900 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY earlier years he held the office of councilman and at one time was police commissioner. He was chairman of the Montgomery county executive committee for a number of year's and his efforts in behalf of republican success were far-reaching and effective. He was instrumental in organizing the Garfield Club and aside from this he belonged to the Knights of Pythias and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In Dayton, on the 28th of December, 1868, Dr. Lowes was married to Miss Melozena Bosler, the only daughter of Dr. Jacob Bosler, whose practice he assumed when he first came to Dayton. The death of Mrs. Lowes occurred in March, 1870. Their only daughter, Isabella Bateman, born February 25, 1870, was married October 30, 1889, to John R. Mann, at Brantford, Canada. In February, 1878, Dr. Lowes was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Emma J. Wheeler, a daughter of Ira and Mary Robbins, of Union county, Ohio. The children of this marriage are : Alberta, Who was born December I., 1879, and was married October 16, 1900, to Ralph E. Deweese, of Dayton; and Joseph E., who was born November 15, 1883, and was married January 25, 1905, to Mary F. Schaeffer, of Dayton. The husband and father died May 24, 1905, at Pasadena, California. His death brought a sense of personal bereavement to the entire community, for he had been most active in its public life and had won many friends throughout the period of his residence here. Not the good that comes to us but the good that comes to the world through us is the measure of our success, and when judged in this light, Dr. Joseph E. Lowes was an extremely successful man. He founded and developed some of the most important enterprises of Dayton but it was not alone the extent of his business interests th.a.t entitled him to distinction. The course that he followed in all of his business relations might well serve as an example to others, while the spirit which he displayed in all of his relations to his fellowmen gave him a strong hold on their affectionate regard. He did much toward molding public thought and action during the years of his residence here and at all times he was actuated by high ideals of citizenship and of patriotism. GEORGE MONROE LEOPOLD. George Monroe Leopold, lawyer and lawmaker, whose ability as a practitioner has gained him a foremost place at the Dayton bar, was born on a farm near Trotwood, Montgomery county, Ohio, August 22, 1864. The ancestral history of the family is traced back to Germany, the birthplace of his great-grandfather who, crossing the Atlantic to America, became a resident of North Carolina in the eighteenth century. George Leopold, the grandfather, was born in North Carolina but spent the greatcr part of his life in Maryland and Virginia. He was educated for the ministry but in 1849 left his church work to join the great body of people who were making their way to California, attracted by the discovery of gold on the Pacific slope. There he remained until 1870, when he came to Ohio to visit his son Charles W., with whom he remained for about a year. He then returned to the west, where his remaining days were passed. DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 903 Charles W. Leopold, the only son of George Leopold, was born in Maryland in 1833 but was reared in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, his mother dying at his birth. At the time of the Civil war he joined the Confederate army as a member of General "Stonewall" Jackson's foot cavalry. He was captured at the second battle of Bull Run and, following his release, came to Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1863. Here he has since been identified with general agricultural pursuits, establishing his home near Trotwood. While in Virginia he married Miss Lucretia Lutz, a native of the Old Dominion. Her father, however, was a native of the Keystone state, his family having been Pennsylvania Dutch and in early life he removed to Virginia. Mrs. Leopold still survives at the age of sixty-nine years. George M. Leopold was the third in a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters. His youthful days were spent on his father's farm and he was early trained to the work of the fields, lessons of industry and economy being strongly impressed upon his mind during his boyhood days. Through the winter months he pursued his education in the district schools to the age of thirteen years, when he was able to provide himself with books and other necessaries and attended school more regularly, applying himself closely to the mastery of the branches taught. His aptitude enabled him to qualify for teaching when he was in his seventeenth year and for seven years thereafter he followed that profession in Montgomery county. During this time he devoted his leisure hours for one year to the study of medicine, thinking to become a physician, but two years before he abandoned the teacher's profession he took up the study of law and read for one year under the direction of S. H. Carr, of Dayton, prior to his admission to the bar in 1892. Immediately afterward he entered the law office of Judge C. W. Dustin, where he put his knowledge to the practical test as assistant in the preparation of cases and the active work of the courts. On the expiration of that period he entered into partnership with W. G. Powell under the firm style of Leopold & Powell, a connection which was maintained for three and a half years, during which time the firm enjoyed a constantly growing clientage and was connected with considerable important litigation. Mr. Leopold also became a recognized factor in republican circles and upon the party ticket was elected to the state legislature in 1895. There were seven candidates, three of them seeking renomination. Mr. Leopold, however, was one of the successful candidates for the nomination and at the ensuing election led the legislative ticket, a fact which indicated the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen and his personal popularity. He became a working member of the assembly, serving on the committees on railroad and telegraph, elections, claims, fish culture and game. During the session of 1896, in the contested election case by which Charles Q. Davis of Franklin county was unseated, Mr. Leopold made the principal argument for the committee on elections in an address which gained him quite a reputation and from that time on he was prominent throughout the session, taking part in most of the debates on the floor. Since attaining his majority Mr. Leopold has been known as an active campaign worker, delivering many public addresses upon the vital questions and issues of the day. On his return from the general assembly he resumed the private practice of law, 904 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY in which he has made continuous progress, his ability being indicated by the extent and importance of his clientage. On the 12th of July, 1888, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Leopold and Miss Hattie Baker, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Baker, of Lewisburg, Preble county, Ohio. She died on the 27th of November, 1907, leaving three children: Joseph F., aged twenty years, at present studying law under his father ; Robert B., aged eighteen, who is also studying law under his father; and Dorothy, who enters Steele high school in the fall of 1909. Mr. Leopold is a member of the First English Lutheran church and has been identified with a number of fraternal organizations, his social nature thus finding expression. He is a self-educated and self-made man in the highest sense of those terms. Capable of taking an impartial view of life he recognizes and meets all of the duties and obligations of citizenship and in his professional career manifests a fidelity to his clients' interests that has become proverbial. JOHN H. SMITH. John H. Smith, well and favorably known among those whose farms cluster about Miamisburg, Ohio, owns two tracts of land, amounting to one hundred and eighty-five acres upon the Centerville pike. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, July 20, 1833, and is the son of Fred and Elizabeth (Slough) Smith. The father came to this country from Germany, and was the first of his family to locate in the United States. He followed the trade of stone-mason and lime-burner as his life work, and died in 1905 at the advanced age of ninety-two years. The mother of our subject had passed away in 1880. In their family were seven children, namely : John H., of this review ; Joseph, a resident of Montello, Pennsylvania ; Levi, of Miamisburg, Ohio ; Mary, the deceased wife of Frank Eckenroad, of Garglersville, Pennsylvania ; Sarah, the deceased wife of Adam Eckenroad, of Wernersville, Pennsylvania ; Eliza, the wife of Hiram Hultry, of Garglersville; and Thomas, a resident of Montello, Pennsylvania. John H. Smith was a young man when he came to Ohio and settled in this county. He took up farming almost immediately and has since pursued that line of work, though he has recently laid aside the heavier duties of the farm and lives retired. In his young manhood he had learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for a time, but later farming demanded all of his attention. In the latter work he was more than ordinarily successful and ever evinced a commendable interest in the affairs of the community in which he lived and which he served as township trustee for the period of ten years. Mr. Smith was married in 1860 to Miss Eliza A. Gottschall, who is the daughter of Joseph and Charlotte Gottschall, the former being one of the county's well-to-do farmers. He died on the 22nd of May, 1887, and his wife departed this life October 25, Two. Their family consisted of four children : John, deceased, who made his home in Miamisburg; Jacob, of Salina, Kansas ; Eliza A., the wife of our subject ; and Mollie, the deceased wife of Cyrus Urmey. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Joseph, the eldest son, married Miss Mollie DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 905 Howard, who bore him three children, Raymond, Esther and Glenna. John married Miss Hortense Menner and is the father of a son, Mark. Irvin married Miss Flora Brown, by whom he has had two children, Mary and Leonard. Lottie is the wife of James Greth and the mother of two daughters, Ellen and Maud, and a son, Lee. Maud, the fifth of this family, married Earl Leis and is the mother of four children, Mabel,. Florence, Ambert and Arthur. Maggie became the wife of Frank Lucas and has three children, Josie, Lester and Paul. Jacob married Miss Ella Stine, who bore him two sons, John and Elmer. Howard married Lavina Weidner and has a son, Loran. Flora is the wife of Frank Urschel. Della, the youngest, is married to Herbert Loy. Mr. Smith gives his religious allegiance to the Reformed church, and the many years of his life have been marked by regular attendance at its services and by adherence to its doctrines. During the decade that he was trustee of the township his constituents had no occasion to complain of the way he performed the duties that devolved upon him. In short he is a man who by hard and persistent work has won a competence and also a position of confidence among fellow citizens. JOHN G. SMITH. Since the April election in 1902 John G. Smith has filled the office of clerk of Harrison township. He also farms on a tract of fifty-eight acres of fine land about three miles north of Dayton, on the Needmore road, and is a man prominent in local affairs, as were members of his family for several generations back. On his father's side he is descended from the Penningtons, an old English family, one of whom, Mr. Smith's great-grandfather, was a warrant officer in King George's navy during the Revolutionary war. At Philadelphia this gentleman left his ship, married, came west, and settled in Ohio. His daughter, Hannah Pennington, became the wife of Abner Smith, our subject's grandfather, who came from Virginia and was one of the early settlers in Clinton county, Ohio. From there his son James, John G. Smith's father, came to this county, where he is still living. During the years of his activity he was a man of means and very prominent among his fellow citizens, but now he has put aside the weightier cares of life and lives in retirement. John G. Smith was born on the old Kennedy farm, on which he worked from early boyhood, even during the years he sought for the rudiments of learning in the old Ebenezer school. On the l0th of October, 1890, he was married to Miss Rockie Hixson, daughter of Aquilla and Naoma (Lodge) Hixson. Mr. Hixson is now enjoying the life of a retired farmer, and the honors that are bestowed upon a man who was of that gallant army that fought for the preservation of the Union. He enlisted shortly after the beginning of the war in the One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Infantry, in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, and served in the Army of the Potomac, remaining in the service until the hostilities ceased. Mr. Smith's religious allegiance is given to the Methodist Episcopal church of Ebenezer. With the Vandalia Lodge, I. O. O. F., he enjoys many a social 906 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY gathering, for he is a popular man, highly esteemed among those who know him best. His reputation as a man of commendable public spirit has been strengthened during the seven years he has been the incumbent of the clerk's office, and it is sincerely hoped that he will not soon be released from his duties. ELDON. H. KERR. If "Biography is the home aspect of history," as Wilmott has expressed it, it is certainly within the province of history to perpetuate and commemorate the lives of those men whose careers have been of signal usefulness and honor to the community in which they reside, and in this connection it is not only compatible but absolutely imperative that mention be made of Eldon H. Kerr, one of the most able and learned members of the Dayton bar and a citizen whose activity in other directions has been of intense usefulness to his fellowmen through his cooperation in many movements relative to the public welfare. He was born and reared in Miami county, Ohio, a representative of the James Kerr family of that locality, and came to Dayton in April, 1873, after having pursued a course in the National Normal School, at Lebanon, and also attended the law school of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor. He likewise studied law in the office of Hon. David A. Houk and was admitted to practice in 1874. After a trip west he opened an office in the fall of that year in Dayton and has been in the practice of law in this city continuously since. He at once took a prominent place at the bar and soon afterward suggested and promoted the organization of the Bar Association, which has continued up to the present time. In the practice of his chosen profession he has won many important suits. Against an especially strong and vigorous defense he won the case of Mahler versus Hecker, reported on the LXIV Ohio State Report, a case of much prominence on account of the principles involved. He also had considerable criminal practice and has gained a high reputation therein. The first case which he tried was a criminal case which he won with much credit to himself, and in the trial of criminal cases he has cleared more parties than any other member of the Dayton bar. His knowledge of the law in its various branches is comprehensive and exact and he is seldom, if ever, at error in the application of a legal principle or in citing a precedent bearing upon the case. He was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the married woman's law as it is in Ohio today. Mr. Kerr has always taken an active part in politics as a supporter of the democracy and was twice a candidate for prosecuting attorney, but failed in the nomination. In 1891 he was elected a member of the school board and served for one term. Later he was defeated for a renomination by an opposition formed by the treasurer of the board, because the law committee, of which he was chairman, refused to recommend the payment of a bill of the treasurer, for fees for handling the school funds on the ground that there was no law for the payment of such fees. A former board of opposite politics had refused to pay this bill on the same ground. The courts afterward sustained this action. He was selected the same year, however, as attorney of the board. He has often been DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 909 a delegate to the county and state conventions and has presided as chairman at different times. He has often been secretary or president of democratic organizations and has also been organizer of campaign clubs. In municipal affairs Mr. Kerr has taken an active interest and has done much to build up that section in which he lives. He organized the South Park Improvement Association in the year in which he was married and which became very popular. He was elected its secretary and was afterward chosen as its president. Subsequently he draughted the bill which became a law, establishing the first park board for Dayton, and did much toward securing its passage. It was on the 30th of June, 1887, that Mr. Kerr was married to Miss L. Cordelia Kranert, who was a prominent primary teacher in the public schools of Dayton. She has since taken an active part in philanthropic work, has been a director in the Boys' Club in South Park and in the local Outdoor Art Associations, and is a proficient portrait painter in crayon and oil. His home is one of the most beautiful in the city and is an ocular demonstration of his good taste in beautification of home surroundings and in landscape gardening. Mr. Kerr is very fond of literature and in 1,885 he suggested and promoted the organization of the Literary Union, with Hon. George W. Houk as president. Many of Dayton's best citizens were members of this union and it flourished for many years. He has written much for the press concerning political, municipal and social affairs, advocating various measures, reforms and improvements. His judgment has been ripened by experience and his opinions are at all times of a practical nature. He is a man of action rather than theory, setting to work to accomplish ends while others discuss plans. A gracious presence, a charming personality, superior legal wisdom, purity of public and private life and the quiet dignity of an ideal follower of his calling combine to make Mr. Kerr one of the distinguished and honored residents of Dayton. J. L. TRAVIS, M. D. Dr. J. L. Travis, a well known physician of Germantown and one of the younger generation who is making for the advancement of the profession here, was born in Butler county, Ohio, April 15, 1866, a son of Rev. G. L. and Catherine (Marston) Travis. On both sides Dr. Travis is descended from families that have played a large part in the early history not only of the state of Ohio, but also of the whole nation from colonial days. His paternal ancestors came originally from England at an early date and his paternal great-grandparents, Amos and Ann (Decker) Travis, were the founders of the family in this state. Amos Travis was born at Peekskill-on-Hudson, New York, in 1756 and lived to the advanced age of one hundred and two years, dying in 1858. His remains were interred in the Colonel Johnson cemetery, at Piqua, Ohio. He was a farmer by occupation and cleared and improved a tract of land in Butler county, this state, where he was numbered among the earliest settlers. His son, Isaac Travis, the grandfather of our subject, was born in New York state in 1814 and became a wheelwright by trade, following that occupation after the removal of the family to Butler 910 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY county, Ohio. He married Sarah Van Gordon. The Doctor's father, Rev. G. L. Travis, was a Methodist Episcopal minister, connected with the Cincinnati conference and devoted his entire life to the work of the ministry, preaching in both Ohio and Kansas. The Doctor's mother was a native of Butler county, Ohio, and a daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Ann (Vail) Marston. Her father, who served as judge of the county court, was a very heavy landowner and as a whig took a very active and prominent part in political affairs. His parents were Theodore and Johanna (Ladd) Marston. Theodore Marston was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, serving as a private in Colonel Stark's regiment and, being captured by the British, he was held as a prisoner for some time. He enlisted four times during the struggle for independence. He was a son of Daniel and Sarah (Clough) Marston and his father lost his life serving as a captain in the English army during the French and Indian war, in 1757. The latter's, parents were Simon and Hanna (Carr) Marston, who were residents of New Hampshire, where the family resided for several generations. Simon Marston, who was a farmer by occupation, died at the age of fifty-two years. He was the grandfather of Major General Henry Dearborn, commander of the American army in 1812. The parents of Simon Marston were Ephraim W. and Abigail (Sanborn) Marston, and his father was also a farmer and horticulturist, as well as one of the first brewers in New. Hampshire. Ephraim W. Marston was a son of Thomas and Mary (Eston) Marston, the former being one of the prominent citizens of his locality, taking a very active part in all town affairs. He was a son of William and Sabina (Page) Marston, the latter being his second wife. He had one child by a former marriage. William Marston, the father of Thomas, was the founder of the family in the new world. He was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1592 and on coming to this country in 1634 located at Salem, Massachusetts, being one of the first Quakers to settle in this country. After residing in Salem for three years he removed to Newbury, Massachusetts, October 16, 1638, with fifty-five others, locating on the land in Winnecumet, Massachusetts, which had been granted them by the general court. They named the place Hampton and it is now included in Norfolk county, New Hampshire. William Marston died in 1672 at the age of eighty years. He was the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of our subject. Dr. J. L. Travis was reared at home and attended different schools in the southern part of the state, receiving his preparation for college at Sunnyside Academy. He entered Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and after completing a five years' course there he entered Miami Medical College, at Cincinnati, from which institution he was graduated in 1890. He came immediately to Germantown, Ohio, where he at once entered upon the practice 0f his profession. He has been a careful physician and has won the confidence of his fellow townspeople and has in consequence built up a large and remunerative practice. On the 5th of November, 1890, Dr. Travis was united in marriage to Miss Jennie B. McCurdy, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Routson) McCurdy. He is a .member of several organizations, both. fraternal and professional. He belongs to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and is one of the Sons of the American Revolution. In the meetings of the Foresters, Juniors and Woodmen he takes a prominent part and is interested in all that concerns their welfare. For the past DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 911 fifteen years he has been surgeon for the Miami Military Institution, in which capacity. he has given eminent satisfaction. In fact in all his work and relations as a man and as a physician Dr. Travis has secured a well deserved reputation for careful diagnosis, intelligent treatment and honorable dealings. He holds the respect of the community and the future promises much for him that will come as just compensation of his labors. GEORGE ALBERT LYDENBERG. George Albert Lydenberg, well known in musical as well as business circles in Dayton, his native city, was born December 16, 1856. His father, John Lydenberg, was a native of Pennsylvania and was married in Harlem, New York, to Miss Catharine Adelia Schriver. Traveling westward by stage and canal, he arrived in Dayton in 1842. He had previously learned the carpenter's trade, which he now followed, soon taking up contract work on his own account. He then continued in that field of labor until his death, which occurred February 2, 1893. He is a member of the Raper Methodist Episcopal church, served on its official board and took a very active and helpful part in its work. Unto him and his wife were born the following children : Mrs. Catharine Amelia Marst is now deceased. Her husband was in the army and was killed while carrying dispatches early in the war, in which he had enlisted soon after his marriage. Wesley Braxton Lydenberg married Marianna Miller and died in 1879, leaving two sons and a daughter. Harry is the assistant librarian of the New York city library. Walter lives in Kansas City. Miriam died in infancy. Caroline L. is the wife of William W. Hackney of Dayton, and they have one son,• William W. Charles Floy and George Albert are both residents of Dayton. Alfred, the youngest, died in infancy. Reared in the city of his nativity, George Albert Lydenberg pursued his education in the public schools to the age of fifteen years and then entered the Miami Commercial College, from which he was graduated. At the same time he learned telegraphy and, following his graduation, he entered the office of the Western Union Telegraph Company, of Dayton, as bookkeeper. He had filled the position for two years, when he found that close confinement in the office was detrimental to his health, and he resigned the position. He then learned the carpenter's trade and worked as a journeyman for a time, after which he began taking contracts to build houses and so continued for eight or ten years. He then turned his attention to the real-estate business in handling property for others and also for himself. He has done some speculative building and his knowledge of realty values is comprehensive and exact. He has thoroughly informed himself concerning property on the market and has thus been enabled to make judicious investments and profitable sales. Mr. Lydenberg was married in Dayton in 1882 to Miss Jessie Fremont Christie, a daughter of William and Mary Christie, and they have become parents of five children : Miriam Alice, who is a teacher in the public schools of Dayton ; William C., who married Jeannette Plummer and they have one child, Evelyn ; 912 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY Kathryn Mary, who is a nurse in the Tuberculosis Sanitarium of Dayton ; Russell Forest and Helen Louise, both at home. Politically Mr. Lydenberg is a republican but, while he believes firmly in the principles of the party, is not an active worker in its ranks. He belongs to St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church and is well known in the musical circles of the city, having been one of the original members of the Philharmonic Society. He is deeply interested in preserving the classical and sacred music and in promoting a taste for that which is best in the art. His efforts have been of considerable influence in this direction and he counts among his friends many of those most prominently known in a musical way in Dayton. THE PATTERSON FAMILY. There stands at the junction of Main and Brown streets in Dayton, a little log cabin, which was the original home at Lexington, Kentucky, of the ancestors of the Pattersons, who are now residents of Dayton and stand as the most widely known of the representatives of industrial life in this city. The cabin was built by Colonel Robert Patterson, whom Governor Charles Anderson called "one of the earliest, bravest and best of the pioneers and heroes who made the great west." In the large volume entitled "Concerning the Forefathers," by Mrs. Charlotte Reeve Conover, there is an account given of the Scotch ancestry, which says : "According to the 'Statistical Account of Scotland,' there are seven families of Pattersons now in Scotland whose armorial bearings show that they are related to one another. Five of these families spell the name with one 't' ; one spells with two ; and one with either one of two. Genealogists agree that whether with one `t' or two, they belonged together in the beginning of things. In the struggle for popular rights, the Pattersons, as a family, were always forward to take the people's side. Their cardinal principle was the maintenance of true religion, and that undefiled. Out of their ranks have stood many eminent characters in the affairs of both church and state. The motto of all of them has been 'Pro Rege et Grege'—`For the king and the people' ; meaning, that with all reverence and respect for existing civic institutions, the Pattersons have always felt a sympathy for society in the mass ; an interest in people who had no armorial bearings, and who stood for themselves and asked no favors of anyone. And in times when to be in the upper minority was of necessity to persecute the low majority, who knows but the Pattersons preferred healthy nonconformity to pampered acquiescence and valued their own opinions above their ancestral estates ? It was, doubtless, this instinct, independent of progress, which drove them out of the old world into the new." Members of the Patterson family departed from the Established church and with many other Presbyterians fled from Scotland to the north of Ireland. John Patterson, the probable ancestor of all the Pennsylvania Pattersons, went from his home in Scotland with his wife and two sons to Londonderry, Ireland, but they suffered cruelly from persecution there with King James II beseiged that DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 915 town with his English troops. The whole town was reduced almost to starvation. The family included Robert Patterson, who married and had ten children, six of whom early emigrated to America. John Patterson, the emigrant ancestor, either son or nephew of the above Robert, though an old man with grown and married children, was attracted by the tales concerning the opportunities of the new world and sailed from Ireland to Connecticut, landing near New London in the spring of 1728. Several of his children had preceded him, the first of the Pattersons in this country, having settled in the northwest part of the state. John Patterson and his son Robert decided to go farther south and according to the family records, it took them two years to cross the state. They settled on the way, raised a crop of corn and then moved farther west and south. They crossed the Hudson in the fall of 1730, proceeded south through New Jersey and before they reached their destination the father, John Patterson, died at the age of seventy-three. The next move of the family was into Pennsylvania and they spent several years in Bucks and Lancaster counties, in 1738 went to York county and afterward, returning to Lancaster, Robert Patterson purchased land on Sweet Arrow creek. His three sons, John, Francis and William, were enrolled for military services in the fort companies of York and Lancaster counties. Eight of these children of Robert and Margaret Patterson lived to maturity. The number included Francis Patterson, who married his first wife, Jane, when he left the Sweet Arrow farm in Lancaster county, and removed to Bedford county. Five children were born of this union, including Robert Patterson who was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1753. History. gives clear and graphic pictures of conditions of life on the Pennsylvania frontier at that day and such were the experiences of Robert Patterson. When he was twenty-one years of age, he joined a party of young men who went to Kentucky and spent a winter at Royal Spring, now Georgetown. In those days it was customary for a man to make a claim to a tract of land by placing a number of trees in a circle around the property he desired and cutting his initials upon them. This was called a "hatchet claim." If he built a shelter of any kind he earned what was called "cabin rights," and if he cleared the land and planted corn, he then had "crop rights," which were considered equivalent to a warranty deed with all proper signatures. Early in November, 1775, he and a companion, James Sterritt, camped for a night on the north fork of Cane Run, on the site now included within the corporation limits of the city of Lexington, Kentucky. They built a cabin, ten or twelve feet square, and the initials "R. P." were carved on a tree together with the date, November 9, 1775. His daughter-in-law said: "For this and adjoining tracts and for lands purchased elsewhere for himself and others, he paid scrip and warrants granted to himself, my grandfather and others of the connection for services in Colonial, Revolutionary and Indian wars in a period of forty-seven years." In a few days, Robert Patterson returned to Royal Spring and in April, 1776, he again made his way to the Cane Run camp. It was upon the tract of land which he had previously visited that his friends, Perry and McConnell, in the spring of 1776, helped him build a cabin, which afterward became his home. It was in this cabin, according to the best authorities, that the city of Lexington was named after the battle that had just meant so much to Massachusetts and to the world. Following his first visit to 916 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY the Lexington lands, Robert Patterson led an exciting and strenuous life, for the Indians were continually on the warpath and he helped to establish the claims of civilization on the frontier. At length, he was wounded in an encounter with the savages and returned to his home at Falling Springs, Pennsylvania, to recuperate. While there, he became engaged to Elizabeth Lindsay, whom he wedded four years later. While he was convalescent his younger brother, William, made his way to Kentucky and found the claim, the corn fields and the log cabin and the trees marked "R. P." Soon he was joined by his brother, Robert, who continued in the Indian campaigns, while William Patterson planted and guarded the crops. In the meantime, he laid out the city of Lexington and in 1787 became one of the founders of Cincinnati. The following year, he accompanied General George Rogers Clarke in the Illinois campaign and was commissioned second lieutenant. He was also given a grant of land of two hundred and sixteen acres, while orders came to him from Virginia to establish another fort for frontier protection wherever he might see fit. Naturally the spot chosen by him was the place that had so charmed him on his first exploring trip into Kentucky and which with his brother William's help, had become a real home to them both. Robert Patterson with about twenty-five young men, then marched to this clearing and built. a block house, which stood on the spot which is now the intersection of High street and Broadway, Lexington. When he had time to work instead of fight, he became a surveyor and there was plenty to do, because claims were taken up constantly by land commissioners from Virginia. He himself became the owner of not less than five thousand acres, which he secured at an average of about forty cents per acre. In the center of this was the little log cabin which he had built and to which he brought his wife, Elizabeth Lindsay. It is this cabin which now stands in Dayton. Around it vines had been planted and the women of the neighborhood had supplied dressed skins to furnish it. But it was very different from the stone mansion which was her girlhood home in Pennsylvania. Oftentimes she had to seek safety in the block house while her husband was doing active duty as a soldier. In 1779, he accompanied Colonel Bowman in the expedition against the Shawnee Indians at the old town of Chillicothe and the following year served as captain in General Clarke's raid on Chillicothe and old Miami was in command of a company of Logan's regiment in General Clarke's campaign in 1782 against the Indians at Piqua, on the Miami river, and at Laramie. Colonel Logan's command camped three days at the mouth of Mad river, on the present site of Dayton. In T786, Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia, commissioned Robert Patterson a colonel in the state line, and that year his regiment marched to destroy the Macacheek towns on Mad river. Had it not been for these battles and victories with the Indians in which Colonel Patterson was for many years engaged, the Dayton settlement would have been an impossibility. He helped win the site of the city from the red men and secure a peaceful and prosperous home for the pioneers. In the meantime, several children had come to the Patterson home until the original log cabin was too small for the increasing family and Colonel Patterson built a two-story log house in which were found more of the comforts of civilization. Later, as Lexington grew and enjoyed the advantages and opportunities of the older east, the Pattersons had a fine stone building there. At that time the old cabin down by the springs was taken to pieces and brought DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 917 to the corner of the yard and used for servants' quarters. There it stood while Lexington grow from a village to a city with tall buildings erected from time to time around it, standing there until its removal to Dayton. Colonel Patterson continued in military service whenever hip aid was needed. He was present with his regiment at St. Clair's defeat in 179i and in the war of 1812, he had charge of the transportation of supplies from Camp Meigs near Dayton north to the army. All of his later years he was a Sufferer from wounds received in his campaigns. As the years passed on his landed possessions increased and came to include much of the site of Dayton. The grounds on which the log cabin stands has always been in the Patterson family and nearly all of the land in sight from this high corner of the branching roads, east, west, north and south, belonged a hundred years ago to Colonel Robert Patterson. He had altogether twenty-four hundred acres through pre-emption rights while the patent to the special quarter section on which the log cabin now stands is signed by James Madison, president, October 5, 1816. In 1795, a town was laid out and in 1796 actual settlers came up from Cincinnati by land and by boat and built their homes upon the streets named after the Revolutionary officers who founded the town. In 1804 Colonel Robert Patterson came to Dayton to live. The locality was not new to him for he had fought campaign after campaign all through this valley against the Indians and the land had attracted him by its evident fertility. In those days if the original settler wished to assign any of his property to another and it was not yet paid for, the purchaser made the payments direct to the United States government and it was thus that Robert Patterson by purchase from Daniel Cooper, became owner of three hundred and twenty-two acres and the patent from the United States government came direct to him signed by James Madison. Other tracts of land were acquired by him until his holdings were twenty-four hundred and seventeen acres. At the time of the removal of Robert and Elizabeth Patterson to Dayton, their family had numbered eleven children ; William, who was born in the Lexington stockade, January 30, 1781 ; William Lindsay, who was born January 2, 1783, and died six days later ; Rebecca, born February 9, 1784 ; Margaret, born June 9, 1786; Elizabeth, born January 27. 1788 ; Francis, who was born April 6, 1791, and died at Palmyra, Missouri, September 11, 1854 ; Catherine, who was born March 7, 1793 ; Jane, born May 25, 1795 ; Harriet, born March 25, 1797 ; Robert Lindsay, born May 27, 1799 ; and Jefferson, born May 27, 1801. Their Ohio home became famous as the Rubicon farm. The log house stood in an orchard of apple, pear and peach trees and it contained seven rooms with an outside kitchen and smoke house. A sawmill was built and constituted not only one of the first, but one of the most important industries of the locality for two years. Mill and farm hands lived in cabins around the mill and cabins were also built for the negroes whom they brought with them from the south. There were no bridges over the Miami, but there were two ferries. The first bridge was built in 1819, Robert Patterson being one of the commissioners who had the matter in charge. By the time Robert Patterson had been living in Dayton four or five years, the town had five stores and three taverns and a new courthouse gave an air of distinction to it. His taxes for the first year in Dayton were two dollars and eighty-five cents. Dayton became the county seat in 1803 and improvements of many kinds were begun. 918 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY Robert Patterson soon began to add to its importance. He built the old stone mill that stood for many years on Warren street and operated the sawmill which had already been erected on the west side of the farm. He owned a gristmill, a fulling mill, a sawmill and a double-carding machine, all in complete order. The old log grist mill was destroyed by fire October 7, 1815, and was replaced by the stone mill which long figured as one of the most important industries of Dayton. The family had lost heavily through the exigencies of war and it seemed that the fire would have discouraged a man of sixty years, but Colonel Patterson manifested the resolute and inflexible spirit which was his characteristic while at once he reset to work to retrieve his losses. In 1816 he built a large brick house, the present Rubicon, on the rise of land between the Main street road and the country road, now Brown street, in the midst of a beautiful grove. Here the Patter-sons kept open house, their home being continually filled with guests for they dispensed the old-time hospitality. One of their descendants spoke in later years of her mental picture.; of Colonel Robert Patterson and his wife as they neared the last years of life. She told of "the slight figure of Elizabeth Patterson in a shaker bonnet and print skirt riding out of the east gate of the farm to the big road on a pillion behind her husband." She spoke of Robert Patterson "in the uniform of the war of 1812, walking at a slow pace over the farm, his back slightly bent and holding his lame arm crooked behind him against the wound he had received nearly fifty years before from a savage's tomahawk." He continued an active factor in the world's work, however, to his last days. He was one of the incorporators of the company that erected the first bridge—a covered toll bridge across the Miami—the bridge being opened for travel in January, 1819. He was greatly interested in the project of the building of a canal and excavation was in progress through Colonel Patterson's farm at the time of his death. He was a man of deep religious experience and faith and, although a Presbyterian in his belief, gave liberal help to other denominations. In the volume "Concerning the Forefathers" it is recorded : "Family bereavements and failing health were gradually loosing the ties that bound Robert Patterson to the world. His Indian campaigns were long over and his later soldier service a thing of the past. His business interests, hampered often by his credulity and generosity, had not always prospered, and the reverses he suffered might have discouraged even a braver man. For years after being disabled by wounds, he received no pension, proudly declaring that so long as he was able to make a living he would not ask help from the government. But in 1811, being then still suffering from the wound received at the Miami villages in 1786, he did ask for a pension and got it. He drew twenty-five dollars a month from 1812 until 1819, when, by the advice of friends, he applied for arrears at the same rate from November 5, 1786, to 1812. In 1819, all his wounds had grown more painful and attacks of rheumatism, brought on by exposure, added to his disability. The hand wounded thirty-three years before was at times so painful as to be carried in a sling and he never was able to write his name except haltingly and with greatest difficulty. This is a reason for his few and short letters during the last twenty years of his life. The Colonel did not live to receive his back pay. Allowance for six years' arrears came to his executors several years after his death. DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 921 "Captain Nisbet spent several days with Colonel Patterson in July at his request and there were many callers from town, as it became generally known that death was near at hand. He bore his sufferings with fortitude ; the endurance of the inevitable which he had learned in his young manhood while fighting for home and peace and family, did not desert him on his death bed. He became weaker and weaker, opening his eyes only occasionally to let them rest upon his 'eaver luvely Elizabeth,' who stood by his side as she had done for fifty long years. He 'babbled o' green fields ;' spoke as if remembering battles and hunting scenes; at last lapsed into unconsciousness and a five o'clock on the afternoon of November 9, 1829, the gallant old soldier answered taps for the last time. The reveille was on the other side of the river, where there are no Indians, nor creditors, nor musket wounds, but the triumphs of a finished career. At the bedside of the dying man with Mrs. Patterson, were their sons Francis, Robert L. and Jefferson ; daughter Catherine, Dr. Haines and other relatives. Interment took place the next day in the old Fifth Street graveyard. Twenty years afterward, his son Jefferson Patterson removed the body to the present Patterson burial lot in Woodland, where he now sleeps above the valley, the river and the town." In 1833, Dayton suffered from a cholera epidemic and on August 30, Robert L. Patterson, son of Colonel Patterson, died at the Rubicon home after only thirty hours' illness. His mother never recovered from the shock of his death. She was then in her seventy-fourth year, surrounded by all the care that loving children and grandchildren could give. On October 22, nearly two months after the death of her son, she passed quietly away and, after a funeral service held in the First Presbyterian church, of which she had long been a devoted member, her remains were laid to rest by the side of her husband. Six children survived: Mrs. Rebecca Goodlet ; Mrs. Jane Steele, of Kentucky ; Mrs. Margaret Caldwell, near Franklin, Ohio ; Mrs. Catherine Brown ; and Jefferson and Francis Patterson, of Dayton. Jefferson Patterson, the last survivor of Colonel Patterson's children and the one who inherited the family home, was born in the stone farm house at Lexington, Kentucky, May 27, 1801, and was three and one-half years old when the family removed to the Rubicon farm in the fall of 1804. One who knew him well wrote of him: "Jefferson, the worthy son of a worthy father, is remembered as an honorable man in every condition of his life ; attentive and energetic in business, enjoying the faithful discharge of duties ; observant in commercial and political affairs ; courteous and just, doing a kind turn when possible ; socially inclined, his first and constant aim the comfort and happiness of his family; no speculation in his make up, satisfied in managing his own business affairs. "He was given a good business education, early acquiring regular commercial habits through responsibilities that came as a consequence of the absence of his father, during the, war of 1812. At eleven, he already had farm work to do, the care of live stock and errands for the farm, but none of these duties was allowed to interfere with school and studies. Mrs. Patterson depended much upon him and when her husband was away, Jefferson remained at home with his brother Robert L., as a protection against the straggling soldiers, who were apt during these exciting times to make daily calls. This mingling with teamsters and soldiers in the camp, proved a stern but valuable education for the boys, and at 922 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY the age of sixteen Jefferson was already a man in mind and stature, thoughtful and industrious, a source of comfort and pride to father and mother. Jefferson and his sister Harriet and brother Robert, regularly attended the first Sunday school established in Dayton in 1817, which with the teachings and example at home, gave steady habit and sturdy character as he broadened with opportunities into manhood." Everybody about the home farm had daily duties and worked, but they were also allowed hours for play and recreation. Love for fine horses and cattle was bred into the Patterson boys and to them the care and handling of live stock was a pleasant task. In his youth riding and racing constituted the chief sport of Jefferson Patterson. As the estates of his parents were settled, Jefferson Patterson came into ownership of the Rubicon farm and mills, although he did not occupy the home until 1840. In the year 1832, he and his brother took up the business of raising cattle, which proved a profitable venture, and they also doubled their profits by investing in wheat and flour, at the same time operating the mills. In 1833, Jefferson Patterson was united in marriage to Juliana Johnston, the fifth of the family of fifteen children of Colonel John and Rachel Johnston, born 1775 and 1785 respectively. The children of John and Rachel Johnston were: Stephen, whose birth occurred in 1803 ; Rebecca, born in 1805 ; Elizabeth, in 1807 ; Roxanna, in 1809 ; Juliana; (known as Julia), above mentioned, who was born August 16, 1811 ; Mary, in 1813 ; Abraham R., in 1815 ; Rachel, in 1816; Rebecca, the second of the name, who was born in 1818 ; John H. D., in 1820; Catherine C., in 1822 ; William B., in 1824 ; Margaret D., in 1825 ; Harriet J., in 1827 ; and James Adams, born in 1830. The parish of Johnston in Annandale, in the county of Dumfriesshire, on the southern border of Scotland, was the home of the Johnstons as far back as tradition goes. The "Peerage of Scotland" says that they were one of the chief Scottish clans and "a race of brave and warlike men of great authority and power on the border." The first Johnston was Sir John de Johnston, chevalier of Annandale, 1296. In 1590, another Sir Johnston was knighted at the Queen coronation. Their crest was a winged spur with a motto "Semper Paratus" (Ready ? Aye, ready). In the latter part of the seventeenth century two brothers, James and Stephen Johnston, followed King William to Holland, and in 1690 went to Ireland to take possession of certain lands granted them by William III. James Johnston was the father of Stephen Johnston, who was the grandfather of Mrs. Patterson. Stephen Johnston married Elizabeth Bernard, a girl of French descent, whose grandparents had emigrated from France to Ireland. Colonel John Johnston, their son, was one of a family of five sons and a daughter and was born in March, 1775. On June 14, 1791, Stephen Johnston brought his family to the United States, the son John having come some years before. They settled in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where Stephen Johnston afterward died, while his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnston, spent her last days in Piqua, Ohio. Colonel John Johnston was but eleven years 0f age when he came to America. The volume "Concerning the Forefathers" says : "From a brief summary of his career as a citizen of the United States, we find him to have been, from first to last, these several things: A clerk in the war DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY - 923 department ; Indian agent for thirty-one years ; canal commissioner for Ohio for eleven years ; paymaster and quartermaster throughout the war of 1812 ; president of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio ; author of the article on 'Indian Tribes in Ohio' ; founder of the first Sunday school in Miami county ; first lay reader in the Southern Ohio Diocese of the Episcopal church ; one of the founders of Kenyon College ; trustee of Miami College in Oxford, and member of the visiting board at West Point. He was also an accepted authority on all Indian affairs ; he was familiar with their language, religion and war habits, and his articles contributed to the Archaeologia Americana and to Cist's Miscellany in 1845 contain much valuable material relative to this decaying race. "His character may be conceived from words which he penned more than fifty years ago and which are, in this form, a lesson applicable to the more distant generation of his descendants. Speaking of the members of the Johnston family who had fought in the Revolutionary war under General Washington, he says : " 'I humbly trust as their blood flows in my veins, that the spirit which guided them has still an abiding place in my affections ; for my rule throughout a long life of more than four score years, in peace and war, has invariably been to go for our country, no matter who might govern it and this lesson has been instilled into the minds of my children, and so it was with their excellent mother who trained them up for God and their country.' " After five years spent in Pennsylvania, Colonel Johnston, after clerking for a time in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, started for the west with Samuel Creigh, who was taking a stock of goods for sale in the Indian tribes. At the age of eighty-two years before the Pioneer Association• of Cincinnati, Colonel Johnston gave a most interesting account of his experiences. His life record, therefore constituted an important chapter in the history of the west and its reclamation for the purposes of civilization. When twenty-seven years of age, he married Rachel Robinson, a young Quakeress of Philadelphia. The first important assignment of John Johnston by the government was that of United States factor, and he was stationed at Ft. Wayne, Indiana. His duties consisted of looking after the agency and distributing government supplies of food, clothing and weapons to the Indians. Of the trading houses owned by the government at the commencement of the war of 1812, the one of which he had direction, yielded the most profit—about ten thousand dollars a year. Just at the breaking out of the second war with England, he was appointed by President Madison to the office of Indian agent for Ohio, and removed to Piqua. Under his control were seven powerful tribes, comprising in all over six thousand Indians. In this position he received a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year, besides house rent and two servants. Piqua then consisted of an Indian village of the Miamis and Shawanoese, the log fort of the United States government and a half dozen log cabins of the white settlers. Colonel Johnston's residence, which is still standing in Upper Piqua, marks the site of the original Indian village. The "Early History of Piqua" says : "Too much cannot be said of Colonel Johnston's influence with the Indians in keeping them from going over to the British, and in protecting the white settlers from their molestations." He had executive ability and method in detail and his papers prepared for government inspection, show exquisite care 924 - DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY and neatness. All accounts of provisions to the Indians, of presents made to them and of articles purchased for the Indian department are written in a round, legible hand and can be verified to the smallest item. General Harrison was often a welcome visitor at Colonel Johnston's home in Piqua, both while he lived in the log cabin, while in the fort and after he built his commodious farm house at Upper Piqua. Henry Howe wrote of him : "He was a tall, dignified man, of the blond type. * * * No man had the power and influence with the western Indians that he possessed, and it arose from his weight of character and his high sense of justice." He continued to hold his position as Indian agent of Piqua for twenty years, using his great influence always for good and remaining a friend in the best sense of the word to the Ohio Indians. Upon the election of General Harrison in 1840, he was appointed agent to the Seneca Indians and was stationed at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Here the previous government treaty with the Indians, which he had secured, was supplemented by a valuable treaty between the United States and the Senecas, by which they moved westward over the Mississippi river, leaving Ohio forever free to the white race and to civilization. To write a detailed account of the life of Colonel Johnston, would be to give a complete history of the settlement and development of Ohio by the white race. In his later years, his words were received as authority upon matters connected with the Indian history of the state. His last nine years were spent at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Julia Patterson, in Dayton and his figure was a familiar one on the streets of the city. In December, 1860, he went to Washington to trace his claim against the government amounting to twenty-one thousand dollars, which sum he had expended during the two years following his retirement from the office of Indian agent at Piqua, when, notwithstanding the appointment of a successor, he was obliged to furnish supplies to the Indians. He never lived to see the claim paid, however. The last entry in his journal was written on Christmas morning of 186o, and on the 18th of February, 1861, he passed away, his remains being brought back to Piqua, where with civil, military and Masonic honors, he was laid to rest. His daughter, Julia, who became the wife of Jefferson Patterson, was born in a block house inside the stockade fort of Piqua and her girlhood was passed on the frontier. Following her death a contemporary biographer wrote: "The eighty-six years of Julia Johnston Patterson's life stretched over the pioneer period of Ohio's history to the later social life of Dayton. She saw the procession of humanity pass from the log cabin in the stockade fort to the stately and beautiful homes of today ; from the forest wilderness to paved city streets ; from the primitive hardships of farm life half a century ago to the present existence of luxurious comfort. She saw Indian wars and the great rebellion ; the industrial development of this country revealed itself, year by year, before her eyes and she who had been horn in a stockade fort and studied at a 'dame school' in a log cabin, lived to see her grandsons in a university. Her first journeys were on horseback through the trackless Ohio woods ; her latest, in a Pullman vestibuled train through the state of New York. The carpets she played on when a child were woven in a hand loom at home ; the lights were dipped candles and the fabrics were spun on a wheel, woven in a loom and finished with thimble and thread. From these primitive ways and manners she lived to enjoy the highest products of scientific machinery and skilled labor.