PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 125 HOW THE ROADS WERE LAID OUT. The roads of the county are generally laid out along section or half section lines, because by so doing the farms and fields are left square shaped, and are easier tilled. But in the early days of the county, land was not so valuable, and the first consideration in laying out roads was the convenience of travel, and to render the distances as short as possible, hence we have many diagonal roads. From Eaton, the county seat, there were four roads laid out, leading towards the four corners of the county, and today the traveler to the county seat from those directions heads for one of those roads, because shorter. The road made by St. Clair was only a trail through the woods and was abandoned soon after, and its location is now problematical. Of course, the first road laid out in the county, that has remained as a road, is Wayne's Trace, or Old Trace, as it is called, and although it has been much changed to make it fit land lines in a number of places, it is said to be substantially where originally cut out. The first road laid out by the authorities of the state is what is yet known as the Franklin road, from Franklin, through Germantown and Winchester, now Gratis, to Eaton, and was laid out while this county was a part of Montgomery county. The first road laid out by the authority of the commissioners of Preble county, was granted June 8, 1808, and extending from northwest corner of Eaton to Gettysburg and New Paris.—Road Rec. 1, page 1. The Great National road, beginning at Cumberland, Maryland (from which place to Baltimore existed a good turnpike), was intended to extend by the straightest and most practical route to St. Louis, and thence to St. Joseph, Missouri. But the first act, passed and approved by Thomas Jefferson, March 29, 1806, only contemplated extending the road to the Ohio river at Wheeling, West Virginia, and on March 13, 1825, a bill was passed to extend said road to the permanent seat of government of Missouri, and to pass through the seats of government of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois ; and in 1826 was surveyed as far west as Indianapolis, and from its crossing of the Ohio river it ran a straight line through Zanesville, Columbus to Indianapolis, except where compelled to bend to ascend or descend hills, or cross streams, the surveyors refusing to vary the road from a straight line for the cities of Newark and Dayton, which they missed six and nine miles respectively, and this action greatly incensed the people of those cities, and they proceeded to build roads for themselves. 126 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. There was considerable government work done on the National road in Indiana and Illinois, but a much greater amount of continuous road building was done in Ohio. The road from Cumberland to Columbus, Ohio, practically followed old Indian trails, and hence was often called, "The Old Trails road." It was cut out eighty feet wide to the Mississippi river. The last appropriation by Congress for building was made in 1836. Along the road were placed mile stones, every mile, and on the stones were given the distances to Cumberland, and to Columbus and Indianapolis for all stones west of Columbus. AN UNCOMPLETED WORK. The National road, headed straight as an arrow to its destination in the great west, passes across Preble county about seven miles north of the court house, and went straight to Richmond, Indiana ; but now, about a half mile west of the state line, is diverted south a half mile to the turnpike, to help the farmers avoid triangular fields. The road was never finished in this county by the government, but along that old road, across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, until the middle of the nineteenth century, poured a steady stream of the emigrant flood to settle the great west ; and it became, and was one of the most important factors in that settlement, and was talked of then as the great trade artery between the east and the west, and the same as some of our railroads are today. The government only completed the National road continuously as far west as Springfield, Ohio. In 1836, two companies were formed to build toll turnpikes : one from Springfield to Dayton, and one from Dayton to Eaton and Richmond, called the Dayton and Western turnpike. These roads were finished in 1839 and 1840, and as the government had its mile stones erected as far as Springfield, these toll roads began their numbers as if consecutive with the National road, and erected one every mile, giving the distance from Cumberland ; and having built most excellent roads, they diverted much of the travel from the unfinished part of the National road, and the continuous numbering of the mile stones has caused many people to think and believe that the National road passed through Dayton and Eaton, but it is erroneous, the facts being as above stated. The National road across the county has now been bridged, graded, and graveled by the citizens living along the road, under the two mile road law, and they have made a most excellent road, one of the best in the county, and it is much traveled by touring automobile parties, on account of its straightaway course. PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 127 One of the mile stones on the Dayton and Western turnpike stood about a square east of the Pennsylvania railroad crossing on Main street, Eaton, and it bears the words, Cumberland 349, Columbus 90, Indianapolis 90. It is now standing in front of the Stotler block, in Eaton, because E. S. Stotler was the last president of the company for twenty years. A PROPOSED ROADWAY ORCHARD. There are in the county just about nine hundred mile's of full roads, counting the roads on the county lines as half roads, because the one-half is in the adjoining county. Most of our roads are forty feet wide, and the roadsides are generally useless; but since in Ohio the farmer is the absolute owner of the land, and the public has no rights but that of travel, it does seem that the road lines could be set with standard apple trees, the trimming of which would be no more trouble than cutting weeds, and making a liberal allowance for crossings and turnouts, each mile would hold three hundred apple trees, which would certainly beautify the roads, and furnish much fruit for the farmer to sell, and thus be profitable, and even if a traveler or boy ate a few apples, they would never be missed. The agitations for better roads in Ohio seem to be periodic; and especially so in Preble county. From 1800 to 1825 probably three-fourths of the roads of the county were located; then there was a pause for ten or twelve years, when a movement began for toll roads, and lasted until about 1850, and then all was quiescent for the next twenty years, except in the formation of one mile assessment roads, commonly called free pikes, of which over two hundred were listed, requiring the, appointment of over six hundred free turnpike commissioners and those roads were made better and better, as the years went by, and they helped educate the people to build roads for themselves instead of for toll companies ; and in consequence thereof, about 1870 a new movement for better roads and free roads started, and people began to build roads under the two-mile assessment law, called improved roads, and the completion of the road was let by contract, and the people along the line soon had a good road, graded, drained, bridged and graveled. This movement continued to about 1890, during which time over two hundred miles of road were built or toll roads taken over and made free, until, only the road from Eaton to Dayton was left as a toll road; and in 1897, the Dayton & Western Electric railroad, in order to secure a right of way, bought the stock of the toll road for a nominal sum (as it had not been remunerative for some years), and 128 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. granted the right of way to the railroad (itself) and then sold the bridges of the toll road to the county and turned over the road to the county as a free road, and thus ended the last toll road in the county. PEOPLE SOMNOLENT ON ROADS. About 1890, the people again took a sleep on the road question for about twenty years, only to be waked up by the demand for better roads by automobile owners, and the demand became so insistent, that about 1910 the county again embarked in the road building movement, and several miles of improved macadam roads have been built, and in this year, 1915, Eaton has. paved Main street and North Cherry street, being the first paved streets ever built in the county. There is a rising demand for brick roads on the main inter-county roads, and where and when the movement will again stop is a question that must be answered by the future historian, but transportation facilities will be better, distances will become shortened, loads will be increased, and hauling cheapened by better grades and harder surface for the roads. And it is to be hoped that our farmers will not look alone to the utility of the roads, but as the years go by, they will make the road lines more beautiful and attractive to the travelers, who are largely farmers themselves. CHAPTER VI. EARLY SETTLERS OF PREBLE COUNTY. The state of Ohio, on account of its fertility and many streams, grassy glades and prairies and plains and the mighty forests that covered parts of the land, afforded protection and abundance of food for all kinds of game, and hence was coveted by many Indian tribes, who waged war upon each other to gain and hold it as a heritage. About 1669 La Salle passed down the Ohio river to the falls of the. Ohio and claimed the country for the French, who were compelled to cede it to the English at the close of what is called the French and Indian War, a short time before the Revolution, and in 1783 the treaty of peace with England ceded all south and west of the Great Lakes to the United States. About 1750 a Connecticut company had sent one Christopher Gist to Ohio to investigate a proposed purchase and settlement in the Ohio country, as it was then called, which included Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and he spent many months in his travels and carried back such a glowing account of the country that it was not forgotten. GOD'S FAVORED LAND. In the meantime, the daring hunters who had settled in Kentucky during the Revolution had penetrated the state and seen and realized the advantages of soil, timber and climate, and the stories had been carried back to North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, and almost as soon as the echoes of the war with England had subsided, many of the soldiers of the Revolution, followed by other adventurous spirits, came crowding over the mountains, across the land and down the Ohio river, searching for homes in God's favored land, and bringing with them their wives and families and what household goods they could carry, not forgetting their trusty rifles. The United States had secured by treaty with the Indians at Forts Stanmix and Harmar the right to settle the southern half of Ohio, and the white man's axe was soon heard ringing in a hundred valleys of Ohio, hewing out a home. They were men of tireless energy, unflinching courage, hard work- (9) 130 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. ers, willing to undergo the hardship and danger, far-seeing and uncomplaining, and their women were fit companions of those hardy men who laid the foundations of an empire. The people of today little realize the privations and difficulties of those early settlers. The neighbors were miles apart and doctors were few, so they depended on herbs gathered and dried and the help and knowledge of the older settlers. The houses were called cabins. The name does not mean much to the ordinary reader, so let me describe one that was built in central Ohio about 1805, and was visited by the writer a year or so before the Civil War, and it left an impression on my boyish mind that has never faded : A small stream called a run flowed down a gentle slope and joined the river a quarter of a 'mile away, and along the run a spring burst forth of pure water; and about a hundred feet away from the spring was the top of the hill. perhaps ten feet above the run, and on that knoll the house was built. THE LOG CABIN DESCRIBED. It was built of round logs from about eight to fourteen inches thick, the cabin being 'sixteen feet by twenty feet. The logs notched at the corners and the spaces between the logs filled with a piece of wood so split as to form a wedge and held in place by wooden pins, and the crevices all filled with a blue clay mud. A window was on each side and One end formed by cutting a log off, and the space had been filled with a cloth stretched over it, but when seen by the writer it had a sash filled with three panes of glass, eight by ten. The door was puncheon, or slabs' split off of 'an ash log, about two inches thick, and hewed and nailed to cross-pieces, and the hinges were wood, fitting over a wooden pin nailed to the Togs, and the latch was a wooden bar, dropped behind a piece of timber fastened to the inside of the house logs, and was raised from the outside by a buckskin string attached and run through a small hole in the door three or four inches above the latch, and when they locked the door they simply pulled the string inside. The floor was made of the same material as the door. The roof was covered with clapboards four feet long, held in place by a pole laid along about six inches above the lower end, and the poles held from rolling down by a piece of timber extending upward from the pole, below ; while, overhead, this house had a ceiling of the same material as the floor, with a hole about three feet by four feet near one corner, and the stairway was a ladder. The bed upstairs was formed by boring holes in the logs and poles driven in and the outer end supported by a wooden leg, and ropes, PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 131 stretched across, on which a straw tick was placed. The chimney was the em-. bellishing feature of the house, built at one end and out of doors, so as to, give more room, with the logs cut off just at. the chimney. I think it was about eight feet wide by six feet deep outside, and into its throat could be rolled a log four feet long. The chimney was built of stone, the fireplace being of some kind of sandstone that stood the fire, and the stone carried up about six feet high; then from there up it was made of split laths that were just like our tobacco laths, laid in the blue clay mud and extending to about two feet above the roof, and the inside and outside heavily plastered with the blue mud. In the fireplace was hung an iron crane about four feet long, that could be swung out of the fireplace, and on the crane were iron hooks of different lengths, on which to hang pots and kettles. The hearth was stone, and on it stood an iron pot, in which they baked, about a foot in diameter, standing on three legs and with a heavy iron lid. The clothes hooks were wooden pins in the logs, and over the door were nailed deer's horns, in which the gun rested. A wooden water bucket and a gourd dipper completed the outfit. Such as this were many of the houses of this county in those days, and. many a young couple set up housekeeping in just such cabins, and they were happy and prospered, and we today enjoy the harvest for which they sowed the seed. As they prospered they built hewed log houses made by hewing a slab off the side of a log sixteen to twenty-four inches thick, leaving a log about six to ten inches thick, and at the corners notched to let the logs, built edgewise, come as near together as possible, and the cracks were filled with split chinking and daubed with clay mortar, and they made very warm and comfortable houses, too, and when saw mills multiplied until they were within reasonable reach, they built modern frame houses or covered the old log house with siding and remodeled the interior and some of those old houses still exist in our county. A RECOLLECTION OF PALATABLE PLEASURE. The cooking was clone in front of the big fireplace or in a kettle swung on the crane hooks. The bread, pies and cakes were baked in a tin reflector set before the fire, the top of the reflector flaring up like the top of the old poke bonnet of our grandmothers. As a boy I have eaten some of those dinners so cooked, and I do not remember to have eaten any since more juicy and palatable than they were. The roads were simply cut out roads or trails, the tracks winding 132 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. around the stumps, no gravel or grade, and in the spring of the year became almost impassable. As illustrating their condition, Dr. Christian Saylor, of Gratis, related to the writer some thirty-five years ago, that the hardest day's riding he ever did was about 183o. He was notified that his presence was desired at a conference over a patient some two miles north of Gettysburg the next day. It was in April and he started on horseback before daylight, and was with the patient two hours, and got back long after dark, muddy from the top of his cap to his boots, and his horse so badly worn that he was given a couple of days' rest. Now the automobiles cover the route in an hour and a half, running easy. The hogs and cattle ran half wild in the woods and each owner had a particular mark that he put on his stock while young, so it might be known. One mark I remember—about one inch of the pig's right ear was cut square off, and the left ear split some distance, called square crop right and slit left. When the farmer butchered, the neighbors helped round up the hogs and those that were too wild to be rounded up were shot in the woods and hauled in to the tubs. The lights were from the fireplace, or from an iron cup with grease and wick, called grease lamp, and later, tallow candles made at home, as nearly every family came to own a pair of candle molds. These things have now become memories only, for I think in all the wide domain of the United States there is no place where civilization is starting now under such difficulties, unless it be in interior Alaska. Those brave men and women builded wiser than they knew—themselves independent, fearless and self-reliant, and determined to win, they transmitted to their descendants the same spirit of vim and vigor, until our nation has learned to rely upon the splendid manhood of the state for leaders in every walk of life, and the names of Ohio men who have led in education, commerce, trade, war, the pulpit and the bar and political power, can never be forgotten in writing the history of the nation. Those early settlers having to depend upon each other developed a brotherly helpfulness that should be emulated and followed now. When a cabin was to be erected they turned out all the neighborhood to assist. When one of them got sick or injured by an accident and unable to gather or cut his crops the neighbors gathered and did the work for him; and the traveler, when night overtook him along the trails, called at the first cabin for a night's lodging and was seldom refused. Thievery was almost unknown, except an occasional raid by professional horse thieves, who, if caught, sometimes paid the last penalty. PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 133 THE FIRST RESIDENT. The first white settler of Preble county probably was John Leslie, who, in 1798, at the close of the Indian war, settled in the southeast section of Gratis township and some of his descendants still reside in that township. Jacob Parker was perhaps the first settler of Lanier township. He was a soldier in Wayne's army and with five others was sent out in search of a deserter in 1793, when near the south part of this county and they followed the trail to Twin creek about a half-mile southeast of West Alexandria and camped for the night. The next morning young Parker strolled about and on his return to breakfast told his companions that if he lived through the war he was going to buy that particular piece of land. They laughed at him, of course, but after the treaty of Greenville had secured peace, he came up from Cincinnati and built a cabin in 1798 on the piece of land where he had camped and as soon as it was surveyed he filed an entry for that quarter section and died there about the close of the Mexican War. The first settlement of Ohio was at Marietta on April 7, 1788, by Gen. Rufus Putnam and his associates of the Ohio company. Of course, it must not be forgotten that a trading post was established about 1748 at Loramie, called Loramie's store or Fort Pickarwillamy, on. the head waters of the Great Miami, but as it was burned and destroyed by the French and Indians a few years later, it cannot be said to be a permanent settlement. Then, about November, 1788, a settlement was made at the mouth of the Little Miami on the Syrumes Purchase, now in the city of Cincinnati. In December, 1794, Hamilton was laid out and Dayton in November, 1795, and in each the following year a few settlers located. So great had been the fear of Indian troubles that in 1799 there were probably not more than ten thousand people in the state of Ohio, and they were located chiefly along Lake Erie, and the Muskingum, Scioto and Miami rivers. The Miami country in that day seemed to offer the greatest attraction to the pioneers. A LESSON IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY. The women of those days made the clothes for the family, many of them spinning the wool and flax and weaving it into cloth, .and when they did not have those, they often tanned deer skins and bear and wolf hides and made them into garments, and from them also made shoes, called moccasins, and when they visited or went to church they walked or rode horseback. 134 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. The laws of the state recognized the implements so used as essentials for the family, and when the husband died the appraisers appointed by the court were ordered to set off to the widow without any appraisement, as her separate and necessary property, to keep house : spinning wheels and flax, twelve sheep and the wool from them, and one side saddle, one cow, beds, household furniture and cooking untensils, and table ware necessary to keep house. The same things are retained in the laws of the present time, although spinning wheels and side saddles have become curiosities. One of the early settlers of the county was Judge John Meroney, who was appointed as one of the first three associate judges, and he was so prominent, respected and loved by the early settlers of the county that his name deserves more than a passing notice. He was born July 10, 1865, in Essex county, Delaware, and during the Revolution, when a mere boy helping to load wheat for the American army, was captured by the British, but released in a few days on account of his youth. During the Revolution his father moved to Reedy Fork in North Carolina, and he had for a companion John Haines, a boy of about the same age, and they grew to manhood together, between them existing the warmest personal friendship. About 1798, John Meroney married Esther Ozias in Guilford county, North Carolina, and they began planning to move to the Great Miami Valley, that then was talked of everywhere in the older states as the agricultural Eldorado. He sold all his property except a team of horses and wagon and the necessary utensils and clothing he could haul therein, and thus moved to Springborough, Warren county, in 1801, and from there to Preble county in 18o6, and bought and settled on the northwestern quarter of section 34, township 8, range 2 east, building his house near the big spring and there he continued to live until his death, October 16, 1848. He is said to have been the first settler on the upper course of Seven Mile creek. Moving on the farm early in April he built his cabin in the woods and hastily cleaned about five acres of bottom land that was easily cleared, and during May, 1806, he planted it in corn as best he could and when it began growing he had a whole summer's fight to keep the corn from being stolen by squirrels or deer. A TRIBUTE TO A JUST JUDGE. As associate judge in those early days we find the name of John Meroney given as at court oftener than that of any other of his associates. In 1813, he was elected and served as a member of the Legislature. In those days the settlers often turned out with their axes to help new corners PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 135 or newly married couples build their cabins and to log rolling in clearing up the land. Judge Meroney being a good sized man and strongly built was always on hand, if possible, even going as far away as Twin creek to lend a helping hand, and it is said were few who could hold the other end of the handspike with him. A main of strong personality, majestic appearance, more than ordinary mental capacity, conscientious and fearless in his advocacy of what he believed right, a kind, generous and helpful neighbor, he left his impress for good upon the early settlement and organization of the county. Few men of the county were better known and nixie held in higher esteem than Judge Meroney. In September, 1848, his old boyhood friend, John *Haines, 'whom he had not seen for ever fifty years, came to see him, and Judge Abner Haines related that the meeting was most affecting and not of long duration, for Judge Meroney was very feeble and sick, but at parting he said, "John, I will now bid you farewell until we meet in Eternity." And as they shook hands John replied, "If thee gets there first, I want thee to keep a lookout for me, as I will surely meet thee in heaven." Within a month Judge Meroney was waiting, but not for long, as John followed a year or so later. It is a pleasure to write of such men, for they make the world better by their having lived, and of them we can truly say, "He hath done what he could." THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE. James I. Nisbet came with his father, William Nisbet, to Twin township in 1805, and James located at what is now New Lexington, and laid out the town, and did his best to make it the county seat. He built and run a mill on Twin creek near the town and built the first brick house built in the county at that place in 1811, and it is a good and comfortable house yet. He was the first postmaster of the village and owned and run a general store for a number of years, and was for a number of years an associate judge, and was the first county surveyor appointed. It may be said of him that he was an energetic, wide-awake, pushing business man and was at the front of every enterprise that would help the community in which he lived. A man of more than ordinary mind and strong in his likes and dislikes he made enemies and held his friends, and the character and name of Judge Nisbet have been held more firmly in the minds of the people of Twin township than that of any other of the early settlers. He was buried in the New Lexington cemetery. Alexander C. Lanier is one of the names most often mentioned when 136 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. talking of the early settlers, being the first clerk and the first recorder of the county, and the first clerk of the commissioners, and a township being named after him. He was born in North Carolina in 1779 of Scottish and Huguenot ancestors. His father was a captain in Wayne's army and probably marched through the county. Alexander married and moved to Kentucky and bought land of land boomers and by defect of the title he lost it and then came to Cincinnati and set his two slaves free and moved to Eaton in 1807. Being well educated and having a genial personality, strongly built and energetic and forceful, the people naturally called him to help, and it is said that he wrote his own forms in the court proceedings and for the Commissioners, and they are regarded as good yet. He built the first brick house in Eaton, some eight or ten rods west of Barron street on south side of Main street. When the war of 1812 broke out he enlisted in General Harrison's army and came home as Major Lanier. The writing of the records previous to, during, and after that war plainly shows when he was absent ; his writing being very legible, even after one hundred years. In 1817 he moved to Madison, Indiana, and died there in 1820, leaving one child, a son, J. F. D. Lanier, then about twenty years old, who subsequently became one of the organizers of the New York bank known as Winslow, Lanier & Company, that fifty years ago was regarded as one of the greatest and best banks of that city, and during the Rebellion it gave the government strong support, the son never forgetting the flag under which his father served. The Indiana literary writer Lanier is a grandson of Alexander C. Lanier mentioned above, but do not confuse him with Sidney Lanier of Georgia. SOME PROMINENT CITIZENS. Another name prominently connected with the early settlement of the county is that of Samuel Hawkins, of whose characteristics little seems to have been saved to us. It is known that he was a soldier in the campaigns of both St. Clair and Wayne against the Indians, and that he rose to the rank of colonel, and was most severely wounded in one of the battles with the Indians, which wound is said to have been finally the producing cause of his death in 1814. He seems to have been a warm friend and supporter of William Bruce and to have stood high in the esteem of his fellow citizens, and by his generosity to have been a positive influence in locating the county seat. Perhaps the most widely known and in his day the most influential PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 137 man in the county was Col. George D. Hendrix, who claimed to be the first white male child born in the county, was born at Camden October 3, 1805, son of David E. Hendrix, whose father was a Tory during the Revolution, and David, although but a boy, refused to follow his father in his flight to Canada and remained with an uncle in New Jersey, and at the close of that struggle, although only seventeen years old and penniless, he determined to make his way west and went to Pittsburgh and finally down the Ohio to Marietta and enlisted as a soldier in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, against the Indians, and as such passed through this county several times, and determined to finally settle in the Great Miami valley. After peace, David married Rosannah Stockhouse at Hamilton, and entered a piece of land in Butler county, which he sold and in 1803 removed to near Camden, and in 1806 removed again to Eaton and erected the second house in the town and in it kept for years the first tavern in the town. In 1812 he, as captain, raised a company of soldiers and did garrison duty at Loramie and St. Mary's for a year. He died in 1845 in Eaton, at his son's. Such was the ancestry of George D. Hendrix, and it can not be surprising that the son, imbued with the lessons of his father's life, always had a strong feeling for the United States and all who sought freedom. In his early manhood, having been fairly educated for that time, he taught school several years, and was elected auditor of the county, and representative, and later state senator, and then sheriff, and later was appointed postmaster of Eaton. When Texas was having her trouble with Mexico he went to Texas, and joined Houston's army and fought with him until victory came, and in that war he received his title of colonel. In 1839 George D. Hendrix married Almira Harbaugh and to them were born ten children, one of whom, Ada, married Judge James A. Gilmore. Colonel Hendrix was a dealer in lands all his life, and he accumulated several farms. When the Civil War broke out his age and family ties kept him at home, but he was untiring in his efforts to promote enlistment and assist in a material way the families of the soldiers in the field. He was of a genial, cheery and generous disposition, always hopeful and tried to be helpful to his fellow man. Some designing and pretended friends got him to go their security on notes, which in the end he had to pay, and when over three score and ten, was so reduced by the payment of security debts that he had but a pittance left, and he decided to start life again and went west as far as Texas and continued as a real estate agent for some twenty years, when he returned. His wife having been dead some years, he made his 138 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. home with his daughter Ada until his death, May 29, 1900, at Eaton, Ohio. He was a. tall, slender man with a quick eye and active mind, tactful in address and manners and could easily adjust himself to his company, fearless and resourceful. His reading was wide and various. With a strong memory for names and faces, he was during his activity in politics a foe to be feared and a friend to be cultivated. No charges against his honesty were ever made. It is related of him by those who knew him best that when he made up his mind that a certain man should be nominated, he would spend a couple of weeks or more a year before the time riding around the county, calling on old acquaintances and during such call, finding occasion to speak in glowing terms of the man he was helping, and when the time for the canvass for delegates came, his candidate was heard of everywhere and the result generally was a "cinch." He retained a lively memory of those old days nearly to the last. FROM PRINTER'S DEVIL TO EDITOR. Another of our citizens who came down to us froth those early days, but just a little later than Hendrix, was Thomas J. Larsh, born in. Dixon township in 1809, son of Paul Larsh, who was the second sheriff of the county. Thomas received only such education as could be obtained in the common schools of that day, and in 1824 entered the office of the Eaton Register to learn the printer's business and worked there four years, then for the Piqua. Register two years, then- purchased and published the Richmond Palladium for two years. He then bought and operated a steam sawmill in Jackson township for six years and in 1847 was elected county surveyor, and at various times served some dozen or more years as such. In 1850, he was elected as the representative of the county to the Constitutional Convention that framed our present state constitution, then for two years as editor of the Eaton Register. In 186o, he was elected auditor and served for six years and deputy for two more years. He also served as chief clerk to the state treasurer from 1876 to 1878, then deputy auditor again, dying in 1882. During all that time in the intervals, he was acting either as county surveyor or deputy, and as such he left his impress upon the county for a century. During the active period of his life the lands of the county having been all settled and becoming valuable, farmers became more inquisitive about their land lines, and he was called to retrace old government lines, and being well versed in woodcraft, which aided him in his search for "blazes" along the line and all the marks of the old sur- PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 139 veyors, he was eminently successful in fixing the boundaries satisfactory -to the parties, and one of his strong traits as a surveyor was that when he had the lines established, he monumented corners and witnesses, until now the universal comment of the surveyors is, that you can always find what Larsh did, whether or not you agree with his decision. Cornelius Vanausdal, born in 1783, in Berkeley county, Virginia, came with his father to Lanier township, this county, in 1805, and worked on his father's farm until 1808, when Eaton was made the county seat. He saw there was need for a general store and he came to Eaton and started one on a small scale, but the needs for such a store were so great that his trade rapidly developed, and he was broad-minded enough to foresee and kept up with the demands of the times. During the war of 1812 he engaged in furnishing supplies to the army in Ohio, and from 1828 to 1833 he was one of the chief partners in a wholesale dry goods firm in Cincinnati, and, in fact, for many years ran a wholesale department to his store in Eaton, and the first merchants of Richmond, Indiana, for a number of years were his patrons at Eaton for their supplies, as Eaton is older and then was larger than Richmond. He also was a partner of Judge Curry in the pork-packing business at Hamilton during the thirties, and during the Mexican war he and his son Isaac started a dry goods house in Dayton, in which he continued until 1863, and the house and business remain prosperous today. In 1810, he took the first census of the county and in 1812 was a paymaster in the United States army. In 1819, he was elected a member of the Legislature. In 1817 he bought the Western Telegraph, the first newspaper published in the county, which was started but a few months before, which paper was the original Eaton Register, only the name being changed. While in the Legislature he became acquainted with Samuel Tizzard, a practical ,printer, from Ross county, and induced him to come to Eaton and take charge of the paper, which he subsequently owned. In 1822 he erected a brick building at the northwest corner of Main and Barron streets, for his store and dwelling house, and in it he spent the balance of his life, and the house somewhat remodeled stands today as one of our substantial buildings. In 1812 he married Martha Bilbe, and they journeyed down life's road together for fifty-eight years. WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING. While having so much other business he did not neglect his Eaton store, but kept it abreast of the best and until long years after his death it 140 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. was regarded as the best store in the county. In 1852 he took into partnership his son, Harvey, and his son-in-law, Donohoe, and for fitfy years Har vey ran the store on the principles of his father, that the goods sold should always be just what they were represented to be. As a storekeeper, Vanausdal at once became prominent and soon was known of all over western Ohio and eastern Indiana. He had many Indian patrons, Tecumseh, Little Turtle, The Prophet, Honest John; Indian John, and many Indians of the surrounding country. He knew the Indian character well and although his books show the names of half the white men of the county for thirty years as his debtors at different times, there is not an Indian named. They must pay cash because they could not be made to understand why they must pay for goods that had been used up. Mr. Vanausdal often told this story as illustrating the suspicious character of the Indian : Honest John at one time came to the store to trade furs for salt, then selling for five or six dollars a barrel, and the weighing was done with steelyards. First the furs were weighed on the light side of the steelyards, Honest John carefully watching the process; then the steelyards were turned and the salt weighed, and when John saw the pea balance before it got the same distance out as it was when they weighed the furs, he grabbed the steelyards, exclaiming that they lied, and ran to the door and threw them as far as he could. Mr. Vanausdal had but little school education, but his quick perception and excellent memory soon supplied his defects and he was a good conversationalist upon most every subject, being especially well informed on the Scripture and theology. It is said of him that "what he professed he believed to be true and therefore he was always himself through life." Of medium size, constitutionally healthy, social in disposition and cheerful nearly all the time, he obtained and held the friendship and esteem of the people through a long and useful life, dying August 10, 187o, about eighty-seven years old. A SCOT WITH A NOBLE NAME. William Bruce, the founder of Eaton and the originator of the location of the county lines as they now exist, was born on the banks of the Potomac river in Virginia in September, 1762, of Highland Scotch ancestry and grew to manhood in that state and the adjoining state of Pennsylvania, to which his father removed while he was yet a mere boy. Shortly after arriving of age, he emigrated to Kentucky and there married Frances Lewis soon after 1790. He soon after moved to Warren county, west of Lebanon, PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 141 and about the close of the century he moved into the Great Miami valley in Montgomery county, and in 1805 came to Preble county and bought three sections of land, on part of which on February 20, 1806, he laid out the town of Eaton. He erected his house about one-half mile south of the court house on what is yet and for many long years to come will be known as the Bruce hill, now the house of his grandson, J. E. Bruce. In 1806 he built a saw-mill and a grist-mill on Seven Mile creek across the creek from about the west end of Israel street. He made liberal donations of land for the benefit of the town and sold many lots cheap or on partial payments to induce settlers to locate in the town and he frequently gave flour and meal from his mill to those he deemed to be needy and deserving, and when such brought grist to the mill he seldom took toll from the grist. The mill being a water mill and the only one for several miles around, had to be run whenever there was water to turn the wheels; and as all flour and meal in those days was obtained by the farmer carrying to the mill the wheat and corn for his family or neighbors and having it ground, and if possible, waiting until the grinding was done, then taking home the flour, meal and bran, the only flour and meal kept for sale was what little was necessary to supply the few families who were not farmers. This will show the necessity of running the mill night and day and Sunday, too, if the water held out, because the miller had to remember that "he can never grind with the water that has passed." Mr. Bruce belonged to the Christian church and some of the church members made quite a little stir in the church because while the water lasted he kept his mill going on Sunday, and finally he settled the dispute by withdrawing from the church and continued to rim the mill, claiming that people must be fed and provided for, even if it technically violated some law of the church. He is reputed to have been a man of whom it could be said "he was generous to a fault." Kind hearted and blunt in expression, no one could ever misunderstand where he stood, firm in his assertion of his own rights. He was equally ready to admit and respect the rights of others. A man of ordinary mind possessing all the independence of character of his Highland ancestry, he was genial and jovial, enjoyed life and loved to mingle with his fellow men, and left the reputation of being the most generous and kind hearted man of his time, and held the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens for his probity, honesty and sterling worth, being elected the first county treasurer, which place he held for ten years, and also other objects of trust. He died in 1832 and is buried in Mound Hill cemetery, and for a monument the grinding stones of the old mill, have 142 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO OHIO. been erected as the most fitting. His wife preceded him to the Beyond some five years. His and work were as large as the county and his sketch is here given because he rose above and beyond a local character, and while he accumulated a fortune he made the dollars secondary to true manhood. THE POVERTY OF PELF. As an illustration of the scarcity of money and the many difficulties against which the early settlers struggled, I can not do better than quote verbatum a subscription paper for, work done on a church, prefacing it,. however, with the statement . that the men and women who settled our county came chiefly from Pennsylvania and all the states south thereof as far as Georgia and Tennessee, and were of all creeds of religious belief from Roman Catholic to those of the most liberal tenets, and the exigencies, of their surroundings taught them to be very charitable and liberal towards theological bias of their neighbors, whsse help and care and assistance they might at any time be. compelled to call for. They seemed to regard the situation as one old man :over forty years ago, in talking of the religious generosity of those early settlers, thus expressed it : "We: realized that God knew how to separate the wheat from the chaff, and that He did not really need our help or advice," —.The church was called the "Spacht Meeting House," because near the. farm. of Jacob Spacht, but like most of our country churches has gone to 'decay. "We, the under named subscribers, obligate ourselves to pay David V. Stephens the sums annexed to our names in wheat; rye; corn and pork, if paid by the loth of January next; or in good sugar to be paid after sugar making at the cash price; delivered in Eaton; or in good whiskey to be paid by the first of February, next, at cash price, delivered at the place abOve Mentioned; in payment to aid Stephens for a job of joiner work donee by him,' amounting to twenty-five dollars, in a meetinghouse on a certain lot of land obtained from George Shideler and Thomas Woolverton. Said house is to be free for all Christians to worship, God in., ----December 5, 1823." Alvy Swain; 75 cents, paid; Silas Frame, $1.00; Joseph Snodgrass, fifty Pounds of pork ; James Frame,. sugar, 50 cents; John Bloomfield, $1.6o; Daniel Melling, sugar; 75 cents; Jesse Long, 25 cents ; Tobias Whitesell, 25 cents; James Melling, 25. cents in sugar ; Daniel Strader, $1.00; George Hopple, 37 1/2 cents ;George. Laird; Sr.; 18 3/4 cents.; Adam Whitesell, 37 1/2 cents; Nathan Meroney, 18 3/4 cents; paid in cash; John C. McManus, 6 1/2 Cents; John Caughey, five bushels of corn; Menic Saffree, three bushels of corn; Thomas Tomlinson, $1.00 in sugar; Conrad Bonebrake; PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 143 25 cents in sugar; Peter Bonebrake one bushel of corn; George Thompson, 25 cents; David Brower, $2.34; John Frame, $2.34. We are glad to note that none of the subscriptions were really paid in "whiskey," even if it was then regarded as a "corn product." AN UNWELCOME VISITOR An incident that will illustrate the loneliness of the life of the wives of those early settler and the alarms: incident to that time, is authentically related of Mrs. Samuel Kesler, who with her husband lived about mile south of Lewisburg. About 1815 her husband had to go to Cincinnati, a trip that took about a week. then, and while alone in the cabin one day two Indians, presumably Pottawattamies, opened the door and came in, one of them with a big knife in his hand. Of course, she became alarmed and backing off prepared to defend herself as best she could. Her alarm seemed to amuse the Indians; but finally the Indian with the knife stepped to the fireplace and stabbed his knife into a burning brand so deep as to make it stick, raised it up and with an "ugh" left the house. They wanted to start a fire in camp and took that way to get it started. Mrs. Kesler barred the door and waited for her husband, who came a day or so later. "The women of our .forest lands, stout-hearted dames were they, With nerve to wield the battle brand, and join the border fray." One of the early settlers of the county who, by his thought and efforts for others, made a lasting impression on the county was John Fisher, Sr., who was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, 'February, 1770, and moving to Lanier township in 1817, purchased a farm to which he added others later. He was a member of the Dunkard, or German Baptist church, and a man Of more than ordinary capacity, liberal and unselfish in his dealings. He firmly believed that mentally and physically the education of our people would make for their betterment and he interested Peter Vanausdal, A. Vandoren, the Bantas and others, and together they built a school house of round logs on the east bank of Rocky run, about eighty rods southwest of the intersection of the Franklin and Old Trace roads, near the big spring then called .Worthington's spring, as early as 1819. He employed J. A. Daly and, later, J. A. Mendal, as teachers of the higher grade of studies, and, there for some three years Was held the first high school of the county. Quite a number of the young men who attended afterwards became prominent in the affairs of the county and the influence Of that little 144 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. log school house on the educational work of the county was felt for many years. It is related of "Father" Fisher, as he was called by one who knew him well, that his character for industry, benevolence and integrity was exceptional ; that within his knowledge no poor man or family was permitted to go hungry ; that at sales where he saw articles of substantial value being sacrificed by low bidding or combination, he would bid it up and if the seller was needy would bid against himself up to its true value. He believed in the "eleventh commandment." He died at the home of his son, Eli Fisher, January, 1844. It seems needless to add that he was loved and respected by the entire community and long remembered. EARLY SCHOOL FACILITIES. The educational facilities of our early settlers were very meager. The nation had set apart section 16 of every township to be used solely for school purposes and the state took possession of that section, but as most of the state was covered with heavy forest and the early settlers preferred getting land of their own and improving that, to renting school lands, those sections practically produced no income and finally in 1829 an act was passed allowing the sale of those lands and turning the money into the state treasury upon which the state annually pays to the school fund of the state the interest thereon. The acts and amendments thereto, allowing such sale and use of the money, has produced what is called the Irreducible State Debt, being in reality a contract whereby the state must forever pay the interest. In a general way, leaving out minor technicalities, this is the foundation of the state school levy. But even that help did not come until after the boys and girls of the early days had become men and women. At first, the settlers of a neighborhood got together and agreed to form a school district and have a schoolhouse and school for their children. A day was set to meet at the place selected for the school house and everybody turned out, bringing axes, broad axes, saws and teams and tools. Trees Are felled, the straightest being taken, cut into lengths to suit the size of the building desired, notched and laid up, the floor being puncheon, generally hewed on the upper surface, and the roof clapboards rived from some timber that would split straight, held in place by poles. The door was similar to the floor and hung on wooden hinges with chimney at one end built outside of the house walls, with stone fireplace, and lath and mud top. The windows were made by cutting out sections of the logs where desired PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 145 and covering with greased paper, or thin-tanned fawn skin. The cracks between the logs were filled with chinking and daubed with clay mud. The desks were made by boring auger holes along the sides and one end, at the same height, driving in long wood pins and placing and fastening on them wide puncheon hewed smooth, and in front puncheon benches standing on legs of wood driven into auger holes in the puncheon, so that the large pupils sat with their backs to the teacher in the center and the books, which were few, piled before the pupil. Smaller benches in front were made for the smaller pupils. It was later improved by putting up standards at the seats and running a stringer along to form a back rest. Such a house is the one described to me by my grandfather, who, as a boy about 1807, attended such a school in central Ohio about thirty miles north of Columbus, and I have no doubt that such houses were built in this county. The work was generally completed in two or three days and was regarded as a frolic. The play ground was the surrounding woods. The teacher was hired generally before the house was built and the school was a subscription school, each parent signing to pay a certain price per day for a certain number of pupils. WAGES WITH A ZERO BASIS. In 1830 my father went to school for the first time and, at the end of the week, carried to the teacher three cents for each day, and his big brother had to take five cents for each day. Soon after 183o the school boards furnished enough money to hold school three or four months in winter, and the spring and fall terms, if any, were subscription schools. This continued for the county schools until, in 1853, laws were passed under the then new constitution, giving the school board more power, and the subscription school in a few years was drowned out and became only a memory. Up to about the war it was the custom in many districts for the teacher to board around with the pupils, spending a week in one house, then going to another. Such seems like a hard way to train boys and girls, but judging by the product of those schools and the things done by those boys and girls, the teachers must have had good material to work on. In those early days, the country being covered with forests and the fallen leaves and decaying vegetation covering the face of the ground, and, acting as a sponge, absorbed and held the water that fell, and the trees (10) 146 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. prevented the sun from drying the ground so that our streams receiving, the water slowly draining off the land, flowed a good steady body of water for several months of the year. The roads being little better than Indian trails made a demand for mill products in every neighborhood, and many grist-mills were built in the county to supply the local demand, most of which mills operated a saw-mill also, in which the saws used were of the old sash saw variety, that the boys designated as "up one day and down the next." There are now in the county but four known mills and all are. operated mainly by steam or electricity, while there are saw-mills, all steam, near New Paris, Lewisburg, West Alexandria, Gratis, West Elkton, Camden, Eaton, New Hope, Fair .Haven, New Lexington and a few others. THE MILLS OF THE PAST GROUND SLOWLY. But those early mills were all water mills and I append a list that the reader may judge of the changes that the settlement and clearing of the land has had upon the flow of our streams, most of which rise to flood tide and subside to the size of a goodly brook within a few days now. I will add that all are gone but the memory of those old mills, unless otherwise stated: So far as known they are as follow, being generally named from the builder : In Jefferson township, Ireland's Mills, below New Paris, and Smith's mills at New Paris ; Woofter Doloff mill and. McGrew mill, all above New Paris on Whitewater. In Jackson township, the Swisher mill on Kelly's branch. In Dixon township, the Kercheval mill, later called Niccum mill, the Elliott mill and the Dallas mill all on Four Mile creek. In Israel township, Ridenouer mill on Little Four Mile, Ramsey or McDill mill, Sloan or Wright mill, all on Four Mile. In Somers township, Barnett's mill, still standing but unused, Ribonson or Brubaker mill near Camden, built 1816, rebuilt later ; Stubbs or later Barnett & Whiteside's mill, south of Camden, and the Irvin mill, all on Seven Mile creek, and Stubbs mill on Paint creek. In Gasper township the Potterf mill, later called Hall's mill, on Seven Mile creek and Lambert mill on Paint creek near Friendship church. In Washington township Bruce mill and Vanausdal & Sturr mill, -both at Eaton, while the McCleaf mill, now Robinson steam and now electric at Eaton, is yet doing good work. . PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 147 In Monroe township Stubbs & Co. mill at Eldorado, steam, built in 1854. In Harrison township, the Hole, later Turner, now Crider mill, near. Lewisburg, first built in 1809, still doing good work, and the Swisher mill above Euphemia, both on Twin creek. The Werts mill at Verona, a steam mill, and yet running; Dennison mill on Twin creek. In Twin township, the Nisbet, later Mumma mill, near Lexington, 18o5. The Stotler & Gale mill, near West Alexandria, is still in operation both on Twin creek; Price mill, Enoch mill and Whipple mill, all on Price creek. In Lanier township, Egbert, later Halderman mill, 1812 ; Gregg mill, Sorber, later Bowers mill, all on Twin creek. In Gratis township, the Neff mill, later Rohrer, on Twin creek, 1806 ; the Taylor mill on Pleasant run and Ferry mill on Elk creek ; then there was a steam mill at west Elkton, but all are gone. These old mills served well the pioneers of our county, but all now are but memories, even the location of many being almost forgotten. In addition there were formerly some five or six woolen and carding-mills. but they, too, have gone the way of all the world. OUR FOREFATHERS WERE "WETS." In those early days there were many small distilleries scattered about the county, mostly run by the farmers who turned their corn into whiskey and marketed it in that shape, and it is said that most of it was good whiskey, and not the fiery "moonshine" now found in illicit stills. Some prominent farmers of that day ran little stills, but as the sentiments of the communities changed they abandoned the business and when the whiskey-tax and bonding laws of the Civil War period were enacted, the last one of them was converted into scrap to escape any trouble with the "revinooers." But during the war and until some years thereafter Detrich Glander, below West Alexandria, and Perry Turner, near Lewisburg, engaged in the distilling business on a considerable scale, Linder government supervision, but some thirty-five or forty years ago the distillers' combines began getting in their work and the business became less remunerative to the little fellows, and Glander and Turner went out of business and the distilleries were scrapped, so that for more than thirty-five years. past there has been no whiskey manufactured in the county, although there is some demand therefor, which is supplied by our kind neighboring counties.   148 - PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO. Among the early settlers of the county mention ought to be made of those who helped to win this fair land from the red man, and in doing so served as soldiers in St. Clair's and Wayne's armies, passing through or fighting the Indians in this county. Luke Vorhees and John Goldsmith were at the battle with Little Turtle's band at Fort St. Clair and Vorhees later settled in Gratis township and is said to be buried at Wheatville. John Goldsmith returned to this county about 18o6 and entered a quarter of land about a half mile west of the fort, and proceeded to deaden about seven acres of land, and then went back after his possessions in Kentucky, and, on his return, found that about half of his deadening was over the line on Bruce's land. He settled on the quarter and continued to live there until his death. There are a number of his descendants living in Eaton and vicinity. THE FIRST WHITE BOY. Jacob Parker was one of Wayne's soldiers and has been spoken of before as settling in Lanier township before it was surveyed about 1798. His son, Peter Parker, claimed to be the first boy born in the county and that his birth ante-dated that of George D. Hendrix by a few months, and between them was often good-natured raillery over the dates. Samuel Hawkins, mentioned elsewhere, was at St. Clair's defeat and at Fallen Timbers and was wounded so badly that he never fully regained his strength. David E. Hendrix, the first permanent settler of Eaton, was a soldier under Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, and one of the most fearless of the latter's messengers, volunteering to take dispatches from Greenville to Cincinnati in the dead of winter on horseback and alone, when it was known that the woods were full of prowling Indians, riding all day and all night and making the distance in twenty-four hours, delivering the message safely, but the frost of that bitter ride of seventy miles left its marks on his hands and feet for the rest of his life. The real early settlers of our county were such men as these, and the hardy and daring men who would naturally be friendly with and attracted by the quality of such men. In addition to the above there were several soldiers of the Revolution who settled in the county. Their graves are marked in our cemeteries and due tribute paid to their memories each Decoration Day. PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO - 149 A REVIEW OF ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS. In seems fitting to name and locate some of the physical phenomena of the last century. The spring of 1859 was a forward spring and crops were planted early, and on June 4 of that year much of the corn was eighteen to twenty inches high, and the wheat in bloom. On the morning of June 5 there was a severe killing frost that wilted the corn nearly to the ground and many farmers plowed and replanted, while others sheared the corn off below the black line with sheep shears. The corn generally seemed to take on new life and the crop of corn and wheat was good, the greatest permanent damage being to garden truck. The year 1875 was the wettest year remembered by our oldest men. It rained so continuously from middle June to the middle of August that much of the wheat and oats crop could not be got dry enough in the shock to thresh or haul into the barns, the grain growing in the shock until many shocks looked green and the sheaves had to be torn apart by hand before they could be loaded on the wagons. The winter of 1880-81 was perhaps the longest winter that is remembered, there being one hundred and ten days of sleighing in Preble county, and while the weather was cold the thermometers did not register the lowest temperature we have suffered. The year 1895 has been called the dry year in this county. Locally we had no rain for weeks and many farmers drove stock to the creek or hauled water for use. In the year 1900 the wheat crop of the county was a total failure, it being claimed that there were not two thousand bushels threshed in the county and it was of the poorest quality, not a bushel being bought that year at the Eaton elevators. On February 9 and 10, 1899, the thermometers in Eaton registered from twenty-eight degrees to thirty-two degrees below zero Fahrenheit, the lowest ever recorded. The latest killing frost in the fall was October 3o, 1897, when the first frost fell that killed tomatoes in Eaton. I had many tomatoes in my garden and it was so remarkably late that I made a memorandum of the fact. The most destructive storm that ever visited our county occurred on the night of May 12, 1886. A cyclone swept across our county, crossing Dixon, Gasper and Lanier townships, leveling forests, destroying many