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THE THROBBING HEART OF BUSINESS.

The power of banks has gone on increasing, until today it may safely be asserted that banks are the throbbing heart that sends the life-blood through all the commercial arteries of every. business. Banks, under our systems of exchange and clearing-houses, have expanded their power beyond the dreams of the world's best bankers of a hundred years ago.

Our Preble county banks are linked, generally speaking, with the whole system in the United States, although, within the law, each is left independent in conducting its own business. We have in this county three systems of banks, national, state banks, and joint-stock or partnership banks, besides private banks, owned by individuals.

The national bank operates under a charter from the United States, and every stockholder can be made to contribute as much as the par value of his stock, if necessary, to pay the debts of the bank. It also may issue a certain amount of notes.

The state bank operates under a charter from the state, and the stockholders are under a double liability, the same as those of national banks. It also may issue its notes, but no one is, by law, required to accept them in payment. Such notes also are subject to a heavy tax by the United States, hence none are issued.

Joint-stock banks, or partnership banks, are really private banks, their money being the amounts paid in by the owners, and every member of the bank is individually liable for all debts of the bank, hence they are just as strong financially as the aggregate wealth of the individuals.

There has been but one bank failure in Preble county, and that was of a branch bank. The parent bank failed and took the branch bank with it. In the aggregate, the banking power of the county banks is much greater than our people have appreciated. A short history of each existing bank will be given, then a general view, to show the combined power.

FIRST BANK IN COUNTY.

In 1847, about one hundred and twenty-five stockholders organized, under the law of 1845, a branch of the Ohio State Bank in Eaton, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. This was the first bank organized in the county. For a time a room in the first house south of the court house, on

(15)

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Barron street, was used as a bank, but later the bank was moved into a room on Main street. John M. Gray was cashier, and in 1853 he was succeeded by H. C. Hiestand. In 1864 the bank. was 'reorganized into and became the ,FirSt National Bank, with the same capital, Hiestand remaining cashier. In 1867 the Brooke Brothers bought Hiestand's interest; and John C. Brooke became cashier, he being succeeded by C. F. Brooke, Jr.,

In 1884 the twenty-year. charter expired and was surrendered: The bank then reorganized Under the state laws as the Farmers and Citizens Bank, with Joseph Cramer, president, and C F. Brooke, Jr., cashier, and so remained Until Cramer's death in 1901, when it merged with the Eaton Banking Company.

The Eaton Banking Company was organized under the state laws in 1892, with Edward S. Stotler, president, and J. Musselman, cashier, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and started business in the corner room at the northeast corner of Barron and Main streets. This bank was continued as a state bank until 1901, in which year it was merged with the Farmers and Citizens Bank, under C. F. Brooke, Jr., and the two continued under the name of the Eaton Banking Company. In 1903 the bank moved across to the northwest corner of Barron and Main streets, and on January 10, 1905, it reorganized as the Eaton National Bank, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, which later was increased to sixty thousand dollars, with S. Swisher, president, and J. H. Musselman, cashier. This bank has deposits of over six hundred thousand dollars and surplus and undivided profits of fifty thousand dollars. The prime movers in the organization of the' Eaton Banking Company were E. S. Stotler, J. H. Musselman, J. M. Gale, S. Swisher, Harvey Paddack, A. A. Leas and George Deem, the last three of whom have answered the last roll call.

PREBLE COUNTY NATIONAL BANK.

The Preble County Bank was organized as a bank by H. C. Hiestand and others, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, in October, 1873. A brick building, solely for the use of the bank, was erected by J. H. Foos on the north side of Main street, about one-half square west of Barron street. The organizers of the bank, being men well and favorably known in the community, the institution soon acquired a large clientele, which it has held.

In 1888 the bank was reorganized as the Preble County National Bank, and was reorganized in 1908, H. C. Hiestand being president from the first organization of the bank to the time of his death on July 5, 1884. In 1892

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the Ortt company erected a large brick building at the southwest corner of Barron and- Main streets and prepared three rooms in this building for bank purposes. When the building was completed in 1893 the bank moved in and has since continued to occupy the corner.

Since the death of H. C. Hiestand, Joseph V. Acton has been president, and A. J. Hiestand is the present cashier. The bank's present capital is 'sixty thousand dollars ; surplus and undivided profits, one hundred and four thousand dollars, and deposits, one million sixteen thousand dollars.

BANKS AT NEW PARIS.

The Farmers Bank of New Paris was started as a private bank in 1889, by Horace G. Bloom, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, the village never before having had a bank. Seeing similar conditions prevailing in the villages of New Madison, in Darke county, and in Eldorado, Mr. Bloom, a year or so later, started branch banks in both of those villages, which he successfully conducted until his death about the year 1906. In the meantime he had taken in with him others, and the banks were operated as joint-stock banks under the state law.

After the death of Mr. Bloom, the New Paris bank was taken over by his partners, and is still operated as a co-partnership bank, with a capital of ten thousand dollars, with S. C. Ritchie, president, and E. C. Mikesell, cashier. It has, surplus and undivided profits, .four thousand five hundred dollars ; deposits, seventy thousand dollars.

The First National Bank of New Paris was first started about 1900, as a private bank, by J. A. Peele, and was run by him as a joint-stock bank until his death, May 20, 1908, during which time it was called the Peoples Bank. After the death of Mr. Peele the co-partners, on August 8, 1908, took over the bank's assets, assumed the liabilities and reorganized the bank as a national bank, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, divided into one hundred dollar shares, since which time J. A. Garretson has been president and M. H. Pence, cashier. It has surplus and undivided profits of two thousand five hundred dollars, and deposits of sixty-three thousand dollars.

BANKS ELSEWHERE IN COUNTY.

Up to 1887 there had been no bank in the county except at Eaton, and many business men at West Alexandria chafed under their disadvantages. Finally, in December, 1887, S. S. Black circulated a subscription for shares in

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a new bank, and in just half a day the paper held the names of S. S. Black, E. S. Stotler, J. M. Gale, P. Smith, J. N. Clemmer, John Fadler, J. E. Davis, A. Unger, Herman Voge, J. Rinck, Joseph Markey, J. H. Markey and Joseph Mills, just thirteen.

The bank was incorporated under the state law, as a joint-stock bank, and was called the Twin Valley Bank, S. S. Black & Company, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. It was organized on January 2, 1888, and started business on Main street in the building at the northwest corner of Dayton and Main streets. The bank prospered from the first, and the company later bought the building at the southeast corner of the same streets, fitted up the corner for a bank and has occupied it ever since. The bank has surplus and undivided profits of fifty thousand dollars, and deposits of about five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. S. S. Black is president and Lew Derby, cashier. This extended account is given because this was the first bank to break away from the county seat. In 1906 the Twin Valley Bank established a branch bank at Gratis, with N. G. Kimmel as cashier.

The Farmers and Citizens Bank, of West Alexandria, was started on March 14, 1905, as a partnership, or joint-stock bank, by Henry Meyer, R. J. W. Ozias, Sherman Mills, Jacob Urich, J. A. Rosillius, J. H. Ehler, Sr., and fifteen others. This bank began business on the south side of Dayton street, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. It reported to the auditor in 1914, surplus and undivided profits, eight thousand dollars ; deposits, two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. R. J. W. Ozias is the president and Sherman Mills is the cashier. This bank was organized and is operated under the state laws.

BANK FAILURE AT CAMDEN.

In 1893 the failure of the Camden bank left Camden without banking facilities, and in 1894 some thirty of the citizens of the village and vicinity started a joint-stock bank, under the state law, called the Commercial Bank of Camden, with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars. It accumulated a fair clientele, but, not proving satisfactory, a number of the citizens of the village and community formed an organization, bought out the commercial Bank bodily, and in July, 1906, reorganized the bank as the First National Bank of Camden, Ohio, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. This bank has surplus and undivided profits of fourteen thousand dollars ; deposits, two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. A savings-bank account is operated in connection. The bank occupies the building at the southeast corner of Main street and Central avenue, which it rents. R. C. Prugh is the president and J. E. Randall is the cashier.

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The Farmers' Banking Company, of Eldorado, was organized by Horace Bloom, in 1899, as the Farmers' Bank; a branch of his New Paris and New Madison banks; and as a private bank. At Mr. Bloom's death the bank was taken over by his partners, and so continued until 1913, in which year it was reorganized as a joint-stock or banking partnership, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. It now has surplus and undivided profits of six thousand dollars and one hundred and sixty thousand dollars deposits. It owns its own building on the east side of Main street. Isaac Miller is the president and C. D. Miller is the cashier.

The Farmers and Merchants Bank, of Wesi Manchester was organized in 1897 as a banking partnership, by J. E. Leas and J. W. Leas, with a capital of ten thousand dollars. In 1914 it reported to the auditor that it had, surplus and undivided profits, twelve thousand dollars; deposits, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. John E. Leas is the President and J. W. Leas§ is .the cashier.

The Farmers Bank, of Verona, was organized in 1906, as a banking partnership, by S. G. Sheller, John Wert§, A. N. Rife, John W. Kreitzer and E. E. Niswonger, under the state laws. It has erected, at the northeast corner of Main and Mill streets, a bank building- of Grecian architecture, solely for bank use, equipped with modern appliances. Capital stock, fifty thousand dollars; surplus and undivided profits, six thousand dollars ; deposits, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The capital stock is divided into one hundred dollar shares and is held by many of the farmers and business men of the community. S. G. Sheller is the president and F. 0. Pausing is the cashier.

CHICAGO BANKERS IN TROUBLE.

The People's Banking Company, of Lewisburg, was started as the Citizens' Bank by some Chicago people. After running but a few years the bank had some trouble, and in 1897 a number of men, headed by L. F. Parmerlee, H. P. Smith, A. T. Horn, L. Finney, E. C. Crider and S. G. Sheller, formed a banking partnership and took over the bank, which, in 1908, was reorganized and incorporated under the state laws as a state bank, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars. This bank built and owns a fine bank building on the west side of Greenville street, used and fitted only for banking purposes. It has surplus and undivided profits of eight thousand, five hundred dollars and deposits of two hundred and seventy thousand ollars. H. P. Smith is the preseident and Waldo C. Moore is the cashier.

In addition to the above there are two banks at College Corner, one on

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the Ohio side, about thirty feet south of the county line, and one on the Indiana side, about twenty feet west of the state line, whose combined assets are over a half million dollars, a considerable part of which comes from this county, which banks are not accounted for herein.

RECAPITULATION.

Every bank of the county was visited and only questions asked as to their history and the above items. The figures given can be relied on, therefore, as showing the present condition of each bank, except as otherwise stated in the history.

CHAPTER XV.

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.

The original method of forming school districts by the early settlers has been described, but under the school laws passed about 1840, and their amendments under the 1851 constitution, the educational interest of the country districts had advanced, until there was a school house all over the county every two miles. They were good houses, many of them brick, with many modern improvements, and supplied with good wide-awake, progressive teachers; so much so that many of the teachers, perhaps the majority, in the graded and municipal schools, served as country school teachers until their reputation was established, when the higher salaries brought them to town. Where f ormerly the public money lasted for three or four months in the winter, for many years past our country schools have been continued eight to nine months per year.

The only criticism that can justly be made against our country schools is that the directors generally have been too short-sighted to. purchase enough land for a proper playground, the children having to play in the neighboring fields or the road, or forego many of the sports so dear to boys and girls.

LINKING UP THE SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS.

There is now a movement on foot to centralize the schools of each township, erect one large building in the most accessible location near the center of the township, having teachers for the various grades, the same as the town schools, and having teamsters to gather up in the different localities of the township all the scholars and take them to the school each morning and home in the evening, provided they live more than two miles from the schoolhouse. In our county, Jackson township has been the first to try the matter out, and so well have they succeeded for the last three years that the agitation is spreading. In 1914 Dixon township voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change, and they are now engaged in getting ready for it before October, 1915.

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As the educational matter will be dealt with in describing the villages and townships, it is not deemed proper to deal extensively with the matter in the general history. except to note that 1914, perhaps, started a great change in our educational matters, because the old local school boards are gone and the Legislature has instituted a county board of education and a county school superintendent—whether it be an improvement time alone will tell. There is also a township board of five members.

CHAPTER XVI.

ISRAEL TOWNSHIP.

By Eleanor Schouler.

A glance at the map of Preble county shows Israel township occupying its tract of six miles. square, in the southwest corner, being bounded on the west by the state of Indiana and on the south by Butler county.

When the three associate judges of the county, on March 15, 1808, divided the county into townships, they made Israel township include the four congressional townships in the west range of the county. But, one year later, the county commissioners cut off the north sixteen miles and called it Jefferson, while, still later, on June I, 1812, the extent of land was reduced by the county commissioners to its present proportions.

NATURAL FEATURES.

Israel township's most interesting natural feature is a creek, which flows from north to south through the entire length of the township, and which, with its branches and, many tile ditches, drains the land. This stream first made its appearance in history when General Wayne, on his raid against the Indians, crossed it four Miles above Fort Hamilton and named it Four Mile. This name it still bears, although further down the stream, where the "classic shades of Oxford" overhang its banks, it is known as the Tallawanda river, and there is a story current that its pools were reserved by the Indians as bathing places for the maidens of the tribe. But the sturdy Scotch-Irish population of Israel township, with a fine disdain for romance, prefer history to tradition and truth before poetry, so with them it is still Four Mile creek. This stream has played no small Part in the lives of the "Israelites." In early days, when trade was scattered and every locality must produce its own necessities, its banks were dotted with mills, where its waters supplied the motive power which ground food for the farmers and sawed their timber into lumber. But as "big business" gradually monopolized trade, these mills, one by one, disappeared and, with the looms and spinning wheels of the housewives, have become but a memory of the past.

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With the passing of the mills, Four. Mile lost some of its prestige as a factor in the lives of the people, but it still plays an important part in their recreation. Its waters are well stocked with fish, which allure many sportsmen to its banks. In winter its frozen surface is the scene of gay skating parties; but, best of all, is its "old swimmin' holes."

A few times in its history Four Mile has gotten so far beyond its banks as to invade the sacred precincts of the homes along its borders. To the great flood of 1913 it contributed its full quota, sweeping through many houses and doing much damage before joining the raging waters of the Miami. Four Mile is spanned, by many bridges of wood, iron or cement, but "the bridge" crosses the stream" at Fair Haven, and is known as the "old red bridge," albeit for some years past it has been -white. It was built in 1847 by Wiley & Glover, local Contractors,: and is of the type known as "covered." The roof and weatherboarding, and even the stone abutments, have had to be renewed, but the old frame is still as sound as When it came froth the hands of the builder, and some of the planks of the original flooring are still in use Lost in amazement at the mechanical principle upon which this bridge was constructed, and filled with admiration of the wisdom and skill of the builders, a local poet gave expression to the feeling as follows

"The genius of man

No one can discover;

This bridge was built

By Wiley and Glover:"

The three main streams of Israel township are Four Mile creek, flowing from north to south, across the township a short distance west of the center. It is' joined by Little Four Mile creek, from the west, about a mile north of the south line of the township, and also joined by Hopewell creek, from the northeak, about a mile and a half north of its south line. Along these streams and for only short distances on each side of them are all the rough and hilly lands of the township; the bit two and a half miles of Four .Mile creek and the same distance along Little Four Mile creek, and about a mile along Hopewell creek, are bluffy hills and gulches that in some respects rival the Devil's Backbone hill. From the tops of some of the hills of Four 'Mile may be had some of

the finest vistas of the county.

These three streams, with their tributaries, drain the whole, township, except a narrow fringe along the eastern side, which goes to Seven Mile creek. The greater part of the land is level or gently rolling, the slopes being so gradual that the plow goes right on over the top of the ridge. The soil is

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clay, with limestone subsoil, and of most excellent .quality, producing all the crops of this latitude.

THE FIRST SETTLERS.

Of the present population of Israel township, which numbered one thousand four hundred and one in 1910, as against one thousand five hundred and eighty in 1890, quite a large proportion are descendants of the, original settlers. Those early homeseekers came from Virginia; New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia and the Carolinas, but fully two-thirds of them were from South Carolina.' Nineteen or twenty years before the state of Ohio was carved out of the Northwest territory, a colony of Scotch-Irish, psalm singing Presbyterians, known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterians, organized a church in Chester county, South Carolina and named it Hopewell. A fair portrait of these people may be found in, the men and women of "Drumtochty," whom Ian Maclaren has immortalized in his "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, and other works. When this church was but a quarter of a century old, a number of its families. South Carolina dust from off their feet, in indignant protest against the institution of shivery, and, having gathered together their worldly goods, turned their backs upon their homes and set their faces toward the north. On their march over the weary stretch of miles which lie between Chester county, South Carolina; and Preble county, Ohio, many incidents of interest occurred, one of which is especially worthy of note as illustrating the wisdom of remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. On the first Saturday night of the journey, the question arose whether they should resume the march on the morrow or spend the day in camp. Opinion was divided on the subject. One party held that to rest quietly in camp was their obvious duty, while the other party insisted that the Sabbath could be kept quite as well on the road. Neither side being willing to yield the point, the next day they parted company, and throughout the trip one party spent the Sabbath in camp and the other on the road. But each Saturday night the "camping" party overtook the "traveling" party and they spent the night together, only to part company. again in the morning, They reached their destination together, the party which had rested one day in seven in fine condition, as were also their horses ; the party which, to save time, had never ceased traveling, was worn and jaded and their horses reduced to mere hacks.

The first of the South Carolina settlers reached Israel township in the year 18o6, and through the next few years were followed by many others. In

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1808 they organized a church, which they named Hopewell, in honor of their South Carolina church home.

Early in the century, homeseekers from New Jersey, belonging to the Society of Friends, settled in the northeast corner of the township, where they built their house of worship. They called their society Westfield, in honor of their New Jersey church, which bore the same name.

No one but a Scotchman, born and bred, and versed in Scottish church history, can tell the difference between some of the churches holding the Presbyterian faith; but to the members of the various bodies the differences are vital. So those settlers holding the views of the Reformed Presbyterians, or Covenanters, were organized into a church known as the Beech Woods, or Morning Sun, church. Their building was located east of Morning Sun.

SCHISM AMONG COVENANTERS.

In 1834 the Covenanter denomination was divided into two part; known as the Old School and New School. The Morning Sun congregation, with their pastor, the Rev. Garvin McMillan, sided with the New School. But there were those among their number who refused to think with the majority and claimed possession of the house of worship on the grounds that they were the church. The majority they regarded as backsliders. One Sabbath morning the conservative party entered the church to hold a service of their own. The doors in the balustrade which surrounded the high, old fashioned pulpit were closed and Elder Ramsey took his station beside the pulpit and Was about to begin the service when the Rev. Mr. McMillan tered the church. Mr. McMillan was not long in reaching the pulpit, where he nimbly swung himself over the balustrade and was in possession. But the day was not yet Won. In scathing tones, Mr. Ramsey exclaimed, "He that entereth not in by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." But by thiS time Mr. McMillan had opened the pulpit Bible, and such was their reverence for the Word that the belligerents quietly retired to the school house across the way and left the progressives in possession of the house of worship. Most of the families of the Old school party subsequently found for themselves new homes in other places among people who worshipped as they did. But one member retired in high dudgeon to his farm. Not wanting to be buried by the side of his backsliding neighbors, he built for himself a burial vault and carved his own tombstone. On this stone he recorded at length his religious views. But, unfortunately, the.

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stone fell and by the accident his leg was broken, from which injury he died soon afterward. His body was laid to rest in the vault of his own building. But he had not reckoned with the ravages of time, and the vault finally crumbled to dust. His remains were removed to Cedarville, Ohio, and the tombstone was ground up by the stone crusher to make road.

The Beech Woods congregation united with the United Presbyterian denomination in 187o, and in 1876, together with one hundred members from Hopewell, built a church in the village of Morning Sun. The site of the old church building is marked only by the graves by which it had been surrounded.

Meanwhile the Hopewell church was rapidly growing. It was ministered to by the Rev. Alexander Porter, D. D., himself a South Carolinian. Their first house of worship, a log building, was found to be too small before it was completed and thirty feet were added to the end. In 1827 the present brick church was erected. Although it is the largest building in the township, and has the greatest seating capacity, it was soon found to be too small.

For twenty-six years, winter and summer, through storm and through sunshine, every Sabbath day the people on the outskirts of the settlement found their way to the Hopewell meeting house, with never a thought of hardship nor a wish for change.

But the church building was too small and it was clear that something must be done. The Christian Intelligencer for September, 1834, had this notice: "The First Presbytery of Ohio will meet on the call of the moderator, at Hopewell meeting house, Preble county, Ohio, the first day of October, to organize a new congregation to be composed of a portion of the members of Hopewell congregation and to grant them the moderation of a call if thought expedient." The congregational records of the time state that the Presbytery set off about fifty families by the name and title of Fair Haven congregation, and adds that the heads of four of these families were elders. This new congregation built their house of worship in Fair Haven, then a town of two years of age. In 1837 a church of the same denomination was organized at Oxford, Butler county, and the people in its direction moved their membership to it, thus again reducing Hopewell's number. There was another flitting in 1849, when the church at College Corner was organized. This congregation's first building was on the Indiana side of the state line, but a few years since a new building was erected on the Ohio side and they are now numbered with the Israel township churches.

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FUSION OF THE. TWO CHURCHES.

In 1858 the Associate Reformed Presbyterian denomination formed .a union with the Associate Presbyterian, under the name and title of the United Presbyterian Church of North America; thus these Israel township churches became known as United Presbyterians. As has been stated, in the year 1876 the Hopewell congregation lost one hundred more of its members to the new organization at Morning Sun. This last flitting left the mother church must reduced in strength and circumscribed in territory, but still the congregation maintains the regular services, ministered:to by. one of its own sons. In 1908 Hopewell church celebrated its one hundredth .anniversary, on which occasion she had the pleasure of being greeted by personal representatives from her mother church in South Carolina and from her four daughters at home. At this time there were. also letters of greeting from various "Hopewells" situated in the Western states, which were namesakes of 'hers, for the pioneering spirit which resulted in the settlement of Israel township also caused many of its people to seek new homes as the great West opened up to immigration.

There were those among the pioneers who established their homesteads far from the church and each Lord's Day traveled four or five, or even six, miles' to the meeting house. The Hamilton and Richmond, turnpike, which was built some time in the forties, was a thing for the future to develop, and the roads of that time were far from ideal. Carriages were an unheard-of luxury, but there was always an old horse or two which were ready to. carry the father and mother, and perhaps the babies, while: the younger people thought it no hardship to walk.' The man who invented barbed-wire fences had not yet been born, and there was nothing to prevent the worshippers from taking a bee line to the meeting house, except those obstacles which' nature herself laid in the way. Between the God of Nature and the. God of Revelation there exists no chasm, save only to the sin-blinded eyes of. His creatures, and that walk through the beech woods must have been fitting preparation for His worship. As these. little companies made their way to the rude man made meeting house, through the aisles of the great cathedral of the Master Builder, the arches of which were .vocal with the worship of the wood folk, it is a marvel that some "mute, inglorious Milton" among them did not break his silence and burst into song. But there is no record that any of them ever did. Indeed, if one had been so bold, he would no doubt have been promptly snubbed into silence by those groups of practical people, who

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were less concerned with the glorious things of nature than in keeping their Sabbath clothes from coming to grief. The go-to-meeting shoes were kept from. harm by being worn over the Shoulders of their owner, tied together by the strings. There was always some convenient log near the s meeting house where the women could sit while they put them on The same lob found a shelter for the stout shoes which had been worn over the rough path, and there they remained during the two long sermons at the meeting house. The bad boy of the period seems not to have been alive to the opportunity of those waiting shoes. When the sun began to cast long shadows on the east side of the beech trees, the shoes were always found ready to do duty on the homeward walk.

THE KNIGHT AND THE LADY.

An old lady of sainted memory, who had great fund of anecdote, used to entertain her young folks with stories of quilting' parties, husking bees, apple parings and other functions whereby the forefathers cunningly combined business with pleasure. There was one harrowing tale among them, in which a promising romance was stamped quite out of existence by a, pair Df those homely shoes, lurking so guilelessly under the lea of the log. An apple paring was in progress just across the woods from her father's home, and Dame Rumor reported that a stranger knight would grace it by his presence.

The occasion called for careful dressing, but even such an event could not cause our prudent heroine to grow reckless. The general utility shoes were worn as usual and left at the edge of the wood, where the dainty toilet was completed by a smart little pair of slippers whose "light fantastic toe" betrayed a forbidden acquaintance with the Virginia reel and the "miller boy who lived in the mill."

The knight was there. It was the old story over again. "He came, he saw, he conquered"—and was conquered. All went well until he asked for the privilege of "seeing her safe home." What was she to do? She could not well refuse his escort, but if she walked home in those slippers there was her mother to be reckoned with, and to stop for her shoes, in such company, was not to be thought -of. Reversing the decision of Hamlet, she chose to avoid the present ills and to let the future take care of itself. The walk was not a success. She was so distraught with anxiety as to the fate of her slippers and so filled with forebodings as 'to her own fate, that he ceased to be charmed; while, on her part, she wished him anywhere but by her side.

In relating the story she always assured her friends that that was the

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last she ever saw of him. Nevertheless, the story had its sequel. As the morning light revealed no trace of the footpath on her slippers, all might yet be well. There was a young brother, afterwards supreme judge of Ohio, who was willing to go for the shoes, and was not above taking a bribe as the price of his silence. But the guilty secret was long held over her head and became the "open sesame" to all the desires of the young tyrant heart.

But apple parings and kindred vanities occurred on week days, and the Sabbath presented no such embarrasing situations.

In addition to these churches which were transplanted with the first settlers, Israel township has also a Methodist Episcopal church, which is located in Fair Haven. The history of this church begins as does that of many other churches of that denomination. A few Methodist families having moved into Fair Haven and vicinity, the circuit preachers began visiting them early in the forties. Later an organization was effected, and in 1849 a house of worship was erected. The early growth of this church was spasmodic. At one time the field was abandoned and again reorganized. It was not until the year 1873 that the Fair Haven and Sugar Valley churches were off from the Camden circuit and became separate charges. Since that time the growth of the church has been steady and it is now a strong body doing a splendid work in the community.

SCHOOLS.

Next in importance to its churches are the schools of the township. The beginning of the education of the youths of Israel township was simultaneous with the township's settlement. What the fathers knew they taught to their children. The chief text books were the Bible and the Westminster Confession of Faith, popularly known as the "Shorter Catechism," with a copy of "Baxter's Call to the Unconverted" as a bit of lighter reading.

The people of that day thought more in grooves, it may be, than the people of today, and their knowledge was not so broad as at the present time, but certainly it reached deeper down, and as a character builder has not been surpassed.

As the people of the settlement became able, they employed teachers for their children, paying them by subscription so much per child. The teacher eked out his slender salary by "boarding around." The early teachers were mostly chosen from among the home boys, many of whom were preparing themselves for college. These teachers were, some of them, disciples of the Pete Jones "school of philosophy"—"No lickin', no larnin', sez I."

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But others had unique methods of their own for coaxing the younger ideas to shoot. One who held school in the session house of the church at Fair Haven had small tickets upon which the word "superior" was printed, which he used as bait to induce the children to put forth their best efforts to earn the coveted prize. The unambitious and the dullard who failed to reach a certain mark received like tickets bearing the word "inferior." The scheme worked well, too well in fact. The supply of "superiors" soon became exhausted and there was not inducement for further exertion on the part of the scholars until the resourceful teacher hit upon the plan of making two "inferiors" equal a "superior." The children, always ready to value quantity above quality, eagerly agreed to the new arrangement, and soon astonished their parents by proudly exhibiting quantities of the questionable trophies.

In the year 1825 the state of Ohio provided for the education of its youth by taxation, at which time Israel township was divided into eight school districts. In addition to these district schools, there were a number of private schools where more advanced branches, especially the classics, were taught. These efforts after higher education crystallized into the Morning Sun Academy, established about the year 185o by a stock company. In the year 1891 the township inaugurated the present high school. This high school has a three-year course. It has two buildings, one at Fair Haven and one at Morning Sun, and employs three teachers, one at each school and one who divides his time between the two.

VILLAGES.

The villages of the township, which are scarcely more than "wide places in the pike," are two in number, Fair Haven, in the north, and Morning Sun, in the center of the township. The town of College Corner, which is located in the extreme northwest corner of Oxford township, Butler county, and which takes its name from its location (Oxford township belonging to Miami University), has wandered across the state line into Indiana .and has also crossed the county line into Israel township. But it must be reckoned with the Butler county towns; Israel township can not properly claim it.

"DIED A'BORNIN'."

On April 13, 1833, one year after the birth of Fair Haven, and on the same day that Morning Sun was called into being, the plat for the town of

(16)

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Claysburgh was recorded. Fair Haven, which was located in the same section and was one year old, had received a "boom" in its new tavern, and proved the more popular site for a village. So Claysburgh never grew any larger. "There was neither hammer, nor ax, nor any tool of iron, heard in the town while it was in building," for it had the distinction of living and dying without ever having had a house in it. The town was destroyed, neither by fire nor by flood, but, a few strokes of the pen and Claysburgh ceased to exist, for the present owner of the land, tired of paying town taxes on a part of his farms, had Claysburgh wiped off the map.

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

In the early days of these villages, merchants, weavers, saddlers, cabinet makers, brick makers, tinners and blacksmiths all plied their trades to supply the necessities of the citizens. Farm produce was carried to the Cincinnati market in Conestoga wagons, drawn by from four to ten horses, proudly bearing their large fur collars and arches of bells. Live stock was driven to market. The log tavern at Fair Haven furnished entertainment for the drivers. Later this log tavern was replaced by "Bunker Hill," the large, three-story, brick building now owned by Miss Laura Harves.

Many a tale of wonderland was related by men who had been to Cincinnati, and boys looked upon that trip as the goal of their ambitions. Women did not expect to attain to such dizzy heights. They were, quite content to purchase their bonnets and gowns from the village milliners and storekeepers. The left-over supply of last season's hats, minus the trimmings, were put on the market as boys' hats. That the brims were narrow at the sides, stuck tip in the back and flared out in the front, was not considered a reasonable objection to their sale. Merchants were honest and never misrepresented their goods.

At one store, last week's eggs were still held at ten cents per dozen because they had been bought at nine, but this week's supply could be purchased for eight c nts because they had cost but seven. It is related of one of the storekeepers that he, carefully explained to a prospective buyer, who was examining a set of furs, that the tails with which the set was trimmed were not "real teals, for no animal livin' ever had more than one teal." But he was also careful to protect his own rights. The little maid who had timidly asked for a pint of molasses was quite frightened by the stern rebuke: "If molasses is sixty cents a gallon no man on earth could tell how much a

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pint would come to. Why can't you take a half gallon,. sis ? What's the use of being so contrary ?"

There was a pork-packing establishment at Fair Haven which did a large business in the forties, using barrels of home manufacture. With the coming of the railroads and good roads, making transportation easy, rural manufactories could not compete with the output from large factories, and the business of the villages became limited to the merchants and the blacksmiths. There is also a saw-mill at Morning Sun and one at Fair Haven. And there is a cider-mill at the latter place, which does a large business in years when fruit is plentiful.

Israel township's contributions to commerce are wholly farm products, grain, live stock and poultry, but its people have ideals other than the mere accumulation of property. To raise corn to feed hogs to sell; to buy more land to raise more corn to feed more hogs to sell ; to. buy more land and so on to' the end of life, is not with them "the chief end of man." By the men and the women who have made their life's work felt in the world, and who have called Israel township home, must the township ever be known.

THE WAR SPIRIT.

When war between the North and the South was declared and President Lincoln had issued his call for volunteers, there was instant and generous response by Israel township's boys. The sons of men who had fled from the hated institution of slavery Were ready to help the. President strike the shackles from the bondmen of the South. Many of the boys followed the Union's flag through the five years of war, and many gave their lives for the Cause. On a beautiful mound in the cemetery at Fair Haven stands a monument erected to the memory of the township boys whose. bodies fill nameless graves in the Southland. There are eighteen names engraved upon it.

SONS WHO HAVE RISEN TO DISTINCTION.

Among Israel township's sons, she numbers more than forty who have given themselves to the gospel ministry. And they are not wanting in doctors, lawyers, educators and journalists. In all these professions there have been men who have risen to distinction. A very few have entered politics, but from among these the township has been represented in Congress and in the gubernatorial chair of one of the Western territories and the governorship of the home state. Added to these, there is a great army of people in private

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life who, by their sterling qualities, have made their impress upon their home communities. Near the close of his fifty years' pastorate, an Israel township pastor was much cheered on being told that he was doing a grand work out on the Pacific coast. In many other parts of our country are men and women who can point to Israel township as their spiritual birthplace. Indeed, it may be said of her, as of the ancient city of Zion : "Jehovah will count when he writeth up the peoples. This one was born thine."

EARLY SETTLERS.

Many of the early settlers were from the South, especially the Carolinas, who, like the Quakers of Gratis township, objected so seriously to slavery that they moved out. Before the Civil War, the village and vicinity of Morning Sun was one of the well-known stations of the "underground railroad," from which none was ever returned.

Joseph Kingery is claimed to be the first settler. In 1803 he settled in section 32. Samuel and James Houston came a little later in 1803 and built cabins near College Corner. William Ramsay came in 1805 and started a home in section 23. In 1805 Abraham Miller settled in section 34. These all came from Virginia.

Peter Ridenour, in 1806, settled in section 33, and next year built the first mill and the first distillery. He came from Maryland and left a family of sixteen children. In 1805, Joseph Caldwell, from North Carolina, settled where Fair Haven now stands. Judge Caldwell, of Cincinnati, is one of his descendants. In 1806, William McCreary, from South Carolina, settled in section 36. In the same year Ebenezer Elliott, from the same state, settled in section 26.

In 1806, the widow, Martha Faris, with her four children, from South Carolina, settled on the farm of William McCreary, and the next year David Faris, from the same state, settled on section 25. David McDill, from South Carolina, settled on section 26 in 1806.

Caleb Pegg, in 1805, settled near Fair Haven. In 1807 came James Royce, James Brown and Richard Slow, all from the Carolinas. Hugh McQuiston settled in section 24 in 1808. George R. Brown in 1809, John Bishop in 1810, and Thomas McDill and William McGaw in 181i.

Just after the War of 1812, William Van Skiver, Samuel Bell, Samuel H.amilton, James Marshall, Robert Gilmore, Joseph Steele, 'William Gilmore, Jonathan Paxton and William Brown, William Hays, James Graham and

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others moved into the township, and nearly, if not quite, all left large families, these names being among the most common in the township.

The first child born in the township is said to have been Hugh Elliott, in 18o8. The first death was that of a little daughter of John Ramsay, in 1807.

It has been handed down as a tradition that for several years after the first settlement of the township, the wild turkeys and squirrels were so plentiful that every spring the farmers had to stand guard over their newly planted corn for two or three weeks to keep them from destroying it. Also, it is reported that just before the War of 1812 the farmers of the township suffered from a plague of mice, that overran everything for a year or two and then disappeared as mysteriously as they came. In 1858, a. South Carolina planter named Sloan, desiring to free his slaves before he died, came to Morning Sun, bought some land east of the town and placed the freedmen on the land, with the title thereto. He returned home and died shortly afterward, thus escaping the terrors of the Civil War, both for himself and his freedmen. A number of the freedmen yet live in the township.

The towns of Fair Haven and Morning Sun are not incorporated. College Corner is an incorporated village. Oxford township, Butler county, is a college township, owned by Miami University. The first settlement at the village was in the northwest corner of that township, hence the name. But the village spread west across the state line into Indiana, and that is now much the larger village.

On the Ohio side it spread north across the county line into Preble county, and a few years ago they incorporated the village on the Ohio side; it has about four hundred population, about equally divided between Butler and Preble counties. W. R. Stewart is mayor. In 1893 the population became so great that the people of the two states got together and decided that they ought to have a graded school, if it could be arranged. There is a country road running north from the village on the state line. They had the surveyor mark the line, and just at the north edge of the village they erected a fine two-story, eight-room, brick school house, with a wide hall through it, north and south, exactly straddling the state line, four rooms on each side. The school has since been run by the joint board, each side paying its proper proportion, and they have succeeded in maintaining a most excellent school.

The headwaters of each of the streams named are tile ditches in Preble county; Hopewell creek, in section 14, Dixon township; Four Mile creek, in section 1o, Jackson township, and Little Four Mile, in section 31, Jackson township.

CHAPTER XVII.

DIXON TOWNSHIP.

Dixon township is township 7 of range I east. The western half and southern third of the township is very flat and level and was originally swampy and wet. But the farmers have cleared the land and constructed many miles of main-line ditches, into which the farm ditches connect, so that the land is now well drained. In fact, the Fleisch ditch, so named after Michael Fleisch, who filed the petition with the commissioners for the ditch, is the longest and deepest ditch in the county, being at one place, just north of the south line of section 5, about fourteen feet deep. It is some six miles long, and into it flow many tile ditches. It is really the head of Little Four Mile. These ditches, of course, have redeemed the land, and it is today the heart of the corn belt, for Dixon township raises more corn than any other township of the county.

The northeastern and eastern sections of the township may be described as rolling, but the slopes are so long and easy that the land is very fertile. Four Mile creek crosses the township near the central part, and for a short distance on either side lies the only land that can be called broken.

Paint creek, as a county ditch, flows along the east line of section for perhaps three-fourths of a mile, then crosses east and does not again touch Dixon township.

FIRST SETTLEMENT.

The first white man to settle in Dixon township was Eli Dixon, or Dixson, as he wrote his name as county commissioner. He came in 1804, with three brothers, and settled on the northwest quarter of section 11, on the banks of a small creek, which ever since has been called Dixon's branch. In 1809 he was elected county commissioner and served one term; was president of the board, and was, of course, instrumental in having the township formed in 1812, after which he was elected justice of the peace and was a captain of the militia. In 1818 Eli Dixon moved to Indiana and his further history is lost to our people, but he had written his name indelibly into our history.

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Benjamin Kercheval came from Kentucky in 1804 and settled on Four Mile creek, in section 28. At his house the first election was held in 1808, when Israel township comprised the whole west tier of townships, and again in 1811, when Dixon township was set off as it now exists, the first election was held at his house. He erected the first mill ever built in the township and it existed as a mill longer than any other here, being later known and now remembered as the Niccum mill at Stony Point, on Four Mile. He later sold the mill and is said to have moved on west to Indiana.

Benjamin Harris came early in 1806 and settled on a farm bordering on a small stream that is yet called Harris run. Smith Charles came about 1807 and settled on Four Mile. In 1807 Paul Larsh came from Pennsylvania and settled on Four Mile land. He is said to have spent several months living in a camp before he got his house built, in section 10, and during the first year deadened the large timber, cut out the small timber and planted six acres of corn. Before his own crop grew he had to make three or four trips to a mill on the Miami river, south of Hamilton some two or three miles, taking two days to make the round trip, to get meal and flour for family use. He was elected sheriff of the county in 1812, 1818 and 1820, serving three terms, was captain of the militia company, and later was elected colonel of the regiment. He served six months as quarter-master during the War of 1812.

Paul Larsh had a family of eleven children, one of whom, Thomas J. Larsh, was later for years one of the most prominent men of the county, and C. B. Unger, the present owner and publisher of the Eaton Herald, is a great-grandson. Paul Larsh, about 1829, removed to Wayne county, Indiana, and in 1867 went to Kaskaskia, Illinois, on business and died of the cholera while there, and is there buried, being about eighty-five years old at the time of his death.

In 1808 the Truaxes settled in the western part of the township, followed later by Carey Toney and others. The land was then swampy, but is now the most fertile land in the township. Robert Runyon settled near Sugar Valley in 1808, and shortly afterwards he had Josiah Simonson for a neighbor. From 1808 to 1815 came Simeon Gard, Samuel Gordon, Samuel Parks, Josiah Conger, Jacob Marshall, William Gray, Samuel Bell and the Lybrooks, followed closely by the Rheas, Woodwards, Swishers, Bristows and many others. The township settled up thereafter very rapidly, for the census report of 183o gave the township one thousand three hundred and sixty-six inhabitants.

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Newton Larsh has always been regarded as the first white child born in the township. He was a son of Paul Larsh and was born while the family were living in camp the first year of their arrival. There were three mills, a carding-mill and three or four distilleries built in the early days, but all are gone. In fact, there are only the remains of the Kercheval mill, while all that remains of the others is memory. A child of Eli Dixon died in 1807, the first death in the township, and was. buried in the little graveyard in the northwest quarter of section I1, on the farm now owned by Col. A. L. Harris.

About 1820 a man named Stratton bought the old Kercheval mill and for a number of years ran a store and grocery near the mill, and, about 1841, on the hill east of the mill, Stony Point postoffice was started, the first one in the township. Then, some years later, a grocery store was started at Sugar Valley and there is one there now. Afterwards a postoffice was established at Sugar Valley, and, still later, one at Concord church, called Ernest. They received their mail two or three times per week from Eaton, but in these days of rural free delivery of mail the whole township is served daily from Eaton and all postoffices have been discontinued.

There are no industries in the township but a couple of small sawmills, the whole attention of the people being turned to agricultural pursuits, in which they stand in the first rank. It is claimed, with much reason, that Alexander Hart, in the southern part of the township, built and operated the first tile-mill in the county.

SCHOOLS.

The first school house was built on the southeast quarter of section 24, about one hundred rods from Sugar Valley, the school being taught by John A. Daily, who was famous as a teacher in that early day. The school was probably built about 1812. About 1814 John Taylor started a school near West Florence. The township was later divided into nine sub-districts and a good building erected in each, supplied by excellent teachers.

In 1914 there was a vote of the electors on a central school plan and the issuance of bonds for thirty-eight thousand dollars to purchase land and carry the plan into execution, and it was carried by a large majority. A site of six acres for the building was selected in the southeast quarter of section 16, and they propose to have the plan fully in execution by October I, 1915. The board of education now consists of five members, elected by

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the township, instead of one from each sub-district, as was the case a few years ago.

CHURCHES.

The first church of the township was a Baptist church, and Ebenezer Paddack informed the writer that, as a boy, some two or three years after the War of 1812, he helped haul the logs to build the church on section 5, known as the Michael Fleisch land. The church has long since disappeared;

The oldest existing church is the Methodist Episcopal church at Sugar Valley. About 1830, or shortly after, a class was formed of that church, from the members near Sugar Valley, and for some four or five years they met at private houses. Then John C. Deem became pastor and started a movement for a church. An old building was bought, moved, remodeled and located at the northwest corner of the southeast quarter of section 24, where it was used until about 1865, when it was burned. Then they erected the present brick building, alongside the old site, at a cost of about three thousand dollars, and the church now is in a prosperous condition. It has about ninety members, with a Sunday school that probably enrolls a greater number than the church.

The Concord Christian church was formed in November, 1840, under the pastorship of Rev. Luther Fenton. The organization at that time consisted of only eight members, of whom only seven can now be named, the early church records being probably lost. Their names are Moses Dooley, Carey Toney, Jacob Cooper and his two daughters, Lavicey and Elizabeth, Charles Collins and Alexander Rhea. They used the old township house for a meeting house for several years, and in 1848 they erected a frame church on the northeast quarter of section 16, costing about one thousand dollars. Elder Levi Purviance was the pastor for some dozen years thereafter. In 1850 they organized a Sunday school and, the same year, laid out the present cemetery alongside the church. As the years went by the church became inadequate for their needs. A subscription for a new church was started and land therefor purchased just across the road in the northwest quarter of section 16. A substantial brick church, forty by sixty feet, built at a cost of something over four thousand dollars, was dedicated April 3o, 1882, by Rev. Asa W. Coan. It stands on high land and adds to the beauty of the country. The present membership is one hundred and thirty-nine, and Rev. O. W. Powers is the pastor. They have the finest country church building in the county and are justly proud of it. Ii the fine weather of spring and summer many Sunday visitors from the villages visit the