman, now Mrs. Watkins, is still living in the family of E. J. Turpin, and is supposed to be eighty-eight to ninety years old. She was at the time of her arrival the only colored person in the neighborhood, and was naturally a great curiosity. Mr. Turpin spent five to six years upon the Kentucky hills, where his first children, Philip and Ebenezer, were born, and he then removed to his And son farm. In 1824 he erected the well known Turp n mill, a large flouring establishment, upon the site o the old mill of the Holleys at that point, about a quarter of a mile below the present Union bridge, probably at the same place where the floating mill of Wickerham was anchored in the pioneer days. He conducted this mill, as well as farming operations. In the mill he was in partnership for the first five years with his brother-in-law, Aaron Foulk, who was a practical millwright and miller, and had superintended the construction and starting of the mill., Mr. Turpin also, about 1826 or 1827, built a small distillery on Clough creek, one mile from the mill, which he carried on for three or four years, and then left it to the management of his sons. He remained in the milling business, however, until the time of his death, in 1834. He built the original family mansion at Union bridge, of which the present mansion, occupied by the younger Philip Turpin, is an enlargement. The mother died in August, 1851. They left children as follows: Philip Parmell, born November 18, 1804; died June 24, 1818. Ebenezer Smith,, born May 30, 1808; married Amanda Melvina, daughter of Major John Armstrong, of Plain, ville, January 19, 1831; died September 15, 1879. Caroline Matilda Rozenia, born May 13, 1810; overturned with several others in a skiff crossing the Little Miami at Round Bottom ford, July 3, 1822, and drowned. Edward Johnson, born at the old home in Anderson township May 6, 1814; further noticed below. Mary Margaret, born May 20, 1816; died September 8, 1816. Philip Parmell, born August 5, 1818; married Nancy Campbell Johnston September 24, 1846; died September 29, 1848. Robert Carmichael, born September 3, 1820; married Frances Mary Stewart September 23, 1846; died of consumption, while travelling in the south for his health, on board the steamship Galveston, near the Balize, December 22, 1847. Mary Caroline, born November 6, 1822; died while at school in Augusta, Kentucky, July 19, 1839. Aaron Foulk, bop June 24, 1827; died September 16, 1851. Edward J. Turpin, born at the time and place above noticed, spent his early years at home, receiving his education in the schools of that neighborhood, except during a few months' attendance, shortly after his father's death, at Woodward college, Cincinnati, when the Rev. Dr. B. P. Ayzelott was president and Dr. Joseph Ray was professor of mathematics.. Returning to the farm, he engaged in its labors, and after his father's death leased the interest of his brothers in the mill and managed it for HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO three or four years, also conducting the distillery for some time before he took the mill, but relinquishing it before his connection with the mill ceased.• In the spring of 2844 he left the mill altogether and bought the fine place he now occupies half a mile south of Newtown, upon which he erected the spacious mansion in which he dwells, somewhat remodelled of later years. Here he has lived the tranquil life of a successful and independent farmer, unvexed by public affairs or party squabbles. He has, however, been a staunch Republican since the party sprang into being, and was a Free Soiler from the time of the Van Buren campaign, and takes a cordial interest in the success of his party when elections are pending. He is unconnected with any religious, secret, or benevolent society, except the Newtown Grange of Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Turpin was married May 29, 1839, to Miss Christina, daughter of Mathias Kugler, of the pioneer family that settled early in the century near Camp Denison, and of Elizabeth (Waldsmith) Kugler, daughter of the famous miller and land-owner of that settlement. She is still living. They have had eight children, all of whom survive save one. Hon. Ebenezer S. Turpin was identified with the growth of Hamilton county for more than half a century. He was born, as noted above, May 30, 1808, and died at his home in Anderson township, half a mile north of Newtown, September 15, 1879. In his early life he -attended Wing's academy in Cincinnati, upon the present site of the Gazette office, and in due time was associated with his father and his brother Edward in the mill below Union Bridge, the two brothers continuing in the business together after the decease of the elder Turpin. This was abandoned, however, in 1868, when the mill was demolished, the back-water from the Ohio having destroyed the power. He had previously carried on for a number of years a distillery near Newtown, and engaged in other business, most of which was successful and realized him a handsome fortune. He settled on a valuable farm in the vicinity adjoining that of his brother Edward, upon which he erected a handsome dwelling, and resided there at the time of his death. In 1855, at the earnest personal solicitation of Judge Long and the Hon. William Corry, he became a candidate for the legislature on the Democratic ticket, and was elected, serving for one term. He made a faithful and successful member, but steadfastly refused to enter public life thereafter. He was a Democrat, however, to the end of his days. The Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, in 9.n obituary notice of Mr. Turpin, said: His personal character was in the highest degree honorable, He was a kind husband and father, a good neighbor and faithful citizen. His benevolence was only equaled by his honesty and probity in business matters, and many young men received their start in life from him. He had a kind word for everybody, was unostentatious in his manners, and a kind master and friend. About two years ago Mr. Turpin received a stroke of paralysis, which made him an invalid ever since. The cause of his death, however, was a pulmonary affection. The children of Ebenezer S. and Amanda (Armstrong) Turpin numbered eleven, three sons and eight daughters. Among them, still surviving, are Estus K., the subject of a notice below; Philip T., who resides at the old homestead, near the Union Bridge; Margaret, now wife of Hon. James S. Gordon, of the Washington Republic (formerly of the Post), and a prominent journalist of the capital; Lelia, the oldest daughter, who married Dr. W. P. Elston, a physician of Columbia, Hamilton county, both now dead; Lizzie, married Major William E. Jones, of Cincinnati, and deceased three weeks after marriage; Theresa, wife of E. E. Hulderson, esq., formerly prosecuting attorney, and himself now deceased, and Luella, wife of Charles B. Russell, treasurer of the Cincinnati gas company. Estus K. Turpin was born in the paternal residence, which he now owns and occupies, July r8, 1840. He was trained in the public schools of Cincinnati and in the private academy kept by Professor Andrew J. Rickoff. Returning to the farm at the age of twenty-one, he undertook the management of it, in consequence of his father's failing health, and has remained a farmer upon this place ever since, as manager or owner. In April, 1875, he was elected a member of the county board or control upon the Democratic ticket, and re-elected three years afterwards, running several hundred votes ahead of his ticket, which was at that time generally in the minority. Although a public officer, he does not take any more time-for politics than is the business of a good citizen, and is by no means a professional office-seeker. He is still unmarried, devoting himself so far to the care of his aged mother and the management of his estate. WILLIAM EDWARDS, SR. The Edwards family is of Welsh ancestry. Samuel Edwards was the first to emigrate from the old world home, not far from the middle of the last century. He was somewhat of a roving disposition, and made his way alone to America, where he settled in New Jersey, probably as a farmer, as his son, Isaac, the father of the subject of this sketch, was after him. His other son, John, went to New York city and engaged in business there until the fatal period of the prevalence of yellow fever, which swept him and his entire family into the grave. These were the only children except one daughter, Elizabeth, who became Mrs. Seth Ray, of Milford, Clermont county, Ohio. Their mother was Mrs. Rose, of New Jersey, who had Mr. Edwards for her second husband. He died in New Jersey, and his wife long after, at the pioneer home in Anderson township, about 1810, aged more than eighty years. She was then residing with her son Isaac, who had come from New Jersey to the Miami country in 1805, landing first in Cincinnati, but going without unnecessary delay to a tract he had purchased upon and near the present site of Newberry, Clermont county. He found the land unsuited to his purposes and only stayed upon it two years, removing then to the southward upon the farm now occupied by his son Edward, adjoining the homestead of William Edwards. Here the remainder of his life was spent in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, during twenty years, HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. or until his death in 1827, being-then sixty years of age. At the same place died his mother and four of his children. He had been married at the old home near Middleton, Monmouth county, New Jersey, to Miss Hannah Martin, about 1801, before the removal to the Miami valley. They had twelve children—William, Mary (Mrs. Timothy Day), John, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Samuel, Edward, Joseph, Redford, Job, Lydia Ann (Mrs. Nicholas Edwards), George Washington, and one that died in infancy unnamed. Of this large family, William, Rebecca (Mrs. Martin Hahn, widow, residing near Galesburgh, Illinois), Elizabeth (Mrs. Timothy Day, of Iowa), Samuel, Edward and Redford J. are still living. William Edwards, the oldest son, was born in New Jersey May 10, 1802. He was brought with the family to the west, and received some education in the subscription schools of that time, but says he pretty regularly forgot, at the end of every term, all he had learned during its session, and began anew with the next school. His childhood and youth were spent at the paternal homes in Clermont county and in Anderson township, until his marriage, December 11, 1823, to Miss Nancy Day, daughter of Timothy and Sarah (Crane) Day, who had come to this region about the year 1800. One of her brothers, Timothy Day, jr., married her husband's sister Mary, and upon her death married Elizabeth, another sister, as above noted. After his marriage, Mr. Edwards removed from the -paternal roof to a double log cabin standing near the homestead, but upon another farm, for which his father had traded. This he occupied until it became much out of repair, when he put up a frame dwelling upon its site, which was in its turn superseded by the present spacious and comfortable brick mansion•, erected in the year of the Harrison campaign, of which Mr. Edwards has an interesting relic in the shape of a Whig banner, with the portrait of. the hero of Tippecanoe and appropriate inscriptions. The farm upon which the residence stands had long before become the property of Mr. Edwards, to which fie has since made large additions by purchase. Here he has since continually resided, engaging himself almost exclusively in the labors of the farm. Sometimes he has purchased for sale, in addition to his own crops, the products of his neighbors, in soiree instances to large amounts. He has wasted none of his energies in public office, except as he has served the township in some of its minor posts. He has often been solicited to become a candidate for the legislature, but has invariably declined. He is faithful in his voting, however, having voted successively for fifteen candidates for the Presidency, and always upon the Democratic ticket, to which he has given a life-long allegiance. He has never allied himself with any religious or secret societies, and is independent in all his thinking and his actions. Although close upon the border of four-score years, he has remarkable vigor of mind and body, and preserves his faculties almost unimpaired. His venerable wife also still survives in apparently good health, but their long union has proved childless. They have raised, however, several nephews and nieces and other children. A number of their relatives reside near them, their dwellings and other houses making a handsome cluster of buildings at the station, on the Cincinnati & Eastern Narrow Guage railway, which is called from him "Edwards." WILLIAM R. McGILL. Joseph McGill, grandfather of the subject of this notice, came from Scotland to America in 1790, and settled at a point on Seneca fake, in the State of New York, where his third son, James McGill, was born February 16, 1805, one of a family of six sons and one daughter. The whole family removed to the west in the spring of 1811, and made their home in Cincinnati. It was the year of the earthquake and the first steamboat down the Ohio valley—a notable period in the history of. this region. They remained in the city four years, until 1815, when they changed their residence to Newtown. In June of that year the mother died, and the bereaved father, sorrowing deeply for the loved and lost, followed her in about two months, leaving a family of seven orphans. They were left in destitute circumstances, and the chil- dren were separated, James, then in his eleventh year, going to live with Mr. Jacob Denham, a cooper, at Perrin's Mills, or Perrintown, Clermont county. He learned the trade with Mr. Denham, and remained in his employ until he was eighteen years old, when be went to live with Mr. Moses Crist, who was also a cooper, at Montgomery, in this county. He worked for him two years, and removed to Sharonville, in Sycamore township, where he went into partnership in a small store, with a Scotchman named Galbreath. This was in the spring of 1825. James was now twenty years old and had saved two hundred dollars, which constituted his sole investment in the store. Every winter, for seven consecutive years, he also loaded a flat-boat at Cincinnati with pork, flour, lard, the whiskey which was then an indispensable part of the cargo, and other articles, which he started for New Orleans, and sold at a good profit there and along the coast. Among his best customers was General Wade Hampton, father of the present governor of South Carolina, who (the elder Hampton) then had a plantation on the Mississippi. Mr. McGill walked the long distance from New Orleans to his home several times, but afterwards returned by steamer. He encountered many serious dangers during these trips, both by land and on the river; but escaped all unharmed. He kept his business at Sharonville, which continued to enlarge and prosper, and, with his ventures in trading down the rivers, enabled him rapidly to accumulate means. In the fall of 1831 he sold his interest in the Sharonville store to his partner, and loaded a boat for his eighth venture, and was ready to start, but accidentally met in Cincinnati John H. Gerard, then a merchant at Newtown, with whom he effected a trade of the boat and its cargo for the stock of Mr. Gerard. In December he took charge of the Newtown business, and the next February, the season of the great flood in the Ohio, which reached even to the streets of the village, he removed his family thither. In 1834 he HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. sold his store back to Mr. Gerard, and bought the farm occupied by him `the rest of his days; in the immediate vicinity of Newtown, on the east of the village, along the Batavia pike. In 1836 he was elected justice 0f the peace, and served four years. He also took an active interest in the building of the Batavia turnpike, and was a director and treasurer of the company for some years. He rather shunned than sought public life. He was sometimes pressed to become a candidate for the State legislature, but would not consent to run. He was a cordial friend of popular education, and served for many years upon the l0cal school board, aiding to build the first public school-house in the village. In every respect he was public-spirited, assisting with his means in the erection of the churches there, as also of the bridge across the Little Miami at Plainville, and in other enterprises calculated to benefit the community. He died August 17, 1860. He was married November 20, 1828, to Miss Asenath Ryan, of Sharonville, by whom he had eight children—Viola (died in early life), William Ryan (named from his maternal grandfather), Joseph, Mary, John, Priscilla, Maria, Emily (Mrs. Lewis D; Drake, residing at the old homestead near her brother's store in Newtown). None are now living except William, Mary, and Emily. William Ryan McGill was born at Sharonville, April 8, 1831, the first son of James and Asenath C. (Ryan) McGill. His primary education was received at Newtown, but he subsequently graduated from a three-years' course at College Hill, in the Farmers' college, his preparation enabling him to enter to advanced standing as a soph0more. He went at once into business in Newtown, in a small way at first, as a merchant, buying the old stock of John W. Crossley. Mr. Crossley at once bought a new and handsome stock and opened another store just across the way, which for a time greatly injured the business of Mr. McGill. By the third year, however, the trade of the latter had greatly improved and finally the store' of Mr. Crossley became so unprofitable that he sold out and went to California, where he died. Mr. McGill has since remained steadily in the mercantile business, enlarging it year after year, until it has been long considered the leading establishment in Newtown, and commands customers far and wide in Hamilton and Clerm0nt counties. Beginning in September, 1851, in a single small room now occupied, by his stock of groceries, he has now six rooms filled with the general stock of a country store, including drugs, school-books, and the like, besides the usual stocks of dry-goods and grocery stores. He has found time, however, to serve the public as township treasurer, for seven consecutive, years, and was the leading spirit in the inception and prosecution of the important enterprise of building the Cincinnati and Eastern railroad. This was undertaken in 1876, purely as a local enterprise along its pr0posed route, and Mr. McGill devoted himself largely f0r months to the awakening of an interest in the project and the solicitation of subscriptions to its stock and the right of way, and then to the prosecution of the work, as well as making himself a liberal subscription and loaning large amounts to the company. He was one of the original directors of the corporation and its vice-president, under the presidency of Mr. Samuel Woodward, and he and H. Wilber—both of Morrow, Warren county—were the projectors of this work. Upon Mr. Woodward's retirement, to accept the position of general superintendent of the Cincinnati Southern, in 1879, Mr. McGill was promoted to the presidency of the Eastern, which he now holds. He found his road in the hands of a receiver, with a floating debt larger than could be managed ; but within twenty months he secured the payment of all obligati0ns of this character and also of a larger sum in overdue interest on bonds, and so rescuing it from the hands of the receiver, he taking the road again fully in charge on the first of March, 1881. With this good work he is solely credited by those who know the internal history of the corporation owning the road. He travelled far and near to find the creditors of the company and effect settlements with them; and through infinite trouble and difficulty succeeded in obtaining personal interviews with all creditors and making satisfactory settlements. As a result the bends of the road are now at par, and its operations are on a working basis, hopeful and prosperous beyond all expectations. It is believed it will speedily become, under Mr. McGill's presidency, one of the most profitable, railway properties in Ohio, and of very great value to Cincinnati, to which the early completion of the Cincinnati Northern, with which it intersects, will soon give, it direct entrance. Notwithstanding his engrossment in public and private cares, Mr. McGill has taken a very lively interest in the religious and secular training of the rising generation. For' twenty-one consecutive years—since April, 1860—he has been superintendent of the Sunday-school connected with the Universalist church in Newtown; and for the past fifteen years has been a member of the school board of the ;village, aiding in the material enlargement of the school-house and in making Newtown an independent district by act of the legislature. In all enterprises for local benefit he is among the first and foremost, and seems' to have no higher ambition than to leave his part of the ,world the better for his having lived in it. He has been a life-long Democrat, but is not an active politician, much less an office-seeker. Mr. McGill was married December 3, 1861 (the bride's eighteenth birthday), in Norwood, Columbia township, to Miss Delia. L. Drake, only daughter of Thomas T. and Lydia A. (Mill) Drake, who are now residing with their daughter and her husband in Newtown. Mr. and Mrs. McGill have two children living—Alice, born September 1, 1864, and. Louie D., born July t0, 1877, The former is a student at the Ohio Wesleyan college in. Cincinnati. Their eldest born, a son, died unnamed in infancy. ABRAM EBERSOLE. Jacob Ebersole came from Germany to America some time in the eighteenth century, and settled in Washington county, Maryland, not far from Hagerstown. After his HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. immigration he married a Miss Smith, two of whose brothers—Nicholas and Michael Smith—were among the Kentucky pioneers of Boone and Kenton's days. One settled in Bourbon county, and the other in an adoining region. Some descendants of this family, cousins 0f Abram Ebersole, afterwards lived at Stone Side, up the Little Miami valley. Jacob and Mary Ebersole had four daughters and two sons, among whom was Christian Ebersole, the oldest son and the oldest of the family. He stayed at home until his marriage, about 1798, when he was united to Miss Annie Shouff, of the same neighborhood. He then determined to try his fortunes further towards the setting sun, among his and his wife's relatives in Kentucky, and emigrated, in 1799, to Bourbon county. His father and mother followed soon after to the same part of the county, and died there. His parents spent their last days in Maryland with the rest of the family, none of whom migrated to the west except Christian. After improving a place and farming for three years in the wilds of Kentucky, he decided to remove to the north of Ohio; and on the second day of March, 1802, he halted his emigrant wagon at the site which has so long been the home of himself and his descendants. This is upon the survey No. 395, or the "Tompkins survey," a large tract which now includes the village of California and many pieces of farming land. Here, immediately adjoining the present plat of the village, to the west of it, and with an extensive frontage upon the Ohio and Little Miami rivers, he purchased from General Lytle a fertile tract of four hundred and fifty-six-hundredths acres, which is still held undivided by the family. It was unimproved, except for a cabin at the ferry at the mouth of the Little Miami and another not far off. He at once built a cabin also 0n the eligible and beautiful site where the family mansion now stands, which was then in dense woods, and began clearing and cultivating his farm ; also keeping the ferry before mentioned across the Little Miami, which he and his son Abram maintained by skiffs, canoes and flat-boats until about 1850, when the New Richmond turnpike was built, and its bridge superseded the necessity for a ferry. He died at his home here June, 1836, and his wife November 3, 1827. Their children numbered nine, as follows: Christian S., now living at Madison,' in this county, in his eighty-second year; Catharine (Mrs. Robert Fee, of Moscow, Clermont county), deceased in 1878; Abram, the principal subject of this sketch; Jacob, a farmer near New Richmond, Clermont county; Mary, born September 16, 1803, and still residing at the old home with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Abram Ebersole; Martha Ann, Maria and Elizabeth, who died unmarried, while still young ladies; and John, who died at the age of nineteen, in 1832. Abram Ebersole was born at the old home, September 18, 1808, the same year in which the house was built. It is now somewhat enlarged and improved, one of the oldest brick dwellings in the county, and is still thoroughly habitable, comfortable, and sightly. He was educated in the country schools of his neighborhood, in a high school kept by a Frenchman named Decorney, at Alexe ander, Kentucky, ten miles from the Ebersole place, and at Miami university, where he attended for two years, but was prevented by ill health from graduating. At the age of about nineteen he left the schools and returned home, where he shared the labors of the farm with his father and brothers. On the thirteenth of May, 1856, he was married to Miss Celina M. Johnson, second daughter of John and Sarah (Cox) Johnson, who resided near Salem, in Anderson township. Her father was of an old pioneer family, which came to the Miami valley about 1808, headed by her grandfather, Walter Johnson, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1781. Her maternal grandparents, Thomas and Margaret (Mercer) Cox, were born in Maryland, but removed upon their marriage to Virginia, where her mother, Sarah Cox, was born, and thence they emigrated to Anderson township in 1807. Mr. Ebersole's father had now been dead for many years, and Abram had come into possession of the home farm by inheritance. He continued to reside there, and by industry and energy maintained it well, reaping the average share of prosperity which fell to the farmers of this part of the Miami and Ohio valleys. He took a lively interest in the construction of the New Richmond turnpike, of which he was, at various times, president and treasurer, and in all other local affairs that promised, in a material or moral way, to benefit the community. He was an active advocate of the temperance reform, and made his daily life and example correspond in every respect to his principles of total abstinence. As noted below, the only secret organization he ever joined has for its object the promotion of temperance. He took a practical interest in the Union Sabbath-school at California, which he regularly attended, although not a member 0f any church. He was at first a Whig and then a Republican, at times devoting considerable time and attention to the promotion of party interests in the township and county; but asked nothing himself, although he was several times made trustee of the township, and for many years was a member of the local school board. He connected himself with none of the secret societies, except with one of the reformatory orders, known as the Sons of Temperance. He was content with the quiet, independent life of a farmer, not engaging in trade or speculation, nor using his education as a writer or public speaker. He was a kind and genial man in his family, and in all his relations in life; sustained to the end a high reputation for morality and integrity among his fellow-men; and left the legacy of a good example t0 his posterity and to the community. He died at his home in Anderson township, near California, March 9, 1868, the result of an accident, he falling, four days before his death, from the loft of his barn to the floor, fracturing his skull so that he was not afterwards conscious to the moment of his death. He was in his sixtieth year. His remains were buried in the cemetery at Mount Washington, where a monument commemorates his memory. His widow continues to reside at the old homestead. His children are as follows: Martha Frances, born July 9, 1857; Augusta, born February 23, 1859, died at the age of two years; HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. Stanley, born September 24, 1860; Milton, born August 8, 1866. All are at home with their mother. With them also resides their aunt, Miss Mary Ebers0le, at a venereable age, who has erected a noble monument for herself in the fine large school-house adjoining the faun, to the erection of which she contributed a very liberal sum, and thereby secured the building at that time and place. THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY. The ancestral home of this well-known, old Anderson family was near Fredericksburgh, Maryland, whence they moved to Buckingham county, Virginia. The head of the family was now Nathaniel Shepherd Armstrong, who had nine children—William, John, Elizabeth, Thomas, Leonard, James, Nathaniel, Priscilla, and Alie. With most of them, the others coming soon after, he removed to the Miami country in 1800, settling at once upon the west side of the Little Miami, upon section thirty-three, in the present C0lumbia township, a little above the foot of the Indian Hill road, where the original grist-mill stands, and is still in useful service, haying passed out of the family only within a few years. Mr. Armstrong had been a miller in the old States, and he soon began the erection of this mill, in the building and management of which he was assisted by his sons, two of whom, John and William, afterwards removed to Plainville, where they bought another grist-mill of a man named Peasley, who had built it shortly before. With the possible exception of Turpin's mill, Mr. Armstrong's was the first mill in the Little Miami valley. In a few years the elder Armstrong purchased a tract of three to four hundred acres on Indian Hill, and removed thither to improve it for a farm, while James and Nathaniel, two of his sons, remained to conduct the old or "upper mill." Part of the Indian Hill property is still held by a grandson, Thomas M. Armstrong, the principal subject of this sketch. On this farm the pioneer Armstrong breathed his last, after a very long and active career, about 1845, in his ninety-second year. Thomas was the fourth child and third son of Nathaneiel S. Armstrong, born in Virginia or Maryland about the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, November 23, 1775. He was apprenticed to a millwright in Virginia, with whom he learned the trade, and shortly after the removal of the family to Ohio, the period of his apprenticeship being ended, he also went out and assisted his father in building and running the mill before mentioned. In 1805 he and his brother Leonard removed to the opposite side of the Little Miami, and built a third mill there, which came to be known as the "Armstrong middle mills," in distinction from the "upper mill" and the "lower mill." This is still standing and in use, but not by the family since 1863, when Thomas M. Armstrong, its owner, sold it. It is just below the Newtown bridge, and about half a mile. from the upper mill. It was run exclusively as a flouring-mill for five or six years, when the water-power was also utilized in running machinery for a cardinge and fulling-mill. In those primitive days the raw wool was first brought to the mill by the grower and carded, then taken home and spun into thread or yarn, then taken to a weaver and made into cloth, and finally returned to the mill where it was fulled and dressed, losing about one-third in length by the last processes. About 1830-5, in the lifetime of Thomas Armstrong, additional' machinery was put in, which enabled the manufacturers to take the wool through all the processes necessary to turn out the cloth c0mplete for manufacture into clothing. In 1835 Thomas bought out his brother and conducted the business alone until about 1850, when he retired from its management with a comfortable property. He made a division of Iris estate at the time he retired, by virtue of which the mill fell to his sons who conducted it. Edwin Armstrong, the third son and the oldest surviving, being the manager of the concern. He was a graduate, of the Indiana State university, and also of the Cincinnati Law school; was an active 'politician of the Democratic faith, which was the belief of his father and 'brothers; was twice a member of the State senate and twice of the house of representatives, and of the convention that formed the State constitution of 1852; and was otherwise a prominent citizen. John Armstrong, his brother, studied medicine, but had practiced only a short, time when he sickened and died. Pile father died July 21, 1864, in his eighty-ninth year, in the house now occupied by his son, Thomas Milton Armstrong. About the year 1806 Mr. Armstrong was married to Miss Sarah Broadwell, of an old Anderson family, born November 17, 1781, who survived until March 28, 1860, when she departed this life in her seventy-ninth year, in the dwelling where her venerable husband died more than five years afterwards. They had seven children, to wit: Perine, Eliza, Sidney, John Broadwell, Edwin Lindley, Thomas Milton and Eliob. Only two, the youngest, sons, are still living—the latter in Cincinnati and the former upon the paternal estate near the "middle mills," on the turnpike between Newtown village and Newtown station, on the Little Miami railroad. Thomas M. Armstrong was born in a pioneer log-cabin near his father's mills, May 4, 1817. His early education was received in the "subscription " and afterwards in the free schools of his neighborhood. He picked up a good deal of information about the business in the mills, but neve1 became a practical miller. He remained, as did all surviving sons, with his father, assisting in the labors of the mills and the farm also owned by the father, until about 1850, when the division of property occurred, and the home farm fell to Thomas, who still resides upon it. He had been a farmer for a number of years when, upon the death of his brother Edwin, principal manager of the mills, he bought the interests of the heirs in that concern and conducted it successfully for about ten years, or until 1863, the year before that in which his father died, at the same time continuing his farm operations, to which he has since devoted his attention. In 1876 he remodelled and greatly enlarged the old homestead, which his father had erected as a frame dwelling in 180, to which a brick addition, HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. larger than the original building, was early made, and finally the additions and reconstruction made by, the son, which have converted it into the spacious and handsome mansion it now is. Mr. Armstrong is a man of independent political views, voting for the most part with the Democracy; but is by no means a professional politician or office-seeker, and has filled no public office except that of school director, which he held sixteen or seventeen years, when he declined the reelection that was again offered him. He never belonged to a society of any kind except the Patrons of Husbandry, the Newtown grange of which is still maintained. His grandparents were members of the Methodist church, but all their sons accepted the Universalist creed. Mr. T. M. Armstrong, of the third generation, has never been united with any church. Through all his active life, now verging towards three-score and ten, he has enjoyed excellent health of mind and body, and still attends to his domestic and agricultural affairs with the old-time mental and physical vigor. Mr. Armstrong was married January 24, 1850, to Julia A. Debolt, daughter of Henry Debolt, a farmer living near Newtown. By this marriage he had two children—Thomas H. and Dora. He lost his wife by death in December, 1857, and was again married in September, 1861, to Miss Sarah J. Thompson, also of Newtown, by whom he has two children—Eugene M. and Ivy. All the children are living except Thomas, who died after he had grown to manhood. COLERAIN. GEOGRAPHY. Colerain is bounded on the west by the Great Miami river; on the north by that stream and Butler county; on the east by Springfield township; and on the south by Green and Miami townships. Its eastern boundary is the range line; the range line next to the westward cuts across about four and a half miles of the township, until it intersects the Great Miami near New Baltimore, between sections four and thirty-four. The north line of this township, between the river and the northwest c0rner of Springfield township, is much more regular and more nearly on a right line east and west than the devious boundary of Springfield on the north. It is about two-fifths of a mile north of the dividing line between Crosby and Harrison townships and Butler county, the "jag" occurring at the Great Miami. The lands of Colerain lie in three entire ranges—those numbered one and two in township one, and range number one in township two. It hence results that there are in its territory three sections numbered one, being dm in each corner of the township except the northwest; and two each numbered two, three, four, seven, thirteen, and nineteen; besides fractional sections numbered eight, nine, ten, and twenty-five, duplicates of entire sections similarly numbered. There are thirty-five whole and eleven fractional sections in the township. The section lines are much more nearly straight in this township than in Springfield and Sycamore, but they more remarkably diverge in many cases from the true direction. The vicious system, or careless want of system of Judge Symmes' surveys, is nowhere in the Purchase more glaringly exhibited than here. Some of the sections, as those numbered from twenty to the north line of the county, are by the divergence of their lines on the east and west approached closely t0 thrice the 'dimensions 0f those next them on the west. The township is seven sections, or about as many miles, in length from north to south, and nearly eight miles in its greatest breadth, from the westernmost point of the fractional section nine, nearly opposite the terminus at the river of the south line of Crosby township, across to a point in the eastern line of Colerain opposite the north part of Mount Pleasant village, in Springfield township. Its breadth at the northern boundary is fou1 miles, at the southern seven; its average width about six. The surface of the township, near the Great Miami, which washes its western and northern fronts for about twelve miles, partakes in part of the general character of the Miami valleys near the rivers. It is broad, flat, and fertile, except where the hills impinge closely upon the river bank, as they do for some miles. Back of this belt of lower country is the highland, or the ancient plateau, which extends upon a general level, to the eastern and southern boundaries, near which it overlooks the valleys of Mill creek and the West fork. It is deeply cut through, in the southernmost part of the township, by the course of Taylor's creek, whose headwaters take their rise toward the southwest corner, in sections thirteen and fourteen, and, after uniting their streams in section nineteen, dip down over a mile to the southward in Green township, near the northwest corner of which the stream emerges again in Colerain, and flows of an exceedingly tortuous course t0ward every p0int of the compass for about two miles, until it reaches the Great Miami exactly at the southwest corner of Colerain. Another stream of modest size, the Blue Rock creek, cuts nearly across the township on a general east and west line about three miles north of the southern line; another, with numerous branches, flows through the northern part of the township until it makes its exit into Butler county, a little over a mile east of the Great Miami; and several other and more petty brooks, tributaries of the Great Miami on the west or the West fork of Mill creek on the east; aid to diversify the topography and water the fertile lands of Colerain. The township is pretty well provided with wagon-roads; but the great highway through it is the famous Colerain pike, which intersects it almost in a diagonal from Mount Airy, first beyond the southeast corner of the township, to a point upon the river-road in the direction of Venice, Butler county, very near the northwest corner. It is described in King's Pocket-book of Cincinnati, as "a continuation of Central avenue. At the' junction of Central avenue with Denman street, the site of the old Brighton house, it takes a northerly direction, passing through Camp Washington by the workhouse and the house of refuge, through Cumminsville (by the Wesleyan cemetery) and Mount Airy, on to Colerain township, from which it received its name. Continuing, it passes through Venice and Oxford, in Butler county, where it is known as the Cincinnati pike. The road is well macadamized." After leaving Mount Airy at a mile's distance, it passes the village of Groesbeck, in Colerain township; a little more than two miles further it passes through Bevis, and at about three miles' distance the old village site of Georgetown. All the villages of the township, except Pleasant Run, a hamlet in the northwest corner, are situated upon this fine road. Although Colerain is one of the largest townships in the county, the peculiarity of its topography and of its - 255 - 256 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY. OHIO. situation, with reference t0 Cincinnati, the inevitable and only railway centre in the county, have hitherto prevented the laying of iron road on its soil. Two railway lines have been projected to intersect it, however, one, the Cincinnati & Venice railroad, to enter the township at the wag0n-bridge near Venice, thence southeastward and southward with a general parallelism to the Colerain pike, until it leaves the township, near St. Jacobs, in Green township, and passes nearly due south by Weisenburgh, to a junction with the Cincinnati & Westwood narrow-guage, a little south of Cheviot. Its entire course through Colerain, if built upon this line, will be a little more than seven miles. Another route, known as the Liberty, Connersville & Richmond railroad, is planned to enter the county in Crosby township, three miles west of the Great Miami, which it will cross at New. Baltimore and run southward and eastward about three and one-half miles in Colerain to a junction with the Cincinnati & Venice road, near Bevis. The prospects of these schemes are not just now very hopeful. Other lines have at times been in discussion, and not many years are likely to pass before the township is supplied with railway facilities. ANCIENT WORKS. Some of the finest remains of the Mound Builders, although not very numerous, are to be found in this township. Upon the height known as Bowling Green, near the Great Miami river, about a mile above New Baltimore, is a well-defined mound, of somewhat extensive base, and several feet in height. It was pr0bably used as a mound of observation. In the forest one mile west of Bevis and about the same distance south of Dry Ridge Catholic church, is an interesting ancient enclosure. It is an exact circle, of about fifty feet in diameter, and its parapets at present with an average height of two feet. The site it occupies is elevated, overlooking a wide tract of country. Its symmetry has been considerably marred by the running of fences and other modern improvements across it, but its form is still clearly outlined. The principal ancient remain in Colerain township, and one of the most interesting in Hamilton county, is situated near the singular and abrupt bend of the Great Miami, which begins about two miles southwest of the c0unty line, on the Colerain side. This bend, which was until recently the main channel of the river, is now being gradually deserted by it, the waters having made their way by a shorter cut across a part of the bend, thus forming an island containing sixty to seventy acres, belonging to this township. About ninety-five acres are enclosed by the famous "Colerain work"—a fortification or sacred enclosure, the parapet of which is still pretty well preserved, and in places is eight to ten feet high. It is at the angle of the river, below a hill some two hundred and eighty feet in height, upon which is a mound of observation ten feet high, commanding a broad and far-reaching view of the valley and surrounding country. It is now fitly occupied in part by a cemetery. In the same remarkable neighborhood, not far from this old work, stood the not less famous modern fortification known in the history of the Miami country as DUNLAP'S STATION. The first settler in the tract now covered by Colerain township was undoubtedly John Dunlap, an Irishman from Colerain, in the north of Ireland. In 1790 he made his way up the valley of. the Great Miami t0 this notable bend, about seventeen miles from the Cincinnati of that day, where he determined to found a colony, and laid out a village, which he named from his native place in the old country, and which, though it presently became extinct, perpetuated its musical name in the designation of the township. A few settlers joined him here; and they promptly built a fort or station at the spot selected. It consisted simply of their little cabins clustered together upon a space of about an acre, built to face each other and, with a singular want of forethought, their roofs so placed as to slope outward, and the eaves so low that it is said the dogs were accustomed to jump from the stumps without to the top of them, and so get into the enclosure.* This was constructed of a stockade of rather weak pickets, made of small timber or logs split in half and thrust into the ground, above which they stood only about eight feet high. Small block-houses were built at the corners of the square formed by the stockade. Within this dwelt about thirty persons—men, women, and children—including only eight or ten capable of bearing arms. Upon the erection of the station, however, and application duly made. at Fort Washington for a garrison, Lieutenant Kingsbury was sent with thirteen soldiers to strengthen the defenders. When the terrible occasion came, too, as we shall presently see, the heroic women of the little fort proved capable of rendering invaluable aid toward its salvation fr0m capture by the merciless savage foe. Dunlap's station is principally memorable as the scene of the fiercest and longest sustained Indian attack recorded in the annals of Hamilton county. For several days in early January, 1791, the savages had been lurking in the vicinity in considerable force. On the eighth they made the fatal attack upon Wallace, Sloan, Hunt and Cunningham, as is related in our chapter upon "The Miamese and the Indians." Sloan who escaped wounded, and Wallace who escaped unhurt, took refuge in the station, and the next day (Sunday) the latter guided a party to the scene of the disaster, where they found the body of the unfortunate Cunningham, tomahawked and scalped. They buried it on the spot, and returned without molestation. Hunt made his appearance before the station the succeeding day, but as a hapless prisoner in the hands of his torturers and murderers. The story of the siege is admirably narrated in Volume I. of Mc-Bride's Pioneer Biography, receiving many of its touches and details, we suspect, from the hand of the accomplished editor of that work, Mr. Robert Clarke, of Cin- * One of these cabins is said to be that still standing on the river road near the Colerain end of the bridge over which inns the highway to Venice, removed thither from the old site; and bullets are said to have been cut from its logs. If so, this is probably the only remaining relic of the fortified stations of Hamilton county. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 257 cinnati. At the risk of some repetition—the facts having been given in brief in the first division of this work —we quote the main portions of the narrative here: Before sunrise on the morning of the tenth of January, just as the women were milking the cows in the fort, the Indians made their appearance before it, and fired a volley, wounding a soldier named McVicker. Every man in the fort was immediately posted to the best advantage by the commander, and the fire returned. A parley was then held at the request of the Indians, and Abner Hunt, whom they had taken prisoner as before mentioned, was brought forward securely bound, with his arms pinioned behind him, by an Indian, or, as some say, the notorious Simon Girty, the lender of the party, holding him by the rope. Mounting him on a stump within speaking distance of the garrison, he was compelled to demand and urge the surrender of the place, which, in the hope of saving his own life, he did in the most pressing terms, promising that if it were done, life and property would he held sacred. Not a single individual in the fort, however, would agree to a surrender. Lieutenant Kingsbury took an elevated position where he could overlook the pickets, and promptly rejected all their propositions, telling them that he had dispatched a messenger to Judge Symmes, who would soon be up to their relief, with the whole settlement on the Ohio. He failed, however, to impose on them. They replied that it was a lie, as they knew Judge Symmes was then in New Jersey, and informed him that they had five hundred warriors, and would soon be joined by three hundred more, and that, if an immediate surrender was not made, they would all be massacred, and the station burned. Lieutenant Kingsbury replied that he would not surrender if he were surrounded by ten thousand devils, and immediately leaped from his position into the fort. The Indians fired at him, and a ball struck off the white plume he wore in his hat. The prisoner Hunt was cruelly tortured and killed within sight of the garrison. The station was completely invested by the Indians and the attack was most violent. They commenced like men certain of victory and for some time the garrison was in great danger. The Indians fired, as usual, from behind stumps, trees and logs, and set fire to a quantity of brushwood that had been collected by the settlers, and then, rushing in with burning brands, attempted to fire the cabins and pickets. The vigilance and close firing of the besieged, however, prevented the accomplishment of this object. One Indian was killed just as he reached the buildings. In the night they threw blazing arrows from their bows against the stockade and upon the roofs of the buildings, with the intention of firing them ; but in this they were also unsuccessful. The garrison well knowing that their lives depended upon it, met them at every point. The attack was continued without intermission during the whole of the day and the succeeding night, and until nine o'clock in the morning of the 11th, when the Indians, despairing of success, and, perhaps, apprehensive of the arrival of reinforcements from Cincinnati, raised the siege and retreated in two parties, one to the right and the other to the left, as was afterward discovered by their tracks. The whole strength of the garrison was eighteen soldiers and eight or ten of the settlers capable of bearing arms. The entire number in the fort, including women and children, not counting the soldiers, did not exceed thirty souls. The Indians were estimated by those in the fort at from three to five hundred, led by the infamous renegade, Simon Dirty, as was ascertained seven years after, on the return of a white man, who had been taken prisoner near the station a few days before the attack. The little garrison, although but a handful compared with the host by which they were assailed, displayed great bravery, in some instances amounting to rashness. During the incessant fire from both sides they frequently, for a moment, exposed their persons above the tops of the pickets, mocking the savages and daring them to come on. Women, as well as men, used every expedient in their power to provoke and invite the enemy. They exhibited the caps of the soldiers above the pickets as marks to be shot at. According to their own accounts they conducted themselves with great folly as well as bravery, though their apparent confidence may have induced the Indians to raise the siege the sooner. When the garrison was in danger of falling short of bullets, the women melted down all their pewter plates and spoons to keep up the supply. The garrison, though in imminent danger, sustained but little injury. On the first fire the Indians shot into a building called the mill, where the hand-mill was kept for grinding the corn of the neighboring settlers and the garrison. It stood on a line with and near the block-house, and, being neither chinked nor daubed, the Indians shot between the logs, by which means they killed one man and wounded another. The body of Abner Hunt, who had been taken prisoner by the Indians a few days previous, was found near the fort, shockingly mangled and stripped naked, his head scalped, his brains beaten out, and two war clubs laid across his breast. ANOTHER STATION, founded by John Campbell, probably during the summer or fall of 1793, is said by Mr. Olden, in his Historical Sketches and Early Reminiscences, to have been established seven or eight miles southeast of Dunlap's, on the east bank of the Great Miami, opposite the present village of Miamitown. Little seems to be known concerning it. Mr. Olden says: The settlers around the station were few in number; no preparations for defense were made; and, having been established late in the period of Indian hostilities, no depredations were committed in the neighborhood, consequently no important historical events are attached to it. ORGANIZATION. Colerain is one of the oldest townships. It is the creation of the court of general quarter sessions of the peace of 1794, when its boundaries were defined as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of the fractional township on the Big Miami, in the second entire range, thence up the Miami to the north line of said fractional township, according to Symmes' plat; thence east to the meridian on the west side of the college township; thence south to the southern boundary of said fractional township; thence west to the place of beginning. This extensive boundary brought in a tract of five sections breadth in what is now Butler county, additional to the present limits of the township in that direction. The cattle brand of the township was ordered to be the letter G. In 1803 the boundaries of Colerain were so defined `as to include townships one and two, in the first entire range, and the western tier in township three, same range, and sections eighteen, twelve and six, in township two, and section thirty-six in township three, second fractional range, and so much of the second entire range as lies north of and adjoining the said township of Colerain. This definition of boundaries gave the township all its present territory, together with the western tier of sections in the present Springfield, the three easternmost sections in the north tier of Green, and the northwestern-most section in Mill Creek. The provision for taking in a part of the second entire range gave the township only its present short line of sections on the north, as Butler county had just been erected, and the remainder of the range lies within its borders. The total area of Colerain is now twenty-six thousand seven hundred and forty-eight acres: By the order of 1803 the voters of Colerain were directed to meet at the dwelling of John Haryman and choose two justices of the peace. The following named were the first officers of the township ( 794) : John Dunlap, clerk; Samuel Campbell, constable; John Shaw, overseer of the poor; Isaac Gibson, Samuel Cresswell, John Davis, viewers of enclosures and appraisers of damages. In 1809 Judah Willey was appointed by the governor of the State a justice of the peace for Colerain township, "to continue in office for three years from the third day 33 258 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. of April, instant." The following named citizens of Colerain are also known to have served the township as justices: 1819, Isaac Sparks, John Runyan, James Carnahan, Joseph Cilley; 1825, William H. Moore, Jonathan Cilley, Stewart McGill; 1829, Stewart McGill, Noah Runyan; 1865, John L. Haukins, George T. Marsh, George W. Haisch; 1866, the same, with Martin Barns, jr.; 1867-8, same as 1866, except Haukins; 1869-70, Barns, Marsh, J. H. Wyckoff; 1871, Barns, Wyckoff, Thomas P. McHenry; 1872-3, McHenry, Wyckoff, John Leibrook; 1874, Leibrook, Wyckoff, Joseph Jones; 1875-6, Wyckoff, Jones, Barns; 1877, Wyckoff, Barns, William Arnold; 1878-9, Arnold, Wyckoff, John Hamaker; 1880, Arnold, Wyckoff. SETTLEMENTS. Among the early settlers in Colerain township, besides Dunlap, Campbell, and others already named, were the Brown, Halstead, Huston, and other old families, some of which will be found noticed in the brief narratives below. In 1796 the Hughes family, the head of which was then Ezekiel Hughes, and which was afterwards prominent among the pioneers of Whitewater township, settled upon a tract in the valley of the Blue Rock creek, nearly-opposite New Baltimore, awaiting the time when the Congress lands west of the river should be open to settlement. With them was Edward Bebb, father of Governor William Bebb. Some interesting notes of their residence here will be found in the history of Whitewater township. Hon. Nehemiah Wade was born in Cincinnati, August 18, 1793, and died near Venice, Butler county, July 24, 1879. He was the son of David E. Wade, an old pioneer of Hamilton county, and was married to Miss Wallace, of Cincinnati. Four sons and a daughter were the fruit of this union. His second wife was Mrs. Jane Dick, daughter of Isaac Anderson, and widow of George Dick. To them was born one danghter, Sarah, who was the wife of Rev. McMillan. Mr. \Vade was a teller in one of the Cincinnati banks when only seventeen years of age. In 1818 he was elected justice of the peace of Ross township, and continued in office for six years; in 1841 was elected by the State legislature an associate judge of the court of common pleas for Butler county, and was reelected in 1847, serving in that office for twelve years. The Oxford Female college received a donation from him of ten thousand dollars. He united with the Presbyterian church of Bethel in 1818, and in 1828, with a few others, joined in organizing the Presbyterian church of Venice, and was a ruling elder of this church until his death. John Huston was born in Ulster, Ireland, and is the great-great-grandfather of the Hustons whose sketches are annexed below. He came to America in an early day, and served in the battle of Brandywine, under Washing-. ton, as a captain of a company. He was long lived, and possessed a sturdy character, which traits seem to have been transmitted to his numerous descendants, as an inheritance. He was buried in Lancaster county, Pennsyl vania. Three of his sons, Paul, Samuel and David, emigrated to Colerain township in 1795, David settling finally in Greene county, where he was for twenty-one years an associate judge and sent twice to the State legislature. His numerous descendants are in Butler county and around Dayton, Ohio. Paul Huston was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1767; Jean (Charters) Huston, his wife, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, December 14, 1771. Her parents emigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania in 1774. Their offspring were William, Mary, John, Paul, John, Jennet, Samuel, Martha, Nancy, James and Elizabeth, the last named being the mother of Paul H. Williamson. Paul was the grandfather of Paul S. and his cousin Paul A. J. Huston. Samuel was the grandfather of Andrew and James Huston. James Huston, son of Paul and father of Paul A. J. Huston, was born in 1811 and died in 1878; was a farmer in Colerain township, and, like the Hustons in general, was remarkable for his thrift and good worth. Paul's mother was Martha Cone, daughter of an old pioneer of Crosby township. His father was married twice; the second time, to Miss Mary Morris, and was the fathe1 of six children in all, of which Paul A. J. was the oldest. P. A. J. Huston owns part of the extensive tract of land possessed originally by his father, being in the vicinity of Pleasant run. He is a farmer and a prominent man in his county, having filled many township offices and been a member of the State legislature. He was married to Miss Mary Bevis in 1859, and is the father of six children. He is public spirited, and lives an honored citizen of his community. Andrew and James Huston are the grandsons of Samuel Huston. Their father, James Steward, was a distiller, and owned an extensive tract of about fifteen hundred acres of land besides; a part of which Andrew and James received as patrimony. They also possess large interests in the Hamilton and Cincinnati turnpike, and are also large shareholders in the Springdale pike. The Hamilton and Cincinnati turnpike is probably one of the best managed pikes in the State. In addition to all this these brothers have considerable property in the city of Cincinnati. Paul S. Huston, also of Colerain township, grandson of Paul Huston and son of William, was born in 1823. William died in 1848, since which time, until her death, Paul's mother lived with him on the old place near Pleasant run; his sister Ann Elizabeth also lived with him several years. Paul S. Huston was never married. Thomas Hunter, of Pleasant run, Colerain township, is the only son, and Mrs. Arnold, of Louisville, Kentucky, is the only daughter of Paul Hunter, who is still living. William Hunter, his grandfather, came from Pennsylvania to Colerain township in 1800. Thomas Hunter was married in 1858 to Miss Gaston, of Mount Pleasant, from which union he had two children. He is a farmer. Charles Stout was born in Hopewell township, New Jersey, in 1783. From this State he came directly to Ohio, and settled in Colerain township in 1801. His HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 259 death occurred in the same region January 14, 1866. His business was that of a farmer, and he was a member of the Baptist church for about twenty-five years. His wife, Mary Duvall, was born March 3, 1790, and died January 10, 1859. Of their twelve children, Ann Elizabeth Struble died in 1834, Stephen in 1821, and Mary R. in 1828. Jane Stout resides in Groesbeck, Joseph R. in Illinois, Oliver in Indiana, Charlotte Hill in Hamilton county; and Eleanor Bevis, Axsher Bevis, Benajah, Andrew J., and William remain in Colerain. Thomas Hubbard, sr., was born in North Carolina in 1780. He came from that State to Ohio, and settled in Colerain in 1807. His death took place May 25, 1852, at the same place. His wife, Elizabeth Hubbard, died also at their home in Colerain June 27, 1868. She was born in 1790. The twenty-one children are: William and Charles, now ih Missouri; Laura Bolton, Aurelia Carnahan, Maria Kellogg and Margaret Wilkinson, of Indiana, Susan Tatershall, Sarah Hat and Matilda Kelly, of Illinois, and Ann Hubbard and Thomas Hubbard, jr., of Colerain. Those who have died, are Thomas dying August, 1815; Samuel, July, 1822; Cynthia, July, 1834; Wesley, June, 1837; Hannah, April, 1847; Mary, August, 1852; Elizabeth, 1869; Eleanor, 1865, and Dal-son, July, 1868. The children are scattered, but ten only are living. Thomas Hubbard owns part of section seven of his township; was married in 1828, but has no children. His sister Ann lives with him. David K. Johnson, the only son of twelve children of Abner Johnson, of New Jersey, came here in 1809. Abner Johnson was born in the year 1759, hauled government supplies for Washington's army during the war, and with the script made in that way purchased part of Judge Symmes' tract, near Ross, in Butler county, on which farm David K. Johnston still lives. Mr. Johnson is now in the eightieth year of his age; has been blind eleven years, but otherwise is hale and hearty. He has been successful in shipping much produce in his line to New Orleans, out of which he has made money. He was married in 1831 to Miss Elizabeth Hedges.. The Johnson family, with but few exceptions, lived to the good old age of eighty, and upwards. Elias Johnson, nephew of David K. Johnson, and grandson of Abner, lives on part of the same purchase (Judge Symmes), in the vicinity of Ross, Butler county. Squire Johnson is known among his neighbors as a man of good judgment, of possessing more than ordinary abilities, and withal is noted for general thrift and good worth. He is a Republican, was a delegate to the general assembly in 1873 for revising the constitution; has always taken an active part in the public questions of the day. Has been a director of the Colerain turnpike, and secretary for the company since 1857. He was born December 3o, 1816, and was married in August, 1871. George Pouder made his first settlement in Ohio, at Cincinnati, in 1817. He came to this State from Baltimore, Maryland, where he was born October 17, 1804. In 1870, December 23, he died, at Colerain township. The wife, Hannah G., was born in this township in 1805, and died in 1871. The surviving members of the fameily are George and Harriet West, both 1esiding in Cole-rain township, and Mary J. Collier, of Baltimore, Maryland. Five have died: Samuel died in August, 1834; Elizabeth Collier, September, 1859; John, May, 1864; Margaret, May, 1848, and Mary, March, 1844. George Pouder, of Barnesburgh, Colerain township, is a native of the county, but has only lived in the village during the past three years, in which he owns eighteen acres of good land and twenty-seven and a half acres of the old homestead near. He had a brother killed in the late war, near Dallas, Georgia, and was himself a member of the One Hundred and Thirtyeeighth Ohio national guard. One company of this regiment was composed solely of teachers, of which John Hancock, superintendent of the Cincinnati schools, was a private. John Pouder was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1764, and came to Ohio and settled in Cincinnati in 1817. He died in Colerain in 1836. His wife, Elizabeth Pouder, born in 1784, died four years before her husband. The surviving children are Joseph and Harriet, now residents of Indianapolis, Indiana; Mary, of Crawfordsville, Indiana, and Lemuel, of Colerain. Leonard Pouder owns forty acres two miles west of Taylor's, Colerain, township, and came here in 1840. Andrew, his son, enlisted in the Fiftieth Ohio regiment, and was taken prisoner at Franklin, Tennessee, and sent to prison at Chahaba, Georgia, where he was closely guarded for three months. After being exchanged, in company with tw0 thousand one hundred others, he was put on the ill-fated Sultana, and when above Memphis, about two o'clock in the morning, the boiler burst and the boat was blown up. He secured a life-buoy, and after remaining on deck as long as possible, cast himself into the water, and swam to a sycamore log. He was picked up about four hours afterwards and taken to the hospital in Memphis, at which place he remained three weeks before going home. Only about three hundred of his comrades were saved. A. H. Cone, of Ross township, Butler county, was born in Hamilton county, but now lives on a part of the Yankee purchase of two and a half sections near Venice, owned by his father and grandfather. Charles Cone was major of militia during the Hull engagement. His grandson, A. H. Cone, is at present justice of the peace of Ross township. Giles Richards, the father of George Richards, was one of the old pioneers of Colerain township, a man of considerable ability, foresight, and sagacity, and one who did much towards public improvements, for both State and county. He was the projector of the Colerain turnpike, of the river bridge on that road, and also of other undertakings. During the war he contributed about sixteen thousand dollars of his own funds in various ways for the furtherance of its cause. He was born January 6, 1792, in Boston, Massachusetts, was a mechanic, merchant and farmer, and made his money during the War of 1812. He then had a button factory and made buttons for the army, and saddlery ornaments of various kinds. He came to Cincin- 260 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. nati in 1820, where he soon had a saw-mill, grist-mill and woollen factory. In 1830 he purchased a large tract 0f land, of several hundred acres, surrounding what was then the thriving town of Colerain. Mr. Richards was successful in accumulating a large amount of property, and also in securing an enviable reputation among his fellows. He died in 1876, having lived during the last two years with his son George, who was born in 1843, and in 1869 married to Miss Josie Johnson. In 1818 Isaac Erven made his first settlement in Ohio in Cincinnati. He was born in 1807, March 15th, in the State of Pennsylvania, and came from that State to Ohio. For fifteen years he was school director, and also served as ministerial director. His wife, Elizabeth Gossage, was born in Maryland in 1816, and died in Cole-rain township in the year 1879. The children are: Isaac Erven, of Illinois; Henry and Giles, of this township; Ezra, and Ellen Wolverton, of Oregon; Francis M., also of Colerain; and Charlotte Wilson, living near Dayton, Ohio. William Martin is a descendant of Virginia stock, who were early settlers in Colerain township. William's grandfather, Samuel S., was a farmer and an undertaker. Samuel Martin, his father, lived on the farm William now owns. Mr. Martin, although born in 1822, has always preferred single blessedness to a married state. Williamson Paul, of Colerain township, was born May 25, 1837. His paternal grandfather was William Williamson, whose wife was Anna Vorhees; they were of Teutonic and English origin. His great-grandfather, on his father's side, was John Williamson, whose wife was Lucretia Tice. John was born fourth of Ma;, 1749; Lucretia Tice the twenty-sixth of April, 1749. They raised a family of ten children: John, William, Jacob, Garret, Mary, Henry, Ann, Sarah, David, and Luretia. John was married to Hannah Smith, August 29, 1771. They raised a family of ten children, Jacob, Cornelius, John, Lucretia, Simeon, Amos, Catharine, David Ann, and Henry. David Williamson, Paul's father, was born June 6, 1808; his mother Elizabeth Huston, was born April 24, 1814. They were married May 22, 1833. Their' children were Hannah, Jean, Paul H., Mary E., and Albert. David Williamson came of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, John, having served under Generals Greene and Washington, and fought and was taken prisoner during the war. David was an edge tool maker and an early pioneer and settler of Colerain township, having emigrated t0 this place in 1811, and when twenty-five years of age married Elizabeth Huston. Paul Williamson, their eldest son, was liberally educated and perfected his studies at Farmer's college; for nine months f0llowing he was a successful teacher, for which he seems to have been adapted in manner and method. In May, 1857, he went to Iowa and found employment in agricultural pursuits, and in the fall of that year, with three friends, travelled by wagon through the greater portion of this State, Missouri, and Kansas, and during the following winter taught a flourishing school at Aviston, Illinois. In April, 1858, in company with a friend, he started overland to California, meeting at Leavenworth an emigrant train, which he accompanied to the same destination. Their route was via Santa Fe and the thirty-fifth parallel, Lieutenant Beale's route across New Mexico. While on this wearisome journey the party was attacked on the Colorado river by Indians, and eight of their number slain. They lost their wagons and stock, and, passing through a gauntlet of hostile Indians, suffered the most terrible privations, and were compelled to return east a distance of seven hundred miles to Albuquerque, at which place Mr. Williamson left the party, taking his way to El Paso, Mexico, remaining there two weeks, then joining a Mexican wagon train went to San Antonio, Texas. In a short time he left this place for Seguin, Texas, where, for nine months, he again taught school. In the fall of 1859 he made a journey to Columbia, Arkansas, on horseback, where he again became teacher, and filled this position with great success, until the breaking out of the civil war; thence he proceeded to New Orleans, again north to St. Louis and to Cincinnati, in which vicinity he has since resided. From February, 1870, until 1874 he acted as deputy clerk of the probate court of Hamilton county. In October, 1873, he was elected county auditor, which position he filled with credit to himself and to his county for one term; was renominated, but defeated by a very small majority. He was married November 1, 1870, to Miss Ada Jayne, daughter of a pioneer of Clermont county, and of Ada-line Leonard, whose ancestry were of Scotch Irish descent, and who came over in the Mayflower. Paul H. is a Democrat. His life is one of startling incidents and romantic adventure. Baxter Vansicle, father of Eliza, came from Maryland with his father and settled on the present site--about one mile west of Sater—in the year 1812. Mr. Vansicle farmed in the summer and fished in the winter, the river at that time furnishing plenty of that kind of meat, and the market being as good then as now. Mr. Vansicle died March 12, 1872. Thomas McHenry came with his father to Colerain township in the year 1812, where he has resided since. The farm was purchased of a Mr. Richardson, and was then about the only settlement made in that vicinity. Mr. McHenry is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Eliza Scott resides at the mouth of Dunlap creek, where James Henderson Scott, her husband, lived many years before his death. He was the proprietor of a sawmill on the Miami river, and engaged chiefly in that business. Mrs. Scott was born in Hamilton county, but when six years of age her parents moved to Illinois, where she remained until twenty-one years of age. She was married in 1856, and in 1876 her husband died. Peter Pool, deceased husband of Mary Jane Pool, was born March 2, 1822—died August 10, 1864; purchased about forty acres near the school-house, district No. 7, Colerain township, where he remained many years before his death. James Poole resides on the Locus farm, the beautiful site near Groesbeck's, Colerain township. He was born March 29, 1824, in Hamilton county, and has been iden- HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 261 tified in the interests of that portion of the State during his life. He was a soldier in the late war, and is an active member of the church. His father, William Poole, came from Vermont in 1816, and died in Springfield, Ohio, in 1868. James Poole was married January 3, 1857, to Emily Cilley, daughter of Bradbury Cilley. John Gaiser was born in Germany in 1829. In 1850 he came to Ohio and first settled in Green township. His wife, Wilhelmina Gaiser, was born in 1835, and died in Cincinnati in May, 1871. The children living in that city are Katie, Eliza, and Louie. John C., Caroline, George W., and William H. are now living in Colerain. Mr. Gaiser has been in township office and was a farrier at Camp Monroe during the war. John Barnes was born in 1812, in Kentucky, from which State he came into Ohio and made settlement. His wife, Aremento Barnes, died in Colerain township in 1874. The surviving children are Abraham and Mary Jane, now of Colerain; Hugh of Harrison; Daniel, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Alfred W., of Mill Creek; and Catharine, of Miami. Peter Poole, the husband of Mary Jane Barnes, died of typhoid fever in the army of Virginia in 1864. Charles Willey was a native of Massachusetts, and settled in Colerain township. In 1864 he died in Indiana. Tullitha Willey, his wife, born in 1802, is still living in Colerain, as also are his two daughters, Sarah and Mary. His son Joseph is now a resident of Indiana. W. G. Arnold, of Taylor's, a farmer, was born in 1836. He bought land here in 1872, since which time he has resided in the village. Louis R. Strong, of Taylor's was born and raised near the village, and owns fifty-three acres at that place. He was born on the sixth of August, 1827. A. B. Luse, M. D., an experienced physician (old school) of over forty years standing, was born in Butler county in 1809; came to Mt. Pleasant in 1830, where he has practiced his profession ever since with an exception of but three years, during which time he pursued his profession in Hamilton, and was there during the cholera epidemic of 1833-4-5. In 1835 he returned to Mt. Pleasant, where he still resides. Mrs. Agnes Cilley is the wife of Columbus Cilley, eldest son of Bradbury Hedges Cilley. Columbus Cilley was born November 4, 1839, in Colerain Station, Hamilton county, Ohio. After perfecting his studies at College Hill he enlisted as wheel-driver First regiment Ohio light artillery, December 2,1861, and served until December, 1864. He was in the battles of Gettysburgh, Fredericksburgh, Chancellorsville, Manassas Gap, and other hotly contested engagements. Mr. Cilley was a good soldier, was a much respected man, and lived on the old homestead after the war and until his death, at which time he was a trustee of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Cilley now lives in Venice. Henry Gulick, a farmer near Bevis, is one of the most prominent fruit growers in the country, and is a prominent man in other respects. He began life empty handed, and has made his fortunes since by his own exertions. When two years of age he came with his parents from New Jersey to Hamilton county. He was captain of a company in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteers, during the hundred day service, and has filled other positions of prominence. In 1856 he purchased the beautiful site near Bevis, his present homestead. His son Edward is a natural sculptor, studied the art without the assistance of a tutor, and has produced some remarkable results, of which may be mentioned "The Bachelor's Trial," "The Goddess of War," etc. J. P. Waterhouse, M. D., of Bevis, came to Hamilton county in 1853—born in 1825. His father, Joseph, came to Indiana in 1844. He was a member of the Maine legislature and captain of the militia. Dr. Waterhouse graduated in the Miami Medical college in 1854. Practiced his profession in Charleston, Illinois, three years, then in Venice, Ohio, two years, and was for six years a member of the Methodist Episcopal conference. He was a private in the one hundred day service, in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth regiment Ohio national guard. Mary Jane Davis, granddaughter of Paul Huston, and daughter of Thomas Burns and Jennie Huston, was born and raised near Carthage, Ohio. Her great-grandfather, Archibald Bourns, came from Scotland in 1751, and settled in Pennsylvania. Her father and grandfather were sickle makers; both raised large families, who were devoted Christians of the Presbyterian faith. Mrs. Davis was, for the space of four years, in the missionary work at Wapanauca, Indian Territory, teaching the mission school of that place. The school was composed of the Chickasaw Indians, out of which, during her stay, she wrought considerable success. Mrs. Davis is a devoted Christian, and took great interest in her work, for which she deserves great praise. One year previous to leaving this field of labor she was married to Leander Davis, March 16,1855, and for a while lived in Illinois, where he died July, 1865, since which time Mrs. Davis has lived in Colerain township, on what is known as the second homestead. John Gasser, of Barnesburgh, came from Germany in 1849, and has lived in the county for thirty years; is a blacksmith—also a farmer—of that place. He raises fruit and vegetables, and markets in Cincinnati. He has been married three times. A. L. Compton, of Mount Pleasant, lives on the old homestead farm, a part of which he owns; he also owns an extensive tract of land in Tennessee. Mr. Compton is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity of this place, and is also secretary of the Jersey John Hyde association, of Cincinnati, for the recovery of the estate of John Hyde, of New Jersey, believed to be in the Bank of England, and amounting, it is said, to sixty or seventy millions of dollars. J. R. Thompson, of Taylor's, principal of the public schools of that place, perfected his studies in the One Study university, of Harrison county, Ohio, came to Taylor's in 1875, since which time he has been engaged in teaching and dealing in real estate. He owns several lots and houses in the village. M. 'T. Jones, of Colerain township, lives one mile 262 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. south of Pleasant run, on the Hamilton pike. He is a native of Butler' county, where he lived until 1817, at which time he moved to the above-named place. COLERAIN VILLAGE. The beginnings of this settlement, and the adventures of Dunlap's Station thereat, have been narrated. John Dunlap was one of Judge Symmes' confidential surveyors; and, like most of his class, he easily inclined to land-speculation and the founding of towns, and, herein resembling his distinguished chief, the Miami purchaser, he did not hesitate to discount the future liberally, when it would serve his purposes. Hence he set his stakes down in the bend of the Great Miami, surveyed off a town-site, and offered lots for sale, before he had any valid title whatever to the land upon which they were located. He made some sales; cabins were erected; a fortified station built, and other improvements made. This, be it noted to the enduring honor of the now desolated site in the great bend of the Miami, was the first settlement of any size in the country back of the skirt of villages along the Ohio. But it presently appeared that Dunlap would be unable to perfect titles to his colonists; the fear of recurring Indian attack probably united with this to discourage the little band; Dunlap himself soon left, for a time at least; the settlers gradually abandoned the once promising village, and its site returned in due time to its primitive wildness and. desolation. The purchasers lost all they had paid Dunlap, and the value their improvements. The chief memorial of the settlement is in the beautiful name given by the founder to it, and transferred, probably perpetually, to the township itself. The Colerain pioneer, according to the list of first officers of the township, given above, was here still in 1794. He gave the name to the post office of DUNLAP This place, more commonly known as "Georgetown," is situated only about two miles from the original Cole-rain, or Dunlap's Station, and due east of it, at the junction of the Colerain pike with two minor roads, on the west side of section eighteen, one and a half miles south of the county line. A place of this name is mistakenly set down on the map prefixed to the later editions (as that of 1793) of Filson's Account of the State of Kentucky, as a village on the other side of the county, on the Little Miami, about eight miles above Columbia. It was somewhere in the northeast part of this township, it will be remembered, and probably not far from the subsequent site of Dunlap, that one of these authors, John Filson, of the original trio of projectors of Losantiville or Cincinnati, was probably massacred by the Indians. No word or trace of him was ever obtained, after his separation from Symmes's exploring party in the early fall of 1788. This place was laid off as Georgetown September 2, 1829. BEVIS is also on the .Colerain turnpike, something less than midway of its course acr0ss the township from the southeast, on the south side of section ten, and half-way across it. A post office and a few houses are here, and a cemetery carefully laid out, with a regularly -recorded plat. The village was named from Jesse Bevis. a native of Pennsylvania and an early settler of the township, first upon the farm now owned by Martin Bevis. He built the first hotel upon the village site some time in the '20's, and kept it for more than forty years, dying in it finally in 1868, at the age of eighty-six. It is remarked that, although many hundreds of people had been sheltered under the roof of this inn during his time, his was the first death that had ever occurred there. He held for many years the office of township treasurer, and furnished nearly all the means for building the Bevis (United Brethren) church. The St. John's Catholic church, which supplies the wants of Catholicism here and at Dry Ridge, is ministered to by the Reverend Father J. Voit. Near this place, upon the farm of Martin Bevis, is the camp-meeting ground formerly leased by a Cincinnati association of Methodists, but since abandoned in favor of the site now used near Loveland, in Clermont county. "Camp Colerain," which occupies a little space in the war history of Hamilton county during the late rebellion, was upon the former ground, where the buildings erected for camp-meeting purposes gave shelter to the soldiers. It was, however, used but a short time, and was never a regular camp of rendezvous or instruction. GROESBECK. One mile north of the south line of the township, and nearly the same distance from the east line, at the northwest corner of section one, also on the Colerain pike, is the hamlet of Groesbeck, which beats the name of one of the most famous Cincinnati families. PLEASANT RUN is situated upon the little stream whose name it bears, and immediately upon the east line of the township, half a mile south of the Butler county line. One of the early Baptist churches was located in this region, which had twenty-five members in 1836. The Reverend Wilson Thompson was pastor in 1816, and for some time after. At this place the rebel General John Morgan's force occupied the Colerain pike, moving eastward, during the famous raid of 1863. Two or three of his men were captured by citizens here, and one resident, who was mistaken in the dusk of the evening for a rebel, was killed by the Federal cavalry who were in the rear of Morgan. TAYLOR'S CREEK is a post-office and hamlet in the southwestern part of the township, on the Harrison pike, at the sharp bend westward of the stream from which it takes its name, one and a half miles due east of Miamitown and the Great Miami river. BARNESBURGH is a recent and small village in this township, on the Blue Rock turnpike, about four miles from New Baltimore. It is a straggling village along the road for a mile or more, with a stream running on the east side of it. POPULATION. By the tenth census, that of 1880, Colerain township had three thousand seven hundred and twenty-six inhabitants. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. JARED CLOUD, of Colerain township, was born on St. Patrick's day, the seventeenth of March, 1808; is of Welsh and English descent on his father's side and of French descent on that of his mother. Mason Jones Cloud, his grandfather, came from Virginia about the year 1778, and settled in Boone county, Kentucky. Unfortunately for the fate of Mason, he was required to return to Virginia for a sum of money there due him, and after only a three days' stay in his new home, in company with two others, set out on his perilous trip, and, with his companions, was massacred on Licking river by the hostile Indians. Mason was the father of eleven children, three sons and eight daughters. Of these sons Baylis was the oldest, was the father of Jared, and was about nineteen years of age, when the family came to Kentucky. He was born in 1774 in Virginia; was married in 1803 to Miss Elizabeth Tebbs, daughter of an old pioneer of Boone county, Kentucky. In 1811 Baylis removed to Dearborn county, Indiana, when Jared was but three years of age. Indiana was then a mere wilderness; bridle-paths led here and there instead of our present highways. The Indians were sometimes troublesome, while the flocks had to be constantly guarded against the ravages of the wolf and the bear. The principal product of mercantile value then to the family was tobacco. This article could be raised and packed to Cincinnati—then a mere town—and a profit sufficiently large could be realized to keep the family in the luxuries of that day. Clothing was manufactured in toto; flax and wool were spun and woven, and the more tasty articles of dress were manufactured from these. The deer furnished the family with moccasins and hunting shirts, and sometimes other wearing apparel. When Jared was sixteen years of age he commenced life for himself, and for twenty-two years after worked for Anthony Harkness, an engine-builder, on Front street, be' tween Pike and Lawrence, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first two or three years, while learning the business, Jared received nothing, but afterwards a salary was paid, and finally, during the last seven years of his stay, he was made foreman of the shop, which at that time was the largest of the kind in the west. They manufactured locomotives [the first one used in the west], steamboat engines, and others for sugar-mills, saw-mills, etc. Mr. Cloud was married in the year 1840, and in 1843 moved his present home to the Bank Lick farm, since which time he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits wholly. His farm consists of two hundred and sixty acres, and lies partly in Hamilton and partly in Butler counties. His wife is now dead, and also one son, who was fatally kicked by a horse, dying in a few days thereafter. He had been in the hundred day service, and had just returned home when the accident occurred in his father's barnyard. Mr. Cloud is of a long-lived fam ily, has never been sick, and at this late day retains the sprightliness of his youth to a remarkable degree. BRADBURY CILLEY. Joseph Cilley was a member of General Washington's staff, and was a colonel of the New Hampshire regiment in the war of the Revolution. His son, Jonathan was the father of Bradbury, the subject of this sketch. Jonathan was born March 18, 1763, came to the wilds of Ohio in Colerain, in 1803, having left his native State in 1802, but spending the winter in Wheeling, did not arrive until 1803. Jonathan was in the service with his father as a servant, and after coming to Ohio was associate judge for some years. Of Jonathan's sons, Benjamin Cilley was a farmer in Whitewater township; Joseph, who was the eldest son, was a lieutenant in the War of 1812, was wounded while rallying his men; and Bradbury Cilley lived on the old homestead near Colerain. Bradbury was born in Nottingham, New Hampshire, May 16, 1798. When he was four years of age his parents, with their family of eight children, emigrated to Ohio. Their tedious journey over the mountains was made in a four-horse wagon. and a two-horse carriage. At Wheeling they sent their horses by land, and the family came in a boat to Cincinnati, then a village, where they Wintered. In the spring of 1803, they purchased a section of land on the Big Miama, at what was then called Dunlap's station, about sixteen miles from Cincinnati. This station was founded in 1790, by John Dunlap, and was the first settlement in the interior, back from the Ohio river. The Indians gave the settlers so much trouble that General Harrison, at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, sent for their protection a detachment of soldiers under Lieutenant Kingsbury. In 1791 the fort was attacked by about four hundred Indians, but being gallantly defended the Indians desisted, and after Wayne's treaty, in 1795, the garrison was dismissed. Colerain was laid out by Dunlap, who named it after his native place in Ireland. The settlers who bought of him lost their claims for want of perfect titles to the land. In 1807 Jonathan Cilley died of asthma, and left five sons and four daughters, who were taught the rudiments of an education by the eldest sister. Bradbury went to study mathematics, but soon went ahead of his teacher. The most of his education was acquired in later years by acute observation and rough contact with the world. He early developed a taste for trading, and when twenty-one years of age built a flatboat, loaded it with farm produce and floated it down the .Miami, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, where he sold all and came back on horseback, a distance of eleven hundred miles. These trips he continued every year—sometimes twice a year—for fifteen years. If not suited with the New Orleans market he would go on to Cuba, where he would be almost certain HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. to find a ready and also a profitable sale for his goods. About this time he was captain of a company, and afterwards major of a militia regiment, but was never called into active service. When a bachelor of thirty-six years he married a neighbor's daughter, who was twelve years his junior. He never held or coveted public office, preferring the retirement of a farmer's life: He was industrious and enterprising, and gathered around him considerable property. He had a strict sense of right and justice, was stern, un yielding, and almost unflinching, and quite unchangeable in his opinion. Bradbury's wife was the daughter of Elias and Elizabeth Gasten Hedges, of Morristown, New Jersey. Of their children Mrs. James Poole (Groesbeck) is the eldest; Mrs. Mary Bedmyer and Mrs. Elizabeth Bedinger, of Boone county, Kentucky ; Mrs. Harriet Turner, Sarah J. Morehead, and Agnes Cilley, of Venice, are living. The Bedinger families living in Boone county occupied the land once owned by Daniel Boone. COLUMBIA. ORGANIZATION. Columbia is the oldest born of the townships of Ham ilton county. Upon its soil, as originally constituted, was planted the first colony in the Miami Purchase—the first white settlement, indeed, anywhere in the Ohio valley between Limestone or Maysville and the falls of the Ohio, otherwise the mouth of Beargrass creek, or Louisville. From this lodgment of Major Stites and his people near the mouth of the Little Miami, annd his designation of the cluster of cabins by the patriotic title then (1788) much more in vogue than now, the subsequent township of course derived its name. The history of that settlement, and to some extent of the gallant men who founded it, will be told very fully in the chapter devoted to Spencer township, with which Columbia, as a country village, was last associated, and to whose history its own seems properly to belong. Columbia township was erected by the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, in 179r, at the same time Cincinnati and Miami townships were formed; but seems to claim priority by virtue of its cattle brand, which was fixed to be the letter A, the others taking respectively the letters B and C. The boundaries of this town were then assigned as follows: "Beginning at the foot of the second meridian east of Cincinnati, on the Ohio bank; thence north to the third entire (or military) range; thence east to the Little Miami; thence down the Miami to Ohio river; thence down the Ohio to place of beginning." This was a vast township, larger than some counties are now. Cincinnati and Miami townships, with it, included the whole of Hamilton county on the Purchase, south of the military range. Beyond their north line, in the Miami country, there was probably at this time not a single white settler, and the extensive boundaries of the township were supposed to be sufficient to include all probable settlement on the east side of the Purchase for years to come. It was not many years, however, before the call was made for the erection of townships in the further tracts of the Purchase now covered by Butler and Montgomery counties, as settlement rapidly progresssd in them. Upon the reconstruction of the Hamilton county townships in 1803, after the erection of Butler county by the first State legislature, the boundaries of Columbia were thus changed: "Commencing at the southeast corner of Cincinnati township, thence north to the northwest corner of section thirty-six in fractional range two, township four; thence east to the Little Miami; thence south to the Ohio; thence westward to the place of beginning." This arrangement gave the township just the entirety of its present territory, with the whole of the later Spencer township, including so much of the city as is now east of "the second meridian east" of the old city of Concinnati. The voters were at this time required to meet at the house of Samuel Muchmore, upon the present site of Madisonville, and elect three justices of the peace. The first officers of the township, under appointment of the quarter sessions court in 1791, were as follows: Ephraim Kibby, clerk; John Gerrard, John Morris, constables; Luke Foster, overseer of roads; James Matthews, overseer of the poor. The following memoranda for justices of the peace for Columbia township have also been found: 1819, John Jones, Abner Applegate; 1825, Abner Applegate, William Baxter, James Armstrong; 1829, William Baxter, Batia Evans, Eleazer Baldwin, John T. Jones; 1865-8, Francis A. Hill, William Tingley, James Julien; 1859-70, F. A. Hill, Leonidas Bailey, L. A. Hendricks; 1871, L. A. Hendricks, C. W. Magill, Louis W. Clason; 1872-3, Clason, Magill, Hill; 1874, same, with E. W. Bowman; 1875-7, Clason, Hill, Tingley; 1878, Clason, Hill, William Arnold, Charles S. Burns; 1879, Clason, Arnold, George Reiter; 1880, Clason, Reiter. GEOGRAPHY. When Spencer township was formed Columbia was cut down to its present limits, and lost the famous old village from which it took its noble and high-sounding name. The township is now bounded on the west by the "second meridian line" aforesaid, to a point about a mile and a quarter north of the Ohio, separating it from Mill Creek township; on the north by the old line of 1803, from the northwest corner of section thirty-six in the fractional range two, township four, to the Little Miami, dividing it from Sycamore and Symmes townships; on the south by that river, Spencer township, and a part of Cincinnati, and on the east by the same stream, which separates it from Anderson township and a short front of Clermont county. It is nine miles long on its north line, which is the greatest length of the township; and but four miles and a quarter in its shortest length, at the south of the township. It is five miles broad on the west, and for more than four miles thence to the eastward, and is then of variously reduced width, according to the windings of the Little Miami, until, on its eastern border, it is less than two and a half miles wide. The Little Miami River, with its ins and outs, has a bank of about nine miles in this township. Forty sections, twenty-nine whole, and eleven fractional, are included in the present territory of Columbia, making - 263 - 264 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. eighteen thousand eight hundred and sixty acres, of which two hundred and thirty-nine are covered by the site of Madisonville. They are much more regular in their boundaries than sections in most other parts of the Symmes Purchase—thanks, perhaps, to the superior skill or care of Major Stites and his surveyors—and each full section comprises exactly or very nearly a square mile. The topography of Columbia township, for picturesque and varied character, and eligibility for suburban purposes, is scarcely equaled anywhere else in Hamilton county. The valley of the Little Miami stretches broadly along its eastern and southeastern districts, with the heights beyond Milford and Newtown in the distance, and others closer to the course of the stream—in one instance,. near the northeast corner of Anderson township, coming down close to the course of the stream. Across the entire length of the township, in a general east and west direction, spreads another great, deep valley, evidently very ancient in its formation, but now with no large stream in its bed—probably an old channel through which the waters of Mill creek found their way to the Little Miami. The township may be said to consist pretty nearly of this and the Miami valleys. The result of the great operations of nature, by which they have been channeled, has been to afford a very large number and variety of beautiful sites for human habitation. Indian Hill and the Norwood Heights, Pleasant Ridge, Oakley, Madisonville, Mount Lookout, and indeed, almost every square mile of the higher ground in the township, are excellently adapted to the purposes of suburban residence, as well as for farming. Neighborhood to a great city has naturally called attention to these advantages, and every one of its numerous villages has more or less of the suburban character. Apart from the Little Miami, Columbia has no stream of size within it or upon its borders. Duck creek, and perhaps a dozen other brooks and rivulets, traverse some part of the township, most of them toward the Little Miami, but .two or three, in the northwestern part, making their way to the valley of Mill creek. The Marietta & Cincinnati railroad enters the township near Norwood, about a mile and three-quarters from the southwest corner, traverses about half its breadth on a general east and west line to Madisonville, whence the route makes rapidly northward and northeastward to its emergence from the township beyond Madeira station, near the southeast corner of Sycamore township. About seven miles of the course of this railroad lie in Columbia. The Little Miami railroad has about the same length along or near the river in this township, entering at the southeast corner, at Red Bank station, and, proceeding by the Batavia junction, Plainville, and several other points, to its exit from the county at the northeastern corner, opposite East Milford, and a mile and a half further, crossing the river and leaving the county altogether. The Cincinnati & Eastern narrow-gauge railroad tracks also intersect the southern tier of sections; but its arrangements for entering Cincinnati from the north and west are not yet consummated, and the road is not much used west of Batavia junction, where it connects with the Little Miami rail road. The Cincinnati Northern narrow-gauge, now in course of construction, crosses the township from south to north, entering from the direction of Walnut Hills, and passing through Norwood. Several fine turnpikes, as the Cincinnati & Wooster, once the main line of communication eastward ; the Madison, the Montgomery, and others, with many well-kept, ordinary wagon-roads, add to the facilities of communication with the city and surrounding country. Upon some of them, as over the Montgomery pike to Pleasant Ridge, lines of omnibuses are regularly run to and from Cincinnati. ANCIENT REMAINS. One of the richest fields for antiquarian research in the world, for the extent of it, is presented in this township, notably in the eastern and southeastern parts of it. It has been industriously and very intelligently worked during the few years last past by the members of the Madi sonville Scientific and Literary society; and in this sketch we freely use the results of their labors, particularly as set forth in Dr. Charles L. Metz's article on the pre-historic monuments of the Little Miami valley, in the Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History for October, 1878, and his chart accompanying the paper. I. Dr. Metz and his co-laborers arrange the works in groups. Group A is mostly upon the property of Charles F. Stites, one mile west of Plainville, between the Wooster turnpike and the Little Miami railroad and river, upon the second bottom or plateau, in section nine. This plateau has a general elevation above the river of nearly two hundred feet; and above it, at a height varying from ten to twenty-five feet, is a narrow ridge, mainly composed of reddish sand, upon which the most notable work of the group is situated. This and the remaining works in this locality are thus described by Dr. Metz: Commencing at the east end of the. ridge, and in a wood known as "Stites' grove," we find an earthwork consisting of a circle, central tumulus, and an oval-shaped tumulus impinging on the outer southeast edge of the circle. The following extract, from an article entitled The Mound Builders," by Mr. Florien Giauque, published in the Harvest Home Magazine, August, 1876, describes this work as follows : " In the grove in the ' picnic woods' owned by Mr. Charles Stites, of Columbia, on the top of this ridge, there is a circular enclosure made by a ditch and an earthen embankment outside of and immediately adjoining this ditch, and no doubt made of the material which was taken from it. From the bottom of this ditch to the top of the embankment, the present height is five and one-half feet ; the diameter of the ditch from deepest cut on either side is seventy-five feet ; the enclosing embankment, from crest to crest, is one hundred and five feet ; and the diameter of the entire work, from outside to outside, is about one hundred and forty-five to one hundred and fifty feet. On the east this embankment is enlarged into a regular mound, about forty-eight feet in diameter and about six feet high above the adjacent ground. At the southeast part of the enclosure there is left an entrance-way about ten feet wide—that is, there is here neither ditch nor embankment. This entrance faces and is about forty feet away from the edge of the terrace or bluff, which is here quite steep, and about one hundred feet (estimated) high above the river, which is here quite near the foot of the bluff. The edges of the terrace and ridge coincide here." The ridge to the east of this work slopes gently until it reaches the general level of the plateau. On this slope numerous relics are found. The above-described work was explored by Mr. Giauque and others, and several fine relics were found. The finding of one he describes as follows: "One of the trenches was begun about the north of the mound, and the writer [Mr. Giauque], while working here, hardly a foot below the surface of the mound and about seven feet from the centre of it, found HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 265 a very fine relic. It is a tube six inches long, a little less than an inch in diameter, made of crinoidal limestone, highly polished, though somewhat coated and discolored in places by the oxide of iron which has collected on it during its long burial. The hole extends entirely through from end to end, but grows rapidly smaller near one end, being about five-eighths of an inch in diameter most of the distance, and about three-sixteenths of an inch at the smaller end This relic is, in fact, a cylinder for about four and one-half inches of its length to a diamond-shaped perforation." I have measured the circumference of some of the larger trees growing on this work. An oak has nine and one-half feet, beech eight and one-half feet in circumference on the central tumulus, maple six and three-tenths feet, an oak six and seven-tenths feet in circumference. Northwest of this worts, and about two hundred feet distant, at the foot of the sand-ridge, and on the general level of the plateau, is a mound which has been recently explored. Its diameter east to west is forty-five feet, elevation seven feet. An oak tree on its western slope has eight and seven-tenths feet, and a beech on its eastern slope five feet of a circumference. An interesting account of the exploration of this mound, by Mr. Giauque, was published in the Harvest Home Magazine, in the article from which I quoted above. The circumstances of exploration are of considerable interest to the archaeologist, and I make the following extracts from Mr. Giauque's article: "About eleven feet from the outside and two fee: above the original surface, the shovel, hitherto working pretty freely in clayey sand, struck the first big stone. It was a flat limestone, possibly brought from the neighboring hill about a half a mile away, as there was none nearer; and it was much reddened and softened by fire, the fossil shells in it being whitened or more nearly calcined than the other parts. This, together with chat coal and ashes, pieces of bone, pieces of bowlder broeken by fire, were very encouraging indications of a 'find.' Further digging showed that the rock struck was the part of a stone arch, rudely made of undressed limestone. " That, part of the arch first found was removed, and under it was found a skeleton, the tibia (shin-bone) being the first part of it discovered. The arch was then entirely uncovered, the earth removed between it and the skeet, and the skeleton taken out. If the mound had been divided into four parts, by drawing a line through its centre from north to south and another similarly from east to west, the arch would have bees entirely within the northwest section of the mound, and the skeleton which it covered lay with its head nearly towards the northeast (N. E. E.) Perpendicular sections of the mound, as dug away that day, showed from the bottom upwards: "1. The skeleton resting on. or near the original surface, which was a sandy clay, quite compact and hard. "2. About a foot of sandy earth, possibly mixed with ashes, but no charcoal nor pieces of bowlder or bones, and, especially in places where the rock above had relieved it from pressure, quite loose and soft. "3, The arch, hitherto so caned for convenience, but perhaps hardly entitled to the name. This was made, as has been said, of undressed but flat limestone, averaging about twenty to thirty and six to eight inches in length .and breadth, four inches in thickness, and approximately most of them being about a medium between these extremes. The arch was about seven feet long and five and a half or six wide, its highest part being in a line with and directly over the body, and arching downward on either side till its edges on the right and left of the skeleton nearly reached the clay on which the skeleton lay. But the stones were not set up on edge, so that the structure, while really an arch in form, was probably not self-sustaining. It contained three layers` of stone, one over the other, making about a foot in thickness. "4. A thin layer of sandy earth, about one inch on the highest part, and increasing in thickness toward the sides. "5. Charcoal and ashes, the charcoal not plenty nor in large pieces, this indicating that the fire had burned out before being covered up with earth. This fire was hot enough to color all the top rocks, as mentioned of the first one found. " 6. A layer of sand about fifteen inches thick, with pieces of fire-cracked bowlder, burnt limestone, and pieces of human bones, much decayed—or were they partially burned? "7. Another layer of charcoal and ashes similar to the one below, about three-fourths of an inch thick. " 8. Clayey sand to the top, so soft as to be shovelled without loosening with a pick, and nowhere over two and a half feet thick. . . No ornaments or implements of any kind were found in this mound." 34 West and to the south of this tumulus, and on the same continuous sand-ridge mentioned above, are four or five elevations or tumuli, with an average height of three to four feet, being from two to three hundred feet apart. The ridge is here under cultivation; numbers of relics, flint chips, and broken bowlders, are ploughed up on this ridge. Northwest of these tumuli, and on the general level of the plateau, one-fourth of a mile distant, is a mound which has a circumference at base of two hundred feet, and an elevation of seven feet. It is as yet unexplored, but cultivated annually. Four hundred yards to the northeast of this mound, and at the junction of the Wooster and Madison turnpikes, can yet be traced a circular work, which has a circumference of six hundred feet; twenty years ago, I am told by an old settler, the circle had an elevation at that time of three feet, and there was a mound four feet in the centre; at present it is almost obliterated. Its northern side in places has an elevation of eight to twelve inches. On the south and eastern side, the work can be traced by the yellow color of the soil. The northeast side is occupied by the Madison turnpike. Continuing on the southwestward of the small tumuli, and along the previously described sand ridge, we come to what is known as the 'Pottery Field.' Here the ridge slopes gently to the south and southeast, with an elevation of from sixty to eighty feet above the level of the Little Miami river. This field is a plateau of about four acres in extent, sloping back to the higher ground. On this plateau fragments of pottery, are found in great abundance. Flint chips, arrow points, broken bowlders, burnt limestone, and the shells of the freshwater muscle (unio), are found all over the surface. Human remains have been found in the adjoining ravines and on the slopes; the graves were isolated and shallow, and the method of burial was not uniform. Bones of various wild animals are also found. Two hundred yards north of the Pottery field are several small tumuli. The largest has a circumference at base of about one hundred feet, height five and one-half feet; this mound has been dug into, but not yet explored. The Pottery Field, and also the tumulus, are situated in sections nine, Columbia township, in what is known as Ferris' woods, in 'Still Home Hollow.' The largest trees on the Pottery Field measure as follows: A walnut, fifteen and one-half feet in circumference; an oak, twelve feet in circumference; a maple, nine and one-half feet in circumference, and an elm twelve feet in circumference. A quarter of a mile farther west, in section fifteen, on the estate of Joseph Ferris, and just southeast of the family homestead, is a circular work, with an inside ditch and a central elevation. Its circumference is about two hundred feet; diameter from east to west about sixty-five feet. This work is almost obliterated. It is distant from the river half a mile, and elevated above it about eighty feet. 2. The group B is situated partly in sections fifteen and twenty-one, in this township. The remainder of the works belonging to and forming much the larger part of the group are in Spencer township, and will be described in another chapter. Our scientific authority gives a full account of the group, from which we extract at present that portion relating to Columbia township : One-half mile north of Red Bank station, on the second bottom or plateau of Duck creek, immediately southwest of the western end of the Cincinnati & Eastern railroad trestle, is a mound eight feet high and two hundred feet in circumference at base. It has not been explored, but is cultivated annually. Half a mile to the northwest of this mound is another, with an elevation of five feet and circumference of about one hundred and seventy-five feet. It is on The same level as the foregoing one, and on the lands of the Dr. Duncan estate. The hill northwest of Red Bank station, and distant about two hundred yards from it, has an elevation of about two hundred' and fifty feet. This hill is terraced on its eastern and southern slope ; the terraces are five in number, and are undoubtedly the work of human hands. On the top of this hill is a mound. Its present elevation is about four feet, and it has not been explored. 3. Dr. Metz's group. C lies altogether in Anderson township, and its several works have been described in the chapter devoted to that subdivision of the county. Group D is also mostly in Anderson, comprising the enclosure and mounds in the northeast corner of the township, and also interesting works in southwestern Co- 266 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. lumbia, across the river, which are thus described in the doctor's essay:, No. 6 of this group is a small mound, situated in section twenty-two, Columbia township, on an elevated ridge known as Gravelotte, on the estate of T. R. Biggs. It is situated in a corner of a large embankment. Its height is three feet, circumference one hundred and fifty feet. No. 7 of this group is located in section twenty-nine, Columbia township, one-fourth of a mile west of Camden, just south of the Wooster turnpike. It is now only one-third its former size, it being partly removed in the construction of the Wooster turnpike. Its present dimensions are : Height nine feet, diameter seventy feet. In the southeast corner of section twenty-nine, at the village of Camden, and three hundred feet east of the south line of Mr. Galloway's residence, is the corner of an embankment which extends east and south to the river. It extends three-fourths of a mile east, until it reaches the bank of the river, which is here about forty feet high, the other running south until it reaches the edge of the gravel ridge, and then runs east to the river. It incloses from eight hundred to one thousand acres of ground. This embankment, fifty years ago, was six feet high and twelve feet wide. It is now scarcely traceable ; but can be seen in spring time and just after plowing, when the peculiar color of the soil discloses it. At the northwest corner of 'Section twenty-eight, half a mile south of the mound No. 7, between the two headwaters of a little stream setting into the Miami, is a cluster of seven small mounds. 4. Some miles from any one of these groups, upon the farm of M. C. Benham, on section thirty, near Pleasant ridge, is a fine, large mound, eight feet high, by two hundred in circumference at the base. 5. On the same turnpike, the Montgomery, which passes near the Benham mound, but a mile and a half to the southwest, on Norwood Heights, is the famous mound of observation, one of the most notable ancient works in the county. It is nine feet high and two hundred feet in base circumference; and its summit commands an extensive view of the surrounding country. From it signals could be flashed or otherwise communicated to similar points of observation in the Mill creek valley, and thence rapidly far up and down the valleys of the Great Miami and the Ohio. Many stone implements, as axes, fleshers, gorgets, chissels, flint arrow-heads and chippings, and also mica, have been found in the neighborhood and through the valley. THE EARLY DAY. For the following items of township history we are indebted to the interesting work entitled "Suburban Homes," prepared and published in 1874, by Professor Richard Nelson, now president of Nelson's Business college, Cincinnati: Though the records of the township have been kept at Madison, we have found it difficult to obtain much information regarding the early settlement of either town or township. The first record of township officers was made April 4, 1803, when Samuel Sheppard was elected chairman, and James Murch, clerk, and James McKnight, N. S. Armstrong, John Seeman, and John Elliott, trustees. Two years afterward, the whole number of votes polled in the township was thirty-two. During the early history of the township, it was customary to board the poor at the farm houses, the pauper being sold at auction to the lowest bidder. Some of these bids, we noticed, did not exceed one dollar per Week. It was also the province of the constable to notify strangers that were supposed to be in indigent circumstances that the township would not be responsible for their support. The following we extracted from a record made in 1826 : "An order to John Jones, constable, for warning B ____ R ____ and family . . . . to depart the township; also, for warning five supervisors to attend to be sworn into office." Among the annals may also be seen a book containing the records of the " ear-marks " for stock. These marks are represented in diagrams, which ate accompanied with a key, and in 1791 numbered up to one hundred and seventy. The last record stands thus: " Moses Osborn, having removed out of the township, his mark is transferred to Henry Lockwood; which mark is two slits in the right ear." The oldest of these private marks for animals, recorded as No. I by Judge William Goforth, February 7, 1791, was "a penny on the left ear, and a half-penny the under side of the same." This is accompanied, as in other cases, by a diagram showing the form and position of these marks upon the ear. A leaf from one of the old justice dockets, bearing dates of August 22, 26, and 30, 1816, shows for what petty sums suits were sometimes brought in those days. In the case of William Irwin against Singer Smith, judgment was rendered against the defendant for two dollars. In that of Moses Kitchell vs. Christopher Leman, judgment was given the plaintiff for "the amount that I found between them," as the magistrate puts it—which amount was seventy-seven and three-fourths cents ! The "bale" and a witness in one of these cases was the well-known Isaac Giffin, who receives further notice under the head of Madisonville. He is but recently deceased, and is remembered, among other characteristics, for his inveterate habit of ruminating, or chewing his cud, the same as a cow. The following document is an interesting but rather painful reminder of its time, as showing for what trifling delinquencies an unlucky debtor could be lodged in prison. It is some satisfaction, in this particular case, that the endorsement upon this writ shows that the debt and costs were paid without recourse to the last resort of an infuriated or determined creditor. THE STATE OF OHIO, Hamilton County. To John Jones, Constable of Columbia Township, Greeting: WHEREAS John Armstrong, treasurer, obtained judgment against John and Rachel Withem, before me, a justice of the peace of said township, for a debt of two dollars eighty-three and one-half cents, and dollars cents costs, on the first day of June last. -- You are therefore commanded to levy the said debt and costs, and costs that may accrue, of the goods and chattels of the said John and Rachel Withem, by distress and sale thereof, returning the overplus, if any, to the said. John and Rachel Withem, but for want of such property whereon to levy, then take the said John and Rachel Withem to the jail of the county aforesaid, there to be detained until the said debts and costs that may accrue, shall be paid, or other wise legally discharged:. And of this writ make legal service and due return. Given under my hand and seal, this twenty-second day of April, in the year eighteen hundred and seventeen. ZACH. BRIGGS, Justice of the Peace. A justice in those days received four cents for swearing a witness, seven for issuing a subpoena, twelve and a half for a writ, and the same sum for rendering a judgment, except pro confess̊, when the fee seems to have been but ten cents. Constables realized twenty to thirty cents costs in a simple case; but a witness was allowed the extravagant sum of fifty cents for a day's attendance. The following is a partial transcript of the original pauper record of Columbia township, kindly made for this work by Louis W. Clason, esq., of Madisonville, to whom its readers are also indebted for many other favors. He has exhibited an interest and public spirit in the mat- HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 167 ter of recording and perpetuating local history, that are every way creditable to his intelligence and foresight. 1801. This book bought from Mr. Nathaniel Reeder, in Cincinnati, the second day of September, 1801, for the use of the overseeers of the Poor, Columbia Township, Hamilton County, North West of the River Ohio. The Price, one dollar and twenty-five cents, and this Book to be continued and to be delivered over to the next overseeers, and so on from year to year to the overseers for their use of said township. This Book bought by Wyleys Pierson and Joseph Reeder, overseeers of the Poor for Columbia Township, A. D., 1801. To the Commissioners for the County of Hamilton North West of the River Ohio. The overseers for the Township of Columbia and County aforesaid. This is to certify that on the fourth day of May, 1801, we sold Thomas McCormick, one of the poor of said Township, for one year, for fifty-one dollars and ninety-nine cents, George Galaspe, Sen., being the lowest bidder. Likewise, on the sixteenth day of May aforesaid, we sold Sarah Frier, one of the poor of the township, aforesaid for fifty-nine dollars, until the first Monday in May next, the lowest bidder being Susannah Price. Sold by us, Joseph Reeder, and Wyleys Pierson, overseeers of the poor for the township aforesaid. 1801. On the third Tuesday of November we held a town meeting to vote in Freeholders to audit the accounts of the overseers of the poor for the township of Columbia and County of Hamilton, which is to be done every year for the same purpose. On that day was voted in William Logan, Perry Cratchel, and John Mann. An account of money expended to maintain Moses Trader, according to an order obtained from two Justices of the Peace for that purpose 29th December, 1801. Paid Noah Strong for two weeks' board, at two dollars per week - $4.00 Paid Noah Strong for three weeks, at $1.50 per week - 4.50 Joseph Reeder allowed him one week - 1.00 9.50 3 Balance due - 6.50 Witness Joseph Reeder, - We have received in part three dollars to be Wyllys Pierson. -deducted as above. The above account for necessaries furnished the poor of Columbia Township, allowed by the Court the 2nd March, 1802. at six dollars and fifty cents. The above three dollars that we rec'd was from Major Benj'n Stites, a former overseer. 1802. Rec’d of Wyllys Pierson twenty-five cents, for searching record and making of the within account, 5th May, 1891, for John S. Gano, Clerk. JOHN ARMSTRONG. To the Commissioners of Hamilton County, North West of the River, Ohio. This is to certify that, on the third day of May, 1802, we sold Thomas McCormick, one of the poor of said Township, for one year, for the sum of fifty-two dollars, Robert Flack being the lowest bidder. Likewise we sold Sara Frier, one of the poor, for one year for seventy-five dollars on the same day as the above, the lowest bidder Susannah Price. Sold by us, Wylleys Pierson and Joseph Reeder, Overseers of the Poor, Columbia Township. 1802. May the 13th, then settled with the Trustees or auditors, and our accounts allowed by them; their names: Hamilton County, Columbia Township. Hamilton County. JOHN COMINGS, JOHN SEAMAN, JOSEPH MCCORMICK. Whereas Wylleys Pierson and Joseph Reeder, overseeers of the poor for the township of Columbia, both this day made complaint unto us, John Armstrong and William Brown, Esqrs., two of the justices of the county assigned to keep the peace; and hath reported that Jonathan Covington, of said township, is lying sick with a consumption and hath not enough to support himself; and these are therefore to require you, the said overseers, to administer relief to the said Covington in such manner as the law in such cases directs. In testimony whereof we have set our hands and fixed our seals at Columbia the 29th day of January, in the year 1803. JOHN ARMSTRONG. WILLIAM BROWN. To the Commissioners for the county of Hamilton, Northwest of the *River Ohio. Whereas we obtained an order from John Armstrong and William Brown, Esqrs., two of the Justices for said county aforesaid at Columbia, the 20th day of January, 5803, to sell one of the poor named Jonathan Covington, and we sold him on the eighth day of February, 1803, according to law, until the first Monday of May next, for twenty-three dollars and seventy-five cents, the lowest bidder being Elizabeth Ferris. Sold by us, Joseph Reeder and Wylleys Pierson. [On page five of the record I find the first entry of notice to depart the township.—L. W. C.] June 14th, 1806. A Warrant issued warning John Hannah to depart this Township. October 14. A Warrant issued warning Mary Highlands to depart this township. November 17. A Warrant issued warning Jonathan Narree to depart this township. [On page forty-nine I find the following entry.—L. W. C.] 24th. Raatis Evans brought from Columbia to James Johnson's, and died, at one dollar per day. The oldest graveyard in the present township of Columbia is at the foot of West Indian hill, on the premises of the Joseph Morton estate. It has not been used for more than half a century. Some of the first bodies interred therein were taken from Columbia village, as several members of the Ward family, who were among the first settlers in that region. About the same time with them came John Harbaugh, who seems to have been an inveterate enemy of the Wards, since he gave directions before his death that he should not be buried in the old cemetery, where their remains reposed, lest the devil, while searching for the body of a Ward, might make a mistake and get him! The first church built was probably that put up for the Duck Creek Baptist church in 1804. This society was a colony from the church in Columbia, and the secession created a church quarrel which makes considerable figure on the records of the Miami Baptist association. The difficulty was amicably settled by a council, however, before the next meeting of the association. The two earliest pastors were the Rev. William Jones, 1805-14, and Rev. John Clark, 1814-16. A STATION. One of the small fortified stations against the Indians, called Nelson's station, is mentioned hereafter in an account of Madisonville; but it makes very little figure in the annals of the early day, and we suspect was little more than an ordinary settlement, with perhaps some special preparations for defence. NOTES OF SETTLEMENT. The McFarland settlement was made in sections twenty-four and thirty, near the northwest corner of the township, in the spring of 1705, by Colonel John McFarland, an emigrant from Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He took here a tract of nearly one thousand acres, comprising the whole of the first-designated section and the east half of the second, upon which the village of Pleasant Ridge now stands in part. Near this site McFarland made his first clearing and put up his cabin, which he seems to have fortified somewhat, as it is sometimes remarked as being the last station established in Hamilton county. Life there was comparatively uneventful until some twelve years after the beginnings, when an incident 268 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. occurred which is well told in the language of John G. Olden, in his Historical Sketches and Early Reminiscences: In the year 1807, on what is now known as Norwood Heights, in the immediate neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge, and almost four miles south of the present village of Reading, then known as Voorheestown, there lived a man named Daniel Wolverton, with a family consisting of a wife and three children—Jemima, about six years of age; John, nearly four; and an infant but a few months old. They lived in an humble cabin on the spot of ground now occupied by the stately residence of Mr. John W. Siebern, a well-known merchant of Cincinnati. It was the afternoon of a pleasant autumn day that the two children, Jemima and John, by permission of their mother, went out into the woods to gather nuts. This was by no means an unusual occurrence; the children were accustomed to the woods, which at that day surrounded every cabin in the neighborhood—in fact, the whole country was one continued forest, except here and there a spot laid bare by the woodman's axe. The mother took little heed of her children until near the close of tile day, when, as twilight set in and they did not return, she grew anxious, and, going into the woods, called loudly for diem, but, receiving no answer, her mind became filled with forebodings of evil. Darkness now came, and the husband, who had been absent during the afternoon, having returned, both parents made diligent search through the adjacent woods. Again they called the names of their little ones, until their voices reached the neighboring cabins and alarmed the whole settlement; still no answer came, save the echo of their own voices. Soon the neighbors came and joined the parents, and the entire night was spent in a fruitless search. The woods throughout the settlement resounded with the voices of men and the firing of guns, but all to no purpose; morning came, but no tidings of the lost ones. The entire neighborhood was now alarmed, and a large assembly of people met at the cabin of the distressed parents and determined to continue the search. That the canvass might be. more thorough and cover a greater territory, they arranged that each person should go alone, or at most in couples. It was agreed also that each party should carry, what was then a common article in every cabin in the country, a 'dinner-horn,' which, it was agreed, should not be used until the children were found, and then the successful party should sound a blast that would be responded to by others, and thus the news be conveyed to all exploring parties, and reach as a joyous signal the almost distracted mother. This also served the purpose of keeping all parties upon the search, as all would know that so long as the horns were silent the object of their pursuit had not been found. Though small bands of Indians passed through the country occasionally, but little fears were entertained that the children had met with violence at their hands, for they were quite friendly. There was the greater danger from starvation, or death from fright or grief, or from the sting of the deadly serpent. The woods, too, abounded with wild animals. The wolf and the bear were regarded as dangerous ; and panthers, though not numerous, had been seen in sufficient numbers to brake them a terror to all mothers. With the knowledge that the children had been exposed to all these grave dangers for the entire night, little hope was left of finding them alive. Still, it was thought that whatever their fate, it was better to have it known and put all doubts at rest. Even should they have been devoured by wild animals, it was confidently hoped that at least a portion of their remains would be found within a circuit of a few miles. With these preparations and these. thoughts in their minds, the neighbors went forth again into the forest, some afoot and others on horseback, each party taking different direction's ; and it would now seem that a few hours would crown their efforts with success. But the day wore away, and evening came ; some of the hunters returned, bringing, however, no word of cheer to the grief-stricken parents. The footprints of the children had been seen and followed for some distance down a small ravine leading from the settlement into the Mill Creek valley ; but soon the tracks turned upon the high ground, after which all traces of them were lost, and, what appeared stranger still, the children had not been seen by any one, although quite a number of cabins must have been near the range of their travels. One of the neighbors, named Ralph Auten, had proposed in the outset to put his dog, a fine, noble-looking bloodhound and said to have been a very sagacious animal, on the track of the children, but this was objected to upon the supposition that should the dog find the children, he might attack, or at least frighten them seriously, so the project was abandoned. Notwithstanding the protest of his neighbors, however, Mr. Auten, on resuming the ,search in the evening, took with him his dog. A second night was spent in the forest, guns were again discharged and fires were kindled, but still the horns hung silent by the side of the hunters, and a pall of grief over the cabin of Daniel Wolverton. On the approach of morning Auten and his comrade found themselves on the hills east of Reading, near the present site of Mount Notre Dame. The dog had been absent for some time, but now returned and manifested a strange and unusual anxiety. He turned upon his master a sagacious look, and uttering a few whimpering barks, ran again into the forest, but soon returned to repeat his former expressions. The men followed, and had gone but a few hundred yards when they observed the dog leap upon the trunk of a fallen tree, and there sit uttering his plaintive whimperings. On reaching the tree there the men discovered the children lying huddled together, their legs partly covered with leaves. The signal blast was promptly given, which was taken up and responded to by others, and soon the monotone notes of the dinne sounded and reverberated through the forest, along the hills valley, until the glad tidings reached the home of the distressed parents, bringinging to their hearts for a moment a thrill of joy. These moments of gladness were brief, however, as a second thought saddened their hopes with alternate fears. The children had been found, there was little doubt—but, oh ! the momentous question, whether alive or dead, none could answer. The suspense that followed for an hour or more was intense and painful, not only to the father and mother of the little ones, but also to the multitude that had assembled to await the return of the successful party, and partake of the joy or sympathize in the grief of the parents. Finally Auten and his party returned and restored to the arms of the mother her babes, alive and, though suffering somewhat from fatigue and the effects of hunger, comparatively well. When found the children were in a state of partial stupor, though they did not seem to have suffered greatly from hunger. The men gave them water and they were somewhat revived, but they still appeared timid and nervous, and it was some time before Auten and his comrade could gain their confidence ; but on arriving home and receiving the proper care and nourishment they soon fully recovered. The little girl could give but an imperfect account of their adventure. The first night she said they walked until they became very tired, all the time expecting to reach home ; at last the little boy stopped and could go no further. They sat down under a tree and both cried until they fell asleep. When they awoke it was daylight, and they set out again for home. They ate some acorns and nuts and drank at a little stream. They again became tired and sat down by the fallen tree where they were found. The little boy complained of being cold and she gathered leaves and put around him.' At one time she heard people calling and saw them pass, but was too weak to answer. After this she remembered nothing more. Hezekiah Stites was born at Scotch Plains, New Jersey. His first settlement in Ohio was made in 1788, in Columbia township. He is said to have been the first actual settler in Hamilton county, was a farmer all his life, and his death occurred in Butler county. Hezekiah Stites, jr., was at first a trader in merchandise on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, going as far south as New Orleans. In 1835 he became identified with pork packers, and continued in that business until his death in 1860. He was a man of great business ability—securing a fine property by his own exertions—and was, like his father, respected by all who knew him. Charles F. Stites, his son, was born in 1831. He married Caroline Stites, daughter of Benjamin Stites, of Newark, New Jersey. He is now the owner of the old homestead, has abundant wealth, and is a worthy representative of the old family. Sampson McCullough was born in Chambersburgh, Virginia, but emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1795, where he first settled in Sycamore township. He came to this State as a surveyor, but in later years turned his attention to farming. He died in the township where he first settled, in 1819. His wife (Miss Rachel Saye) HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY. OHIO - 269 was born in 1780 and died in 1864. James M. McCullough, son or the preceding, was born in 1811. In 1838 he established the business of seeds merchant, with the present firm name of J. M. McCullough's Sons. Abner Mills was among the first who settled in Columbia township. He was born in New Jersey, and emigrated from there to Ohio. He died in the same township where he had first settled. Stephen Mills, his son, was born in 18o2. His business was always that of a farmer. His wife's name was Sarah Smith. Edward Mills, son of Stephen, was born in 1837. In 1869 he married Harriet Flynn, daughter of Stephen Flynn, and the same year built the fine residence where he now lives. Samuel Muchmore was born in Morristown, New Jersey, from which State he emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Columbia township in 1798. He followed the business of boating on the river to New Orleans, and died on his last trip to that city. He also did much at farming. His wife's name was Sarah Muchmore. His son John was the father of Eli L. Muchmore, who is now the only representative of the family alive. He lives on a part of the old homestead, and is called a worthy scion of the old stock. His birth occurred in the year 1823. For eight years during and after the war, he was township trustee, and has also held the office of district assessor and town clerk. Joseph Ferris, born in Fairfield county, Connecticut, emigrated from that State to Ohio, and settled in this township in 1799, where he died May 17, 1831. He followed farming, milling, and distilling- His wife's name was Priscilla Knapn. They have four children, all living at the old home—Andrew, C. K., Phoebe, and Joseph. Zadock Williams was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1798, and came from that State to Ohio with his parents when but two years of age. He has always lived in this township—is now eighty-three years old. His wife, born in 1802, is also living. They have six children living. Mr. Williams, in business a farmer, has always been an active and prominent man in the county. He has now a large property, and is well known and widely respected. Samuel Johnson settled in Hamilton county in 1801. He was born in Virginia in 1767. His wife's name was Rebecca Clark. She was born March 20, 1771. They married April 0, 1795, and have had nine children, only three of whom are living—Isaiah J., Merrit J., and Patsy Crain. Mr. Johnson died in 1847 and his wife in 1849. Isaiah Johnson, the subject of this sketch, was born February 9, 1812. His wife's name was Catherine Woodruff. She was born March 15, 1819. She was the daughter of Samuel Woodruff. They have seven children living. He has always followed farming, and is a man well known and respected. Albert Cortelyou first settled at Reading, Hamilton county, among the first. He was born in New Jersey in 1807, and emigrated from New Jersey to Ohio, and died in Sycamore township in 1863. He was a leading farmer and much respected. His wife's name was Margaret VanPelt John Cortelyou was born in 1824, was married in a851 to Martha Kennedy, daughter of John W. Kennedy. In i866 he bought the place known as the Wood farm, near Pleasant Ridge—building the fine home where he now lives. W. H. Moore first settled in Columbia township in 1811. He was born in Winchester, Virginia, in 1787, and emigrated from that State to Ohio. He died in Columbia township in 1879. He was engaged in the garden and nursery business. He was in the war of 181 2, was on the muster roll as "William Moore," and was magistrate for about fifteen years. His wife, Mary Moore, was born in New Jersey in 1794, and died in 1876. There are eight of the eleven children living. T. A. Moore was born in 1824, and has always lived in Columbia township, and now owns the old He has never married, is well known throughout the county and respected. Joseph Muchmore, grandfather of Elias G. Muchmore, settled in Columbia township in 181i. His wife's name was Rhoda Muchmore. They had a family of eight children, only one of whom is living at the present time—Mary Heer, of this township. David Muchmore, son of the preceding, was the father of Elias G. There are four of the family of five children to which he belonged living, all in Columbia township. E. G. Muchmore married Mehitable Hetzler, daughter of Jacob Hetzler, of Wyoming county, and has followed the business of farming. In 1867 he established his present business, and has charge of the M. and C. R. R. station. In 1867 he was appointed postmaster, which office he now holds. They have seven children living and twenty-six grandchildren. Hiram Smith and his father, Abraham Smith, first settled in Columbia township, in 1815. The latter was born in Pennsylvania in 1775, and emigrated from Virginia to Ohio. He died in Spencer township in 1815. He followed farming and trading on the river as far as New Orleans. His wife's name was Elizabeth Muchmore. She was born in New Jersey in 1788 and died in 1868. Hiram was born in 1810. In 1832 he married Elizabeth Babbett, daughter of Samuel Babbett, of Columbia township. They have two children living. B. F. Smith was born in 1833 in this township. He is a farmer, and is living on the old homestead, well known and greatly respected. Daniel McGrew, who first settled in Sycamore township in 1815, was born in Ireland, and emigrated from that country to Ohio. He is now living, at the age of sixty-five. Henry McGrew was born in 1842 in Sycamore township. He graduated in medical surgery in 1875. In 1877 he graduated at the Bellevue Hospital and Medical College in New York City. In 1875 he took charge of the County Infirmary, remaining in charge two years. In 1878 he came to Pleasant Ridge, where he is still practising. A. S. Butterfield's father, John Butterfield, first settled in Cincinnati about 1818. He was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and emigrated from that State to Ohio, where he died in the year 1822. He was a carpenter by trade. His wife's name was Elizabeth Emerson. A. S. Butterfield was born in 1822, and married Ann M. Hatch in 1838. He established himself in the busie 270 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. ness of saddlery on Main street, in 1867, and built the residence where he now lives at Madisonville. In 1864 and 1865 he represented the eighteenth ward in the city council of Cincinnati. Joseph Suttle first settled in Cincinnati in 1818. He was born in England in 1791, and emigrated from England to Ohi0. He died in this township October, 1837. He was a blacksmith and whitesmith in Cincinnati in his earlier days, later he moved to Columbia township, and became a farmer. His wife, Hannah, was born in 1800, and is still living, eighty years old. George J. Suttle, son of the preceding, married Caroline Nash, daughter of Samuel Nash, of Hamilton county, She died in 1858, and Mr. Suttle has never married again. He has secured a fine property, and is well known and respected by a large circle of friends. Mark Langdon came to Hamilton county in 1819. He was born in England. His wife, Sarah Graham, was born in England, and died in Hamilton county in 1846. The surviving members of the family are Joseph, Samuel L., Elizabeth Mills and William C. Samuel Langdon, son of the above, was born in Mill Creek township in 1823. He married Martha J. Lyon, daughter of James Lyon. They have four children. William Durrell first settled in Mill Creek township in 1820. He was born in Bangor, Maine, in 1804, and emigrated from that State to Ohio. He is still living at the age of seventy-seveh. His business has been farming and teaming. His wife's name was Ann Phillips. She was born in 1805, and died in 1876. There are four children living. H. C. Durrell was born in 1826, and in 1852 he married Harriet Wood. For a number of years he was in thelumber business in Cincinnati, now he has a fine farm, and gives his attention mostly to farming. Anthony Brown settled in Columbia township in 1831. He was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1809, and emigrated from England to Ohio. He has followed the business of farming. In 1870 and 1871 he served as township trustee, for about one half the time for the last twenty years has been one of the supervisors, also one of the school directors for about the same length of time. John H. McGowan first settled in Cincinnati in 1838. He was born in Aberdeen, emigrated from Michigan to Ohio, and died in Cincinnati in 1870. He held offices under the territorial government of Michigan. His wife's name was Amelia Hayes. She was born in 1804. There are five children living. John H. McGowan was born in 1830. Thomas French first settled in Cincinnati in 1840. He was born in England, but emigrated from New York to Ohio. He is yet living. In 1840 he commenced the dairy business, at the place now known as the "Zoological gardens." His wife, Ann N., was also born in England. They have six children. The business is now owned and conducted by his sons in Columbia township. It is the largest in the county. They have conducted their business in such a way as to secure the confidence of all. They have many friends, and are gentlemen in every, sense of the word. Otis Hidden is a native of Caledonia county, Vermont, born in 1821. In early manhood he resided in the province of Ontario, Canada, whence he removed to Cincinnati in 1847. Here he was engaged as bookkeeper for Henry Marks & Company, R. M Pomeroy & Company, C. Oskamp, and others, until 1841, when he engaged in his present business as dealer in upholstery goods and cabinet hardware, and specialties in carriage trimmings, as a partner with the firm of E. L. Higdon & Company. In 1874, the name and style of the firm was changed to Hidden & Lounsberry, which it still retains. He bears a high reputation in all his business and social relations. His wife's maiden name was Maria L. Neblett. She was born in Prince George county, Virginia. Thomas Swift first settled in Columbia township in 1850. He was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1830, and emigrated from England to Ohio, where he died in Columbia township in 1860. He was a blacksmith by trade. His wife's maiden name was Ann Simpkinson. There are six children living. His son, John Swift, born in 1830, was engaged in the boot and shoe business in Cincinnati for a number of years. He married Miss Williams, daughter of William Williams, of Cincinnati. They have two children, Josephine and Rebecca. Thomas White first settled in Cincinnati in 1852. He was born in Durham county, England, and emigrated from there to Ohio. He died in Cincinnati in 1868. He established the marble and granite works at No. 255 Fifth street, Cincinnati. His wife's name was Martha English. She was born in 1812 and died in 1870. There are five of the children living, all in Hamilton county. Alfred, son of Thomas White, was born in England in 1835. At the age of seventeen years he came to Hamilton county. In 1857 he became one of the firm known as T. White & Sons, now known as Alfred White. He has steadily increased the business, until, at the present time, it stands at the head. He is now introducing the polishing of granite, a work which was first introduced by Mr. White, and for which he deserves great credit. Mr. White has a son, twenty-two years old, who he soon expects will be a member of the firm, under the old name of White & Son. Leonard Fowler settled in Columbia township. He was born in England in 1818, and emigrated from England to Ohio. His business has been that of a turnpike contractor. His wife's name is Eliza. He has now secured a fine competence, and has held the position of township trustee for two years. CAMDEN CITY. This village is on the Little Miami railroad and Cincinnati and Wooster turnpike, on the west side of section twenty-three, a mile and a half from the north line of the township. It was laid out in the year 1857 by William Winters. GRAVELOTTE. This station on the Little Miami railroad, less than a mile southwest of Camden, was platted in 1873 by Mr. Thomas R. Riggs, upon whose extensive property on section twenty-eight it is situated. HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO - 271 INDIAN HILL. This famous locality, which is not a village, although covered with a quite numerous population, is an eminence or ridge one to three miles northeast of Madisonville, and between Camden City and Madeira Station, on the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, which passes to the west of it. Many fine views are commanded from points upon this hill, and some beautiful residences are built upon it. Here, it is said, the celebrated Ives Seedling grape took its origin. An extensive experiment was made of it upon Indian Hill by Colonel Waring in 1864, by which a profit of two thousand dollars per acre was realized. The tables were turned the next year, howver, when there was almost a total failure of the grape throughout the Miami country. The name of this highland was derived from the sim pie circumstance of the burial of an Indian upon it, as is more fully related further on in these pages. MADEIRA. This is the last station on the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, before it leaves the township in its course northeastward. The village is situated a little south of the Sycamore township line, on the dividing line df sections six and twelve, just half way across the township from east to west. It was laid out in 1871 by Messrs. J. L. Hosbrook and J. D. Moore. They immediately began building and otherwise improving. A post office and railway station had previously existed here, taking their name from John Madeira, treasurer of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, who owned a large tract of land in the neighborhood. A Methodist Episcopal church building was erected here in 1873—a neat frame structure, thirty by forty feet. There is also a Presbyterian society here, meeting once a month. An Odd Fellows' lodge, also a lyceum, in due time became established institutions. The population of the place in 1880 was one hundred and ninety-nine. One of the first purchasers of land in this part of the township was John Jones, who in 1795 secured two or three tracts from Judge Symmes. David Black, in 1796, bought hereabout three hundred and twenty acres, or a half-section, for two hundred and thirteen dollars. Lewis Woodruff also bought a large tract, which he leased in ten-acre lots for terms of ten years, conditioned that the lessee should clear the ground, erect a dwelling, and plant an orchard. The wolves and panthers were specially troublesome here in the old days, while the deer devoured the wheat. Bear-hunts were quite common. Other early settlers in this region were Boltzelle, David McGaughy, Major Joseph Mann (who did a great deal in his day to develop the Madison and Camargo turnpike enterprise), Thomas Stearns, sen., 'Squire Clason, Oliver Jones, Jacob Heltzler, and. the Hosbrooks. Some of these receive due notice elsewhere in this chapter. The progenitor of the Hosbrooks in this township—grandfather of one of the founders of Madeira—was Daniel, who in the winter season, when the woods were almost impassable through deep snows, went to Columbia for salt, missed his way on his return and was frozen to death. The following incident is related in Nelson's Suburban Homes, from which we derive many of these facts, of Hon. Daniel Hosbrook. His son, the younger Hosbrook, was several times member of the legislature from Hamilton county, and at one time sheriff. His early life was considerably spent in teaching, and the anecdote relates one of his experiences in-that profession : An incident in his history as a teacher is worth mentioning. Like many of his profession in those days, he was "barred out." Finding himself on the wrong side of the door one morning, at the time school should have been opened, he suspected mischief, and, after ineffectual attempts to gain an entrance, began to parley with the enemy. A council was proposed, but indignantly rejected by the occupants of the stronghold. Nothing short of an unconditional surrender and an indemnity of "apples and cider" would be accepted by the belligerents on the otner side. Determined to regain possession, the governor issued a manifesto, which resulted in bringing over to his side One of the ringleaders, named Haywood. and his ring. Encouraged by this success, he nailed down the windows securely, fastened the doors, and covered the chimneys. The result will be conjectured. The magnanimous victor stood the treat and cured the boys of a bad custom. MADISONVILLE. Madisonville, or rather Madison, as it was originally called, was laid out upon the north part of school section No. 16, in fractional range two, township four, as soon as the lands, under the old system of leases, were made available. A considerable settlement had already gathered upon and about the spot; and when, January 27, 1809, the legislature passed an act providing for the disposition of the school sections, the people of this locality lost little time in proceeding to act thereon. The record of the survey of the town is dated March 30, 1809. John Jones, esq., William Armstrong, and Felix Christman, were chosen trustees for the purpose of platting the village and disposing of the lots; and Moses Morrison was their clerk. Joseph Reeder, Joseph Clark, and Ezekiel Lamard, were appointed to fix the valuation of the ground. William Darling was surveyor; Jeremiah Brand and Joseph Ward senior chain carriers; Nathaniel Ross senior marker. After the survey the following announcement was made : NOTICE. The conditions on which lots will be let or leased are as follows, viz : Lot No. r on the first block of lots will be first offered, and so on in rotation, at the appraisement, and the highest bidder shall be the lessee. Six per cent. on what they bid will be the sum they pay annually, paying the first payment on the first day of April next. There will be required of the lessee bond and security for the building of a house at least eighteen by twenty feet, of good hewed logs, frame, stone, or brick, at least one and a half stories high, with a stone or brick chimney and a good shingle roof, within two years from the date of his lease. Any person bidding off two lots will be excused by building one house of the above description, the four corner lots excepted. Any person not complying with the terms of the articles of sale shall forfeit and pay to the trustees the sum of five dollars. The lessee will pay in proportion the expense of laying out and blazing, etc. By order, etc., 34th April, 1809. MOSES MORRISON, clerk. N. B. The trustees will meet at the houes of Willis Pierson, on the first day of May next, in order to execute leases. The same day of the date of this notice—April 24, 1809, entries of first sales were made in the minute book of the trustees, which has been preserved, as follows: Block 1. Lot 1. William Cooper bought--forfeited - $10 " 2. William and John Armstrong bought - 21  “ Lot 3 Ditto - 31 " 4. Thomas Skinner - 20 " 5. - Ditto - 18 272 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. Minimum values had been fixed upon these lots by the valuers as follows: Lot one, ten dollars; two and three, each five dollars; four and five, each three dollars and fifty cents. The expenses of first sales, etc., to May r, 1809, are noted in the minute book as fourteen dollars and seventy-five cents. Amount of interest on sale of lots for the first year, fifteen dollars and thirty-four cents. The new town was named Madison, in honor of James Madison, who had just been inaugurated President of the United States. It afterwards, in 1826, became necessary to change the name to some other designation, he rules of the Post Office Department, which do not ore than one post office of the same name in a State; and the present name was chosen instead. The old title is retained, however, in designation of the Madison turnpike and otherwise. The following is a true copy of memoranda of the first election, etc., on record: Trustees on business since last dividend, 4th May, 1818: Clks amt for making duplicate. Joseph Clark—IIIIIII 1 for 29-1818 - $3.00 W. Armstrong—IIIIII11 for 16-1818 - 3.00 W. Butler-IIII 1 for 16-1819 - 2.00 Agreed to meet on business on the 15th May 1819 at to oak, The following extracts from the minutes will also be read with interest. The old spelling is retained: Dec. 27 Joseph Clark met David McGawghey at his own house, in order to attend to some business between Aurthur StC. Miller and Samuel W. Philps. Lewis Drake also attended and received of said Philps, for rent charged on lots held formerly by said Miller the sum of $106.90, which satisfies for the same up to the 1st of this instant. There is six acres of farm No. 9, and one acre of farm No. 8 to be charged to W. H. Moore. April 11th, 182o, the trustees met at the house of James Wood, in order to settle with him as treasurer, and made some progress therein, and agreed to meet again on the 14th at Madison, to finish said settlement. 14th. The trustees met at Madison, proceeded with the settlement with Wood, but could not finish it, and agreed to meet the next day at 8 o'clock A. M. Wm. Butler furnished half a quire of paper. For the following interesting reminiscences of Madisonville matters, we are again indebted to Mr. Nelson's work on Suburban Homes: Following closely after the record of town officers is the record of leases, showing that the accruing rents were to be applied to school purposes.. These leases were drawn for' ninety-nine years, the first being from John Jones, Felix Grossman, and William Armstrong, on behalf of the town, to William and John Armstrong. Three years ago [in 1871] the last of these leases were canceled and surrendered to the State, and deeds exchanged; and while we were in the office a question arose as to what disposition should be made of a sum of money received the same day on account of one of said leases. Town lots were laid out on the 10th of April, 1809. The first election in the township was held in the old homestead now owned and occupied by Eli Muchmore, then the property of his grandfather, Eli S. Muchmore. When Mr. Muchmore landed in Cincinnati, he had sufficient means to purchase the whole tract upon which it now stands; but fearing it would be a sickly place, he chose to purchase -a tier of sections in adjoining townships. Madison was at one time noted for the number of its distilleries, which used to attract large gatherings from the surrounding country, and be the occasion of much jollity and, dissipation. Men would spend Weir time in gaming, and with outdoor manly and unmanly sports, until the affair would break up in a general Donnybrook fair. Traces of the distilleries seem to have disappeared, which was accounted for on the ground that, as soon as transportation for grain and pork was opened up, the corn that had been shipped in the compact form of whiskey brought higher prices in bulk and in pork: Vestiges of the tanning business remain, one of which we noticed on a piece of ground recently purchased by Colonel White. Madison was also the home of several men who became distinguished members of the body politic. Among them we may mention Dr. Alexander Duncan, a well-known member of congress, who disappointed his democratic friends by stepping over to free soil. One who made his mark and his money in the insurance business, when there was money in it, was Louis Clason, who was well 'town in Cincinnati. Madison was also the early home of James Whitcomb, who was afterward governor of Indiana. Old citizens tell some amusing stories about the youth of this intrepid lawyer and statesman. One of these relates to his love for and devotion to piscatory pursuits, which were so strong as to render him oblivious to the condition of his U. 'let. Linen would frequently display itself where it was impossible or one so abstracted to be conscious of it, and where its obtrusion was sure to excite flu, laughter of bystanders; but that circumstance did not interfere with his success as an amateur sportsman and an enterprising vender of fresh fish. He made money enough to buy himself books, and enable him to attend school; worked hard and studied harder; was a keen lawyer and active politician; and so literally raised himself from penury to the highest office of the State. He afterward became a member of the United States senate, where sickness overtook him, and he died. Contemporaneous with the history of Madison is that of the history of some of the surviving citizens, from one of whom, William Moore, we received much valuable information. Mr. Moore is eighty-seven years of age, and bids fairly to approximate to the century. He is a lively and intelligent conversationist, and retains dates and events with remarkable tenacity. When examining the records we found him generally accurate, and noticed that he could repeat verbatim the long forms and awkward phraseology of the early leases. He came from Virginia and made Madison his home in 1811, when there were about twenty buildings in the town. At one time he kept a tavern, at another a country store; then he managed successively a brickyard and a nursery. He also seems to have made the circuit of all the town and township offices, from constable to magistrate. As clerk, the boobs show that he made creditable records; as a citizen, his record seems 4, Ate as clear and creditable. The oldest citizen is Samuel Earhart, who was born January 33, 1784 Next to him is Esquire Isaac Giffin, born August 34, 1785. Mrs. Hattie Ward is the same age as Mr. Moore. Mrs. Duncan, Ayres Bramble, Colonel I. F. Waring, and Timothy Maphet, are all respectively about seventy-five years of age. During a pleasant interview with Mr. Bramble many interesting facts were elicited regarding the early settlements, and some anecdotes, of which we can give only a few. Mr. Bramble's father and family, with three other families, emigrated from Barnsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, taking with them in their boat of twelve by twenty-four, a horse, a cow, and a " big black dog." Ti e entire wealth of the company was represented in one hundred dollars Spanish silver coin; and that was the property of Mr. Bramble. They arrived in safety near the mouth of the Little Miami, but the broken character of the land and the sickly hue of the settlers discouraged Mr. Bramble for the time being, so he waited by the river side for a passing keel-boat to take him back to his old home. While waiting in a state uncertainty, a proposition was made to him to settle near the present site of Madison, which he accepted. Houses being scarce, he was obliged to take up his residence for the first six months in an unfinished log church, which was without doors and windows. That year a heavy snow-storm was experienced about the first of October, which compelled him to seek more comfortable quarters. It was an early winter, but 1806 was remarkable for strange freaks of nature. That year, February the 7th proved to be the coldest day ever experienced in this latitude. Old settlers talk of it as "cold Friday," in contradistinction to ordinary cold winter days; and in 1806 was the great eclipse. Mr. Bramble distinctly remembers his being present at the raising of the first log house in Madison, which took place in 1809, when he was ten years of age. The building was afterwards used as a hotel, and was kept by Colonel William Perry, from Kentucky, an enterprising citizen, who seldom allowed himself to be sober. 6, The following year, 1810, was remarkable for the tide of immigration that set in from the adjoining State, Kentucky. Thousands of the colored inhabitants, black and brown, abandoned their homes, swam the river, and landed on the fertile bottoms of the Ohio. They came unarmed, without sword or spear, musket or ammunition, or other munitions of-war than those bestowed upon them by nature. Immediately on landing they dispersed among the woods, prepared themselves log cabins or built more temporary structures, and set up housekeeping. Nothing could be more peaceable than their intentions.. No class of citizens could have been more active, industrious, frugal, or cleanly in their habits. But, though as a class HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY. OHIO - 273 they were conceded to be productive, in political economy tbey were ranked as non-producers, and accordingly were dobmed to suffer persecution. Then every white man was a Granger. Middlemen had not yet found their way out west; so war was immediately declared against the intruders, and every man, woman, and child arrayed themselves against these unarmed and inoffensive immigrants. War to the knife, bitter, relentless, exterminating war was waged, and speedily raged. From the township the war sentiment extended to the county; from the county to the State; until the legislature actually passed a law for the extinction of the races, black and brown, indiscriminately. Every atrocity then practiced and encouraged; and scalping commanded a high premium. In 1811, the payment of taxes in squirrel pelts was legalized, In 1811 was also the great earthquake, which rent the foundations of the first frame house built in Madison—one erected by Paddy McCollum, a man of note at the time. Whether the earthquake had anything to do with the act of legislature and subsequent slaughter, our informant did not say. As might be expected, the schools of that day were not conducted with the highest degree of efficiency. Mr. Bramble's teacher was an Irishman named John Wallace, who was intoxicated half his time, and would play ball with the boys half the balance. In proof of that Mr. Bramble said he attended .school five winters before he got out of his "Abs." Mr. Bramble was both a farmer and a trader in his boyhood, and sold corn and potatoes at ten cents a bushel in Cincinnati. Then property was equally cheap. School section sixteen was under lease to farmers and others, and the lease of a tract of forty acres of it was sold in 1810 for a ploughshare, then for a barrel of whiskey, and afterwards to Mr. Bramble for sixty dollars. One of the early incidents of the settlement was the killing of two of the citizens by the Indians—a brother of Captain Giffin; and a father and son named Paul were out in search for hogs when discovered by the Indians, who gave chase, overtook Giffin and shot him, and afterwards shot the elder Paul. Young Paul could have made his escape with little trouble, as the station was near; but, anxious to save his father, he stopped in shelter of the trees, and with his rifle kept the Indians at bay as long as his father's strength held out. The latter finding escape hopeless sent his son off, and resigned himself to his fate. Another incident of a later date took place east of Madison, when the victim was an Indian. West of Madison was a station known as Nelson's, where were horses pasturing. A party of Indians on their way toward the hills rode off with some of these, one of which was hoppled. Nelson and others of the fort made pursuit, but failed in overtaking any except the one on the hoppled horse, whom Nelson shot when near the site of the present residence of Esquire Clason. There the Indian was buried, and the circumstance turned to account by naming the place Indian hill. Esquire Clason says that many years afterward the grave was discovered by accident, and the jawbone secured as a relic in his family. Judging from the relic, he says, the Indian must have been a giant in proportions. One of the few mechanics of the place was Jeremiah Brand, a plow-maker, and the best in the county. Brand was an industrious, honest Workman, and a good citizen; and, even for the times, primitive in his habits and his wardrobe. He never wore shoes, and so contrived his nether garment that a single button sufficed to maintain it in its proper position. That button was alike remarkable for its size, brilliancy, and conspicuity. In Brand's time a local law was enacted requiring every man attending meeting to bring his musket and ammunition, or pay a fine of one dollar. This was pretty hard on poor Brand, who was perfectly innocent of the use of firearms. What did he want with a musket, when he was as fleet-footed as an Indian? But he went to meeting —was duly fined in his dollar, and as duly absented himself therefrom until the author of the objectionable law remitted his fine. Brand died in 1856. MADISONVILLE. Madisonville, or rather Madison, as it was originally called, was laid out upon the north part of school section No. 16, in fractional range two, township four, as soon as the lands, under the old system of leases, were made available. A considerable settlement had already gathered upon and about the spot; and when, January, 27, 1809, the legislature passed an act providing for the disposition of the school sections, the people of this local ity lost little time in proceeding to act thereon. The record of the survey of the town is dated March 30, 1809. John Jones, esq., William Armstrong, and Felix Christman, were chosen trustees for the purpose of platting the village and disposing of the lots; and Moses Morrison was their clerk. Joseph Reeder, Joseph Clark, and Ezekiel Lamard, were appointed to fix the valuation of the ground. William Darling was surveyor; Jeremial Brand and Joseph Ward, senior chain carriers; and Nathaniel Ross, senior marker. The plat of Madisonville was not recorded until May 27, 1829. The village was incorporated under the old law, about ten years afterwards—March 16, 1839; and under the present State constitution, a certificate of incorporation was filed with the secretary of State, February 11, 1876. The growth of the town was naturally slow, in its early day, under the circumstances of its inland position and the absence of means of rapid transit to the city; and it had but two hundred and eighty-five inhabitants, or a little more than one-tenth the population of the entire township in 1830. In 1841 it received notice in the State Gazette as containing four hundred inhabitants, with one hundred dwellings, five stores, one brick meeting-h0use, a two-story school-house, a brick seminary or academy, and a daily mail. Its largest growth has been received since the completion of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad in 1866, which induced a considerable emigration from the city to a place possessing so many superior advantages for suburban residence. It is fifteen miles from the Madisonville station to the depot of this road in Cincinnati. The first church organized here was of the Methodist Episcopal faith, and the Madison circuit was organized at least as long ago as 1820. In that year Elder Henry Baker and Rev. William H. Raper were appointed to it; in 1821 Elder A. Wiley and William P. Quinn; the next year, James Jones and James Murray; the next, J. Stewart and Nehemiah B. Griffith; and the next, Elder John F. Wright and Thomas Hewson. Those were days of rapid rotation in the Methodist ministry. A new church was built by the Madisonville society in 1857, forty by sixty feet, with four hundred sittings, and costing ten thousand dollars. It was long the only Protestant church building in town. A parsonage has since been added, worth about five thousand dollars. The Catholic church is built upon the addition made to the town by its former pastor, the Rev. Father A. Walburg, who reserved a lot for it and a parochial school, and also bore the major part of the expense of its construction—about fourteen thousand dollars. It is known as St. Anthony's church, and the congregation is now ministered to by the Rev. H. Stoppelman. Other and generally prosperous societies in Madisonville are the Literary and Musical association, the Young Folks' Benevolent society, for literary and social culture, and to provide for the poor; the Free and Accepted Masons, and the Odd Fellows, who are strong here, and own a property of an estimated value of fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. The most notable institution, how- 35 274 - HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO. ever, is the Literary and. Scientific society, which, as indicated above, is really doing quite remarkable work in the department of archaeology. April 1, 1879, the work upon ancient remains in the ancient cemetery near Lind which had previously been done somewhat irregularly   ,individuals, was systematically undertaken by his sock., he expense of investigation is now shared by the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, and the collections made are divided between the societies. The Professor E. B. Andrews, who was proficient in these matters, expressed the view that the discoveries in this cemetery would direct attention to a new line of investigation, and that explorations for the remains of these prehistoric people would not in the future be confined to opening mounds. The officers of the society in 188o were: H. B. Whetsel, Norwood S. F. Covington, vice-president; E. A. Conkling, treasurer; Charles F. Low, secretary; Charles_L. Metz, M. D., superintendent. Madisonville was incorporated as a village in the year 1876. The first officers were Louis W. Clason, mayor; Calvin Fay, clerk; George J. Settle, marshal; Timothy Maphet, W. W. Peabody, Michael Buckel, William Settle, James Julien, and Louis Cornwelle, councilmen. The place had one thousand two hundred and forty-seven inhabitants by the census of 1880. MONTAUK. This village is eligibly situated at society, whichnecting the station on the Little Miami railroad nearest to Milford, Clermont counarchaeologylford. It is in the northeast corner of fractional section twenty-three, on the Little Miami river and railroad, and within half a mile of Camden City. It was laid out in 1840, while the railroad was in progress, by Messrs. Joseph Longworth, Larz Anderson, R. M. Shoemaker, and L. E. Brewster. MOUNT LOOKOUT. This is a pleasant suburban locality, just at the northwest corner of the city, where the Observatory of the University of Cincinnati is situated, on the road from Walnut Hills, Woodburn, and O'Bryanville to the Red Bank station. The Mt. Lookout building association, for the improvement and development of this suburb, was incorporated June 10ro, 1871. It has a fine pleasure-park, owned by a private company; and a new Methodist Episcopal church was put up in the vicinity, in the fall and early winter of 1880, and dedicated December 5th of that year, with services by Bishops Wiley and Warren. NORWOOD. This beautiful and noted suburb was formerly known in part as Sharpsburgh. It is on the Montgomery turnpike, and the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, in the northwest part of section thirty-four, near the west line of the township. Some of the ground near, as that upon which the celebrated mound is situated (Norwood Heights), is among the most elevated in the county. It was projected in 1870 by some well-known residents and Cincinnatians—Colonel P. P. Lane, Judge James McCullough, S. H. Parvin, the well-known advertising agent, Samuel Bolles, and Moses Buxton. Eighty-two acres were laid off in spacious and elegant building tracts of one to six acres; and the quarter of an acre containing the mound was sacredly reserved, after the praiseworthy precedent set to all who appreciate the value of all such interesting relics of antiquity, by the colonists of Marietta. For many years Judge McCullough was accustomed, with the annual recurrence of Independence day, to invite large parties to the free use of his house and beautiful grounds at. Norwood, serving them, also a generous and gratuitous collation. OAKLEY. This place, a mile and a half south-southwest of Norwood, and something less from the northwest corner of Cincinnati, being just a mile from the Observatory, began to be considered a suburb of considerable importance by 1867, soon after the completion of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad. It was not regularly laid out, however, until 1870, when Mr. Theodore Drake had the place surveyed and platted. It is beautifully situated upon the railroad named, upon the margin of the great interior valley mentioned in our description of the township, and is also conveniently reached by the Madison pike, being only five miles from the county court house, in the city. Its site was formerly owned by Anthony Brown, who sold it to Paul Shuster. Among its flourishing institutions have been the Literary and Musical society, and the Oakley Coterie. By the census of 1880 the village had two hundred inhabitants. PLAINVILLE is a popular country village and suburb of Cincinnati, on fractional section three, almost due north of Newton, in Anderson towns1840,with which it is connected by a substantial wagon and foot bridge, an excellent road, and a plank sidewalk about a mile long. It is also on the Little Miami river, the railroad alongnorthwest and the Cincinnati and Wooster turnpike. It was laid out in 1853, by Edward P. Cranch, Nelson Cross, and A. R. Spofford. By the tenth'Bryanvillead two hundred people. PLEASANT RIDGE. This is the northernmost village in the township, except Madeira station, from which it is distant straight across the country, about four miles. It is on the south side of section thirty, a mile from the northern township line and a mile and a half from the western. The Montgomery pike intersects it about two miles northeast of Norwood and five miles from Montgomery; and it is also intersected by the old Columbia and Reading road, thus making an important "cross-roads of the village. It became a post office as early as 1832. The characteristics of the place, physical and other, are well indicated by its name. This is an ancient neighborhood for white settlement. In 1791 or '92 one of the Columbia pioneers named Ferris, father of A. W. Ferris, of Montgomery station, cut his way through the woods from Columbia to this